John MacBride: 16Lives

16 Lives

by Donal Fallon

Major John MacBride, who was Born in Westport, County Mayo in 1868, was a household name in Ireland when many of the leaders of the Easter Rising were still relatively unknown figures.

As part of the 'Irish Brigade', a band of nationalists fighting against the British in the Second Boer War, MacBride's name featured in stories in the Freeman's Journal and Arthur Griffith's United Irishman. The Major went on to travel across the United States, lecturing audiences on the blow struck against the British Empire in South Africa. His marriage to Maud Gonne, described as 'Ireland's Joan of Arc', led to further notoriety. Their subsequent bitter separation involved some of the most senior figures in Irish nationalism.

MacBride was dismissed by William Butler Yeats as a 'drunken, vainglorious lout; Donal Fallon attempts to unravel the complexities of the man and his life and what led him to fight in Jacob's factory in 1916.

John MacBride was executed in Kilmainham Gaol on 5 May 1916, two days before his forty-eighth birthday.

Genres: History, Biography, Irish Literature

314 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 12, 2015

Reviews

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the most enjoyable entries in the "16 Lives" series, in part because it tells a story very different from many of the Easter martyrs. Unlike the others, MacBride earned his revolutionary credentials years before The Rising, by literally going to war againsgt the British as a member of "The Irish Brigade" that fought with the Dutch South Africans in the Second Boer War (1899-1902). Also, unlike the other martyrs, he was married to Maud Gonne--actress, notorious revolutionary, and muse of poet W.B. Yeats.

The story of McBride and his contribution to the Irish Brigade is exciting. He distinguished himself in the advance on Ladysmith, and, in the intense fighting at Colenso, had his horse shot from under him. Eventually, though, the British crushed the Boer republic, and its death became a powerful symbol among those who espoused republican sentiments in Ireland. MacBride was much admired for his deeds, but fearing he would be arrested for treason, he avoided Ireland and went to Paris instead.

In Paris he met Maud Gonne. She was a celebrated beauty and a passionate Irish nationalist, attracted to this military man who was an authentic hero of Ireland. They grew closer during a speaking tour of America and soon married, but it was a marriage made in hell. She was free-spirited, self-dramatizing, and narcissistic; he was a man of conventional morals, jealous and surly when drunk. The disintegration of the marriage of this "power couple" of Irish revolution--which produced a son but survived little more than a year--was a public scandal, and caused many politically engaged Irish to choose sides. Fallon's account of their divorce and its effects on Ireland is absorbing.

Equally absorbing, though, is his account of MacBride's subsequent decline after the British allowed him to return to Ireland, and his almost casual involvement in The Rising, during a Easter Monday walk. No longer a revolutionary insider, he was not even aware of the rebel's plans, but joined them when he saw the Volunteers assemble. A military man to the end, he acquitted himself well at Jacob's Biscuit Factory. Executed by the British, he died twice a hero.

[Caoimhin Gabhann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew of Mc Bride from his local connections to Glenshesk.

Top book by Donal Fallon.

Some part's of the story which I didnt like although they havent been proven. His connection to other leading nationalists opened up a plethora of new names for me to research. It would be interesting in his 1909 visit to Belfast did he travel any further North

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Roinnfinn an dírbheathaisnéis seo fé Shéan Mac Giolla Bhríde (John McBride) ina thrí pháirteanna: an seal a chaith sé ag troid taobh leis na Bóraigh le linn an Cogadh na mBórach; a phósadh le Maud Gonne agus an colscaradh dosheachanta uaithi; agus an tráth dá shaol a chaith sé ag druidim leis an Éirí Amach na Cásca.

B'ionadh liom nach ndearnadh dianscrúdú céanna ar an iarmhairt ina dhiaidh an Éirí Amach a léigh mé ins na leabhair eile sa sratih seo ná mar atá scríofa sa leabhar seo. Tá an staidéir atá déanta ar a thriail os comhair na harmchúirte chomh gairid is ar éigean a chaillfeá é agus tú i mbun léamh an leabhar seo.

[Robert Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this this book not because of John McBride's participation in the Easter Rising of 1916 but because of his earlier participation in the Second Anglo Boer War, as a founder of the Irish Brigade supporting the Boers against the British and his serving as the second in command of that brigade. I am hoping to base one of my characters on this extremely interesting and nationalistic Irish patriot.