Michael Collins

His funeral mass was conducted at Dublin's Pro Cathedral in presence of several Irish and foreign dignitaries and his funeral saw thousands of attendees. His grave lies in the ‘Glasnevin Cemetery’ in Dublin, Ireland.

His tombstone depicts October 12, 1890, as his birthday although many sources mention it as October 16, 1890. He was born as the youngest child and third son of Michael John and Mary Anne O'Brien in Woodfield, Sam's Cross (presently ‘Michael Collins Birthplace’), in County Cork, Ireland.

His father was a farmer and member of the IRB movement. In fact, republican links of his family trace back to the 1798 rebellion.

Collins, a sharp and intelligent boy had a feeling of Irish nationalism ingrained in him since childhood. His inspirations remained local blacksmith, James Santry whose family took part in the 1798, 1848 and 1867 rebellions and his Lisavaird National School headmaster Denis Lyons, a member of IRB.

He studied at ‘Clonakilty National School’ from 13 years of age staying with his sister Margaret and her better-half Patrick O'Driscoll. He assisted O'Driscoll, the founder of ‘The West Cork People’ newspaper with reporting and other newspaper jobs.

In February 1906 he appeared in the British Civil Service exam in Cork and relocated to London at his elder sister Hannie’s home. There he started serving Blythe House Post Office Savings Bank.

‘Easter Rising’ that commenced on Easter Monday in April 1916 in Ireland saw him serving as aide-de-camp of Joseph Mary Plunkett (a member of the IRB Military Committee that was responsible for devising armed insurrection) at the Dublin GPO that remained headquarters of the uprising's leaders.

He was confined with thousands of others at the Frongoch internment camp in Wales and later released with other Frongoch prisoners in December 1916. Gradually he became a prominent figure in the independence movement.

Following his release, he was made Secretary to the ‘National Aid and Volunteers Dependents Fund’ (NAVDF) and many secret organisational data and contacts were forwarded to him.

By late 1917, he became a member of the executive of the organisation founded by Arthur Griffith called Sinn Féin in 1905. The main objective of this group was to unite different groups struggling for Irish independence movement.

The 1918 general elections saw Sinn Féin winning 73 seats out of 105 in Ireland.