Description

TOM CLARKE. IRISH REVOLUTIONARY. EXECUTED 1916.

One of the seven signatories of the Irish Proclamation.
Before execution, he asked his wife Kathleen to give this message.

Message to the Irish People, 3 May 1916.
‘I and my fellow signatories believe we have struck the first successful blow for Irish freedom. The next blow, which we have no doubt Ireland will strike, will win through. In this belief, we die happy.’

Tom Clarke had a tobacconist shop near the top of Parnell Street at the junction of O’Connell and my maternal grandfather Martin O’Connor had a pub on the same street at number 212.
Tom would pop in after work for a drink and by all accounts was a lovely man and a fanatical Irish republican. Tom Clarke was one of the seven signatories of the Proclamation of Ireland.

A brief summary of Tom Clarke during the 1916 Easer Rising.
From the Wiki:
Clarke was stationed at headquarters in the General Post Office during the events of Easter Week, where rebel forces were largely composed of Irish Citizen Army members under the command of Connolly. Though he held no formal military rank, Clarke was recognized by the garrison as one of the commanders, and was active throughout the week in the direction of the fight, sharing the fortunes of his comrades.[8] Following the surrender on 29 April, Clarke was held in Kilmainham Jail until his execution by firing squad on 3 May at the age of 59. He was the second person to be executed, following Patrick Pearse.

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE EASTER RISING:

In 1916, in a rebellion known as the Easter Rising, a small group of uniformed and organized but poorly armed Irish patriots took on the might of the British Empire and sought to end 800 years of subjugation and oppression.
 Although outnumbered, for twelve extraordinary days in May 1916, they fought the British army to a standstill until finally forced to surrender as prisoners of war. 
Most were promptly executed without mercy and with their executions the Irish people, who initially had rejected them as hopeless dreamers and troublemakers, were so outraged by these brutal murders that they rose in huge numbers against the British and eventually succeeded, after years of armed struggle and massive help from the Irish diaspora in America, in ejecting the British and declaring independence.