Easter 1916 Cultural, Social and Political

Easter Rising, 1916 - Cultural, Social and Political Revolution

I have written a very short synopsis of the Easter 1916 Rising. It does not cover a fraction of the material a decent book on the subject would cover, while much has been summarised, other details have been completely omitted. It is not intended to be an exhaustive account, but to provide some worthy memory for the day that is in it. Those who are interested can contact me for a bibliography. I will look at the Rising from two points. One, social and cultural conditions in Ireland provided a barrel of gunpowder, the tension that could set off a rebellion, and two that the Political situation (regarding home rule, and the great war) and Unionist/ Tory Action provided the spark that ultimately caused the rebellion.


The Easter 1916 Rising, and the events that led up to it, shaped Modern Ireland. In doing so, it shaped part of Great Britain’s destiny as well. The Easter Rising began on exactly this date, the 24th of April, 95 years ago. It is regarded as the high water mark of Irish nationalism, the most glorified and perhaps glorious display that the cause has yet seen. The Leaders turned from mere mortals into figures with the stature of Cúchulainn, by seemingly insignificant events dubbed by the Media - The Sinn Féin Rebellion.


A the turn of the century Britain was the foremost world power - It held sway over Ireland, Canada, Swathes of Africa, Australia, New Zealand, The Indian Sub-continent, and had some territory in South America. The vast sum of territory was 10,000,000 square miles. Yet, despite the vast extent of this rule, Ireland had always been a most troublesome acquisition. Ireland had been acquired similar to many other colonies - a process of invasion, military conquest and plantation. Because of its strategic location and valuable land space, first the English, and then the British, endeavoured to make the populace placid - and finding the native people an unruly bunch who did not care much for their foreign rule, nor for the notion of becoming English, a number of Plantations were attempted, to establish a loyal population in Ireland, and later, a Protestant Ascendency. The Penal laws scratched the rights of Catholics out, and British rule in Ireland was characterised by what can only be called apartheid. Whether or not there were active attempts to wipe out the Irish race is subject to vehement debate, even today, but without the slightest doubt, there was an attempt to destroy the traditions of the Race. Their Religion, their Language, their Laws- were all the targets of English Laws. Various Famines beset the people, and for all the increasing glory of the Empire they were a subject of, it cannot have told significantly on the ordinary people, even up to the end of British rule in 1922. It is however, more than likely that that rang true for more than Ireland and for the people of Great Britain as well.


By 1900 the Catholics had been emancipated, the Irish had received generous land settlements, but the Irish language was in what appeared to be terminal decline. The Gaeltacht areas shrunk every year, with the common (and carefully fostered) notion that Irish was the language of the poor. Irish culture was being replaced daily with English culture, and slowly but surely Ireland was becoming little England. The Imperial carrot and stick approach was herding the Irish people into becoming English themselves. Thankfully, Ireland was not without those who chose to fight this movement. In 1893 Conradh na Gaeilge was founded (The Gaelic League) which promoted the use of the Irish language and was part of the Cultural Nationalism movement. The Gaelic Athletic Association was also founded in the late 19th Century, to promote Irish Games, most specifically, to the detriment of English games. It was from this Cultural Nationalist background that Patrick Pearse came.


Patrick Pearse, variously referred to as Pádraic, Patrick and Padraig was born on the street now named after him in Dublin. His father was an Englishman, but a strong believer in both Irish culture and Irish independence. It was he who fostered the same beliefs in his son, and sent him to a Christian Brothers school, where he first encountered Irish. He Joined the Gaelic league at a young age, and when he qualified as a solicitor the only two cases he ever took were both against the law whereby Irish peasants were forbidden from writing their names in Irish on their carts. He lost both cases. He was a believer in Home Rule for Ireland, and supported the Irish parliamentary party. He became editor of the Gaelic League paper - An Claidheamh Soluis and to further his ideal of a Culturally Irish & Independent Ireland he set up a boys school, St. Enda’s focused on Irish Traditions, Culture and Language. He wrote stories and poems in Irish, and generally seems to have made it his life’s mission to encourage Irish Ireland. There is also some speculation that he switched political allegiance to Sinn Féin shortly after its foundation, though he was sharing Home Rule platforms with Redmond (leader of the Parliamentary party) as late as 1912. It was a combination of the financial failings of his school (for which he blamed the lack of Grants from the British run State) and the Unionist arming in the North, which forced him down an altogether more radical road, politically speaking. The Curragh Mutiny amongst other British actions brought him, like so many others, to the conclusion that the British would never grant Home rule. IRB men such as Bulmer Hobsen (Pearse was sent to America in 1914 to secure funding both for the IRB and for his school St. Enda’s) and Tom Clarke convinced Pearse that an armed rebellion was the only way to secure Irish freedom. He became involved in Gun running and his speeches became more and more radical. His words around this period are the basis of Irish Republicanism in all its interpretations, to this day. “There are many things more horrible than bloodshed, and slavery is one of them!”, “A Country without a language is a Country without a Soul”, “The Fools, the Fools, the Fools, they have left us our Fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at Peace!”. Pearse became a great believer in the ideal of blood sacrifice, the “Christ-like” sacrifice of going to die for a worthy cause, and redeeming that cause thereby. He was chosen by Clarke to be the face of the rebellion, because of his fantastic speech making. Though we do not know for certain who wrote it, the Proclamation of the Republic has the hallmarks of a Pearse speech. In the GPO on Easter week Pearse provided a poetic, impractical figure, who nonetheless cheered the men with his flowery declarations of the Glory of their fight. He Presented the Surrender to the British forces at the end of Easter Week, and was (as one of the seven signatories) executed on the third of May, 1916. His final exclamation was -


‘You cannot conquer Ireland. You cannot extinguish the Irish passion of freedom. If our deed has not been sufficient to win freedom, then our children will win it by a better deed’.


Thomas Clarke was the Architect of the Easter rising, and by far the Oldest signatory on the proclamation of Independence. He was the son of an English soldier, and was born on the Isle of Wight, off the south Coast of England in 1858. From the age of 7, he was brought up in Dungannon, county Tyrone. This was, in the words of TG4 documentary - Seachtar na Cásca - “a hotbed of paramilitary activity - some of which was agrarian based, others politically motivated”. It had been a centre of resistance against English rule since the beginning of the early modern period. He was very much, of the three main characters I will outline, the political figure. Pearse was the Cultural nationalist, Connolly was the Socialist Nationalist, and Clarke was the Political Nationalist. When Clarke was Old enough he joined the local IRB (Irish Republican Brotherhood, an organisation set up to violently remove English rule in Ireland, and to establish an Irish Republic). During riots with the Police, Clarke fired a rifle at them, and pressure was put on him to leave the country, which he did, in fear for his life. He arrived in New York in 1880, aged 22. He immediately made contact with the American wing of the Fenian movement, Clan na nGael. They committed him to a dynamite bombing campaign in England, which was so riddled with informers, that Clarke was followed on surveillance missions. He was caught, convicted and sentenced to life penal servitude. He did fifteen and a half years under a sentence which was as brutal as could be made. To be brief, I will spare you the details of a regime which was designed to drive men insane. He left prison, determined he would have his revenge on those responsible. After re integrating into the Fenians in America and the IRB in Ireland he set up a front in 1907 in Dublin, a tobacco shop where the rebellion would be thought out. It was Clarke who recognised Pádraic Pearse’s skills as a writer and speaker, and while others lamented that Pearse was too moderate, Clarke had him co-opted onto the supreme council of the IRB. Clarke ran the IRB. He thought the Unionists gave the Nationalists a great example by their taking up of arms, he directed the taking up of arms, he ran the Irish volunteers from the inside unknown to Mac Neill. He was the architect of the Rising, and the reason Pearse was the face of the Rising was because Clarke chose it to be that way. He preferred to work from the shadows, and give the Glory (and the Risks) to others. It was partly he, having experienced the brutality of the English prison cells, who pushed for the Rising despite Mac Neill’s countermand. He was the only member of the Provisional Government to oppose surrender at the end of Easter week. He gave no defence at his trial. His Final Exclamation ran -


‘I and my fellow signatories believe we have struck the first successful blow for Irish freedom. The next blow, which we have no doubt Ireland will strike, will win through. In this belief, we die happy. '



James Connolly was born in an Irish ghetto in Edinburgh in 1868. Like his father he had little hope of improving his desperately poor situation and his first employment was in a series of arduous labour jobs. He decided to join the British army in order to improve his situation (aged only 14, he was forced to give a false name and age), and was enlisted in the Second Battalion Royal Scots. He was stationed in Ireland during the 1880’s, a time of terrible land crisis, in which the British army was acting against the average Irish Peasant and for what Connolly would have seen as the vested Capitalist interests. His interest in Irish Fenianism stemmed from a Fenian uncle of his, His Socialism from the dreadful situation he lived as a young lad, and his reading of Karl Marx and others. When he heard the Battalion was going to be moved to India he deserted. From that time on he had a hatred of the British army, stemming perhaps, from things he had seen during the 1880s. He returned to Scotland and married. He became a Cobbler to try and support his young family, but was absolutely incapable of fixing shoes. When an option opened up as Dublin Socialist Secretary he took it, with the grand salary of one pound per week. He founded the Irish Socialist Republican Party, a very unsuccessful Political party, one newspaper nastily described it as having more syllables than members. In 1897 he was arrested for protesting at Queen Victoria’s visit to Ireland, at which he pushed a coffin with “British Empire” written on it, into the River Liffey. Connolly decided to Emigrate to America in order to find steady work to improve the conditions of his family. His family had arranged to meet him on Ellis Island, but did not show up for a week after they were due, it later transpired that his eldest daughter Mona had been killed in an accident. This cast a dark shadow over Connolly’s life for many years to come. He spent seven Years working with Socialist Organisations in America. He Returned to Ireland in 1910, to become a full time organiser in the Irish Socialist Movement. Though in terms of poverty Dublin was in a worse condition than Edinburgh, the same as before Connolly left for America, the situation for workers had improved thanks to the foundation of the ITGWU (Irish Transport & General Workers Union). Under the leadership of Jim Larkin, this union led a massive strike in Dublin known as the Dublin Lockout. During the strike both Connolly and Larkin were imprisoned for making speeches in favour of the strike. Connolly resolved forming a band to protect Irish workers from the Brutality of the Police, called the Irish Citizen Army. Though originally unarmed, the Unionist action in the North caused Connolly to acquire arms for the Army (200 members) without fear of prosecution. Connolly greatly resented the outbreak of the Great War, hating the fact that the working classes of Europe were killing each other at the behest of Kings. He decided to have an insurrection. It was this open military talk from Connolly that upset the IRB. They feared he would upset their well laid plans. In addition to this they wished to gain control of his men. For these reasons they co-opted him onto the Supreme Council of the IRB. The Proclamation of the Republic was probably co-authored by him. He was executed on the 12th of May, in a chair because of the terrible wounds he received in the Rising. His last Exclamation ran -

Believing that the British Government has no right in Ireland, never had any right in Ireland, and never can have any right in Ireland, the presence, in any one generation of Irishmen, of even a respectable minority, ready to die to affirm that truth, makes that Government for ever a usurpation and a crime against human progress

the Lord Says “People are coming from the North; A mighty Nation far away is preparing for war. They have taken up bows and swords... Jer. 6, 22-23.


The years leading up to the Rising betrayed little or no glimpses of what was to come. Ireland was not beset with Political instability; rather, the Home Rule party was and had been since the mid-19th century the bastion of Irish politics. Michael Collins, who was born in 1890, once commented that in his childhood it was home rule for breakfast, dinner and tea. Redmond’s Home Rule party were tangibly closing in on what was that Holy Grail, as the nation waited with baited breath. In the North, the progress of the Home Rulers did not go unnoticed by the Unionists, who pondered the fact that they were outnumbered by Nationalist even according to the ancient provincial divisions of the country - their beloved Ulster was overrun by those less loyal. Culturally, Celtic Ireland was dying, as the language moved further and further toward the Atlantic, and the games and traditions were being phased out as well. However, Ireland’s principle city, Dublin, was a hot-bed of Loyalism. Indeed, a common insult for Dubliners to this day is “Jackeen”, which derives its meaning from the enthusiasm of Dubliners to wave the Union Jack at Royal visits etc. The Political leaders of Ireland had for a long time, refused even to pay lip service to the language or the culture. Daniel O’ Connell, Parnell, Redmond, all played a part in its decline. As we saw earlier though, there were efforts to reverse the trend. Socially, Dublin was home to some of the worst slums in the World. 20, 000 families lived in one bedroom tenements, and another 6,000 in more than one room tenements. There was no proper sewage system and the majority of the workers were unskilled labourers, susceptible to the exploitation by their Capitalist bosses. However the efforts of Connolly and Larkin were helping to put paid to that. The situation was a powder keg without a spark, Cultural and Social nationalists longed to break the connection with England to save their own causes, but the Political will at the time said wait - Home Rule is almost upon us, because the veto of the house of lords had been practically removed and it was only a matter of time before a Home Rule bill passed. In Fact the third Home Rule Bill was due to become law in 1914. Any threat to that Home Rule would be a potential spark, as political radicals like Thomas Clarke and the IRB knew all too well. Their fear was that if Ireland got Home Rule, the people would give up the ghost of the National struggle as having being achieved to the fullest extent possible. It was a legitimate fear. That was why the Unionist opposition to Home Rule, particularly the violent opposition to Home Rule, was such a good thing in their view. When WW1 broke out, and the third home rule bill was postponed, it had the effect of pushing the IRB to deciding to have a rebellion before the end of the war, before Home Rule stole away their hopes of a completely independent Irish Republic.



In January 1913 the UVF was formed, of men who had signed the Ulster covenant. Edward Carson, a prominent Unionist leader helped the huge volunteer force acquire arms at Larne, which the authorities did nothing to stop. The Tory party in England were “playing the Orange Card”, using extra parliamentary means to defy the democratically expressed wish of the people of Ireland for Home Rule. The Home Rule Party and the Liberals in England regarded this as a game of bluffs and threats intended to outwit the Government. In response to the forming of the UVF the Nationalists established the “Irish Volunteers”, made up of members of the GAA, Gaelic League, Home Rulers, Sinn Féiners etc. and secretly run by the IRB. The IRB chose a University professor, Eoin Mac Neill to be the leader of this, as his political moderation and reputation for integrity had widespread appeal. In 1914 the Curragh Mutiny revealed that the British government could not trust its army to carry out orders against the unionists, as prominent army figures resigned anticipating orders to move against the UVF. The Liberal government backed down, and the men were re-instated. The Government had now backed down from both the UVF, and its own army, not to mention its Tory enemies. The people of Ireland, at best gullible, at worst infinitely naïve, were shocked by the illegal defiance of Home Rule, Carson had even admitted it was illegal! The leaders of the Irish volunteers decided if Home Rule could be attacked with violence, then it could be defended with violence as well. They decided to smuggle guns in for the volunteers. However the Irish Volunteers were met with a crackdown from the police and Army. There was an incident known as the “bachelor’s walk massacre” where British soldiers opened fire on unarmed civilians who were throwing stones at them, over the crackdown. This further inflamed relations between the British and the Irish.



Upon the outbreak of the First World War, there were two major developments. Redmond called on the Irish volunteers to join the British Army in the hope that such loyalty would inspire the British to grant home rule. (It goes without saying that the UVF all joined up as well) and the vast majority of the Irish volunteers did. The National Volunteers kept some 175,000 members, leaving the Irish Volunteers with an estimated 13,500. This small minority however was considered by the IRB to be the correct tool to perform a rebellion.
The Second Major development was the decision by the IRB to have a rebellion during the war. If the British tried to impose conscription, or if the War looked like ending, they decided that would be the time to strike. They felt that Culturally, Socially and Politically the Nation had waned, and that blood had to be spilt for Ireland once more. Wolfe Tone had said “England’s difficulty is Ireland’s opportunity”, and the IRB were determined to use the war for rebellion. To that end a man called Roger Casement was sent to Germany to procure Arms and Ammunition. There was no way the IRB could win a rebellion with the stocks they held at that time. The Germans sent 20, 000 rifles, 10 Machine Guns and One Million rounds of ammunition aboard the “Aud” submarine. Casement was convinced this would not be enough still, and wanted to abort the rising. The Guns were to make land at Tralee, County Kerry. There were to be Radio and Light signals from volunteers to direct the sub, but it did not go to plan. The Volunteers who were on their way to organise the radio transmission inadvertently drove off a pier and drowned, while the volunteers responsible for the lights got their dates mixed up. The Sub sailed up and down Tralee bay until it was discovered by the British and the Captain scuttled it. Casement was transported to London to be tried as a traitor. With the German arms to the bottom of the sea went the IRB’s hopes of a successful revolution. But they still had the ethic of Glorious failure, and pushed ahead with preparations for the rebellion. It was decided to stage the Rising on Easter Sunday, 1916.



Only the members of the IRB knew this however, knew that this was happening. Pearse was to issue orders to “March”, and “Drill”, which he duly did, which would be taken at face value by those like Mac Neill, but IRB members throughout the country would direct the rising. But, Mac Neill got wind of the plot (Pearse actually told him the day before, thinking he would realise it was too late) and resolved to do everything in his power to prevent the rising from taking place. He sent The Ua Rahilly (who later died during the rebellion) around the country telling everybody that the marches and drills were off and nobody was to turn up. The Supreme council held an emergency meeting the morning of Easter Sunday. Thomas Clarke said “Mac Neil has ruined everything. I feel like going away and crying”, but emotions were put to one side as they decided to delay the rebellion for 24 hours to issue more orders, and then to press ahead anyway. Thanks to the failure of Casement, and the petulance of Mac Neil, only 1,200 volunteers turned out in Dublin, ICA included, and they were badly armed. In the words of James Connolly - “We’re going to be slaughtered”. The Joint force of Irish Volunteers, Irish Citizen Army and Cumann na mBan for the first time refered to themselves under a United Heading - The Irish Republican Army.



At 12 noon Pádraic Pearse read the Proclamation of the Irish Republic outside the General Post Office, which was to become the nerve centre of the rebellion. The IRA took positions up in the South Dublin Union, The Four Courts, City Hall, St. Stephen’s Green, Boland’s Mills, Jacobs biscuit factory, and Northumberland Road, as can be seen from the map below. They failed to take Dublin Castle, though it was undefended (unknown to the rebels), because they believed it would be impossible for them to take. Dublin Castle was the nerve centre of British Rule in Ireland. The British were caught totally unawares by the rebellion. So much so that a local commander ordered a cavalry charge of the GPO position, and the only reason most of the unit survived was because the untrained rebels opened fire on it too quickly. Confusion and lack of authority led to looting breaking out, while the British recovered themselves and began to move to cut off the rebellion points. A Gunship, the Helga, was brought up the Liffey to shell the GPO. For the sake of brevity, I will omit the details of military action during the week. The Rebels, as the defending force suffered far less than the British, and inflicted heavy casualties in a few points, most notably at mount street bridge. The British, however, were able to cut off various rebel points and bombard them with artillery. By the end of the week the GPO was entirely cut off. Practically every man was lacking ammunition and innocent lives were being lost, though with some notable exceptions on the British side, the participants were chivalrous to each other, with the Irish insisting British prisoners got the best food, and vice versa. At the end of the week Elizabeth O’ Farrell presented the order of surrender to Colonel Portal. This dialogue passed between them:

O’ Farrell - The Commandant of the Irish Republican Army wishes to treat with the Commander of the British forces in Ireland
Portal - The Irish Republican Army? The Sinn Féiners, you mean.
O’ Farrell - No sir, the Irish Republican Army they call themselves and I think it’s a very good name too.
Portal - Will Pearse be able to be moved on a stretcher?
O’Farrell - Commandant Pearse doesn’t need a stretcher.


General Lowe demanded Pearse present the surrender personally, and so, in such a way, the Easter 1916 Rising was brought to a close. As the Rebels were being led away they were jeered by the Dubliners, who threw vegetables and shoes, and the contents of chamber pots at them for causing such destruction as the Easter Rising had. The British guns had turned the city to rubble.



The British insisted on executing not only the seven signatories, but also those who had fought particularly bravely as well. The Manner of the Executions outraged the Irish people. They were quietly court martialled an shot one by one, in the coming weeks. The Hypocrisy of the British, who were appealing to all to go and die “for the freedom of small nations”, was palpable not only to the like of George Bernard Shaw, who registered his disgust, but also to the average Irish person. By executing the Rebels the British made saints out of them, heroes, whose ideal the people focused in on because of the decline of the Irish Parliamentary Party. Thus began the Revolution that would rid most of Ireland of British Rule, which had lasted 700 years. The concepts of partition, violent struggle, and non-home rule solution, which changed Ireland up to this very day, were concepts of 1912-1916. Indeed, though they are seen worldwide as Irish Nationalist characteristics, it was the Unionists, who got the ball rolling, and who provided the inspiration for the IRB.

O words are lightly spoken,’
Said Pearse to Connolly,
‘Maybe a breath of politics words
Has withered our Rose Tree;
Or maybe but a wind that blows
Across the bitter sea.’
‘It needs to be but watered,’
James Connolly replied,
‘To make the green come out again
And spread on every side,
And shake the blossom from the bud
To be the garden’s pride.’
‘But where can we draw water,’
Said Pearse to Connolly,
‘When all the wells are parched away?
O plain as plain can be
There’s nothing but our own red blood
Can make a right Rose Tree.

Very much so 

I will look into the British reaction a chara, it is not covered in any of the major works I have read on the subject, other than at a Government level.