ADAMS - THE HISTORY SALE Tuesday 19th April 2016 : You can Download a PDF Version from the Bottom Menu Down Arrow Icon

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The History Sale 19th April 2016
A cyclostyled typescript Mobilisation Order for Irish Volunteers, Dublin Brigade, 2 pp folio, dated 2 April 1915, signed at head in MacDonagh’s hand with his initials,
numbered 2, and endorsed by him with time of issue at foot of second page.
The Order outlines in 21 paragraphs MacDonagh’s detailed plans for a training attack on the enemy ‘reported at Finglas village, strength, one Battalion (The Finglas
Battalion, I.V.)’, including assembly, march, attack and fall-back plans for the four battalions of the Brigade, the fourth battalion including a strong Cyclist Corps.
Thomas MacDonagh, a poet and teacher from Cloughjordan, was for several years Pearse’s assistant at St. Enda’s. He joined the Irish Volunteers on their forma-
tion, and became Director of Training in 1914. He found he had a talent for soldiering, shown in these very clear and systematic orders, and he was Parade Marshal
for the O’Donovan Rossa funeral in 1915. In the 1916 Rising he signed the Proclamation and commanded the force at Jacob’s Factory in Bishop Street. He was
executed on 3 May. A British officer is reported as saying later, ‘They all died well, but MacDonagh died like a prince’. He left a wife and two small children.
Documents linking MacDonagh with the Volunteers are very scarce.
Provenance: Collection of M.W. O’Reilly, see his biography above.
€ 1,000 - 1,500