Seán (John Joseph) Sinnott was born in Wexford town about 1883, the son of Stephen Sinnott and Ellen Brady. Described by a contemporary as ‘a nice quiet sort of fellow’ (WS 399: Min Ryan Mulcahy), Sinnott was a carpenter by trade and lived in Grogan’s Road, Wexford. He was an enthusiastic member of the Gaelic League as was his mother, Ellen who filled in their 1911 census form as Gaeilge. Robert Brennan and Sinnott were friends and were sworn into the Irish Republican Brotherhood together by a future President of Ireland, Seán T. Ó Ceallaigh. On the eve of the Rising, Sinnott was Commandant of the Wexford town battalion of the Volunteers and Vice Commandant of the South Wexford Brigade. On Thursday, 20 April 1916, he received a coded message from Patrick Pearse, informing him that the Rising would take place on Easter Sunday, beginning at 6pm. He began to mobilise the Volunteers under his command. However, late on Sunday evening a dispatch was delivered to Sinnott from Pearse postponing the mobilisation. When news of the Rising in Dublin reached Wexford, Sinnott again ordered a mobilisation and he and Robert Brennan began to commandeer vehicles and supplies. Again, an order came, this time from the Chief of Inspection JJ O’Connell, cancelling the mobilisation. After the Rising, Sinnott was arrested and, for a while, was imprisoned with Robert Brennan and the other Enniscorthy leaders in Wexford Barracks. Eventually, he was interned in Frongoch and was released in June 1917
