Sean MacDermott
Seán MacDermott (born
John MacDermott;
February 28,
1883 –
May 12,
1916) was one of the leaders of the 1916
Easter Rising in Ireland.
MacDermott was born in
County Leitrim, where he was educated by the Irish Christian Brothers. He adopted the
Irish form of his name later in life
[The form of his name used here, "Seán MacDermott", is an English-Irish hybrid and so may be considered inaccurate. However, this is the name he used and by which he is most often remembered.]. In 1908 he moved to
Dublin, by which time he already had a long involvement in several Irish separatist organizations and cultural, including
Sinn Fein, the
Irish Republican Brotherhood, and the
Gaelic League. He was soon promoted to the Supreme Council of the IRB and eventually elected secretary.
In 1910 he became manager of the radical newspaper "Irish Freedom", which he founded along with
Bulmer Hobson and
Denis McCullough. He also became a national organizer for the IRB, and was taken under the wing of veteran
Fenian Tom Clarke. Indeed over the year the two became nearly inseparable. Shortly thereafter MacDermott was stricken with
polio and forced to walk with a cane.
In November 1913 MacDermott was one of the original members of the
Irish Volunteers, and continued to work effortlessly to bring that organization under IRB control. In May 1915 MacDermott was arrested in
Tuam,
County Galway, under the
Defense of the Realm Act for giving a speech against enlisting into the
British Army. He was released in September, where upon he joined the secret Military Committee of the IRB, which was responsible for planning the rising. Indeed it was MacDermott and Clarke who were most responsible for it.
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Plaque outside offices in Dublin once used by Seán MacDiarmada |
Being somewhat crippled, MacDermott took little part in the fighting of Easter week, but was stationed at the headquarters in the
General Post Office. Following the surrender, he nearly escaped execution by blending in with the large body of prisoners, but was eventually recognized and summarily executed by firing squad on May 12 at the age of 33. The British Officer, Lee-Wilson, who identified him from the GPO and caused him to be shot, rather than imprisoned, was later killed on the orders of
Michael Collins in Cork during the
Anglo-Irish War)
Seán MacDermott Street in
Dublin is named in his honour. So too is MacDiarmada rail station in
Sligo, and
Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada, the
GAA stadium in
Carrick-on-Shannon.
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List of people on stamps of Ireland
