{"id":7302,"date":"2017-02-03T11:25:04","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T11:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/letters1916.ie\/learn\/?p=7302"},"modified":"2018-04-10T14:27:37","modified_gmt":"2018-04-10T14:27:37","slug":"count-plunkett-wins-by-election-in-north-roscommon-3-feb-1917","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/letters1916.ie\/learn\/count-plunkett-wins-by-election-in-north-roscommon-3-feb-1917","title":{"rendered":"Count Plunkett wins by-election in North Roscommon, 3 Feb 1917"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Dr Michelle Doran<\/p>\n

\"An
An election badge for Count Plunkett. Image: iwww.rishelectionliterature.wordpress.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The North Roscommon by-election of 1917 was held on 3 February 1917. The by-election was called following the death of the Irish Parliamentary MP, James Joseph O\u2019Kelly. It was called the Election of the Snows and it was won by the Sinn F\u00e9in candidate Count George Noble Plunkett (1851-1948), the father of Joseph Mary Plunkett (1887-1916) a signatory of the Irish Proclamation who was executed for his role in the Easter Rising. Count Plunkett\u2019s victory was one of the most significant for early twentieth century Irish history and paved the way for Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s electoral success in the 1918 General elections.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Count George Noble Plunkett, of Papal Nobility, scholar and Irish nationalist, was born on 3 December 1851, at 1 Aungier Street, Dublin. The only surviving child into adulthood of Patrick Joseph Plunkett (1817-1918) and his wife Elizabeth, ne\u00e9 Noble, Count Plunkett was educated at Nice, the Oblate Father\u2019s School at Upper Mount Street, Dublin, Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare and later attended Dublin University.\u00a0 On 4th April 1884, Pope Leo XII made him a hereditary count for his charitable donations to the nursing order of the Little Company of Mary (Blue Sisters).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On 26th June 1884 Plunkett married Mary Josephine Cranny (1858\u20131944). The couple had seven children: Philomena (Mimi) (b. 1886), Joseph Mary (b. 1887), Mary Josephine (Moya) (b. 1889), Geraldine (b. 1891), George Oliver (b. 1894), Fiona (b. 1896), and Eoin (Jack) (b. 1897).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In 1907, he became director of the National Museum of Ireland. As director, his policies increased annual visitor numbers from 100 to 3,000. In April 1916, he was sworn into the Irish Republican Brotherhood by Joseph Plunkett and he was subsequently sent to Europe to seek arms from Germany and a papal blessing for the Irish rebellion.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Count
Count George Noble Plunkett. Image www.archontology.org\/nations\/eire\/eire_rep1\/plunkett.php<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Following the defeat of the Rising, Count Plunkett was arrested on 28th of April and was interred at Richmond Barracks where he detained until 5th June.\u00a0 He was then deported together with his wife to Oxford and was expelled from the National Museum for his role in the rising.\u00a0 and the following January he was expelled by the Royal Dublin Society.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Included in the Letters of 1916 collection are two letters written by Count Plunkett during his time in Richmond Barracks.\u00a0 Both letters are addressed to his daughter Geraldine (Gerry) and were sent in May 1916.\u00a0 In the first letter, Plunkett requests food, refers to a visit by Geraldine that ‘lifted his heart’ and the ‘joy’ of being clean. He also asks that she communicates with her mother, who had also been arrested.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the second letter, dated five days after the first, he refers to some good news delivered to Geraldine by a solicitor, perhaps referring to the commutation of the death sentences of his two sons George and Jack.\u00a0 He also requests some money and thanks Geraldine for food she had sent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Letter<\/a>
Letter from George Noble Plunkett to Geraldine Plunkett Dillon, 18 May 1916 (Bureau of Military History Contemporary Documents, Geraldine Plunkett Dillon Collection; BMH CD\/5\/8\/6)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Count Plunkett\u2019s sacrifices for the Easter Rising, including Joseph\u2019s execution, earned him the nomination as the surviving rebels\u2019 candidate in the Roscommon North by-election. Also included in the Letters of 1916 collection are three letters sent from Count Plunkett to Arthur Patrick O\u2019Brien sent during his time in Oxford.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He returned to Ireland illegally on 31st of January 1917 and won the election three days later.\u00a0 Count Plunkett\u2019s victory marked the ruin of the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) and a sign of the sign of how the people of Ireland had come to identify with the events of the Easter Rising.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Count Plunkett was elected as an MP in 1918 and a member of the first D\u00e1il.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Letters in the Collection:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Letter from Count George Noble Plunkett to his daughter Geraldine Plunkett Dillon, 13 May 1916.<\/a><\/p>\n

Letter from Count George Noble Plunkett to his daughter Geraldine Plunkett Dillon, 18 May 1916<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Dr. Michelle Doran completed a PhD. in Early and Medieval Irish Studies at University College Cork.\u00a0 She later returned to study Digital Humanities with An Foras Feasa, Maynooth University.\u00a0 She is currently employed as an intern with the Letters of 1916 project.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bibliography:<\/p>\n

Laffan, M. \u201cAftermath of the Rising and 1917 By-Elections.\u201d\u00a0 Audio blog post.\u00a0 The Irish Revolution, Lecture 5. Web. 23 Jan. 2017.\u00a0 <http:\/\/historyhub.ie\/aftermath-of-the-rising-and-1917-by-elections-the-irish-revolution-lecture-5>.<\/p>\n

O’Connor Lysaght, D. R. \u201cPlunkett, George Noble, Count Plunkett in the papal nobility (1851\u20131948).\u201d D. R. O’Connor Lysaght Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Ed. David Cannadine. Oxford: OUP, 2004. 27 Jan. 2017 <http:\/\/www.oxforddnb.com\/view\/article\/54747>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Dr Michelle Doran The North Roscommon by-election of 1917 was held on 3 February 1917. The by-election was called following the death of the Irish Parliamentary MP, James Joseph O\u2019Kelly. It was called the Election of the Snows and Continue reading Count Plunkett wins by-election in North Roscommon, 3 Feb 1917<\/span>→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[253],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/letters1916.ie\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7302"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/letters1916.ie\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/letters1916.ie\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/letters1916.ie\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/letters1916.ie\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7302"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/letters1916.ie\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7311,"href":"https:\/\/letters1916.ie\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7302\/revisions\/7311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/letters1916.ie\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/letters1916.ie\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/letters1916.ie\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}