The Jackie Clarke Collection | Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday 10am - 5pm | Free Admission

Thursday, 11 March 2021 12:55

Thomas MacDonagh

Poet, writer, scholar, revolutionary & signatory of the 1916 Proclamation, Thomas MacDonagh, was born in Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary 1st February 1868.

Pictured below is a unique and rare item contained within the Jackie Clarke Collection; a first edition (published 1906) of a book of MacDonagh’s poems entitled ‘The Golden Joy’.

The book contains an inscription in MacDonagh’s hand, gifting the book to his younger brother Joseph. Thomas and Joe, along with a third brother, John, fought side by side at Jacob’s Mills garrison during Easter Week 1916.

Joseph MacDonagh- a significant yet often overlooked personality in early twentieth century Irish political life- served as a TD for Tipperary in the 1919 First Dáil, retaining his seat in the 1921 Elections.

He was director of the ‘Belfast Boycott’ of 1920-21, a campaign which aimed to boycott goods from Ulster that were being imported into the south of Ireland.

He was known to peers and colleagues as a tireless worker, a sharp mind and a jovial, quick-witted character.

Joe, like the majority of ‘1916 Relatives’, opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. He was imprisoned by Free State forces in Kilmainham Gaol in 1922 during the Irish Civil War, where he embarked on hunger strike in protest against the harsh treatment of Republican prisoners.

Having previously been on hunger strike (including the 1918 strike on which Thomas Ashe died), Joe often suffered ill- health, and his condition deteriorated quickly.

Given the prominence of the MacDonagh family name, Joe was transferred to the Mater Hospital.

Sadly, he died on there Christmas Day 1922- adding greatly indeed to the poignancy of this special item in the Collection.

Published in Blog

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Specialist tours can be booked in advance by emailing clarkecollection@mayococo.ie or by phoning (096) 73508.

Contact

The Jackie Clarke Collection
Pearse Street, Ballina, Co. Mayo, Ireland

T: + 353 (0)96 73508
W: www.clarkecollection.ie
E: clarkecollection@mayococo.ie

Opening Times

Tuesday to Saturday: 10am to 5pm
Entrance is located at the side of the building on Walsh Street.

 

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It has been a very busy year for us with the appointment of our new Manager, Yvonne Corcoran Loftus, an expansion of our Educ...
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It has been a very busy year for us with the appointment of our new Manager, Yvonne Corcoran Loftus, an expansion of our Education Programme and a packed diary of Community Events. In June we were delighted to welcome Yvonne to the JCC team; Yvonne joined us with a wealth of knowledge and a background in Museum Curatorship and Finance coming from her previous role as Manager of the amazing Michael Davitt Museum. Yvonne hit the ground running and in just six months has implemented a wealth of new ideas and initiatives including submitting a successful application to the Heritage Council’s Museum Standards Programme for Ireland (MSPI). Yvonne also raised the profile of the museum back in October by appearing on the RTE Today show’s “National Treasures” segment showcasing key items from the collection on prime time television. Our Education Programme under the superb directorship of our Education Officer Celene Brennan continues to go from strength to strength seeing record numbers of students attending our workshops. Celene has expanded the programme to include the whole of County Mayo and beyond including hosting schools from Sligo, Galway, Leitrim and Roscommon. Celene also included both Maths week and Science week workshops for the first time in the Collections history and launched her new “Outreach Programme” taking Jackie’s love of history on the road to schools across our County and beyond. Our Community Programme run by the incredibly talented Anne Marie Forbes has brought a variety of extremely popular events to the house and garden. We have hosted, National Heritage Week, Culture Night, Nollaig na mBan, Ballina Salmon Festival and the Countdown to Christmas event to name just a few. We would like to take this opportunity to thank County Librarian Austin Vaughan and our Director of Services Joanne Grehan for all their support over the past twelve months and our CE Kevin Kelly and Mayo County Council without whose patronage the JCC would not be the success it is today. Finally a huge thank you to every visitor, volunteer, company, community group, school & staff member who continue to make the JCC a place of history, education and enjoyment for all.
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