Easter Sunday's parade on O'Connell Street was the main official commemoration of the Rising, with all the governmental dignitaries in attendance along with six thousand descendants of those who fought in the Rising, not to mention air force flyovers and thousands of Irish troops marching in formation. I had intended to go, but with Brad sick and my feet still hurting from all the standing at Friday's march, I stayed home and caught up. On Monday, Brad was still down but I went out to be part of a looser amalgam of events planned for Easter Monday.—reenactments, singing, dancing, tours. The city was full of people and families. Merrion Square on my way was filled with tents and games and balloons.
A little further on, I came upon an informal group of
people, some elderly in wheelchairs and one man in a period Irish soldier's
uniform, gathered around a little memorial. Stopping, I saw that the memorial was
to the Battle of Mount Street Bridge, a small bridge crossing the Grand Canal at
this point.
In commemoration of
the Battle of Mount Street Bridge and in honour of the Irish Volunteers who
gallantly gave their lives in this area in defence of the Irish Republic Easter
Week 1916. Remember their sacrifice and be true to their ideals. God rest the
brave.
There were flowers around the base of the memorial:
The handwritten note on a plastic-wrapped bunch of greens
read: 1916-2016 To honor the men and
women who fought for Irish Freedom Easter week 1916. The printed note on another more formal arrangement read: Remembering particularly the following
members of The Irish Association of Volunteer Corps know to Dubliners as the “Gorgeous
Wrecks”—Francis H Browning, Reginald F Clery, John Henry Gibbs, Thomas
Harborne, Joseph Hosford—who lost their lives as a result of action which
started on Northumberland Road beginning on Easter Monday 24th April 1916.
The man in the period uniform hung a wreath on the gate
behind the memorial that read: In loving memory for Tom & Jim Walsh, Irish
volunteers who fought in Clanwilliam house. Mount St Bridge. Easter 1916. From
their proud family.
I learned only later, when I looked up the battle on-line, that several
British soldiers were killed by rebels who had commandeered buildings near the
memorial. This included the five Gorgeous Wrecks mentioned in the printed note.
According to one website, the Wrecks were elderly veterans of the British army
and colonial wars, who would parade on holidays in full uniform wearing armbands
with the inscription “Georgious Rex” (meaning King George but converted by Dubliners to “Gorgeous Wrecks”). They were mistaken for British
Army regulars. Most of the rebels—members of the Irish Volunteers which are not
to be confused with the Wrecks, who were members of the Irish Association of
Volunteers (it gets confusing)—were later routed and killed too, including
Michael Malone who was in command in the area. On my way home that night, I noticed
a plaque on a building: Oglaig na
hEireann (volunteers of Ireland) In Memory of Lieut Michael Malone C Coy 3rd
Battalion Killed in Action 26th April 1916 in this house. Ar deis Dé go roie a
anam (may his soul be seated at God's right hand).
I continued on, heading to Barnardo Square near
Dublin City Hall, where RTE (the national TV and radio
network—Raidió Teilifís Éireann in Irish) was sponsoring tours of various places that figured
in the Rising. I stood in line for a tour to the Royal College of Surgeons, located
next to St Stephen's Green, and one of the main positions held by the 1916 rebels.
If that little bit of history from Mount Street Bridge seemed complicated, I’ll
spare you the details of the tour but will note that the second in command of
the rebels at Stephen’s Green was a remarkable person named Countess Markievicz.
Born Constance Gore-Booth to an aristocratic Anglo-Irish family (Al Gore is a
relative), she was a suffragette, ardent Irish nationalist, and married to a
Polish Count. (Check out the feathers on her hat—many of the women out that day in period dress wore the same kind of feathers on theirs).
I’ll also generally note that the tour guide continued the
hesitant, apologizing approach to the history. For example, during a story about
a boy shot down when he stepped out into the street to pick up an orange and whose family, the guide noted, never forgave the rebels, a Dubliner on the tour called out, “Right, but who
shot him?” (No one can know for sure about this boy I assume, but apparently
most of the casualties were caused by the British, who among other things,
shelled the city for several days from gunboats on the River Liffey.)
In another
example, the tour guide explained that some of those in charge of the
British response told their soldiers to
take no prisoners, which they interpreted
to mean that every male in searched buildings should be shot on sight. The guide commented that the officers may have been suffering from PTSD from fighting in
WW I and may not have meant what they said. Okay, okay! I understand that history
is nuanced and difficult to reconcile and no one is pure. But can you imagine America editorials
on July 4th hand-wringing about the casualties in the Revolutionary
War and suggesting that perhaps Americans would be better off still part of
the British Empire? Maybe an additional 140 years will sort things out ... ?
