John MacBride
Born: 7 May 1868
Executed: 5 May 1916
Photo: Major John MacBride and his mother Honoria
Aged 42 at the time of the 1911 Census
Census 1911: The return for John MacBride
Address: 8, Spencer Villas (Kingstown No. 4, Dublin)1
The 1911 return for John MacBride recorded him living as a boarder in a house in Kingstown, (or Dún Laoghaire), Co. Dublin. His occupation was a Dublin City water bailiff. His marital status was recorded as married though he does not state the number of years he was married. His birthplace was recorded as Mayo. The owner of the house is Frederick James Allan (a noted IRB man), aged 49, and his wife Clara, aged 45, who were both Methodists. Both the servant Bridget Moloney (aged 26) and MacBride were Roman Catholics.
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Dublin/Kingstown_No__4/Spencer_Villas/98542/
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000250638/
Census 1911: The return for Honoria MacBride Westport1
77, in Cloonmonad (Westport, Urban, Mayo)
The 1911 Census return for MacBride’s family recorded them living in Westport, Mayo. His mother Honoria, aged 74, was head of the family, and a widow. Her occupation was recorded as a merchant which would have been very unusual at the time for a woman. She was the only one in the household who was proficient in Irish and English. Her son Patrick, a ship agent, aged 48, was also recorded and he gave his marital status as married although his wife was not recorded on the Census form. He had 2 children, Patrick Joseph aged 19, and a daughter Mary aged 14. There was also a servant in the household, Margaret O’Malley aged 17. All the occupants were recorded as Roman Catholic.
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Mayo/Westport__Urban/Cloonmonad/749119/
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai003048853/
Census 1911: The return for Dr. Anthony MacBride Westport1
14, Knockaphunta (The Mail) (Castlebar Urban, Mayo)
The 1911 Census return for MacBride’s brother Dr. Anthony MacBride (aged 44) recorded him working as a surgeon and General Practitioner. He recorded that he had been married for 18 years to Emma, who is aged 48 and originally from England. We know that on the morning of the Easter Rising in 1916 John MacBride was on his way to attend Dr. Anthony MacBride’s wedding when he met MacDonagh and got involved in the Rising, and thus sometime in the 5 years after the 1911 Census Emma died. Anthony McBride also had a niece Nora aged 10 staying at the time of the Census and 2 servants, Mary Moran aged 25, a domestic servant and John Sweeny aged 28, his gardener and coachman. All in the household were Roman Catholics.
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai002983972/
John MacBride was born was born at The Quay, Westport, County Mayo, Ireland to Patrick MacBride, a shopkeeper and trader, and Honoria Gill. He was educated at the Christian Brothers' School, Westport and at St. Malachy's College, Belfast. He worked for a period in a drapery shop in Castlerea, County Roscommon. He had studied medicine, but gave it up and began working with a chemist firm in Dublin.
He joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood and was associated with Michael Cusack in the early days of the Gaelic Athletic Association. He also joined the Leinster Literary Society through which he came to know Arthur Griffith who was to remain a friend and throughout his life.
Beginning in 1893, MacBride was termed a "dangerous nationalist" by the British government. In 1896 he went to Chicago on behalf of the IRB. On his return he emigrated to South Africa. He began working at a gold mine near Johannesburg and became active in raising support for Boer Independence. He took part in the Second Boer War, where he raised the Irish Transvaal Brigade of 300 men to fight with the Boers against the British Army in South Africa. The British Army included battalions of Irish soldiers. Despite being known as MacBride's Brigade, its first commander was in fact an Irish-American, Colonel John Blake, an ex-US Cavalry Officer. MacBride was commissioned with the rank of major in the Boer army and given Boer citizenship.
MacBride’s reputation was so high that his name was put forward in Ireland as a candidate in a local South Mayo by-election in 1900, however he was not elected. After a number of defeats in South Africa the brigade disbanded and MacBride travelled to Paris to escape prosecution. Here he met his future wife, Maud Gonne, and also his friend Arthur Griffith.
MacBride went on a lecture tour to the United States to raise some income. As he was not a natural orator he asked for Gonne’s assistance. She joined him on the lecture tour and they married in 1903. Their son Seán was born in 1904 and was brought to Ireland by Maud Gonne to be baptised. “After Seán had received provisional baptism in Paris I brought him to Ireland to be christened officially in my parish church at Terenure - his grandmother, Mrs. MacBride of Westport, as godmother, and John O'Leary as godfather, attended the christening2”. There was a dispute with the priest at the christening as John O'Leary was a Fenian and the priest did not want him as Godfather. MacBride, in Paris got a job as secretary with Victor Massey, a correspondent with several newspapers, who introduced him to a drinking set. “He had an unhappy life in Paris. He did not know a word of French and must often have been very lonely, as my work kept me much in Ireland3”.
From the start, Maud and John's marriage was not a happy one and they soon parted. Divorce proceedings were initiated, which would not have been usual at that time. In a separation agreement Maud Gonne won custody of the child and MacBride had visiting rights but following his return to Ireland he never saw his son again. Following an amnesty for those who took part in the Boer War, MacBride was able to return to Ireland where he found work as a water bailiff, which we can see in the 1911 census.
MacBride resumed a little political involvement joining Sinn Féin and the Supreme Council of the IRB. At one stage there was a dispute within Cumann in nGaedheal with both MacBride and his estranged wife running for Vice-President of the organisation. The IRB supported MacBride but the women’s organisation Inghinidhe na nÉireann supported Maud Gonne. MacBride did not support the IRB’s proposal to exclude Maud Gonne from the position. In the end a compromise was reached when they were both appointed Vice-President4".
MacBride was not aware of any plans for a Rising. Due to his high profile from the Boer War MacBride was being closely watched and the leaders would not have wanted their plans to be discovered. MacBride, unlike the other Rising leaders, was not a member of the Irish Volunteers, and happened to find himself in the midst of the Rising without notice.
The morning of the Rising a note was written to Major J. MacBride from Seán MacDermott marked urgent and given to Ignatius Callender, who worked with MacBride at Dublin Corporation, to deliver.
“Dear Mr. Callender, Please deliver the enclosed to Major MacBride at once, most urgent. Yours faithfully, Seán MacDermott5”.
In fact MacBride was on his way to his brother’s wedding when he happened to bump into Thomas MacDonagh and some Irish Volunteers that he knew. He offered his services to Thomas MacDonagh and was appointed second-in-command at the Jacob's factory. Unlike the Volunteers of the day he was dressed for a wedding and not a battle.
Although Jacobs factory saw little action compared to the other garrisons, MacBride used his experience fighting in the Boer War to lead a troop of largely inexperienced Irish Volunteers and was a steadying influence on the men. According to William T. Cosgrove, it was reported at MacBride’s court-martial that “He was as cool and collected, during Easter Week as if he were walking to Church, even when receiving warnings of impending attacks, and there were such, he was steady as a rock6”.
When the command to surrender was given he urged those present to escape while they could while he remained with MacDonagh.
Following the surrender, MacBride was taken into custody and tried by court-martial. He did not believe he would be executed but would instead face imprisonment. He made attempts to ensure that his position in the Dublin Corporation would still be available on his release7. While it was proven by witnesses that he had not been involved in the planning of the Rising, he was found guilty and sentenced to death because of his past history of fighting against the British Army in South Africa.
According to the Witness Statement of William O’Brien, O’Brien met Thomas Foran, General President of the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union. Foran had passed close to MacBride following MacBride’s court-martial.
“Foran said he looked at MacBride with whom he was acquainted and MacBride drew his finger around his heart indicating that he expected to be shot8”.
John MacBride was executed on 5th May 1916 at Kilmainham Gaol. He is buried in Arbour Hill Cemetary, Dublin.
His estranged wife Maud was in France nursing the wounded from the War. She found out about MacBride’s death in a newspaper. “In 1916 I bad seen tiny paragraphs in the French papers "Riots in Dublin", "Rioters executed" and I had seen my husband's name among the latter9”.
His son Seán was an Irish government minister and prominent international politician. He founded or was involved in many international organisations including the United Nations, the Council of Europe and Amnesty International. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974.
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