Talk:Robert Brennan (journalist)

Latest comment: 2 years ago by Pageturners
edit

Looking at the external link here: [1], it says:

"The following is from an undated obituary, believed to be from a Washington DC (USA) newspaper, 1964:
Robert Brennan Dies; Ex-Minister of Ireland: Robert Brennan, 86, a veteran of the Irish battle for independence and wartime minister of the Irish Republic in Washington, dies yesterday in Dublin. Following the abortive nationalist uprising of Easter, 1916, Mr. Brennan was sentenced to death. The 17-year-old youth had commanded the Sinn Fein troops that seized the town of Enniscorthy. He later recalled sitting in the Kilmainham Jail listening to the rifles executing his fellow officers. “And then, as though it were a miracle, there came an order that executions must cease,” he remembered. A native of Wexford Town, County Wexford, Mr. Brennan was the son of a cattle merchant. He went to the Christian Brothers school in Wexford and entered the Royal University of Ireland before becoming active in the independence movement."
  • How could a 17-year-old, born in 1881, have seized Enniscorthy in 1916?
  • How could he have also entered university before 1916 (aged 16 perhaps)?

Could the link adder get on to that website to have it re-worded, or I suggest it doesn't belong here - which would be a pity.Red Hurley (talk) 12:24, 25 November 2008 (UTC)Reply

If this obituary is verbatim, then there's obviously a few typos here. Robert Brennan definitely was born in 1881. I wouldn't like to see the link removed, as it supplies valuable information. I'll try to get in touch with the web-site owner and alert him to this fact. Thanks for highlighting this (I missed it myself!). I can supply further information and refs if necessary. Hohenloh + 20:46, 25 November 2008 (UTC)Reply

There's no doubt that Robert Brennan took part in the Rising in Enniscorthy in 1916; he was an officer along with Seamus Doyle and JR Etchingham. Since Allegiance, his memoir of the Rising and the War of Independence, gives the date of Brennan's wedding as 1909, I suspect that his birthdate may be wrong. Especially as he writes: We brought our daughter Emer, then nearly six years old, to Coolnaboy, to stay with her grandmother (in 1916). (Pageturners) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pageturners (talkcontribs) 18:34, 22 July 2009 (UTC)Reply

Oh, wait a second, though, if he was born in 1881 he wasn't 17 in 1916, he was 35, wasn't he? Pageturners (talk) 18:40, 22 July 2009 (UTC)PageturnersReply

Shouldn't this entry really be "Robert Brennan (diplomat)" rather than "(journalist)"? Pageturners (talk) 18:45, 14 December 2021 (UTC)Reply