New biography of Galway rebel leader who never sought the limelight

Lifestyle – Judy Murphy meets the author of a new biography on key 1916 figure Éamonn Ceannt

Although Éamonn Ceannt was just two years of age in 1883 when his family left his birthplace of Ballymoe, Co Galway, this unlikely revolutionary always regarded himself as a Galwegian. He met his wife Áine in Galway and it was to Spiddal that he came as a young man when he decided to learn Irish.

Éamonn Ceannt, who was a key figure in the 1916 Easter Rising and signatory to Ireland’s Proclamation of Independence, was executed by the British Crown for his role in the rebellion.

His life is the subject of a new biography, commissioned by O’Brien Press as part of a series to mark the lives of the 16 men who were executed in 1916. All the books in the 16 Lives Series will be available for the centenary of the Rising next year.

16 Lives: Éamonn Ceannt was written by Mary Gallagher, the revolutionary’s grand-niece, and an ideal person for this task. After taking early retirement from the Civil Service, Mary, who already had a BA from UCD, returned to university to study genealogy, family history and modern Irish history.

She acknowledges a debt of gratitude to Galway historian, William Henry, who penned the first ever account of Ceannt’s life.

Éamonn, Supreme Sacrifice: The Story of Éamonn Ceannt: 1881-1916 was published in 2005, and opened up a window to the past for her.

When William was writing his biography, he approached Mary and her late sister, Joan, for assistance and, while they were happy to help, she realised that her knowledge of her maternal grand-uncle was limited.

“I hadn’t known that much about my family background until then,” she acknowledges.

Mary discovered further material while researching her book, so it contains information that has never previously been in the public domain.

Éamonn Ceannt was born as Edward Kent in Ballymoe, near the Roscommon border in 1881. His father was an RIC Constable during a tumultuous time in the West of Ireland, when near-famine conditions and anger over tenants’ rights had led to the establishment of the Land League.

Constable James Kent came from Munster farming stock. As a landless second son, the RIC offered him a career and he joined in1862 when Ireland was at relative peace. He and his Cork-born wife Johanna had seven children, with Éamonn being the second youngest.

The family’s move from Galway in 1883, when James was promoted, meant that they avoided much of the Land War in the West of Ireland.

But that agrarian war sowed the seeds for the revolutionary movement, in which James’ son, Ned – or Éamonn as he became – would later be a key player.

The family moved firstly to Drogheda and later to Dublin, where the children worked hard and did well, or as well as lower- and middle-class Catholic men could do at the time, says Mary. Éamonn, who attended the Christian Brothers, was a bright, diligent student, but university was not an option.

He considered several careers, including one as a reporter with the Irish Independent, but didn’t like the idea of working day and night, so decided against it.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.