Thomas Clarke

Dublin city centre

Thomas Clarke was a lifelong Irish republican, long before there was  an Irish republic. Having spent 15 years in jail for trying to blow up London Bridge in 1883, he promptly rejoined the Irish Republican Brotherhood on his release and began plotting something even bigger.In 1916, he was one of the instigators of the Easter Rising and on this date 97 years ago, he was executed by firing squad by the British Army, after the Rising had been crushed.

The picture of Dublin city centre was taken on Easter Sunday morning in 2007, and it was on an Easter Monday morning  that the Rising began. Clarke spent the Rising in the rebel headquarters in the General Post Office – it is not visible in this image but it is beside the Spire (the needle-like structure on the middle of O Connell Street). This image was taken from the top of a building that bore Clarke’s name – Thomas Clarke tower in Ballymun, north Dublin. It has since been demolished, so this view no longer exists.

A bigger version of this image can be seen here.