Easter Rising

An important event in the Irish history is the Easter Rising in 1916. The event comes up in museums in one form or another. The reason for the rising was the desire to gain independence. The rising was supposed to be quite a big event, but the British got wind of the event and the actual rising which was supposed to take place on Sunday was cancelled. However, a smaller group of rebellions in Dublin decided to go ahead on Easter Monday when the British were enjoying Easter sports.

The main places for the rising in Dublin were e.g. the headquarters in the main post office, and St Stephen’s Green Park. A curious detail about the park was that the rebels held a ceasefire every day so that the park keeper could go and feed the ducks in the park. The leader of the rising was a schoolmaster and an Irish language activist Patrick Pearce. Other names included e.g. James Connell and Joseph Mary Plunkett. Note the interesting name: Joseph Mary. The name is due to his religious parents. If he had been a woman, she would have been called Mary Joseph.

The rising lasted for six days. The leaders were caught and 16 of them were executed. This affected the public mood and increased the desire for independence. Even those who would have been happy with home rule started to want independence. Home rule would have meant that decisions would have been made in Ireland but Ireland would still have been part of Britain.

Reasons for the Rising were varied. People were disillusioned with politics and decisions made in London. Cultural revival took place in cultural spheres e.g. Sports and literature. The housing conditions in many parts of Dublin were dismal. The fact that Britain was fighting in the WWI also made it a lucrative moment.

The proclamation of the Irish Republic was printed and read outside the general post office in Dublin. The typeset of the proclamation caused difficulties as the Brits had tried to stop its printing by stealing letters. Please note the c, which was o that had been cut. Some letters of e are from different fonts. They also had to print the piece of news in two sections due to lack of letters. One of the original copies of the proclamation can be seen in the Long Room of Trinity College Library.