On Easter Monday 1916, nearly ninety-nine years ago, Patrick Pearse and the Irish Volunteers, assembled at various prearranged meeting points in Dublin, in a bid to win Irish freedom from British rule.
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The Irish Proclamation of Independence
At four minutes past noon on Easter Monday, April 24th, 1916, Patrick Pearse read the Proclamation of the Republic from the steps of the General Post Office on O'Connell Street in Dublin, guaranteeing liberty and equality for all.
"..... The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and all of its parts, cherishing all of the children of the nation equally ..."
~from The Irish Proclamation of Independence
The High Toll Of The Rising
In total, the Rising cost 450 persons their lives, with 2,614 injured, and 9 missing, almost all in Dublin.
There were military casualties with 116 dead, 368 wounded and 9 missing.
The Irish and Dublin police forces lost 16 members with 29 also wounded. 254 civilians died since much of the fighting occurred in the city center near densely populated areas.
The 14 leaders of the Rising were later shot to death by military firing squad.
Centenary Commemoration Of The 1916 Rising
Next year Ireland will commemorate the centenary of the 1916 Rising, by reflecting upon the year when seeds of change were sown, and Ireland was finally launched upon a path to reclaim her nationhood.
The Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland, Enda Kenny, described the Easter Rising of 1916 as “the central formative and defining act in the shaping of modern Ireland”.
Ireland 2016, will be a year of reflection marking this central historical moment in the formation of our Republic.
A diverse range of historical, cultural and artistic activities, are currently being planned.
Introducing The Easter Commemoration Digest by Seán McBrinn
Seán McBrinn, the former publisher of the historical journal called Easter Commemoration Digest, is currently preparing a special edition for 2016. And so I am going to hand you over to Sean to introduce you to his wonderful project:
In 1957, while still an apprentice compositor, I started a small publishing company - Graphic Publications - in order to publish a trade journal for printers - The Irish Printer (still in existance).
Over the next few years I added other journals - Irish Motor Trader, Irish Furniture & Floorcovering, Irish Stationer & Newsagent, Graphic Directory and The Easter Commemoration Digest.
The Easter Commemoration Digest was edited by my father, who was well connected to those involved in 1916 / 1922.
I stopped publishing the Easter Commemoration Digest in 1974, when my father died. In 1966 I published a Special Golden Jubilee edition of the Easter Commemoration Digest, which was very successful, with sales in the USA and abroad.
With the advent of the Centenary celebrations being heavily endorsed by the present Government, who have committed a budget in the order of €27,000,000 to the event, there are no publications in existence who can claim the pedigree of the Easter Commemoration Digest.
There will be other publications, but not with the wealth of original material available from previous editions of the Easter Commemoration Digest.
The following is a small selection of some of the articles and contributions from previous editions:
1959
Padraig Pearse - Man or Legend
The Immortal speech of Robert Emmett
1963
Memory of the Dead by Sean MacEntee, Tainaiste and Minister for Health.
1965
Our Friendship with America by Sean Lemass, Taoiseach.
The Heritage of the Irish by Robert F Kennedy.
There will be a number of new original articles, such as The Attack on the GPO written by Stephen Ferguson (Assistant Secretary of An Post).
An original contribution on the assisationation of Michael Collins, plus a contribution from the Office of Public Works on Kilmainham Gaol.
The print run will be 25,000 copies. It is anticipated that both An Post Museum and Kilmainham Gaol will sell copies through their bookshops. Kilmainham have projected that they will have 500,000 visitor during 2016.
The sale of the Easter Commemoration Digest will not be confined to 2016, and can sell for quite some time to come.
The existing Easter Digest website will be re-configured in December to facilitate online ordering.
(July 2017 Note: This website is no longer available for ordering this publication)
Wishing Seán every success with this endeavor, and I wish to extend my gratitude to him for submitting this guest post to introduce us to his work.
Slán agus beannacht,
(Goodbye and blessings)
Mairéad -Irish American Mom
Pronunciation - slawn ah-gus ban-ock-th
Mairéad - rhymes with parade
Here are some more recipes and ramblings you might enjoy...
Brighid O'Sullivan
Hi, Mairead, As you said the toll was great but what some people do not know was that a high percentage of the casualties were civilians in 1916. I met a lady yesterday who went through the Troubles as a kid in Northern Ireland and moved to the U.S. She is now elderly and I think losing her mind, poor soul. she told me people were bombing us right now. That kind of terror never leaves a person I guess.
Irish American Mom
Brighid - Back in 1916 the Dublin city center was densely populated. It was such a tragedy that so many civilians and innocent children lost their lives.
I think your story about the lady from Northern Ireland really does demonstrate that living through such terror leaves a mark forever.
Thanks so much for stopping by.
Mairéad
Ray Brown
Dear Mairead,
This was an excellent article. Thank you so much for this. I was at Kilmainham Gaol, in 1981, with my brother and later we went up to the North of Ireland to Derry, Belfast and the Giant Causways. At Kilmainham the Brits put our brave heroes in lime so that they could be forever forgotten, but that never, never happened. Our brave heroes will live in our hearts forever. Someday, I will have to explain some of the things we saw in the North during the troubles. We also went to Bobby Sands burial sight. In the Catholic section of Ireland, we stopped our car to ask for information on how to get to a particular place. The young Irish woman saw my crucifix and she told me, when she heard my American accent, to take off my crucifix. She said, you don't know this area. You are lucky you asked information in the Catholic area. She said if you go three blocks straight, and turn left two more blocks, you will be killed with that crucifix on. I reluctantly took it off. We had our suit cases in the car, so my brother went first to see Bobby Sands plot, and I waited out in the car until he got back. During that time I first heard gun shots, and I saw two British soldiers running down the block with their guns and with a Saracen behind them. I heard later they were chasing an IRA man, but he got away.
Later, we were the only car on the road at night. It was a bit scary. All the city of Derry was in lights as if one was at a ball game. The Brits must have paid a fortune for those kinds of lights. Even when we were driving in the country, at night, for at least an hour and a half, we saw no other car.
My brother took many pictures of the art work in Belfast and Derry. I still have it. Once my brother took a picture of a black British soldier, who was a "point man", the most dangerous job, of being the one in front of the others. He did not have a British accent and we figured they gave him the most dangerous job as he was not really one of them. He saw us and within seconds all kinds of Brit soldiers surrounded us. They had guns pointed at us, guns pointed at roof tops, and guns pointed left and right down the streets. They took our names and confiscated my brothers film of the Giant Causeways. It was explained to us that a soldier is considered an "installation" and you could not take any picture of any installation. Well, I still have pictures of some of their gaols. The Irish are a brave lot to have gone through those times. I admire the Irish Catholics who lived in those terrible times and I have to admit, I was glad to come home to safe and sunny California.
Irish American Mom
Hi Ray - Thanks so much for checking out this post, and thanks for sharing your stories of traveling in Northern Ireland in more troubled times. I first spent time in the North after I met my husband. He is from Letterkenny in Donegal, and many of his friends lived across the border in County Tyrone and County Derry. The 1980's were very tense times. I remember the eerie feeling of being watched when we would drive through the border check points. I am so glad change has come about, and our country is ever evolving. I pray that troubled times like those shall never again return to Ireland.
All the best,
Mairéad
Ray Brown
Dear Mairead,
Yes, I also pray that we don't ever have to go back to war. I pray for peace for Mother Ireland too. I wrote our heroes were buried in "Line" but I meant lime. They were buried in lime at Kilmainham Gaol so we could never rebury them and make them martyrs, but it didn't work out like the Brits wanted. Our brave Irish heroes can never be forgotten by us. Never!
Irish American Mom
Ray - Thanks so much for that clarification. I'll correct the spelling on your original comment.
All the best,
Mairéad