Thomas Stanislaus MacDonagh was an Irish political activist, poet, playwright, educationalist and revolutionary leader.
23 Facts About Thomas MacDonagh
2.
Thomas MacDonagh was one of the seven leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916, 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.
3.
Thomas MacDonagh was executed for his part in the Rising at the age of thirty-eight.
4.
Thomas MacDonagh was a member of the Gaelic League, where he befriended Patrick Pearse and Eoin MacNeill.
5.
Thomas MacDonagh was a founding member of the Irish Volunteers with MacNeill and Pearse.
6.
Thomas MacDonagh was born Cloughjordan, County Tipperary, to Joseph McDonagh, a schoolmaster, and Mary Parker.
7.
Thomas MacDonagh 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.
8.
Thomas MacDonagh's brothers included future Sinn Fein politician, Joseph, and film director John.
9.
Thomas MacDonagh 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, Co Cork, where he formed a branch of the Gaelic League.
10.
Thomas MacDonagh moved to Dublin, soon establishing strong friendships with such men as Eoin MacNeill and Patrick Pearse.
11.
Thomas MacDonagh was one of the founders of the teachers' trade union ASTI.
12.
Thomas 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.
13.
Thomas MacDonagh remained devoted to the Irish language, and in 1910 he became tutor to a younger member of the Gaelic League, Joseph Plunkett.
14.
Thomas MacDonagh was a member of the Irish Women's Franchise League.
15.
Thomas MacDonagh 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.
16.
Thomas MacDonagh was later appointed Commandant of Dublin's 2nd battalion, and eventually made commandant of the entire Dublin Brigade.
17.
Thomas MacDonagh didn't join the secret Military Council that planned the rising until April 1916, weeks before the rising took place.
18.
Nevertheless, Thomas MacDonagh was a signatory of the Proclamation of the Republic.
19.
Thomas MacDonagh was the 3rd signatory of the Proclamation to be shot.
20.
Thomas MacDonagh married Nuala Smyth and they had four children.
21.
Thomas MacDonagh was generally credited with being one of the most gregarious and personable of the rising's leaders.
22.
Thomas MacDonagh had a pleasant, intelligent face and was always smiling, and you had the impression that he was always thinking about what you were saying.
23.
Gaelic Athletic Association clubs and grounds named after Thomas MacDonagh have been established in County Tipperary.