Thomas Ashe

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Memorial to Thomas Ashe in Cavan , Ireland

Thomas Patrick Ashe ( Irish : Tomás Pádraig Ághas ; born January 12, 1885 in Lispole , County Kerry , Ireland ; † September 25, 1917 in Dublin ) was a member of the Gaelic League , the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and a founding member of the Irish Volunteers . He was one of the first hunger strikers in Ireland to be force-fed and died in the process.

After Thomas Ashe was at De La Salle Training College in Waterford in 1905 , he began his professional career as a teacher and in 1908 became principal of the Corduff National School in Lusk , County Dublin . There he worked until his death and founded the award-winning Lusk Black Raven Pipe Band as well as the Round Towers Lusk GFHC in 1906. During the summer of 1913 he was one of the IRB members, the President of the Gaelic League , Douglas Hyde rule wanted to.

When Ashe commanded the Irish Volunteers' Fingal Battalion , he participated in the 1916 Easter Rising . The Ashe battalion incapacitated 60 to 70 British forces in County Dublin during the uprising. The battalion won the main victory in Ashbourne , County Meath , where it captured far greater numbers of opponents and captured a significant number of weapons and approximately 20 vehicles from the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC). 24 hours after the Easter Rising collapsed, the battalion surrendered on orders from Pádraig Pearse .

On May 8, 1916, Ashe and Éamon de Valera were sentenced to death by a court martial. The sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and Ashe was incarcerated in Lewes Prison in England.

When the USA entered World War I in April 1917, the British government exerted pressure to resolve the Irish problem . De Valera, Ashe and Thomas Hunter started a hunger strike on May 28, 1917 to counter this pressure. With reports of mistreatment in prison in the Irish press and growing protests in Ireland, Ashe and the rest of the prisoners were released under the general amnesty of June 18, 1917 announced by British Prime Minister David Lloyd George .

After his release, Ashe toured Ireland where he gave a series of lectures. In August 1917, Ashe was arrested for sedition giving a speech in Ballinalee , County Longford , which Michael Collins also spoke. He was detained in Curragh and then taken to Mountjoy Prison in Dublin. Ashe was sentenced to two years of hard labor in prison. He and other prisoners including Austin Stack claimed their prisoner-of-war status . As this protest grew, Ashe began his hunger strike on September 20, 1917. He died on September 25, 1917 in the Mater Hospital in Dublin after being force-fed on the orders of the prison authorities. After an investigation into the cause of death, the investigative commission condemned the prison staff for the "inhuman and dangerous operation performed on the prisoner, and other acts of unfeeling and barbaric conduct" ("inhuman and dangerous measure carried out on the prisoner, as well as other callous ones." and barbaric acts ”).

Ashe's death had a significant negative impact on the then developing and growing Republican movement in Ireland. His body was laid out in Dublin City Hall and buried in Glasnevin Cemetery , Dublin. About 30,000 mourners attended his funeral.

Ashe was related to Catherine Ashe, the paternal grandmother of American actor Gregory Peck , who emigrated to the United States in the 19th century. Thomas Ashe was featured on an Irish postage stamp. Ashe wrote the lyrics Let me carry your cross for Ireland Lord , which has gone down in Irish folk .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Shane Alcobia-Murphy: Governing the Tongue . Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2005, ISBN 978-1-904303-60-2 , p. 54.
  2. Ulick O'Connor : Michael Collins and the Troubles . Mainstream Publishing, 2001, ISBN 1-84018-427-2 , p. 124.
  3. Thomas Ashe on www.rootsweb.ancestry.com . Retrieved December 19, 2010
  4. Irish Songs Lyrics With Guitar Chords By Martin Dardis. Thomas Ashe on martindardis.com . Retrieved December 19, 2010