1913 (9 December) Pádraig Pearse's membership card for The Irish Volunteers - A unique and extremely valuable relic of Pádraig Pearse, author of The Proclamation of The Irish Republic and Commander in Chief of the Irish Volunteers during The 1916 Rising.
Margaret Pearse (Pádraig Pearse's mother)
Gifted by Margaret Pearse to Micheál Mac Ruaidri;
Thence to his daughter, Bríd;
By whom gifted to the family of the present owner
9 DEC 1913 6 'Nám óm'
DEC 30 1913 6. S. Ó 'C. (Seamus O'Connor)
JAN 6 1914 3 S. Ó 'C. (Seamus O'Connor)
JAN 13 1914 3. P Mac P (Pádraig Pearse in his hand)
JAN 20 1914 3. E. M. (Eamon Martin)
JAN 27 1914 3. P Mac P (Pádraig Pearse in his hand)
Inscribed by former owner Micheál Mac Ruadhrí with his name.
Micheál Mac Ruaidhrí
Dubbed 'the greatest seanchaí (storyteller/historian) of our time' by the scholar and patriot Eoin MacNeill, and known to Professor Douglas Hyde, Ireland's first President, as 'The Mayo Poet' because of the musical quality of his Irish, this mentor and confidante to the executed 1916 leader Patrick Pearse, was born in Lower Foghill, near historic Kilcummin, in County Mayo, in 1860. His parents were Seoirse (George) MacRuaidhri (Rogers) and Nancy Cooper.
Mac Ruaidhri suffered all his life from poor eyesight and bad vision. As a result, he spent just two days in school, preferring instead to occupy his days with the elders of his area. In the process he amassed and retained a vast knowledge of folklore, sagas, history, song and music, all of which he dearly loved, whilst also gaining a genuine love for and understanding of the soil.
As a young man Micheál went to Dublin and worked as a gardener at Stradbrook Estate, Blackrock, before striking up a relationship with the revolutionary and educationalist Patrick Pearse. From the foundation in 1908 of Pearse's Cullenswood School in Ranelagh, Dublin, Micheaál taught practical gardening and horticulture and in 1910, he, together with his bride, the former Alice Wallace, relocated with Pearse to the Hermitage in Rathfarnham, the site of the future and much celebrated Scoil Eanna -'St. Endas.' The Hermitage was to be the site of a new school for boys based on the ancient Irish custom of fosterage, while Cullenswood became a girls school which Pearse named Scoil Íde .
Mac Ruaidhri took up residence in the Gate Lodge which was afterwards referred to as 'St Enda's Lodge'. St. Enda's influence on the 1916 Rising is evident by the list of those participants who taught at or attended the school. In addition to Mac Ruaidhri and his assistant Patrick Donnelly and the patriot Pearse brothers, Patrick and Willie, other revolutionaries such as Thomas MacDonagh, Eamon Ceannt, Con Colbert and Fergus de Burca also taught there, as did the writers Padraic Colum and Standish O Grady. Desmond Ryan who fought in the GPO and and Joseph Sweeney who was a sniper on the roof of the GPO were among the sixteen St. Enda's pupils who participated in the 1916 Rising.
It is known that not only was Mac Ruaidhri a great friend to Pearse, but he also had a huge influence on him and was in truth a sort of father figure to him. He is credited with being the individual who advised Pearse to spend time in Rosmuc Connemara (Mac Ruaidhri was also a great friend of Eamon De Valera and his family). Despite his near blindness, Micheál was the well-known author of five books in the Irish language all of which he wrote under the pseudonym Méarthóg Ghuill and dictated to his daughter Bríd, to Mrs. De Valera and also to Pádraig Pearse. Furthermore, Micheál was a regular contributor to Pearse's newspaper An Claidheamh Soluis- 'The Sword of Light'.
Mac Ruaidhri was in the G.P.O. Dublin, with Pearse on Easter Monday, 24 April, 1916, and stood beside Pearse as he read aloud the Proclamation of the Irish Republic. Regrettably, due to his bad eyesight and the fact that he was 56 years of age at the time, he was ordered back to St. Enda's by Pearse with instructions to destroy or hide secret documents.
Following the suppression of the 1916 Rebellion, Mac Ruaidhrí was arrested and imprisoned in Frongoch Prison, Wales: at the time he was the oldest prisoner in the gaol and spent his days teaching Irish and History to the other rebel inmates.
On his release Mac Ruaidhrí returned to St. Enda's and resumed his career as gardener. Micheál's younger brother Pat also took part in the 1916 Rising and was also interned in Frongoch.
In one of his last letters from Kilmainham Gaol before his execution, Pearse bade his great friend farewell with the following poem:
'Slán leat a Mhichal, Slán leat go deo;
Slán leat a Mhícheál As Condae Mhaigheo.'
After the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1922, a treaty he disagreed with, MacRuaidhri took no further part in politics and concentrated instead on his writing and folklore collecting. Those who sought out his wisdom and knowledge included his good friend Eamon De Valera, Dr.Douglas Hyde, and Micheál Ó Tiomaindhe (Michael Timoney 1870-1940).
Micheál MacRuaidhrí died, at the age of 76, on 31 May, 1936, at his home, St Enda's Lodge. Michea?l Mac Ruaidhri was buried in Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin, and is commemorated in his native Foghill with a monument which stands on the site of his birthplace.
Note: 7 books belonging to Mac Ruaidhrí, some with stamps of Scoil Eanna, are included with the Irish Volunteers membership card.
THE IRISH VOLUNTEERS
The Irish Volunteers (Irish: Óglaigh na hÉireann), sometimes called the Irish Volunteer Force or Irish Volunteer Army, was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists and republicans. It was ostensibly formed in response to the formation of the - Irish unionist - Ulster Volunteers in 1912, and its declared primary aim was 'to secure and maintain the rights and liberties common to the whole people of Ireland'. The Volunteers included members of the Gaelic League, The Ancient Order of Hibernians and Sinn Féin, and, secretly, the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Increasing rapidly to a strength of nearly 200,000 by mid-1914, it split in September of that year over John Redmond's commitment to the British war effort, with the smaller group retaining the name of 'Irish Volunteers'.
The initiative for a series of meetings leading up to the public inauguration of the Irish Volunteers came from the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). Bulmer Hobson, co-founder of the republican boy scouts, Fianna Éireann, and member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, believed the IRB should use the formation of the Ulster Volunteers as an 'excuse to try to persuade the public to form an Irish volunteer force'. The IRB could not move in the direction of a volunteer force themselves, as any such action by known proponents of physical force would be suppressed, despite the precedent established by the Ulster Volunteers. They therefore confined themselves to encouraging the view that nationalists also ought to organise a volunteer force for the defence of Ireland. A small committee then began to meet regularly in Dublin from July 1913, who watched the growth of this opinion. They refrained however from any action until the precedent of Ulster should have first been established while waiting for the lead to come from a 'constitutional' quarter.
The IRB began the preparations for the open organisation of the Irish Volunteers in January 1913. James Stritch, an IRB member, had the Irish National Foresters build a hall at the back of 41 Parnell Square in Dublin, which was the headquarters of the Wolfe Tone Clubs. Anticipating the formation of the Volunteers they began to learn foot-drill and military movements. The drilling was conducted by Stritch together with members of Fianna Éireann. They began by drilling a small number of IRB members associated with the Dublin Gaelic Athletic Association, led by Harry Boland.
Michael Collins, along with several other IRB members claimed that the formation of the Irish Volunteers was not merely a 'knee-jerk reaction' to the Ulster Volunteers, which is often supposed, but was in fact the 'old Irish Republican Brotherhood in fuller force.'
The IRB knew they would need a highly regarded figure as a public front that would conceal the reality of their control. The IRB found in Eoin MacNeill, Professor of Early and Medieval History at University College Dublin, the ideal candidate. MacNeill's academic credentials and reputation for integrity and political moderation had widespread appeal.
With MacNeill willing to take part, O'Rahilly and Hobson sent out invitations for the first meeting at Wynn's Hotel in Abbey Street, Dublin, on 11 November. Hobson himself did not attend this meeting, believing his standing as an 'extreme nationalist' might prove problematical. The IRB, however, was well represented by, among others, Seán Mac Diarmada and Éamonn Ceannt, who would prove to be substantially more extreme than Hobson. Several other meetings were soon to follow, as prominent nationalists planned the formation of the Volunteers, under the leadership of MacNeill.
The Volunteer organisation was publicly launched on 25 November, with their first public meeting and enrolment rally at the Rotunda in Dublin. The IRB organised this meeting to which all parties were invited and brought 5,000 enlistment blanks for distribution and handed out in books of one hundred each to each of the stewards. Every one of the stewards and officials wore on their lapel a small silken bow the centre of which was white, while on one side was green and on the other side orange and had long been recognised as the colours which the Irish Republican Brotherhood had adopted as the Irish national banner. The hall was filled to its 4,000-person capacity, with a further 3,000 spilling onto the grounds outside. Speakers at the rally included MacNeill, Patrick Pearse, and Michael Davitt, son of the Land League founder of the same name. Over the course of the following months the movement spread throughout the country, with thousands more joining every week.
The founding members were: Piaras Béaslaí (IRB), Sir Roger Casement (GL), Éamonn Ceannt (IRB, GL, SF), John Fitzgibbon (GL, SF), Liam Gogan, Bulmer Hobson (IRB, Fianna Éireann (FÉ)), Michael J. Judge (AOH), Thomas Kettle (IPP, AOH), James Lenehan (AOH), Michael Lonergan (IRB, Fianna Éireann (FÉ)), Peter (Peadar) Macken (IRB, Labour leader, SF, GL), Seán Mac Diarmada (IRB, Irish Freedom), Thomas MacDonagh (GL), Liam Mellows (IRB), Maurice Moore (IPP, GL, Connaught Rangers), Séamus O'Connor (IRB), Colm O'Loughlin (IRB, St. Enda's School (SES)), Peter O'Reilly (Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH)), Robert Page (IRB, Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA)), Patrick Pearse (GL, SES), Joseph M. Plunkett (GL, Irish Review), John Walsh (AOH), and Peter White (Celtic Literary Society). Fianna Éireann representatives: Con Colbert (IRB), Eamon Martin (IRB), Patrick O'Riain (IRB).
Pearse was to become a dominant force in the Irish Volunteers. Other documents we have seen include, in his distinctive handwriting, policy proposals, designs for application forms and recruitment posters.
The card offered here dates to 27 January 1914 before the split in the Irish Volunteers caused by John Redmond agreeing to support Britain in the war with Germany.
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The Buyers Premium for Art sales is 20% plus VAT ( 24.6% gross). The Buyers Premium for Collectibles sales is 24% plus VAT (29.52% gross). The Buyers Premium will be added to your winning bid amount. Your invoice will detail all the payment, collection and shipping particulars.