James

James Connolly, 8"x12", acrylics and conte chalks, 2012AD. SOLD

James Connolly was an Irish Socialist and Republican who was born in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh in 1868. From the start, James struggled to make enough money to survive and as a result he decided to enlist in the British Army. These days had a profound effect on his political leanings and a hatred was born in him (for the British Army) that would endure to his last breath. Just before he was due to be posted in India, he deserted the army and the life he had come to loathe. After becoming involved in Scottish Socialist politics, James and his family moved to Dublin where he was to become Secretary of the Dublin Socialist Club. Connolly became increasingly significant in the fight for Irish Independence and was instrumental in the Easter Rising. Connolly was seriously injured during the fighting which took place in that Dublin Spring of 1916. He was said to be very close to death already but the British Army went ahead with his planned execution along with the other rebels. However, unlike the other prisoners - because he was too weak to stand - James was tied to a chair and shot. It was the conviction of his beliefs, not to mention the brutal nature of his death, that have helped the name James Connolly be a name that we have not forgotten. 

"They will all forget that I am an Irishman." ~ J. C