Stephen Behan
Irish soldier (1891–1967)
Stephen (christened Francis) Behan ( BEE-ən; Irish: Stiofán Ó Beacháin; 26 December 1891 – 1967) was an Irish republican soldier who was father of writers Brendan, Brian and Dominic Behan.
Early life
Behan was born on 26 December 1891 to James Behan, a foreman house-painter, and his wife Christina (née Corr; she married secondly Patrick English), a folder and gilder at a printing firm, and daughter of a middle-class law clerk. They lived in a house in Russell Street on the Northside of Dublin which belonged to Christina, who owned a number of properties in the area. There is an oral history which suggests he spent less than six months as a brother-novice at St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Rahan, County Offaly; according to surviving members of his family, Behan was found in a compromising situation involving one of the college's domestic servants. According to Behan himself, he found this an attractive method of extricating himself from a path that had not been chosen by him.
After leaving the seminary, he was apprenticed to his step-father as a house-painter.
Republicanism
Behan joined the Irish Republican Army. During the Irish Civil War, Behan fought on the anti-treaty side and was incarcerated for two years in Kilmainham Jail.
Personal life
Behan married Kathleen Kearney in 1922. Kathleen's brother Peadar Kearney was a famous songwriter and poet, who wrote the Irish national anthem 'A Soldier's Song', and 'Down by the Glenside.'
Whilst Behan was incarcerated, his first child Brendan was born.
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This entry incorporates text from “Stephen Behan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.