The 28 children who died during the 1916 Rebellion should be remembered during the 100th centenary commemoration, according to an Irish historian.
A lecturer at the Maynooth’s National University of Ireland, Dr Anne Matthews made the suggestion when she was speaking at the Parnell Summer School in County Wicklow, as part of a panel concerning equality and the Irish Revolution.
She stated that more than 250 civilians were killed by gunfire during the Easter Week of 1916, 28 of whom were children aged between two and 16. She said they had not been remembered because of their social class.
The children “who lived and died in the city” were from “working-class backgrounds” and “are still not considered worthy of a commemorative plaque,” Matthews said.
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The young children and their mothers have “remained invisible because they do not fit comfortably in the romantic view of 1916”, she said. “I personally do not think it is unpatriotic to also want to remember these women and their children.”
She suggested they could be remembered in the in the 2016 centenary.
Almost 100 years later there “is still a resounding silence about the impact the rebellion had on the lives of men, women and children who for six days lived within a heartbeat of death,” she added.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.seanomelbourne | Aug 27, 2011, 07:56 PM EDT
I,ll have to go back and have a jar with ya and give you a reality check me aul pal
Towngate | Aug 27, 2011, 05:15 AM EDT
Seaneen: ~ me old sea-go-tia, your leaky old rustbucket is lost with all hands, I'm afraid. ~ being so far removed by time and space from , doesn't mean you can sit there making Irish history up - to suit yourself! Holystone yer decks again,m'lad,until they are shipshape and "Bristol Fashion!" You must be proud your father later served on the modest little vessel that played such a vital part in bringing that little "Dublin Difficulty" to a swift and decisive end after only a few days!.
seanomelbourne | Aug 26, 2011, 10:35 PM EDT
The helga had royal navy personnel on board there was no Irish government until 1918.BTW my father served on the "MUIRCHU" from 1943.Youir twisted view of history is amusing.
Towngate | Aug 25, 2011, 10:05 AM EDT
Aah Seaneen, now: if 'Helga II' was laid down and built on the Liffey, that makes her not only Irish, but a Dublin vessel! She was designed to patrol and protect Irish Fishing Grounds. She was in the service of the Irish Government for the benefit of the Irish people. ~ ~ ~ No doubt the use of her single gun effected the course of the local disturbance, and by leading to an early surrender, may have prevented a greater loss of life had the trouble continued. The Dubliners who built 'Helga II' (later 'Muirchu') should be proud of her and the part she played in protecting Dublin City from total destruction.
Searlit | Aug 22, 2011, 08:58 PM EDT
Yes, honor those women and children.
seanomelbourne | Aug 22, 2011, 08:29 PM EDT
Towngate the helga was re-armed in 1936 and purchased in that year by the Irish government and re-named "MUIRCHU" It was a British vessel.
AnPiobaire | Aug 22, 2011, 09:58 AM EDT
Very good point by Dr. Matthew, and honoring the memories of those children in connection with the anniversary is a great idea, BUT, Irish Central: why in the world did you illustrate this story with that sketch?? It has nothing to do with 1916, it is, in fact, from a book written about the "Irish Rebellion of 1641", back in the Cromwellian era. At that time an uprising took place by Irish Catholics in Ulster and led to atrocities against Irish Protestants. For the usual political reasons accounts of those atrocities became more and more exagerated and inflamed; historians point out that the number of Protestants partisan tracts reported killed would have far outnumbered the actuall population of Irish Protestants at the time; another example of the sensationalist reporting of the day was the fantasy the rape and disembowelment of pregnant Protestant women was widespread; this illustration was copied from a book which spread that calumny. WHAT in the world is it doing here???
Towngate | Aug 22, 2011, 04:14 AM EDT
AK: Please explain the bizarre choice of illustration to your piece. ~~~ Seano: The "Helga" was an Irish ship; born and bred,and with a single gun mounted on her bow, could hardly be described as " a Gunship" as we might use the term. Naturally, she had to establish a clear line of fire' to the GPO. I doubt she fired indiscriminately. ~ ~ ~ The children of Dublin should be remembered and the crimes of those who callously caused their deaths, should be revisited!
seanomelbourne | Aug 21, 2011, 06:54 PM EDT
The british gunship "helga" motored up the liffey firing indiscriminately.The ship was later purchased by the free state government.The catholic church turned it's back on the Irish when they accepted Maynooth,thousands of pounds and wine /food rations (for all priests).The hierarchcy buttered it,s bread with the droppings of the empire.BTW the children should be honoured along with the 135 murdered by the British since then
cillowen | Aug 21, 2011, 02:52 PM EDT
silence is so irish - 1798 is largely forgotton - the irish are surprizingly silent such as posited in a BBC program on that united irish screwed-up effort. Another of the many tried. Believing we're all to come together in the hereafter stupifies 'em.
slainte9 | Aug 21, 2011, 02:14 PM EDT
Regarding Collette2, even the Whig historian Macaulay credited the Catholic church with protecting the people, including women and children, against the powerful in days gone by. Anti-Catholic venom does a disserve not just to the church, but especially the hundreds of thousands of women who devoted their lives to the care of women and children in Christ's name.
Jamcelt | Aug 21, 2011, 01:34 PM EDT
Have to agree on this one. Honour them.
CitizenWhy | Aug 21, 2011, 11:51 AM EDT
Totally agree. Those children should be honored. Their families deserve this recognition. All revolutions with a moral purpose are carried out for the sake of the future, of the children.
bunkerisland | Aug 21, 2011, 11:24 AM EDT
Wonderful proposal. Women and children are often the victims of the horrors of war as noted in the Middle East and Africa today.
Collette2 | Aug 21, 2011, 09:52 AM EDT
Very sad, all those children of little consequence. Athough on the other side of the penny, many mothers and children remain invisible today, because they don't fit comfortably with the church's view of any century.
maireadinmelb | Aug 21, 2011, 04:47 AM EDT
The point of it is that 28 children were killed, does not matter why just that this details has been omitted. My grandfather lived in Aungier St in 1916 and recalled be told not to go near the windows to see the soldiers! I agree that there should be recognition for those children!
GeorgeDillon | Aug 20, 2011, 03:42 PM EDT
There wouldn't have been any deaths if the British forces had not attacked the Irish Forces, even firing artillery into a city center. Just like there wouldn't have been deaths in Dublin 3 years earlier if the British Army had not attacked Dubliners. Just like there wouldn't have been mass deaths from disease and malnutrition among the Dublin working class if their country was not run by foreign imperialists. This woman's pseudo-left concern for the working class is a bit suspicious, given that the Dublin working class was represented among the insurgents in the shape of the Irish Citizen Army, as well as by many rank and file Volunteers. It's nonsense for her to claim that the working class has been written out of 1916. She obviously hasn't done much reading on the period. If you analyze the occupations of those sent off to prison camps after Easter Week you'll see that the most common entry for "Occupation" is laborer. Lenin himself commended the Irish revolutionaries, lamenting only that they had risen a bit too early.