Willie Pearse

16 Lives

by Roisin Ni Ghairbhi

William 'Willie' Pearse was a younger brother of Patrick Pearse, arguably the most famous of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising. He was born in Dublin and throughout his life lived in the shadow of his brother, to whom he was devoted. He studied at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin, as well as in Paris, and the Kensington School of Art. He followed his brother into the Irish Volunteers and the Republican movement, taking part in the Easter
Rising in 1916, constantly staying by his brother's side at the General Post Office. Following the surrender he was courtmartialed
and sentenced to be shot. On 3 May, Willie Pearse was granted permission to visit his brother in Kilmainham Gaol, to see him for the final time. However, while Willie was en route, Patrick Pearse was executed. Willie was executed the following day.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Irish Literature

256 pages, Paperback

First published March 16, 2015

Reviews

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

One hundred years ago, on Easter Monday in Dublin, sculptor and revolutionary Willie Pearse—younger brother of revolutionary leader Padraic Pearse—was marching along the Liffey toward Sackville Street with a company of Irish Volunteers. Their objective: occupy the General Post Office and declare an Irish Republic. Willie gestured toward the Loopline Bridge, which obstructed a fine view of The Custom House, and, convinced that British artillery shells would soon be falling in retaliation, he voiced the hope that--whatever happened in days to come--the ugly railroad bridge would disappear.

Author Roisin Ni Ghairbhi reflects on this small incident:

The story reminds us that Willie, even as he marched to war, retained his aesthetic sensibility. It also shows us that he was aware of the scale of destruction that might ensue following the Volunteers occupation of Dublin; others seem not to have anticipated the extent (and the indiscriminate nature) of the shelling the British forces would use on property.

The use of this incident and her reflection upon it not only show what a good biographer Ghairbhi is, but also reveal, in miniature, her sense of Willie Pearse the man. He was, first of all, an artist, who followed his father's trade as an ecclesiastical sculptor, but followed it as a vocation, an opportunity to exercise his aesthetic sensibilities. This aesthetic sense continued to motivate him throughout his years as a teacher of the arts at St. Enda's, his brother's school.

In addition, Willie thoroughly immersed himself in the nationalist art movement, a movement author Ghairbi brings vividly to life. Indeed, the early years of the 20th century were a time of enthusiasm and hope for Dublin, a time of artistic experiment, and Willie made his mark not only as a sculptor but as a theatrical producer and an actor too. (He was a shy man, but fun-loving, filled with eagerness whenever his artistic interests were engaged.)

But he was also a practical man who took care of the day-to-details for his visionary brother (he also functioned as his aide-de-camp during the week of revolution), and, although his legacy has been overshadowed by—or rather fused with—his brother Padraic's, Willie was a distinct individual, a clear-eyed man who chose revolution for himself and knew the meaning of his choice, and seemed to have no illusions—as his brother surely had—about the glory of martyrdom and the mystic power of blood sacrifice.

As Willie's sister Mary Brigid remarked, a quarter of a century after her two brothers' deaths:

Pat wished to die for Ireland and in a sense was impatient at the tardy coming of death...But Willie wanted to live for Ireland, to give her through his creative works the best that he had to give.

Oh...and that railroad bridge Willie hated? It survived the week's shelling and spans the Liffey to this day. It is not as ugly as it was ten years ago, when huge advertising billboards hung from its metal facade: in 2007, they took the billboards down. Now the bridge is once again as ugly--no more, no less--as it was on the day Willie Pearse was executed: May 3rd, 1916, almost one hundred years ago.

[Caoimhin Gabhann · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you google Willie Pearse, wikipedia shows him up by his name with a subtitle as "Patricks brother".

I think that is the common held perception in society, it was definately where my thoughts lie and probably do lie still when I think of Willie Pearse. I wanted to know more about the lesser known men executed in 1916 and for me Willie was the fourth in the series. The author has did her research, of that there can be no doubt, but I sttuggled to stay with this book after the first four chapter's. It is highly concentrated on Willie's life in the world of Arts and Theatre. Which seems to be where his lifes interest lay. I just found this book in particular would be of more interest to someone interested in the arts.

Willie was his brothers man, right up to the end (literally) there was a close bond between the brothers and the most poignant bit of the book for me was when the two headed off for the rising on their bikes. The lady quoting years later. "I can still see them". This lady Mrs O'Kelly would have her own place in Irish History when her son Sean T would become the second president of Ireland.(a fact missed in the book). The Pearse brothers stayed there the night before the rising with Mrs O'Kelly giving them their last civilian breakfast.

One of the recurring themes in the books of the 16 lives series I have read to date is that there was very little love interests in the life of these men. Con Colbert, Sean Heuston, Willie Pearse all were young men but past the average age of marriage back then,all were single men, their devotion to Ireland was supreme. It could be argued too that John Mc Bride, the other bio I have read, and Maud Gonnes marriage was more for the interest of Ireland than in the interest of love.

Willie out of all the 16 lives would have been the one least likely to be involved in military operations. He was a bomb maker surely, but it was done in the vicinity of St Enda's school. If he wasnt a teacher there, and a brother of Patrick, I asked myself would he have been involved with the IRB, the Volunteers, or even Irish seperatism. Infact his innocence is probably no more evident to see in that he was the only one of the sixteen to plead guilty. Was this because he knew his brother wasnt coming home?

Either way, I hold him in the highest respect and he died for Ireland along the other leaders of 1916. I would use the often coined phrase "while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace but again that would put him in the shadow of his more illustrious brother.

Il finish by saying that some of Willies work is in St Eunan' cathedral in Letterkenny. I will go and vist this when we are covid clear to pay my respects to what probably was his true calling in life. That of monastic sculpture.

[Dean Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic read about an unsung hero from this period!