FOLLOWING THE SURRENDER and arrest of all those involved in the rising, General Sir John Greenfell Maxwell, the newly appointed military governor of Ireland, was determined to quell any further chance of rebellion. He immediately ordered that hundreds of prisoners be transported by ship to prison camps in England, Scotland and Wales. He ordered the trial by court martial and then the execution of all those suspected of organizing the Rising.
Fourteen leaders of the rebellion were shot by firing squad in Kilmainham Jail: Padraig Pearse, Thomas MacDonagh, Thomas Clarke, Joseph Plunkett, Willie Pearse, Michael Mallin, Edward Daly, Sean Mac Diarmada, Eamonn Ceannt, Con Colbert, John MacBride, James Connolly, Michael O’Hanrahan and Sean Heuston. In addition, Thomas Kent was executed in Cork and Roger Casement was tried for treason and executed by hanging in Pentonville Prison in London.
Dubliners, who had developed a grudging respect for the amateur army, were shocked by the executions, especially that of the badly injured James Connolly who, unable to stand, was shot sitting in a chair. Public opinion began to change.
Memorial cards of the dead leaders of the Rising were circulated throughout the city. General Maxwell and the British soon realized they had somehow made martyrs of the men and halted the executions, but it was too late. The Rising and its leaders’ belief in a new Republic of Ireland had caught hold. The insurgents once considered traitors or fools for their actions were now becoming heroes.
The fight for Irish freedom continued, led by Michael Collins and Eamon de Valera on their release from prison. Sinn Fein won seventy-three seats in the 1918 elections and set up an Irish parliament, Dail Eireann, on 21 January 1919. The War of Independence followed, with the IRA carrying out new, guerrilla-type attacks against the British forces in Ireland.
In December 1921 Michael Collins, Arthur Griffith and Britain’s prime minister, Lloyd George, signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty, ending the war and recognizing the formation of an Irish Free State. However, ‘the Treaty’ kept Ireland within the British empire and excluded the six counties in the north. This caused a huge split among republicans, which led to a violent civil war. Michael Collins was shot dead before his country finally gained its freedom from Britain and became an independent nation. Ireland became a republic in 1949.
Nellie Gifford Donnelly
Nellie was imprisoned in Kilmainham Jail until June 1916. On her return to Temple Villas her mother refused to let her cross the threshold. Nellie begged to see her father, but sadly she was only allowed to see him briefly before she moved to America where her sisters Ada and Sidney were both living. She toured around parts of the US recounting her experiences of the Rising, fundraising for the widows of the Volunteers and organizing talks promoting the republican movement. She married publisher Joseph Donnelly in New York and had one daughter, Maeve. In 1920 she returned to Ireland and, following the break-up of her marriage, became a successful writer and broadcaster, writing stories and plays for the new Irish radio station 2RN and for newspapers.
Fearing that people would forget the Easter Rising of 1916, Nellie was determined to gather together a collection of items related to the rebellion. In 1932 she persuaded the National Museum to exhibit her collection at the time of the Eucharistic Congress and Tailteann Games in Dublin. Among the 250 exhibits were Countess Markievicz’s green jacket, pamphlets, guns and valuable personal items belonging to family members and friends. At the end of the popular exhibition it was clear to Nellie that a permanent home for the collection was needed. Much of it now forms the basis of Ireland’s important historic 1916 Collection housed in the National Museum in Dublin. In the 1960s Nellie became a founder member of the Kilmainham Jail Restoration Society. The prison is now one of Ireland’s most popular visitor sites.
After a long life filled with many interests, Nellie Gifford Donnelly died in 1971.
Muriel Gifford MacDonagh
Muriel was devastated by the execution of her husband, Thomas MacDonagh. With his death she could no longer afford to continue renting their home in Oakley Road. Her mother, Isabella, called to see her, but instead of giving support, spoke out against Muriel’s husband and his role in the rebellion. Countess Plunkett, who had always had a huge regard for Thomas MacDonagh and was fond of Muriel, offered her one of the Plunkett houses in Ranelagh in which to live.
Dressed in her widow’s clothes Muriel was striking and beautiful, and the British authorities feared that her appearance at rallies and events would incite even more resentment of their actions.
In July 1917 a seaside holiday was organized for ‘the Widows of 1916’ and their children in Skerries, and Grace and Muriel decided to join all the other women. One day Muriel went out swimming as her two-year-old daughter Barbara sat playing with shells on the beach. Tragically, Muriel, although a good swimmer, got into difficulty and drowned. It was suspected she had suffered heart failure. In Dublin huge crowds gathered for her funeral, watching silently as black-plumed horses drew her coffin towards Glasnevin Cemetery.
Grace Gifford Plunkett
The tragic story of Grace Gifford’s wedding to Joe Plunkett appeared not only in Irish newspapers but also across the globe, with Grace finding herself thrown into the spotlight. Unable to return to her parents’ house, she went to stay in Larkfield, the Plunkett family home.
Grace’s appearance at republican rallies drew huge support. She designed anti-British posters and leaflets for election campaigns and she herself was elected to the Sinn Fein executive. Like most of the wives of the leaders of the Rising, Grace was firmly opposed to the Treaty. She wrote to the press and created a series of anti-Treaty cartoons. In 1923 she and her sister Kate, who had also become a republican, were arrested and imprisoned in Kilmainham Jail for seven months. There Grace drew a mural of ‘The Madonna and Child’ on her cell wall.
Following the end of the Civil War in 1923, Grace continued to work as an artist and she also published a number of books of cartoons of the Abbey Theatre’s actors. She often struggled financially. She had little contact with the Plunkett family and in 1934 took legal action against them as they had failed to follow the terms of Joe’s will, which asked for her to be given everything he possessed. Countess Plunkett refused to honour it and eventually the matter was settled out of court, with Grace receiving a one-off payment from the family.
Grace died in 1955 and was buried with full military honours in the Plunkett plot in Glasnevin Cemetery. Grace Gifford Plunkett is considered to be one of Ireland’s leading female artists. A ballad about her and Joe’s wedding became very popular and all those who visit Kilmainham Jail in Dublin hear of the tragic love story of Grace Gifford and Joseph Plunkett.
Isabella Gifford
Isabella blamed Countess Markievicz for influencing her daughters. Frederick Gifford died in September 1917, after which she sold the large house in Temple Villas and made her home in nearby Ranelagh. In time she was reconciled with her daughters and saw her grandchildren. Isabella died in 1932.