Co. Kildare Soldier's connection to 1916 Rising Leader, James Connolly
The state ceremony to commemorate the role played by James Connolly and
the Irish Citizen Army in the 1916 Rising took place in front of
Liberty Hall in Dublin on Easter Tuesday the 29th of March.
The event included a wreath-laying by the President Michael D Higgins and a ceremonial flag-raising by the Irish Army, successors of the Citizen Army.
Amongst those in attendance were Government and Trade Union representatives and descendants of Irish Citizen Army members, including a Co. Kildare man who took a central role in the occasion; Sergt. James Pearse who is the great grandson of James Connolly. Sergt. Pearse had the honour of reading the Proclamation in front of the President and all those gathered for the ceremony. The event was carried live on RTE1 and Sergt. Pearse featured on many news items that evening.
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In late 2015, Sergt. Pearse presented the national flag at Two Mile House National School to his son Sean Pearse. This was carried out as part of the 1916 commemoration initiative Flags for Schools programme, which distributed the national flag to all schools throughout Ireland. Members of the Defence Forces travelled to each national school in the country to present a copy of the 1916 Proclamation along with the national flag and a pack explaining its history and meaning. On Proclamation Day, March 15, 2016, Sean Pearse had the honour of raising the flag at his school in Two Mile House, Naas.
Sergt. Pearse also accompanied his son Corey to Croke Park on the 7th of March for the National Flag Presentation Ceremony for Post-Primary Schools, to collect the flag for Pipers Hill College in Naas, where Corey also took part in the raising of the flag ceremony on Proclamation Day.
Sergt. Pearse, who lives in Mullacash just outside Naas, is from the long established Pearse family of Naas, - no relation to the other 1916 Rising leader of that name. Sergt. Pearse's connection to the great socialist leader goes back through his father's maternal lineage. Sergt. Pearse's grandfather Peter Pearse, married Nora Ward, whose mother Aideen was Connolly's daughter.
