Excerpts from Bellany's recent book,
"Wiki-People Who Died At Age 32"

Since 2006, Bellany has scoured Wikipedia for people who died at his exact age. When he was 32, he found 117 figures - some obscure and others notable, who had died at that tender age. In addition to writing up a short biography for each 'character', Bellany created original black and white portraits using illustrations he uncovered on image searches.

"Being the same age as each person I researched (when they died), I naturally felt a strong personal connection to their stories. I compared our accomplishments, social situations, and the eras in which we lived. It was a new way of looking at both history and myself. Now that I have moved on to age 33, I find myself contemplating the strange fact that I have lived longer than Bruce Lee, King Richard III and Alexander the Great. It definitely motivates me to work harder and make a difference."

↓more

・Bruce Lee

・Buzz Sawyer

・Davey Allison

・Dick Turpin

・Eadred of England

・Elizabeth Siddal

・Galeazzo Maria Sforza

・Glen Kidston

・Hernan Gaviria

・Jedediah 'Strong' Smith

・Joseph I

・Keith Godchaux

・Lya De Putti

・Mike Lockwood

・Ota Benga

・Ottavio Bottecchia

・Proof

・Regnier De Graaf

・Steve Chiasson

・Thomas Ashe

・Vladimir of Novgorod

・William Cartwright

・Wyndham Hallswelle

back to INDEX

Wiki-People Who Died At Age 32

Thomas Ashe (1885-1917)
Irish nationalist Thomas Ashe was a teacher and prominent member of organizations such as the Gaelic League and Irish Republican Brotherhood. He was also a founding member of the Irish Volunteers, which later became the Irish Republican Army.

Leading a battalion of 60-70 men during the Easter Uprising of 1916, Ashe used guerilla tactics to defeat a much larger British force. In the process, his men captured a cache of weapons that included 20 police vehicles. However, as the rebellion was quelled after six days, Ashe and his soldiers surrendered on the orders of his superior, the soon to be executed Padraig Pearse.

Originally sentenced to death for his role in the rebellion, Ashe's punishment was later reduced to penal servitude for life. After leading a hunger strike among Irish prisoners to protest their mistreatment, the now skinny Ashe was released as part of a general amnesty in June of 1917.

To the dismay of the British, Ashe quickly returned to Ireland and began a series of speeches that criticized the British and expressed the need for an independent Ireland. After only two months of freedom, Ashe was re-arrested and sentenced to 2 years hard labor for sedition.

Jailed at Mountjoy Prison in Dublin, Ashe and his fellow inmates did not experience a mountain of joy. Demanding 'prisoner of war' status, they lead a protest that once again evolved into a hunger strike. Though their boots and blankets were taken in retaliation for the strike, the resolve of the Irish prisoners was not broken. Less than a week after beginning the strike, Ashe died from injuries he sustained while being brutally force-fed by prison authorities. He was 32.

After lying in state at Dublin City Hall, Ashe's body was carried in a long procession to the Glasnevin Cemetery, where 30,000 people gathered for an oration by Michael Collins, the legendary Irish leader who would soon fall in battle just two months shy of his own 32nd birthday.

The death of Thomas Ashe not only led to a dramatic spike in the number of new Irish Republican recruits, it created a swell of popular support for Irish the independence movement.