Arthur Griffith profile: The architect of Irish independence – but who’s eclipsed in memory by Michael Collins
Once described as ‘the little man with no neck’, Arthur Griffith always had Irish statehood as his aim
Sinn Féin founder and Treaty signatory Arthur Griffith. Photo: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis
Arthur Griffith, described by James Joyce as “the little man with no neck,” certainly had enough gumption to stand up to British imperialism and to lay the foundations for an independent Ireland before his untimely death 100 years ago.
In truth Joyce long admired him (he is repeatedly mentioned in Ulysses, which shares its centenary with that of the State) and saw him from the earliest as an ardent advocate of “ourselves alone”.
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