A founding member of the Irish Volunteers, Edward (aka Eamonn) Morkan was assigned to A Company in the 1st Dublin Battalion in April 1914. He was appointed 2nd Lieutenant, Quartermaster, of the Battalion in December 1915 and joined the IRB around the same time. He helped to oversee the Four Courts garrison during the Easter Rising and spent the week moving throughout the area. His wife Phyllis, a member of Cumann na mBan, was briefly stationed alongside him in Father Matthew Hall. Morkan was interned in Knutsford Jail, Frongoch prison camp and Reading Gaol until December 1916, returning home to Phyllis and their newborn child for Christmas. He helped to establish a Volunteer Battalion in Birr and became its commanding officer until his arrest in 1918 in relation to the “German Plot”. He subsequently joined the West Waterford Brigade as Vice Commandant in 1919 before taking up a role with the Land Bank.
Witness Statement(s):
Do you have information about this person you would like to share?
