Sean MacDiarmada
Seán Mac Diarmada was born in 1883, the exact date is uncertain. His Birth Certificate gives the date as 29 March 1883, while his Baptismal Certificate shows he was baptised at St. Patrick’s Church Kiltyclogher by Rev. Charles Flynn on 29 January 1883. January is without doubt the correct month; registration of births was often deferred until a convenient opportunity and sometimes overlooked altogether. Seán was the eighth of ten children born to Daniel (Donald) McDermott and his wife Mary nee McMorrow. The family home was in the townland of Laughty Barr midway between Kiltyclogher and Glenfarne. This district of splendid scenery small farms and poor soil is known as Corranmore. The McDermott family had been in Laughty Barr since the eighteenth century. His education began at Corracloona National School where he was first admitted on 4 July 1888. His teacher was James McGowan, NT who was succeeded by his son of the same name. Seán’s name appears on the School roll until 22 July 1899 when he was struck off.
In the year 1903 he left home for the first time as he wished to lessen the burden on his parents who had more than enough to do in maintaining their large family on the farm income. Seán secured a position as an assistant-gardener with his cousin Patrick McDermott in Edinburgh. By 1905 Seán moved to Belfast where he was employed as a Tram Conductor. For a considerable length of time prior to this Mac Diarmada had been a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. He inherited his radical tendencies from his father Donald.
Of the seven signatories of the Proclamation, all but one left vast paper trails of letters, diaries, photographs, speeches, newspaper articles and pamphlets. The National Library of Ireland has 28,000 digitised items relating to their papers, but only 16 belong to Seán Mac Diarmada. Mac Diarmada was a doer, not a talker or a writer. He also had sound reasons not to commit his thoughts to print, as police frequently tailed him. But, with Thomas Clarke, Mac Diarmada was a prime instigator of the Rising. Their signatures appear first on the Proclamation. They were ruthless in sidelining anyone who did not agree with their plans to stage a rising even when it had no chance of success.
Mac Diarmada was at the GPO during Easter week, although he was in civilian clothes and took no part in the fighting. He and James Connolly were the final two of the signatories to be shot on May 12th 1916.
