Winding the clock: O'Rahilly and the 1916 Rising

by Aodogan O'Rahilly

Despite being commemorated by Yeat's poem, Michael O'Rahilly is one of the forgotten leaders of the 1916 Rising - surprisingly, since he was the first leader to die, and the only one killed in action. This is his story, written by his son. It begins in Ballylogford, County Kerry, and describes O'Rahilly's upbringing, his education and marriage to a wollen-mill heiress from Philadelphia, and his brief career as a country gentleman and JP. O'Rahilly was well travelled and spent serveral years in the United States. In 1909 he returned to settle in Dublin, writing for the Sinn Fein press and joining the Gaelic League. From then until his death he deovted himself to the achievement of his country's independence. The O'Rahilly, as he became known, was the prie mver in the formation of the IRish Volunteers and its director of arms, organizing the purchase and delivery of the Howth rifles in July 1914. During Easter Week itseldf he acted as Pearse's aide-de-camp in the General Post Office, and after Connolly was wounded he became effective commander of th egarrison. The O'Rahilly died leading twelve men in a charge against a British barricade in Moore Street. Aoidogan O'Rahilly was eleven when his father was killed. He was staying at Eoin MacNeill's house in Fathfarnham, a privileged spectator of events which ad the simplicity, and inevitability, of a Greek tragedy. A final letter from the son to his father was endorsed by the dying soldier's farewell to his wife, and punctured by the fatal bullet. 'Winding the Clock' takes its place as the last personal account of 1916, honouring the which led to the founding of the Irish state, while saluting an individual who made it possible. It contains sketches of other actors in the drama - Casement, MacNeill, Redmond, Devoy, Hobson, Plunkett, Markievicz, Childers, Griffith, Pearse, Connolly - and by weaving unpublished documents and faily letters through the narrative, it clothes the skeleton of history.

254 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1991