Tom Clarke (Irish republican)
Thomas James Clarke (
Irish name:
Tomás Ã" Cléireach;
March 11,
1857 –
May 3,
1916) was an
Irish revolutionary leader and arguably the person most responsible for the 1916
Easter Rising.
Born on the
Isle of Wight, his father, James Clarke, was a sergeant in the
British army. The family soon moved to
Dungannon,
County Tyrone,
Ireland. At the age of 18 he joined the
Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and in 1883 he was sent to London to blow up
London Bridge as part of the dynamiting campaign advocated by
Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, one of the IRB leaders exiled in the
United States. Clarke was quickly captured and subsequently served 15 years in
Pentonville Prison. Following his release in 1898 he married
Kathleen Daly (21 years his junior), whose uncle, John, he had met in prison. Together they emigrated to America, where Clarke worked for the
Clan na Gael under
John Devoy. In 1907 he returned to Ireland where he opened a tobacco shop in
Dublin and immersed himself in the IRB which was undergoing a substantial rejuvenation under the guidance of younger men such as
Bulmer Hobson and
Denis McCullough. Clarke had a very close kinship with Hobson, who along with
Sean MacDermott, became his protegé.
When the
Irish Volunteers were formed in 1913, Clarke took a keen interest, but took no part in the organization, knowing that as a felon and well-known Irish
nationalist he would lend discredit to the Volunteers. Nevertheless, with MacDermott, Hobson, and other IRB members such as
Eamonn Ceannt (born Edmund Kent) taking important roles in the Volunteers, it was clear that the IRB would have substantial, if not total, control, (particularly after the co-option of
Patrick Pearse, already a leading member of the Volunteers, into the IRB at the end of 1913). This proved largely to be the case, until
John Redmond, the leader of the
Irish Parliamentary Party, demanded equal control of the Volunteers. Though most of the hard-liners stood against this, Redmond's decree was accepted, partially due to the support given by Hobson. Clarke never forgave him for what he considered a treasonous act.
Following Clarke's falling out with Hobson, MacDermott and Clarke became almost inseparable. The two of them, as secretary and treasurer, respectively,
de facto ran the IRB, although it was still under the nominal head of other men, James Deakin, and later McCullough. In 1915 Clarke and MacDermott established the Military Committee of the IRB to plan what later became the Easter Rising. The members were Pearse, Ceannt, and
Joseph Plunkett, with Clarke and MacDermott adding themselves shortly thereafter. When an agreement was reached with
James Connolly and the
Irish Citizen Army in January, 1916, Connolly was also included on the committee, with
Thomas MacDonagh added at the last minute in April. These seven men were the signers of the
Easter Proclamation, with Clarke as the first signatory. It has been said that Clarke indeed would have been the declared President and Commander-in-chief, but he refused any military rank and such honours, which were given to Pearse, who was more well-known and respected on a national level.
Clarke was stationed in the headquarters at the
General Post Office at
Dublin during the events of Easter Week, where command of the rebel forces was largely under Connolly. Following the surrender on April 29, Clarke was held in
Kilmainham Jail until his
execution by firing squad on May 3rd at the age of 59. He was the second person to be executed, following Patrick Pearse.
* {{cite book
last = Caulfield | first = Max | authorlink = | coauthors = | editor = | others = | title = The Easter Rebellion | origdate = | origyear = | origmonth = | url = | format = | accessdate = | accessyear = | accessmonth = | edition = | date = | year = 1965 | month = | publisher = New English Library | location = London | language = | id = | doi = | pages = 380p | chapter = | chapterurl = | quote =
* {{cite book | last = Clarke | first = Kathleen | authorlink = | coauthors = | editor = Helen Litton (ed.) | others = | title = Revolutionary woman: Kathleen Clarke 1878-1972, an autobiography [My fight for Ireland's freedom] | origdate = | origyear = | origmonth = | url = | format = | accessdate = | accessyear = | accessmonth = | edition = | date = | year = 1991 | month = | publisher = O'Brien Press | location = Dublin | language = | id = ISBN 0862782457 | doi = | pages = 240p | chapter = | chapterurl = | quote =
* {{cite book | last = Kee | first = Robert | authorlink = | coauthors = | editor = | others = | title = The green flag: a history of Irish nationalism | origdate = | origyear = | origmonth = | url = | format = | accessdate = | accessyear = | accessmonth = | edition = | date = | year = 2000 | month = | publisher = Penguin | location = London | language = | id = ISBN 0140291652 | doi = | pages = 877p | chapter = | chapterurl = | quote =
* {{cite book | last = Lyons | first = F.S.L. | authorlink = | coauthors = | editor = | others = | title = Ireland since the famine | origdate = | origyear = | origmonth = | url = | format = | accessdate = | accessyear = | accessmonth = | edition = 2nd rev. ed. | date = | year = 1973 | month = | publisher = Fontana | location = London | language = | id = ISBN 0006332005 | doi = | pages = 880p | chapter = | chapterurl = | quote =
* {{cite book | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | editor = F.X. Martin (ed.) | others = | title = Leaders and men of the Easter Rising: Dublin, 1916 | origdate = | origyear = | origmonth = | url = | format = | accessdate = | accessyear = | accessmonth = | edition = | date = | year = 1967 | month = | publisher = Methuen | location = London | language = | id = | doi = | pages = xii, 276p | chapter = | chapterurl = | quote =
* {{cite book | last = Townshend | first = Charles | authorlink = | coauthors = | editor = | others = | title = Easter 1916: the Irish rebellion | origdate = | origyear = | origmonth = | url = | format = | accessdate = | accessyear = | accessmonth = | edition = | date = | year = 2005 | month = | publisher = Allen Lane | location = London | language = | id = ISBN 0713996900 | doi = | pages = xxi, 442p | chapter = | chapterurl = | quote =
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