Heritage Partner Comment by That's Just How It Was on December 1, 2015 at 12:20pm

In your opinion michael , why was Dev Valere reprieved ,??  

Comment by michael dunne on December 1, 2015 at 6:57pm

Sorry but perhaps I did not emphasize sufficiently that after 15 of the leaders were executed, there was an international outcry which brought sufficient pressure on the British Government to act in a civilized manner and even to respect the 'rules of war' There were about 98 prisoners 'identified' as ring leaders and they were locked up separate from several hundred that were interned in Frongoch prison in Wales. Initially these 98 prisoners were awaiting drumhead courts and expecting the same fate which was the death sentence. The executed are now in Arbour Hill graveyard at the back of the prison there. These patriots were secretly buried initially and their bodies put into quicklime. Roger Casements trial took place a few months later and he was denied a soldiers execution by firing squad. He was hanged and buried in unconsecrated ground in Pentonville Prison. Decades later his remains were exhumed and re interred in Glasnevin Cemetery where de Valera is also interred. If you would like to know more about de Valera's life, then perhaps you could not do better that to read 'Eamon de Valera by the Earl of Longford also known as Frank Pakenham. He also wrote a brilliant account of the treaty and the issues before and after entitled 'Peace by Ordeal'

Mario Vargas LLosa a distinguished S. American writer wrote an interesting book on the life of Roger Casement his works in the interests of human rights and their abuses in the Congo Peru and Ireland. This title is "The Dream of the Celt"

Heritage Partner Comment by That's Just How It Was on December 2, 2015 at 7:20am

Thank you for that micheal ... however I did know that the identified leaders were locked up  and that the British Government had to bow to world pressure  . The bodies being cover quick lime in my opinion , was a way of sending a message to all the people of Ireland especially the IRB.  That this is how the British Government perceived their enemies., shoot them first and then  to ensure that the message has got to the Irish people and the  IRB  , cover them in quick lime , showing their contempt  for these brilliant men....

Roger Casement was also buried in quicklime in Pentonville Prison- before his bone's were removed to Ireland and interred .  However some sources argue that it has never been proved that were were Casement bone's, or indeed if there were bones in the coffin at all.....Stone rocks some suggest ??? 

""His sister Nora and cousin Gertrude Bannister went to their graves always adamant that while the handwriting may be his in the black diaries,, the contents were accounts of the foul conduct he investigated at Putumayo, Peru. They both insist that the British government got the diaries and forged them to make it look like it was his own experiences he had written about.  

Casement's bones were repatriated to Ireland 1965.  His bones lay in state at Arbour Hill for five days. More than three million people filed past his coffin.  He was given a state funeral and was buried with full military honors in the Republican section with the other heroes in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin" {from my article 6th April  2015] 

One of these days I will I will get around to buying de Valera book by the Earl of Longford and  Casements book by Mario Vargas LLose .  Although I have it on good authority that --Geoffrey Dudgeon's book on Casement is  a very controversial  but worthwhile read .... 

  

Comment by michael dunne on December 2, 2015 at 9:38am

So then we are agreed that the reprieve was not specific to de Valera but to the 96 or so others imprisoned in Richmond Barracks awaiting a similar fate as those executed? To have carried on with these executions would have established Britain as an equally barbaric colonial power as the worst excesses of Portugal and the Belgian Congo!  Britain was bad but not as barbaric. You may be right on your theory as to why Britain covered the bodies of the executed in quick lime. My opinion based on the widely published  accounts of the funeral of O'Donovan Rossa is to the effect that Britain wished to deny the Irish insurgents any future rallying point or public gathering which could be used to foment and galvanize public opinion Pearse's graveside oration exemplifies this idea ..." the fools the fools they leave us our Fenian Dead..." The idea I think was to ensure Pearse and his comrades would be denied fulfillment of this prophesy.

Men like Casement, Childers and to a lesser extent Hobson, were mistrusted by mainstream Republicans. Today's example might include Martin Mansergh and John Hume. Without these two men, I think our hopes of peace and reconciliation would have been gloomy. Thanks for thew tip on the author Geoffrey Dudgeon and his book on Casement.

And a Very Happy christmas to You and Yours

michael

Heritage Partner Comment by That's Just How It Was on December 2, 2015 at 12:49pm

Thank you for all your comments Michael  , I have thoroughly them

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