#OTD in 1908 – Poet, educator and eventual Easter Rising leader, Pádraig Pearse, opens St. Enda’s school for boys (Scoil Eanna).

“I dwell on the importance of the personal element in education. I would have every child not merely a unit in a school attendance, but in some intimate personal way the pupil of a teacher, or to use more expressive words, the disciple of a master … the main objective in education is to help […]

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#OTD in 1948 – Death of Lily O’Brennan, sister-in-law of Eamonn Ceannt. She was one of Cumann na mBan members who joined the garrison at Marrowbone Lane on Easter Sunday.

Lily O’Brennan, sister of Áine Ceannt, was born in Dublin in 1878. She was a writer and playwright and joined Cumann na mBan upon its inception; she was a member of the Inghinidhe Branch. During the Rising she served with the Marrowbone Lane garrison. She was arrested and held in Kilmainham Gaol and was released […]

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#OTD in 1948 – Death of writer and playwright and member of Cumann na mBan, Lily O’Brennan.

Lily O’Brennan, sister of Áine Ceannt, was born in Dublin in 1878. She was a writer and playwright and joined Cumann na mBan upon its inception; she was a member of the Inghinidhe Branch. During the Rising she served with the Marrowbone Lane garrison. She was arrested and held in Kilmainham Gaol and was released […]

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#OTD in 1916 – Easter Rising | Irish patriots, Michael Mallin, Eamonn Ceannt, Cornelius “Con” Colbert and Sean Heuston are shot dead in Kilmainham Gaol.

Executions of Easter Rising Leaders continue by a British regime in Stonebreakers’ Yard at Kilmainham Gaol, completely insensitive to the fact it was creating numerous martyrs and generating an emotional calling cry for Irish rebellion that would culminate in the War of Independence. Shot dead on this day: Michael Mallin | Born in Co Dublin, […]

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#OTD in Irish History | 8 May:

1567 – Shane O’Neill’s army crosses the Swilly estuary at Farsetmore, and is defeated in a pitched battle by Hugh O’Donnell. Many drown while trying to escape; O’Neill loses 1,300 men. 1597 – Death of Fiach MacHugh O’Byrne. Fiach Mac Aodha Ó Broin was Lord of Ranelagh and sometime leader of the Clann Uí Bhroin, […]

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#OTD in 1916 – Aftermath of the Easter Rising.

The National Museum holds many of the last letters written by the men executed in Kilmainham Gaol in May 1916 for their part in the Rising. The collection includes Pádraig Pearse’s letter to his mother, and letters from Con Colbert, Michael Mallin, Eamonn Ceannt and others, written to family and friends. All these letters have […]

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#OTD in 1916 – Easter Rising Dublin | Day 4.

It is the fourth day of the Easter Rising and the remaining rebels are under constant attack. The GPO and Four Courts are being blitzed with machine gun and rifle fire, and large parts of Sackville Street (O’Connell Street) are up in flames. As British authorities come to terms with the situation in Dublin, fierce street […]

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#OTD in 1916 – Easter Rising | Margaret Keogh was shot and killed by British soldiers while rushing to attend to patients and the wounded at the South Dublin Union (now the site of St James’s Hospital).

Among the first victims of the Easter Rising was a nurse rushing to attend to patients and the wounded. Margaret Keogh (Kehoe), from Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow. Margaret was working as a nurse in the South Dublin Union (now the site of St James’s Hospital). Six republican riflemen, who had been firing from a top floor […]

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#OTD in 1916 – Pádraig Pearse read out the Proclamation of Independence after his men had seized the GPO.

At four minutes past noon on Easter Monday, Pearse, read the Proclamation. It signified the start of the Easter Rising. POBLACHT NA h-EIREANN THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF THE IRISH REPUBLIC TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND Irishmen and Irishwomen: In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition […]

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#OTD in 1916 – Approximately 1,000 copies of The Proclamation of the Irish Republic are printed in Liberty Hall in a print office set up by James Connolly.

The proclamation would be read by Pádraig Pearse outside the General Post Office on Sackville Street (now called O’Connell Street) on Monday 24th April. The proclamation was printed secretly on an old and poorly maintained Wharfedale Stop Cylinder Press in the printing office that had been set up by James Connolly in the basement in […]

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