Michael Collins was born in 1890 in County Cork, Ireland. He became involved in Irish nationalist organizations as a young man and fought in the 1916 Easter Rising against British rule. After being imprisoned, Collins helped establish the revolutionary Dail Eireann government in 1919 and led Ireland's war of independence against Britain. In 1921, he reluctantly agreed to negotiate a treaty that partitioned Ireland and led to the establishment of the Irish Free State, hoping it would eventually lead to a united Ireland. However, he was assassinated in 1922 by anti-treaty IRA forces during the Irish Civil War. A statue was later erected in his honor in his hometown of Clonakilty.

1. 1890-1922

2. Michael was born in Sams Cross,near
Clonakilty, County Cork.
His date of birth is unsure because most
people believed it was the 16th of October
1890 but on his tombstone it is said to say
the 12th of October 1890.
He was born into a family of eight children of
which he was the youngest son out of three.
When he grew up a bit he turned into a fiery
young man. He was also a very bright boy
and had very passionate feelings for
nationalism.

4. His father, Michael John (1816-1896) was a
farmer to profession, his mother was Mary
Anne O’Brien. When the couple married, she
was twenty-three years old and he was sixty.
When his father was on his deathbed in 1896
he predicted that Michael was going to be a
great man and some day do great work for
Ireland. His family nicknamed him “ the big
fellow” because he was always so keen to
take on tasks before his years.

5. Collins was inspired by his primary school teacher, Denis
Lyons, a member of a secret organization, the Irish
Republican Brotherhood (IRB), whose aim was to gain
Ireland's independence from Great Britain.
In 1906 Collins went to London, England, to enter the
civil service as a postal clerk. For ten years Collins lived
in London, where he became active in various Irish
organizations, including the Gaelic League, a society
that promoted the use of the Irish language.
In 1909 Collins himself became a member of the IRB.

6. Collins returned to Ireland in 1916 to take part in the Easter Rising, a
rebellion against British rule.
After the rebellion was crushed, Collins was interned (held captive) in
North Wales along with most of the other rebels from the IRB.
When the internees were released in December 1916, he went to
Dublin, where he secured a leadership position in the reviving
revolutionary movement.
After their victory in the general election of December 1918, the
revolutionaries established an Irish Parliament (body of government),
Dail Eireann, in January 1919. The Dail officially announced an Irish
Republic -government elected and run by the people of Ireland

7. July 1921, Collins reluctantly agreed to Irish
president Eamon de Valera's request to serve on
the peace-making talks.
During these negotiation (talks) in London, the
British government firmly rejected any
settlement that involved recognising Ireland as a
republic.
Instead, they offered:
that we could govern the south of Ireland
it would still be part of the British Commonwealth
with a condition that Northern Ireland would be left
out of this offer.

8. Collins decided to accept
these terms. He felt
rejection may lead to war.
He also felt that the
proposed treaty would soon
lead to unity and complete
freedom for his country
(Unity of North and South)
This never happened.

9. On August 22ND 1922 Michael Collins was
Assassinated in an ambush by anti-treaty IRA
forces while travelling in his native Cork.
He had been warned by his colleagues that it
may not be safe but he said “ Sure I’d never
be killed by my own native people of Cork”.

10. Up to recently no statue of Michael Collins
existed anywhere in the world, so a small
group got together in Clonakilty in 2001 to
rectify that situation.
On August 22nd 2002 the 80th anniversary of
the Big Fella’s death was picked as the date
for the unveiling and film actor Liam Neeson
(who played collins in the movie about his
life) agreed to travel from the United States
to unveil the statue.

11. Seven and a half thousand
people attended the event, on
a beautiful August evening and
today a statue showing Michael
Collins making a speech stands
proud in his hometown of
Clonakilty.

12. Rebecca Keane
Nov’14