The HistoryJoseph Mary Plunkett (1887-1916)A keen scholar and the son of a papal count, Joseph Plunkett had the benefit of close ties with the literary world, and has left us with some inciteful poetry.He was a friend of Thomas MacDonagh with whom he worked as director of the Irish Theatre and as co-editor of the Irish Review. Plunkett's house in Kimmage, a suburb of Dublin was used as one of the clearing stations for the cargo of arms landed at Howth in 1914 for the Irish Volunteers. It was also used as atraining camp for young men who had been invited by the Plunkett family to Ireland from Britain to avoid conscription during World War One and to fight for an Independent Ireland instead. Joseph Plunkett suffered from ill health and had had an operation for glandular tuberculosis only days before the Rebellion, struggling out of his sick bed to partake in it. He was assisted by a young and unknown IRB volunteer who acted as his Aide de Camp Michael Collins. Joseph Plunkett was a member of the Military Council of the Provisional Government and of the Provisional Committee of the Irish Volunteers. He married his sweetheart, the artist Grace Gifford, in Kilmainham Gaol just hours before his execution. |
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