Thomas James Clarke (1857-1916)
Tomás Séamus Ó Cléirigh
Thomas Clarke was born on the Isle of Wight in 1857. His father was a soldier
in the British Army and was based there. His father was transferred to South Africa when Thomas was one so the family
moved with him. They did not return to Ireland until he was seven at which time he moved to Dungannon, Co Tyrone, and grew up
there.
In 1880, riots erupted in Dungannon between locals and the police. Clarke, armed with a rifle, proceeded to
fire at police, and the crowd then proceeded to attack the constabulary.
The authorities took this violence very seriously, and Clarke decided to leave the area in fear of his life.
Friends of his were emigrating to America, and he decided to join them.
While living in New York
he joined the Clan na Gael. Clarke was sent back to
England to participate in a dynamite campaign, in which bombs were being set off across London in places like
the Tower of London and the Underground.
The operation was riddled with informers and the police were actually following Clarke as he was engaged in
surveillance missions.He was arrested and served 15 years in a British prison. At that time there was a general
amnesty for Fenian prisoners.
The following spring he made a trip to Limerick to visit his old friend, John Daly.
He stayed with the Dalys on into the summer and formed a close bond with Daly's niece, Kathleen.
He was 41, she was 21. They couldn't get married until he found a job but he failed to find one in Ireland
so he took Kathleen to America, where they got married. Clarke applied for, and received US citizenship in 1905,
and in 1906, obtained two fairly substantial farm properties in New York state. He did not immediately intend to
return to Ireland, but he did so in 1907.
Manorville NY Memorial to Clarke, on his 60 acre property.
The IRB was essentially being refounded in Ireland, and Devoy (the head of Clan na Gael),
sent Clarke back to Ireland to head up the American interest in the IRB revival there.
He became a member of the Supreme Council of the IRB, and of the Military Council of the
IRB. His tobacco shop at 75A Great Britain Street in Dublin became the hotbed of
revolutionary activity as he masterminded the reorganisation of the old disbanded IRB,
or Irish Republican Brotherhood.
In 1915 Clarke and MacDermott established the Military Committee of the IRB to plan what
later became the Easter Rising. The members were Pearse, Ceannt, and Joseph Plunkett,
with Clarke and MacDermott adding themselves shortly thereafter.
At the request of the other leaders and as a sign of their respect, Tom Clarke was
the first to sign the Easter Proclamation as he was the 'elder statesman' of the Republican
movement.
The Proclamation
He served in the GPO during Easter week, and was executed
along with Patrick Pearse and Thomas MacDonagh on 3 May, 1916 in Kilmainham Gaol. He was 59.
Before his execution, he asked his wife Kathleen to give this message to the Irish People.
‘I and my fellow signatories believe we have struck the first successful blow for Irish freedom. The next blow,
which we have no doubt Ireland will strike, will win through. In this belief, we die happy. '
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