On This Day: Easter Rising leader Joseph Mary Plunkett was born in Dublin

Joseph Mary Plunkett, who famously married Grace Gifford on the eve of his execution, faced the firing squad on May 4, 1916. If there was one Renaissance man involved in the Easter Rising , it was Joe Plunkett. He was a poet, editor, world traveler, a bit of a scientist, a pretty good military strategist, and one of the most mysterious of the 1916 leaders.

He became a romantic icon with his marriage to Grace Gifford just hours before he was executed. He was also the youngest signatory of the Proclamation. Joseph Mary Plunket was born on Nov 21, 1887, to a wealthy family at 26 Upper Fitzwilliam Street in one of Dublin's most affluent districts.

The Plunketts were a very religious and nationalistic family. (In fact, in the days after the Rising, five members of the family – father, mother, and brothers Joe, Jack and George – were all prisoners at Richmond Barracks.) Sign up to IrishCentral's newsletter to stay up-to-date with everything Irish! Joe joined the Irish Volunteers when they came into existence and with the onset of the World War traveled to Berlin to make Ireland’s case with the Germans on behalf of the Provisional Government.

In June 1915, he produced the “Ireland Report” for the Germans which laid out plans for a German invasion of Ireland to coincide with a Rising. He tried to persuade the Germans that such an invasion would redirect British forces and make it easier for them on the Western Front. The Germans were not convinced and did not back the plan.

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