Grace
A Love Story
The love story of Joseph Plunkett and Grace Gifford is one of the most moving and memorable in Irish history, which has captured imaginations the world over. It tells a tale of two star-crossed lovers who married just hours before Plunkett was executed for his part in the 1916 Easter Rising. Grace Gifford was born to a Catholic father and a fiercely Protestant mother in 1888, and was raised Church of Ireland. A talented artist and cartoonist, she contributed to various republication publications and was passionate about Ireland’s independence from the United Kingdom.
By the end of Easter week 1916, the Irish rebels had surrendered and were placed in Kilmainham jail, the fate of its leaders decided. The fifteen men, including Joseph Plunkett, were to be executed by firing squad. When he discovered that he would die, Joseph requested permission to be married to his sweetheart, Grace. On the night of May 3rd 1916, just hours before he was to be executed, she was brought to the jail. In 1949 she recalled that evening, saying: “When I saw him… he was so unselfish, he never thought of himself. He was not frightened, not in the slightest.” The couple were married before a priest and two witnesses in the jail’s chapel. The following day, Joseph Plunkett was executed. Before facing the firing squad, he said: “I am very happy I am dying for the glory of God and the honour of Ireland.”
She met and fell in love with Joseph Plunkett, who was the editor of the Irish Review, in September 1915. He too was born into wealth; his father, Count Plunkett, was the director of the National Museum. Joseph himself was a poet, nationalist and was committed to armed revolution. He was one of the military strategists of the 1916, Easter Rising.
In his will, Joseph left everything to his widow, but his parents refused to honour it. She remained resolutely nationalist after her husband’s death and was imprisoned in Kilmainham jail for three months in 1923. She never remarried and outlived her husband by 39 years. Grace Gifford died on December 13, 1955, and was buried with full military honours in Glasnevin Cemetry.
Though Grace’s parents did not approve of the union, the pair became engaged in December 1915 and intended to marry, however, history would intervene in their plans.
The tragic tale of their love was immortalised in song in 1985 by Frank and Sean O’Meara. It tells the sad story of their doomed relationship. The lyrics include poignant lines that reference
Go Wild Magazine | Dublin - Summer Edition 2020
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