Piaras Béaslaí is é i gColáiste na Mumhan i
mBéal Átha’n Ghaorthaidh/in attendance at Coláiste na Mumhan
(Dathadóir/colourised: Matt Loughrey, 2020)
Piaras Béaslaí (1881-1965)
Saolaíodh Piaras Béaslaí nó Percy Beazley i Learpholl Shasana agus b’é an tarna mac as triúr mac a bhí ag Patrick Langford Beazley, a bhí mar eagarthóir ar The Catholic Times ó 1884 go luath sna fichidí; tráth ar cailleadh é, agus Nancy Beazley (Ní Íceadha), as an gCaisleán Nua, Co. Luimní.
Díbríodh a sheanathair ar thaobh a athar as Eastát Lansdowne; a raibh drochtheist nach beag air mar thiarna talún, i gCo. Chiarraí.
Údar léannta, drámadóir, beathaisnéisí agus aistritheoir ab ea é, a bhí sáite go mór i gConradh na Gaeilge i Learpholl Shasana ón uair gur bunaíodh Craobh Learphoill sa bhliain 1896 agus bhí sé ina bhall de Bhráithreachas na Poblachta (IRB), chomh maith.
Thug sé tacaíocht do Chóras um Letiriú Shímplí a bhain le Shán Ó Cuív agus thug tréimhse, leis, i mBéal Átha’n Ghaorthaidh ó 1910 ar aghaidh. Bhí sé ina léachtóir de chuid Choláiste na Mumhan sa bhliain 1912.
Sa bhliain 1915, mhol sé go dtabharfaí scéim nua isteach ‘An Fáinne’ d’fhonn an Ghaeilge labhartha a chur chun cinn. An aidhm a bhí leis ná go labhródh lucht caite an Fháinne (suaitheantas beag ciorclach ab ea An Fáinne) Gaeilge agus Gaeilge amháin eatarthu féin.
B’é Piaras Béaslaí an té a thug an t-ainm ‘Óglaigh na hÉireann’ ar na Volunteers an chéad lá. Idir 1917-1920 bhí sé ina eagarthóir ar nuachtán Chonradh na Gaeilge, Fáinne an Lae.
Throid an Béaslaíoch in Éirí Amach na Cásca agus bhí sé ina Theachta Dála nuair a tháinig deireadh le Cogadh na Saoirse.
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Piaras Béaslaí (1881-1965). Born Percy Beazley in Liverpool, UK, Béaslaí was the second of three sons born to Patrick Langford Beazley, editor of the Catholic Times from 1884 until his death in the early 1920s, and Nancy Beazley (née Hickie), from Newcastle West, Co. Limerick. His paternal grandfather had been evicted from the notorious Lansdowne Estate in Kerry.
He was an author, playwright, biographer and translator, prominent in the Liverpool Gaelic League from its inception in 1896 and a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.
He was a proponent of Shán Ó Cuiv’s simplified Irish spelling and spent time in Ballingeary from 1910. He worked as a lecturer at Coláiste na Mumhan in 1912.
In 1915, he proposed ‘An Fáinne’, a scheme to promote spoken Irish. Those who wore the Fáinne badge (a small circular pin) undertook to speak only Irish among themselves.
Béaslaí gave the title ‘Óglaigh na hÉireann’ to the Volunteers.
From 1917-1920, Béaslaí was editor of the Gaelic League’s Fáinne an Lae.
He fought in the Easter Rising and, after independence, served as a TD (member of Dáil Éireann).
Foinse/source: RTE History, ‘Piaras Béaslai: the theatre-loving writer who became a rebel’ [ar líne/online]: https://www.rte.ie/history/2020/0805/1157430-piaras-beaslai-the-writer-who-became-a-rebel/ (ceadaithe/accessed 20/10/2020); Ainm.ie [ar líne/online]: https://www.ainm.ie/Bio.aspx?ID=4 (ceadaithe/accessed 20/10/2020); L. de Roiste, ‘Colaisde Muinteoireachta Na Mumhan’ (Unpublished, n.d.).
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