[Pearse, Padraig] O’Flynn, Criostoir.

A Man Called Pearse – A Play in Three Acts.

First Edition. Baile Átha Cliath (Dublin), Foilseacháin Náisiúnta Teoranta (FNT) (National Publications Ltd.), 1980. 13 cm x 18 cm. VI, 232 pages. Original Softcover. Very good condition with only minor signs of wear. Some minor signs of foxing to edges.

Patrick Henry Pearse (also known as Pádraig or Pádraic Pearse; Irish: Pádraig Anraí Mac Piarais; An Piarsach; 10 November 1879 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist and political activist who was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916. Following his execution along with fifteen others, Pearse came to be seen by many as the embodiment of the rebellion.
Pearse and his brother Willie and sisters Margaret and Mary Brigid were born at 27 Great Brunswick Street, Dublin, the street that is named after them today. It was here that their father, James Pearse, established a stonemasonry business in the 1850s, a business which flourished and provided the Pearses with a comfortable middle-class upbringing. Pearse’s father was a mason and monumental sculptor, and originally a Unitarian from Birmingham in England.Pearse’s maternal grandfather Patrick was a supporter of the 1848 Young Ireland movement and was sworn into the IRB. Pearse recalls attending a ballad singer perform republican songs, afterwords he went around looking for armed men ready to fight, he found none and declared sadly to his grandfather that “the fenians are all dead”. Pearse’s maternal grand uncle, James Savage fought in the American Civil War.

Pearse grew up surrounded by books. His father had had very little formal education, but was self-educated; he had two children Emily and James, from his first marriage (two other children died in infancy). His second wife, Margaret Brady, was from Dublin, and her father’s family from County Meath were native Irish speakers. The Irish-speaking influence of Pearse’s great-aunt Margaret, together with his schooling at the CBS Westland Row, instilled in him an early love for the Irish language.

Pearse was radicalised from an early age. He recalls that at the age of ten he prayed to God, promising him he would dedicate his life to Irish freedom.

Pearse soon became involved in the Gaelic revival. In 1896, at the age of 16, he joined the Gaelic League (Conradh na Gaeilge), and in 1903, at the age of 23, he became editor of its newspaper An Claidheamh Soluis (″The Sword of Light”).

Pearse’s early heroes were ancient Gaelic folk heroes such as Cúchulainn, though in his 30s he began to take a strong interest in the leaders of past republican movements, such as the United Irishmen Theobald Wolfe Tone and Robert Emmet[citation needed]. Both had been Protestant, but it was from such men as these that the fervently Catholic Pearse drew inspiration for the rebellion of 1916.

In 1900, Pearse was awarded a B.A. in Modern Languages (Irish, English and French) by the Royal University of Ireland, for which he had studied for two years privately and for one at University College Dublin. In the same year, he was enrolled as a Barrister-at-Law at the King’s Inns. Pearse was called to the bar in 1901. In 1905, Pearse represented Neil McBride, a poet and songwriter from Feymore, Creeslough, Donegal, who had been fined for having his name displayed in “illegible” writing (i.e. Irish) on his donkey cart. The appeal was heard before the Court of King’s Bench in Dublin. It was Pearse’s first and only court appearance as a barrister. The case was lost but it became a symbol of the struggle for Irish independence. In his June 27, 1905 An Claidheamh Soluis column, Pearse wrote of the decision, “…it was in effect decided that Irish is a foreign language on the same level with Yiddish.” (Wikipedia)

• Keywords: Catalogue Irish History Six – General Irish History · Drama · Drama – Rare · Irish Literature – Rare · Padraig Pearse
• Language: English
• Inventory Number: 28762AB

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