Thomas J. Clarke 1857-1916
Thomas J. Clarke was born in 1857 on the Isle of Wight, where his father, a sergeant in the British Army, was stationed. Soon afterwards, his father was posted to South Africa, where the family would remain for ten years before returning to Ireland, settling in Dungannon Co. Tyrone. The young Clarke learned of Ireland's history and was determined to break the connection with England. He was sworn into the Irish Republican Brotherhood in 1880 and the following year he left for the United States where he joined Clan na nGael. There, he worked for a time as a night porter in the Mansion House Hotel in Brooklyn, New York. In 1883, the Fenians organised a dynamite campaign in England, targeting public buildings, bridges, railways etc. Clarke was selected to go on active service in England. He was arrested in April 1883 and appeared for trial at the Old Bailey the following June, charged under the notorious Treason Felony Act. He was found guilty and sentenced to penal servitude for life, serving fifteen years in brutal conditions. Writing of his time in prison, Clarke described the inhuman conditions yet displayed an unbreakable spirit:
‘England might force me to associate with the dregs raked in from the gutters, might shave my head like theirs, and stamp the government broad arrow all over me, humiliation might be heaped on me with an unsparing hand and punishments, diabolically brutal, measured out for years, but never for one minute did I forget that I was an Irish Political Prisoner and, in spite of it all, never felt any degradation. The struggle has gone on for centuries and, in the course of it, a well trodden path has been made that leads to the scaffold and to the prison. Many of our revered dead have trod that path and it was their memories that inspired me with sufficient courage to walk part of the way along that path with an upright head.’
Clarke was released under a general amnesty for Fenian prisoners in 1898 and returned to Ireland. While in prison Clarke had met Fenian leader John Daly from Limerick. He visited Daly upon his return to Ireland and was conferred with the Freedom of Limerick City. It was here he met his future wife, Kathleen, a niece of John Daly. The couple married in the New York in 1901 and remained there until 1908, when they returned to Dublin. He opened a tobacconist shop at the corner of what is now Parnell Street and O'Connell Street. Clarke set about reorganizing the IRB and was instrumental in planning the Rising. His was the first name to appear as a signatory to the Proclamation, a sign of the respect and esteem in which he was held. He fought in the GPO during Easter Week and was executed by British firing squad in Kilmainham Gaol on 3rd May, 1916.
Thomas J. Clarke was born in 1857 on the Isle of Wight, where his father, a sergeant in the British Army, was stationed. Soon afterwards, his father was posted to South Africa, where the family would remain for ten years before returning to Ireland, settling in Dungannon Co. Tyrone. The young Clarke learned of Ireland's history and was determined to break the connection with England. He was sworn into the Irish Republican Brotherhood in 1880 and the following year he left for the United States where he joined Clan na nGael. There, he worked for a time as a night porter in the Mansion House Hotel in Brooklyn, New York. In 1883, the Fenians organised a dynamite campaign in England, targeting public buildings, bridges, railways etc. Clarke was selected to go on active service in England. He was arrested in April 1883 and appeared for trial at the Old Bailey the following June, charged under the notorious Treason Felony Act. He was found guilty and sentenced to penal servitude for life, serving fifteen years in brutal conditions. Writing of his time in prison, Clarke described the inhuman conditions yet displayed an unbreakable spirit:
‘England might force me to associate with the dregs raked in from the gutters, might shave my head like theirs, and stamp the government broad arrow all over me, humiliation might be heaped on me with an unsparing hand and punishments, diabolically brutal, measured out for years, but never for one minute did I forget that I was an Irish Political Prisoner and, in spite of it all, never felt any degradation. The struggle has gone on for centuries and, in the course of it, a well trodden path has been made that leads to the scaffold and to the prison. Many of our revered dead have trod that path and it was their memories that inspired me with sufficient courage to walk part of the way along that path with an upright head.’
Clarke was released under a general amnesty for Fenian prisoners in 1898 and returned to Ireland. While in prison Clarke had met Fenian leader John Daly from Limerick. He visited Daly upon his return to Ireland and was conferred with the Freedom of Limerick City. It was here he met his future wife, Kathleen, a niece of John Daly. The couple married in the New York in 1901 and remained there until 1908, when they returned to Dublin. He opened a tobacconist shop at the corner of what is now Parnell Street and O'Connell Street. Clarke set about reorganizing the IRB and was instrumental in planning the Rising. His was the first name to appear as a signatory to the Proclamation, a sign of the respect and esteem in which he was held. He fought in the GPO during Easter Week and was executed by British firing squad in Kilmainham Gaol on 3rd May, 1916.
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"This is the begining, our fight has saved Ireland. The soldiers of tomorrow will finish the task."