Charles Patrick Donnelly (10 July 1914 – 27 February 1937) was an Irish poet, republican and left wing political activist. He was killed fighting on the republican side during the Spanish Civil War. Early life Born in Killybrackey, near Dungannon, County Tyrone on 10 July 1914 into a family of cattle breeders. His father, Joseph Donnelly sold his farm in 1917 and the family moved to Dundalk and opened a greengrocer's shop. Joseph Donnelly became quite prosperous, running his shop, dealing cattle and buying and selling property in the Dundalk area. In addition to Charles, the Donnellys had five other sons and two daughters. Charles' mother, Rose, died in 1927, when he was 13 years old. Charles Donnelly received his early education in the Christian Brothers school in Dundalk. When he was 14 in 1928, the family moved again, this time to Dublin, where Joseph bought a house on Mountjoy Square in the north inner city. He enrolled in O'Connell School on North Frederick Street, but was expelled after only a few weeks. He spent the next few months wandering the streets of Dublin during school time before his father discovered what had happened. At this time also, Charles met and was befriended by radical political activists from the IRA, the Communist Party of Ireland and the left-Republican group, Saor Éire. His father and aunts then got Charles an apprenticeship with a carpenter, but he gave this up after a year to enroll in University College, Dublin in 1931, where he studied Logic, English, History and the Irish language. In university he began writing poetry and prose for student publications but failed his first year examinations. At this time he also became deeply involved in radical left wing and republican politics. He dropped out of University in 1934, having failed his first year exams three times and joined the radical group, the Republican Congress. There he befriended veteran republicans Frank Ryan and George Gilmore. He also became involved in a romantic relationship with another republican activist, Cora Hughes, Éamon de Valera's goddaughter and later partner of George Gilmore. In July 1934 he was arrested and imprisoned for two weeks for his role in picketing a Dublin bakery with other Congress members. After this, his father expelled him from the family home and he spent a period sleeping rough in parks around Dublin. Political activism The Republican Congress split at its