Edward Daly - 1916 Poster

Rare John Edward (Ned) Daly 1916 commemorative poster.

John Edward (Ned) Daly  (25 February 1891 – 4 May 1916); Irish: Éamonn Ó Dálaigh, was commandant of Dublin's 1st battalion of the Irish Volunteers during the Easter Rising of 1916. He was the youngest man to hold that rank and the youngest executed in the aftermath.

 Ned Daly was born at 26 Frederick Street (now O'Curry street), Limerick, on 25 February 1891, the only son of ten children born to Edward and Catherine Daly (née O'Mara). He was the younger brother of Kathleen Clarke, wife of Tom Clarke, and an active member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). His father, Edward, was a Fenian (IRB member) who died, aged 41, five months before his son's birth. Notably, his uncle was John Daly, a prominent republican who had taken part in the 1867 Fenian Rising and Fenian Dynamite Campaign in England, being imprisoned in the cell next door to Tom Clarke for several years before being released.  From their time together in Prison John Daly and Tom Clarke were lifelong friends.

Although Daly's membership of the IRB is certain, it is not known when he joined the organisation but he would have known Tom Clarke from a young age. In November 1913 Daly joined the newly founded Irish Volunteers. He soon reached the rank of captain. He was assiduous in his study of military manuals and the professionalism of his company gained the admiration of senior officers in actions such as the Howth gun-running of 1914 where efforts by the authorities to confiscate the weapons were smartly outwitted by the prompt actions of Clarke , MacDiarmada, and in particular Daly who organised the bypassing of the blockade while the British were discussing the surrender of the arms with the Volunteer officers. As a result only a few weapons were lost. In March 1915, he was promoted to the rank of commandant of the 1st Battalion. Like many other of the rising's leaders Daly was a member of the Keating branch of the Gaelic League.

Daly's battalion, stationed in the Four Courts and areas to the west and north of the centre of Dublin, saw harsh fighting during the Rising. He was forced to surrender his battalion on 29 April by Patrick Pearse's order to surrender. Daly was court martialled under the Defence of the Realm Act 1914 and executed by firing squad on 4 May 1916, at the age of 25.

Originally printed and published by O'Loughlin, Murphy and Boland, using a photo by Keogh Bros., the text below the photograph simply states: "EDWARD DALY, Executed at Kilmainham, May 4th, 1916". This is another stunning reproduction on 210 gsm satin art paper , beautifully mounted on a mottled green suede background and set behind glass in a handmade, aged dark mahogany finish frame with a gold gilt sightline.