Darrell Figgis

 

Lived in: Dublin (birthplace), Hampstead (at 42 Asmuns Hill)

 

Profession: Activist and Politician

 

About his life:

 

• Developed a love for Irish literature and culture during his years living in Hampstead.

• Joined the Irish Volunteers, an Irish nationalist paramilitary organisation against British rule, in 1913.

• Due to his involvement in the Easter Rising of 1916, Figgis had to “part ways” with the publishing house which represented his literary works.

• Due to his support for the Anglo-Irish treaty, he was expelled from his political party, Sinn Féin - he was also later attacked by the IRA in 1922.

• He later stood as an independent parliamentarian in independent Ireland.

• Following the death of his lover, Rita North, in a failed medical operation, Figgis committed suicide on 26th October 1925.

 

Interesting Fact:

 

• He lived in Kolkata, India, up to the age of ten during the British Raj.