Michel Collins
...six years old his father was on his deathbed. His father lay there and said “mind this child, He'll be a great man yet, he'll do great things for Ireland.” His father was 80 years old when he died. Collins father had greatly influenced him, but so did two other people though, Denis Lyons, his schoolmaster and James Santry, a black smith. Both men had put a lot of history and nationalism in his life. They also, where both members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a secret organization dedicated to ousting the British from Ireland, by force if necessary. Collins said "In Denis Lyons and James Santry I had my first tutors capable of, because of their personalities alone, infusing into me pride of the Irish as a race." Collins had attended a national school at Lisavaird. He loved to read and write. He was a very smart young child. When Collins was 15 years old he moved to London with one of his sisters, he lived there for nine years. He worked at a Postal Savings Bank then later for a firm of stockbrokers. While in London he became involved with the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). Then he returned to Dublin, Ireland in 1915. Collins became second in command to Joseph Mary Plunkett and fought in the General Post Office during the Easter Rising of 1916. Easter Rising was a Republican rebellion in Ireland against the British, which began on Easter Monday, April 24. The uprising ended British power in Ireland. After the Rising Collins became a prisoner of war. He was sent to Richmond Barracks and later to Frongoch internment camp in Wales. He later returned to Ireland in December. Upon his release, Collins became increasingly influential in Sinn Fain meaning “We, Ourselves” and the Irish Volunteers. Sinn Fain is a federation of nationalist clubs. As director of the organization and intelligence for the IRA he played a leading part in the co-ordination of the military campaign in the Anglo-I...