Sean Mc Diarmada
Sean Mc Diarmada (February 28, 1883 – May 12, 1916), who usually used the English version of his surname, Sean McDermott, was a friend of Thomas Clarke who left his home and went to Glasgow when he was fifteen in search of work. Then he returned to Ireland and went to Belfast, where he worked for a time as a tram conductor, and later as a barman. In Belfast he joined the Ancient Order of Hibernians closely associated with the Irish Parliamentary Party. Soon after settling in Belfast he joined the local branch of the Gaelic League and became a fluent Irish speaker. It was in the Gaelic League that he came into contact with such men as Denis MacCullagh, Sean MacGarry and Bulmer Hobson, who were then leading the secret Republican organisations, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and working through an open polical organisation called Cumann na nGael, an advanced policial movement which advocated Republicanism. Sean MacDiarmada fought in the G.P.O. in the 1916 Easter Rising, where he was attached to the headquarters staff under James Connolly. It was Sean MacDiarmada that read Padraig Pearse's letter of surrender to those in the GPO