Tom Clarke (Irish republican)
Irish revolutionary leader (1857-1916)
Thomas James Clarke (Irish: Tomás Séamus Ó Cléirigh; 11 March 1858 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish republican and a leader of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Clarke was arguably the person most responsible for the 1916 Easter Rising. A proponent of armed struggle against British rule in Ireland for most of his life, Clarke spent 15 years in English prisons prior to his role in the Easter Rising and was executed by firing squad after it was defeated.
Early life
Clarke was born at Hurst Castle near Milford-on-Sea in England, to Irish parents, Mary Palmer and James Clarke, who was a sergeant in the British Army. He had one brother, Joseph. In 1865, after spending some years in South Africa, Sgt. Clarke was transferred to Dungannon, County Tyrone, and it was there that he grew up.
Irish Republican Brotherhood
In 1878, at the age of 20, he joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) following the visit to Dungannon by John Daly, and by 1880 he was centre (head) of the local IRB circle. In August that year, after a member of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) had shot and killed a man during riots between the Orange Order and the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Dungannon, Clarke and other IRB members attacked some RIC men in Irish Street. They were driven back, however, and Clarke, fearing arrest, fled to the United States.
The public source identifies “Tom Clarke (Irish republican)” as irish revolutionary leader (1857-1916). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Clarke, Irish and republican.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q467047. VIAF identifies the subject as 41439153. The Library of Congress control number is no96066353. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1858, 1916, 1865 and 1878.
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This entry incorporates text from “Tom Clarke (Irish republican)” 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.