KEVIN BARRY DIVISION 3
people in irish History
Remembering Irish Nationalist Terence MacSwiney:
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One relatively obscure figure in Irish nationalist history is Terence MacSwiney (1879–1920), although he is somewhat more known in Ireland, he might not be as widely recognized outside of Irish nationalist circles.
MacSwiney was an Irish nationalist, poet, and playwright, and a key figure in the struggle for Irish independence. He was the Lord Mayor of Cork and a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the War of Independence. MacSwiney is perhaps most famous for his death following a 74-day hunger strike in Brixton Prison, London, in 1920. He was protesting against his internment without trial by the British authorities. His death garnered international attention, especially among Irish nationalists, and became a symbol of resistance against British rule.
What makes MacSwiney particularly interesting in the context of obscure figures is his blend of activism and intellectualism. He was also a writer who produced works reflecting his nationalist and anti-colonial sentiments. While his name isn't as widely recognized today as figures like Michael Collins or Éamon de Valera, MacSwiney’s sacrifice helped galvanize Irish support for the independence movement in its final stages. Though he’s a relatively obscure figure in global history, Terence MacSwiney’s commitment to Irish freedom and his tragic martyrdom continue to be important in the context of Irish republicanism and the history of the Irish War of Independence.
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Tom O'Reilly
Available to present Ireland's History & Alternate Topics. Please call or email to schedule a date and time. E: tomoreilly44@gmail.com C: 631.335.9382 www.tomoreilly.com
Tom O'Reilly, Ph.D. Ireland's Historian & Philosopher- Ancient Order of Hibernians, Smithtown, NY
Remembering Thomas F. Meagher
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Thomas Francis Meagher (1823–1867) was a prominent Irish nationalist, revolutionary, and Union Army brigadier general in the American Civil War. Born in Waterford, Ireland, Meagher was educated at Trinity College in Dublin and became involved in radical politics. He joined the Young Ireland movement, which aimed for Irish independence through revolution. In 1848, Meagher played a key role in the failed 1848 Rebellion, leading to his arrest and transportation to the penal colony of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania).
In 1852, Meagher escaped and moved to the United States, where he became a leader in the Irish-American community, advocating for Irish independence. He joined the Fenian Brotherhood, which sought to overthrow British rule in Ireland, and was involved in several failed military expeditions. Despite setbacks, Meagher’s reputation as a fighter for freedom grew, especially among Irish Americans.
With the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, Meagher joined the Union Army as a brigadier general and led the Irish Brigade, a unit made up of Irish immigrants. The New York 69th. The brigade gained fame for its bravery, suffering heavy casualties at battles like Antietam and Fredericksburg. Meagher’s leadership earned him respect, although his relations with Union command were strained.
After the war, Meagher moved to Montana as Secretary of the Territory, but his life was cut short when he was found dead in the Missouri River in 1867. The cause of his death remains unclear, with theories ranging from accidental drowning to murder.
Meagher’s legacy lives on in both Irish and American history. He is remembered as a symbol of Irish resistance, a hero of the American Civil War, and a key figure behind the Irish tricolor flag, which he first flew in 1848. His life and work continue to inspire both Irish nationalists and Irish Americans. Meagher's courage, leadership, and commitment to freedom make him a lasting figure in the struggle for justice.
Tom O’Reilly, Ph.D. Irish Historian & Storyteller, Ancient Order of Hibernians, Kevin Barry, Division 3, Smithtown. Email: tomoreilly44@gmail.com.
Tom O'Reilly
Available to present Ireland's History & Alternate Topics. Please call or email to schedule a date and time. E: tomoreilly44@gmail.com C: 631.335.9382 www.tomoreilly.com
Tom O'Reilly, Ph.D. Ireland's Historian & Philosopher- Ancient Order of Hibernians, Smithtown, NY
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Remembering President John F. Kennedy:
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President John F. Kennedy, serving from 1961 until his assassination on November 22, 1963, is remembered for his inspiring leadership, vision, and commitment to public service.
His presidency included significant moments like the Cuban Missile Crisis, his call to land a man on the moon, and his advocacy for civil rights. Kennedy also founded the Peace Corps and worked to combat the spread of communism. His tragic death left a lasting impact, and he remains an enduring symbol of hope, progress, and youthful leadership.
Irish America remembers John F. Kennedy with deep pride due to his Irish heritage and his role as a symbol of success for Irish immigrants. His visit to Ireland in 1963 and his connection to County Wexford and County Cork solidified his place in Irish hearts. Irish-American communities commemorate him through anniversary events, memorials, and cultural celebrations, such as St. Patrick's Day parades. His political legacy continues to inspire Irish-Americans, and his image remains central in Irish-American life, exemplifying values of service and leadership. His family's ongoing involvement in politics also keeps his memory alive across generations.
Tom O’Reilly, Ph.D. Irish Historian & Storyteller, Ancient Order of Hibernians, Kevin Barry, Division 3, Smithtown. Email: tomoreilly44@gmail.com.
REMEMBERING MICHAEL COLLINS
Michael Collins (1890–1922) was a key figure in the Irish struggle for independence and a prominent leader during the Irish War of Independence. Born in County Cork, Collins was the son of a farmer. He emigrated to London at the age of 18, where he worked as a clerk in the British Treasury and became involved in Irish nationalist circles. Influenced by the ideas of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), Collins returned to Ireland in 1916, just in time for the Easter Rising, though he was not directly involved in the event itself.
After the Rising's failure, Collins became an influential member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which was dedicated to fighting British rule. His organizational genius and understanding of intelligence and guerrilla warfare set him apart. In 1919, as director of intelligence for the IRA, Collins orchestrated a successful campaign of ambushes, assassinations, and raids that severely disrupted British control in Ireland. His intelligence network, dubbed the "Squad," was instrumental in targeting British agents, which led to a significant psychological and strategic advantage for the Irish.
Collins also played a central role in the political side of the independence movement. He was elected to the First Dáil (Irish Parliament) in 1918 and became a key negotiator in the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. The treaty, which ended the war and established the Irish Free State, split the nationalist movement. Collins supported it as a stepping stone to full independence, but many, including Éamon de Valera, opposed it for conceding too much to the British.
The treaty's signing led to a bitter civil war between pro- and anti-Treaty factions. Collins led the pro-Treaty forces, but the war took a tragic toll. On August 22, 1922, Collins was ambushed and killed in an engagement during the Civil War in County Cork, just months after signing the treaty. His death marked the loss of one of Ireland's most talented and charismatic leaders, whose legacy remains central to Ireland's path to independence.
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Tom O’Reilly, Ph.D. Irish Historian & Storyteller, Ancient Order of Hibernians, Kevin Barry, Division 3, Smithtown. Email: tomoreilly44@gmail.com.
On the death of Queen Elizabeth the Second the Irish Republic polled thousands of people on this question:
Submitted by Tom O'Reilly
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“Should the Republic fly the flag at half Mast?” 68 percent responded yes.
Though, the English Monarch is an Imperialistic Constitutional Monarchy, Queen Elizabeth has made important contributions to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. For example, a couple of years prior to the 1998 agreement a secret meeting took place in Buckingham Palace between a former IRA Commander, Martin McGuiness and the Queen. I can now report on the substance of the meeting. Mr. McGuiness entered a drawing room and was asked to sit on one of three empty chairs. Shortly the Queen entered and spoke with McGuiness for a few minutes. Then a page entered the room and announced to the Queen that he is here your majesty. The Queen said” show him in” Enter Prime Minister Tony Blair. He sat on the third chair and waited for the Queen to speak.
And she said “ I have asked you here because I am asking both of you to work together to resolve the issues in Northern Ireland as soon as possible” Both men were stunned.
Shortly after, calls were received from President Clinton and a few other world leaders and before long George Mitchell brought the concerned parties in Northern Ireland together, including representatives from the Irish Republic and a couple of years later the people of Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic overwhelmingly approved the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
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James Connolly,
“We will not blame him (King George V) (Elizabeth TOR)
for the crimes of his ancestors if he relinquishes the royal rights of his ancestors; but as long as he claims their rights, by virtue of descent, then, by virtue of descent, he must shoulder the responsibility for their crimes.”
Connelly understood what it was like for our people to live in a subjugated Imperialistic Monarchy for centuries. (Cromwell, The Famine, 1916 Rising executions et al )
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Here is a very small sample of the largesse associated with the Monarchy
Duchy of Cornwall founded in 1337, to support the eldest son of the English Monarch. Funding to support the Monarch are raised from rents received from tenant farmers on the 140,000 acre estate. The Monarch does not pay taxes on monies received.
Duchy of Lancaster founded in 1351, to provide revenue for the Duke of Lancaster. Funding to support the Monarch are raised from rents received from tenant farmers on the 45,000 acre estate. The Monarch does not pay taxes on monies received.
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Tom O’Reilly, Ph.D. Irish Historian & Storyteller, Ancient Order of Hibernians, Kevin Barry, Division 3, Smithtown. Email: tomoreilly44@gmail.com.
Countess Constance Markievicz, an Irish Republican leader, makes a farewell address in Boston before returning to Ireland, 1922. In December 1918, in the first election in the United Kingdom in which women were allowed to vote, Markievicz was the first woman elected to the British parliament. She, however, with the other Irish nationalists of the Sinn Fein (We Ourselves—the Irish Republican party dedicated to the independence of all of Ireland), refused to take her seat at Westminster. She joined the Dail, the Irish parliament in Dublin, as the first labor minister of the new Irish government. She opposed the treaty with England agreed to by Michael Collins and opposed the Irish Free State government in the Irish Civil War. She edited a republican newspaper and traveled to America to gain support for the antitreaty Republicans. She was arrested by the Irish Free State in 1923.
With the end of the civil war, Markievicz was elected to the Dail, but refused to take her seat because of her unwillingness to take an oath of loyalty to the British king. She joined Eamon de Valera’s party, Fianna Fail (Warriors of Destiny), when it was organized in 1926. In 1927 she was elected as a Fianna Fail candidate to the Dail but died on July 15 before taking her seat. Some critics regarded her as superficial and self-absorbed, but the common people of Ireland did not share this negative assessment. Three hundred thousand lined the streets for her funeral procession and de Valera delivered the eulogy at her grave.
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Story submitted by Tom O'Reilly
A Jewish Irishman and Revolutionary Politician
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Story submitted by Tom O'Reilly
…Robert Briscoe, Lord Mayor of Dublin was active in the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Sinn Féin during the Irish War of Independence and accompanied Éamon de Valera to America. He spoke for the Sinn Féin cause at public meetings there and was adamant that being a "Hebrew" did not lessen his Irishness. Briscoe was sent by Michael Collins to Germany in 1919 to be the chief agent for procuring arms for the IRA. Eamon Martin, former Chief of Staff of Fianna Éireann, was best man at Briscoe's wedding. They had been close friends during the Irish War of Independence…
They were the power brokers during the 1998 Good Friday Agreement talks - leaders who could make or break the future of Northern Ireland. Where are they now? BBC NI political editor Mark Devenport reports.
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Story submitted by Tom O'Reilly
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GEORGE MITCHELL
The talk’s chairman, Senator George Mitchell, told journalists who gathered outside Castle Buildings that he hated to leave us, but had to go. After sealing the deal, Senator Mitchell and the then secretary of state, Mo Mowlam, posed with the press for a group photograph.
Since 1998, the senator joined the Disney Corporation and carried out an investigation into the use of steroid drugs in US baseball. Through his US-Ireland Alliance he is playing a leading role in organizing the events commemorating the Agreement's tenth anniversary, including a conference in April due to be attended by Bill Clinton.
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MO MOWLAM
Many felt Mo Mowlam was relegated to the sidelines when Tony Blair took the leading role as the British negotiator inside Castle Buildings. But the straight talking minister struck a chord with the public who were impressed both by her political ability and her personal battle against cancer. She won a standing ovation at the Labour Party conference in 1998. However, this was the high point of her career. The year after the Agreement she moved to the Cabinet Office, a job she never found as fulfilling as Northern Ireland. She stepped down as an MP in 2001and died following a resurgence of her illness three years ago.
TONY BLAIR
Mo Mowlam's boss Tony Blair continued to be the key figure when devolution faltered. He once expressed the opinion that a deal involving Ian Paisley was "pie in the sky". But it was precisely that deal which he succeeded in negotiating at St Andrew's in Scotland in 2006. The courtship of Ian Paisley proved Tony Blair's diplomatic skills and enabled him to time his departure from Downing Street to follow a victory lap at Stormont last May. Whilst Mr. Blair's reputation took a pounding over the Iraq war, his success in Northern Ireland contributed to his CV for his current role as a Middle East envoy.
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BERTIE AHERN
Like Mr. Blair, Bertie Ahern remained in office to oversee the Agreement's ups and downs. Ten years ago the thought that the taoiseach would be welcomed to Ballymena by the DUP leader, Ian Paisley, seemed inconceivable. But the two men now appear to enjoy a personal rapport. For Mr. Ahern, the achievements of Castle Buildings are a far more welcome topic of conversation than his personal battles with the Dublin Mahon tribunal, examining alleged corruption in public life.
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JOHN HUME AND DAVID TRIMBLE
In those days before Sinn Fein and DUP dominance, John Hume and David Trimble held the cards within nationalism and unionism. Mr. Hume had worked for years to nurture the process that led to the Agreement, but without the skeptical Mr. Trimble there could be no deal to sign. The two went on to share the Nobel Peace Prize, but Mr. Hume left it to his deputy, Seamus Mallon, to share an uncomfortable period in office with David Trimble. John Hume passed the SDLP torch on to his long term assistant Mark Durkan. He occasionally goes public - as in one recent statement defending Hillary Clinton's contribution to building peace in Ireland - but is generally retired from politics. David Trimble fought on against the doubters within his own party before being overcome by the surging tide of DUP support. Since leaving office, he has joined the Conservatives and likes to speak in the Lords on a variety of national and international issues. He is skeptical about the notion that the Northern Ireland peace process can be some kind of blueprint for conflict resolution elsewhere in the world.
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GERRY ADAMS
Gerry Adams remains the president of Sinn Fein. He was a pivotal figure in the talks which led to the restoration of devolution, the IRA disarming and Sinn Fein accepting the police. He chose not to take ministerial office at Stormont, leaving it to his chief negotiator Martin McGuinness to become first education minister, then deputy first minister. Many commentators believed Gerry Adams intended to concentrate on the expansion of his party south of the Irish border, perhaps with half an eye on the Irish presidency. But a poor election showing for Sinn Fein last year constituted a set-back for that project, and Mr. Adams has denied any presidential ambitions. Now he is involved in negotiations on topics like devolving justice and shows a strong interest in issues such as the Irish language and efforts to reverse the high rate of teenage suicides.
GARY MCMICHAEL AND DAVID ERVINE
The two "fringe" loyalist parties, the Progressive Unionists and the Ulster Democrats, helped deliver the paramilitaries' acquiescence. Gary McMichael of the UDP failed to get elected to the assembly, then his party was disowned by its paramilitary sponsor, the UDA. David Ervine's PUP secured two seats in the assembly. Mr. Ervine came under pressure over the failure of the UVF to follow the IRA's example on disarmament. But the powerful orator continued to be an influential voice locally and internationally until his sudden death after suffering a heart attack in January 2007. Mr. Ervine's colleague Billy Hutchinson was one of a number of Northern Ireland politicians who talked to their Iraqi counterparts about making peace at a conference in Finland last year.
JOHN ALDERDICE
John Alderdice was Alliance leader at the time of the 1998 talks. He went on to become the first speaker presiding over the on-again off-again Stormont Assembly. Now his title is Lord Alderdice and he frequently travels abroad talking about the lessons of the peace talks.
MONICA MCWILLIAMS
Monica McWilliams of the Women's Coalition represented her party as an MLA, then later took on a job as Northern Ireland's Human Rights Commissioner.
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LABOUR PARTY
Little was heard politically from the Labour party negotiators present at the talks. However, when one of their two delegates dozed off during a meeting of the short-lived Northern Ireland Forum, the DUP's Ian Paisley Junior shouted out that "half of the Labour party is asleep". Their leader, Malachi Curran, is now a publican in County Down.
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IAN PAISLEY
Meanwhile, the man who stayed outside Castle Buildings, Ian Paisley Senior, could be said, a decade on, to have inherited the crown as Stormont's First Minister. That was until this month when the DUP's "Big Man" confirmed that he too is moving on.
What about the Irish Americans?
Irish Spies in the Nationalist Campaigns
Article and photo supplied by Tom O’Reilly
Rosena Brown, Róisín De Brún; born 1945) is an Irish actress of television, cinema, and stage from Belfast, Northern Ireland who also served as an intelligence officer for the Provisional IRA. Dubbed the "IRA Mata Hari", she was named in the murder trial of prison officer John Hanna, who was charged and convicted of helping the IRA kill colleague Brian Armour. She allegedly persuaded Hanna into providing information on Armour which she then passed on to the IRA; however, she was not charged with complicity in Armour's murder. In 1992, she and two men were arrested when a booby-trap bomb was found in their car. In 1993, she was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, but was released in December 1998 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
A grandmother of nine, Brown continued to work in local community theatre following her release. She was portrayed by actress Rose McGowan in the 2008 crime thriller film, Fifty Dead Men Walking. Other movies: Hush-a-Bye Baby, Reefer and the Model.
Sir Roger David Casement
Article Supplied by Tom O'Reilly
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Sir Roger David Casement, an Irish-born diplomat who in 1911 was knighted by King George V, is executed for his role in Ireland’s Easter Rising.
Casement was an Irish Protestant who served as a British diplomat during the early part of the 20th century. He won international acclaim after exposing the illegal practice of slavery in the Congo and parts of South America. Despite his Ulster Protestant roots, he became an ardent supporter of the Irish independence movement and after the outbreak of World War I traveled to the United States and then to Germany to secure aid for an Irish uprising against the British.
Germany, which was at war with Great Britain, promised limited aid, and Casement was transported back to Ireland in a German submarine. On April 21, 1916, just a few days before the outbreak of the Easter Rising in Dublin, he landed in Kerry and was picked up by British authorities almost immediately. By the end of the month, the Easter Rising had been suppressed and a majority of its leaders executed. Casement was tried separately because of his illustrious past but nevertheless was found guilty of treason on June 29. On August 3, he was hung in London.
Charles Stewart Parnell
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Article Supplied by Tom O'Reilly
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Charles Stewart Parnell, (born June 27, 1846, Avondale, County Wicklow, Ire.—died Oct. 6, 1891, Brighton, Sussex, Eng.) Irish Nationalist, member of the British Parliament (1875–91), and the leader of the struggle for Irish Home Rule in the late 19th century. In 1889–90 he was ruined by proof of his adultery with Katherine O’Shea, whom he subsequently married.
In 1880, Charles Stuart Parnell publicly stated his belief:
“When a man takes a farm from which another has been evicted you must shun him on the roadside when you meet him, you must shun him in the streets of the town, you must shun him in the shop, you must shun him in the fairgreen and in the marketplace, and even in the place of worship, by leaving him alone, by putting him in a moral Coventry, by isolating him from the rest of his country as if he were the leper of old, you must show your detestation of the crime he has committed.”
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/ireland-1845-to-1922/charles-stewart-parnell/