Joseph Plunkett
Joseph Plunkett (1887-1916) was a journalist who co-founded The Irish Review with Thomas Mc Donagh. He joined the Irish Volunteers like so many of his contemporaries and also published a collection of poems; the Circle and the sword. Plunkett disliked the Abbey Theatre's collection of plays, perhaps sharing the playwright Sean O' Casy's lack of support for the works regularly attributed to the Abbey. He founded the Irish Theatre for the production of Irish Plays in protest.
Being director of IRB operations Plunkett went with Casement to Germany to secure Irish arms and to attempt to enlist Irish prisoners of War to assist in the Rising in 1915. Later that year he went to America to consult with Clan na Gael and Irish-Americans who had funded the purchase of armaments. Plunkett was a signatore of the Proclomation of the Irish Republic and carried a sword that belonged to Robert Emmet into the GPO where he fought until the rebels surrender. He was imprisoned in Kilmainham where he married Grace Clifford the night before his execution. Plunkett's deep admiration for Robert Emmet was significant here as Emmet went into hiding with his sweetheart before he eventually gave himself up to the authorities in 1803.