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The following is a transcript of "Elizabeth O’Farrell, The woman with the white flag"  a talk by Ian Kelly, grand-nephew of Elizabeth O’Farrell, at Dublin City Hall on Monday, 25 April 2016.AudioWelcome to the Dublin City Public Libraries and Archive Podcast. In this episode Ian Kelly talks about his great-aunt Elizabeth O'Farrell, her role in the 1916 Rising, her work as a midwife in Holles Street and her legacy. Listen to 'The Tricolour Ribbon' sung by Antoinette Heery, to Ian reading Liam Mac Uistín's poem "We saw a vision", and to Divisional Librarian Anne-Marie Kelly performing her original vignette 'Elizabeth Looks Back'. Part of a seminar held in Dublin City Hall on 25 April 2016.Firstly, on behalf of all our family, I’d like to say many thanks to Dr Mary Clark from Dublin City Library and Archives for organising and inviting us, all of the family of Elizabeth O’Farrell, here to this fantastic venue today.  I’d also like to thank the Lord Mayor of Dublin Críona Ní Dhálaigh for receiving us here at the City Hall on behalf of the people of Dublin and finally I’d like to thank Elizabeth D'Arcy for the magnificent work on restoring and conserving the Proclamation donated by our family.  So thank you very much one and all.  (Applause)Just regarding the Proclamation, I think it’s the most important words that were ever put to paper in Irish history.  When Pádraig Pearse wrote this with the help of Connolly and made it so inclusive for everybody it was so far reaching, ahead of its time, and even at that time. It’s a magnificent piece of work and it’s great to hear that this Proclamation that we have for the people of Dublin will last forever.  So hopefully future generations will read it and take on board what it says and especially in the last few years, the way country is moving forward now.  Rather than looking back all the time I think a Proclamation will always be ahead of its time so and it’s interesting to note, I just copped this in the last few days while reading it and studying it that Ireland to me always was feminine, she’s regarded as ‘she’ and its mentioned 12 times in the Proclamation, the word ‘she’ and ‘her’.  So Pearse was obviously well aware of the inclusiveness and the fact that women were equal and obviously if not more important than men.  We really only sit in the background maybe, the women run the show.  So this confirms that and it was highlighted by Yeats in his play ‘Cathleen Ní Houlihan’ which he wrote in 1902 and staged in the Abbey and this, again, was before the Rising so they obviously knew, this Gaelic Movement, that women had a really important role to play coming forward in the Rising.  And they are just the few words I wanted to say about the Proclamation.  We are absolutely delighted that this was found and restored and we always knew our family would have given away things all the time.  They would have given ... Joseph Plunkett’s suit was given away.  The stuff – you touched on it earlier Mary – people didn’t hold onto things.  They weren’t materialistic like today but it was great that it is there and it’s preserved for all time.So moving on to the main act today which is Elizabeth O’Farrell.  Firstly, I’d like to introduce Antoinette Heery who is a friend of mine.  Not unlike most people in Ireland and in Dublin, Antoinette would have a connection as her grand uncle James Heery was in the GPO with Elizabeth during the week of the Rising.  So Antoinette is going to sing us a song now and it’s a song that would have been heard in our home McGuinness Square which was Elizabeth’s sister’s house and most Sunday nights we would gather there and this song was mostly sung in the house and it’s called ‘The Tri-coloured Ribbon’.Antoinette Heery: And please join in the chorus if you know it.  I’m sure a lot of you do. (Singing)  (Applause)Thanks Antoinette, that was fantastic.  So I’m just going to move on to the story of my Great Aunt, Nurse Elizabeth O’Farrell whom we all know was the woman in this iconic photograph with the leader of the Rising, Padraig Pearse, at the moment of surrender to General Lowe, Commander of the British Forces in Ireland.  I am often asked how she came to be in this position.  Well, I want to share with you the life behind this woman.So Elizabeth was born in City Quay in Dublin on the 5th of the eleventh, 1883.  Her father was Christopher Farrell and her mother was Margaret Farrell née Kenna.  She had one sister Bridget who was our grandmother.  She was christened Elizabeth Farrell without the ‘O’ which was purposely dropped.  This was quite common at the time as a way of avoiding ethnic description in a country that was rife with it.  This was her father’s second marriage.  His first wife was a Mary Connolly and he became a widower when Mary died.  Mary was from Lower Mount Street and Margaret was from City Quay so he kept his courtships to the local area.  (laughter)  He didn’t marry anybody from Ringsend.  (laughter)  Sorry Ann.  (laughter)So Elizabeth in her formative years attended school at the Sisters of Mercy on Townsend Street along with her best friend, Julia Grennan, and Julia would have been known to all of us in our family as our Aunt Sheila.  She was the Aunt Sheila.  Sheila was from nearby Lombard Street and would remain Elizabeth’s best friend throughout her lifetime and the two of them quickly became inseparable as they both developed a love of the Irish language and Irish culture from quite a young age and in fact they were listed as fluent Irish speakers on the Census of 1911 which was highly unusual.  They both became members of the Gaelic League and Inghinidhe na hÉireann which they joined in 1906 and that had been founded by Maud Gonne, and the attempt of this organisation was to help promote all things Irish – as in Irish products, the language and the culture – and at the heart of the Movement was also Irish independence and a right of women and children which years later were also at the core of this Proclamation we see here today.Her father, Christopher, died in 1907 when she was still relatively young and out of necessity she took a job in Armstrong Printers on Amien Street.  So at this stage of her life, along with Sheila and many members of her family – including both my grandmothers – she became very Republican in her thinking.  Many years later she said that her Republicanism was already in her soul at the age of 16.  I really believe this was fostered by an era where there was no TV, no internet and probably more importantly no pubs open on Sundays so that meant that people could gather – families could gather – together, sing songs, tell stories and talk about, more importantly, politics and freedom.  All of these feelings of Republicanism and rebellion were fuelled by the poverty and deprivation in Dublin that was particularly prevalent among the Catholic lower or classes and at that time Dublin was the second city of the Empire but was also widely acknowledged as the biggest slum in Europe.  So the only way out for most local boys and men was down to the Docks or join the British Army.  So it was around this time, 1913, that the Irish Volunteers were founded as a direct counter to the UVF that had been formed in the North to fight Home Rule.So Elizabeth joined Cumann na mBan on its foundation in 1914.  Initially 250 women joined the Movement and they came from all sections of society with no discrimination but had one common goal and that was Irish freedom.  They actually considered themselves to be the women’s section of the Irish Volunteers.  Their agenda was to fight alongside the men in the struggle for freedom and during a Rising, if and when it came about.  So like all women in the Movement, Elizabeth would have been trained in the use of fire arms, transport of weapons, dispatches to the Volunteers and nursing and this training was overseen by Countess Markievicz and the great doctor, Dr Kathleen Lynn.  Cumann na mBan was also heavily influenced by the Suffragette Movement in its desire to further the rights of women to vote, hold political sway and improve social conditions for the underprivileged and especially for the children of that time.  So this would manifest itself later in the wording of the Proclamation.  In this respect, their biggest ally among the future leaders of the Rising was James Connolly, given that the backdrop to this was the devastating effect that the 1913 lockout had on the working classes.  It also must be remembered that the generation of the time still had first hand family experience of the Great Famine and all its awful consequences as well as a view, a strong view, that the ruling British were to blame.  All of this led to an immense cultural, socialist and patriotic revival which already had led to the formation of many bodies like the GAA, the Gaelic League and the Trade Union Movement. (Music) Thanks Shay.  (Applause)  Go raibh maith agat Shay.So now to the Rising.  So in the build up to 1916 Europe was in turmoil and without doubt the British focus was elsewhere as they fought a devastating and horrific war on the European western front.  In fact the events of the Great War and the total disregard for human life, particularly for the foot soldiers, probably influenced the subsequent decision to execute the leaders of the Rising.  At this time Home Rule agenda was gathering pace leading to tensions between the southern Catholics and the northern Protestants and it’s possible to believe Home Rule could come about and it could have led to a civil war in Ireland.  So even though there wasn’t a general ground swell of support from the general population the rebel leaders believed that this was the right time to strike for freedom and in the build up to hostilities it must be remembered that communication methods were still pretty basic and given the number of informers that had always been the bane of the Movement this was quite dangerous.So on the eve of the Rising Elizabeth was dispatched by Eoin MacNeill who was originally asked by the IRB to lead the forming of the Irish Volunteers and she was ordered to Galway to inform the Volunteers that the Rising was cancelled and little did she know that Pearse himself had countermanded these orders and was intent on proceeding with the Rising.  So when she got back to Dublin and realised what was happening she headed straight to the GPO along with the other women Volunteers and she set about nursing and feeding the soldiers.  So later in the week as the fighting intensified Pearse ordered all the women to vacate the building except for Elizabeth and two others – Winifred Carney and Julia Grennan.  In fact, they actually refused to leave the building, the GPO, and he couldn’t persuade them otherwise so they remained there until it became futile as the GPO was in ruins and the order was given to evacuate the building.  So they then left the side of the building onto Henry Street with Connolly on a stretcher and under heavy gunfire, with the remaining Volunteers, they made their way down the laneways to 16 Moore Street.  So they witnessed some horrific things, sights, actually on that journey down the laneways.  For instance, there was a young girl called Bridget McKane, she was aged 15, and she was shot dead at her home on Moore Street and she was killed by a bullet that pierced her forehead which had already passed through her father’s shoulder and right lung and Padraig Pearse himself, on hearing what happened, said ‘My God I’m sorry this happened, what can we do?’ and it was also on this journey that The O’Rahilly lost his life.So under siege and after another 3 people bearing white flags coming down the laneway of Moore Lane Pearse decided enough was enough.  So in number 16 Moore Street when they broke through all the buildings, and people would be very familiar now with it, they called it mouse-holing through the different buildings and they decided to hold the Council of War there.  So the women were actually set aside to the other room with Julia, Winifred and Elizabeth and the Rising was then going to be called off and this is probably one of the most significant parts of the week.  It probably is the most significant part.So Pearse knew all along himself that the Rising was going to be, in his own words, ‘a glorious failure’ and he needed a trusted Volunteer to approach the British position and offer a conditional surrender.  So the trusted Volunteer was Elizabeth and it’s remarkable because he didn’t pick any of the other Volunteers – the male Volunteers – he went straight for Elizabeth and I think he was making a massive statement to the British that he wanted a woman alongside of him to do this.  So Elizabeth, at 12.45 on Saturday the 29th of April, under heavy fire she approached the British position waving a white handkerchief and with a great deal of good fortune made it to the commanding officer.  So this commanding officer was at the bottom of Moore Street and behind him was all guns pointed down Moore Street, actually where The O’Rahilly was killed.  So they were still firing as she was making her way up that street so she was quite brave to do what she done, like it was amazing how she actually made it up to the barricade and then the officer at the barricade he was flabbergasted that a woman should be in this position and announcing herself as a Volunteer which in no uncertain terms she did announce herself as a Volunteer.  And at first they assumed she was a spy and they removed her Red Cross Insignia and detained her around 2.25pm that afternoon and they said to her ‘Go back to Pearse and tell him there will be no terms and that only an unconditional surrender would be accepted’ and she was also instructed that Pearse was to come with her to the position at the corner of Moore Street and Parnell Street to surrender to General Lowe.  She followed the instructions and at 3.30pm General Lowe received Commandant Pearse and Elizabeth at the designated point leading to this now immortal picture we see here which, for the purpose of newspaper reporting, was unfortunately doctored to remove part of her image.  At this time General Lowe asked that Elizabeth be the one who delivered Pearse’s surrender orders to the various rebel garrisons around the city and she being Pearse’s comrade, for want of a better word, she asked him would that be okay with him and he said yes he agreed that it would be.So in the hours after surrender Elizabeth continued her role as a dispatcher delivering those surrender orders to the rebel garrisons.  So she made her way around a lot of the city still in danger of being shot because a lot of confusion was going on and how she survived it is a miracle.  So all the deliveries went off and she finally needed to get to Boland’s Mills where de Valera was the officer in charge and on the way she came under heavy fire and I live in the area where this shooting took place, it’s on Grand Canal Bridge, and I work between Grand Canal Bridge and my house – I walk it every day – and on this way to Boland’s Mills a man just beside her was running alongside her and he was shot in the back, a fatal injury to himself.  So indeed it is a miracle that she survived.  So when she got to de Valera of course he refused to take the order unless it came from Commandant MacDonagh and it’s no surprise that he wouldn’t take the order from a woman you see.  So she had to track (laughter) ... so we all know the story there.  So she had to go back to town and return with MacDonagh’s orders.  In fact she didn’t get back down with the orders.  MacDonagh delivered the orders back to de Valera himself and I think that instilled, in later life, when talking with the family she had a high disregard for de Valera.  She didn’t put him up on the pedestal that people thought of de Valera and she obviously had a lot of her own reasons for that you know.So after all the dispatches were delivered and the Volunteers had surrendered she was subsequently removed to Kilmainham Jail where despite previous assurances by General Lowe she was strip searched, had all her possessions taken from her and was treated as a prisoner in the true sense of the word.  So when she protested she was told by a British officer ‘Don’t be silly, sure we know for a fact that you shot 6 British soldiers’.  So it’s remarkable that the General and his commanding officers recognised her bravery and the role that she had played even though she was clearly a committed Volunteer and as a result the General kept his word and she was released from Kilmainham Jail and all her possessions were returned.  So when we were growing up and you’d talk about what actually happened among the family it was agreed that General Lowe actually was a gentleman.  So in terms of the bigger picture of the rebels and the war itself, everybody liked to behave properly in the situation they found themselves in.  So even, for instance, when I heard yesterday that the guys who took the tram into town he paid for 52 tickets, he didn’t just hijack the tram and left it an IOU (laughter) so they were very careful ... say even if they took food from a shop they’d leave an IOU in the shop so everybody got fixed up later on.  So it’s remarkable how they went about their business and behaved properly.And as a footnote to this release from Kilmainham Jail she actually had in her possession £13 in gold coins which was given to her by a young Volunteer and this was this young man’s wedding fund and he was in lodgings and he took the money, the gold with him – the gold coins, to the Rising on Easter Monday rather than leave it in the lodgings he actually gave it to Elizabeth to mind for him.  So in many ways they were simpler times and this is the way the people behaved which was amazing.So I want to move on now to the famous airbrushed iconic photograph and there are many theories as to why this photograph doesn’t show her more clearly but two in particular are most believable.  Firstly, is Elizabeth’s own account when she stated that she wanted to get out of the way as not to detract from Pearse at that historic moment.  And the second accounts for the airbrushing which is believed happened so that Irish men fighting in World War I wouldn’t be stirred against the British by photographs of Irish women fighting for Irish freedom at home.  I think there is so much speculation on the photograph I would actually go with the latter but we might never know the reason.  She wasn’t a very extroverted person.  She was very introverted but I do believe the way she was positioned and the way she was airbrushed was done by the British not to show her in her true light as a rebel as well as a Volunteer.  So post Rising as they say the rest is history.  The execution of the leaders became the most potent weapon in driving public opinion in the formation of a Republic.  So this was Maxwell, we’d all be well aware, there was two Generals, there was General Lowe and then he was replaced by General Maxwell.  Maxwell came over from Britain and had experience all over Asia etc., as a General so he would be the type of guy who would have ... when I think of the young Volunteers that crossed Mount Street Bridge, the Sherwood Foresters, he sent them over the bridge because they were large in numbers and Malone and Darcy who were positioned on Northumberland Road, there was only two of them and they picked off 200 young soldiers and these young soldiers though they were in France but it just gives you an insight into the way this Empire worked with their young foot soldiers.  They were willing to sacrifice 200 young lads over the bridge, they get shot, 30 of them are killed and their bodies, I’ve heard from a funeral director in town – is Nichols Funeral Directors – they say that in their records that they actually placed the bodies in the laneway behind Northumberland Road and the bodies were then taken by the undertakers to Glasnevin and as well they were also placed in a massive grave.  So there was no real regard for ... they were cannon fodder basically.So getting back to Elizabeth and the Women’s Movement, nothing changed as they continued as before with their struggle for freedom.  The revolution had to begin again after the Rising and sadly this was a different revolution and in Elizabeth’s eyes and in most of the women’s – I’d say 100 per cent of the woman in Cumann na mBan – the focus now was Anti Treaty.  So in reality these strong willed women were ‘never going back to the kitchen sink’ as Elizabeth herself was quoted as saying, the war wasn’t over.  But in fairness to them, they had won major victories for the poor and for women’s rights.  So, for example, in 1921 women won the right to vote in Ireland a full 7 years before their British counterparts which was an amazing achievement.  It’s small if we look at it nowadays but at that time it was an amazing achievement.So Elizabeth herself then returned to normal life, if you could say it was normal life.  She still was very active in the background during the War of Independence and post Treaty.  But she had a lifelong ambition to have an education and become a Midwife.  So in early 1921 she started her training in Holles Street Hospital and she passed her basic exams with a 69 per cent score and was described by the matron as ‘a fair nurse with a fair education’, right, so that was quite funny at the time.  I suppose matrons being matrons that’s the way they were.  But before I move on regarding the matron, I just want to go back to Holles Street itself, the hospital, the family – we were invited to Holles Street there just 3 weeks ago by the Master who is great to see is a woman, Rhona Mahony.  She is the first lady Master of the hospital and we were allowed ... I was allowed access to the records in the hospital of what happened in Easter week and one young girl came in to have her baby but she had been shot in the leg and it’s recorded during the week but in fact a healthy baby was delivered.  But in the middle of the women giving birth during the week there was also the Rising going on all around the area – whether it be Mount Street, Grand Canal Street, the back of Holles Street.  And I just came across something there, this lady would have been neighbour of Elizabeth’s and she is from a place called Grant’s Row which is actually, again, just around the corner from us.  So she explained.  Margaret Jordan* was her name.  She was from Grant’s Row near Holles Street.  She has given an account of the British Army attack in the family home and shooting her father and brother.  This was within 15/20 feet of the hospital.  So the father died in Holles Street Hospital because he was taken in there and her brother never recovered and died 2 years later and she was 12 years of age and she had witnessed the removal of 100 bodies from Holles Street Hospital by the British and they were also taken and buried in a mass grave in Glasnevin.  So as a 12 year old this had a huge influence on her, for want of a better word, but she actually ended up herself becoming a member of Cumann na mBan on witnessing this.  So the activity around the local area was incredible, what was going on.So getting back to Elizabeth’s subsequent idea of becoming a Midwife.  She as I said, she passed her score with a 69% score.  And I say the Matron herself, getting back to the Matron, I don’t think she has a plaque named in her honour, and a nurse of the year award, which Elizabeth has in recognition of her decades of devoted service to the hospital. And for that matter, Elizabeth this month coming in May, has her face with Kathleen Lynn on a stamp. So even to this day she’s still delivering, right.  (Applause)So she lived in 37 Lower Mount Street, is where she set up residence with Julia Grennan, her Aunt Sheila and they lived there and Julia was a dressmaker. She went back to her dressmaking days and worked away. And Elizabeth became one of the major midwives in Dublin, not just in the area. She actually delivered babies in the locality and also delivered all the babies in my own family, and they’re all here today. And Moya being the eldest girl, and Brid being the youngest, or sorry the last baby that Elizabeth delivered is Brid and she’s here today. (Applause)So throughout this time, Elizabeth never lost her devotion to republicanism and in the 50’s after the border campaign went wrong and Sean South was killed, she delivered a speech where I thought was on College Green, but in fact it was outside the GPO because a gentleman just pointed that out to me on the way in here today, Simon’s brother. This man down here. He was actually present when Elizabeth gave one of her last speeches and it was a massive crowd outside the GPO. And she wasn’t one for turning as Thatcher said later on. But she wasn’t one for turning at all. She believed in the 32 county, which she stood alongside Pearse for. And as well as that, I’m noticing nowadays that we’re living in a society where we’re all equal, which is fantastic. And a lot of people don’t know that Elizabeth was actually engaged to be married to a chap called Eamonn Kelly. And Eamonn was intent on moving to Chile to mine for silver. But when push came to shove Elizabeth couldn’t leave Ireland with unfinished business. So to every extent her marriage was to the cause.Recently, I also met, you meet some amazing people when you’re on this journey, it’s great. We were invited up to Arbour Hill and I met a lady by the name of Nuala Fitzgerald at a commemoration in Arbour Hill. And she’s the Niece of Michael Malone, who I would have mentioned earlier on from Northumberland Road. And she’s also a Niece of Leo Fitzgerald, who are famous in a way from the area, the local area where we come from. And this lady was also a great friend of Elizabeth and Sheila, and I would know this, and she was one of the last people to see Elizabeth before she died. Elizabeth went out to Enniskerry to visit Nuala and her husband and on this trip she took ill. In those days as well it was quite simple, Nuala got the husband to go down and get the bus man to drive the bus up to her house, collect Elizabeth and bring her back into town. But they got as far as Loughlinstown, she was dying at the time, and they got as far as Loughlinstown and Sheila actually remarked to them in Loughlinstown Hospital that she wanted her brought back into the city, through Bray into Patrick Dunn’s. So she reminded the man who was driving the ambulance of who Elizabeth was, because Sheila was, if I could just go on to her for a second. She had a more outgoing personality, she was the more jollier of the two. Elizabeth would have been quite stern, would have been non-dramatic, where Sheila in other words she could talk for Ireland, so basically that’s what she could do. So they made their way back into town and Elizabeth, she died on the 25th of June 1957, and is buried in the republican plot in Glasnevin Cemetery, alongside Julia Grennan. And her great friend Eamonn Mac Thomais gave the oratory at her graveside and Eamonn Mac Thomais would have been a fellow republican, and his son became one of the historians, just recently in the last number of years, Shane Mac Thomais, and he tragically died just recently as well. And he’s actually buried with Eamonn beside Elizabeth and they loved Elizabeth through Eamonn, you could sense that often when I met them.So the Elizabeth O’Farrell Foundation was set up in Holles Street and a medal is awarded to the student nurse of the year each year. And in fact it’s going to be awarded again this year and I think Maria or Frances is going to attend the hospital. They want people in the family to acknowledge this and award the medal to the student of the year this year. And also within Holles Street, if you’re familiar with Holles Street Hospital, when you go in the door of Holles Street Hospital you see a plaque and that was designed by an architect artist called Gary Trimble. These would have been friends of Elizabeth’s originally, hence they lived in Mount Street, and this plaque was unveiled on the 50th anniversary of the Rising in 1966. And our Mother Una is the face that was used for Elizabeth, such was her likeness. So when I go into Holles Street and my daughter just recently had a baby there, I can see my Mother there on the wall so, that’s good you know. And my Grandson is called Padraig, I thought she called him another name, it’s a long story but that was just quite unintentional so it’s great to see that there’s still a great presence there. And I must say that the people in the hospital actually really recognise the women who were involved, Kathleen Lynn, Elizabeth O’Farrell, Stopford Price, all of these amazing women. It’s great to see that their story is being told now and it’s coming to the fore, which is fantastic. And I just spotted here, this lady over here is called Mary Murray. So in 2006 a chap called Donal O’Kelly and a lady called Barbara Ni Caoimh approached me about the story of Elizabeth O’Farrell, and he wanted to stage a play in Kilmainham Jail. And so the play was to run for a week and the last play that was held in Kilmainham Jail was actually by the Volunteers back in the day, the put on the odd show if they were allowed. So Mary played Elizabeth O’Farrell in the play and she done such a remarkable job the likeness that my sister Moya thought Mary was Elizabeth, she in fact she was, so it was fantastic.So the Proclamation which Elizabeth had in her possession in the GPO which is on display here today was originally donated to a republican museum Mary tells me in south Frederick Street and in 1966 I’m told by my sisters it was leant in trust by our family to the people of Dublin. And it’s fantastic to see that it’s restored and it’s amazing that it’ll be there and we’re happy that it’s with the people of Ireland and the people of Dublin because there’s few artefacts around that you can honestly say that you can be proud of. And I think we’re all proud of the Proclamation in itself, it’s remarkable. So Elizabeth herself, I think her life’s ambition can be summed up in the conversation she had with my Grandmother in the mid ‘50s. Now my Grandmother’s name was Bridget. And I have to really state this, she is the only sister that Elizabeth had. There was two sisters, Bridget and Bridget herself was a strong republican. And Bridget had all the babies. So Bridget was the woman who got married and Elizabeth stayed single. So our Grandmother was also a remarkable woman, and was also a great woman for delivering babies as well. And actually my Mother was also handy at delivering babies too. So they didn’t need to go to hospitals or anything like that. So they took a trip out to Sandymount Strand and I think the way they thought in those days that my Grandmother would have predeceased Elizabeth. But in fact Elizabeth died before Bridget. So one of the days they had off which was very unusual, the place you would go to if you lived in our area was up to Sandymount Strand. So they sat on the beach in Sandymount Strand and looking back on life, how lucky were we said my Grandmother to Elizabeth. And you were very lucky Bridget, you had all your children around you, but I didn’t get what I wanted. And that was a 32 county Ireland. So on that note I’d just like to dedicate this poem, it’s called “We saw a vision” by Liam Mac Uistin and I think it’s very appropriate because I think it nails exactly what the Proclamation is all about and the vision for the country and what it will do for future generations. So he wrote this for the 50th anniversary in 1966 and it’s on display up in the Garden of Remembrance. So it’s “We saw a vision”."In the darkness of despair we saw a vision.We lit the light of hope and it was not extinguished.In the dessert of discouragement we saw a vision.We planted a tree of valour and it blossomed.In the winter of bondage we saw a vision,We melted the snow of lethargyAnd a river of resurrection flowed from it.We sent our vision aswim like a swan on the river,The vision becomes a reality.Winter becomes summer, bondage becomes freedomAnd this we left you as your inheritance.Oh generation of freedom, remember usThe generation of the vision."(Applause)Mary Clark: And we’re just going to finish now with another poem about Elizabeth O’Farrell and this here is my colleague Anne Marie Kelly, who is a self confessed Elizabeth O’Farrell groupie, I think perhaps even more so after today. But Anne Marie is also a divisional librarian with Dublin City Libraries and she has been one of the people who has delivered the wonderful 1916 programme that was done by the libraries. So there you are, Anne Marie, whenever you’re ready.Anne-Marie Kelly: Thanks Mary. I don’t know if I’ll match Liam Mac Uistin’s poem now, I think it’s a bit more bawdy. The title of this poem sketch is "Elizabeth looks back""Drastic and all that this may seem,But I think the women of Dublin should stop having childerYou see, I know they’re jaded with itBut not half as jaded as us midwives,Although if they stopped having childer, I’d be without a job I supposeAnd that would be bad, but worse still the country would be without future rebels.And of course it’s in the deliverin’ of rebels that was, is and always will be the aim of this midwife.And who are you says you in all that’s good and holy to be telling us what this country needs?Well sorry, I should have said the name’s Elizabeth O’Farrell, of City Quay.Some say history airbrushed me,A printer, a rebel, a midwife am I,A woman who looked General Lowe in the eye,You see I was there that week in the GPO, a proud Cumann member who fought the foe.MacNeill, he really set the cat among the pigeons with the decision, a decision and an unholy revision.And no luck for Casement and the ammo, and you see that did make the fight a tale of woe,Yet still we struggled against the Empire.You see we were dreaming of a world beyond this quagmire.Well by the end of the week the city was in chassis, the fire brigade, they’d saved it for the masses.The rebels’ names were mud for upsetting the applecart.And sure what cared we, weren’t we doing our part.Pearse surrendered with me in tow,And sometimes you can see my feet below.Rebel woman in the photo who helped permission was rubbed out.Did somebody say rubbed out?Yes, says I, rubbed out when the struggle was won."(Applause)(Recording ends here) *In the audio recording Ian Kelly refers to Margaret Hennessy. Margaret's great-nephew Diarmuid Gannon subsequently got in touch to correctly identify the girl in question as Margaret Morrissey (nee Jordan).  This transcript was corrected on October 8th 2018.Thank-you for listening to the Dublin City Public Libraries and Archive Podcast. To hear more, please subscribe on iTunes or SoundCloud. You can also visit our website - dublincitypubliclibraries.ie and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

When May Finn died after 50 years of widowhood, her family found a hidden trove of more than 90 love letters carefully tied in ribbons. They had been written in 1916 as she and her fiancé approached their wedding day that June.

'Come to Libraries, Come to Life' is a series of video interviews with users of library services in Dublin City Public Libraries, in partnership with Ballyfermot College of Further Education. The goal of the project is to show the diversity of the kinds of people that use libraries, and to demonstrate what the services mean to them.

The following is a transcript of "Remembering and reinventing the Rising"  a talk by Donal Fallon in Dublin City Library and Archive on Thursday, 23 June 2016.AudioWelcome to the Dublin City Public Libraries and Archive Podcast. In this episode historian Donal Fallon discusses the history of commemorating the 1916 Rising, while looking at events such as the first anniversary in 1917, the often-violent Easter parades of 1930s Dublin and the 50th anniversary in 1966. Recorded in front of a live audience in Dublin City Library and Archive on 23 June 2016 as part of the Dublin City Council 1916 Centenary Programme.You’re all very welcome to Dublin City Library and Archives.  My name is Tara Doyle and I am one of the Librarians working here on the 1916 Rising Commemorations for Dublin City Council.  I am delighted this evening to welcome Donal Fallon who is going to talk to us about remembering and reinventing the Rising.  Donal is a really interesting young historian working in Ireland now.  He has a terrific blog called ‘Come here to me’ and if you haven’t looked at it I’d advise you to have a look at it because it’s full of all sorts of interesting articles and photographs – the hidden histories of the city and a lot of social history.  He also has a slot on Newstalk – Tuesday mornings is it Donal?  And he talks about all sorts of interesting aspects of history then as well.  He does walking tours of the city, writes regularly in the media.  He has worked with me on a couple of really interesting projects here so I think it’s a privilege that he’s come and he’s going to talk to us tonight on his own area of research, his specific area of research, on remembering the 1916 Rising.  Will you please welcome Donal Fallon.  (Applause)Cheers Tara, thanks for that.  We are probably all commemorationed out in this country at the moment but commemoration is a very interesting thing actually and my kind of main area of research is commemoration, memory, how people remember the past and how they forget things, you know what they choose to commemorate and what they choose to forget.  And I suppose when we look at commemorations, like the huge ones we’ve just had in this country, they really tell us more about the time in which they happen than the time that they are commemorating and when they look back on 2016 they’ll be looking at it in the context of Ireland today, just like when they look back on 1998 and the bicentenary of the United Irish Rebellion, they’ll be looking at that in the context of say the Good Friday Agreement.  So commemoration always happens in the context of its own time.  There’s always been a tug of war I suppose for ownership of the 1916 Rising.  Some asked who fears the speak of Easter week?  Nobody feared the speak of Easter week (laughs) but everyone wanted to claim it for themselves and from the very first anniversary in 1917 commemorating the Rising has often been a very contested battlefield of ideas.So today I want to focus on a few specific cases, a few specific years, of Easter Rising Commemoration that I think are interesting for a variety of reasons.  Firstly, the first anniversary in 1917 which was very widely marked in the city in spite of the fact there was a Proclamation outlawing any such gatherings.  Then I want to look at the 10th anniversary, 1926, that was the year in which the Easter lily symbol emerged established by Cumann na mBan activists.  What was interesting about 1926 and the 10th anniversary of the Rising is by that time in the city you had enormous Republican commemorations at Easter but you also had enormous commemoration at that time in Irish society around the First World War and there were frequent confrontations between those two strands.  I want to look at the 10th anniversary as well in the context of the National Graves Association, a hugely important commemorative body, they have put up more monuments in this country than anyone.  They were established in 1926 and the 10th anniversary of the Rising was the catalyst for their establishment.  Then I’m going to look briefly at the 1930s, incredibly violent confrontation on the streets in the 30s between the far left and the far right, both of whom sought to claim the mantle of Easter week.  And then finally I’ll look very briefly at the Golden Jubilee in 1966.When we talk about 1916 and these people, in a sense we kind of commemorating commemorators you know (laughs).  The past was enormously important in the lives and the radicalisation of a lot of the people we ourselves are remembering.  The 1898 centenary of the 1798 Rebellion was a real pivotal moment for many of the Irish revolutionary generation.  A lot of people talk about it and the Boar War which happened at the same time as having an enormously important role in politicising them.  There was also the centenary of Robert Emmett’s death in 1903 and even the 900th anniversary of the Battle of Clontarf in 1914 when Patrick Pearse, Thomas MacDonagh and others tried to present Brian Boru as some kind of proto Republican.  You know commemoration was something these people did themselves.  That’s the foundation stone of the Wolfe Tone monument in 1898, it was unveiled at St. Stephen’s Green.  They never got their Wolfe Tone monument, that’s where Fusiliers’ Arch is today and it’s up in Croppies Acre just beside the National Museum.  But people that fought in the 1916 Rising would have been partaking in these kind of events themselves.The first anniversary of the Rising in 1917 was a very dramatic one actually in the city and I think the authorities had a sense that something could happen, that it could be volatile, because on the 6th of April 1917 there was a Proclamation issued by General Sir Bryan Mahon, Commander and Chief of British Forces in Ireland, and it was posted in police barracks all across Dublin and beyond.  A very clear attempt at preventing any commemorative gatherings in the city during the week marking the anniversary of the uprising.  It said that “between Sunday the 8th day of April 1917 and Sunday the 15th day of April 1917 any assembly of persons for the purpose of the holding of meetings would amount to a breach of the peace and would likely serve to promote dissatisfaction”.  Under the Defence of the Realm Regulations Mahon’s Proclamation made it clear “there would be no tolerance for unapproved gatherings” and it ended with the words “God save the King”.  When Easter Monday 1917 came around all eyes were very much on Sackville Street and there were small crowds gathering on the street from very early in the morning, kind of in anticipation that something would happen.  Defiantly the newspapers reported that, quote “Some Dubliners wore Sinn Féin colours on their clothing, black bands reportedly worn by others as well and a tricolour was raised over the ruins of the General Post Office”.  The paper said that the rubble of the Rebellion was used by youths to attack the police with stone throwing on Sackville Street from about 4 o’clock and an inspector and superintendent hospitalised.  Helena Maloney, a female participant in the 1916 Rising, remembered that in the weeks before this day there was a kind of feeling among female Republicans that something was coming and she remembered producing flags, “We made the flags, three measuring 6 feet by 4½ feet.  There was a very nice Sailor from Glasgow named Moran who looked up at the flagstaff of the GPO and said “You could get a flag on that.  I’ll do it and they won’t get it off in a hurry”.  But the symbolic raising of tricolours in Dublin troubled the authorities but it wasn’t only in Dublin that it happened.  There were similar scenes in Cork and Mullingar.  Anything between 300 and 400 people reportedly marched through the streets of Galway, stopped at City Hall where the municipal flag had vanished and been replaced by a tricolour.  Probably the most dramatic act of the first anniversary of the Rising though happened at Liberty Hall on the 12th of May 1916, on the anniversary of James Connolly, and there were commemorative gatherings for Connolly held in interesting places – in Edinburgh, in Chicago, in New York you had small trade union demonstrations on the 12th of May 1917.  But this was a real act of defiance.  A number of female Republicans again took the lead – Helena Maloney, Rosie Hackett, Jinny Shanahan and others and they took it upon themselves, to quote Rosie Hackett, “On the first anniversary of Connolly’s death, us and the transport people decided he should be honoured.  A big poster was put up on the Hall with the words ‘James Connolly murdered May 12th 1916’.  It was no length of time up on the Hall when it was taken down by the police, including Johnny Barton and Dunne, two notorious kind of ‘G’ men, “We were very vexed over it and we thought it should have been defended.  It was barely an hour or so up and we wanted everyone to know it was Connolly’s anniversary.  Miss Maloney called us together, Jinny Shanahan, Bridget Davis and myself.  Miss Maloney printed another script, getting up on the roof, she put it high up across the top parapet we were on top of the roof for the rest of the time it was there” and she remembered that they were up there, Rosie Hackett remembered, they were up there for hours and she claimed that it took, quote “more than 400 police men to get it down”.  I’m not entirely sure I believe her.  That can happen in the bureau military history statements but it’s a great story none the less and it gave us one of the really iconic images of the first anniversary of the Rising.  She remembered that “thousands of people watched this from the quay on the far side of the river.  It took the police a good hour or so before they got it down and the script was there until 6 in the evening”.  Also on the first anniversary they printed a reproduction of the 1916 Proclamation and I’ve never seen one of these.  They’re actually rarer than the 1916 Proclamation.  Very few of them around today.  Helena Maloney again remembered that it was the women that took the most prominent role in doing this, she said that “we pasted it around the city with flour paste made from glue, jam pots of which were used by teams of willing Republicans all over the city”.  She said that “one poster was up in Grafton Street for 6 or 8 months”.  Dublin Corporation marked the anniversary in their own way too, they passed a Motion calling for an amnesty for Irish prisoners.  So 1917 was very dramatic and it was a day of great defiance in the city.Skipping forward into the 1920s and post independence I suppose.  Post independence you have competing kind of commemorative rituals in the city and the big one really is Remembrance Sunday or Armistice Day.  That picture is taken in 1926, 10 years after the Rising, on the 11th of November at the Wellington Monument in the Phoenix Park.  Armistice Day was a hugely important day for many working class people in Dublin.  Frank Ryan, the Republican leader claimed, to quote him, that “the people that partake in this day are bank clerks and students of Trinity College” (laughter).  Now it was very clear it was something much, much more than that.  You know regardless of how politics had changed many working class people did have a connection to the war and continued to identify with it.  There was huge opposition to Armistice Day or Poppy Day in the city, often instigated by Republican activists, many with an IRA background.  In fact, even during the War of Independence and Armistice Day the IRA considered taking very drastic action against that parade that passed Trinity College Dublin.  One volunteer remembered in his bureau military history statement that “We paraded under arms and took up positions in Dame Street and George’s Street.  We were to open fire on the parade but at the last moment this instruction was cancelled.  On our way home we observed a camera man who had taken pictures of the parade, we took the camera off him and destroyed it”.  But in the Dublin of the 20s and the 1930s you know remembering the First World War was very, very common, the Flanders poppy was commonplace in the city.  The British Legion had ‘Poppy Depots’ and not only in places like Rathmines, as An Phoblacht pointed out, but in the centre of the city as well.  Hand to hand fighting, flag burning and even attempted arson in ‘Poppy Depots’ was relatively common in the 1920s.  The poppy was formally launched in Ireland by the British Legion in October 1925, they would have been sold on the streets for years before that and the selling of the poppy brought in huge revenue to the British Legion.  I think it was ... and here’s a newspaper report on kind of a typical Armistice Sunday in Dublin, “City Centre in turmoil, many hurt in charges and stampedes poppy-snatching, guards break up band of processionists”.  It was largely in response to that, in response to the rise of the Flanders poppy in Ireland that you saw the establishment of the lily in 1926 on the 10th anniversary of the Rising.  And again it’s Cumann na mBan.  Cumann na mBan, the Women’s Movement in particular, are very prominent in the commemorative stuff.  They are the ones that are often issuing the commemorative literature.  They are the ones that are selling the lilies on the streets as well and the Easter lily very much was an attempt to I think establish a radical alternative to the Flanders poppy.  Its sales were very poor.  It was considered a minority symbol from the beginning.  In 1926 the British Legion raised the grand sum of £7,430 through selling poppies in Ireland.  Easter lily sales in the same year saw only £34 raised, that was the first year.  By 1934 the figure had risen to just over £900 but it still remained very much a minority symbol and Gardaí often noted in kind of intelligence reports that it was sometimes non-existent the kind of old IRA gatherings.  You know it was very much a symbol that was associated with the contemporary Republican movement.  This poster is from the early 1930s.  ‘They died for a Republic, we’ll accept nothing less, spurring compromise, forward to the Republic’.  So it was associated with the contemporary Republic Movement very much so.  Gardaí noted in intelligence reports that it seemed to be women and children that were often selling them, Cumann na mBan and Fianna Éireann activists.  It was Fianna Fáil that really clamped down on the Easter lily in the 1930s.  They went after the sellers of the lilies arguing that they didn’t have permits, so it wasn’t that they were outlawing the lily themselves they were just outlawing the selling of it on the streets without a permit.  Fianna Fáil had come into power in 1932 with the help of the IRA.  The IRA had actively canvassed for Fianna Fáil and encouraged their members to vote for the party but relationships between the IRA and Fianna Fáil strained very quickly.  In fact from 1933 on Fianna Fáil were talking about a new IRA which was sheltering behind the honoured name of the old IRA and even launched their own commemorative symbol.  Fianna Fáil launched what was called the torch in 1935 as an alternative to the Easter lily. That same year, 1926, saw the foundation of the National Graves Association as well.  A hugely important body.  If you travel around Ireland you’ll find National Graves Association monuments popping up in the most unlikely of places, on roadsides and laneways all across the country.  They were a distinctly Republican commemorative body who, quote ‘strove to remember all those who gave their lives to what they perceived to be the cause of an Irish Republic’.  Their founding members were interesting people and they were people that carried great importance.  Kathleen Clarke was Treasurer, the widow of Tom Clarke.  Joseph Clarke who fought at the Battle of Mount Street Bridge in 1916, no relation, he was involved.  You had Sean Fitzpatrick, not of Anglo Irish Bank fame – another one.  James Stritch.  Lily O’Brennan.  You know these were people that carried great weight in the Republican Movement, they were the founders of the NGA.  James Stritch is particularly interesting.  You can see him there on my right hand side of this picture.  That’s the Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa Funeral Committee.  James Stritch is over there.  Not only did he fight in the 1916 Rising, he took part in the 1867 Fenian Rebellion.  He was involved in the smashing of the van, a raid on a police van in Manchester in 1867.  So I think he’s the only person who could claim to be out in 1867 and 1916.  He was on the Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa Funeral Committee, hence this picture.  He was involved in the Wolfe Tone Commemorative Committee.  He was someone that was very heavily involved in commemoration in the city and it’s not really surprising that he’s a founding member of the National Graves Association in 1926.  And there’s Kathleen Clarke and Kathleen Clarke brought a kind of respectability to the NGA because she was the founding member of the Fianna Fáil political party.  So you had a very broad church of people from Sinn Féin to Fianna Fáil to veteran Fenians, all in the NGA in its foundation years.  The first thing that they did or the first thing they strove to do was to unveil a monument at the 1916 plot in Glasnevin cemetery and they eventually managed to do that in 1929 and the NGA still maintain the 1916 plot in Glasnevin.  The unveiling was carried out by Frank Ryan who was the Editor of An Phoblacht, a self-described ‘street fighting man’, one of the most active kind of poppy day agitators in the city.  What I like about this image, it’s from the Cashman Collection, you have Frank Ryan speaking here, he is the Editor of An Phoblacht, An Phoblacht was actually banned at the time of this unveiling.  But look on the other side of him again you have the Fianna and the Fianna are always very central to commemoration in the 1920s and the 1930s.  Frank Ryan was furious at the time that this received no attention in the press.  He wrote that “the daily press Anglophile today is always sought by its silence to belittle the significance of our ceremonies, in a few line comment on the Dublin commemorations they refrain from mentioning an oration that was delivered in Glasnevin obviously to create the impression that Dublin was cowed into silence”.  The NGA’s work is all around Dublin today.  That’s one example, the Thomas Weafer plaques, beautiful plaques on O’Connell Street on the old Hibernian Bank building there on the corner of O’Connell Street and Middle Abbey Street.The 20s were I suppose there was confrontation between those who were taking part in kind of British Army commemoration and those who were taking part in Republic commemoration.  In the 1930s the confrontation was between the left and the right and scenes of violence between the far left and the far right were quite commonplace on the streets in the 1930s.  Anti-communist feeling in Ireland was very, very high.  You had street protest movements like the St. Patrick’s Anti-Communist League, the Irish Christian Front, the Uniformed Army Comrades Association or the Blue Shirts, all clashing with the organised left.  And Easter was always a flash point in the 1930s.The Easter commemorations in 1936 on the 20th anniversary of the Rising were particularly violent.  On that occasion a Communist contingent who marched in the annual IRA Easter Parade suffered repeated assault in the city.  They were joined by Willie Gallagher who was a Scottish Communist who had actually been elected to the Westminster Parliament in 1935 and the Irish Press in April, on the 13th of April detailed the assaults on communists, noting that, quote ‘members of the Communist Party of Ireland were attacked with stones and there were a number of free fights in which several people were injured during the IRA procession from Stephen’s Green to Glasnevin Cemetery yesterday’.  They claimed that about 60 members of the Communist Party marched through the streets with red tabs attached to their Easter lilies and at the General Post Office a mob of about 200 people attempted to rush the group and Roddy Connolly, son of the executed James Connolly, was hospitalised.  The Irish Press detailed that the attacks on the group continued all the way to Glasnevin Cemetery where sellers of the British Communist newspaper, The Daily Worker, were assaulted and had their papers taken from them.  Among the people that was attacked on this day was Captain Jack White, DSO, a Northern Protestant, a veteran of the British Army who had fought in the Boar War who had been influential in the establishment of the Irish Citizen Army.  He remembered the following year, he said ‘Last Easter Sunday I had to fight for 3 kilometres against the Catholic actionists who attacked us on the streets as we marched to honour the memory of the Republican dead of 1916.  The pious hooligans came inside the cemetery, tore up the grave rails, to attack us’.  The day after the IRA parade to Glasnevin Cemetery which ended in scenes of carnage there was a meeting at College Green in the City.  Willie Gallagher, the Scottish Communist, and Peadar O’Donnell were going to speak on the theme of 1916 and Gardaí estimated that, quote ‘about 98 per cent of the people present were opposed to the objectives of the meeting’ which is kind of incredible to think about it.  Wild scenes at Dublin meeting speakers attempted address from lamp post.  Peadar O’Donnell attempted to climb up a lamp post and talk to the crowd.  The much anticipated visit of a foreign radical like Willie Gallagher, you know an elected member of the British Parliament, should have provided a boost to a struggling Irish political movement but it was clear reading the newspapers that 1936 was disastrous for the left at least.  And these kind of confrontations remained common in the years that followed, at least in the 30s.  That’s Willie Gallagher, the Scottish Communist MP and of course that’s Peadar O’Donnell.In 1935 the left boycotted the unveiling of the Oliver Sheppard Memorial, a beautiful monument, a beautiful memorial, sorry, in the General Post Office, showing Cúchulainn, they argued that they would not attend it because Roddy Connolly, the son of James Connolly, was imprisoned at the time and it’s funny that the Republic Movement kind of universally boycotted the unveiling of that memorial because today you see it all the time, you know that symbol of Cúchulainn has been really appropriated by Republicans and in the North you often see it on murals.  But in 1935 the IRA and others all actually boycotted the unveiling of Sheppard’s memorial and the left too.To skip forward and to finish up with the 1960s, the Golden Jubilee of the 1916 Rising I suppose is remembered for a couple of reasons.  Primarily I would argue it’s remembered for two things, one, it’s remembered for the great insurrection which thankfully we’ve shown this year on television and, secondly, it’s remembered for the destruction of Nelson’s Pillar and neither of those two things – you know the two things that 1966 is primarily remembered for – were really state projects you could say (laughter).  The insurrection, the TV show, I was delighted to see it re-shown this year, was really ambitious and quite ground breaking.  It was stored in RTE Archives for the past 50 years before we got to see it again – an 8-part series broadcasted nightly in 1966 and this is a great scene from it, Michael Malone up at Mount Street Bridge.  People sometimes attribute 1966, the Golden Jubilee of the Rising, to the Troubles that followed on in the North.  I think that’s quite ahistorical.  I think that ignores the other factors that were brewing in Ulster that eventually created the Troubles.  Terence O’Neill, the Prime Minister in the North, described 1966 as ‘Not a very easy year’ and he expressed his frustrations that ‘Catholics insisted on celebrating the Dublin Rebellion’ but I don’t think it was the commemorations of ’66, of the Golden Jubilee, that sparked the Troubles.  Funnily enough reading the newspaper archives though, the fear really was there on the Unionist side, and from Ian Paisley in particular, that the Golden Jubilee could spark something but I don’t think it was.  I don’t think it was commemorations that kicked off the Troubles, no way.  Hugh Leonard who wrote the script for Insurrection, he recalled ‘from the point of view of a dramatist my favourite character turned out to be James Connolly, bow-legged, fiery, an unquenchable optimist, cheering his men on with ‘courage boys we are winning’ while the GPO roof blazed overhead or lying wounded a cigarette in one hand and a detective novel in the other announcing with satisfaction that this was ‘revolution deluxe’ (laughter).  The production was certainly lavish, it involved 200 extras and 300 members of the Defence Forces and Diarmuid Ferriter noted that Insurrection was broadcast twice in 1966 and never since, not it has been maintained due to the Troubles or political correctness but because of the cost of repeat fees and explanation that appears far-fetched.  Journalist, Fintan O’Toole would contend that Insurrection had huge influence on the rise of Sinn Féin in the North.  Harvey O’Brien wrote in his study of the Evolution of Ireland in film that though it saluted the bravery of the Irish it was unusually even handed in its betrayal of the British Armed Forces.  It depicted, for example, a growing respect between a British medic trapped in the GPO and the wounded rebel commander James Connolly.I think the abiding memory people have of 1966, however, is always going to be the destruction of Nelson’s Pillar on the 8th of March 1966.  Horatio Nelson on his Doric column in the centre of O’Connell Street came crashing down into the street and Liam Sutcliffe who was part of the group, the small group of Republican activists that was built around the maverick Joe Crystal, he talked himself about how it was over a discussion in a Belfast Republican club in the months before they decided that they were going to intervene in the Golden Jubilee and that they would not allow the Golden Jubilee to pass with Horatio Nelson standing outside of the General Post Office.  So ultimately it was the 50th anniversary of the Rising that provided the imperative I suppose for Republicans, like Joe Crystal and Liam Sutcliffe, to bring about the destruction of Nelson.  And that more than anything I think – more than the army parading past the Post Office, more than the lavish production in Casement Park and Croke Park –  that became the abiding memory of ’66.So 1916, I hope that brief talk has illustrated, has always been contested or the memory of it has always been contested by different factions, be it the left and the right, be it kind of Constitutional Nationalists and Republicans, there has always been a tug of war for Easter week and I think when we look at 1926, 1936 and even 1966 we learn more about that time than we do about the Rising and I wonder how they’ll look back on 2016?  I think on the whole the centenaries have been wonderful.  I think there’s been a wonderful community engagement.  There are permanent memorials to the Rising all across Dublin now in suburbs erected by community groups and I think there was a real engagement this year, in  particular from young people and communities, and that should always be welcome.  Any discussion around history is good.  I just hope in the years ahead that that popular discourse will remain even into the civil war (laughter) but thank you very much, we’ll leave that there.  (Applause) Thank-you for listening to the Dublin City Public Libraries and Archive Podcast. To hear more, please subscribe on iTunes or SoundCloud. You can also visit our website - dublincitypubliclibraries.ie and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

During Heritage Week we were fortunate to host award winning writer Cecil Allen's entertaining talk about the colourful history of The Queen's Theatre.

On 16 November 1538, the Monastery and lands of All Hallows were surrendered by Prior Walter Handcocke to Henry VIII as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.  The house and lands of All Hallows were granted by the king to the Mayor, Bailiffs, Commons and Citizens of Dublin on 4 February 1539. The lands included properties in counties Dublin, Meath, Kildare, Louth, Tipperary, Kilkenny and elsewhere.  The grant of All Hallows more than doubled the city’s land-bank and led to a reorganization of the Dublin City Treasurer’s office to cope with the increased revenue from leases of All Hallows land.  This, the earliest known City Treasurer’s Account Book begins in 1540 largely as a way of ensuring that all moneys from letting this land bank were accounted for.Image: Grotesque, City Treasurer's Account Book. Dublin City Library & Archive MR/35 (1540-1613)In the period covered by this book, the Dublin City Treasurer was usually an Alderman on the Dublin City Assembly who was appointed for an initial period of a year, often renewed. The City Treasurer presented the accounts to the Assembly each year at the fourth Friday after Michaelmas (St. Michael’s Day, 29 September). The book was conserved in the late 19th century, most probably under the direction of Sir John T. Gilbert (who also gave directions that ‘Dublin Corporation’ should be stamped on each page as a security measure, as was done in Les Archives Nationales de France).  It was re-bound in reverse calf (now much degraded) and two large bands were applied, one to the head and one to the end of the spine. The front of the original cover has been bound into the front of the book. This is in finely-tanned leather, possibly sheepskin and the holes from the original clasps can be clearly seen. At the top is written (in English):The Tresorye bookeof the Cittie of Du-bline Anno d[omini] MDXLIboght by Thomas Stevins Thresaurer 1541Image: Front cover, City Treasurer's Account Book (click to enlarge)Inside the pages of the book are made of paper and this is the earliest document in the City Archives where paper is used.   Paper was first made in China during the Han Dynasty (202 BC to 220 AD).  The techniques for making paper reached Europe in the 11th century but spread very slowly, reaching England in 1488.  These early papers were made by hand, using cotton and linen rags, which means that they have survived well until the present day. As essentially it’s made of cloth, early paper can be washed if necessary – a procedure which has to be done by a trained paper conservator.  (Modern papers are made of wood pulp, usually eucalyptus, which is imported largely from Australia). The paper in the City Treasurer’s book appears to have been imported from France: Professor Padraig O Maicin has identified just one watermark in the book, on folio 42, which is a decorative urn, often used by paper mills in France to identify their work.  The pages have lines down them, a practice which is known as ‘chained paper’ and is like ribbing on a knitted jumper, designed to strengthen each sheet.  Image: Watermark, City Treasurer's Account Book (click to enlarge)Each page was conserved during the 19th century, with a new edging put onto it using acid-free paper.  It is likely that the Treasurer’s Book was suffering from damp as indicated by the staining on some of the pages.  The conservator appears to have cut off the worst of the soiled edges – fortunately a substantial margin had been left which means that no text was removed. The numbers throughout the Treasurer’s Book are written in Roman numerals and not in Arabic numerals. Capital letters on some of the pages near to the front of this book have been decorated with grotesques – a sure sign that the scribe entering the accounts was really bored!   But in reality researchers have found many stories in the book – they have constructed biographies of many Dublin merchants; described lavish parties held in the city; and recorded visits by the Queen’s Players, a theatre troupe based in London. Image: Grotesque, City Treasurer's Account Book (click to enlarge)Manuscript of the MonthEach month, Dublin City Archives will be showcasing a manuscript from their collections on our blog. Check back next month for the next instalment!See also: Admiral Nelson's casts an eye over the Dublin City Treasurer's Accounts in his latest News from Nelson blog: "Last week I was browsing away and I came across the Dublin City Treasurer’s Accounts 1540-1613.  I know – I can hear you say ‘Bor-ring!’ and at first I thought so too." Read more: News from Nelson - Grotesques!

A collection of eight Ordnance Survey maps, donated to Dublin City Library and Archive, constitute a wonderful addition to local and family history for the Terenure Crumlin area in the late 19th century. The maps are folded and bound into one volume, bound in half leather with gilt lettering on the top cover.

Formally named as Byrne (the family later changed their surname to O'Byrne, a practice not uncommon at that time), James O'Byrne was from Lower Mayor Street in Dublin's North Wall area.Young James was recruited to the city libraries as a 'boy' library assistant in 1913 and from that time was assigned to the Charleville Mall, North Strand library.

During the Easter Rising of 1916 many Dublin residents, caught in the middle of the fighting, recorded their experiences in diaries and journals. Herbert Victor Fleming and Nora Marion Fitzpatrick were among those to do so. Fleming, a store manager, and Fitzpatrick, a V.A.D. nurse, were both loyal to England and regarded the Sinn Féin Rebels as traitors and the enemy. Their vivid descriptions of destruction and survival remain captured in their diaries for generations to come.Image: Page 1 of Nora Marion Fitzpatrick's 1916 DiaryHerbert Fleming’s Diary excerpt:"All the roads covered with dead and dying horses and wounded people... I then tried to get home but cannot. The bridges into the city held by Rebels."Fleming’s diary expresses his shock and fear as he struggles to survive as a civilian living in a warzone. On the constant search for food and news, Fleming is forced to leave the confines of his home and risks a volley of bullets each time he goes out. He makes daring trips through Dublin with the hopes of securing a meal for his family and friends. Fleming’s diary reveals the terror of a civilian whose world is turned upside down and into chaos as he worries about the safety of his loved ones and mourns the loss of a dear friend.Herbert Fleming’s Diary excerpt:"Rebels evidently trying to escape or get into the city. A boom of cannons up the mountains. City all in darkness except for the flames. As we stood in the road the bullets whining over and in front of our heads. We don't mind them now and you can hear soldiers shooting back."Nora Fitzpatrick, a Red Cross nurse, quickly offered up her services to those in need. Nora and her sister Jeannie, who was also a nurse, were soon put to work by the military. The two sisters were constantly at work. They took wounded soldiers into their own home, and provided intelligence to the British troops. They spent days without sleeping and bathing, and had little to eat as well. Fitzpatrick’s account describes her interactions with the military, rebels, and civilians alike. Her status as a Red Cross nurse earned her access to places and people that were off limits to ordinary citizens.Taken together, both Fleming’s and Fitzpatrick’s diaries highlight a number of similar themes. Both diarists battled hunger and extreme danger during the course of the rebellion. Interestingly enough, while the horrors of battle were at first frightening, both authors soon became used to the danger and carnage. Indeed, as Nora Fitzpatrick concluded her account, ‘after the first ‘baptism by fire’, one does not mind the bullets whizzing round.’Both diaries were donated to Dublin City Library and Archive. Nora Fitzpatrick’s diary (Ms 190) was donated by John Braga, great nephew of Nora and Jeannie [b13389786]. Herbert Fleming’s diary was donated by Joe Connell [b27173239].page 1 and 53 of Victor Fleming's 1916 diary, and Page 1 and 26 of Nora Fitzpatrick's 1916 diary:About our Guest BloggerThis blog was put together by Kaitlin Marie Owczarski, undergraduate at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA; History major, class of 2017. Kaitlin interned at the Dublin City Library and Archive through the EUSA internship program.