Category: list

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Pearse, Patrick

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.

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Wilde, Lady Jane ‘Speranza’

This plaque commemorates Jane Wilde, poet, feminist, and nationalist.

Born in 1821, Jane Wilde was a polyglot who translated works from German and French. Inspired by Thomas Davis and the Young Ireland movement, she became a nationalist and from 1846 contributed to their journal The Nation, writing under the pen names Speranza and John Fanshawe Ellis.

Among her poems in the Nation was ‘The Famine Year’, her response to the Great Famine, in which she criticised her own Anglo-Irish landlord class.

In 1848, her piece ‘Jacta Alea Est’ (‘the die is cast’) was seen by the authorities as so inflammatory that it led to the suppression of the Nation.

Living at 1 Merrion Square, Dublin, her weekly literary salons put her at the centre of Dublin’s cultural life. She continued her salons in London, where she lived following the death of her husband, Sir William Wilde, in 1876.

An advocate for women’s rights, she campaigned for greater access to education for women.

The woman of the future will never again be the mere idol of a vain worship, the petted toy of a passing hour; She takes her place now in the world on higher grounds than physical beauty, and will gain nobler triumphs…

Lady Wilde, Social Studies (London, 1893), pp 94-5.

Proposed by the American College Dublin, the plaque joins existing ones which commemorate her husband , Sir William Wilde, and her son, Oscar, on the house where she lived until 1876.

The plaque was unveiled by Lord Mayor Alison Gilliland on 19th November 2021.

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Douglass, Frederick – Anti-Slavery Leader

This plaque commemorates Frederick Douglass, the anti-slavery leader, who visited Dublin in 1845, at the IFI on Eustace Street, Dublin 2.

Locate this plaque on Google maps.

Born into slavery in 1818, Frederick Douglass escaped and in 1845 published his autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself. The book’s popularity in Europe, and fear of being captured and returned to slavery, led Douglass to visit Ireland and the UK in 1845/47.

Douglass returned to the USA a free man in 1847, and went on to become a leading abolitionist, a newspaper proprietor, and a government official. Renowned as an orator, through his writings, speeches, and photographs, he boldly challenged the racial stereotypes of African Americans. He was the most photographed man in 19th century America.

While in Ireland Frederick Douglass met Daniel O’Connell, a firm opponent of slavery, and the two men spoke at O’Connell’s Conciliation Hall, on Burgh Quay.

Douglass was a guest of Dublin’s Quaker Community, and in September 1845 he spoke at the old Friends’ Meeting House in Eustace Street, now the Irish Film Institute.

The plaque was unveiled on Thursday 21st October 2021, by Lord Mayor Alison Gilliland.

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Parnell, Anna – founder of the Ladies’ Land League

Photograph of a Dublin City Council plaque commemorating Anna Parnell

This plaque commemorates Anna Parnell, feminist, activist, and founder of the Ladies’ Land League, at the offices of the Leaguea t 37/38 O’Connell Street Upper, now AIB Bank.

Locate this plaque on Google maps.

A feminist and a radical, Anna Parnell was born at the family estate in Avondale, Wicklow, in 1852. The younger sister of Home Rule leader Charles Stewart Parnell, she became organising secretary of the Ladies’ Land League in 1881. Over 500 branches of the ladies Land League were founded, and with the banning of the Irish National Land League in October 1881, Anna Parnell and her female colleagues led the ‘No-Rent’ campaign. Anna travelled around the country, encouraging women to organise independently of men to resist unjust rents.

The Kilmainham Treaty led to the ending of the ‘No-Rent’ campaign, and Charles Stewart Parnell and the National Land League leadership put pressure on Anna and her colleagues to take on a purely charitable role. Anna resisted this and following the dissolution of the Ladies Land League in August 1882, she never spoke to her brother again.

Anna Parnell spent her final years living under a pseudonym in Devon, England, were she died in a drowning accident on 20th September 1911, at the age of 59.

The plaque was unveiled on 20th September 2021 by Lord Mayor Alison Gilliland.

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S.S. Adela

Located on Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin 2, this plaque commemorates the sinking of the S.S. Adela in December 1917.

It was unveiled on 30th September 2017 by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Michael Mac Donncha.

The S.S. (steamship) Adela was built in Glasgow for Tedcastle McCormick & Co. Ltd, her home berth being Sir John Rogerson’s Quay.

Serving the Dublin-Liverpool route, the Adela was sunk by a torpedo from the German U-Boat U-100 on 27th December 1917. Twenty-four lives were lost.

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Dombrain, James

Located at 36 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2, D02 CD93, this plaque commemorates the founder of the Irish Coastguard, Sir James Dombrain.

Locate this plaque on Google maps.

During the Famine, hearing reports from his officers in the area, he sent relief to Clifden, Galway, for which he was reprimanded by the Treasury.

The plaque was unveiled on 23rd September, 2016.