On April 28 1916, as the fierce fighting of Easter Week began to abate, one of the most notorious events of the rising took place.
15 civilians were killed in houses and business premises on North King Street by British soldiers. The street had been the scene of some of the stoutest resistance by the Volunteers, under the command of Ned Daly, who had been stationed in the Four Courts but had subsequently barricaded the area so well that British troops had to fight to get through.
The Volunteers were still dug in and had killed up to 20 members of the South Staffordshire Regiment who had launched a frontal assault on Daly’s men.
The frustration and anger felt by British soldiers at the Volunteer’s resistance led them to take revenge on civilians living and working in North King Street. On Friday 28 April, and into the early hours of Saturday morning, British troops ordered men out of homes or broke into buildings, shooting and stabbing fifteen people to death, including two teenagers.
The British army responded to the murders of the civilians by claiming they were indistinguishable from the Volunteers who they claimed were not in uniform. This was not true.
In any event, those killed were randomly chosen just because they were in buildings on North King Street. Some of the bodies were stripped of money, watches and other valuables.
The only person who was killed who may have been a Volunteer was Paddy Bealin, a charge hand at O’Rourke’s pub at no. 177 North King Street. He and another victim were buried in the cellar. Bealin is listed in the Last Post which purports to be comprehensive list of Volunteers killed. It was published years later and not particularly accurate. A cousin of my Grandad from Moher in Tipp who was intellectually disabled and murdered by Tans is listed.
A British inquiry did not recommend charges and the killings were largely forgotten given the scale of the Rising deaths.
In April 2016 the Stoneybatter and Smithfield Peoples’ History Project unveiled a plaque at the corner of North King Street and Coleraine Street.
A 2014 documentary Áille an Uafáis (A Terrible Beauty) is devoted partly to the North King Street murders. It was screened on TG4.
A closeup of the memorial hung by the Stoneybatter and Smithfield People’s History project for the Irish State’s centenary programme of 2016
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Joe Duffy will demand a monument……to the soldiers.
Or like that FG Minister Nora Owen said. The rising was a “shared experience”. By that logic so is rape. What utter traitors we made the mistake of electing last time. We won’t do it again.
She also introduced the CAB which took a lot of money back from criminals in ireland. Being the grandniece of michael collins i doubt she has any love for the crown.
Wrong, she’s a total West Brit.
What makes you think he would do that? Genuine question.
He supported the Black and Tan commemorations in 2019.
So much of our history is ignored or slanted to suit the agenda , The Irish Holocaust misnamed ” The Famine “
Our culture is rotten with historical revisionism. Our history is often told from the perspective of imperial Britain. It is done in a contrived and underhanded way. They will say a few nationalist things that are deceptive to suck one in. Then they will give the cut and switch over to the British perspective. They say this is for balance, that they want to be non-partisan, but they end up telling Ireland’s history from a British perspective. RTÉ were notorious for it when I listened to them. Expect those you hear on RTÉ to be revisionists, they are all west Brits. Ireland’s history must be told from Ireland’s perspective not Britain’s. It is Irish history not British history.
That’s an odd looking photo. Among other things, the gaseous material looks more like steam/fog than the expected smoke.
I must go there, reflect and say a prayer for the souls of these martyrs. I saw another plaque of commemoration on Stoneybatter beside a fruit and veg shop, that I had not noticed before. I must return to view it again. God rest them all.