User:Karacmoran/sandbox

Molly O'Reilly

Early Life and Family

Molly (Mollie) O’Reilly was born around 1900 in Dublin Ireland. She grew up on Gardiner Street in inner city Dublin f. Her father was from the town of Virginia in County Cavan but later moved to Dublin following the death of his wife, the mother of O’Reilly. Her father worked as a stonemason with James Pearce, father of Patrick Pearse. Her father had no real interest in Ireland’s fight for independence from Britain. When O’Reilly first introduction to Irish nationalism came when she was 9 years old where she attended Liberty Hall for Irish dancing lessons and heard James Connolly’s speeches. It was at O’Reilly Hall where she worked with the Connolly children, delivering messages for Connolly f. Her father was completely unaware of the other activities that went on at Liberty Hall. From the age of 11 she ran during the Lockout between Connolly and the strikers, helped with fundraising and ran some soup kitchens f. She even hid weapons and artillery from the illicit Howth shipment. At the age of 14 O’Reilly had become a member of both the Irish Citizen’s Army (ICA) and the Irish Women's Workers Union (IWWC). The accumulation of her efforts for Irish Independence led to Connolly choosing O’Reilly to hoist the Irish flag containing the Irish Harp as its centrepiece over Liberty Hall at the young age of 15. The 1916 Easter Rising was called a week later. O’Reilly marched with the ICA to take over Dublin Castle, however they ended up falling back to Dublin City Hall where she operated as a dispatch. O’Reilly was consistently running messages between the General Post Office (GPO) and Dublin City Hall during the 1916 Easter rising. O’Reilly survived the Rising and was later active in both the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War on the anti treaty side.