Éamon
de Valera was born 14 October, 1882, in New York City to Juan Vivion de Valera
and Catherine Coll. After his father died and his mother had to return to work,
Éamon was sent to Coll, County Limerick, to be reared by his grandmother,
Elizabeth Coll. He attended Bruree national school 1888–1896 and later went to
the Christian Brothers school at Charleville. When he was sixteen years old, he
won a scholarship to attend Blackrock College. This was a significant step up
the social ladder and he was very excited—‘From the time I heard that I was to
go to Blackrock’, he recalled, ‘I was really walking on air…for me this coming
was really the entry into heaven’.
De
Valera entered UCD, 1900, and began a four-year arts degree. He accepted the
position of professor of mathematics at Rockwell College, County Tipperary,
1903, and also taught at Blackrock. He graduated with a pass degree (a personal
disappointment) in mathematics, 1904, and then had a string of teaching
positions. This included Belvedere College where he taught for the school year
1905-1906—he taught mathematics and was paid £5 per month. In September, 1906,
he began at the Teachers Training College for women in Blackrock, as professor
of mathematics and remained there until October 1912.
From
about 1908 onwards, Éamon became more interested and devoted to the Irish
language and culture. He joined the Gaelic League, 1908, and was a delegate to
the ard fheis. He joined the Irish Volunteers at the meeting in Dublin's
Rotunda Rink, 5 November, 1913, and became diligently involved in activities.
He was promoted to captain of the Donnybrook company. In
March, 1915, he was appointed commandant of the 3rd Battalion and
was sworn into the IRB, despite having qualms concerning the secret
organisation.
During
the Easter rising, Commandant de Valera’s 3rd Battalion held
positions in the south-east of Dublin city—Boland's
Bakery, Boland's Mills, Westland Row station, Merrion Square, Mount Street and
Lansdowne Road. Ronan Fanning has described de Valera’s military activity as ‘indecisive but hyper-active’. The outpost at Mount
Street Bridge was under the command of Captain Michael Malone, who was killed
on the Wednesday as the Irish Volunteers used their positions to inflict heavy
casualties on British Army units advancing to the city from Kingstown (Dún
Laoghaire), south of Dublin.
Following
the surrender, de Valera’s sentence of death, given by court-martial 8 May, was
commuted to life imprisonment. He was to be the sole surviving commandant of
the Easter rising. He was imprisoned in Dartmoor, Maidstone and Lewes, but was
released, June, 1917. After his release, he was elected MP, president of Sinn
Féin and president of the Irish Volunteers. During the conscription crisis,
1918, he was arrested, but escaped from Lincoln prison and returned to Ireland
where he was elected President of the first Dáil Éireann. Éamon then embarked
on a tour of the United States of America to raise funds and support for the
new government. When he returned to Ireland, he was not in favour of the
guerrilla tactics used by the IRA.
Refusing to be part
of the negotiating delegation in London, de Valera rejected the Anglo-Irish
Treaty. Frustrated by anti-treaty Sinn Féin’s abstentionist policy, he formed
Fianna Fáil in 1927 and reluctantly took the oath of allegiance and re-entered
Dáil Éireann. The party’s victory in the 1932 election marked the beginning of
de Valera’s dismantling of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. He oversaw the enactment of
the new constitution, Bunreacht na hÉireann, and was active in the League of
Nations. During the Second World War, he resisted pressures and threats and
maintained Ireland as militarily neutral. Out of government in 1948, he was
returned to power in 1951 and 1957. On 25 June, 1959, he was inaugurated as
President of Ireland and was re-elected for a second term. He retired from
office, 1973. Éamon de Valera died 29 August, 1975, aged ninety-two. He was
buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.
