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"He clearly had a lot of bottle": Irvine Welsh chooses his history hero

"He clearly had a lot of bottle": Irvine Welsh chooses his history hero

Novelist and short-story writer Irvine Welsh chooses James Connolly (1868–1916) as his history hero

York Membery

Published: June 3, 2026 at 4:00 PM

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When did you first hear about Connolly?

I’m a lifelong Hibs [Hibernian Football Club] fan, and I first heard about him because he was their ‘kit man’, laying out the team’s kit before matches.

What kind of man was he?

People think of Connolly as Irish, but he was born in Edinburgh’s ‘Little Ireland’ to migrant parents and spoke with a Scottish accent all his life. Like a lot of socialists of that era, he was very driven, unwisely believing in the inexorable destiny of socialist humanity. He also had an interesting background for an ‘Irish’ rebel, joining the Scottish Socialist Federation as a young man and even standing for election to Edinburgh city council. But in his thirties he uprooted his family and spent five years working in the US as a full-time organiser for the labour organisation Industrial Workers of the World.

Read more | What working-class autobiographies can tell us about the Industrial Revolution

What made him a hero?

I’m not really one for heroes, but I find him quite an inspirational figure. He was a community activist, charted his own course in life and took part in the Easter Rising [by Irish republicans in Dublin in 1916], which drew together a combustible group of people from very different backgrounds. Connolly brought that ‘socialist’ edge to the Irish rebellion. In contrast, people such as Patrick Pearse, who was also executed, were part of a romantic nationalist movement rooted in Celtic folklore. The only memorial to Connolly in Edinburgh is a small, semi-apologetic plaque on Cowgate under the George IV Bridge. I don’t think he receives the recognition he deserves in his old hometown.

What was his finest hour?

The bravery that he showed in both taking part in the Easter Rising, knowing that he would be executed if he came out of the General Post Office alive, and in facing death itself – he clearly had a lot of bottle. Arrested after the rebels surrendered, and unable to stand because his ankle – which had been shattered by shrapnel – had turned gangrenous, Connolly was tied to a chair and placed before a firing squad at Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin. The severity of the British reaction to the rising precipitated the Irish War of Independence.

Is there anything that you don’t particularly admire about him?

Just the fact that he dragged his family all over the world so he could do what he wanted – everything was sacrificed to that. But we build our own lives for the people around us, too.

Read more | The Irish Republican Army: a brief guide

Can you see any parallels between his life and yours?

Other than both being Hibs fans, not really. Even our political views don’t really align: I’m more of an anarchist than a socialist. Would I have been as brave as him when the end came? God, no!

What would you ask Connolly if you could meet him now?

Who was your favourite Hibs player?

Irvine Welsh is a Scottish writer best known for his landmark novel Trainspotting (1993). His latest novel, Men in Love (Jonathan Cape, 2025), and the accompanying album by Irvine Welsh & the Sci-Fi Soul Orchestra, are out now

This article was first published in the May 2026 issue of HistoryExtra Magazine

Authors

York MemberyJournalist

York Membery is a regular contributor to BBC History Magazine, the Daily Mail and Sunday Times among other publications. York, who lives in London, worked on the Mirror, Express and Times before turning freelance. He studied history at Cardiff University and the Institute of Historical Research, and has a History PhD from Maastricht University.