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Two firemen who died attending a fire on the night of 20 May 1891 have been memorialised by a Dublin City Council Commemorative Plaque at 30 Westmoreland Street, now CCT College.

The plaque was unveiled by Lord Mayor Caroline Conroy and Chief Fire Officer Dennis Keeley on 19 May 2023.

In 1891, Graham’s chemist occupied the first two floors of the building, with Lafayette’s photographers on the next two, and living accommodation on the fifth floor. At approximately 2 a.m.  on 20 May 1891 a fire was discovered on the third floor. There were four occupants on the fifth floor, two of whom managed to escape to the street and raise the alarm but two women were trapped on the fifth floor.

During the fire service response Inspector Christopher Doherty, 25 years’ service in Dublin Fire Brigade, holder of three chevrons for bravery for saving life on previous occasions, and Fireman Peter Bourke, three months’ service in Dublin Fire Brigade, paid the ultimate price in their role as firefighters and lost their lives here while saving the life of a civilian.

Thomas Bryan, one of the ‘Forgotten 10’ volunteers, has been memorialised by a Dublin City Council Commemorative Plaque at 14 Henrietta Street.

Bryan, a 24 year old electrician, was amongst a group of young volunteers who on 21 January 1921, set out to ambush Black and Tans as they travelled into Dublin city from Gormanstown. Another volunteer was 19 year old Frank Flood, after whom the bridge at Drumcondra was named in 2021.

Having been spotted in Drumcondra the party tried to escape via Gracefield Road and Clonturk Park, but surrendered after one the men was shot and killed.

Tried and found guilty of High Treason, four of the men, Patrick Doyle (29); Francis Xavier Flood (19); Thomas Bryan (24), and Bernard ‘Bertie’ Ryan (21) were hanged at Mountjoy Prison.

Thomas Bryan was only recently married, and the pension application, submitted by his grieving family, reveals the poverty in which his parents continued to live at 14 Henrietta Street in the aftermath of his death

Speaking at the unveiling, Lord Mayor Caroline Conroy said, ‘In unveiling this plaque today we remember the sacrifices made by those who fought in the War of Independence. Thomas Bryan and his comrades, Patrick Doyle, Frank Flood, and Bertie Ryan, were young men who paid the ultimate price for their actions. They left behind grieving families who, certainly in the case of Thomas Bryan, had also to face the very real poverty that afflicted many Dubliners of the time.’

Historian Fergus Whelan spoke about Thomas Bryan and the events that led to his execution, saying: ‘Thomas Bryan is one of the so called “Forgotten Ten” who were executed in Mountjoy Gaol between late 1920 and early 1921. The “Forgotten ten” is something of a misnomer, for two reasons. First, the name of Kevin Barry who was executed in November 1920 is well known to us. Second, Thomas and his comrades were never forgotten by the loved ones they left behind.  Those loved ones did not just suffer the terrible loss of a family member to the hangman’s noose. They were denied the chance to bury their dead and a grave to grieve over for eighty years.’

The decision to erect the plaque was made by the Dublin City Council Commemorations & Naming Committee, whose chair, Councillor Micheál Mac Donncha, said, “The Commemorative Plaques Scheme allows the City to formally commemorate people who have made a significant contribution to the life of Dublin. We welcome suggestions from the public for people and events to be commemorated, and full details are on the Council website.”

The next plaque to be erected under the Dublin City Council scheme will commemorate Thomas Bryan, one of the ‘Forgotten 10’, hanged in Mountjoy in 1921.

The plaque will be unveiled by Lord Mayor Caroline Conroy at 11.30 a.m. on Tuesday 14 March 2023, at 14 Henrietta Street, Dublin 1.

Donal Fallon has written a short piece on Thomas Bryan for the 14 Henrietta Street museum.

Dublin woman Violet Gibson, who attempted to assassinate Fascist Dictator Benito Mussolini, has been commemorated by a Dublin City Council Commemorative Plaque.

The plaque was unveiled by Lord Mayor Caroline Conroy at 12 Merrion Square, Dublin 2, Gibson’s childhood home.

Speaking at the unveiling, Lord Mayor Caroline Conroy said, “In recent years the City Council has been working to put a focus on the women of history, with Commemorative Plaques being erected in memory of women like Kathleen Lynn and Madeleine Ffrench-Mullen, Anna Parnell, Margaret Keogh, Jane Wilde, and Hannah Sheehy-Skeffington. I am pleased to be unveiling another plaque to a woman, a Dubliner who suffered from misogyny and from the stigma surrounding mental illness, due to which her real motivations were deliberately obscured.”

The Honourable Violet Albina Gibson was born in Dalkey in 1876 into a wealthy Anglo-Irish family and raised in Merrion Square. She received her title at age nine when her father was made the Lord Ashbourne and Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Educated at home by governesses, she was a debutante at the court of Queen Victoria, and lived a very privileged life regularly appearing in the society columns, at balls, concerts in London and Dublin, social events at Buckingham Palace, family holidays in France and Italy, and skiing in San Moritz.

At the age of twenty one, she received an independent income from her father and decided to pave her own path in life. She travelled extensively pursuing her interest in religion, politics and philosophy. Her conversion to Catholicism caused much upset in her family. She moved to London, rejecting and freeing herself from the conventions of her privileged background.

On April 7^th 1926, three years into Benito Mussolini’s fascist rule of Italy, Violet Gibson drew a pistol and shot Mussolini at point blank range in front of an adoring crowd in the Campidiglio Rome. Mussolini’s head turned as she did so, and the bullet grazed his nose. She fired again, but the gun jammed. Following her attempt on Mussolini’s life, Violet Gibson was placed in an asylum in England where she was kept with little or no contact with the outside world. She died in the asylum in 1956.

Also speaking at the unveiling was writer and producer Siobhán Lynam, whose 2014 RTÉ radio documentary, “The Irishwoman Who Shot Mussolini”, brought Violet Gibson’s story to light for many and in 2020, a new wave of interest in Gibson’s story as co-producer with partner and director Barrie Dowdall, of the film, “Violet Gibson, The Irish Woman Who Shot Mussolini.”

“I’m honoured to be here for the unveiling of this plaque to commemorate Violet Gibson who was, for nearly a century, a mere passing footnote in the history of Italian fascism. Violet was a highly intelligent, artistically gifted, well-travelled and bold thinking woman. She was a convert to Catholicism, had a strong commitment to social justice and was an avid pacifist and an activist in the anti-war movement. The rise and violence of fascism in Italy horrified her. Of all the would-be assassins of Mussolini, she came closest to changing the course of history. Judged ‘a mad Irish mystic’, ‘a crazy Irish spinster’ by a world who thought Mussolini perfectly sane, she paid an enormous personal price for her extraordinary daring. Having endlessly petitioned for 30 years, the Princess Elizabeth and Churchill amongst others, to be at least released to a Catholic nursing home, she died alone in her 80th year in the lunatic asylum. Her letters were never posted”.

The decision to erect the plaque was made by the Dublin City Council Commemorations & Naming Committee. Councillor Mannix Flynn, a member of the Committee who proposed that the plaque be erected, remarked, “It is now time to bring Violet Gibson into the public eyes and give her a rightful place in the history of Irish women and in the history of the Irish nation and its people”.

On Thursday 20th October we’ll unveil a plaque to Dublin woman Violet Gibson, who attempted to assassinate Fascist Dictator Benito Mussolini.

The plaque will be unveiled by Lord Mayor Caroline Conroy at 11am on Thursday 20th October, at 12 Merrion Square North, Dublin 2, Gibson’s childhood home. All are welcome to attend.

Also speaking at the unveiling will be writer and producer Siobhán Lynam, whose 2014 RTÉ radio documentary The Irishwoman Who Shot Mussolini brought Violet Gibson’s story to light.

Violet Gibson, daughter of MP and Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Edward Gibson, was born in Dalkey in 1876 and educated at the family home on Merrion Square.

The young Violet Gibson was something of a socialite, appearing at Queen Victoria’s Court, with her attendance at balls and other social events featuring in the gossip columns of newspapers and magazines.

Having flirted with her mother’s Christian Science faith, Gibson studied theosophy in Switzerland and France, before converting to Roman Catholicism.

Following periods of mental and physical illness, Violet Gibson moved to Rome in 1925, where on 7^th April 1926 she attempted to assassinate the Fascist leader.

Following her attempt on Mussolini’s life, Violet Gibson was placed in an asylum in England by her family, where she was kept with little or no contact with the outside world. She died in the asylum in 1956.

For more information about Violet Gibson, see her entry in the Dictionary of Irish Biography: