James Connolly

James Connolly (1868-1916) was an Irish socialist and trade union leader. In 1913 he founded the paramilitary Irish Citizen Army as a workers' militia; it later participated, alongside the Irish Volunteers, in the Easter Rising of 1916 against British rule in Ireland. Connolly was wounded in the fighting; he was, after the rebel forces surrendered, tried by court martial and executed by firing squad.