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Title:	Éanna de Búrca (b. 1930)
Authors:	O'Keeffe, Maurice de Burca, Éanna
Keywords:	1916 Rising St. Enda's Padraig Pearse War of Independence Frank Burke
Issue Date:	2012
Publisher:	Irish Life and Lore
Description:	Éanna de Búrca describes his father Frank Burke’s background and his education at St Enda’s. Frank Burke later worked as a teacher at the school. Frank Burke joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913, having previously been a member of Fianna Éireann. (Fianna Éireann was a republican youth movement founded by Countess Markievicz and Bulmer Hobson in 1909 in Dublin.) Éanna describes his father’s introduction by Con Colbert (who was executed after the Rising) into the IRB, the preparations for the Rising and his father’s movements during the Rising. Frank Burke was stationed on the roof of the GPO for the duration. (The St Enda’s boys were stationed on the roof.) His meeting with his future wife, Angela Curran, while he was in Stafford Jail in England, is also described by their son. Frank Burke’s days in Frongoch Camp in North Wales are described, including the activities there and the teaching of military tactics. His emotional meeting with his sister, Aoife, on his return to Carbury, Co. Kildare, following his release, is described. His return to teaching and later joining the staff of St Enda’s in 1919 during the War of Independence are discussed. (St Enda’s, or Scoil Éanna, was established by P. H. Pearse in September 1908. A bilingual school, it accommodated boarders and day pupils.) Contains a description of Frank Burke’s hurling and football skills and his fine successes in both codes. On Bloody Sunday, he was marking Michael Hogan of Tipperary, who was shot and killed by the Black and Tans while playing for his team against Dublin at Croke Park in November 1920. (Bloody Sunday: On 21 November 1920, Collins’s Squad assassinated fourteen British Intelligence agents in Dublin. Later that day, Black and Tans entered Croke Park and shot a number of spectators and one player, Michael Hogan.) Éanna de Búrca recalls his aunt Aoife Burke who was a nurse. He relates an anecdote involving his father and an RIC officer at a checkpoint during the War of Independence. He shares his memories of his father’s associates from 1916, and from Frongoch, who would later visit his father at the family home. Frank Burke’s brief tenure as one of Collins’s Twelve Apostles (also known as the Squad) is mentioned, and his feelings towards Collins after the signing of the Treaty are described. (The Anglo- Irish Treaty was signed at 2.10 a.m. on 6 December 1921 in London.) Details of Frank Burke’s appointment as Headmaster at St Enda’s, and his career there, are discussed, as is his and his wife Angela’s support for Fianna Fáil. Éanna de Búrca recalls asking his father why he supported the party, and his reply was that de Valera’s policies and ideals were closest to those of P. H. Pearse. Éanna de Búrca was a godson of Margaret Pearse, mother of P. H. Pearse, and he recalls living in the bungalow specially built by her to accommodate the Headmaster and Assistant Headmaster at St Enda’s. Éanna de Búrca gives his views on the 1916 Rising and on the Treaty, and a discussion ensues on a photograph taken in 1916 and a photograph of the same people again taken in 1966. The effects of the Civil War in Ireland and the wounds created at that time are also described. Contains a description of St Enda’s School and a discussion on its use as a grenade factory before the Rising. The friendship which developed between Frank Burke and P. H. Pearse is explored.
URI:	https://hdl.handle.net/10599/11566
Copyright:	For permission to reproduce any of these recordings, contact Irish Life and Lore at info@irishlifeandlore.com. For MP3 or CD copies of interviews, please see www.irishlifeandlore.com
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Appears in Collections:	Irish Life and Lore 1916 Collection Published Items

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