The Easter Rising in Ireland, 1916
CLAN NA GAEL
John Devoy
The IRB delegates in Manchester broke away from the feuding factions of Fenianism in America and supported Clan na Gael who were founded there in June of 1867. The objectives of Clann na Gael was to secure an independent Ireland and to assist the IRB in achieving this aim. John Devoy was the mainstay behind the Clan.
Devoy became involved in the ‘New Departure’ and assisted Davitt and Parnell in their fight against the landlords. Independence remained his main aim however as he felt that the Land League was not militant enough to remove the landlords. Devoy, assisted by Doctor Pat McCartan, founded a newspaper, ‘The Gaelic American’.
Doctor Pat McCartan transferred from Clan na Gael to the newly formed ‘Dungannon Clubs’, a separatist organisation which was denounced by the Church.
Tom Clarke became a member of the Supreme Council of the IRB in 1909 and helped form the revolutionary paper ‘Irish Freedom’. He became the link with Clan na Gael in America.
In 1912 the IRB sent Sean MacDiarmada as a delegate to the Clan convention and he succeeded in securing the enormous sum of $20,000 for the IRB at home.
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