13/05/2024
Yesterday, 12 May, in 1916 the last of the ex*****ons of the rebel leaders took place.
By this point the ex*****ons had motivated an about-turn in public opinion in Ireland relating to the Rising. As mentioned in our earlier posts, the rebel forces initially faced significant condemnation for the destruction caused to Dublin City during Easter Week. However, the ex*****ons caused this to shift dramatically.
The British government, bewildered at such a tidal shift in public sympathies, had ordered the ex*****ons stopped, but at General Maxwell’s behest allowed a final round to be carried out. Sean MacDiarmada and James Connolly would be the last two rebel leaders executed. MacDiarmada had devoted entirely the last decade of his life to the nationalist and cultural revival movements in Ireland, and would plan the military strategy of the Rising with Joseph Plunkett.
Connolly’s ex*****on would spark particular outcry, as he was a widely popular individual due to being so involved with socialist and workers’ rights movements for years. As well as this, due to wounds suffered during Easter Week Connolly was unable to stand for his ex*****on and so was tied to a chair. Such an image greatly aggravated the Irish public.
Leading Unionists in Ireland, wishing for the island to remain firmly within the British Empire, believed that any chance of self-government being introduced in Ireland would dissipate. However, one of the few to believe otherwise was in fact leading Unionist Edward Carson. Sensing the winds of Irish nationalism turn much sooner than many of his colleagues, Carson urged in vain that Home Rule be ushered into Ireland so as to satiate nationalist opinion, lest it radicalise and demand more. Carson’s warning, though it fell on deaf ears, would soon ring true.
As hundreds of rebels are imprisoned across Britain and Ireland, notably in Frongoch, Wales, such prisons would become what have been labelled ‘universities’ of republicanism. Imprisoned together, these rebels would return to Ireland even more determined to end British rule.
To learn more about the long term impact of the Rising, visit our museum.
#1916
