Thomas MacDonagh
| Thomas MacDonagh | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
1 February 1878 Cloughjordan, County Tipperary, Ireland |
| Died | 3 May 1916 (aged 38) Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin, Ireland |
| Allegiance | Irish Volunteers |
| Years of service | 1913–1916 |
| Rank | Commandant |
| Commands held | 2nd Battalion |
| Battles/wars | Easter Rising |
Thomas MacDonagh (Irish: Tomás Mac Donnchadha; 1 February 1878 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish political activist, poet, playwright, educationalist and revolutionary leader. He was one of the seven leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916, a signatory of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and Commandant of the 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade of the Irish Volunteers, which fought in Jacob's biscuit factory. He was executed for his part in the Rising at the age of thirty-eight.
MacDonagh was assistant headmaster at St. Enda's School, Scoil Éanna, and lecturer in English at University College Dublin. He was a member of the Gaelic League, where he befriended Patrick Pearse and Eoin MacNeill. He was a founding member of the Irish Volunteers with MacNeill and Pearse. He wrote poetry and plays.
He was born, as Joseph McDonagh, in Cloughjordan, County Tipperary, to Joseph McDonagh, a schoolmaster, and Mary Parker. He grew up in a household filled with music, poetry and learning and was instilled with a love of both English and Irish culture from a young age.
Both his parents were teachers; who strongly emphasised education. MacDonagh attended Rockwell College. While there MacDonagh spent several years as a scholastic, sometimes a preparation for a missionary career, however, after a few years he realised that it wasn't the life for him, and left. Very soon after, he published his first book of poems, Through the Ivory Gate, in 1902. He taught in St Kieran's College in Kilkenny and from 1903 he was employed as a professor of French, English and Latin at St. Colman's College, Fermoy, Co Cork, where he also formed a branch of the Gaelic League. While in Fermoy, MacDonagh was one of the founding members of ASTI, the secondary teachers association which was formed in the Fermoy College in 1908. He moved to Dublin, soon establishing strong friendships with such men as Eoin MacNeill and Patrick Pearse.
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