Table Of ContentPatrick Pearse
Also by Joost Augusteijn:
FROM PUBLIC DEFIANCE TO GUERRILLA WARFARE.
THE EXPERIENCE OF ORDINARY VOLUNTEERS IN
THE IRISH WAR OF INDEPENDENCE
Edited, IRELAND IN THE 1930s: NEW PERSPECTIVES
Edited, THE IRISH REVOLUTION, 1913–1923
Edited, THE MEMOIRS OF JOHN M. REGAN,
A CATHOLIC OFFICER IN THE RIC AND RUC, 1909–1948
Edited with Mary-Ann Lyons, IRISH HISTORY: A RESEARCH
YEARBOOK (number 1)
Edited with Mary-Ann Lyons and Deirdre MacMahon,
IRISH HISTORY: A RESEARCH YEARBOOK (number 2)
Patrick Pearse
The Making of a Revolutionary
Joost Augusteijn
Lecturer in European History,
Leiden University, The Netherlands
Palgrave
macmillan
© Joost Augusteijn 2010
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-24871-7
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in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2010 by
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ISBN 978-0-230-27765-6 ISBN 978-0-230-29069-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230290693
ISBN 978–0–230–27765–6
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully
managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing
processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the
country of origin.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Augusteijn, Joost.
Patrick Pearse : the making of a revolutionary / Joost Augusteijn.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–230–24871–7 — ISBN 978–0–230–27765–6 (pbk.) 1. Pearse,
Padraic, 1879–1916. 2. Ireland—History—Easter Rising, 1916—Biography.
3. Revolutionaries—Ireland—Biography. 4. Ireland—Politics and
government—1910–1921. I. Title.
DA965.P4A94 2010
941.5082'1—dc22
[B]
2010027479
To the memory of
Marcus Bourke
Contents
List of illustrations viii
Preface ix
Introduction 1
1 Person 7
2 Cultural nationalist 72
3 Educationalist 146
4 Politician 216
5 Revolutionary 277
6 Legacy: The failure in triumph 323
Appendix 346
Notes 348
Bibliography 407
Index 416
List of illustrations
All photographs courtesy of the Pearse Museum unless otherwise
indicated.
1. Patrick (left) and his siblings 68
2. Patrick on a rocking horse 69
3. Patrick’s parents James and Margaret 70
4. Workers in front of James Pearse’s shop and family home
(courtesy of Deirdre O’Reilly) 70
5. Patrick in his barrister’s outfit 71
6. Patrick (extreme left on second row) with Gaelic League
representatives in Paris 144
7. Patrick and League friends 144
8. Patrick with grey hat at Ros Muc 145
9. Patrick with Thomas Clery 145
10. St Enda’s Boys in front of Cullenswood House 213
11. Open day at St Enda’s at the Hermitage 213
12. Boys gardening at the Hermitage 214
13. St Enda’s hurling team 214
14. Enacting Fionn at St Enda’s 215
15. St Enda’s boys at drill class in Cullenswood House 215
16. Pearse family 273
17. Patrick and Willie in conversation 274
18. Patrick during a public speech 275
19. Patrick in military uniform 276
20. The surrender by Patrick after Easter week (courtesy of
Kilmainham Gaol 276
viii
Preface
In the 2006 reprint of her seminal biography Patrick Pearse: The
Triumph of Failure Ruth Dudley Edwards argues that there is no need
for any revision of her book because ‘little new material has appeared
since 1977 and subsequent books and articles on Pearse have been
tangential’.1 It is hard to uphold this position now. Many important
works have appeared analysing various aspects of Pearse’s life and
activities, including works by eminent academics such as Sean Farrell
Moran, Charles Townshend and many others. Since the 1970s a range
of archive collections has also become available which sheds new light
on Pearse’s life. The release of the archives of the Bureau of Military
History in particular has provided material which certainly adjusts
our view of the 1916 Easter Rising and its preparations.
Furthermore, through the curators of the Pearse Museum a new
line of inquiry has been developed into Pearse’s family background,
which so far had been largely confined to the information we had from
a small autobiographical piece by Patrick himself. Through the kind
intervention by the late Marcus Bourke I have also come in possession
of the private collection of the late judge Michael Lennon, a family
friend of the Pearses, who during the 1940s collected material and
information on Patrick from his relatives and family friends. This has
enabled the development of a much fuller picture of Patrick Pearse as
a person, particularly by providing new information on his early years.
John Tosh, who has written widely on historical methodology,
has argued that ‘biography is indispensable to the understanding of
motives and intention’ and that ‘the motives of individuals have some
part to play in explaining historical events’.2 In light of the above and
the now ever more pressing question of how ordinary people become
involved in the use of physical force for a political ideal, combined
ix
x Patrick Pearse: The making of a revolutionary
with the virtual end of violence in Northern Ireland, I feel it is possible
and necessary to try to understand Patrick Pearse and his thinking
even better. Hence this new biography.
Finding the time to research and write a monograph in between a busy
family life and full-time work as a lecturer is difficult. This book would
not have come to fruition without the support of various individuals
and institutions. I have to thank the Netherlands Organisation for
Scientific Research which has provided me with a year long fellowship,
and the Institute for History at Leiden University which has supported
me financially as well as academically in this endeavour. My colleagues
have provided me with a stimulating environment and facilitated me
in various ways, for which I am grateful. This also applies to those
who I have encountered in various academic venues at which I have
vented my ideas on Pearse. Furthermore, a number of people have to
be singled out for appreciation by making this book possible through
large or small contributions. First, my family, Maureen, Freya and
Shiel, for their usual indulgence. Second, Tessa van Keeken, Regina Uí
Chollatáin, Arnout Augusteijn, Brian Crowley, Pat Cooke, Margaret
Ó hÓgartaigh, Patrick Maume, Joep Leerssen, Ruth Ireland and all
those friends, neighbours and others who have shamed me into activity
by their occasional gentle enquiries about the progress of this book.
Lastly, Marcus Bourke has to be singled out. He not only provided
me with the initial incentive to write this book by, out of the blue,
handing me the collection of Michael Lennon with the gentle
suggestion I might do something with it as he would not get around to
it, but mainly he provided inspiration through his eternal enthusiasm
for pursuing historical research on Ireland. Unfortunately he did not
live long enough to see the book being published but he wholeheart-
edly deserves to have it dedicated to him. Hereby!
Joost Augusteijn
Leiden, 2010
