Michael Collins

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Michael Collins
1. On the16th October 1890 Michael Collins was born in West Cork near Sam's Cross, named after Sam Wallace, a local highwayman. Michael was born to father Michael Senior and mother Marianne O’Brien. Even though there was a 52-year age difference it did not stop them from making Michael the youngest of 8 children. Collins' father, Michael Senior, said on his deathbed "Mind that child", pointing to his six-year-old son. "He'll be a great man yet, he'll do great things for Ireland.” His elderly father's words were to be thought of as a hollow prophecy, but there was still much modeling and learning for the young Collins to go through before he would emerge as a central figure in the uprising of Irish independence for the first time in 750 years. Two figures were very influential to Collins growing up was local schoolmaster, Denis Lyons, and blacksmith, James Santry. Both instilled an acute sense of history and nationalism in the bright and lively young boy. As a child, Collins was fiercely competitive and was enraged at defeat in any form. At school he excelled and at the age of 15 passed the Boy Clerkship for the British Post Office. So he packed his things and moved. Collins lived with another Post Office employee, which happened to be his sister Hannie, in West Kensington. Collins through his sister, mixed with London society fitting in well. Although he was known to Address face to face anyone making a derogatory remark about Ireland. Joining the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) - a group that promoted Irish culture and language - and the Gaelic Athletic League (GAL) where he played football and hurling furthered his nationalism. What he lacked in skill in these games, he more than made up for with his natural aggression and willingness to win.

2. It was in November 1909 when nationalism really began to be favored when being sworn into the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) at Barnsbury Hall. At the age of 19 Collins had little time for the Irish Parliamentary Party. He did admire, however, Arthur Griffith and his political party that Sinn Fein, founded in 1905. By 1910, Collins had begun work in a stock broking firm, Horne and Co, and picked up bookkeeping skills, which were to prove useless later on in life as he collected a national loan for the Republican moveme...

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... State forces and the Republicans. The real tragedy of Collins's death was that it took place during a Civil War, between former comrades-in-arms. Michael Collins's attempts to end this bitter struggle cost him his life and robbed a fledgling state of a promising founding father.

Bibliography
Web Pages http://members.cruzio.com/~sbarrett/mcollins.htm http://www.iol.ie/~jnelson/ http://michaelcollins.warnerbros.com/cmp/ireland.html Books
Title: Michael Collins and the Troubles : The Struggle for Irish Freedom 1912-1922
Author: Ulick O'Connor
Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company; ISBN: 0393316459; Reprint edition (November 1996)

Title: The Big Fellow: Michael Collins and the Irish Revolution
Author: Frank O'Connor
Publisher: St. Martin's Press, Inc. (February 1998)
Newspaper Articles
Paper: New Statesman
Title of Article: Ulster's First Minister waits to see if Gerry Adams turns out to be Eamon de Valera or Michael Collins.
Author: John Lloyd. (1996) August 28, 1998 v127 n4400 p10 (2)

Paper: U.S. News & World Report
Title of Article: Recalling Ireland's pragmatic hero. (Remembering Michael Collins in Northern Ireland)
Author: Tim Zimmerman. Sept 8, 1997 v123

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