Thomas MacDonagh - 1916 Poster

Thomas MacDonagh 1916 commemorative poster recreated from a photo in The Walton Collection.

Thomas MacDonagh , Irish: Tomás Anéislis Mac Donnchadha; (1 February 1878 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish political activist, poet, playwright, educationalist and revolutionary leader. He was 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. His play, When the Dawn is Come, was produced by the Abbey Theatre in 1908. His other plays Metempsychosis, 1912 and Pagans, 1915 were both produced by the Irish Theatre Company.

He was born Cloughjordan, County Tipperary, to Joseph MacDonagh, 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. His brothers included future Sinn Féin politician, Joseph, and film director John. MacDonagh attended Rockwell College as a scholastic and soon after leaving 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, County 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 trade union 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. His friendship with Pearse and his love of Irish led him to join the staff of Pearse's bilingual St. Enda's School upon its establishment in 1908, taking the role of French and English teacher and Assistant Headmaster. MacDonagh was essential to the school's early success, on his marriage he took the position of lecturer in English at the National University, while continuing to support St Enda's. MacDonagh remained devoted to the Irish language, and in 1910 he became tutor to a younger member of the Gaelic League, Joseph Plunkett. The two were both poets with an interest in the Irish Theatre and formed a lifelong friendship.

On 3 January 1912 he married Muriel Gifford (a member of the Church of Ireland) and their son, Donagh, was born that November, and their daughter, Barbara, in March 1915. Muriel's sister, Grace Gifford, was to marry Joseph Plunkett hours before his execution in 1916.

MacDonagh was a member of the Irish Women's Franchise League. He supported the strikers during the Dublin lockout and was a member of the "Industrial Peace Committee" alongside Joseph Plunkett, whose stated aim was to achieve a fair outcome to the dispute. In 1913 both MacDonagh and Plunkett attended the inaugural meeting of the Irish Volunteers and joined its Provisional Committee. MacDonagh was later appointed Commandant of Dublin's 2nd Battalion and eventually made commandant of the entire Dublin Brigade.

Initially a constitutionalist MacDonagh had developed strong republican beliefs, joining the IRB, probably during the summer of 1915. Around this time Tom Clarke asked him to plan the funeral of Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, which was a resounding propaganda success.

Though credited as one of the Easter Rising's seven leaders, MacDonagh was a late addition to that group where his close ties to Pearse and Plunkett may have helped, in addition to his position as commandant of the Dublin Brigade .

Despite MacDonagh's rank and the fact that he commanded one of the strongest battalions, they saw little fighting, as the British Army avoided the factory as they established positions in central Dublin. MacDonagh received the order to surrender on 30 April, though his entire battalion was fully prepared to continue the engagement.
Following the surrender, MacDonagh was court martialled, and executed by firing squad on 3 May 1916, aged thirty-eight. He was the 3rd signatory of the Proclamation to be shot. It is said that as he was taken from his cell to be executed he whistled.

The text below the image simply states" THOMAS MacDONAGH, Executed at Kilmainham, 3rd May,1916"

Produced and created from a high-quality Lafayette photograph in the style of the other 1916 leader's posters this stunning image is printed210 gsm satin art paper, beautifully mounted on a mottled green suede background and set behind glass in a handmade, aged dark mahogany finish frame with a gold gilt sightline.