Thomas MacDonagh

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 teacher and Assistant Headmaster. Though MacDonagh was essential to the school's early success, he soon moved on to take the position of lecturer in English at the National University. 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.

In 1913 both MacDonagh and Plunkett attended the inaugural meeting of the Irish Volunteers and were placed on its Provisional Committee. He was later appointed commandant of Dublin's 2nd battalion, and eventually made commandant of the entire Dublin Brigade. Though originally more of a constitutionalist, through his dealings with men such as Pearse, Plunkett, and Sean MacDermott, MacDonagh developed stronger republican beliefs, joining the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IR , probably during the summer of 1915.

Around this time Tom Clarke asked him to plan the grandiose funeral of Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, which was a resounding propaganda success, largely due to the graveside oration delivered by Pearse.

Though credited as one of the Easter Rising's 7 leaders, MacDonagh was a late addition to that group. He didn't join the secret Military Council that planned the rising until April 1916, weeks before the rising took place. The reason for his admittance at such a late date is uncertain. Still a relative newcomer to the IRB, men such as Clarke may have been hesitant to elevate him to such a high position too soon, which raises the question as to why he should be admitted at all. His close ties to Pearse and Plunkett may have been the cause, as well as his position as commandant of the Dublin Brigade (though his position as such would later be superseded by James Connolly as commandant-general of the Dublin division). Nevertheless, MacDonagh was a signatory of the Easter Proclamation.

During the rising, MacDonagh's battalion was stationed at the massive complex of Jacob's Biscuit Factory. On the way to this destination the battalion encountered the veteran Fenian, John MacBride, who on the spot joined the battalion as second-in-command, and in fact took over much of the command throughout Easter Week, although he had had no prior knowledge and was in the area by accident.

As it was, despite MacDonagh's rank and the fact that he commanded one of the strongest battalions, they saw little fighting, as the British Army easily circumvented the factory as they established positions in central Dublin. MacDonagh received the order to surrender on April 30, 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, Holy Cross Day, 1916, at Dublin Castle, aged 38.

MacDonagh was generally credited with being one of the most gregarious and personable of the rising's leaders.

From, The Poetical Works of Thomas MacDonagh, 1919, PREFACE:--

"One could quarrel with MacDonagh, but not for more than three minutes at a time, and if he were ruffled the mere touch of a hand or the wind of a pleasant word appeased him instantly. I have seldom known a man in whom the instinct for friendship was so true, nor one who was so prepared to use himself in the service of a friend. ...

He lived in a kind of semi-detached life at the gate-lodge of Mr. Houston's house in the Dublin hills [Grange House Lodge, Rathfarnham]. To this house all literary Dublin used to repair, and there MacDonagh was constantly to be seen. He was a quaint recluse who delighted in company, and he fled into and out of solitude with equal precipitancy. He had a longing for the hermit's existence and a gift for gregarious life. At Grange House both these aptitudes were met, and I think he was very content there. Out on the hills, walking across the fields, or along the narrow roads curving to this side and that, but always running upwards, he would repeat his verses to me, and accompany them and follow them with a commentary that seemed endless as the bushes that lined our road. ...

In literary ways he was very learned, and would quote from English and French and Latin and Irish; but in worldly ways he was an infant, and he preserved that freshness of outlook and candour of bearing until the end ... I do not think he had any other ambition than to write good verse and to love his friends, and the pleasure he found in these two arts was the sole profit I ever knew him to seek or to get. ...

About three weeks before the Insurrection I met him for the last time. We walked together for nearly an hour, and I remember he was saluted in Grafton Street by three young men -- three of his Volunteers. At that time I am sure he did not intend any rebellion. I did not ask him much about the plans of the Volunteers, for when one is not in a movement one has no right to ask questions about it, and the only point we spoke of was the possibility of their arms being seized. His remark on that contingency was stern enough. But I can find nothing in his speech with the implication of rebellion. I think if he had meditated this he would have emphasised some phrase with his tongue or his eye, so that afterwards I could remember it. Indeed he was so free from all idea of immediate violence that he arranged to ask me later on to talk to some of his boys about the poetry of William Blake. One thing that he said smilingly remains with me: "When are you lads going to stop writing stories and do something?" said he.

He had reserves to fall back on when the end came -- reserves of pride and imagination and courage. An officer who witnessed the execution said, 'They all died well, but MacDonagh died like a Prince.'" &c.

~ James Stephens, 10th August, 1916.

After MacDonagh's death, his Poetical Works went through at least 4 editions in three years.
He was buried in an unmarked grave in Arbour Hill barracks, a military cemetery not far from Smithfield Square, Dublin, Ireland.