"People Felt It Was A Triumph, That There Was To Be No Mourning"
Fiona was the youngest sister of Joseph Plunkett. Here she talks about what it was like growing up in the Plunkett household. She and her siblings adored Joseph who was quite ill from a young age and as a result was a very spiritual person. Because of his illness he was confined indoors and became interested in many things including poetry, photography and military strategy. She states very strongly that he was not called Joseph Mary Plunkett by the family.
He was never called that in his lifetime, by anybody. That started immediately after his death.
Of all the executed leaders she knew Thomas MacDonagh quite well as he had come to know the family when he began teaching Joseph and his sister Moya maths. She describes him as being very modest and very sociable.
The wedding of Joseph to Grace Gifford on the eve of his execution was the great love story of the Easter Rising and helped change public opinion in favour of the rebels. Fiona remembers that the family were quite shocked when they announced their engagement in December 1915.
Nobody had known that they took that much interest in each other.
Grace Gifford came from a Protestant family and converted to Catholicism a short time before the wedding, which was due to take place on Easter Sunday, 23 April. Fiona was her Godmother. Because of this Grace came to live at Larkfield, Kimmage, the Plunkett's family home as her decision to marry Joseph was not supported by her mother.
Fiona remembers that after Joseph's execution, she, her older sister Geraldine and Grace chose not to wear black. Explaining why Fiona states
People felt it was a triumph, that there was to be no mourning.
Fiona Plunkett (1896-1976) was a member of the Central Branch Cumann na mBan. She was later imprisoned during the Irish Civil War and remained politically active for many years.
Fiona Plunkett was interviewed for the RTÉ Television project 'Portraits 1916' on 30 January 1966.
| Title: | Portraits 1916 Fiona Plunkett |
| Clip Duration: | 00:25:10 |
| Material Type: | Video |
| Clip Title: | "People Felt It Was A Triumph, That There Was To Be No Mourning" |
| Series Title: | Portraits 1916 |
| Information: | Portraits 1916 is a collection of interviews made for television recording the personal memories of women and men who took part in the Easter Rising. In the early 1960s Telefís Éireann (RTÉ Television) began to record interviews with people who had taken part in the Easter Rising and the War of Independence. Individuals were interviewed under a working title of 'The Survivors'. The first of these interviews were organised by Jack White and recorded at the television studios in Donnybrook on 31 August 1964. Further recordings were organised by James Plunkett with the same working title of 'The Survivors' although none of these interviews were broadcast as full programmes. In 1965 meetings were held to discuss what Telefís Éireann should do to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising. Veterans continued to be interviewed despite the fact that no decision had been made as to what type of programme, if any they could be used in. James Plunkett did not see 'The Survivors' recordings working as individual programmes. In April 1965 producer Aindras O Gallchoir took over the project continuing to organise recordings with the initial intention of using the interviews to create one programme. By September Aindras O Gallchoir decided to produce seven thirty minute documentaries on the leaders of the Rising but many more people needed to be interviewed. This new project had the working titles of 'Portraits 1916' and 'Seven Signatories'. With very little time over thirty people were interviewed for this series. The interviews took place mainly in studio between October 1965 and January 1966, with the exception of Kathleen Clarke and Leslie Bean de Barra. These interviews would eventually form the basis for the series 'On Behalf of the Provisional Government' which was first broadcast in 1966. The interviews recorded form an extensive record of the events and the people involved in the Easter Rising, and were never broadcast in their entirety. Presented here under the title of 'Portraits 1916' are the personal recollections of men and women who took part in or witnessed the events of the Easter Rising. |
| Local Keywords: | 1916, Easter 1916, Easter Rising 1916, Joseph Plunkett, Grace Gifford, Thomas MacDonagh, Kilmainham Gaol, Larkfield |
| Coverage: | Ireland |
| Genre: | Factual |
| Topic: | Wars and Conflict |
| Provider: | RTÉ |
| Contributor(s): | Aindrias O Gallchoir (Producer) |
| Publisher: | RTÉ |
| Production Year: | 1966 |
| Country of Production: | Ireland |
| Original Identifier: | 94D00029 |
| IPR Restrictions: | Rights Reserved - Free Access |
| Rights, Terms and Conditions: | Copyright RTÉ. This material may not be replicated in any form or manner without the prior express permission of RTÉ. Any form of reproduction in print, television, video, multimedia, web site or other electronic media or any form of dissemination for commercial or non-commercial use must be licensed by the RTÉ Archives. If you wish to licence video or audio clips, still images or text, or would like further guidance please contact us. RTÉ Archives are committed to respecting the copyright of others and have attempted to source and credit the copyright owners of all material used here. RTÉ would like to hear from any copyright owners who are not properly identified here so that the necessary corrections can be made. If you feel your copyright has not been respected please contact us. |
| Item Type: | whole |
| Colour: | Black and White |
| Sound: | Mono |
| Aspect Ratio: | 4:3 |
| Language: | English (eng) |
