John “Jack” Devoy

Born: 1842 Died: 1928

Revolution has usually been a young man's game. John Devoy was definitely an exception to this rule; -- a man who lived to a very old age, through times which would have thrown a saint into despair, the fire in his revolutionary soul never flickering. Few outside of the very well read among Irish history enthusiasts know much of the accomplishments of this tireless worker for Irish independence. As such, a memorial committee has been set up to erect a monument to John Devoy in his home town of Naas, Co. Kildare. John Devoy was considered by many including Padraic Pearse to be the most determined and greatest of the Fenians.

Edward “Ned” Daly

25 February 1891 – 4 May 1916

Daly's battalion, stationed in the Four Courts and areas to the west and north of Dublin center, saw the most intense fighting of the rising. He surrendered his battalion on 29 April. In his trial, he claimed that he was just following orders, but was executed by firing squad on 4 May 1916, at the age of 25.

The men in his battalion spoke of him as a good commandant. This opinion was also shared by a British officer that Daly's battalion had captured.

Richard “Dick” Mulcahy

10 May 1886 – 16 December 1971

He was second-in-command to the late Thomas Ashe (who would later die on hunger strike) in an encounter with the armed Royal Irish Constabulary at Ashbourne, County Meath during the Easter Rising in 1916. In his recent account of the Rising Charles Townsend principally credits Mulcahy with the defeat of the RIC at Ashbourne for conceiving and leading a flanking movement on the RIC column that had engaged with the Irish Volunteers. Arrested after the rising he was interned at Knutsford and at the Frongoch internment camp in Wales until his release on the 24 December 1916.

Cornelius “Conn” Colbert

1888 – Executed May 8, 1916

During Easter Week, he fought at Watkin's Brewery, Jameson's Distillery and Marrowbone Lane. Thomas MacDonagh at 3.15 p.m. Sunday, 30 April surrendered to Brigadier-General Lowe. He was then allowed to return to the other garrisons to arrange for their surrender.

Colbert surrendered with the Marrowbone Lane Garrison along with the South Dublin Union Garrison, which had been led by Eamonn Ceannt. When the order to surrender was issued, he assumed the command of his unit to save the life of his superior officer, who was a married man.
They were marched to Richmond Barracks, where Colbert would later be court-martialled.

Transferred to Kilmainham Gaol, he was told on Sunday 7 May that he was to be shot the following morning. He wrote no fewer than ten letters during his time in prison. During this time in detention, he did not allow any visits from his family; writing to his sister, he said a visit "would grieve us both too much."

Cathal Brugha

18 July 1874 – 7 July 1922

Reinforcements were sent to Dublin from England, and disembarked at Kingstown on the morning of 26 April. Heavy fighting occurred at the rebel-held positions around the Grand Canal as these troops advanced towards Dublin. The Sherwood Foresters were repeatedly caught in a cross-fire trying to cross the canal at Mount Street. Seventeen Volunteers were able to severely disrupt the British advance, killing or wounding 240 men. The rebel position at the South Dublin Union (site of the present day St. James's Hospital), further west along the canal, also inflicted heavy losses on British troops trying to advance towards Dublin Castle. Cathal Brugha, a rebel officer, distinguished himself in this action and was badly wounded.

Helena Moloney

Helena Moloney
Born: January 1, 1884 - Died: January 28, 1967

Helena Moloney (1884, Dublin, Ireland - January 28, 1967, Dublin, Ireland) was a prominent Irish republican, feminist and labor activist. She fought in the 1916 Easter Rising and later became the first woman president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. In 1903, inspired by a pro-nationalist speech given by Maud Gonne, Helena Moloney joined "Inghinidhe na hÉireann" (Daughters of Ireland) and began a lifelong commitment to the republican cause.

Countess Markiewicz

4 February 1868 – 15 July 1927

They were taken to Dublin Castle and the Countess was then transported to Kilmainham jail. There she was the only one of 70 women prisoners who was put into solitary confinement. No doubt, she fully expected to be executed.

On May 3rd she sat in her cell and heard the three volleys of the first executions, each followed by a single pistol shot as the commander of the firing squad put one bullet in their heads. Thomas Clarke, Thomas MacDonagh, and Patrick Pearse were dead, though she had no idea whom the victims might have been. As prepared as she may have been to die, alone there in her cell, the sounds must have been chilling.

At her court martial she told the court, "I did what was right and I stand by it." Her conviction was assured, only her sentence was in doubt. She was sentenced to death, but General Maxwell commuted this to life in prison on "account of the prisoner's sex." Given a choice she would probably have been added to the list of those dying for the cause. She told the officer who brought her the news , ".... I do wish your lot had the decency to shoot me."