Michael James (Collins) Ó Coileáin (1890 - 1922)

Born 16 Oct 1890 in Woodfield, County Cork, Ireland

Ancestors

Died 22 Aug 1922 at age 31 in 'Beal na mBlath', Bandon, West Cork, Ireland

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Biography

Mícheál (Collins) Ó Coileáin was born in Ireland.

Mícheál (Collins) Ó Coileáin is Notable.

MICHAEL COLLINS 1890 – 1922^[1]

Mícheál Ó Coileáin

For a fuller history of Michael Collins please refer to the Wikipedia link above and any other links throughout this text as well as additional reading links below. There you will also find bibliography and links for further reading.

1890 Birth

Michael Collins, son of Michael Collins and Mary Ann née O'Brien was born on the 16th of October, 1890^[2] in Woodford townland just outside the hamlet of Sam's Place nearby the town of Clonakilty (Cloich na Coillte) in West Cork, Ireland. His tombstone incorrectly gives his date of birth as 12th Oct 1890.

1897 Death of Father

Michael's father passed away on the 7th March, 1897^[3] in Woodfield Farm, Clonakilty, Cork, Ireland

1901 Residence

On the night of the Irish Census of 1901^[4] Michael Collins was at home with his mother and siblings.

Surname	Forename	Age	Sex	Relation to head
Collins	Mary Anne	45	Female	Head of Family
Collins	Margaret Mary	23	Female	Daughter
Collins	John	22	Male	Son
Collins	Helena	17	Female	Daughter
Collins	Patrick	15	Male	Son
Collins	Katie J	13	Female	Daughter
Collins	Michael	10	Male	Son

1905 Residence

He left school at 15^[1] and moved to London where he lived with his sister Johanna ("Hannie"), who was eleven years older then him, for 9 and a half years. They were at the address 5 Netherwood Rd, W 12 (convenient for her job at the Post Office Savings Bank at the huge Blythe House, just down the road) from 1914 - 1915 when he moved to Dublin. A plaque on the wall of the house reads "Irish nationalist and politician, Michael Collins, 1890 - 1922, lived here, 1914 - 1915."^[5]

1906 British Civil Service exam

In February 1906 Michael took the British Civil Service examination^[1]. He was employed by the post office from July 1906.^[1]

1909 Irish Republican Brotherhood

He joined the local Gaelic Athletic Association and, through this, the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB Irish: Bráithreachas Phoblacht na hÉireann), dedicated to the liberation of Ireland. Sam Maguire^[6], a Church of Ireland republican from Dunmanway, County Cork, introduced the 19 year old Collins into the IRB. In time he would come to play a central role in this organisation.

1916 Easter Rising

The Easter Rising which took place on Easter Monday, 1916^[7] was when Michael first became known when he was Joseph Plunkett's aide-de-camp at the rebellion's headquarters in the General Post Office (GPO) in Dublin. One of the leaders of the Easter Rising, Michael was arrested, almost sent to the gallows but wound up at Frongoch internment camp^[8] There, as his contemporaries expected, his leadership skills showed. By the time of the general release, Collins had already become one of the leading figures in the post-rising Sinn Féin, a small nationalist party which the British government and the Irish media wrongly blamed for the rising.

1918-1922 Career in politics

'Parliament of the United Kingdom or Great Britain and Ireland

Timespan	Position	Preceded By	Succeded By
1918 to 1922	Sinn Féin MP for Cork South	John Walsh (All-for-Ireland League)	Constituency abolished
1918 to 1921	Sinn Féin Teachta Dála [TD] in the Oireachtas for Cork South	Newly created	Constituency abolished
1921 to 1922	Sinn Féin TD for Cork Mid, North, South, South East and West	Newly created	Seat vacant
1921 to 1922	Sinn Féin TD for Armagh	Newly created	Seat vacant
Jan 1919 to Apr 1919	Minister for Home Affairs	Newly Created Office	Arthur Griffith
1919 to 1922	Minister for Finance	Eoin MacNeill	W. T. Cosgrave
Jan 1922 to Aug 1922	Chairman of the Provisional Government	Newly Created Office
12 Aug 1922	Became President of Dáill Éireann	Arthur Griffith

1922 Death

He was shot and killed in August 1922, during the Irish Civil War.^[9] 'The Big Fella' was assassinated in an ambush arranged by Éamon de Valera 12 days after Collins became President of Ireland on the death of Arthur Griffith. Although most Irish political parties recognise his contribution to the foundation of the modern Irish state, members and supporters of the Fine Gael political party hold his memory in particular esteem, regarding him as their movement's founding father (even though his link to them was through their precursor Cumann na nGaedhael, a name adopted in 1923 by the pro-Treaty wing of Sinn Fein).

1922 Burial

22 Aug 1922 buried at Glasnevin Cemetery, Co Dublin, Ireland^[10] Murdered through ambush.

Michael Collins never married, though at the time of his death, his fiancée was Kitty Kiernan^[11] (Catherine Brigid Kiernan 1892 – 24 July 1945)

Films about Michael Collins

A fictionalised version of Collins' life is in the 1936 movie, Beloved Enemy, starring David Niven as an English Officer. Unlike the real Michael Collins, the fictionalised Collins, "Dennis Riordan" (played by Brian Aherne), is shot and recovers.

A British documentary by Kenneth Griffith, Hang Up Your Brightest Colours, was made for ITV in 1973, but refused transmission. It was eventually screened by the BBC in Wales in 1993, and across the United Kingdom the following year.

An Irish documentary made by Colm Connolly for RTE Television in 1989, called The Shadow of Beal B?alnabl?th, covered Collins' death.

A made for TV film, The Treaty, was produced in 1991 and starred Brendan Gleeson as Collins and Ian Bannen as Lloyd George. (Ironically, Gleeson starred in Michael Collins as Collins' aide, Liam Tobin!)

In 1996, Michael Collins became the subject of a film by director Neil Jordan. Titled Michael Collins, Liam Neeson plays the title role, and Julia Roberts plays Collins' fiancée, Kitty Kiernan. Although the film received praise for bringing the story of Michael Collins to a wide international audience, some historians criticised it for taking a number of liberties with facts.

See also

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Michael Collins (Irish leader)

* The Big Fellow

* Kitty Kiernan

* Hazel Lavery

* List of people on stamps of Ireland

* High Heroic, by Constantine Fitzgibbon

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Wikipedia contributors, 'Michael Collins (Irish leader)', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 24 January 2022, 08:31 UTC, <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_Collins_(Irish_leader)&oldid=1067605066> [accessed 28 January 2022]
2. ↑ Irish Genealogy Birth returns. Registrar's district: Roscarbery. Entry No. 36. [Accessed 28 January, 2022]
3. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/192683643/michael-john-collins : accessed 29 January 2022), memorial page for Michael John Collins (16 Jun 1815–7 Mar 1897), Find A Grave: Memorial #192683643, citing Rathbarry Graveyard, Clonakilty, County Cork, Ireland ; Maintained by Hélène Marie (contributor 49504884) .
4. ↑ The National Census of Ireland 1901 Residents of a house 19 in Woodfield (Coolcraheen, Cork) [Accessed 28 January 2022]
5. ↑ London Remembers Plaque: Michael Collins [Accessed 28 January 2022]
6. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, 'Sam Maguire', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 15 December 2021, 04:22 UTC, <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sam_Maguire&oldid=1060380294> [accessed 28 January 2022]
7. ↑ The 1916 Rising From Department of the Taoiseach. Published on 19 November 2018. Last updated on 19 November 2018
8. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, 'Frongoch internment camp', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 26 October 2021, 14:19 UTC, <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frongoch_internment_camp&oldid=1051949922> [accessed 28 January 2022]
9. ↑ The Irish War Béal na mBláth, Co. Cork, August 1922 [Accessed 28 January 2022]
10. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4125/michael-collins : accessed 28 January 2022), memorial page for Michael Collins (16 Oct 1890–22 Aug 1922), Find A Grave: Memorial #4125, citing Glasnevin Cemetery, Glasnevin, County Dublin, Ireland ; Maintained by Find a Grave.
11. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, 'Kitty Kiernan', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 26 October 2021, 14:23 UTC, <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kitty_Kiernan&oldid=1051950582> [accessed 29 January 2022]

See also:

• Óglaigh na hÉireann Military Archives. Military Service Pensions Collection, Medals Database. http://mspcsearch.militaryarchives.ie/search.aspx. File Reference: MD912.
• YouTube Clips of Michael collins his rallies and funeral
• The biographer who unwittingly made Michael Collins gay