User:LelaD/sandbox

Later Life & Legacy

Patrick Pearse founded St. Enda's in 1908 and was the headmaster up until the time of his execution. After Patrick’s death, the responsibility for running the school fell to Margaret Pearse and her two daughters, Mary Margaret Pearse and Mary Brigid Pearse. As Patrick Pearse had died without a will, the school was left in a precarious financial position. In May 1924 when Margaret Pearse was aged 70, she undertook a trip to America to raise funds for the school, alongside showing support for Eamon de Valera and the Irish Republic. At an event in Brooklyn on May 19th, 1924, when referencing the execution of her two sons, Margaret declared herself the “proudest mother in Ireland”. She also stated that Michael Collins had attempted to “bribe” her with an offer to subsidise the school, which she refused. During a meeting in Seattle on August 11th, 1924, she again discussed her sons and how she believed “the best way to honour their memory was to carry on their work for Ireland”. Margaret raised over $10,000 in donations for the school during the trip. Notwithstanding Margaret’s fundraising activities, St. Enda’s continued to decline and eventually closed in 1935. North Brunswick Street, where Margaret and the Pearse family originally lived, was renamed Pearse Street in 1920 by a resolution passed at the Dublin City Council meeting.