JOHN MCINTOSH was a Scottish Patriot who joined the United Irishmen and took part in Robert Emmet's abortive Rising of 1803. He became one of Emmet's most trusted lieutenants. McIntosh was put in charge of an arms depot where rockets, bombs and pikes were made. He was captured and offered 1000 pounds and a free passage to Scotland if he informed on his comrades. This McIntosh refused to do, and he remained a true Celt to the end. On October 3rd, he was hung drawn and quartered by the English oppressors.
JAMES CONNOLLY was born in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh of Irish parents in 1868. He was a pioneer of the socialist and labour movements in Scotland before leaving for Ireland in 1896, where he took up a full-time post with the Irish Socialist Republican Party.This party sought to unite the twin strands of Irish Republicanism and socialism into a single revolutionary force. Connolly later formed the Irish Citizen Army during the Dublin lockout of 1913 to defend the dockworkers from police and scabs. Connolly was one of the main architects of the Rising and held the post of Commander in Chief of the Republican forces. He was badly wounded in the Rising and was executed by the British at Kilmainham Jail on May 12 whilst strapped to a chair.
CHARLES CARRIGAN Charles Edward Carrigan was born in 1882 of Irish parents in the then industrial town of Denny in Stirlingshire.
Known to his friends as Charlie, he was modest by nature, and possessed a keen intellect. He was a tailor to trade, and attended night classes in history and literature. He was proficient in French and Latin, studied Irish, and was a Gaelic Leaguer.
From an early age Carrigan developed a love of all things Irish. At the age of 16, he was President of his local branch of the United Irish League, which supported the Irish Parliamentary Party. He later severed his connection with the UIL, having arrived at the conclusion that every major reform in Ireland since the 1880s, came about as a result of the Land League and physical force Republicanism. He went on to join the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and helped to form the first branch of Sinn Fein in Scotland, the Eire Og Craobh, in 1905. He was its first Chairman. Other IRB members also joined, including Dan Braniff, Tom O'Donnell and Thomas O'Baun. The branch was very active and advertised its activities in the 'Glasgow Observer' which catered for the Irish Catholic community. Sinn Fein organised a Gaelic class and held lectures on Irish history and the contemporary political situation.
Carrigan's wide reading and knowledge of the hardships endured by the working people of Clydeside, many of whom were Irish immigrants, developed in him a strong social conscience. In 1906 the future Minister of Housing in the first Labour Government, John Wheatley, founded the small but influential Catholic Socialist Society. The Society aimed to reconcile practising Roman Catholics with the tenets of socialism. Carrigan and fellow IRB member Tomas O'Baun, enrolled. Carrigan served on the organising committee, presided at meetings, and was much in demand as a lecturer. The left wing outlook of the Glasgow Sinn Feiners was demonstrated further, when they verbally attacked the Sinn Fein leader, Arthur Griffith, for siding with the management during the 1913 Dublin Lock-Out.
The alarming growth in the activities of the Ulster Volunteer Force led to the formation of the Irish National Volunteers in 1914. Although strongly influenced by John Redmond and the constitutional nationalists, the new body was extensively infiltrated by the IRB. By October 1914, there were over 2,000 Volunteers in Scotland. When the World War broke out, Redmond pledged the Volunteers to the British war effort, precipitating a split in the organisation. The rupture in Ireland was replicated in Scotland with the bulk going over to the Redmond Camp. The breakaway Irish Volunteers had two companies in Glasgow by 1915. They drilled in a hall at 34 Ann Street under the name of the Celtic Miniature Rifle Club. The IRB had a controlling influence in the Glasgow companies, whose leaders included Joseph Robinson, Seamus Reader, Liam Gribben, Alec Carmichael, Tomas O'Baun, Seamus Fullerton and Bernard Friel.
Throughout this period, Carrigan worked energetically for the IRB inside the Irish Volunteers and Sinn Fein. In addition to being a member of 'A' Company, Irish Volunteers, Glasgow, he held the important position of Scottish Representative on the Supreme Council of the IRB.
Carrigan and other IRB members left for Ireland before Conscription was introduced in January 1916. About 50 Irish Volunteers went to Dublin, as did members of the Fianna and Cumann na mBan. They joined other overseas contingents from London, Manchester and Liverpool at the home of Count Plunkett in Kimmage, County Dublin. They became the Scottish Division, Kimmage Garrison. They spent a lot of their time when they got there, preparing the Republican armoury for the epic event that lay ahead.
On Easter Monday, 24 April, the overseas contingents including the US based Hibernian Rifles, were deployed in Garrisons in the perimeter of the GPO and elsewhere. The Rising had started.
Despite putting up a brave fight, the constant British bombardment was taking its toll. Incendiary shells set the Republican Headquarters at the GPO on fire, and an evacuation was necessary. It was during the second evacuation on April 28th, that Charles Carrigan was cut down in a hail of bullets with The O'Rahilly by his side. They were killed in Moore Street near the burning GPO. By a sad coincidence it was Carrigan's 34th birthday.
Charles Carrigan's name has pride of place with 15 other Easter Week heroes on a monument in St Paul's Cemetery, Glasnevin, where their remains are buried.
IAIN MACKENZIE KENNEDY was a Scottish Republican who is believed to have hailed from the Lochaber district of Invernesshire. In 1916 he went to Ireland in a quest for the Irish language and became involved with the Irish Volunteers and later the West Cork Brigade of the IRA. He was killed by Free State forces at Passage West on August 8 1922. Iain MacKenzie Kennedy is buried in the Republican Plot in Cork City and his name takes pride of place on the Republican Monument in Macroom. See www.rsfcork.com
