Historical Photos

[Rashers]

On this day, 24th of November 1922, Robert Erskine Childers was executed by the Free State. I really do struggle when trying to understand the need to execute him. Childers was an Irish Nationalist, who used his own yacht, the Asgard, to smuggle guns for the IVF from Germany to Howth in 1914 in response to the UVF gun running in Larne earlier that year.

He was also one of the Treaty debaters who accompanied Collins and Griffith to London in 1921 to discuss the Treaty. He very much opposed them signing it due to the Oath of Allegience, but was pressurised by Lloyd George through fear of war.

After the civil war broke out, he joined the Republican side, against the Treaty. However, on the 10th of November, he was captured by Free Staters on his way to meet de Valera. The official reason for his arrest was that he was in possession of a pistol. Ironically this pistol had been given to him by Michael Collins, when they served as friends on the same side.

Before his execution, he made his 16 year old son, a future president of Ireland, promise he would shake the hand of everyone who signed his death warrant. Childers then proceeded to shake the hands of each man in the firing squad. As a joke he told them: "Take a step or two forward lads. It will be easier that way."

An Irish hero.

[Rashers]

An Irish Volunteer? Need some kit and weapons?

No bother....

[jembo]

http://www.theirishstory.com/2011/04/26/today-in-irish-history-april-26-1916-the-battle-at-mount-street-bridge/#.UpIBpvlQ2M9

Mick Malone who died fighting at No 25 Northumberland Road.

[jembo]

Riddle of the Sands by Erskin Childers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Riddle_of_the_Sands

[boxman]

Interesting photo, have never seen it before - it looks to have been taken in the region of the bridge too. They were Sherwood Foresters - very young and never having seen action - they ended up in Dun Laoghaire instead of France and given orders to march to their barracks in Dublin....

This has to go down as one of the most inept military engagements of the British army. They could have very easily out flanked the IRA via another bridge on the canal, but the frontal attack seems to have been the de rigueur of the British army in WW1 so they applied the same insane tactics in 1916. If I remember correctly, the commanding officer of the contingent of Sherwood Foresters was met by his wife and young family on the march from Dun Laoghaire to the city, but was dead by day's end.

[Rashers]

Princes street, beside the GPO, just after the rising in 1916. Part of the GPO can be seen to the right.

[Rashers]

This has to go down as one of the most inept military engagements of the British army. They could have very easily out flanked the IRA via another bridge on the canal, but the frontal attack seems to have been the de rigueur of the British army in WW1 so they applied the same insane tactics in 1916. If I remember correctly, the commanding officer of the contingent of Sherwood Foresters was met by his wife and young family on the march from Dun Laoghaire to the city, but was dead by day's end.

Many of the young British soldiers in that column had never fired a rifle before, even in training.

As the battalions moved out, Adjutant Captain F C Dietrichsen met his wife and young children on the roadside. He broke ranks and hugged them. He was delighted to see that they were safe, as he had sent them to Ireland to avoid the increased German Zeppelin raids in England.

As the British troops reached the junction of Northumberland Road and Haddington Road, Lieutenant Malone and Seamus Grace opened fire into the ranks of the marching Foresters.

The first volley of shots claimed the lives of ten men, among them Captain Dietrichsen.

Another mistake made by the British was that no automatic weapons were available... their Lewis guns had been left behind.

[DAMNTHEWEATHER]

Most historical photo in that de Valera and his new Fianna Fail members arrive at the Dail to take their seats for the first time, 11 Aug 1927, to take the same oath the Civil War was about.... to go on to kill, incarcerate and outlaw many of the Republicans who had supported him, and to pave the way for some of the greatest crooks the Dail has ever seen.

[MARKD]

Thomas Whelan, Galway, guarded by auxiliaries in the exercise yard, Mountjoy Jail, on the day prior to his execution in 1921.

Thomas Whelan's mother, Bridget, outside Mountjoy Jail (in shawl). On day of execution.

[DAMNTHEWEATHER]

The other way around......Rare pic of the day Dev and Co walked out of the Dail after the vote to accept the treaty was passed. Childers at the back right....can you name the front row bar Dev ?.

[MARKD]

The other way around......Rare pic of the day Dev and Co walked out of the Dail after the vote to accept the treaty was passed. Childers at the back right....can you name the front row bar Dev ?.

Cathal Brugha, Margaret Pearse, (Dev) Kathleen Clarke and Austin Stack

[jembo]

Clanwilliam House and Mount Street Bridge
Now office space for the ESB, some of the most vicious and bloody activity of the Easter Rising centred on these locations, as British reinforcements found trying to make their way from Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire) to the city centre.

On Monday, the Volunteers at Clanwilliam House, at the city side of the bridge, fired on columns of the elderly Home Defence Force styled Georgius Rex (King George) and nicknamed ‘Gorgeous Wrecks’ by Dubliners, killing a number of them.

On Wednesday, as a large military company tried to force its way down Northumberland Road towards the city centre, Lieutenant Michael Malone, Volunteer James Grace and two others in No25 held off the advance before being overcome by greater numbers.

Mount Street Bridge was one of the major engagements of the Rising with witnesses recalling huge British casualties.

http://www.easter1916.ie/index.php/places/a-z/clanwilliam-house

[DAMNTHEWEATHER]

Cathal Brugha, Margaret Pearse, (Dev) Kathleen Clarke and Austin Stack

Correct. This is Dev in Limerick 6 Dec 1921, just after the treaty was signed.

[cogito]

Correct. This is Dev in Limerick 6 Dec 1921, just after the treaty was signed.

The ubiquitous Cathal I can understand... but what's Dick Mulcahy doing there with them ?

[jembo]

Dublin 1916 Then & Now – Pictures from the 1916 Rising

http://irishvolunteers.org/2012/06/dublin-1916-then-now-pictures-from-the-1916-rising/