Samuel Page was sworn in by the Manchester Police Constabulary to act as a ‘special constable’ for the duration of the weekend of the executions and was stationed directly in front of the condemned men at the foot of the gallows. A large number of ‘respectable’ local men were commissioned in such a fashion in order to … Read more
On 18 September 1867 about 50 Irish Fenians, led by William Allen, attacked a prison van guarded by a large number of unarmed police at Hyde Road in Manchester, England. Their aim was to release two important Fenian prisoners, Thomas J. Kelly and Timothy Deasy. In the course of freeing the men, an unarmed police … Read more
Joseph Gleeson, Sinn Féin and IRB, LiverpoolI was born in Liverpool of Irish parents. My father and my uncle were Fenians. My earliest remembrance is being brought as a small boy to a lecture by O’Donovan Rossa in the Picton Lecture Hall, alongside the Museum and Art Gallery in Liverpool. The lecture was the usual … Read more
Sir,—In your ‘On this day’ column (HI 19.2, March/April 2011) it was stated that James Stephens, the founder of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, died on 29 April 1901. In fact he died on 29 March 1901. At his funeral on 31 March 1901, my great-grandfather James Bermingham was one of the coffin-bearers, along with Michael … Read more
Bulmer Hobson founded an organisation that he called ‘Fianna na hÉireann’ on 26 June 1902 at the Catholic Boys’ Hall, Falls Road, Belfast. In Dublin the founders of the Fianna are not so clear, nor the actual date of formation. Curiously, the most precise detail and relevant evidence may come from the pages of the … Read more