MAY 4 - 4 Irish Republicans Executed Following the Events of Easter Rising 1916
- Christopher Jack
- May 21, 2019
- 2 min read
On this day, 4 more execution of Irish rebels was carried out by British officials. Each man was executed by firing squad in Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin.
Edward “Ned” Daly was born 25 February 1891 in Limerick, Ireland to Edward and Catherine Daly. His older sister Kathleen was the wife of Thomas Clarke, another Irish leader executed. Though it is unknown when Daly joined the IRB, he did join the newly founded Irish Volunteers in November 2013. In March 1915, he was promoted to the rank of Commandant of the 1st Battalion. During the Rising. Daly’s battalion was stationed in the Four Courts and saw some of the harshest fighting. On 29 April, he was ordered to surrender by Patrick Pearse and was subsequently arrested. In 1966, the Bray railway station was renamed the Bray Daly Railway Station in his honour.
Joseph Plunkett was born 21 November 1887 in Dublin, Ireland. After contracting tuberculosis at a young age, Plunkett spent much of his youth in warmer climates learning languages and studying poetry. Sometime in 1915, Plunkett joined the IRB. Plunkett was one of the original members of the IRB Military Committee that was responsible for planning the Rising. After having an operation on his neck glands only days before the Rising, he took his up his post at the GPO with his bandages still on. Following the surrender, he was arrested and court-martialed. The night before his execution, he married Grace Gifford, the sister of Thomas MacDonagh’s wife. MacDonagh was executed the day before Plunkett.
William “Willie” Pearse was born 15 November 1881 in Dublin. He was the younger brother of Patrick Pearse and would executed at Kilmainham Gaol, the day after his brother. Willie became a sculptor and trained to take over his father’s stonemason business but gave it up to help Patrick run St. Enda’s School which he founded in 1908. During the Rising, he stayed at his brothers side at the GPO. Patrick and Willie were the only pair of brothers to be executed after the Rising.
William “Willie” Pearse was born 15 November 1881 in Dublin. He was the younger brother of Patrick Pearse and would executed at Kilmainham Gaol, the day after his brother. Willie became a sculptor and trained to take over his father’s stonemason business but gave it up to help Patrick run St. Enda’s School which he founded in 1908. During the Rising, he stayed at his brothers side at the GPO. Patrick and Willie were the only pair of brothers to be executed after the Rising.
Michael O’Hanrahan was born 16 January 1877 in New Ross, Ireland to Richard and Mary Hanrahan. He grew up in Carlow and worked various jobs including working alongside his father, a cork cutter. In November 1913, he joined the Irish Volunteers. During the Rising, O’Hanrahan served as the 2nd in-command of Thomas MacDonagh’s 2nd battalion. His younger brother Henry, was sentenced to Penal servitude for life for his role in the Rising but soon fell ill and was released to return home where he died shortly after.
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