James McCormack

James McCormack (1877–1916) was an Irish activist & revolutionary who, as part of the Irish Citizen Army, fought and died in the Easter Rising of 1916.

Early life and family (1877–1906)

James McCormack was born 24 November 1877. His parents were Michael and Mary (née Sinnott), they were married 20 January 1877. Michael died at age 37 (about 1887). Mary, born 22 May 1858, to Hugh Synnott [sic] and Margaret Doyle, was 27-years-old when her husband died.

As a young man, McCormack developed hunting (grouse, geese, ducks and deer) and weaponry skill and knowledge, which proved of great benefit later in life to the men and women trained, and drilled, under him in the Irish Citizen Army (ICA), at Liberty Hall, and Croydon Park, Fairview, working alongside Captain Jack White.

James married Annie Rooney from the Portmarnock-Malahide area in 1908 and they went on to have three sons, Michael born in 1909, Joseph born in 1911 and James, who was born in 1914. Annie was the daughter of Joseph Rooney, of Maynetown, the Rooney family later moved to the extant thatched cottage in the village of Baldoyle. McCormack was assigned to the General Post Office, on Sackville Street (now "O'Connell Street"). Organised by members of the Military Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Rising began on (Easter Monday) 24 April 1916, and lasted for six days. Members of the Irish Volunteers — led by schoolmaster and Irish language activist Patrick Pearse, joined by the smaller Irish Citizen Army and 200 women of Cumann na mBan — seized key locations in Dublin and proclaimed an Irish Republic.

They marched to the General Post Office (GPO) on O'Connell Street, Dublin's main thoroughfare, occupied the building and hoisted two republican flags. Pearse stood outside and read the Proclamation of the Irish Republic. Copies of the Proclamation were also pasted on walls and handed out to bystanders by Volunteers and newsboys. The GPO would be the rebels' headquarters for most of the Rising. There was fierce street fighting on the routes into the city centre, where the rebels put up stiff resistance, slowing the British advance and inflicting heavy casualties. Elsewhere in Dublin, the fighting mainly consisted of sniping and long-range gun battles. The main rebel positions were gradually surrounded and bombarded with artillery shells.

Lieutenant McCormack served as a Military Commander (Fingal, Section 7) to James Connolly, the Commandant and Commander-in-Chief of the Dublin Brigade in The Easter Rising of 1916. McCormack was a member of the Irish Labour Party and the Irish Trades Union Congress and, like Connolly, an advocate of socialism.

Lieutenant McCormack and his colleagues were stationed at the GPO, and during that faithful Easter Week on Wednesday, 26 April 1916, he was shot by a sniper's bullet. The location of his killing is variously recorded as in the GPO and Moore Lane area.

McCormack and his colleagues were stationed at the GPO, and during that faithful Easter Week on Wednesday, 26 April 1916, he was shot by a sniper's bullet. The location of his killing is variously recorded as in the GPO and Moore Lane. A total of eleven Citizen Army men were killed in action in the rising, in the City Hall/Dublin Castle, Stephen's Green and the GPO areas. Connolly issued orders to surrender following a week of relentless shelling by the British forces and the civilian casualties that ensued. He and his Chief of Staff Michael Mallin were executed by British army firing squad some weeks later. The surviving ICA members were interned in Frongoch in Wales and in English prisons for nine to 12 months.

The ICA was only rebel force that accepted female recruits so a number of women joined their ranks. The best known was the Countess Markievicz who became Honorary Treasurer and acted under Michael Mallin at St Stephen’s Green. It ceased to be a major military force in its own right, but former members donned uniforms again to provide a guard of honour at the funeral on Countess Markievicz in 1927, and again at the funeral of James Larkin in 1947.

Posthumous decorations, commemorations and legacy

James McCormack was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery alongside many of his fallen comrades and joined the list of civilians and volunteers men and women who had given their life in the fight for the freedom and independence of Ireland—his name appears on the memorial there (also in Gaelic as ‘Seamus Mac Chormaic’).

In 1923, McCormack's wife Annie applied for a military dependent's pension on the grounds of her husbands death during the Easter Rising. She was awarded £90 for the duration of her widowhood and £24 per child until they reached the age of 18. Mrs McCormack died in 1928 at age 45 of tuberculosis. Her cousin Cecilia 'Sissy' Shaw took on the responsibility of raising her three sons.

The bronze medals awarded posthumously to James McCormack, for recognized military service to Ireland, are on a green and orange ribbon stamped with the message “Seachtmhain na Casga 1916”.

A native of the Dardistown, Lisdornan and the Bellewstown area, Meath County Council and The Bellewstown Heritage Group unveiled a Commemoration Plaque to James McCormack on the Lisdornan/Dardistown boundary exactly 100 years to the day he was shot, newly named James McCormack Memorial Bridge.

In 2016, a one hundred-year commemorative plaque and park bench were dedicated in his name at the Baldoyle Racecourse Community Garden. Many of his descendants still living in Baldoyle/Sutton/Howth area, and from further afield, were able to attend this 2016 memorial and plaque installation.

James McCormack Gardens, named to his memory, is the secluded development of houses and private cul-de-sac built by the local authority off Burrowfield Road, Dublin in 1949. McCormack's son, Joseph, raised his family on that road, and his daughter, James senior's granddaughter, Ann McCormack, raised her family on Station Road in 'Sutton Cottages' - a few house down from where James and his family had lived from 1908.

In December 2015, local Dublin historian Philip O’Connor said at a lecture: “A diverse community, unlike any other, Howth, Sutton, and Baldoyle reveals an extraordinary story of a North Dublin rural and suburban community in a time of national revolution. Baldoyle produced the only substantial unit of the Citizen Army ... several of whom fought bravely and honourably in the 1916 Rising and later struggles including for social justice in the Free State of the hard 1920s.”