Adam's The History Sale Tuesday 24th April 2018

78 Tuesday 24th April 132 A SILVER SNUFF BOX PREVIOUSLY THE PROPERTY OF TOM CLARKE, BIRMINGHAM 1903, mark of Joseph Cook & Son, of rectangular form with integral hinged lid, decorated with an inlaid Connemara marble harp in a bed of chased and engraved shamrocks and enclosed within a gadrooned border, the inside of the lid inscribed: “ From Hannah Clarke to Michael O’C. Maguire,the Property ofTom Clarke First President Irish Republic 1916 ”. 4.5 x 3cm When the Proclamation of the Irish Republic was signed on 18 April 1916,Thomas Clarke (1857-1916) was given the honour of being the first signatory. It has been said that Clarke would have been the declared president but he refused any military rank and such honours. Born in England,Tom Clarke grew up in Dungannon, CoTyrone, where he qualified as an assistant teacher. However he was horrified by the poverty, injustice and desolation which he saw all around him and joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood in 1879.After joining, he spent time in NewYork where he trained in using explosives. He was sent to England on a dynamite campaign but was arrested shortly afterwards and spent fifteen years in prison there.After being re- leased in 1898 he returned to Dublin where he was reunited with his mother, and sister Hannah. Shortly afterwards he met and fell in love with Kathleen, niece of his close friend John Daly.The couple were married and spent some time in NewYork before returning to Dublin whereTom set up a tobacconist’s shop. Letters fromTom Clarke to his wife Kathleen in the collection of the National Library of Ireland show thatTom’s sister Hannah was heavily involved in the setting up of the shop and assisted him in the process of organising suppliers. Over the next few years, this shop would become an important base from which Clarke would revive the IRB, recruiting new members and subsequently founding the IrishVolunteers in 1914. He was instrumental in the success of the move- ment and it was he who identified PH Pearse and facilitated his success as a public speaker. When Clarke’s name was read first on the Proclamation on 24 April 1916, he was standing next to Pearse on the steps of the headquarters of the GPO and is said to have been moved by this tribute. It was an acknowledgement of the central role he played in bringing the Rising to fruition. Tom Clarke was executed at dawn on May 3, 1916, with Patrick Pearse andThomas MacDonagh. € 3,000 - 5,000