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SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY |
- Talking
Points - Photographic Evidence
- Look carefully
at the photograph (above) of the British soldiers manning a street
barricade.
- Examine the
foreground, middle ground and background - describe each section
of the photograph.
- The foreground
contains what looks like a soldier's knapsack - how come it is
on the 'enemy' side of the barricade?
- Were the soldiers
under fire when this photograph was taken? How do you know?
- Who might have
taken this photograph and how did they hope to use it?
- Examine the
other photographs on this site along similar lines.
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By Thursday morning the cordon around the Four Courts and
the GPO continues to tighten further. There is now continuous
shelling and much of O Connell Street has either been destroyed
or is on fire. The military now outnumber the rebels by an estimated
20 to 1. The GPO in particular is under sustained attack. While
supervising the erection of a barricade in a nearby street, James
Connolly is wounded in the ankle and has to be helped back to
the GPO. At about 10 pm on Thursday evening, an oil depot opposite
the GPO explodes sending flames high into the night sky.
- EYEWITNESS
ACCOUNT
- *On
Thursday, James Stephens wrote about the worsening situation
for the rebels
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- "This night
also was calm and beautiful, but this night was the most sinister
and woeful of all those that have passed. The sound of artillery,
of rifles, machine guns, grenades, did not cease for a moment.
From my window I saw a red flare that crept to the sky, and stole
over it and remained there glaring; the smoke reached from the
ground to the clouds, and I could see great red sparks go soaring
to enormous heights; while always, in the calm air, hour after
hour there was the buzzing and rattling and thudding of guns,
and, but for the guns, silence."
- James
Stephens The Insurrection in Dublin
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The situation in Dublin is now critical. With most shops closed
since Monday there is a widespread shortage of basic food items
such as bread and milk.With large numbers of British soldiers
in the city, the military has commandeered much of the available
food. Even relatively wealthy families are forced to go out in
search of food supplies.
- EYEWITNESS
ACCOUNT
- *Alfred Fannin was owner
of a medical supply business based in Grafton Street. From his
home in Herbert Park, he kept a record of the week's events.
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- "Thursday,
April 27th, after lunch - In the forenoon I was down at Morehampton
Road shop. All there was normal but supplies somewhat limited.
Afterwards down at Baggot St. (Upper). Many shops were closed
and supplies in many were running out. No meat. Got the last
Oxtongue and 2 Mutton Kidneys at Butchers, all meat commandeered
by military. Carried home, 2 stone Potatoes and meat, everybody
out carrying home their own stores."
- Alfred
Fannin Letters from Dublin, Easter 1916
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A shortage of uniforms has meant that many of the rebels are
dressed in civilian attire. Although this makes it easier for
the rebels to move about, it makes movement for all civilians
very dangerous. Looting continues between lulls in the fighting.
These looters are in danger from both the rebels and the military.
- EYEWITNESS
ACCOUNT
- *Mary Louisa Hamilton
Norway described accounts of the looting
- Yesterday afternoon
[Thursday], when the firing in Grafton Street was over, the mob
appeared and looted the shops, clearing the great provision shops
and others. From the back of this hotel you look down on an alley
that connects with Grafton Street, - and at the corner, the shop
front in Grafton Street, but with a side entrance into this lane,
is a very large and high-class fruiterer. From the windows we
watched the proceedings, and I never saw anything so brazen!
The mob were chiefly women and children with a sprinkling of
men.They swarmed in and out of the side door bearing huge consignments
of bananas, the great bunches on the stalk, to which the children
attached a cord and ran away dragging it along. Other boys had
big orange boxes which they filled with tinned and bottled fruits.
Women with their skirts held up received showers of apples and
oranges and all kind of fruit which were thrown from the upper
windows by their pals; and ankle-deep on the ground lay all the
pink and white and silver paper shavings used for packing choice
fruits. It was an amazing sight, and nothing daunted these people.
Higher up at another shop we were told a woman was hanging out
of a window dropping down loot to a friend, when she was shot
through the head by a sniper, probably our man; the body dropped
into the street and the mob cleared.
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- Mary
Louisa Hamilton Norway The Sinn Fein Rebellion as I saw it
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- Talking
Points
- Would it have
been typical for someone like Alfred Fannin to carry home shopping?
Who would normally do this?
- What type of
meat did he succeed in getting? How different was this to the
meat people eat today?
- Mary Louisa
Hamilton Norway described people looting a shop for bananas and
oranges. What does this tell us about social conditions at the
time?
- She says that
the looter was shot by 'probably our man' - what did she mean
by this?
- Why were looters
in such danger from both the rebels and the military?
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NEWS COVERAGE
- Newspaper seller near GPO after Rising
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- Rumours swept Dublin during the rising. Most of these rumours
such as those about the landing of Germans were false. The publication
of newspapers was severely disrupted by the fighting. The
Irish Times strongly condemned the rebellion saying 'sedition
must be rooted out of Ireland once and for all'. The Irish
Independent also condemned the rising calling it 'wicked
and insane'. The rebels were keenly aware of the importance of
getting their message across to the public and on the second
day of the rebellion, they published their own newspaper Irish
War News. This 'newspaper' was produced by the rebels with
the aim of rallying support rather than telling exactly what
was happening.
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- In the week after the rising, most newspapers were published
again as normal. The Irish Times and The Irish Independent
again condemned the rising and called for tough action against
the leaders.
- Tabloid Coverage.... The Daily Mirror
on Monday 8th May, 1916
- Talking
Points
- What media would
be used to cover a similar news story such as the Easter Rising
today?
- Without factual
news, what started to happen on the streets of Dublin?
- How do you know
that it was important for the rebels to get their story across
to the public?
- Were The
Irish Times and The Irish Independent 'neutral' in
covering the story of the Easter Rising? Why?
- What angle did
the tabloid press take on covering the Easter Rising?
- What was unusual
about Countess Markievicz' role as a fighter in the rising?
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