On Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, the Easter Rising, one of the most important events in Irish history, began. We count down to the 103rd anniversary with a look at the leaders of the rebellion. 

Who were the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising? The rebellion is about to commemorate its 103rd anniversary and IrishCentral is taking a look back at its leaders in honor of the rebellion, a seminal moment in Irish history. 

Want to learn more about the 1916 Easter Rising? You can find it all here. 

Who were the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising? The facts

1. Thomas James “Tom” Clarke (1858-1916), one of the signatories of the proclamation, was actually born on the Isle of Wight off the south coast of England, where his father James Clarke, an Irish sergeant in the British army, was stationed.

James practiced under the Church of Ireland, but Tom was reared in the Catholic faith of his mother, Mary Palmer. The family moved to South Africa and later to Dungannon, Co. Tyrone.

2. James Connolly (1868-1916) was born in Scotland in an Irish slum in Edinburgh. He served in the British army in Ireland and hated it. He was in his mid-twenties before he moved to Ireland from Scotland to take up a union job.

3. Countess Markievicz (1868-1927) was originally from the Sligo-based Anglo-Irish Gore-Booth family. Having moved to Paris to further her studies, she met fellow art student Count Casimir Dunin-Markievicz, a Polish widower whose family owned land in Ukraine. She married him but there is a long-running dispute as to whether he was ever really a count. Eamon de Valera always called her Madame Markievicz.

4. Eamonn Ceannt (1881-1916) was Edward Kent for most of his life. He was a master of the uilleann pipes, and even put on a performance for Pope Pius X.

5. Donagh MacDonagh (1912-1968), son of proclamation signatory Thomas MacDonagh (1878-1916), was a judge and prolific playwright. In 1946 he wrote "Happy As Larry," a ballad opera which became the most successful play in London in post-war years, though produced unsuccessfully in New York in an elaborate production by Burgess Meredith. It has been translated into a number of languages.

Want to learn more about the 1916 Easter Rising? You can find it all here.