1916BelfastHeritageTrailFollowingBelfast’s Footstepsto the Easter Rising

SlíOidhreachtaBhéal Feirste

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Slí OidhreachtaBhéal Feirste

1916Belfast Heritage Trail1916 and the Easter Rising changed Irish History,whilst the main events and the executions werecentred in and around Dublin the full part playedby those from Belfast has never fully beenrecognised until now.

This new heritage trail uncovers the story andrecognises the roles of many individuals fromBelfast who played their part in organising oneof the most historic events of the 20th centurywhen a small group of Irish rebels took on theBritish Empire.

15 granite plaques have been commissionedand erected throughout the city that uncoversBelfast’s hidden heritage and showcases thisseminal moment in the history of our city..

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Eoin MacNeill was born in Glenarm, County Antrim, on 15 May 1867. Heattended the local Protestant school in the village and St Malachy’s College,Belfast. He worked in the Accountant General’s office, Dublin and completed adegree course in economics, jurisprudence and constitutional history at TrinityCollege, Dublin. In 1893 he was involved in the formation of the Gaelic League.Also an Irish Volunteer, he was selected as Chief of Staff. On Easter Sunday 1916an advertisement appeared in the newspaper the Sunday Independent andsigned by Eoin MacNeill countermanding the order for the Irish Volunteers tomobilise. As a result, the Volunteer movement was thrown into a state ofconfusion. This led to the postponement of the rising until the following day, asa result the Rising was confined mainly to Dublin. In the aftermath of the RisingMacNeill was arrested and held in Arbour Hill Prison. He was court-martialled on24 May 1916 and was sentenced to penal servitude for life.He was released in 1917.

Eoin MacNeillLocation: Lincoln Avenue,Antrim Road

Bulmer Hobson was a Quaker and printer by trade wasborn in Belfast on 14 January 1883. His family lived at24 Hopefield Avenue, Antrim Road, Belfast. In 1900 heset up the Ulster Debating Club and later theProtestant National Society. He was also a member ofthe Tir na nÓg branch of the Gaelic League in Belfastand a founding member of the Ulster Literary Theatre.On 26 June 1902 he established the republicanscouting organization Na Fianna Éireann at a meetingin the Catholic boy’s hall on the Falls Road. Its firstBelfast Sluagh or branch was Sluagh Clann Rudhraigh.Hobson became a member of the IRB in 1904He was a founder member of the Dungannon Clubs inMarch 1905.

Bulmer HobsonLocation: 290 Antrim Road

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Winifred Carney was a feminist, socialist, suffragette, member of the Gaelic league,Secretary of the Irish Textile Workers Union, member of the Irish Citizen Army, memberof Cumann na mBan and personal secretary to James Connolly. Maria Winifred(Winnie) Carney was born at Fisher’s Hill, Bangor, on 4 December 1887. By 1897 herfamily had moved to North Belfast. An interest in arts, politics and culture pushed herin the direction of the Gaelic League and the Women’s Suffrage movement. On EasterMonday, 24 April 1916, Winnie, with her typewriter under her arm, marched with adetachment of the Irish Citizens’ Army from Liberty Hall to the General Post Office inthe centre of Dublin. This detachment was led by James Connolly, Patrick Pearse, TomClarke, Sean MacDiarmada and Joseph Plunkett. Winnie was one of a small number ofwomen who entered the GPO that Easter Monday, remaining there until its evacuation,and being one of the last to leave. After the Rising Winifred was held in RichmondBarracks, Dublin, then transferred to Mountjoy Prison, then later to Aylesbury PrisonEngland. She was released on Christmas Eve 1916.

Winifred CarneyLocation: 3 Whitewell Parade

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Joseph CampbellLocation: St Matthew’s School,Seaforde Street

Joseph Campbell was born at 32 Castlereagh Road in 1879. He was a poet andcomposed the words for ‘My Lagan Love’. A Belfast man whose grandparents camefrom the Irish-speaking area of Flurry Bridge, South Armagh. In 1913 he attended ameeting in Dublin where discussion on the formation of the Irish Volunteers tookplace. He started collecting songs in County Antrim.

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Ailbhe MonahanAilbhe Monahan was born on 25 January 1889 and lived here at the family home at 23Riley’s Place. He was educated at Christian Brothers’ School, Oxford Street, Belfast. Hejoined the Irish Volunteers in Belfast in 1914. In July 1915 Alfie was asked to take over asIrish Volunteer organiser in County Cavan. He was served with a deportation order inOctober 1915 and transferred to Crumlin Road Jail, Belfast. He was released after servingthree months hard labour. At a meeting with Patrick Pearse, Thomas McDonagh andSean MacDiarmada, Alfie was instructed to go to Galway to assist Liam Mellows. Alfie wasactive in Galway during the Rising.

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Monahan FamilyLocation: Cromac Street

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Charlie MonahanCharlie was born on 21 March 1879, grew up at 23 Rileys Place and educated by theChristian Brothers at Oxford Street. He went to Dublin at the age of 20.He took a keen interest in Irish culture and language. In early 1914 he went toAmerica but returned to Dublin before the Rising. He joined the Irish Volunteers andalso the Irish Republican Brotherhood.He was appointed armourer of 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade and was involved in araid that was connected with the attempt to bring in 2000 rifles on the German shipthe ‘Aud’. On Good Friday night, 21 April, 1916, six Volunteers left in two cars to travelto Kerry. Charlie was in the rear car with three other volunteers. The car in whichCharlie was travelling plunged over an unprotected bridge into the river Laune. Allwere drowned except for the driver Tommy McInerney. Charlie Monahan's body wasnot found until 30 October 1916. His remains were buried in Drumavally Cemetery on1 November 1916.

Corr SistersLocation: 107 Ormeau Road

Eleanor (Nell) Corr, born 10 October 1883. Elizabeth Corr, born 13 February 1887.Eleanor Corr and her sister Elizabeth lived of the Ormeau Road. In October 1915Elizabeth and Nell joined A Company, Belfast Cumann na mBan and the GaelicLeague. Elizabeth and Nell were chosen to accompany the Belfast Volunteers toCoalisland on Easter Saturday. After they were informed that the orders for volunteermobilisation had been countermanded, the women made their way to Dublin, wherethey reported to James Connolly in Liberty Hall. On Easter Monday, they were showna copy of the Easter Proclamation by Connolly. Later that day the six women weresent back to the north with a dispatch from James Connolly which was carried in theribbon of Nell’s hat. The dispatch addressed to the Volunteer leadership in the North,gave details of the planned Declaration of a Republic and on the armed actionswhich would take place in Dublin. They eventually arrived back in Belfast on Friday28th April. Elizabeth, who had been working as a typist in the Belfast Library, wasdismissed when her employers found out about her travels to Dubin..

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Seán MacEnteeLocation: Barrack Street

Seán was born on the 23rd August 1889 at 42 Mill Street, Belfast. He attended StMary’s Primary School and later St Malachy’s College. Sean had a deep interest in Irishculture and literature; he was a member of the Belfast branch of the Gaelic leagueand the Ulster Literary Theatre. In 1910 he joined the Socialist Party of Ireland. In 1914Sean moved to Dundalk and joined the Irish Volunteers. On Easter Sunday 1916 afterlearning of MacNeill’s countermanding order Sean made his way to Dublin. He metwith James Connolly, Padraic Pearse and Thomas MacDonagh. He then returned tore-join the Dundalk Volunteers. In Castlebellingham they arrested a number of thelocal RIC. When leaving the village one of the RIC prisoners was shot dead. EventuallySean returned to Dublin. On the 26 April he joined the Volunteers in Earl and MiddleAbbey Streets. Sean along with other Volunteers made his way to join the GPOgarrison. After the surrender he was brought to Richmond Barracks.He was court-martialled and sentenced to death and would spend time in Dartmoor,Lewes and Portland Jails.

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Denis McCullough was born on 24 January 1883 at 12 Divis Street, Belfast. Bothhis father and grandfather had been members of the IRB. His father DanMcCullough had been a founding member of the National Literary Club. Set up inor around 1898 the club had organized Lios na bhFiann one of the first branchesof the Gaelic League in Belfast. The Literary Club and Lios na bhFiann met in thesame rooms, first in Carrick Hill and then in Tower Hall in Peter’s Hill. At the age ofeighteen Denis was sworn in as a member of the IRB quickly becoming a drivingforce in the reorganization of the Belfast IRB in the first decade of the twentiethcentury. He was also a member of Cumann na nGaedheal a nationalist separatistpolitical organization formed on 1 October 1900 by Arthur Griffith andWilliam Rooney. He was a member of the Dungannon Clubs in March 1905.

Denis McCulloughLocation: Divis Street/Barrack Street

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Seamus was born in 1890 at the family home at 22 Sevastopol Street. He joinedFianna Eireann founded by Bulmer Hobson. In 1903 the Robinson family moved toGlasgow and he immersed himself in the activities of the Gaelic League. In GlasgowSeamus joined the Glasgow Sluagh of the Fianna and later in 1913 the IrishVolunteers in Glasgow. In 1915 Seamus joined the IRB. In early 1916 he travelled toDublin where he billeted in the Kimmage Garrison - a secret IRB camp established inthe Kimmage area by Joseph Mary Plunkett and his brother George. Seamus sawaction in Sackville Street and in the GPO. After the Rising he was held in RichmondBarracks, then sent to Stafford and Frongoch and finally to Reading Gaol. He wasreleased on Christmas day 1916. Seamus was active with the South Tipperary Brigadeand led the attack at Soloheadbeg on 21 January 1919, regarded as the first majoraction of the ‘War of Independence’.

Seamus RobinsonLocation: Sevastopol Street

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Sean from Glenfarne, County Leitrim, was a trainee teacher in his local nationalschool. After an argument with a local clergyman he went to Glasgow. Returningto Belfast, he first worked as a barman and then as a conductor on the trams.Recruited into the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Belfast by Denis McCulloughand Bulmer Hobson, he was made a full-time organiser of the Dungannon Clubson 25 January 1907.On 20 September 1915 he was co-opted onto the Military Council of the IrishRepublican Brotherhood. He was executed on 12 May 1916, as one of the leadersof the 1916 rebellion.

Sean Mac DiarmadaLocation: Clonard Street

The huts erected at Willowbank were an important site for training in preparation forthe Rising. On the 7 February 1907, number 9 edition of The Republic, carried a reporton the action of an RIC Sergeant and constable in forcing their way into theWillowbank Huts occupied by Fianna Éireann. The Huts had been part of a smallBritish Army barracks erected in the early 1890s. By 1898 the site had been vacatedby the British Army. The huts were then used for accommodation and a small numberof local businesses. In the 1908 Belfast Street Directory, the Red Hand Hurling cluband the John Mitchell Gaelic Club are listed under the Willowbank Huts.In the March 1914 edition of the Irish Volunteer, the newspaper of the Irish Volunteermovement, Countess Markievicz is reported as giving a lecture in the huts on RobertEmmet. That same year the huts were used by the Belfast Irish Volunteers for trainingtheir membership. The women of Cumann na mBan were also trained here

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Willowbank HutsLocation: Willowbank Park

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Roger Casement from County Antrim. He was a British diplomat, humanitarianactivist, Irish nationalist, and poet. Described as the "father of twentieth-centuryhuman rights investigations", he was honoured in 1905 for the Casement Reporton the Congo and knighted in 1911 for his important investigations of humanrights abuses in Peru.Casement grew to distrust imperialism and he became more involved with Irishrepublicanism and other separatist movements. He sought to obtain Germansupport and weapons for an armed rebellion in Ireland against British ruleduring World War I. He was arrested, held in the Tower of London, convicted andhung for treason on the 3rd August 1916.

Roger CasementLocation: Casement Park,Andersonstown

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Joseph was born in 41 Alexander Street, Belfast on the 19th January 1885.He attended Milford Street School and St Malachy’s College.He was a member of the Gaelic League, the Gaelic Athletic Association andco-founder of the Freedom Clubs. A leader of the Irish Volunteers in Belfast.He married and lived in Divis Drive. He was involved in the Rising in 1916 and wasimprisoned in Knutsford and Reading Gaols. He went on to re-organise Sinn Féin inBelfast after the Rising.In 1926 he joined Fianna Fáil and held various posts in Irish politics.

Senator Joseph ConnollyLocation: Felons’ Club

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Harry was born Camlough South Armagh 1896.He was a member of the Belfast branch of the Irish RepublicanBrotherhood (IRB) in 1912.By 1914 he had Joined the Irish Volunteers in Belfast.He was arrested in Belfast during the Easter Rising and interned in Frongoch,Wales. He lived at 14 Divis Drive.

Henry ‘Harry’ OsborneLocation: Felons’ Club

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James Smith was a member of the Belfast Executive Irish Volunteersbetween1914 to 1916. He led a contingent of Irish Volunteers and IRB toO’Donovan Rossa’s Funeral. After the Rising as a result of his activities he wasinterned in Frongoch, Wales.James lived locally.

James SmithLocation: Felons’ Club

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Revolutionary socialist,trade unionist and politicaltheorist. The son of Irishparents he was born in Edinburghon 5 June 1868. Brought up inpoverty he left school at the age of 11.Attracted into politics by the labour movement, hewas invited in 1896 to become paid organiser of the Dublin Socialist Society. InDublin he founded the Irish Socialist Republican Party. He emigrated to the US in1903 returning to Ireland in 1910. By 1911 he was the Belfast organiser for the IrishTransport and General Workers Union and lived on the Falls Road. During the Dublinlock out in 1913, he co-founded the Irish Citizen Army to defend the rights ofDublin workers.He was in command of the garrison in the GPO during Easter Week where he wasseverely wounded. On 9 May, 1916, he was propped up in bed before a court-martialand sentenced to death. At dawn on 12 May he was taken by ambulance from DublinCastle to Kilmainham Jail. Carried on a stretcher into the prison yard, he was strappedinto a chair in a corner of the yard and executed by firing-squad.

Other 19I6 links to seeJames Connolly StatueLocation: Beechmount Drive, Falls Road

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11991166 CCoommmmeemmoorraattiivvee MMuurraallssArdoyne: 98 Brompton Park

New Lodge: 112-116 New Lodge RoadOrmeau Road: Lower Stanfield Street

Falls Road: The International Wall

on your tour

FFiinniisshh yyoouurr ttoouurr aatt tthhee FFeelloonnss’’ CClluubbThe tour ends in The Felons Club, a regular stop fortourists visiting the city and a favourite for locals. Uponproducing this booklet you will receive 10% off your mealor drinks bill.

573 Falls Road Belfast BT11 9ABTelephone: 02890 619875Email: thefelonsclub@gmail.com

BBooookk aa 11991166 TTaaxxii TToouurrTo book a 1916 guided tour around the city Contact: 07892 16660Email: info@taxitrax.comwww.taxitrax.comTAXI TRAX

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Locations Of Plaques And Murals Around Belfast

WEST BELFAST

NORTH BELFAST

SHORT STRAND

ORMEAU ROAD

PLAQUE LOCATIONS1 Eoin Mac Neil, Lincoln Avenue2 Bulmer Hobson, 290 Antrim Road3Winifred Carney, 3Whitewell Parade4 Joseph Campbell, St Matthews PS.5Monahan Family, Cromac Street6 Corr Family, 107 Ormeau Road7 Sean MacEntee, Barrack, Street8 Denis McCullough, Divis Street/Barrack St9 Seamus Robinson, Sevastopol Street10 Sean Mac Diarmada, Clonard Street11Willowbank Huts, Beechmount12 Roger Casement, Casement Park13 Senator Joseph Connolly, Felons’Club14 Henry Osborne, Felons’Club15 James Smith, Felons’Club

Specially commissioned 1916Muralscan also be found at:Ardoyne: 98 Brompton ParkNew Lodge: 112-116 New Lodge RoadOrmeau Road: Lower Stanfield StreetFalls Road: The InternationalWall

OTHER PLACES OF INTERESTA James Connolly StatueBeechmount Drive, Falls RoadB james Connolly Interpretive CentreFalls Road/St James.To be opened in the coming year

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217 Falls Road, Belfast BT12 6FBinfo@visitwestbelfast.com �+44 (0)28 9024 1100

@FailteFeirste Facebook.com:visit/visitwestbelfast