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Papers: List of recent meetings |
De La Salle by Paddy Sexton |
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1916 in Fingal |
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An interesting and new outlook on The 1916 Rising was given by Barbara Curtis. It focussed on the ordinary men and women of North County Dublin, particularly Swords, Lusk, Rush, Skerries, Balbriggan and the surrounding rural areas. Thomas Ashe - the famous Kerryman, who taught in Corduff National School - had imbued and inspired the people with the ideals of Nationalism and Independence. He had formed branches of the Gaelic League, G.A.A. football and hurling clubs, and had taught Irish and Irish dancing. When the rising was envisaged the people were fired with enthusiasm in the Fingal rural areas. The men who enlisted in the Volunteers were ordinary folk - farm labourers, mechanics, stone-masons and van drivers. However, there was a scarcity of arms and ammunition, and after the Howth gun-running Swords got a quantity of ammunition and rifles and Skerries got twenty rifles but no ammunition. Many of the volunteers fought in Dublin City. |
Balbriggan, another Fingal town, was more industrialised, with a textile (linen) factory and a large hosiery factory. The workers in these factories had been encouraged to opt for recruitment in the British Army - to fight in the 1914 - 1918 war. Many joined up, and one Balbriggan family had four sons who fought in the First World War. A minority of local men were involved in the 1916 rising. Cumann na mBan (pronounced cuman na mon), an organisation formed by women, was an auxiliary corps of Volunteers, which played an important role in The Rising. The majority of these women were well educated and were a vital force then and later, when they helped the wives and families of the men imprisoned in Frongoch and Wakefield prisons in the U.K. The paper given by Barbara Curtis was very detailed and gave a fascinating insight into the kinship and camaraderie of the Fingallians, and their heroic part in The 1916 Rising. |