MARY ANNE, JOHANNA (HANNIE) COLLINS AND MARY COLLINS-POWELL

Michael Collins grew up surrounded by independent, strong women from his mother to his older sisters.

His mother Mary Anne took over as head of the family when her husband died in 1897 (Collins’ father Michael senior was 75 when Michael junior was born).

Michael, the youngest of the Collins’s eight children, was just six years old at the time.

Mary Anne instilled in her children a drive to succeed in life through education and hard work.

In 1906, when he was 15, Collins got a job as a clerk in the Post Office Savings Bank in Kensington.

For nearly ten years he lived with his sister Hannie, who also worked for the Post Office.

Their mother died shortly after Collins moved to London.

Hannie became a mother figure to him, and they shared a love of literature and theatre.

In London, Collins became involved in the Republican movement — sworn into the IRB in 1909 by none other than Sam Maguire.

Collins lived with Hannie until he returned to Ireland in January 1916 where he took part in the Easter Rising, serving as aide-de-camp to Joseph Plunkett.

During the War of Independence, his sister Mary regularly hid guns for the Cork IRA and also passed on intelligence to her younger brother.