Editing John MacBride (section)

==1916 Easter Rising==
After returning permanently from Paris to Dublin in 1905 MacBride joined other Irish nationalists in preparing for an insurrection. Because he was so well known to the British, the leaders thought it wise to keep him outside their secret military group planning a Rising.{{sfn|Jordan|2006|pp=130–156}} As a result he happened to find himself in the midst of the Rising without notice. He was in Dublin early on Easter Monday morning to meet his brother Dr. Anthony MacBride, who was arriving from Westport to be married on the Wednesday. The Major walked up Grafton St and saw [[Thomas MacDonagh]] in uniform and leading his troops. He offered his services and was appointed second-in-command at the [[Jacob's biscuits|Jacob's]] factory.{{sfn|Jordan|2006|p=158}}

[[File:Kilmainham Jail.jpg|thumb|Kilmainham Gaol]]
After the Rising, MacBride was court-martialed under the [[Defence of the Realm Act]] and executed by firing squad in Dublin's [[Kilmainham Gaol]] on 5 May 1916.<ref>Macardle, p.983</ref> Just prior to his execution, he said he did not wish to be blindfolded, adding "I have looked down the muzzles of too many guns in the South African war to fear death and now please carry out your sentence". He is buried in Dublin's [[Arbour Hill Prison]].<ref name=MakingMartyrs>{{Cite book |chapter=Making Irish Martyrs: The Impact and Legacy of the Execution of the Leaders of the Easter Rising, 1916 |first=Mark |last=McCarthy |title=Secular Martyrdom in Britain and Ireland |editor1-first=Quentin |editor1-last=Outram |editor2-first=Keith |editor2-last=Laybourn | editor2-link = Keith Laybourn|page=171 |publisher=Springer Nature |date=2018 |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-62905-6 |isbn=978-3-319-62905-6 |url=https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-319-62905-6.pdf |lccn=2017947721}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=McEvoy |first=Dermot |title=Arbour Hill, Dublin's forgotten memorial to the men of 1916 |work= |publisher=Irish Central |date=18 April 2021 |url=https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/arbour-hill-dublin-leaders-1916-easter-rising |access-date=6 November 2022 }}</ref>

Yeats, who was jealous of MacBride for marrying Maud Gonne (and later proposed to her daughter Iseult) gave MacBride an ambivalent eulogy in his poem "[[Easter, 1916]]":
{{Quote|<poem>This other man I had dreamed
 A drunken, vain-glorious lout.
He had done most bitter wrong
To some who are near my heart,
Yet I number him in the song;
He, too, has resigned his part
In the casual comedy;
He, too, has been changed in his turn,
Transformed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.</poem>}}
Maud Gonne wrote to Yeats, "No I dont like your poem, it isn't worthy of you & above all it isn't worthy of its subject... As for my husband he has entered eternity by the great door of sacrifice… so that praying for him I can also ask for his prayers".<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8pP_UOXTVm8C&pg=PA384 |title=Gonne-Yeats Letters |editor1-first=Anna MacBride |editor1-last=White |editor2-first=Norman |editor2-last=Jeffares |publisher=[[Syracuse University Press]] |isbn=9780815603023 |page=384 |date=1994-12-01 |access-date=2020-01-29 |via=Google Books |archive-date=3 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803224720/https://books.google.com/books?id=8pP_UOXTVm8C&lpg=PA384&pg=PA384 |url-status=live }}</ref>