1972
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Johnson, Lyndon Baines (1908–73): Born in Texas; congressman, senator, then vice president; became thirty-sixth president of the United States following the assassination of John Kennedy.
Johnston, Dr. Roy: Marxist socialist in Britain; Trinity College lecturer.
Kavanagh, Noel: IRA commandant.
Kelly, Captain James (d. 2002): An intelligence officer in the Irish army; arrested for gunrunning in 1970, he spent the rest of his life working to prove he had been under government orders.
Kelly, John: A leader of the Belfast Citizens’ Defence Committee and one of those arrested for gunrunning in 1970.
Kelly, Mick: IRA Volunteer.
Kennedy, John Fitzgerald (1917–63): Born in Massachusetts; World War Two war hero; author of Profiles in Courage; congressman, senator, then thirty-fifth president of the United States.
King, Martin Luther, Jr. (1929–68): American civil rights leader; assassinated in 1968.
Ledwidge, Francis (1887–1917): Poet born in County Meath; his lament for Thomas MacDonagh is one of his bestknown works; killed in World War One.
Lemass, Seán Francis (1899–1971): Born in County Dublin; joined the Irish Volunteers at fifteen; fought in the GPO in 1916; subsequently became an officer; took the republican side after the Treaty; fought in the Civil War; founder-member of Fianna Fail; elected TD for Dublin in 1925; minister for industry and commerce in de Valera’s first government, a post he held until his election as taoiseach in 1959; a specialist in economics, Lemass promoted the turf industry (Bord na Mona), the national airline (Aer Lingus) and was instrumental in developing Irish shipping; in 1965 he reestablished free trade with England.
Lester, John Ernest “Seán” (1888–1959): Born in County Antrim; member of the Gaelic League and the Irish National Volunteers; news editor on the Freeman’s Journal; publicist for the Irish Free State; appointed Irish representative to the League of Nations, Lester was the last secretary-general of the League.
London, Julie: American entertainer and jazz singer.
Luykx, Albert: Belgian-born businessman arrested in 1970 for gunrunning.
Lynch, John Mary “Jack” (1917–99): Born in Cork; one of the county’s most outstanding athletes, winning one All-Ireland Gaelic football championship and five All-Ireland hurling championships; qualified as a barrister while working in Dublin as a civil servant; elected to the Dáil in 1948; parliamentary secretary, 1951–54; minister for education, 1957–59; minister for industry and commerce, 1959–65; minister for finance, 1965–66; elected leader of Fianna Fáil and taoiseach in 1966; re-elected in 1969.
McCluskey, Con, and his wife, Patricia: Founders of the Campaign for Social Justice in Northern Ireland.
McGirl, John Joe (1921–88): Born in Leitrim; member of the IRA Army Council during the border campaign; Sinn Féin TD for South Leitrim, 1957–61; central figure in the Provisional IRA after the split; vice president of Sinn Féin at the time of his death.
McGuinness, Martin (b. 1950): Born in Derry; joined the Official IRA in 1970 but was with them for only a few weeks before joining the Provisionals instead; second in command in Derry on Bloody Sunday.
McKee, Billy: Born in Belfast; joined the IRA; Belfast O/C in the early 1960s; Belfast commander of the Provisional IRA in 1970.
McQuaid, John Charles (1895–1973): Born in County Cavan; ordained in 1924; president of Blackrock College; a close friend of Eamon de Valera; had a strong hand in framing the 1937 Constitution; appointed archbishop of Dublin by Pope Pius XII in 1940.
MacBride, Seán (1904–88): Born in Paris, son of John MacBride and Maud Gonne MacBride, two of the foremost figures in the Irish revolution; joined the Irish Volunteers and fought in the War of Independence; opposed the Treaty; worked as a journalist in Paris and London; returned to Dublin and became chief of staff of the IRA in 1936; called to the bar in 1937; resigned from the IRA upon enactment of the new Constitution; founded Clan na Poblachta in 1946; in 1948 became minister for external affairs; in 1949 founded the Irish News Agency; increasingly vocal as a defender of human rights and campaigner for peace; founder-member of Amnesty International; served as UN Commissioner for Namibia, 1973–76; recipient in 1974 of the Nobel Prize for Peace; was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize in 1977 and the American Medal for Justice in 1978.
MacGiolla, Tomás (Thomas Gill): Member of the IRA; president of Sinn Féin in 1966.
MacStiofáin, Seán (John Stephenson): London-born and half English; joined the IRA; became chief of staff of the Provisional IRA after the split.
MacSwiney, Terence (1879–1920): Lord mayor of Cork, commander of the Cork No. 1 Brigade of the IRA. Arrested by the British in 1920; died on hunger strike in Brixton Prison.
MacThomáis, Éamonn (Éamonn Patrick Thomas) (1927–2002): Patriot, historian, writer, Dubliner. Joined both Sinn Féin and the IRA in the fifties; became treasurer of Sinn Féin; manager and contributor to the United Irishman; Dublin O/C at the start of the border campaign; arrested in 1957 and interned in Curragh Camp; released in 1959; became editor of An Phoblacht in 1972; arrested again in 1973; upon release was again editor of An Phoblacht; rearrested within two months and sentenced to fifteen months in prison for allegedly possessing an IRA press bulletin; author of numerous books about Dublin; creator and presenter of RTE series during the seventies on the history of Dublin; conducted numerous walking tours of Dublin; lecturer and Keeper of the House of Lords Chamber in the Bank of Ireland on College Green, Dublin, 1988–2002.
Markievicz, Constance (1868–1927): Daughter of Sir Henry Gore-Booth, wife of Count Casimir Markievicz; cofounder of na Fianna Éireann; member of Cumann na mBan and the Citizen Army; second in command to Michael Mallin in Saint Stephen’s Green during the 1916 Rising; first woman to win election to the British Parliament although she never took her seat; subsequently served as the world’s first female minister of labour in the Irish parliament.
Murphy, Charlie: Member of IRA general headquarters staff.
Ní Ghráda, Mairead: Irish language playwright; member of staff of the first Dáil; the first female announcer on radio.
Nixon, Richard Milhous (1913–94): Thirty-seventh president of the United States.
Ó Brádaigh, Ruairí (Rory Brady) (b. 1932): Sinn Féin TD for Longford-Westmeath, 1975; IRA chief of staff, 1958–59 and 1961–62, when the republican movement split in 1970 became the first president of Provisional Sinn Féin; lost leadership to Gerry Adams in 1983; became leader of faction which left Sinn Féin to form Republican Sinn Féin.
O’Brien, Dr. Conor Cruise (b. 1917): Dublin-born politician, diplomat, and writer; active in the anti-partition campaign in the forties; seconded to the United Nations during the Congo crisis; after a long period out of Ireland he returned to win a seat for Labour in 1969; minister for posts and telegraphs, 1973–77, during which time he developed an abiding hatred for Irish republicanism; in 1966 joined the U.K. Unionist Party.
O’Brien, Mick: IRA Volunteer.
Ó Ceallaigh, Seán T. (Seán T. O’Kelly) (1882-1966): Born in Dublin; joined the Gaelic League in 1898; subsequently joined and recruited for the IRB; founder-member of Sinn Féin in 1905; elected to Dublin city council; staff captain to Pearse in 1916; elected in 1918 as Sinn Féin MP; envoy to the Peace Conference in Paris; opposed the Treaty; served as minister for local government and public health; minister for finance; elected as second president of Ireland in 1945.
Ó Conaill, Dáithí (David O’Connell) (1938-91): Schoolteacher from Cork; joined Sinn Féin in 1955; subsequently joined the IRA; second in command to Seán Garland in the 1956 border campaign; lost a lung to a bullet wound.
O’Donnell, Mary: Noted Irish fashion designer born in County Donegal; trained with Mainbocher and with Sybil Connolly before going into business for herself in 1963.
O’Donoghue, Phillip: IRA Volunteer.
O’Hanlon, Feargal (d. 1957): IRA Volunteer killed during the Brookeborough raid.
O’Malley, Ernie (1898–1957): Born in County May
o; fought in the 1916 Rising; commanded 2nd southern division of the IRA during the War of Independence; took the anti-Treaty side in the Civil War; arrested after the siege of the Four Courts, he later escaped; became IRA director of organisation; travelled widely as a writer and broadcaster; published to critical acclaim On Another Man’s Wound, his account of the War of Independence, and The Singing Flame, about the Civil War.
O’Neill, Terence (1914–90): Born in County Antrim; captain in the Irish Guards, serving in the British Army during World War Two; leader of Unionist Party and prime minister of Northern Ireland 1963–69.
O’Regan, Paddy: IRA Volunteer.
O Riada, Seán (1931–71): Cork-born composer; joined the staff of Radio Eireann as assistant director of music; studied music in Paris and Italy; in 1953 became music director of the Abbey Theatre; composed the musical score for the film documentary Mise Éire.
O Súilleabháin, Muiris (Maurice O’Sullivan) (1904–50): Born on Great Blasket Island off the coast of Kerry; went to Dublin in 1927 to join the civic guard; his biography, written in Irish, Fiche Blian ag Fás, was published in English as Twenty Years A Growing and translated in many languages.
Paisley, Ian Richard Kyle (b. 1926): Born in Armagh, Northern Ireland, the son of a former Baptist minister. Paisley studied at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Hall in Belfast; was ordained at the Ravenhill Evangelical Mission Church in 1946; cofounded his own new sect, the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, in 1951; from 1960 became the voice of extreme Protestant opinion; elected to the parliament of Northern Ireland; elected to the British House of Commons; cofounded the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP); elected to the European parliament.
Pearse, Senator Margaret Mary (1878–1968): Sister of Pádraic and Willie Pearse; helped in the establishment and maintenance of St. Enda’s; was one of those who kept the school open for seventeen years after the execution of her brothers; TD for County Dublin 1933–37; in 1938 elected to Seanad Éireann; in 1967 she bequeathed St. Enda’s to the nation.
Pearse, Pádraic (Patrick Henry Pearse) (1879–1916): Born in Dublin. Patriot, educationlist, writer, republican; founder of Saint Enda’s College; member of the military council of the IRB; founding member of the Irish National Volunteers; signatory of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic; president of the Irish Republic and commander in chief of republican forces during the 1916 Rising; executed by the British in 1916.
Pope John XXIII (Angelo Giuseppi Roncalli) (1881–1963): Leader of the attempt to modernise the Roman Catholic Church.
Rooney, Patrick: Nine-year-old Catholic boy killed by the B-Specials.
Scott, Michael (1905–89): Born in Drogheda; architect of the Irish pavilion of the New York World’s Fair in 1939; leading figure in the introduction of modern architecture to Ireland.
Shackleton, Sir Ernest Henry (1874–1922): Born in County Kildare; member of Scott’s Antarctic expedition 19012–04; led his own Antarctic expedition in 1907–09; was knighted upon returning to England: led his second expedition to the Antarctic in 1914 aboard the ship Endurance, which was caught and crushed in the ice; in an act of an almost superhuman heroism Shackleton managed to keep all his men alive and bring them to safety.
Sheen, Archbishop Fulton J. (d. 1981): American cleric considered to be one of the most influential Catholics in America in the twentieth century, Sheen popularised radio and television ministries. Millions regularly tuned in to his programme, The Catholic Hour.
Solomons, Estella (1882–1968): Dublin-born painter of Jewish extraction; educated in a finishing school in Germany; joined Cumann na mBan; active behind the scenes during the 1916 Rising; her home became a safe house for republicans on the run.
South, Seán (d. 1957): Born in Limerick; joined the IRA; killed during the Brookeborough raid.
Thatcher, Margaret Hilda (b. 1925): British politician and member of the Conservative Party; prime minister 1979–90, the first female prime minister in European history.
Truman, Harry S. (1884–1972): Thirty-third president of the United States.
Yeats, William Butler (1865–1939): Dublin-born poet and dramatist; awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1923.
BY MORGAN LLYWELYN FROM TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES
1916
1921
1949
1972
Bard
Brian Boru
The Elementals
Etruscans (with Michael Scott)
Finn Mac Cool
Grania
The Horse Goddess
The Last Prince of Ireland
Lion of Ireland
Pride of Lions
Strongbow
Praise for 1972
“This novel is Irish history brought to thrilling life by the acclaimed Morgan Llywelyn … gives a clear understanding of social changes, pressure points, and vivid movements of historical importance. Morgan Llywelyn is at her storytelling best in 1972.”
—Boston Irish Reporter
“Llywelyn’s grasp of Northern Ireland’s history is superb, and the immediacy of her writing is extremely gripping. This ambitious series proves that Llywelyn is not some naive outsider writing romantic historical novels about Ireland’s bloody political past.”
—Irish Voice
Praise for 1949
“Llywelyn’s third magisterial novel in her Irish Century series … Well-realized characters and a vivid history make for richly gratifying reading.”
—Publishers Weekly
Praise for 1921
“Llywelyn continues her magnificent multi-volume saga chronicling the twentieth-century struggle for Irish independence. As in 1916, she masterfully interweaves historical figures and events with fictional ones, providing both a panoramic and an intimate view.”
—Booklist
Praise for 1916
“The politics and factionalism behind the Rising are a tangled web indeed, but Llywelyn unravels them skillfully. Even those who know the story well will be surprised and rewarded by the way she brings back to life a group of brave men who went nobly to their deaths.”
—The Philadelphia Inquirer
Source Notes
CHAPTER ONE
1 The Secret Army
2 Éire-Ireland, Spring/Summer 2002
CHAPTER TWO
1 Robert Emmet: A Life
2 Chronicle of the 20th Century
3 From Union to Union
4 Irish Rebellion
CHAPTER THREE
1 The Secret Army
2 Ireland in the Twentieth Century
CHAPTER FIVE
1 The Secret Army
2 Ireland in Quotes
3 The IRA
CHAPTER EIGHT
1 The Secret Army
2 The Secret Army
3 Ireland in Quotes
CHAPTER NINE
1 Stanford
CHAPTER TEN
1 Revolutionary Brotherhood
CHAPTER ELEVEN
1 Modern Ireland
CHAPTER TWELVE
1 Ireland: The 20th Century
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
1 Northern Ireland; Captive of History
2 The Secret Army
3 The Orange Terror, excerpt from The Capuchin Annual 1943
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
1 Seán Lemass
2 Hope Against History
3 Irish Stone Bridges
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
1 A Monument in the City
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
1 Ireland in Quotes
CHAPTER NINETEEN
1 The Secret Army
2 Belfast 1969, Radio Telefis Éireann film documentary
3 The Secret Army
CHAPTER TWENTY
1 The Catholics of Ulster
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
1 Ireland in Quotes
2 Provos
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
1 The Secret Army
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
1 Before the Dawn
2 Persecuting Zeal
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
1 The Newspaper Book
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
1 Roger Casement, Radio Telefis Éireann film documentary
2 A Monument in the City
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
1 Ireland This Century
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
1 Cuimhneachán 1916-1966
2 Ireland This Century
3 The IRA
4 1916–1966; What Has Happened?
5 Lost Lives
6 Lost Lives
7 25 Years of Terror,
8 No Ordinary Women
9 Direct quote from a personal interview with Éamonn MacThomáis.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
1 Nice Fellow