Patrick Pearse

Patrick Pearse

Writer, educator, republican activist, and Irish language enthusiast. A Gaelic League teacher, Patrick or Pádraig Pearse taught JJ Irish around the turn of the century and, in 1908, founded the bilingual school for boys, St Enda's, modelled on the Belgian educational system. A wide-ranging reader, Pearse adored Shakespeare and revered Ibsen. He was one of the seven signatories of the 1916 Proclamation and served as President of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic. For his part in the Easter Rising, he was court-martialled and executed by firing squad. He was thirty-six years old at the time of his death. Ronan Crowley