A few weeks ago I posed the question both here and on Twitter about what were the “six times [meaning six rebellions] during the last three hundred years” referred to on the 1916 Proclamation.
I didn’t get any response.
Having done some more digging, I’m still none the wiser. I found a long but ultimately fruitless discussion on the politics.ie website forum that suggests and then dismisses most of the contenders I had considered.
Then just last week I saw a photo of the Easter 1916 memorial in St. Paul’s Cemetary, Glasnevin.
Photo credit: the National Graves Association at http://www.nga.ie/1916-Charles_Carrigan.php
As you can see, there are dates on it. It’s a bit hard to make out in the photo, but they are:
- 1798
- 1803
- 1848
- 1867
- 1882
- 1916
There is one date there that I couldn’t identify at first: 1882. Looking it up, I found that 1882 was the year of the ‘Phoenix Park Murders’: Lord Frederick Cavendish, the newly appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, and Thomas Henry Burke, his Permanent Undersecretary, were strolling across Phoenix Park one evening when they were attacked and stabbed to death by members of the “Irish National Invincibles”.
Is this the missing one of the six? I’m not 100% convinced. The rest are all definite uprisings, whereas this one is an assassination, and if you’re going to start counting assassinations then the list of significant dates is going to grow well past six.
So I remain uncertain. It seems I’ll have to go on looking.
An answer to my question? by Bruce Gaston