Henderson, Frank (1886–1959), revolutionary, was born 16 April 1886 in Dublin, eldest surviving among eight children of Robert Henderson (1845–1910), bookbinder, and his wife Frances, a schoolteacher, daughter of James Broughal, dyer, of Co. Armagh and Manchester. The family lived at 55 Charleville Avenue and later at 5 Windsor Villas, Fairview, Dublin.
Educated at the CBS Fairview, Henderson refused to sit the civil service examinations on leaving school (1903), not wishing to work for the British government, and instead became a clerk in a solicitor's office. Not long after taking up that job, he was dismissed because he refused to take time off on the occasion of Edward VII's visit to Dublin. Up to the Anglo–Irish war, he held a number of clerkships in sundry small firms. Having been a member of the Gaelic League and the GAA for many years, he joined B Company, 2nd Bn, Dublin Brigade of the Irish Volunteers (November 1913) and took part in the Howth gun-running (July 1914). In 1915 he was appointed captain of F Company, but on religious grounds he declined an invitation from Sean O'Casey (qv) to join the IRB.
During the Easter rising he served in the GPO, and in its aftermath was interned at Stafford and Frongoch before being released at Christmas 1916. Returning to Dublin, he became commandant of 2nd Dublin Bn. Together with Dick McKee (qv) and Oscar Traynor (qv), with whom he had been close friends prior to 1916, as well as Richard Mulcahy (qv), he helped in the crucial reorganisation of the Dublin Volunteers. Henderson was instrumental in the organisation by the Dublin Brigade of the procession that followed the funeral (September 1917) of Thomas Ashe (qv), which helped to raise the Volunteers’ profile and boost morale.
In early 1918 he was arrested with McKee for drilling in public and served two months’ imprisonment in Dundalk. He later joined Volunteer GHQ and during its reorganisation in September 1920 he joined the organisation department. Although he became close to Michael Collins (qv) through McKee, Henderson failed to achieve his ambition of becoming director of intelligence. This may be attributable to his uneasiness with the policy of assassinations carried out under Collins. Henderson told McKee that such a policy did not sit easy with his conscience, and subsequently found himself sidelined to deal with administrative issues.
Following the attack on the Custom House (May 1921), he was recalled to active duty as OC 2nd Bn, and before the signing of the treaty he became brigade adjutant. Opposed to the treaty, he became an important member of the anti-treaty IRA and, after Oscar Traynor's arrest in August 1922, replaced him as OC Dublin Brigade. Under orders from Liam Lynch (qv) he reluctantly ordered the shooting of Pádraig Ó Máille (qv), TD, and Seán Hales (qv), TD. In early 1923 Henderson was arrested and imprisoned for the rest of the civil war. He was one of the last republicans to be released in 1924 and after several years of unemployment he and Traynor established the Fodhla Printing Co. in 1927. After the business went bankrupt in 1940, he worked for the Sinn Féin Loan Society before becoming secretary to the Hospital Commission (1943–59).
His involvement in politics after 1924 was low-key. He was a member of the Fianna Fáil national executive, was coopted on to Dublin corporation (1934), and was defeated in the urban council elections (1937). He unsuccessfully contested a seat in the seanad in 1938, and in 1943 rejected an offer to stand for the dáil. During the second world war he became a captain, and later commandant, of 26th Bn Old IRA. He was a director of the Republican Swimming Club and was on the visiting committee of Mountjoy prison in the 1940s. In 1945 he wrote an article on McKee entitled ‘Irish leaders of our time 5: Richard McKee’ for An Cosantóir, v (1945). He died 13 January 1959 at his home, 83 St Mobhi Road, Glasnevin, Dublin, and was buried in Glasnevin cemetery.
He married (1918) Josephine Ní Bhraonáin (d. 1971) of Co. Laois, who claimed to be distantly related to James Fintan Lalor (qv) and Cardinals Paul Cullen (qv) and P. F. Moran (qv). They had nine children. A witness statement relating to his activities up to independence is in the Bureau of Military History.