Michael Mallin facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Michael Thomas Christopher Mallin
Born	(1874-12-01)1 December 1874 Ward's Hill, The Liberties, Dublin, Ireland
Died	8 May 1916(1916-05-08) (aged 41) Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin, Ireland
Allegiance	British Army Irish Citizen Army
Years of service	1889 - 1903(British Army) 1913–1916 (ICA)
Rank	Commandant Second in Command of Irish Citizen Army
Commands held	St Stephen's Green Garrison, Easter Week, 1916
Battles/wars	Easter Rising, Tirah Campaign

Michael Thomas Christopher Mallin (Irish: Micheál Ó Mealláin; 1 December 1874 – 8 May 1916) was an Irish leader, a Socialist (someone who believes in a fair society where everyone shares resources), and a strong Catholic. He played an important part in the Easter Rising of 1916. He worked as a silk weaver and helped start the Socialist Party of Ireland. During the Easter Rising, he was second-in-command of the Irish Citizen Army under James Connolly. He led the group of fighters at St. Stephen's Green in Dublin.

Early Life and Background

Michael Mallin was born in Dublin. He was the oldest of nine children. His father, John Mallin, was a carpenter. His family lived in a tenement, which was a crowded apartment building in the Liberties area.

He went to school at Denmark Street. When he was 15, he visited his uncle, who was a pay sergeant in the British Army. His uncle convinced him to join the army as a drummer. Michael's mother had seen the public execution of the Manchester Martyrs, who were Irish nationalists. His brother, Thomas, said that their father was a "strong nationalist" and that he and Michael often talked about politics.

Time in the British Army

Michael Mallin joined the British Army's 21st Royal Scots Fusiliers on 21 October 1889. For the first few years, he was stationed in Great Britain and Ireland. In 1896, his army group was sent to India. He stayed there for almost fourteen years, taking part in the Tirah Campaign.

During his time in India, he started to have stronger political beliefs. In 1897, he refused to give money for a memorial for Queen Victoria. He said he couldn't donate because the English queen had promised to support the Protestant faith. His brother believed that incidents like this stopped him from getting promoted higher than a drummer. He did receive the India Medal of 1895 for his service.

Life After the Army

When Mallin returned to Ireland, he became a silk weaver's apprentice. His uncle, who was also a former British Army soldier, taught him the trade.

He became very involved in politics and was the secretary of the Socialist Party of Ireland. He also became a leader in the silk weavers' union, which was a group that protected workers' rights. During the 1913 Lockout, he led a strike of silk workers. A strike is when workers stop working to demand better conditions. This strike lasted for thirteen weeks, and Mallin was good at negotiating for the workers.

He was made second-in-command and chief training officer of the Irish Citizen Army (ICA). This group was created to protect workers from the police and from groups hired by employers to break strikes. Mallin and James Connolly trained the ICA to become a strong fighting force. In October 1914, he was also made the chief of staff of the ICA.

The Easter Rising

In January 1916, James Connolly joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). After this, Mallin began getting the ICA ready for an armed revolution. In the week before the Rising, he sent orders to ICA members all over Dublin.

On Easter Monday, Mallin left Liberty Hall at 11:30 AM. He went to St. Stephen's Green with a small group of ICA men and women. When they arrived, they told civilians to leave the park. They dug trenches, set up places for cooking and first aid, and built barricades in the nearby streets. Constance Markievicz arrived and was thought to be Mallin's second-in-command, but later it was shown that Captain Christopher Poole held this role, with Markievicz as third-in-command.

Mallin had planned to take over the Shelbourne Hotel, which was near the park. However, he didn't have enough fighters to do this. This turned out to be a big problem for the rebels. On Monday night, the British Army took over the upper floors of the hotel. Early on Tuesday morning, British soldiers in the Shelbourne started shooting down at the rebels in the park. Under heavy fire, Mallin ordered his troops to move to the Royal College of Surgeons on the west side of the park. His group stayed inside this barricaded building for the rest of the week. By Thursday, they were cut off from the main rebel headquarters at the General Post Office (GPO), and they were running low on food and ammunition.

During the move from Stephen's Green, Mallin had a close call. Margaret Skinnider wrote in her book that a bullet flew through his hat while he was listening to her report. He calmly took off his hat, looked at it, and put it back on.

On Sunday, 30 April 1916, just one week after the Easter Rising began, Commandant Michael Mallin was ordered to surrender his group at the College of Surgeons. The order came from James Connolly and P.H. Pearse and was delivered by Nurse Elizabeth O'Farrell.

After a tough week of fighting, Mallin was tired and hungry. He wrote a note to his wife, Agnes, on the inside of a used envelope. He wrote: "My darling wife all is lost. My love to all my children, no matter what my fate I am satisfied I have done my duty to my beloved Ireland, and you, and to my darling children. I charge you as their sole guardian now to bring them up in the national faith of your father, and of my faith, of our unborn child [may] God and his blessed Mother help you and it. I said all was lost, I meant all but honour and courage. God and his blessed Mother again guard and keep you my own darling wife."

Mallin followed the order and surrendered to Captain H.E. De Courcy-Wheeler. Mallin and the men and women with him were arrested. They were taken to Ship Street Barracks and then to Richmond Barracks. There, Mallin was separated for a court-martial. A court-martial is a military trial. Mallin was tried on 5 May, found guilty of treason (betraying his country), and was executed by a firing squad at Kilmainham Gaol on 8 May 1916.

Execution and Remembrance

A street named for Michael Mallin in Wexford.

Michael Mallin was executed by a firing squad on 8 May 1916. The night before his execution, his mother, three of his siblings, his pregnant wife, and their four children visited him in his cell. In his last letter to his wife, who was expecting their fifth child, Mallin wrote that he found "no fault with the soldiers or the police." He asked her "to pray for all the souls who fell in this fight, Irish and English." He also wrote, "so must Irishmen pay for trying to make Ireland a free nation."

He wrote to his children: "Una my little one be a Nun, Joseph my little man be a Priest if you can, James & John to you the care of your mother make yourselves good strong men for her sake and remember Ireland." Both Una and Joseph followed his wishes. His funeral mass was held at the Dominican Church in Tallaght on 13 May 1916. People in the procession had clashes with the police outside the church.

The Dún Laoghaire Mallin DART station is named after Michael Mallin to remember him.

Family Life

Mallin married Agnes Hickey (born in 1870) in 1903. He had met her when he was serving in the army in Ireland. They had three sons and two daughters. Their youngest child was born four months after Mallin's execution.

His youngest son, Father Joseph Mallin SJ, was born on 13 September 1913. He became a Jesuit priest and a teacher in Hong Kong. Even though he didn't remember visiting his father when he was three years old, he fulfilled one of Michael Mallin's last wishes by becoming a priest. Father Joseph Mallin was the last surviving child of those executed in the Easter Rising. He passed away in Hong Kong on 1 April 2018, at the age of 104.