Editing Thomas MacDonagh

{{Short description|Irish revolutionary (1878–1916)}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox military person
| name          = Thomas MacDonagh
| image         = Thomas MacDonagh.png
| image_size    = 
| caption       = 
| nickname      = 
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1878|2|1|df=yes}}
| birth_place   = [[Cloughjordan]], [[County Tipperary]], Ireland
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|1916|5|3|1878|2|1|df=yes}}
| death_place   = [[Kilmainham Gaol]], Dublin, Ireland
| death_cause   = [[Execution by firing squad]]
| placeofburial = 
| allegiance    = [[Irish Volunteers]]
| branch        = 
| serviceyears  = 1913–1916
| rank          = [[Commandant]]
| unit          = 
| commands      = 2nd Battalion
| battles       = [[Easter Rising]]
| awards        = 
| spouse        = [[Muriel MacDonagh|Muriel Gifford]]
| children      = {{flatlist|
*Barbara MacDonagh
*[[Donagh MacDonagh]] }}
| relations     = 
| laterwork     = 
}}

'''Thomas Stanislaus MacDonagh''' ({{langx|ga|Tomás Anéislis Mac Donnchadha}}; 1 February 1878 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish political activist, poet, playwright, educationalist and revolutionary leader. He 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. He was executed for his part in the Rising at the age of thirty-eight.

MacDonagh was assistant headmaster at [[St. Enda's School]], Scoil Éanna, and [[lecturer]] in English at [[University College Dublin]]. He was a member of the [[Gaelic League]], where he befriended [[Patrick Pearse]] and [[Eoin MacNeill]]. He was a founding member of the [[Irish Volunteers]] with MacNeill and Pearse. He wrote poetry and plays. His play, ''When the Dawn is Come'', was produced by the [[Abbey Theatre]] in 1908. Other plays include ''Metempsychosis'', 1912 and ''Pagans'', 1915, both produced by the Irish Theatre Company.

==Early life==
He was born [[Cloughjordan]], [[County Tipperary]], to Joseph McDonagh, a schoolmaster, and Mary Parker. He grew up in a household filled with music, poetry and learning and was instilled with a love of both [[Culture of England|English]] and [[Irish culture]] from a young age.{{citation needed|date=February 2017}} His brothers included future [[Sinn Féin]] politician, [[Joseph MacDonagh|Joseph]], and film director [[John MacDonagh|John]].

Both his parents were teachers;<ref>{{Cite book | last = Roche | first = Anthony | title = The UCD aesthetic: celebrating 150 years of UCD writers | publisher = New Island | year = 2005 | location = Dublin | page = 31 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=JrplAAAAMAAJ&q=parents+teachers | isbn = 978-1-904301-82-0 | access-date = 6 October 2016 | archive-date = 6 May 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170506092953/https://books.google.com/books?id=JrplAAAAMAAJ&q=parents+teachers | url-status = live }}</ref> who strongly emphasised education. MacDonagh attended [[Rockwell College]].<ref>{{Cite book | last = Walsh | first = Brendan | title = The pedagogy of protest: the educational thought and work of Patrick H. Pearse | publisher = Peter Lang | year = 2007 | page = 226 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=UA3fbLv1EQoC&pg=PA226 | isbn = 978-3-03910-941-8 | access-date = 29 October 2020 | archive-date = 23 September 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210923022904/https://books.google.com/books?id=UA3fbLv1EQoC&pg=PA226 | url-status = live }}</ref> While there MacDonagh spent several years as a scholastic, sometimes a preparation for a missionary career, however, after a few years he realised that it wasn't the life for him, and left.<ref>{{Cite journal | last = Norstedt | first = Johann | title = The gift of reputation: Yeats and MacDonagh | journal = Éire-Ireland | volume = 19 | issue = 3 | page = 136 | publisher = Irish American Cultural Institute | date = Fall 1984 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=2Fe1AAAAIAAJ&q=Thomas+MacDonagh+priesthood | issn = 0013-2683 | access-date = 13 November 2010 | archive-date = 23 September 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210923022904/https://books.google.com/books?id=2Fe1AAAAIAAJ&q=Thomas+MacDonagh+priesthood | url-status = live }}</ref> Very soon after, he published his first book of poems, ''Through the Ivory Gate'', in 1902.<ref>{{Cite web | title = Thomas MacDonagh | work = Ricorso | url = http://www.ricorso.net/rx/az-data/index.htm | access-date = 17 November 2010 | archive-date = 25 July 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180725083231/http://www.ricorso.net/rx/az-data/index.htm | url-status = live }}</ref> He 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|St. Colman's College]], [[Fermoy]], County Cork, where he also formed a branch of the [[Gaelic League]]. While in Fermoy, MacDonagh was one of the founding members of [[Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland|ASTI]], the secondary teachers trade union which was formed in the Fermoy College in 1908.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kenna |first1=Shane |title=Thomas MacDonagh: 16 Lives |date=2014 |publisher=O'Brien Press}}</ref> He moved to [[Dublin]], soon establishing strong friendships with such men as [[Eoin MacNeill]] and [[Patrick Pearse]].

==Teaching==
His friendship with Pearse and his love of Irish led him to join the staff of Pearse's bilingual [[St. Enda's School]] upon its establishment in 1908, taking the role of French and English teacher and Assistant Headmaster. He was one of the founders of the teachers' trade union ASTI (Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland). MacDonagh was essential to the school's early success, on his marriage he took the position of lecturer in English at the [[National University of Ireland|National University]], while continuing to support St Enda's. MacDonagh remained devoted to the [[Irish language]], and in 1910 he became tutor to a younger member of the [[Gaelic League]], [[Joseph Plunkett]]. The two were both poets with an interest in the Irish Theatre and formed a lifelong friendship.

On 3 January 1912 he married [[Muriel MacDonagh|Muriel Gifford]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/details-civil/73ba027087859|title=General Registrar's Office|website=IrishGenealogy.ie|access-date=1 February 2017|archive-date=23 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923022906/https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/captcha.jsp|url-status=live}}</ref> (a member of the [[Church of Ireland]], though neither she nor he was a churchgoer); their son, [[Donagh MacDonagh|Donagh]], was born that November, and their daughter, Barbara, in March 1915. Muriel's sister, [[Grace Gifford]], was to marry [[Joseph Mary Plunkett]] hours before his execution in 1916.

MacDonagh was a member of the [[Irish Women's Franchise League]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rte.ie/centuryireland/index.php/articles/pacificism-or-physical-force|title=Pacificism or Physical Force? &#124; Century Ireland|website=[[RTÉ.ie]]|access-date=12 January 2019|archive-date=19 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119150643/https://www.rte.ie/centuryireland/index.php/articles/pacificism-or-physical-force|url-status=live}}</ref> He 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.<ref>{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5WosDwAAQBAJ&q=thomas+macdonagh+dublin+lockout&pg=PT28|title = The Dublin Lockout, 1913: New Perspectives on Class War & its Legacy|isbn = 9781911024828|last1 = McNamara|first1 = Conor|last2 = Yeates|first2 = Padraig|date = 24 July 2017| publisher=Merrion Press |access-date = 29 October 2020|archive-date = 23 September 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210923022905/https://books.google.com/books?id=5WosDwAAQBAJ&q=thomas+macdonagh+dublin+lockout&pg=PT28|url-status = live}}</ref>

==Republicanism==
In 1913 both MacDonagh and Plunkett attended the inaugural meeting of the [[Irish Volunteers]] and joined its Provisional Committee. MacDonagh was later appointed Commandant of Dublin's 2nd Battalion and eventually made commandant of the entire Dublin Brigade. Although originally a pure constitutionalist, through his dealings with men such as Pearse, Plunkett, and [[Seán Mac Diarmada]], and through the increasing militarisation of [[Europe]] in the onset of [[World War I]], MacDonagh developed stronger [[Irish republicanism|republican]] beliefs, joining the [[Irish Republican Brotherhood]] (IRB), probably during the summer of 1915. Around this time [[Tom Clarke (Irish republican)|Tom Clarke]] asked him to plan the grandiose funeral of [[Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa]], which was a resounding propaganda success, largely due to the [[Ireland unfree shall never be at peace|graveside oration]] delivered by Pearse.

==Easter Rising==
[[File:Thomas MacDonagh in uniform, half-length portrait (24469972256).jpg|thumb|upright|Thomas MacDonagh in military uniform (1915)]]
Though credited as one of the Easter Rising's seven leaders, MacDonagh was a late addition to that group. He didn't join the secret Military Council that planned the rising until April 1916, weeks before the rising took place. The reason for his admittance at such a late date is uncertain. Still a relative newcomer to the IRB, men such as Clarke may have been hesitant to elevate him to such a high position too soon, which raises the question as to why he should be admitted at all. His close ties to Pearse and Plunkett may have been the cause, as well as his position as commandant of the Dublin Brigade (though his position as such would later be superseded by [[James Connolly]] as commandant-general of the Dublin division). Nevertheless, MacDonagh was a signatory of the [[Proclamation of the Irish Republic|Proclamation of the Republic]].

During the rising, MacDonagh's battalion was stationed at the massive complex of Jacob's Biscuit Factory. On the way to this destination the battalion encountered the veteran [[Fenian]], [[John MacBride]], who on the spot joined the battalion as second-in-command, and in fact took over part of the command throughout Easter Week, although he had had no prior knowledge and was in the area by accident. MacDonagh's original second in command was [[Michael O'Hanrahan]].<ref name="taoiseach">{{cite web|url=http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/index.asp?docID=2518|title=Home - Department of Taoiseach|publisher=taoiseach.gov.ie|access-date=19 January 2014|archive-date=26 November 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071126103140/http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/index.asp?docID=2518|url-status=live}}</ref>

As it was, despite MacDonagh's rank and the fact that he commanded one of the strongest battalions, they saw little fighting, as the [[British Army]] avoided the factory as they established positions in central Dublin. MacDonagh received the order to surrender on 30 April, though his entire battalion was fully prepared to continue the engagement. Following the surrender, MacDonagh was [[court martial]]led, and [[execution by firing squad|executed by firing squad]] on 3 May 1916, aged thirty-eight. He was the 3rd signatory of the Proclamation to be shot. It is said that as he was taken from his cell to be executed he whistled.<ref>{{Cite book |title=16 Lives: Patrick Pearse |page=275}}</ref>

His widow, Muriel, died of heart failure while swimming in Skerries, County Dublin on 9 July 1917; his son [[Donagh MacDonagh]] became a judge, and was also a prominent poet, Broadway playwright,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ibdb.com/person.php?id=5079|title=Donagh MacDonagh – Broadway Cast & Staff &#124; IBDB|access-date=10 May 2014|archive-date=12 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512222512/http://ibdb.com/person.php?id=5079|url-status=live}}</ref> songwriter and broadcaster, a central member of the Irish literary revival of the 1940s/1960s. He married Nuala Smyth and they had four children. His daughter Barbara married the actor [[Liam Redmond]] and they had four children. During the 1950s and 1960s, she wrote many scripts for Radio Éireann, the Irish national radio broadcaster, using her husband's more famous name.

==Reputation and commemoration==
MacDonagh was generally credited with being one of the most gregarious and personable of the Rising's leaders. [[Geraldine Plunkett Dillon]], a sister of [[Joseph Plunkett]] gives a contemporary description of him in her book ''All in the Blood'': "As soon as Tomás came into our house everyone was a friend of his. He had a pleasant, intelligent face and was always smiling, and you had the impression that he was always thinking about what you were saying." In Mary Colum's ''Life and the Dream'', she writes of hearing about the Rising from America, where she was living with her husband, [[Pádraic Colum]], remembering Tomás MacDonagh saying to her: "This country will be one entire slum unless we get into action, in spite of our literary movements and Gaelic Leagues it is going down and down.  There is no life or heart left in the country."

A prominent figure in the Dublin literary world, he was commemorated in several poems by [[William Butler Yeats|W.B. Yeats]]. Yeats most famous nationalist poem ''[[Easter 1916]]'' makes an [[allusion]] to MacDonagh as a friend of Pearse: "This other his helper and friend/ Was coming into his force/ He might have won fame in the end/ So sensitive his nature seemed/ So daring and sweet his thought".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kumar Sarker |first1=Sunil |title=W.B. Yeats: Poetry and Plays |publisher=Atlantic Publishers |page=188}}</ref> His friend [[Francis Ledwidge]]'s ''Lament for Thomas MacDonagh'' also commemorates him.  In a poem rich with allegory – ''the Dark Cow'' ({{langx|ga|Bó Orann}}) is an 18th-century symbol of Ireland, for instance – Ledwidge wrote:
<poem>
'''He shall not hear the [[Great bittern|bittern]] cry''
''In the wild sky, where he is lain,''
''Nor voices of the sweeter birds''
''Above the wailing of the rain''<br />
''Nor shall he know when loud March blows         
''Thro’ slanting snows her fanfare shrill,
''Blowing to flame the golden cup
''Of many an upset [[daffodil]].<br />
''But when the Dark Cow leaves the [[Moorland|moor]]''
''And [[pasture]]s poor with greedy weeds,''
''Perhaps he'll hear her [[List_of_animal_sounds#Cow|low]] at morn,''
''Lifting her horn in pleasant meads.''
</poem>
Thomas MacDonagh Tower in [[Ballymun]], Dublin, which was built in the 1960s and demolished in June 2005, was named after him. 
MacDonagh had taught in St Kieran's College, [[Kilkenny|Kilkenny City]] during the early years of his career, where [[Kilkenny railway station|MacDonagh Railway Station]] was named in his memory, as was the MacDonagh Junction shopping centre.

The Thomas MacDonagh Heritage Centre in Cloughjordan, County Tipperary was opened in 2013. The centre houses the town library and exhibition space.<ref>[https://archive.today/20140118154651/http://nenaghguardian.ie/news-detail.php?article=5IUEU6 New MacDonagh Library and Heritage Centre for Cloughjordan], Nenagh Guardian</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.macdonaghheritage.ie/ |title=Thomas MacDonagh Heritage Centre |access-date=13 December 2013 |archive-date=13 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213220503/http://www.macdonaghheritage.ie/ |url-status=live }}</ref> An annual Thomas MacDonagh Summer School takes place in Cloughjordan over the May bank holiday weekend.<ref>[http://www.cloughjordan.ie/macdonaghweekend/ Cloughjordan Honours MacDonagh] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100427105855/http://www.cloughjordan.ie/macdonaghweekend/ |date=27 April 2010 }}, Cloughjordan.ie</ref>

[[Gaelic Athletic Association]] clubs and grounds named after MacDonagh have been established in [[County Tipperary]] ([[Kilruane MacDonagh's GAA|Kilruane]], [[MacDonagh Park|Nenagh]] and a North Tipperary [[Thomas MacDonagh's GFC|amalgamation]]).

The McDonagh Barracks group of buildings represents one of the largest individual components of the [[Curragh Camp]] in Kildare. The nearby [[Pitch & Putt|pitch & putt]] also bears his name.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/11902309/mcdonagh-barracks-curragh-ballysax-east-ed-curragh-camp-kildare |title=MacDonagh Barracks |access-date=4 August 2021 |archive-date=4 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210804221413/https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/11902309/mcdonagh-barracks-curragh-ballysax-east-ed-curragh-camp-kildare |url-status=live }}</ref>

As MacDonough was a founding member, the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) awards the 'Thomas MacDonough Medal' for "extraordinary service to the union by members".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Barrett |first1=Rose |title=Local teacher wins ASTI Thomas MacDonagh Medal |agency=Dublin Gazette}}</ref>

==Works==
His works include:
*''Through the Ivory Gate''
*''April and May''
*''When the Dawn is Come''
*''Songs of Myself''
*''Lyrical Poems''
* “The Golden Joy”
* “The Stars Stand Up in the Air”
*''Thomas Campion and the Art of English Poetry''
*''Literature in Ireland'' (published posthumously)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* Kenna, Shane (2015). ''16 Lives: Thomas MacDonagh''. Dublin. 
* {{cite journal|last=Bourke|first=Marcus|title=Irish Tommies: the Construction of a Martial Manhood 1914-1918|journal=Bullan|volume=3 |issue=2|date=Winter 1997 – Spring 1998}}
* {{cite journal|last=Bourke|first=Marcus|title=Thomas MacDonagh's role in the Plans for the 1916 Rising|journal=The Irish Sword|volume=8 |issue=32|date=1968|pages=198–85}}
* {{cite book|last=Caulfield|first=Max|title=The Easter Rebellion|place=London|date=1963}}
* {{cite book|last=Dudley Edwards|first=Owen|title=Eamon de Valera|place=Cardiff|date= 1987}}
* Moran, Sean Farrell, Patrick Pearse and the Politics of Redemption, 1994.
* {{cite book|last=Norstedt|first=Johann A.|title=Thomas MacDonagh: A Critical Biography|place=Charlottesville, VA|date=1980}}
* {{cite book|last1=Parks|first1=Edd W.|last2=Parks|first2=Aileen W.|title=Thomas MacDonagh: the Man, the Patriot, the Writer|place=Athens, GA|date= 1967}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Williams|editor-first=T.D.|title=The Irish Struggle, 1916-1926|place=London|date=1966}}

==External links==
*{{Internet Archive author |sname=Thomas MacDonagh}}
*{{Librivox author |id=9576}}
*[http://catalogue.nli.ie/Collection/vtls000582662 Thomas MacDonagh Additional Papers, 1870-1967] digitized collection at the [[National Library of Ireland]]
*[http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000133834/ Thomas MacDonagh], [[Census of Ireland, 1911]]
*[http://www.macdonaghheritage.ie/ Thomas MacDonagh Heritage Centre] Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary 
*{{cite web|url=http://www.irishplayography.com/person.aspx?personid=40483|title= Thomas MacDonagh |website=Irish Playography}}
*[http://www.rte.ie/centuryireland/index.php/tags/thomas%20macdonagh Thomas MacDonagh] tagged articles from ''Century 100'' by [[Raidió Teilifís Éireann]]
*[http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/2017/0116/845384-he-might-have-won-fame-in-the-end/ "He Might Have Won Fame In The End"], May 1978 documentary on [[RTÉ Radio 1]] by [[Anthony Cronin]]

{{Easter Rising|state=expanded}}
{{Irish poetry}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonagh, Thomas}}
[[Category:1878 births]]
[[Category:1916 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Cloughjordan]]
[[Category:Executed participants in the Easter Rising]]
[[Category:Executed writers]]
[[Category:Irish nationalists]]
[[Category:20th-century Irish poets]]
[[Category:Irish republicans]]
[[Category:Irish revolutionaries]]
[[Category:Irish suffragists]]
[[Category:Members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood]]
[[Category:Signatories of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic]]
[[Category:MacDonagh family|Thomas]]
[[Category:Executed people from County Tipperary]]
[[Category:20th-century Irish dramatists and playwrights]]