The reaction of the British authorities to the 1916 Rebellion in Ireland permanently changed the path of the country's independence effort. The Easter Rising, marked a critical turning point in the history of the nation, moving from the longstanding demands for Land Reform (which had only been partially delivered), and then Home Rule, by Irish constitutional politicians over the previous 40 years, to one of ‘physical force’. The constitutional Home Rule approach by Redmond was fundamentally undermined and bypassed by a relatively small number of more radical Republican nationalists who, along with the socialist labour movement in Dublin, believed, after years of failure by constitutional Irish politicians and the British ruling classes to deliver any substantive reform on the matters of trade union recognition and both economic and political independence, that an armed insurrection was required.
The heavy-handed and brutal destruction of Dublin City centre, and the execution of the rebellion’s leaders, as well as the deportation of several thousand rebels to camps such as Ballykinlar in the north of Ireland (where they were quite brutally treated and many died), and Frongoch in Wales (which were in themselves to become cultural universities for the cause of Irish freedom), and the wider public reaction to threatened ‘Conscription’ in 1917 ensured that what was started in Easter week was to become politically irreversible. Politically and economically, regardless of the odd individual politician’s exceptional efforts, it was a case of too little too late for Ireland from successive London governments. Collectively, they were too detached in their aristocratic worlds (as were many of the European masters who led the charge into a catastrophic and futile World War 1) and oblivious to their place in history, through their mismanagement of Ireland and other colonies, which would ultimately contribute to the imminent collapse of an Empire. To many neutral observers the events of Easter Week forms just another revolution, akin to other revolutions of the age, however, to many Irish people, with its origins in Irish revolutionary culture and folklore and a visionary labour movement, it engenders an emotional attachment, best understood with a historical perspective and some distance in time. This is the case, very much in the same way that the previous rebellions over the centuries took time to cumulatively ferment in the Irish psyche. In this particular rebellion the renewed enactment of the ultimate ‘blood sacrifice’ by a few, striving to achieve equal freedom, independence, and sovereignty for all, worked, against all the odds, primarily because of a litany of successive errors in its policy in Ireland by the British government in its responses to the event itself and its aftermath. When it comes to viewing British policies in over the years following the 1916 Rising there are few better examples of the ‘law of unintended consequences’ which did more to drive a wedge between the Irish population and the British Empire and thereby ultimately secured everything which the rebellion leaders had always sought.
The 1916 Rebellion: In Context
In every century since the Norman invasion there were several rebellions in Ireland which, over time, became imbedded in the national soul and folklore. In the 120 years before 1916 alone, there were uprisings in 1798, 1803, 1848, 1866, as well as violent activities and political assassinations in Ireland and Britain by nationalist ‘radicals’ between 1882 and 1885. These latter activities were often supported and funded directly by Irish nationalist individuals, exiles, and groups like John Devoy and Clann Na Gael in the U.S. Over the 30 years prior to the 1916 Rebellion in Ireland itself there had also been a cultural revival and interest in the language, folklore, history and sports, of Ireland. The foundation of The Gaelic Athletic Association in 1883 and The Gaelic League in 1893 were critically important organisations leading this transformative cultural and intellectual awareness. These sporting and cultural organisations were deliberately infiltrated nationally by members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), a secret organisation dedicated to cause of Irish Freedom, which was gradually reinvigorated by Thomas Clarke and other more radically minded members, in the first decade of the 20th Century. The centenary of the 1798 rebellion in 1898 was another landmark celebration used by nationalists and the IRB to kickstart the national conscience towards action.
Sinn Féin, commonly translated directly as “Ourselves Alone” but also meaning “Self-Sufficiency”, was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, published many widely read papers and pamphlets in many guises which were regularly supressed in the 10-year run up to 1916. Griffith’s objective was "to establish in Ireland's capital a national legislature endowed with the moral authority of the Irish nation". The 1916 Rising at the time was, and often still is, mistakenly referred to as the Sinn Féin Rising. While contributing enormously to the national consciousness for national and economic independence and operating in a parallel universe to the more radical physical force movement, Sinn Féin was not a military organisation like the IRB and Volunteers, and did not have a role in the Rising at a leadership level. Although many of its members were no doubt active in the Rising (Griffith was not), it was not until well after the Rising and the subsequent political upheaval in the 1919 General Election, where many of the returned Rebel prisoners who had returned from the prison camps stood on the Sinn Féin ticket, that the Sinn Féin party became synonymous with the sitting of the first Dáil in Dublin and the subsequent physical force struggle for Irish Freedom.
Between 1914-16 the British and Dublin authorities, having turned a blind eye since 1912 to widescale Unionist arming of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF - a body of over 100,000 men, now well-armed and determined to resist Home Rule by force, and likely to have eventually plunged Ireland into a North-South sectarian Civil War had Home Rule been eventually granted to a parliament in Dublin), tried to supress the arming of an equivalent and new nationalist Irish Volunteer body in the South of Ireland which was established in 1914. This suppression of the Irish Volunteers leadership, and their very public stance against recruitment to the British army and Irishmen fighting on the front for the Empire, was only partially successful, and by the immediate build-up to the 1916 Rising it is clear that the Dublin administration had totally overestimated their control of the situation. This complacency is evidenced by the fact that most of the Dublin aristocracy and senior British military officers were at the bank holiday races in Fairyhouse when the rebellion started on Easter Monday. Augustine Birrell’s resignation from his position as The Chief Secretary of Ireland on the 3rd of May 1916 in the mire of political and public opprobrium in London and Dublin which followed the Rising , and his admission in his resignation speech of having underestimated the nationalist movement, confirms this.
The 1916 Rebellion was considered by its architects overdue to rekindle this tradition of ‘blood sacrifice’ as a reminder to Irish people of their ancient obligations and struggles against oppression over many generations. Because it was such a dramatic turning point , it is rightly regarded as the most significant uprising however it should not be taken in isolation from its forerunners. It was simply timed to take maximum advantage of Britain’s difficulties during World War 1. The joint republican and labour movement rebellion began on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, and lasted six days. Thomas Clarke, Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, and others, drawn from the Irish Republican Brotherhood, The Irish Volunteers, and the labour movement’s Irish Citizen Army, led the insurrection. Despite overwhelming military odds against success, they believed that armed insurrection was the only option to sow the renewed seeds of an overthrow British rule in Ireland.
Despite failing to achieve its military goals, the uprising had many lasting effects in the following year . After the British forces flattened Dublin’s commercial centre with explosive and incendiary artillery to suppress the hopelessly outnumbered rebels of less than one thousand men, executed the rebellion leaders, and sent over 3000 men to prison in Britain and Northern Ireland, public opinion very slowly swung towards sympathy with the Rebels and independence, fuelled and accelerated by the further threat of impending conscription legislation for Ireland in 1917. A nation that had provided over 150,000 soldiers to the British War effort in Europe, many of whom had died in the fields of France and never returned, wanted no further fighting in defence of an Empire they no longer believed in. The suspended Home Rule Bill, which was already light on real economic independence anyway, was gradually replaced by a more forceful nationalist determination.
So, a rebellion that seemed doomed to fail, ultimately led to a statewide demand for nationalist freedom following the General Election of 1919, where the constitutional politicians of the Irish Parliamentary Party were wiped out and their parliamentary seats in Westminster were replaced in the polls by nationalist Sinn Féin candidates. Nobody, even the executed leaders of the 1916 rebellion, if they were still alive, could have anticipated such a dramatic swing. This led shortly after to the first sitting of the Dáil in the Mansion House, an alternative self-declared national parliament and government for Ireland in Dublin, yet to be recognised by Britain or internationally.
A great new military leader, Michael Collins, stepped into the military breach. Having been imprisoned after the Rising and learnt from the mistakes of 1916, in particular the need for ruthless counterintelligence to take on the British intelligence and informer network directly, Collins built up and led a formidable intelligence operation which turned the tables on the British authorities operating from Dublin Castle against enormous odds. Following the War of Independence between 1919 and 1921 which Collins led, and further poor British political leadership and military action brutality inflicted on much of the Irish population by a hotch-potch of ill-disciplined British forces called the ‘Auxiliaries’ (more commonly known as the ‘Black and Tans’ because of their mixed and ragged Khaki uniforms), a truce followed which led to Dominion Status and the Irish Free State in 1922. This was soon to be followed by a split in the Volunteers and a devastating Civil War over the unpalatable Oath of Allegiance to the King required by members of the new Dáil (Irish Parliament) as part of the Treaty. Collins was tragically killed in an ambush in Cork while in the process of seeking negotiations with Anti-Treaty Republicans and doing everything in his power trying to avoid the Republican split and a civil war. His death and the following escalation of the Civil War was to divide the country and hold up the progress of the nation for several generations.
Remembering The 1916 Rebellion
The Walton Collection, which preserves and reproduces for sale Irish revolutionary relics collected by Martin Walton, himself a young revolutionary of 1916 at just fifteen years of age, and whose father was an IRB man, and his grandfather a Fenian, connects the 1916 Rebellion to those who love Ireland's history. The beautifully framed reproductions of posters, documents, and publications in this offering are a treasure trove of the uprising, its immediate aftermath and enormous impact on the citizens of Ireland, particularly those in Dublin. Whether the newspaper coverage of the tragic events or the memorabilia from opposing sides of the battle during and after the 1916 Rising, each item in the collection leads to a better understanding, whether that be the idealism or resilience of Irish nationalists or the reaction of the authorities who had completely underestimated them, thus allowing modern Irish people to better consider and ponder this turbulent period that shaped the Ireland we now know.
The Walton Collection reproduces 1916 Rebellion memorabilia for sale in high-quality and antique- style frames not only to honour the heroic and visionary rebel participants but to remember all who died in the many tragic events of the Rising, whether they be innocent citizens caught in the cross-fire or regular British soldiers, many of whom where Irish, dutifully following their commanders and, political masters orders. It is critically important to remember the underlying tragic cost of all the human lives lost as a result of these events.
These historical reproductions are not just collector’s items but are also educational tools that help contextualise these remarkable and turbulent times...
The 1916 Rebellion: A Legacy Worth Exploring
No matter what your interest or perspective in Irish history , The Walton Collection offers a unique chance to contemplate the 1916 Rebellion and its aftermath. Our collection includes many artifacts that commemorate the actions, bravery, sacrifice, and vision of those who shaped Ireland's destiny for better or for worse. More items will be added over time. Explore The Walton Collection now to bring Ireland's revolutionary past home.