Cumann Uaigheann na Laochra Gael ("Grave Committee of Heroes of the Gaels") | |
Abbreviation | NGA |
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Predecessor |
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Formation | 1926 |
Founder |
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Type | Nonprofit |
Purpose | To maintain and restore the graves of people significant to Irish Nationalism and Irish Republicanism |
Location | |
Funding | Voluntary donations |
Website | www |
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Irish republicanism |
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The National Graves Association (NGA; Irish : Cumann Uaigheann na Laochra Gael, "Grave Committee of Heroes of the Gaels") is an Irish organisation which seeks to maintain the graves of Irish republicans who died in the pursuit of a reunified Ireland. Its stated objectives are "to restore, where necessary, and maintain fittingly the graves and memorials of our patriot dead of every generation; to commemorate those who died in the cause of Irish Freedom; to compile a record of such graves and memorials", with a guiding principle that "Only a 32 County Irish Republic represents the true aspiration of those who gave their lives for Irish freedom". [1] [2] It is not affiliated with the Government of the Republic of Ireland or Government of Northern Ireland. It is also an entirely separate organisation to the National Graves Association, Belfast.
Its 'guiding principle' is "Only a 32 County Irish Republic represents the true aspiration of those who gave their lives for Irish freedom". [3] As a result, it does not look after the graves of British soldiers or Irish soldiers who were on the pro-treaty side in the Irish Civil War. It is an autonomous body, with no affiliation to any political party, organisation, or group.
It was formed in 1926 and has its origins in the many associations established in the late 19th century to erect memorials over the graves of prominent Irish Republican Brotherhood members and others. Since its establishment, the NGA has erected, or accepted into its care, over 500 monuments and memorials throughout Ireland. [4] The NGA also publishes The Last Post, which contains the names of republicans who died in pursuit of republican objectives since 1916. Members of the governing body are not allowed by the rules to be a member of any political party. This rule does not apply to associates.
The Easter Rising, also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the aim of establishing an independent Irish Republic while the United Kingdom was fighting the First World War. It was the most significant uprising in Ireland since the rebellion of 1798 and the first armed conflict of the Irish revolutionary period. Sixteen of the Rising's leaders were executed starting in May 1916. The nature of the executions, and subsequent political developments, ultimately contributed to an increase in popular support for Irish independence.
The Irish Civil War was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United Kingdom but within the British Empire.
The Provisional Irish Republican Army, officially known as the Irish Republican Army and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reunification and bring about an independent republic encompassing all of Ireland. It was the most active republican paramilitary group during the Troubles. It saw itself as the army of the all-island Irish Republic and as the sole legitimate successor to the original IRA from the Irish War of Independence. It was designated a terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom and an unlawful organisation in the Republic of Ireland, both of whose authority it rejected.
Eoin O'Duffy was an Irish military commander, police commissioner and fascist leader. O'Duffy was the leader of the Monaghan Brigade of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and a prominent figure in the Ulster IRA during the Irish War of Independence. In this capacity, he became Chief of Staff of the IRA in 1922. He accepted the Anglo-Irish Treaty and as a general became Chief of Staff of the National Army in the Irish Civil War, on the pro-Treaty side.
The Irish Volunteers, also known as the Irish Volunteer Force or the Irish Volunteer Army, was a paramilitary organisation established in 1913 by nationalists and republicans in Ireland. It was ostensibly formed in response to the formation of its Irish unionist/loyalist counterpart the Ulster Volunteers in 1912, and its declared primary aim was "to secure and maintain the rights and liberties common to the whole people of Ireland". Its ranks included members of the Conradh na Gaeilge, Ancient Order of Hibernians, Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Increasing rapidly to a strength of nearly 200,000 by mid-1914, it split in September of that year over John Redmond's support for the British war effort during World War I, with the smaller group opposed to Redmond's decision retaining the name "Irish Volunteers".
The Irish Republican Brotherhood was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland between 1858 and 1924. Its counterpart in the United States of America was initially the Fenian Brotherhood, but from the 1870s it was Clan na Gael. The members of both wings of the movement are often referred to as "Fenians". The IRB played an important role in the history of Ireland, as the chief advocate of republicanism during the campaign for Ireland's independence from the United Kingdom, successor to movements such as the United Irishmen of the 1790s and the Young Irelanders of the 1840s.
Thomas James Clarke was an Irish republican and a leader of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Clarke was arguably the person most responsible for the 1916 Easter Rising. A proponent of armed struggle against British rule in Ireland for most of his life, Clarke spent 15 years in English prisons prior to his role in the Easter Rising, and was executed by firing squad after it was defeated.
Maurice Twomey was an Irish republican and the longest serving chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
John Devoy was an Irish republican rebel and journalist who owned and edited The Gaelic American, a New York weekly newspaper, from 1903 to 1928.
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to anti-imperialism through Irish republicanism, the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic free from British rule.
The border campaign was a guerrilla warfare campaign carried out by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) against targets in Northern Ireland, with the aim of overthrowing British rule there and creating a united Ireland. It was also referred to as the "resistance campaign" by some Irish republican activists. The campaign was a military failure, but for some of its members was justified as it kept the IRA engaged for another generation.
The republican movement refers to the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and other political, social and paramilitary organisations and movements associated with it. It can refer to:
Milltown Cemetery is a large cemetery in west Belfast, Northern Ireland. It lies within the townland of Ballymurphy, between Falls Road and the M1 motorway.
The Green Book is a training and induction manual issued by the Irish Republican Army to new volunteers. It was used by the post-Irish Civil War Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Cumann na mBan,, along with later incarnations such as the Provisional IRA (IRA). It includes a statement of military objectives, tactics and conditions for military victory against the British government. This military victory was to be achieved as part of "the ongoing liberation of Ireland from foreign occupiers". The Green Book has acted as a manual of conduct and induction to the organisation since at least the 1950s.
The Irish National War Memorial Gardens is an Irish war memorial in Islandbridge, Dublin, dedicated "to the memory of the 49,400 Irish soldiers who gave their lives in the Great War, 1914–1918", out of a total of 206,000 Irishmen who served in the British forces alone during the war.
Diarmuid Lynch was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and Sinn Féin member of the First Dáil.
The National Graves Association, Belfast is a private Irish republican organisation which undertakes to care for and maintain the graves of some Irish Republican Army volunteers who are buried in Belfast cemeteries. It is a separate organisation from the National Graves Association based in Dame Street, Dublin.
The Friends of Irish Freedom was an Irish-American nationalist organisation founded at the third Irish Race Convention held in New York. Supported by the United Irish League, the Ancient Order of Hibernians and other leading Irish-American organisations. Clan na Gael dominated the Executive.
The Fenian Rising of 1867 was a rebellion against British rule in Ireland, organised by the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB).