Irish Flag

History of the Irish Flag

In his election speech on the 19th of February 1848, Thomas Francis Meagher, a leader of the Young Ireland Confederate Club movement stated:

"...what strength have I to beat my way towards that bold headland, upon which I have sworn to plant the flag I have rescued from the wreck?"

In this speech Meagher outlined his dream for a New Ireland. He spoke of rescuing the flag from the wreck that was the sectarian Old Ireland where Irish Catholics and Protestants were at odds. Meagher created a new flag to symbolise a new hope for unity between the two sides in a country that was desecrated by the Great Famine (p92. Cavanagh 1892).

The Irish Tricolour flag was first flown publicly by Meagher in his native city at the Wolf Tone Confederate Club at 33 The Mall, Waterford City on March 7th 1848. The national media reported on this in 1998, 150 years after the flag was first raised.

Thomas Francis Meagher Bust alongside the Waterford Civic Trust Blue Plaque
commemorating the Irish Tricolour's first flight at 33 The Mall, Waterford City

Meagher travelled to France in April of 1848 and on his return, at a meeting in Dublin on the 15th of April he presented a fabulous version of the Tricolor made from the finest French silk to the citizens of Ireland. He said:
“...I trust that the old country will not refuse this symbol of a new life from one of her youngest children. I need not explain its meaning. The quick and passionate intellect of the generation now springing into arms will catch it at a glance. The white in the centre signifies a lasting truce between the "orange" and the "green" and I trust that beneath its folds, the hands of the Irish Protestant and the Irish Catholic may be clasped in generous and heroic brotherhood..." 
Soon after Meagher was part of the Young Irelanders 1848 Famine Rebellion. He was arrested and accused of high treason. On the 16th of July, just before his trial, he visited the sublime Slievenamon in Co. Tipperary and gave a speech to 50,000 people. Meagher, decorated with a fabulous Tricolour Sash fulfilled his February promise and baptised the country with his new flag saying these words:
"...he [O'Connell] preached a cause that we are bound to see out. He used to say "I may not see what I have labored for I am an old man my arm is withered no epitaph of victory may mark my grave but I see a young generation with redder blood in their veins, and they will do the work." Therefore it is that I ambition to decorate these hills with the flag of my country."
The Irish Tricolour has inspired generations of Irish people since its conception in 1848. Although the flag didn’t see the light of day again until it was raised above the GPO in 1916, so poignant was its symbolism that its message still prevailed over half a century later, as it does today. The tricolour was eventually recognised as Ireland’s national flag in 1937.

Flag Variations

The 1848 arrangement of the Irish Tricolour, Notice the orange element is to the left.


A representation of the flag presented to Dublin in 1848, which had the red hand of Ulster on the white stripe.


Often the orange is misrepresented by gold. This is incorrect and does not do justice to the original meaning of the flag.


This is the current version of the flag. It was adopted by the Republic in 1919 and then officially by the state in 1937.

Ha'penny Bridge

Ha'penny Bridge

Up to 1816, the year the Ha'penny Bridge was erected, no other bridge existed between Essex (Grattan or Capel Street) Bridge and Carlisle (O'Connell) Bridge.
There was a ferry from the Bagnio Slip (at the bottom of Fownes Street) operated by one William Walsh. He owned seven leaky ferries and was under pressure from Dublin Corporation to repair them or replace them. He baulked at that idea, preferring instead to build a bridge. His proposal to Dublin Corporation was adopted and he was allowed in a hundred year lease to charge a halfpenny toll.

Designed by John Windsor and costing £3,894.7s.11½d., the bridge was manufactured in Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, the first centre of iron casting in Britain. Now one of the oldest cast-iron bridges in the world it was originally named Wellington Bridge, after the Dublin born duke who had trounced Napoleon. Offically called the Liffey Bridge, it is more commonly known as the Halfpenny or Ha'penny Bridge.

The bridge was the only pedestrian bridge on the Liffey until the new Millenium bridge opened in 2000. In 2001, the Ha'penny bridge was closed in 2001 for major repair. It was reopened 2003 with its original paint colour restored and changes made at the ends to allow standing room for pedestrians before crossing the road.



Picture from Dublin Tourist Information.



Phil Lynott recorded his music video "Old Town showing the bridge.

The Dublin Spire, O’Connell Street, Dublin

The Dublin Spire, O’Connell Street, Dublin



Now that the fuss has died down somewhat over the construction of the Spire, the world's largest sculpture, it might interest readers to know that the famous resident who previously lived on the same site. Admiral Nelson, is still here in Dublin.
Well, part of him is anyway. His head. That is, his stone head, the head that was attached to the rest of his 13 feet tall sculpted image perched atop the pillar.
Those interested can see what remains of the famous head - damaged in an IRA explosion - as part of an exhibition of pictures and text at the Dublin Civic Museum, 58 South William Street. It is a free exhibition and well worth a visit.
Nelson's Pillar was indeed a long-time fixture in Dublin, and if the Spire eventually commands such affection it will have been deemed a huge success.
Many capital dwellers in the over 50's bracket will still talk fondly of the pillar, which was 134 feet 3 inches tall, a structure that towered over the nearby General Post Office.

It was a structure accessible to the people, as unlike The Spire, people could go up a spiral staircase to a viewing balcony and look out over Dublin.
It was perhaps Dublins most famous landmark for 158 years, from the time the foundation stone was laid, on the 15th February 1808, up to the time it was blown in half by the IRA on 8th March,1966, at 1:27am.

During Nelson's time he gazed down on the city during Catholic Emancipation, the Famine, the Land War, the Gaelic Revival, the Easter Rising, the War of independence and the visit of President JFK. He is still missed by some.

Presidents of Ireland

Presidents of Ireland

The Republic of Ireland emerged from a protracted struggle with the British Government during the first half of the nineteenth century, leaving the landmass of 'Ireland' divided into two. Self-government initially returned to Southern Ireland in 1922 when the country became a 'Free State' in the British Commonwealth. Further campaigning followed, and in 1939 the Irish Free State adopted a new constitution, replaced the British monarch with an elected president and became 'Éire', 'Ireland'. Full independence - and complete withdrawal from the British Commonwealth - followed with the declaration of the Republic of Ireland in 1949.
This is a chronological list of the people who have ruled Ireland; the dates given are the periods of said rule.
Presidents
1938 - 1945 Douglas Hyde
1945 - 1959 Sean Thomas O'Kelly
1959 - 1973 Eámon de Valera
1973 - 1974 Erskin Childers
1974 - 1976 Cearbhall O'Dalaigh
1976 - 1990 Patrick Hillery
1990 - 1997 Mary Robinson
1997 - Mary McAleese

2011- Micheal D. Higgins

Michael D Higgins  been inaugurated as the ninth President of Ireland in a ceremony at Dublin Castle.

Picture copright RTE NEWS

Michael D Higgins has been inaugurated as the ninth President of Ireland.
In a colourful ceremony at Dublin Castle, Mr Higgins made his Declaration of Office and received his Presidential Seal from the Chief Justice Mrs Justice Susan Denham.
Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina arrived at Dublin Castle from Farmleigh House in the Phoenix Park with an Army motorcycle escort just before 11.45am.
They entered the historic St Patrick's Hall and took their place on the platform - surrounded by the Taoiseach, Government Ministers and the Council of State, including former Presidents Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese.
After an inter-faith service and a humanist reflection, Mr Higgins made the Declaration of Office in Irish - promising to maintain the Constitution and uphold its laws.
He then received his Seal of Office.
During the ceremony, Taoiseach Enda Kenny described Mr Higgins as a "noble man of quiet virtue" who would be a President for all the people.
In his first address as Uachtaráin na hÉireann, Mr Higgins said the Irish people have the capacity to transcend the present difficulties.
He said we have been left wounded as a society, but he said people wanted to move on to a new chapter based on a new sense of Irishness.
1,700 guests were invited to a State reception at Dublin Castle tonight to celebrate the inauguration.

Irish Rock Music Throughout The Decades

For a small country Ireland has made and continues to make a huge impact on modern music. Homegrown rock music in Ireland really started developing in the 1960s. At that time the Irish music scene was dominated by the unique Irish phenomenon of the 'Showbands' which were groups of professional performers who played at dancehalls and clubs across the country putting on a professional 'show' and playing all the American and British hits of the era. In the 1960s this was pretty much the only way a professional musician in Ireland could make a living.
 Two famous Irish artists that started off working in showbands but went on to put Ireland on the map as far as rock music is concerned are Van Morrison and Rory Gallagher. Van Morrison achieved international success in the 1960s with the beat group Them before launching a very successfull solo career that is still going strong in it's fourth decade. Rory Gallagher fromed the blues rock trio Taste and went on to achieve critical acclaim in his solo career which lasted until his death in 1995. He is considered by many music critics to be among the greatest rock guitarists of all time.
The early 70s saw a huge growth of Irish rock music and one band that rose to international prominence was the hard rocking Thin Lizzy led by Phil Lynott Another Irish band, Horslips broke new ground by mixing hard rock with traditional Irish music to create a new genre - Celtic Rock. They also challenged the idea that for an Irish band to be successful they had to leave the country and were the first major rock band to stay based in Ireland instead moving abroad to chase success. They created very original music and were hugely successful in Ireland but never achieved the international success that they deserved but they paved the way for another band that would remain based in Ireland and go on to dominate the music world - U2.
In the mid-70s, with a roots revival of traditional music burgeoning, folk rock fusion groups such as Planxty and Moving Hearts as well as singer-songwriters like Christy Moore and Paul Brady rose to prominence.

Irish currency: a brief history of Ireland's money

The history of Irish currency reflects Ireland's political development over the last 1000 years. What began with the Vikings, who hammered out the very first Irish coins in Dublin in the 10th century, has left us with a marvellous legacy that marks social changes, political propaganda and economic trends. Indeed Irish coins and, more recently, banknotes, are outstanding historical documents.


Replica of the earliest irish coin:
King Sihtric silver penny, Dublin c.1000 AD.
The oldest Irish coins date to the Vikings
The very first Irish coins were struck by the Vikings in Dublin in about 997AD by order of their King Sihtric III, also known as Silkbeard. Until this time, a variety of coinage had circulated in Ireland, including Anglo-Saxon, western European and even Islamic from central Asia.
The new coins were copies of coins issued by King Ethelred II of England. Whenever the Anglo-Saxon king redesigned his coinage over the next two decades, the Vikings issued copy-cat versions.
After the Battle of Clontarf (1014), however, the Irish coin reverted to an earlier design for more than a century.
All the Irish coins produced had a one penny value, and were created (in theory) from a pennyweight of silver (one 240th of a pound weight). Over time, the quality and weight decreased, and the design became less and less legible.

Early medieval Irish currency
The arrival of the Anglo-Normans (1169/1171) introduced dramatic changes to the island, not least by the ceding of power to the English crown of the so-called Lordship of Ireland.
Currency from the period reflects this shift. Under King John (d 1216), Irish coins were struck in Kilkenny, Limerick and Waterford – the first to have been struck outside Dublin – and included silver halfpennies bearing a full frontal face. In the north, too, mintes were created at Downpatrick and Carrickfergus.
Coins minted in Ireland were easily distinguishable from English equivalents. Their inscription was usually specific, and their weight and design were different, too. In the 13th century, a triangle (rather than a circle) enclosed the reigning monarch's head. This occurred only on Irish currency.
14th century: Irish currency disappears
As the power of the Normans waned, mainly due to internal wrangling and external events and catastrophes, Gaelic society reasserted itself. It did not, however, give any priority to a formal money system, and the minting of coins petered out. Between 1310 and 1460, hardly any Irish coins were minted.
A variety of coins circulated, including worn English, Scottish and Irish coins, European tokens and a not-inconsiderable amount of forgeries.

1460 to 1900 in Ireland: money design
A new era for Irish currency began in 1460 when a new coinage was struck. Rather than just the penny coin, there were now a range of denominations, the highest being the groat (value, fourpence). These coins were struck not just in Dublin and the main cities of Cork, Galway and Limerick, but also in smaller regional centres such as Drogheda and Dublin.

Detail of a late 1970s Irish banknote depicting the Celtic Queen Meabh.
In 1979, Ireland broke its link with Sterling and floated on the international money markets. To mark the arrival of this fresh dawn for Irish currency, a new range of notes was issued, each featuring a person from history or mythology. Inscriptions were carried in both English and Irish. The Queen Meabh £1 note was withdrawn in 1990 when the £1 coin was launched.

When the English monarch Henry VIII declared himself King of Ireland in 1531, another new series of Irish coins was launched, this time with the Celtic harp making its first appearance on Irish currency (it still appears on Irish Euro coins).
The story of Irish currency over the next two and a half centuries is one that traces a period of political turmoil.
During the Cromwellian wars, for example, coinage showed little artistry (any old bit of metal was stamped with a date and used to pay troops), while King James II issued a copper coinage made from melted down cannons and church bells.
This latter coinage became known as 'gun money'; its face value had no connection to its metal content and it was quickly removed from circulation after 1690.
In 1800 the Act of Union attached Ireland politically to the rest of Britain. In terms of the country's currency, no impact was felt until 1826 when Ireland's distinctive coins became valueless.
For the next century Ireland had to use standard British sterling, both in coins and banknotes (a late 18th century innovation).

20th century Irish currency
Following its separation from the UK, the Irish Free State issued a new coinage. Some of the designs were to last until the Euro was introduced in 2002. The new Irish coins were quite radical at the time. Other than the harp, there was no obvious symbolism, the coins bearing only images of certain indigenous flora and fauna.

Lady Lavery, Ireland's emblem.

A range of banknotes was also introduced. These were designed by the Belfast-born artist Sir John Lavery and featured his rendition of an archetypal 'colleen'. It later transpired that the portrait was of his wife, Hazel, an American painter!.
The new Irish currency was pegged to sterling and was originally known as the Saorstát, or Free State, pound. After 1938, it became known simply as the Irish pound.
Lavery's notes (known as the A series) were issued on 10 September 1928 and, surviving decimalisation on 15 February 1971, remained in circulation until 1975/1977 when the B series was launched.
The latter featured five banknotes (no £100 note). Queen Maebh, the mythological queen of Connacht featured on the £1 note which was replaced by a coin in 1990 (see box above).
The rest of this series was taken out of circulation between 1989 and 1993 when the C series was introduced.
This final series of Irish pound banknotes was to be quite short-lived. Introduced in 1992/96, it was replaced by the Euro on 1st January 1999.
Initially, this new Irish currency existed only in accounting or cashless form. Irish coins and the C Series banknotes continued to ciculate. For most people, nothing appeared to have happened.
In September 1999 production of Irish euro coins began. Nine months later banknotes hit the presses.
By this time an intense period of education had begun to prepare the population for the final days of the Irish pound. Every household in Ireland was issued with an electronic converter and a Euro Handbook, and the final changeover to the new currency – on 1st January 2002 – went surprisingly smoothly. An estimated 85% of all public cash dispensers were issuing Euro by the end of the first day and within a week, nearly 90% of cash transactions were being carried out in Euro. .

A selection of Irish banknotes
from the 20th century

A Series, 10 Shilling note, featuring Lady Hazel Lavery.



B Series, £20, featuring poet and dramatist William Butler Yeats.



C Series, £20, featuring Daniel O'Connell, the Liberator.

The Great Irish Recession vs The Great Irish Famine

The Great Irish Recession vs The Great Irish Famine

How are the two similar- how different?

I think in time people will look at these two events as both cataclysmic events- that shaped Ireland for centuries to come.

Some similarities-

1. Both came about at the end of a boom time. Prior to the great famine, the Irish population, economy and towns/cities exploded on the back of European events (in this case the Napoleonic wars, which guaranteed high agricultural prices.) In Ireland, the expansion of the euro currency/fall of Iron curtain flooded our small country with hordes of cash, that led to a boom in asset values and avergae income. If the potato was the boom crop of the pre-famine years- property was the boom crop of our own times.

2. The end of the European wars led to a slow/gradual change in Irish food prices- but no corresponding decline in population growth. the potatoe allowed people to keep expanding family size/and sub-dividing land. The end of the export led Irish economic boom was replaced with artifical economic activity (like the potatoe) after 2001. There was a mini economic crisis in the late 1820s/ early 1830s which signaled how precarious the situation had become. This was ignored. In Ireland no lessons were learned from the slow down of 2001. The credit card became our potato from 2001 on. Allowing unsustainable existence. Sub-dividing land of the 19th century was echoed by parents providing guarnatee on their childrens mortgage applications in the 2000s.

3. A dominant economic ideology played a role in both epochs. Social darwinisim and lasseiz-faire economics meant that no state intervention took place on a large scale once the crisis became apparent (that applies to both then and now). If people were starving- well they shouldnt have gotten that way in the first place (that was the unspoken attitude). Similarily- now people who bought into the idea of owning a property are being blamed for their own current predicaments. The economic beliefs of govt offer plenty of blame on the victims- but no solutons.


4. Unequal distribution of land/wealth. Crises like famines/property booms/busts have consistently showing to take place in societies with massive inequality. Ireland in the 1840's was dominated by the landlord/tenant system. Ireland of late was dominated by a system where everyone wanted to be a landlord, and only fools are tenants.


Some differences-

1. Emmigration- not available as an option now. Obviously, widely accepted by historians now, the famine allowed for huge increases in productivity into the 1900s.

2. Social welfare. For all the people who lose sleep about welfare fraud etc- imagine a situation where zero govt assistance existed- The numbers of people starving on the streets would lead to huge social upheaval, suffering and loss of life. 200 euro per week would have saved millions of lives in the 1840s. It is to be applauded that although it means taxes and all the other inefficiences of raising a tax, social welfare prevents societal collapse. A widley held myth about the famine is that people starved because of the failure of the potatoe- meaning that was their sole source of food. In fact, there was plenty of food available- as survival rates in urban areas atest. The problem was the means to purchase it. Subsistence farming generates no extra income. Social welfare obviously does.

Celtic Tiger Years

During the 1990s, many American technology companies set up in the Republic of Ireland. Many new jobs were created as a result of these new companies. For the first time in Irish history, thousands of people came to Ireland from other countries to look for employment.
Between the 1990s and the early years of the new century, Ireland became a much wealthier country. As a result of this boom in the economy, this period became known as the Celtic Tiger years. Thousands of new buildings were built all around the country.

New housing estate

Construction of a new housing estate.

Courtesy of the EPA

 

The condition of the economy began to change however, particularly during 2007, and by 2008 Ireland was no longer booming. Many countries around the world also had difficulties and found that their workers were losing their jobs as factories and companies began to close down. This time became known as a time of Global Recession.

Ireland Sport History (International Sport)

International Sport

1988
The Republic of Ireland football team qualified for the European Championships.

1990
The Republic of Ireland football team qualified for the World Cup for the first time. They reached the quarter finals stage. This was the first time that the Republic of Ireland’s team ever played in a World Cup Finals tournament.

1994
The football team qualified again for the World Cup in 1994, which was held in the USA.

2000
Sonia O’Sullivan won a silver medal in the women’s 5000 metres at the Sydney Olympics.

Sonia O’Sullivan

Irish runner, Sonia O’Sullivan won a silver medal in the women’s 5000 metres at the Sydney Olympics.

Copyright The Irish Times

 

2002
The Republic of Ireland football team qualified for the 2002 World Cup.

2007Pádraig Harrington won the golf Open Championship in 2007 and again in 2008. He also won the PGA Championship in 2008.

Pádraig Harrington

Irish golfer, Pádraig Harrington won the golf Open Championship in 2007 and again in 2008. He also won the PGA Championship in 2008.

Copyright The Irish Times

 

2008
At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Ireland came home with three boxing medals, from Kenny Egan, Darren Sutherland and Paddy Barnes.

Kenny Egan, Darren Sutherlandand and Paddy Barnes

In the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Kenny Egan won a silver medal and Darren Sutherlandand and Paddy Barnes both won a bronze medal.

Copyright The Irish Times

 

2009
The Irish rugby team won the Grand Slam in the Six Nations Championship in 2009.

Rugby union Grand Slam team 2009

In 2009, the Grand Slam in the Six Nations Championship was won by the Irish rugby team. The team's captain was Brian O'Driscoll and their coach was Declan Kidney.
Copyright The Irish Times

Ireland in Modern Times

1950s

Ireland went through some difficult times after the end of World War II. From the 1950s, many Irish people emigrated to other countries because there was very little work in Ireland. However, the economy improved in Ireland in the late 1960s.

Hay Making in the 1950s

Photograph of some men in the 1950s making a hay stack using pitch forks.

Styles

Two young women dressed in contrasting styles in the 1950’s. The girl in the left is dressed more for fun. The other girl is dressed more formally, more for work.

Gaelic Football Match, O’Donnell Park, Letterkenny c.1950

Photo of a Gaelic football game at O’Donnell Park GAA grounds in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, in around 1950. The match is in full play. In the foreground, a group of women are attired in their 'Sunday best' clothes of skirt suits, or 'costumes' as they were then called. Some women are also wearing hats. The men standing inside the wall of the football pitch are wearing suits and shirts. The three children, all boys, are dressed in short pants and knee-length socks.
Central Library, Letterkenny

1960s

In 1961, Ireland's National Television Station, Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), went on air for the very first time on New Year’s Eve. Before the television service began, people listened to the radio or read the paper to find out about current news. RTÉ had only one channel at the time.

In June 1963, the president of the United States, John F. Kennedy, visited the Republic of Ireland. His ancestors came from County Wexford. Huge crowds turned out to welcome him around the country. A few months later, in November 1963, John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas, Texas.

In 1967, free secondary school education was introduced in the Republic of Ireland.

 

Aeriel view of traffic on O'Connell Bridge. (Dublin City Library)

Aeriel view of traffic on O'Connell Bridge, Dublin, Ireland. This photgraph was taken in the mid to late 1960s. A blue and cream liveried public bus is visible going up O'Connell St. and there are no Atlanteans yet.

By kind permission of Dublin City Council.

Tubrid National School in 1968

This photograph shows the classroom of a national school in Ardfert, Co. Kerry. Notice the poor condition of the room, compared to the classrooms of today.

Reproduced from 'Ardfert in Times Past', by Tommy Frank O'Connor.

Joining the EU

On the 1st of January 1973, the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community, now known as the European Union (EU). Membership of the EU helped Ireland to grow and develop. In the 1970s and 1980s, farmers were able to establish their own markets and set prices for their products. Roads and communication technology were also improved through funding received from the EU.

1973 Irish Press, 1st January

On the 1st of January 1973, Ireland became a member of the European Economic Community (referendum to join - 10th of May 1972).

Irish Press

Celtic Tiger Years

During the 1990s, many American technology companies set up in the Republic of Ireland. Many new jobs were created as a result of these new companies. For the first time in Irish history, thousands of people came to Ireland from other countries to look for employment.
Between the 1990s and the early years of the new century, Ireland became a much wealthier country. As a result of this boom in the economy, this period became known as the Celtic Tiger years. Thousands of new buildings were built all around the country.

The condition of the economy began to change however, particularly during 2007, and by 2008 Ireland was no longer booming. Many countries around the world also had difficulties and found that their workers were losing their jobs as factories and companies began to close down. This time became known as a time of Global Recession.

Ireland the Early 20th Century

In 1914, a world war began. It was known at the time as The Great War and it was later called World War 1. It lasted until 1918. Britain took part in this war and many Irish men fought in the British army in the trenches of France. At that time, all of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom and was ruled from the parliament in London.
There were members of parliament from Ireland too, such as John Redmond who was the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party. This party wanted Home Rule for Ireland. They wanted Ireland to have its own parliament in Dublin and be ruled from Ireland not from England.

John Redmond (1856 - 1918)

Home Rule

Home Rule Club site of the Fainaiglian School

The Home Rule Club beside the River Nore
Kilkenny County Library Stock

Home Rule Club site of the Fainaiglian School
Kilkenny County Library Stock

Home Rule Club site of the Fainaiglian School

The Home Rule Club beside the River Nore
Kilkenny County Library Stock

Not everyone agreed with Home Rule. In Ulster, the Unionists, led by Edward Carson, were totally opposed to it. They saw Home Rule as ‘Rome Rule’ because a parliament for Ireland would have a Catholic majority. The Unionists set up an army, the Ulster Volunteers, and forced the British Government to change the Home Rule Act to exclude the Ulster counties.
In the south, two other armies were formed. One army, the Irish Volunteers, was set up partly to oppose the Ulster Volunteers and partly to fight for Irish independence from Britain. Another army, the Irish Citizen Army, was led by James Connolly.

The Home Rule Act was passed in 1914 but it was delayed by the outbreak of World War 1. The Irish Parliamentary Party asked their followers to wait until after the war for a parliament to be set up in Dublin. John Redmond asked Irish people to join the British army.

The Easter Rising

During the Great War, the militant members of the two armies in the south of Ireland began to plan a rising. They sent Roger Casement to Germany to buy arms, however he was captured with the arms and hanged for treason.

Roger Casement (1864–1916)

Roger Casement was one of the founders of the Irish Volunteers in 1913. Following his mission to raise arms and troops in Germany, he was arrested by British forces in Co. Kerry in 1916 and brought to London where he was executed on 3 August 1916.

Courtesy of the Irish Film Institute

On the 24^th of April, Easter Monday 1916, about 2,000 Irish Volunteers and 200 from the Irish Citizen Army occupied the General Post Office (GPO) as well as other important buildings in Dublin city. One group of rebels took over the Four Courts and another group took over the South Dublin Union, which is now James’s hospital. They proclaimed the Irish Republic, read the Proclamation and raised the Irish flag for the first time.

The British army were taken by surprise and suffered heavy casualties. Reinforcements arrived from England. The British army shelled the GPO and other buildings. After a week’s fighting, the leaders of the rising surrendered. Many civilians died in the cross-fire. The guns and fires had destroyed much of the city and the GPO was in ruins.

Leaders of the 1916 Rising

At first, the Rising was very unpopular with people in Dublin and throughout the rest of Ireland. However, this opinion changed when the British executed fifteen of the leaders of the Rising after a court martial in Kilmainham Jail between the 3^rd and 12^th of May 1916. The executed leaders were gradually seen as heroes.

In the following pages, seven of the leaders of the 1916 Rising are discussed, including Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, Thomas Clarke , Sean Mac Dermott, Joseph Mary Plunkett, Eamonn Ceannt, and Thomas MacDonagh.

Eamonn Ceannt

Born in Galway in 1881, Eamonn Ceannt was a founder of the Irish Volunteers. He collected weapons in the successful Howth gun-running operation of 1914. He had an interest in Irish culture, especially in Irish language and history. He was also a musician and a talented uileann piper. He was the commander of the Fourth Battalion of Irish Volunteers during the 1916 Rising and took control of the South Dublin Union (St. James’s Hospital). He was executed on the 8^th of May 1916.

Éamonn Ceannt

A member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and later a founding member of the Irish Volunteers Éamonn Ceannt was a master of the uilleann pipes. He even put on a performance for Pope Pius X.

James Connolly

James Connolly (1868-1916) was born in Edinburgh in 1868. He emigrated to Dublin in 1896 where he founded the Irish Socialist Republican Party. He spent time in America and then returned to Ireland to look for worker’s rights with a man called James Larkin. There was a workers strike in Dublin in 1913 and many of the workers were attacked by the police. James Connolly was one of the founders of an army set up to protect workers. It was called the Irish Citizen Army. During the Easter Rising he was appointed Commandant-General of the Dublin forces. About 150 of the rebels took over the General Post Office in Dublin and James Connolly lead that group. He was wounded in the G.P.O. and was executed on the 12th of May 1916. He was the last of the leaders to be executed.

James Connolly

James Connolly worked together with Constance Markievicz and Jim Larkin during the Dublin Lockout to get more rights for workers. During the Easter Rising he was appointed Commandant-General of the Dublin forces.

Courtesy of the Irish Democrat Newspaper.

Joseph Mary Plunkett

Joseph Mary Plunkett was born in 1887 in Dublin. He was the son of a papal count and was educated in England and Ireland. He had poor health but despite this he helped to establish an Irish national theatre. Joseph Plunkett joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913, and later became a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. He travelled to Germany to meet Roger Casement in 1915. During the planning of the Rising, Plunkett was appointed Director of Military Operations, with overall responsibility for military strategy. Plunkett was one of the rebels who were stationed in the G. P. O. during the 1916 Rising. He married Grace Gifford while in Kilmainham Gaol and was executed on the 4^th of May 1916.

Patrick Pearse

Patrick (Pádraig) Pearse (1879-1916) was born in Dublin and had a great interest in the Irish language and spent many summers in Rosmuc in Galway learning Irish. At first he just wanted a parliament in Dublin rather than total independence from Britain. However, he later decided to start a rebellion and fight for independence. He established a school for boys, St. Enda’s School, where children could learn about Irish culture and language.

During the 1916 Rising, Pearse was in charge of the General Post Office (G.P.O.). When the British army overpowered the Irish rebels, it was Pearse who ordered their general surrender in order to save further loss of life. He was tried and executed by a firing squad in Kilmainham Jail on the 3^rd of May 1916. His younger brother Willie was also shot.

In addition to being a teacher and a revolutionary, Patrick Pearse was also a poet and a writer. One of his famous poems is called The Mother. It was written the night before his execution and describes his mother’s thoughts on the death of her two sons.

Patrick Pearse

Patrick Pearse was a teacher, poet, writer, nationalist and political activist. He was one of the main leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916. He was also one of the seven signatories of the 1916 Proclamation and president of the Provisional Government.

© Irish Picture Library.

'The Mother'
By Pádraig Pearse


I do not grudge them: Lord, I do not grudge My two strong sons that I have seen go out To break their strength and die, they and a few, In bloody protest for a glorious thing, They shall be spoken of among their people, The generations shall remember them, And call them blessed; But I will speak their names to my own heart In the long nights; The little names that were familiar once Round my dead hearth. Lord, thou art hard on mothers: We suffer in their coming and their going; And tho' I grudge them not, I weary, weary Of the long sorrow--And yet I have my joy: My sons were faithful, and they fought.

Séan Mac Dermott

Séan Mac Dermott was born in Leitrim in 1884 but emigrated to Glasgow in 1900, and in 1902 he moved to Belfast. He was interested in the Irish language and culture and joined a group called the Gaelic League. He joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood (I.R.B.) in 1906 and ran the I.R.B. newspaper Irish Freedom in 1910. Séan MacDiarmada got a disease called polio in 1912 but he was still appointed to high positions in the Irish Volunteers and in the I.R.B. Séan MacDiarmada fought in the G. P. O. during the 1916 Rising. He was executed on the 12^th of May 1916.

Thomas Clarke

Thomas Clarke had been imprisoned before 1916 because of his involvement in other fights for Irish freedom. He was a member of the Fenians and was also one if the leaders of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (I.R.B.) in 1916. He spent fifteen years in penal labour (forced to do hard work as a form of punishment) for his role in a bombing campaign in London between 1883 and 1898. He was a member of the Supreme Council of the I.R. B. from 1915 and was one of the rebels who planned the 1916 Rising. He was the first signatory of the Proclamation of Independence and was with the group that occupied the G. P. O. He was executed on the 3^rd of May 1916.

Thomas J. Clarke

A photo of Tom Clarke, the oldest of the signatories to the 1916 Proclamation.

By permission of www.1916rising.com

Thomas MacDonagh

Thomas MacDonagh was from Tipperary and was born in 1878. He was a teacher and later taught at St. Enda’s School; the school he helped to found with Patrick Pearse. He was appointed director of training for the Irish Volunteers in 1914 and later joined the IRB (Irish Republican Brotherhood). Thomas MacDonagh was appointed to the IRB military committee in 1916. He was commander of the Second Battalion of Volunteers that occupied Jacob’s biscuit factory and surrounding houses during the 1916 Rising. He was executed on the 3th of May 1916.

The GPO and the Rising

What happened the G.P.O. after the Rising?

Sackville Street, Dublin after the 1916 Rising

Sackville Street post 1916 Rising

Sackville Street, Dublin after the 1916 Rising

Sackville Street, Dublin after the 1916 Rising

Sackville Street post 1916 Rising

Enlarge image

During the Easter Rising of 1916, the General Post Office (GPO) was the headquarters of the Irish Volunteers. On Easter Monday of 1916, armed groups of the Irish Volunteers and the Citizen Army, commanded by Padraig Pearse and James Connolly, took over the GPO where they proclaimed the Irish Republic.

The rebels held out for a week in the GPO before surrendering to the British forces. While the interior of the GPO was destroyed by fire because of persistent shelling, the main frontage escaped serious damage.

Under the new Irish Government, reconstruction of the GPO began in 1925 and the building reopened in 1929 .

Sculpture in Honour of 1916 in the G.P.O.

The Death of Cuchulainn (1911-12) by Oliver Sheppard (1865-1941)

Courtesy of An Post

The Death of Cuchulainn (1911-12) by Oliver Sheppard (1865-1941)
Courtesy of An Post

The Death of Cuchulainn (1911-12) by Oliver Sheppard (1865-1941)

Courtesy of An Post

Enlarge image

Nowadays, there is a bronze statue in the GPO in Dublin in honour of the soldiers involved in the 1916 Rising. It is called The Death of Cuchulainn by the Irish sculptor Oliver Shepard.

According to ancient Irish legend, when Cuchulainn was wounded in battle, he tied himself to a pillar so that he could face his enemies when he died. It was only when a raven landed on his shoulder that his enemies dared to approach him.

End of the 1916 Rising

On Saturday the 29th of April 1916, Patrick Pearse surrendered to the British commander General Lowe to save the lives of rebels and civilians. The rebels were taken as prisoners to Richmond Barracks. Fifteen of the leaders were executed and many others were sent to prisons, mainly in England or Wales.

The 1916 Rising had failed to get independence for Ireland. However the Rising had made the cause of independence more popular as many Irish people were so outraged by the executions that they also began to call for independence from Britain. Outside of Dublin, the other main place where the Easter Rising took place was in Ashbourne, County Meath.

Dublin city centre was almost completely destroyed after the Easter Rising. There was a total of five hundred people killed during the fighting. Three hundred of the dead were civilians who were not involved in the fighting. There were a total of 2,500 wounded, of which 2,000 were ordinary civilians.

Fifteen executions took place after the Rising, and 1,841 suspected rebels were sent to prison in England.

Executed Leaders

Con Colbert

Con Colbert was a native of Limerick. Before the Easter Rising he had been an active member of the republican movement, joining both Fianna Éireann and the Irish Volunteers. He was the captain of F Company of the Fourth Battalion and was in command at the Marrowbone Lane distillery when it was surrendered on the 30^th of April, 1916. Colbert was executed on the 8^th of May 1916.

Edward Daly

Edward Daly was born in Limerick in 1891. Daly’s family had a history of republican activity. His uncle John Daly had taken part in the rebellion of 1867. During the Rising, Edward Daly led the First Battalion, which raided the Bridewell and Linenhall Barracks, and eventually seized control of the Four Courts. He was a close friend of Thomas Clarke, who was married to his sister. Edward Daly was executed on the 4^th of May 1916.

John MacBride

John (Séan) MacBride was born in Mayo in 1865. He first trained as a doctor however he later chose to work with a chemist. He travelled to America in 1896 to further the aims of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). John MacBride married the Irish nationalist Maude Gonne in 1903. He was not a member of the Irish Volunteers, however at the beginning of the Rising he offered to fight and was at Jacob’s biscuit factory in Dublin when the rebels stationed at the factory surrendered on Sunday, the 30^th of April 1916. He was executed on the 5^th of May 1916.

Michael Mallin

Michael Mallin was born in Dublin in 1874 and became a silk weaver. Along with Countess Markievicz, he commanded a small group of the Irish Citizen Army, of which he was the Chief of Staff. He took control of St. Stephen’s Green and the Royal College of Surgeons during the 1916 Rising. Michael Mallin was executed on the 8^th of May 1916.

Michael O’Hanrahan

Michael O’Hanrahan was born in Wexford in 1877. He joined the Irish Volunteers and was second in command to Thomas MacDonagh at Jacob’s biscuit factory during the 1916 Rising. He was executed on the 4^th of May 1916.

Roger Casement

Roger Casement was captured in Kerry before the Rising on Good Friday in 1916. He had just returned to Ireland in a German U-Boat and was imprisoned in Pentonville Gaol in London, where he was tried on charges of High Treason. He was hanged on the 3^rd of August 1916 and was the only leader to be executed outside of Ireland.

Seán Heuston

Seán Heuston was born in 1891 and was responsible for the organisation of Fianna Éireann in Limerick. Along with Con Colbert, Heuston was involved in the education of the schoolboys at Scoil Éanna, and organised drill and other exercises at the school. He was also a captain in the First Battalion of the Volunteers and during the Rising, his section occupied the Mendicity Institute on the south side of the Liffey, holding out there for two days. He was executed on the 8^th of May 1916. Heuston Railway station in Dublin is named after him.

Thomas Kent

Thomas Kent was born in 1865. Following a raid by the Royal Irish Constabulary on his home in Castlelyons, Co. Cork on the 22^nd of April 1916, Kent was arrested and his brother Richard was fatally wounded. Kent had intended travelling to Dublin to participate in the Rising, however when the mobilisation order for the Irish Volunteers was cancelled on Easter Sunday he assumed that the Rising had been postponed and so he remained in Cork. He was executed at Cork Detention Barracks on the 9^th of May 1916 following a court martial. In 1966, the railway station in Cork was renamed Kent Station in his honour.

William Pearse

William Pearse was Patrick Pearse’s younger brother. He was born in 1881 in Dublin. William assisted Patrick in running the school St. Enda’s. Along with Patrick, he also wanted an independent Ireland. The two brothers were very close and they fought beside each other in the G.P.O. during the Rising. William was executed on the 4^th of May 1916. In 1966, Pearse railway station on Westland Row in Dublin was re-named in honour of the two brothers.

After the 1916 Rising

The First World War ended in November 1918 and a general election was called in London. Huge numbers of Irish people voted for a party called Sinn Féin and elected their members as Members of Parliament (MPs). People knew that any Sinn Féin candidate who won a seat in the election would not go to the parliament in London. They knew that they would try to set up a parliament in Ireland instead. On the 21^st of January 1919 the newly elected Sinn Féin MPs called a meeting at the Mansion House in Dublin and set up a new parliament called Dáil Éireann. This was the first meeting of the Irish Dáil and the new parliament declared that Ireland was now independent. They later chose Éamon de Valera as the first president of the Dáil.

The First Dail
Courtesy of Hugh Oram.

After the Sinn Féin MPs set up the new parliament in 1919, Ireland then had two governments; one was the new Dáil Éireann in Dublin and the other was the British parliament in London. Both had courts and both collected taxes, which resulted in a lot of disorder. Violence soon broke out in Ireland and the army of Sinn Féin, the Irish Republican Army (IRA), began to attack people who supported British law. 

The War of Independence

In 1919, a war began against the British forces in Ireland. This war was called the War of Independence. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) wanted to force the British out of Ireland. They began to attack the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), the police force in Ireland, because they were seen as supporting British rule and British law. The IRA burned their barracks and captured their arms. Many members of the police force were killed, and others resigned.
The IRA also fought British soldiers using guerrilla tactics. This meant that they attacked the British soldiers by surprise and then escaped quickly before they could be caught. The British government sent more forces to Ireland. One group was known as the Black and Tans because of their uniforms. The Black and Tans often punished the local population and because of this they were feared and hated by ordinary civilians. The IRA fought against them.

In 1921, a truce was called and treaty talks took place in London to try to find a way of ending the war. Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith were among the Irish representatives at the talks. In December 1921, a treaty was signed which soon brought about a new country called the Irish Free State. It was decided that the new state would be made up of twenty-six of the thirty-two Irish counties.

Michael Collins (1890 - 1922)

Born in Cork, Michael Collins was an Irish revolutionary. He took part in the 1916 Rising in Dublin. He was part of the delegation that negotiated the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921, the terms of which led to the Irish Civil War in 1922. Collins became the commander in chief of the forces of the new Irish government. He was killed in an ambush by anti-Treaty republicans in his native Cork in 1922.
Image courtesy of the Michael Collins Centre, Clonakilty.

Arthur Griffith

Griffith, Arthur 1871 – 1922 was born in Dublin. He started his career as a printer, becoming a journalist and writer and finally a politician. Arthur Griffith was strongly influenced by Charles Stewart Parnell, Thomas Davis, and John Mitchel. He was a founding member of the Celtic Literary Society in 1893 and he was active in the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and the Gaelic League. He edited the weekly paper, the United Irishman in which he wrote editorials urging the Irish to work for self- government. In 1900, he founded Cumann na nGaedheal, a cultural and education association aimed at the promotion of Irish culture.

Irish Civil War

Ireland was divided into two parts with a border in between. A group called the Boundary Commission was set up to investigate whether any more of the northern counties should join the Irish Free State. Six counties remained under the rule of England. This area became known as Northern Ireland and today it is still part of the United Kingdom.

Most Irish people supported the new arrangement however there were also many people who didn’t agree with the division of Ireland into two parts. A civil war broke out between the people who were in favour of the treaty and those who were against it. In the end, the people who fought in favour of the treaty won the civil war.
In 1948, the Irish Free State broke its remaining ties with Britain and became a Republic.

The Irish Constitution - Bunreacht na hÉireann

The Irish people voted in the Constitution of Ireland in 1937. The constitution is still used today. It sets out the rights of Irish citizens. It also states that Irish people have the right to govern themselves and to make their own laws. The constitution can be changed but only if a referendum is held and if a majority of people agree to make these changes.

Constitution of Ireland | Bunreacht na hÉireann

The Constitution of Ireland | Bunreacht na hÉireann sets out the rights of Irish citizens

 

Proclamation of the Irish Republic

A photograph of a framed copy of the Proclamation of the Republic, also known as the Proclamation of Independence or Irish Proclamation. It hangs in the GPO in Dublin. The Proclamation was read from the steps of the GPO by Patrick Pearse at the beginning of the 1916 Rising. It was signed by Pearse and six others.
© Defence Forces.

Proclamation of the Irish Republic

A photograph of a framed copy of the Proclamation of the Republic, also known as the Proclamation of Independence or Irish Proclamation. It hangs in the GPO in Dublin. The Proclamation was read from the steps of the GPO by Patrick Pearse at the beginning of the 1916 Rising. It was signed by Pearse and six others.
© Defence Forces.

Home Rule Club site of the Fainaiglian School

The Home Rule Club beside the River Nore
Kilkenny County Library Stock

Proclamation of the Irish Republic

for boys, St. Enda’s School, where children could learn about Irish culture and language.

During the 1916 Rising, Pearse was in charge of the General Post Office (G.P.O.). When the British army overpowered the Irish rebels, it was Pearse who ordered their general surrender in order to save further loss of life. He was tried and executed by a firing squad in Kilmainham Jail on the 3^rd of May 1916. His younger brother Willie was also shot.

In addition to being a teacher and a revolutionary, Patrick Pearse was also a poet and a writer. One of his famous poems is called The Mother. It was written the night before his execution and describes his mother’s thoughts on the death of her two sons.atrick Pearse

A photograph of a framed copy of the Proclamation of the Republic, also known as the Proclamation of Independence or Irish Proclamation. It hangs in the GPO in Dublin. The Proclamation was read from the steps of the GPO by Patrick Pearse at the beginning of the 1916 Rising. It was signed by Pearse and six others.

© Defence Forces.

The British army were taken by surprise and suffered heavy casualties. Reinforcements arrived from England. The British army shelled the GPO and other buildings. After a week’s fighting, the leaders of the rising surrendered. Many civilians died in the cross-fire. The guns and fires had destroyed much of the city and the GPO was in ruins.

Leaders of the 1916 Rising

At first, the Rising was very unpopular with people in Dublin and throughout the rest of Ireland. However, this opinion changed when the British executed fifteen of the leaders of the Rising after a court martial in Kilmainham Jail between the 3^rd and 12^th of May 1916. The executed leaders were gradually seen as heroes.

In the following pages, seven of the leaders of the 1916 Rising are discussed, including Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, Thomas Clarke , Sean Mac Dermott, Joseph Mary Plunkett, Eamonn Ceannt, and Thomas MacDonagh.


Sackville Street, Dublin after the 1916 Rising

Eamonn Ceannt

Born in Galway in 1881, Eamonn Ceannt was a founder of the Irish Volunteers. He collected weapons in the successful Howth gun-running operation of 1914. He had an interest in Irish culture, especially in Irish language and history. He was also a musician and a talented uileann piper. He was the commander of the Fourth Battalion of Irish Volunteers during the 1916 Rising and took control of the South Dublin Union (St. James’s Hospital). He was executed on the 8^th of May 1916.

Éamonn Ceannt

A member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and later a founding member of the Irish Volunteers Éamonn Ceannt was a master of the uilleann pipes. He even put on a performance for Pope Pius X.

James Connolly

James Connolly (1868-1916) was born in Edinburgh in 1868. He emigrated to Dublin in 1896 where he founded the Irish Socialist Republican Party. He spent time in America and then returned to Ireland to look for worker’s rights with a man called James Larkin. There was a workers strike in Dublin in 1913 and many of the workers were attacked by the police. James Connolly was one of the founders of an army set up to protect workers. It was called the Irish Citizen Army. During the Easter Rising he was appointed Commandant-General of the Dublin forces. About 150 of the rebels took over the General Post Office in Dublin and James Connolly lead that group. He was wounded in the G.P.O. and was executed on the 12th of May 1916. He was the last of the leaders to be executed.

James Connolly

James Connolly worked together with Constance Markievicz and Jim Larkin during the Dublin Lockout to get more rights for workers. During the Easter Rising he was appointed Commandant-General of the Dublin forces.
Courtesy of the Irish Democrat Newspaper

Joseph Mary Plunkett

Joseph Mary Plunkett was born in 1887 in Dublin. He was the son of a papal count and was educated in England and Ireland. He had poor health but despite this he helped to establish an Irish national theatre. Joseph Plunkett joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913, and later became a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. He travelled to Germany to meet Roger Casement in 1915. During the planning of the Rising, Plunkett was appointed Director of Military Operations, with overall responsibility for military strategy. Plunkett was one of the rebels who were stationed in the G. P. O. during the 1916 Rising. He married Grace Gifford while in Kilmainham Gaol and was executed on the 4^th of May 1916.

Patrick Pearse

Patrick (Pádraig) Pearse (1879-1916) was born in Dublin and had a great interest in the Irish language and spent many summers in Rosmuc in Galway learning Irish. At first he just wanted a parliament in Dublin rather than total independence from Britain. However, he later decided to start a rebellion and fight for independence. He established a school for boys, St. Enda’s School, where children could learn about Irish culture and language.

During the 1916 Rising, Pearse was in charge of the General Post Office (G.P.O.). When the British army overpowered the Irish rebels, it was Pearse who ordered their general surrender in order to save further loss of life. He was tried and executed by a firing squad in Kilmainham Jail on the 3^rd of May 1916. His younger brother Willie was also shot.

In addition to being a teacher and a revolutionary, Patrick Pearse was also a poet and a writer. One of his famous poems is called The Mother. It was written the night before his execution and describes his mother’s thoughts on the death of her two sons.

Patrick Pearse

Patrick Pearse was a teacher, poet, writer, nationalist and political activist. He was one of the main leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916. He was also one of the seven signatories of the 1916 Proclamation and president of the Provisional Government.
© Irish Picture Library.

'The Mother'
By Pádraig Pearse


I do not grudge them: Lord, I do not grudge My two strong sons that I have seen go out To break their strength and die, they and a few, In bloody protest for a glorious thing, They shall be spoken of among their people, The generations shall remember them, And call them blessed; But I will speak their names to my own heart In the long nights; The little names that were familiar once Round my dead hearth. Lord, thou art hard on mothers: We suffer in their coming and their going; And tho' I grudge them not, I weary, weary Of the long sorrow--And yet I have my joy: My sons were faithful, and they fought.

Séan Mac Dermott

Séan Mac Dermott was born in Leitrim in 1884 but emigrated to Glasgow in 1900, and in 1902 he moved to Belfast. He was interested in the Irish language and culture and joined a group called the Gaelic League. He joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood (I.R.B.) in 1906 and ran the I.R.B. newspaper Irish Freedom in 1910. Séan MacDiarmada got a disease called polio in 1912 but he was still appointed to high positions in the Irish Volunteers and in the I.R.B. Séan MacDiarmada fought in the G. P. O. during the 1916 Rising. He was executed on the 12^th of May 1916.

Thomas Clarke

Thomas Clarke had been imprisoned before 1916 because of his involvement in other fights for Irish freedom. He was a member of the Fenians and was also one if the leaders of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (I.R.B.) in 1916. He spent fifteen years in penal labour (forced to do hard work as a form of punishment) for his role in a bombing campaign in London between 1883 and 1898. He was a member of the Supreme Council of the I.R. B. from 1915 and was one of the rebels who planned the 1916 Rising. He was the first signatory of the Proclamation of Independence and was with the group that occupied the G. P. O. He was executed on the 3^rd of May 1916.

Thomas J. Clarke

A photo of Tom Clarke, the oldest of the signatories to the 1916 Proclamation.
By permission of www.1916rising.com

Thomas MacDonagh

Thomas MacDonagh was from Tipperary and was born in 1878. He was a teacher and later taught at St. Enda’s School; the school he helped to found with Patrick Pearse. He was appointed director of training for the Irish Volunteers in 1914 and later joined the IRB (Irish Republican Brotherhood). Thomas MacDonagh was appointed to the IRB military committee in 1916. He was commander of the Second Battalion of Volunteers that occupied Jacob’s biscuit factory and surrounding houses during the 1916 Rising. He was executed on the 3th of May 1916.

The GPO and the Rising

What happened the G.P.O. after the Rising?

Sackville Street, Dublin after the 1916 Rising

Sackville Street post 1916 Rising

Sackville Street, Dublin after the 1916 Rising

Sackville Street, Dublin after the 1916 Rising

Sackville Street post 1916 Rising

Enlarge image

During the Easter Rising of 1916, the General Post Office (GPO) was the headquarters of the Irish Volunteers. On Easter Monday of 1916, armed groups of the Irish Volunteers and the Citizen Army, commanded by Padraig Pearse and James Connolly, took over the GPO where they proclaimed the Irish Republic.

The rebels held out for a week in the GPO before surrendering to the British forces. While the interior of the GPO was destroyed by fire because of persistent shelling, the main frontage escaped serious damage.

Under the new Irish Government, reconstruction of the GPO began in 1925 and the building reopened in 1929 .

Sculpture in Honour of 1916 in the G.P.O.

The Death of Cuchulainn (1911-12) by Oliver Sheppard (1865-1941)

Courtesy of An Post

The Death of Cuchulainn (1911-12) by Oliver Sheppard (1865-1941)
Courtesy of An Post

The Death of Cuchulainn (1911-12) by Oliver Sheppard (1865-1941)

Courtesy of An Post

Enlarge image

Nowadays, there is a bronze statue in the GPO in Dublin in honour of the soldiers involved in the 1916 Rising. It is called The Death of Cuchulainn by the Irish sculptor Oliver Shepard.

According to ancient Irish legend, when Cuchulainn was wounded in battle, he tied himself to a pillar so that he could face his enemies when he died. It was only when a raven landed on his shoulder that his enemies dared to approach him.

End of the 1916 Rising

On Saturday the 29th of April 1916, Patrick Pearse surrendered to the British commander General Lowe to save the lives of rebels and civilians. The rebels were taken as prisoners to Richmond Barracks. Fifteen of the leaders were executed and many others were sent to prisons, mainly in England or Wales.

The 1916 Rising had failed to get independence for Ireland. However the Rising had made the cause of independence more popular as many Irish people were so outraged by the executions that they also began to call for independence from Britain. Outside of Dublin, the other main place where the Easter Rising took place was in Ashbourne, County Meath.

After the Rising

Black and white postcard of Bachelor's Walk and Lower Sackville Street, Dublin after the 1916 Easter Rising. Many of the buildings in Dublin city centre were almost in ruins after the Rising. However, the building in this postcard remained intact, although many of its windows were broken.
Reproduced by kind permission of Linen Hall Library Postcard Archive

After the Rising
Reproduced by kind permission of Linen Hall Library Postcard Archive

After the Rising

Black and white postcard of Bachelor's Walk and Lower Sackville Street, Dublin after the 1916 Easter Rising. Many of the buildings in Dublin city centre were almost in ruins after the Rising. However, the building in this postcard remained intact, although many of its windows were broken.
Reproduced by kind permission of Linen Hall Library Postcard Archive

Enlarge image

Dublin city centre was almost completely destroyed after the Easter Rising. There was a total of five hundred people killed during the fighting. Three hundred of the dead were civilians who were not involved in the fighting. There were a total of 2,500 wounded, of which 2,000 were ordinary civilians.

Fifteen executions took place after the Rising, and 1,841 suspected rebels were sent to prison in England.

Executed Leaders

In addition to the seven leaders who signed the Proclamation of Independence in 1916, there were nine others who were executed for their part in planning or leading the rising.

In the following pages, these nine leaders are discussed, including Roger Casement, Con Colbert, Edward Daly, Seán Heuston, Thomas Kent, John MacBride, Michael Mallin, Michael O’Hanrahan, and William Pearse.

 

Con Colbert

Con Colbert was a native of Limerick. Before the Easter Rising he had been an active member of the republican movement, joining both Fianna Éireann and the Irish Volunteers. He was the captain of F Company of the Fourth Battalion and was in command at the Marrowbone Lane distillery when it was surrendered on the 30^th of April, 1916. Colbert was executed on the 8^th of May 1916.

Edward Daly

Edward Daly was born in Limerick in 1891. Daly’s family had a history of republican activity. His uncle John Daly had taken part in the rebellion of 1867. During the Rising, Edward Daly led the First Battalion, which raided the Bridewell and Linenhall Barracks, and eventually seized control of the Four Courts. He was a close friend of Thomas Clarke, who was married to his sister. Edward Daly was executed on the 4^th of May 1916.

John MacBride

John (Séan) MacBride was born in Mayo in 1865. He first trained as a doctor however he later chose to work with a chemist. He travelled to America in 1896 to further the aims of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). John MacBride married the Irish nationalist Maude Gonne in 1903. He was not a member of the Irish Volunteers, however at the beginning of the Rising he offered to fight and was at Jacob’s biscuit factory in Dublin when the rebels stationed at the factory surrendered on Sunday, the 30^th of April 1916. He was executed on the 5^th of May 1916.

Michael Mallin

Michael Mallin was born in Dublin in 1874 and became a silk weaver. Along with Countess Markievicz, he commanded a small group of the Irish Citizen Army, of which he was the Chief of Staff. He took control of St. Stephen’s Green and the Royal College of Surgeons during the 1916 Rising. Michael Mallin was executed on the 8^th of May 1916.

Michael O’Hanrahan

Michael O’Hanrahan was born in Wexford in 1877. He joined the Irish Volunteers and was second in command to Thomas MacDonagh at Jacob’s biscuit factory during the 1916 Rising. He was executed on the 4^th of May 1916.

Roger Casement

Roger Casement was captured in Kerry before the Rising on Good Friday in 1916. He had just returned to Ireland in a German U-Boat and was imprisoned in Pentonville Gaol in London, where he was tried on charges of High Treason. He was hanged on the 3^rd of August 1916 and was the only leader to be executed outside of Ireland.

Seán Heuston

Seán Heuston was born in 1891 and was responsible for the organisation of Fianna Éireann in Limerick. Along with Con Colbert, Heuston was involved in the education of the schoolboys at Scoil Éanna, and organised drill and other exercises at the school. He was also a captain in the First Battalion of the Volunteers and during the Rising, his section occupied the Mendicity Institute on the south side of the Liffey, holding out there for two days. He was executed on the 8^th of May 1916. Heuston Railway station in Dublin is named after him.

Thomas Kent

Thomas Kent was born in 1865. Following a raid by the Royal Irish Constabulary on his home in Castlelyons, Co. Cork on the 22^nd of April 1916, Kent was arrested and his brother Richard was fatally wounded. Kent had intended travelling to Dublin to participate in the Rising, however when the mobilisation order for the Irish Volunteers was cancelled on Easter Sunday he assumed that the Rising had been postponed and so he remained in Cork. He was executed at Cork Detention Barracks on the 9^th of May 1916 following a court martial. In 1966, the railway station in Cork was renamed Kent Station in his honour.

William Pearse

William Pearse was Patrick Pearse’s younger brother. He was born in 1881 in Dublin. William assisted Patrick in running the school St. Enda’s. Along with Patrick, he also wanted an independent Ireland. The two brothers were very close and they fought beside each other in the G.P.O. during the Rising. William was executed on the 4^th of May 1916. In 1966, Pearse railway station on Westland Row in Dublin was re-named in honour of the two brothers.

After the 1916 Rising

The First World War ended in November 1918 and a general election was called in London. Huge numbers of Irish people voted for a party called Sinn Féin and elected their members as Members of Parliament (MPs). People knew that any Sinn Féin candidate who won a seat in the election would not go to the parliament in London. They knew that they would try to set up a parliament in Ireland instead. On the 21^st of January 1919 the newly elected Sinn Féin MPs called a meeting at the Mansion House in Dublin and set up a new parliament called Dáil Éireann. This was the first meeting of the Irish Dáil and the new parliament declared that Ireland was now independent. They later chose Éamon de Valera as the first president of the Dáil.

The First Dail
Courtesy of Hugh Oram.

After the Sinn Féin MPs set up the new parliament in 1919, Ireland then had two governments; one was the new Dáil Éireann in Dublin and the other was the British parliament in London. Both had courts and both collected taxes, which resulted in a lot of disorder. Violence soon broke out in Ireland and the army of Sinn Féin, the Irish Republican Army (IRA), began to attack people who supported British law. 

The War of Independence

In 1919, a war began against the British forces in Ireland. This war was called the War of Independence. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) wanted to force the British out of Ireland. They began to attack the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), the police force in Ireland, because they were seen as supporting British rule and British law. The IRA burned their barracks and captured their arms. Many members of the police force were killed, and others resigned.
The IRA also fought British soldiers using guerrilla tactics. This meant that they attacked the British soldiers by surprise and then escaped quickly before they could be caught. The British government sent more forces to Ireland. One group was known as the Black and Tans because of their uniforms. The Black and Tans often punished the local population and because of this they were feared and hated by ordinary civilians. The IRA fought against them.

In 1921, a truce was called and treaty talks took place in London to try to find a way of ending the war. Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith were among the Irish representatives at the talks. In December 1921, a treaty was signed which soon brought about a new country called the Irish Free State. It was decided that the new state would be made up of twenty-six of the thirty-two Irish counties.

Michael Collins (1890 - 1922)

Born in Cork, Michael Collins was an Irish revolutionary. He took part in the 1916 Rising in Dublin. He was part of the delegation that negotiated the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921, the terms of which led to the Irish Civil War in 1922. Collins became the commander in chief of the forces of the new Irish government. He was killed in an ambush by anti-Treaty republicans in his native Cork in 1922.
Image courtesy of the Michael Collins Centre, Clonakilty.

Arthur Griffith

Griffith, Arthur 1871 – 1922 was born in Dublin. He started his career as a printer, becoming a journalist and writer and finally a politician. Arthur Griffith was strongly influenced by Charles Stewart Parnell, Thomas Davis, and John Mitchel. He was a founding member of the Celtic Literary Society in 1893 and he was active in the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and the Gaelic League. He edited the weekly paper, the United Irishman in which he wrote editorials urging the Irish to work for self- government. In 1900, he founded Cumann na nGaedheal, a cultural and education association aimed at the promotion of Irish culture.

Irish Civil War

Ireland was divided into two parts with a border in between. A group called the Boundary Commission was set up to investigate whether any more of the northern counties should join the Irish Free State. Six counties remained under the rule of England. This area became known as Northern Ireland and today it is still part of the United Kingdom.

Most Irish people supported the new arrangement however there were also many people who didn’t agree with the division of Ireland into two parts. A civil war broke out between the people who were in favour of the treaty and those who were against it. In the end, the people who fought in favour of the treaty won the civil war.
In 1948, the Irish Free State broke its remaining ties with Britain and became a Republic.

The Irish Constitution

The Irish people voted in the Constitution of Ireland in 1937. The constitution is still used today. It sets out the rights of Irish citizens. It also states that Irish people have the right to govern themselves and to make their own laws. The constitution can be changed but only if a referendum is held and if a majority of people agree to make these changes.

Constitution of Ireland | Bunreacht na hÉireann

The Constitution of Ireland | Bunreacht na hÉireann sets out the rights of Irish citizens