Joseph Mary Plunkett was born in 1887 in Fitzwilliam Street in Dublin to a distinguished County Meath family.
He was a member of the Catholic
branch of the family that had been famous in England for 600
years. In fact his ancestor was Saint Oliver Plunkett, the 17th
Century priest who was the last priest martyred for the Catholic
faith in England. Oliver Plunkett is himself the subject of an
Irish stamp. (A future article will feature his biography.) His
father was made a Papal Count in 1884 in recognition of his
services to the Catholic Church.
Plunkett was a very sickly child and contracted pleurisy and
pneumonia while very young. Because of his ill-heatlh he spent
his childhood winters abroad. He was multitalented and spent time
learning poetry, musical instruments, drawing, and painting. He
became a member of Douglas Hyde’s Gaelic League which was
trying to revitalise the Irish language, and in 1910 started to
study the Irish language under the tutelage of future
revolutionary, Thomas MacDonagh.
Like his fellow revolutionary poets, Pearse and MacDonagh, the
themes of his poetry were ones of torture and despair. However
Plunkett had more natural talent and rather than be inspired
solely by Irish literature, he drew his inspiration from the
Spanish mystic, St. John of the Cross. Through his poetry he
espoused the notion of a romantic morality which sanctioned the
sacrifice of self and others in the pursuit of self-realization.
A book of his poetry, with the help of his fellow-revolutionary,
Thomas MacDonagh, was published in 1913, entitled ‘The
Circle and the Sword’. He was co-editor with MacDonagh of
the Irish literary newspaper, ‘The Irish Review’.
His poetry has been universally recognised in literary circles
and he should have had an outstanding literary career had his
life not been cut short. Plunkett was also active in Irish
theatrical circles and in 1914, along with his friend Thomas
MacDonagh and Edward Martyn he had founded the Irish Theatre in
Hardwicke Street, Dublin., where Irish historical and cultural
plays were performed, including Padraic Pearse’s plays
'Iosagain' and 'The Master'. Towards the end of 1914 he first met
his future wife, the artist Grace Gifford who was from a mixed
prosperous Protestant-Catholic family. By the end of 1915 the
couple were secretly engaged and planning to marry.
By this time almost all of Plunkett’s energies were focussed
on the preparation for an armed uprising. Plunkett had an
obsession with military matters. With Eamonn Ceannt and Pearse,
in 1914, he had been appointed to an advisory committee of Irish
Volunteer leaders within the IRB to draw up a military plan for
an insurrection. Plunkett was the effective member of this little
group. He was essentially the brains behind the military plans
that eventually came to be implemented in the 1916 Easter Rising.
His house in Kimmage was used as a clearing house for the arms
landed at Howth in 1914 for the Irish Volunteers. In 1915 a major
split in the Irish Volunteers occurred, with two-thirds
supporting John Redmond’s plea for support of the British
forces during World War 1, with one-third effectively breaking
away.
A secretive General Council was set, consisting mainly of the men
who would form the nutshell of the Rising. Plunkett was appointed
Director of Military Operations. Plunkett was extremely
enthusiastic about his work. In April 1915 he travelled to
Germany to seek arms for the planned Rising. Initially hopeful of
German help and hoping for a arms shipment that September, German
aid failed to materialise. Plunkett also visited the United
States in October 1915 to get help from the Clan-na-Gael
organisation to obtain arms. This would result in the ill-fated
transport of arms by 'The Aud' in the week prior to the Rising
and the capture of Roger Casement. Although Pearse was the public
front-man of the Council, It is generally believed by historians
that the dominant forces were Plunkett and MacDiarmada. It was
certainly these two that did the planning for the Rising, aided
by James Connolly who came on board with the Irish Citizen Army
in January 1916, after being persuaded not to undertake a Rising
on his own.
But by this stage Plunkett’s tuberculosis (TB) was in an
advanced stage. He was in and out of hospital in the lead-up to
the Rising, a dying man. Plans for the Rising were kept hidden
from the chief-of-staff of the Volunteers, Eoin McNeill, for fear
he would publicly cancel it. In the week before the Rising
confusion reigned as McNeill got wind of the plans and tried to
stop the Rising. Plunkett, in order to encourage the Rising to go
ahead, from his hospital bed, forged some false documents
purporting that the authorities were just about to arrest the
leading protagonists. In the months leading up to the Rising
Plunketts home in Kimmage, Dublin had been a virtual arsenal. Up
to 60 Volunteers spent months training at his home. This was the
group which seized the GPO (General Post Office) on
Easter Monday on the first morning of the Rising.
Plunkett was due to marry Grace Gifford on Easter Sunday. Due to
the confusion that preceded the Rising, and its delay until
Easter Monday the wedding was not able to go ahead as planned.
Plunkett, despite his enthusiasm was desperately ill during the
week of the Rising, and spent most of the week on his sickbed in
the GPO, occasionally giving orders. His aide-de-camp was a man
who was later to have a significant impact on Irish history and
the foundation of the State. His name was Michael Collins. After
the failure of the Rising, Plunkett was arrested along with the
other leaders of the Rising and taken to Kilmainham Jail. He was
referred to as a ‘wealthy poet’ at his court-martial.
Along with the other leaders of the Rising he was sentenced to
death.
Plunkett requested that he and Grace Gifford be allowed to marry before his death. The authorities relented and and the eve of his execution Plunkett was brought into the Chapel at Kilmainham jail in handcuffs, and they were married. They were allowed just ten minutes together after their marriage and were not even left alone. Grace Gifford was to became forever linked with the struggle for Irish independence. Years later she would find herself a prisoner in the same jail during the War of Independence.
Plunkett was executed the following morning on May 4th 1916 by firing squad. Joseph Plunkett was only 28 years old when he died. He had been the youngest signatory on the Proclamation of the Irish Republic. He was dying in any case from tuberculosis, and there is no doubt he craved a romantic heroic end. Joseph Plunkett is buried in Arbour Hill cemetery in Dublin.
Wrap the green flag round me, boys,
To die were far more sweet,
with Erin's noble emblem boys,
To be my winding sheet.
In life l loved to see it wave,
And follow where it led,
But now my eyes grow dim - my hand
Would grasp its last bright shred.
Then wrap the green flag round me, boys,
To die were far sweet
With Erin's noble emblem boys,
To be my winding sheet.
And I had hoped to meet you, boys,
On many a well-fought field,
When to our sacred banner, boys,
The traitorous foe would yield,
But now, alas! I am denied
My dearest earthly prayer,
You'll follow and you'll meet the foe,
But l shall not be there.
But though my body moulders, boys,
My spirit will be free,
And every comrade's honour, boys,
Will yet be dear to me.
And in the thick and bloody fight
Let not your courage lag.
For I'll be there and hovering near
Around the dear old flag.