27 Facts About Brian O'Higgins

Brian O'Higgins, known as Brian na Banban, was an Irish writer, poet, soldier and politician who was a founding member of Sinn Fein and served as President of the organisation from 1931 to 1933.

Brian O'Higgins was a leading figure within 20th century Irish republicanism and was widely regarded for his literary abilities.

Brian O'Higgins was born in 1882, the youngest of fourteen children of small farmers in Kilskeer, County Meath.

Brian O'Higgins's great-grandfather, Sean O Huiginn, was a poor scholar from County Tyrone who was travelling to Munster before he encountered a group of men who were rushing to Tara to fight in the Rising of 1798.

Brian O'Higgins promptly decided to partake in the rebellion and fought in the Battle of Tara Hill, where he was wounded and carried away to the small glen of Kilskeer to recuperate, but in Kilskeer he married and remained for the rest of his life.

In 1886, O'Higgins began his education at the Kilskeer National School and his principal teacher was a young man named James Raleigh, a Limerick native whom O'Higgins described as a 'devoted lover of Ireland'.

Brian O'Higgins's childhood reading consisted of Young Ireland-influenced text such as Irish penny readings and Speeches from the dock, and nationalist story papers The Shamrock and The Emerald.

In 1900, Brian O'Higgins published his first poem in the United Irishman, edited by Arthur Griffith and William Rooney.

Brian O'Higgins's health declined in 1903 and he returned to live in his native Meath.

Brian O'Higgins was present at the first annual convention of the National Council of Sinn Fein on 28 November 1905, and wrote its first party anthem entitled 'Sinn Fein Amhain'.

Brian O'Higgins became a good friend of Padraig Pearse, after they first met in 1906.

Brian O'Higgins first published his poetry in book form in 1907 as The Voice of Banba: Songs and Recitations for Young Ireland.

Some of Brian O'Higgins' work is anodyne and sentimental stuff, as per his Christmas Stories and Sketches, Hearts of Gold and Songs of the Sacred Heart.

Brian O'Higgins was a founding member of the Irish Volunteers in 1913, which organised to work for Irish independence.

Brian O'Higgins was put on guard duty at the main entrance to the GPO and he later served under Quartermaster Michael Staines.

Brian O'Higgins assisted in the evacuation of the wounded from the GPO on Friday evening and spent the night in a shed off Moore Street.

Brian O'Higgins was deported to Stafford Gaol on May 1 and interned in Frongoch internment camp until February 1917.

Brian O'Higgins was involved in the establishment of the Republican courts in County Clare.

Brian O'Higgins opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty and voted against it.

Brian O'Higgins was re-elected as an Anti-Treaty Sinn Fein Teachta Dala at the 1922 and 1923 elections for the Clare constituency.

Brian O'Higgins lost his seat at the June 1927 general election.

Brian O'Higgins resigned from Sinn Fein in 1934 along with Mary MacSwiney in protest against the election of Fr.

In December 1938, Brian O'Higgins was one of a group of seven people, who had been elected to the Second Dail in 1921, who met with the IRA Army Council under Sean Russell.

Brian O'Higgins wrote the lyrics of the song "A Stor Mo Chroi", which subsequently entered the Irish music oral tradition, set to the tune of the traditional Irish air Bruach na Carraige Baine.

Brian O'Higgins wrote 'The Boy from Tralee' about the execution of Charlie Kerins.

Brian O'Higgins wrote numerous ballads and poems about Ireland throughout his lifetime.

Brian O'Higgins was a devout Catholic and was heavily critical of those who tried to link the Republican struggle with socialism and communism.