"Plunkett" the youngest signature of the Proclamation faced the firing squad he said.

In 1916, a young poet, journalist and patriot called Joe Plunkett was marched to the lonely execution yard of Kilmainham Gaol…

The taste of his new bride, Grace Gifford's, last kiss still on his lips. The lovers had married only hours before, an all too brief humble service in the prison chapel.

The patriotic romance and tragedy was immortalised in the song "Grace" by the Wolfe Tones.

As Plunkett, the youngest signature of the Proclamation faced the firing squad he said:

“I am very happy I am dying for the glory of God and the honour of Ireland". No doubt Grace's dark eyes were the last thing he saw as the bullets flew.

But there was even more darkness to this romantic image. An artist and political activist in her own right, Grace's life as a widow would be marred by loneliness and poverty. Rather unfairly Plunkett had made her promise to never remarry, lest it tarnish her image as a martyr's wife.

Also, Grace didn't receive anything from his inheritance for years. Technicalities of the Will being hastily drafted before the wedding, and there being only one witness in the chapel, created a loophole which Plunkett's parents exploited.

The woman who had already suffered and sacrificed so much for her country was forced to endure more. She initially struggled with poverty but eventually carved out a successful life for herself in the arts and politics.

She passed away on 13th December 1955, her name still attached to the melancholy mystique of her widow. Yet by the end of her life, she was very much also an artist and activist in her own right.

Plunkett was born at 26 Upper Fitzwilliam Street in one of Dublin's most affluent districts. Both his parents came from wealthy backgrounds, and his father, George Noble Plunkett, had been made a papal count.

Plunkett contracted tuberculosis (TB) at a young age and spent part of his youth in the warmer climates of the Mediterranean and North Africa. He spent time in Algiers where he studied Arabic literature and language and composed poetry in Arabic.

He was educated at the Catholic University School (CUS) and by the Jesuits at Belvedere College in Dublin and later at Stonyhurst College, in Lancashire, England where he acquired some military knowledge from the Officers' Training Corps.

Throughout his life, Joseph Plunkett took an active interest in Irish heritage and the Irish language, and also studied Esperanto. Plunkett was one of the founders of the Irish Esperanto Association in 1907.

He joined the Gaelic League and began studying with Thomas MacDonagh, with whom he formed a lifelong friendship. The two were both poets with an interest in theatre, and both were early members of the Irish Volunteers, joining their provisional committee.

Plunkett's interest in Irish nationalism spread throughout his family, notably to his younger brothers George and John, as well as his father, who allowed his property in Kimmage, south Dublin, to be used as a training camp for young men who wished to escape conscription in Britain during the First World War.

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