Ireland
James Connolly
1868–1916 Commandant General of the Dublin Division, Easter Rising, 1916
Born in Edinburgh to Irish immigrant parents, James Connolly grew up in poverty and became a socialist organizer. He moved to Dublin in 1896 and founded the Irish Socialist Republican Party, spent several years in the United States, and returned in 1910. When Jim Larkin left for America in 1914, Connolly took over the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union and the Irish Citizen Army. He opposed the war from its outbreak, and in January 1916 he agreed with the Irish Republican Brotherhood on a joint rising. During Easter Week he directed the Dublin forces from the General Post Office and was wounded. After the surrender he was court-martialed and shot at Kilmainham Gaol on 12 May 1916, seated in a chair because his wounds left him unable to stand.