Category: 1916 and the Revolutionary Period

This plaque commemorates the socialist and signatory of the 1916 Proclamation James Connolly.

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Born in Edinburgh in 1868, to Irish parents, Connolly became a key figure in the Irish trade union movement and socialist politics, particularly after his return to Dublin from the United States in 1910.

From December 1910 to May 1911, Connolly and his family lived at 70 South Lotts Road, Ringsend, Dublin 4. The house is one of only two surviving in which Connolly lived in the City.

Connolly then moved to Belfast as organiser for the Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU), where he saw at first hand the sectarianism that blighted Belfast and the North East generally.

In 1912, along with William O’Brien and Jim Larkin, and others on the Dublin Trades Council, Connolly was instrumental in getting the Irish Trades Union Congress to establish a political wing, giving birth to the Labour Party.

Connolly returned to Dublin from Belfast during the 1913 Lockout and following Larkin’s departure for America in 1914 he became acting General Secretary of the ITGWU and the leader of the Irish Citizens’ Army.

Following the Lockout, and against the background of the First World War, Connolly became increasingly militant and in 1915 threw in his lot with the IRB, who were planning an insurrection.

Joining forces with the Volunteers, Connolly was one of the signatories of the Proclamation and fought alongside Pearse in the GPO. Following the surrender, and badly wounded and unable to stand, he was executed at Kilmainham by firing squad, while sitting on a wooden box.

The plaque was proposed by historian Dr Conor McCabe, Queen’s University Belfast, and unveiled by Lord Mayor Daithí de Róiste on 31 July 2023.

This plaque commemorates Patrick Pearse, who lived with his family at 13 Sandymount Avenue, Dublin 4.

Pearse’s father, James Pearse, was a monumental sculptor who moved to Dublin around 1860. The family originally lived over the shop in Great Brunswick Street (now Pearse Street) before moving to Sandymount. Their first address in the area was on Newbridge Avenue, and they moved to 5 Georgian Villas, now number 13 Sandymount Avenue, in 1900. James Pearse made the altar railings for the Star of the Sea Church, on Sandymount Road.

Patrick Henry Pearse (1879-1916) was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist and political activist. Aside from his prominent role in the Easter Rising (for which he was executed on 3rd May 1916), he is best remembered as the author of The Murder Machine pamphlet on ‘the English education system in Ireland’ (Dublin, 1916), and his founding of the Irish language school St. Enda’s in Rathfarnham (which he ran during the last eight years of his life).

Pearse lived in Sandymount during a formative period in his life, when he was training to be a barrister, became one of the key figures in the Gaelic League, and took on responsibility for the family on the death of his father.

The terrace of houses at Sandymount Avenue was built in 1864 and residents over the years included W.B. Yeats and Abbey playwright TC Murray, who are both commemorated with plaques.

The plaque was proposed by Kathleen O’Callaghan, owner of the house, and it was unveiled by Lord Mayor Alison Gilliland, on 29th April, 2022.

Commemorating the fighting that took place at the bridge during the Rising and those who took part, this plaque is on Meagher’s Public House, 283-285 Richmond Road, Fairview, Dublin 3, D03 DK26.

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It was unveiled on 12th November 2016.

Commemorating a battle during the Rising and those who took part, this plaque is on the Annesley House Public House, North Strand, D03 K8P4, Dublin 1.

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The plaque was unveiled on 12th November 2016.

Located at the Capuchin Mission Office, Church Street, Dublin 7, D07 NNH4, this plaque commemorates the Four Courts Garrison.

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It is one of several plaques erected during the 1916 Centenary year to mark the garrison sites around the city, and to honour those who fought and died during the Rising.

The plaque was unveiled by Lord Mayor Críona Ní Dhálaigh on 12th July, 2016.

On the afternoon of Friday, 29^th April 2016, a Dublin City Council plaque commemorating the Jacob’s Factory Garrison that served in the 1916 Easter Rising was unveiled at the Dublin Institution of Technology, Bishop’s Street, Dublin 2.

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The plaque was unveiled by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Críona Ní Dhálaigh, and was the third in a series of 1916 Rising garrison plaques unveiled by Dublin City Council in April 2016.

In attendance at the ceremony were relatives of members of the Jacob’s Factory Garrison, as well as a National Colour Party from the Irish Defence Forces and elected members of Dublin City Council.

On Easter Monday 1916, the factory of W. & R. Jacob’s was seized by around 100 members of the 2^nd Battalion of the Irish Volunteers’ Dublin Brigade, led by Commandant Thomas MacDonagh. A few smaller outposts in the area were also established by the garrison, with the overall objective of observing and hindering British troops entering the city centre from nearby military barracks.

After learning of the unconditional surrender of Patrick Pearse and James Connolly the previous day, MacDonagh surrendered on Sunday, 30^th April. He was executed shortly afterwards at Kilmainham Gaol along with the two other most senior officers from the Jacob’s Garrison, Major John MacBride and Michael O’Hanrahan.

Those wishing to learn more about the history of Jacob’s factory should consult Séamus Ó Maitiú’s book W. & R. Jacob. Celebrating 150 Years of Irish Biscuit Making (Dublin, 2001).

Submitted by historian in residence James Curry.

On Monday, 25^th April 2016, a plaque commemorating the death one hundred years earlier of Irish Volunteer Gerald Keogh, was unveiled at 117-119 Grafton Street (above Butlers Chocolate Café), with Councillor Mícheál Mac Donncha speaking at the ceremony on behalf of Dublin City Council.

On the second day of the Easter Rising, Keogh – a former Fianna member who lived in Ranelagh – was killed near the location of the plaque while returning to the GPO on bicycle from Larkfield House, where he had been sent on a despatch by Patrick Pearse. The bullets were fired by a soldier positioned at Trinity College Dublin, possibly the Australian-born Mick McHugh.

Keogh was initially buried on the grounds of Trinity College before getting interred in Glasnevin Cemetery. Aged 22 years old at the time of his death, the shop assistant was the youngest of four brothers to take part in the Rising.

The plaque unveiling ceremony was attended by Keogh’s grandnephew Raymond M. Keogh, and Patrick McHugh, the great-great-nephew of the soldier who may have fired the shots which killed the young Irish Volunteer on 25^th April 1916.

Those wishing to learn more about the story of Gerald Keogh should consult Raymond M. Keogh’s book Shelter and Shadows. An Awakening to Our Common Identity (2016).

Submitted by historian in residence James Curry.