14/10/1882 - 29/8/1975 | Revolutionary, MP, TD, Taoiseach and President of Ireland.
Éamon de Valera, or “Dev” as he is commonly known by the Irish, was the most significant, influential and some say divisive public figure in twentieth-century Ireland. In his lifetime of almost 100 years, he was a soldier, a revolutionary, a patriot, a political leader, a Taoiseach (Prime Minister) and a President.
Born in New York to a Cuban father and an Irish mother on the 14th October 1882, he was reared by his maternal grandmother in County Limerick. He graduated in mathematics and spent some time working as a teacher.
Having been interested in nationalist ideals from an early age, he joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913 and was Commander in Boland’s Mills during the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin. On surrender he was sentenced to death which was commuted to life imprisonment. Initially it was thought that this was because of his American citizenship, although historians now believe that the British had realised that public opinion was swaying against them, following the initial wave of executions of the leaders of the Rising and the decision was made to halt the killings before De Valera was due to be shot.
Whatever the reason, De Valera survived and was the only rebel leader not to be executed.
On his release during the 1917 general amnesty for prisoners, De Valera was appointed President of the political party Sinn Féin and was elected to Westminster as MP for East Clare, but he abstained from taking the seat. In the 1918 General Election in Ireland, Sinn Féin swept the country.
Despite having been re-imprisoned in England under a charge of treason, De Valera was elected President when the first Dáil Éireann (Irish Parliament) sat. With the help of Michael Collins, he escaped from jail in England and returned to Ireland to take up the position.
Born in New York to a Cuban father and an Irish mother on the 14th October 1882, he was reared by his maternal grandmother in County Limerick. He graduated in mathematics and spent some time working as a teacher.
Having been interested in nationalist ideals from an early age, he joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913 and was Commander in Boland’s Mills during the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin. On surrender he was sentenced to death which was commuted to life imprisonment. Initially it was thought that this was because of his American citizenship, although historians now believe that the British had realised that public opinion was swaying against them, following the initial wave of executions of the leaders of the Rising and the decision was made to halt the killings before De Valera was due to be shot.
Whatever the reason, De Valera survived and was the only rebel leader not to be executed.
On his release during the 1917 general amnesty for prisoners, De Valera was appointed President of the political party Sinn Féin and was elected to Westminster as MP for East Clare, but he abstained from taking the seat. In the 1918 General Election in Ireland, Sinn Féin swept the country.
Despite having been re-imprisoned in England under a charge of treason, De Valera was elected President when the first Dáil Éireann (Irish Parliament) sat. With the help of Michael Collins, he escaped from jail in England and returned to Ireland to take up the position.
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