A Tribute to Seán MacDiarmada

Seán MacDiarmada (February 28, 1883 May 12, 1916) (born John MacDermott, usually used the name Sean MacDermott) was one of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland. In 1910 Mac Diarmada was stricken with polio and forced to walk with a cane. In November 1913 Mac Diarmada was one of the original members of the Irish Volunteers, and continued to work to bring that organization under IRB control. In May 1915 Mac Diarmada was arrested in Tuam, County Galway, under the Defense of the Realm Act for giving a speech against enlisting into the British Army. Following his release in September 1915, he joined the secret Military Committee of the IRB, which was responsible for planning the rising. Indeed Mac Diarmada and Clarke were the people most responsible for it. Due to his disability, Mac Diarmada took little part in the fighting of Easter week, but was stationed at the headquarters in the General Post Office. Following the surrender, he nearly escaped execution by blending in with the large body of prisoners. He was eventually recognized by Daniel Hoey of G Division. A British Officer, Lee-Wilson, ordered Mac Diarmada to be shot, rather than imprisoned, and snapped his cane and forced him to limp to Kilmainham Gaol. Following a court-martial on May 9, Mac Diarmada was executed by firing squad on May 12 at the age of 33. In September 1919 Hoey was shot dead by Michael Collins' Squad. The British Officer, Lee-Wilson was also killed on Collins's order in Cork during the Irish War of Independence. Seán MacDermott Street in Dublin is named in his honour. So too is Mac Diarmada rail station in Sligo.