Patrick Pearse | Pádraig Mac Piarais (1879–1916) was an Irish educator, author, and political activist, one of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising. As has been argued by Patrick Witt and Gerard Cairns, Erskine most likely met with Pearse at the Pan-Celtic Congress in Cardiff in 1899. Member of Gaelic League and editor of its newspaper, An Claidheamh Soluis [The Sword of Light], Pearse contributed the essay ‘“Education” in the West of Ireland’ to Guth na Bliadhna, inspiring Erskine’s own thinking about the role of Gaelic in Scottish education. It is likely that Pearse also provided a publicity quote for Guth na Bliadhna on behalf of An Claidheamh Soluis, calling it ‘singularly interesting; maintains its high reputation for learning and scholarship.’
Publications in Erskine’s Periodicals
- ‘“Education” in the West of Ireland,’ Volume II, Issue 4 (1905)
Resources
- Gerard Cairns, No Language! No Nation! The Life and Times of the Honourable Ruaraidh Erskine of Marr (Peairt: Rymour Books, 2021)
- Gerard Cairns, “Principles and Curses: The Honourable Ruaraidh Erskine of Mar and Some Irish Connections,” Litteraria Pragensia 33:65 (2023)
- Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994)
- Patrick Witt, “Connections across the North Channel: Ruaraidh Erskine and Irish Influence in Scottish Discontent, 1906-1920,” The Irish Story