Wolfe Tone

November brings memories of Wolfe Tone, who having been captured by the British navy off the coast of Donegal in October 1798 was brought to Dublin to stand trial for treason. Tone had been attempting to land with French soldiers, something he had also attempted two years previously at Bantry. Tone is regarded as the ‘Father of Irish Republicanism’ and for generations supporters have flocked to burial place in county Kildare. In 1967 a memorial to Tone was unveiled in Dublin, as the Irish Examiner outlines here:

On Saturday, November 18, at 12 noon, the memorial to Wolfe Tone will be unveiled in St. Stephen's Green. Dublin, by President de Valera. The Wolfe Tone Memorial Committee was set up in Dublin in 1898, on the occasion of the centenary commemoration of the Rising of 1798. It was the intention to erect the memorial at the top of Grafton Street, where on August 15, 1898, John O’Leary, the veteran Fenian leader, laid the foundation stone. That stone now occupies the central position in the Wolfe Tone Memorial Park.

The erection of the Wolfe Tone Memorial was deferred to await the raising of sufficient funds and after the 1916 Rising all the records of the Memorial Committee were seized in a raid by the Crown forces. The funds were, however, safeguarded by the late James Stritch, the honorary treasurer.

Through the initiative of Mrs. Kathleen Clarke (widow of Tom Clarke, the executed 1916 leader)_, who was the surviving trustee, the Wolfe Tone Memorial Committee was reconstituted under the chairmanship of Mr. Eamon Martin and fresh efforts were begun to have the memorial project completed.

The Government made available the corner site in St. Stephen's Green for the memorial and undertook to make a grant of up to £15,000 to supplement the money of the Wolfe Tone Memorial Committee.

A competition for the memorial design was won jointly by Mr Edward Delaney, sculptor, and Mr. M. Noel Keating, architect, in 1964, following which they were entrusted with the work of completing the memorial, which President de Valera will unveil on Saturday, November 18.

For more information on Tone and his legacy please visit the pages of the Irish Newspaper Archive (www.irishnewsarchive.com )