In pictures: Revolutionary Ireland 1913-1923

Major new photographic exhibition shows the bloody reality of life in Ireland from the 1913 Lockout to the tortured birth of the Republic.

A NEW EXHIBITION and book will be launched tomorrow evening which will bring a decade of revolutionary turmoil in Ireland into sharp focus.

Many previously unpublished photographs are included in ‘Revolution: A photographic history of revolutionary Ireland 1913-1923′, by Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc (Mercier Press). The collection covers events from 1913 through the 1916 Rising, the War of Independence from 1919-21 and the bitter and bloody Civil War of 1922-23.

In that period, the author explains, photographs played an increasingly significant role, being used both as a propaganda tool for all parties and also as evidence and information in the intelligence war between British and Irish during the War of Indepdendence.

Mercier Press have provided us with a selection of striking images from the book for you to see here. To see the exhibition, visit Kilmainham Gaol Museum, Inchicore Road, Dublin 8. It runs until 26 February, 2012:

In pictures: Revolutionary Ireland 1913-1923

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GPO, Dublin, 1916
The clock at the General Post Office showing the time it stopped during the 1916 Rising. Image: Mercier Archives
Makeshift armoured car, Dublin, 1916
An improvised armoured car built by the British Army during the 1916 Rising - this one was made by bolting together four boilers from the Guinness Brewery and mounting on a flatbed truck. Image: Mercier Archives.
Jim Larkin arrest, Dublin, 1913
The RIC and Dublin Metropolitan Police arresting trade union organiser James Larkin during the 1913 Dublin Lockout. Larkin had disguised himself with a beard and tried to address a meeting in Sackville (now O'Connell) St from a hotel window but was arrested. Image: Mercier Archives.
Irish postal strike, 1922
Carrier pigeons being used to carry messages during the Irish postal strike in September 1922 - the strike was caused by the removal of workers' 'cost of living' bonus by the Free State government. Image: Mercier Archives.
Thomas Ashe funeral, 1917
Michael Collins delivered the funeral oration after Thomas Ashe died after being force-fed by authorities while on hunger strike in Mountjoy Prison in September 1917. Image: Mercier Archives
Easter Rising, Dublin, 1916
Children in Dublin with wood scavenged from the ruins of Sackville (now O'Connell) Street in the 1916 Rising. Image: Mercier Archives
Burning of Cork, 1920
Cork city centre was ravaged by fire after the Black and Tans, the RIC and British soldiers went on a rampage to avenge the killing of an Auxiliary soldier by the IRA at Dillon's Cross on 11 December 1920. Image: Mercier Archives
Dublin, 1921
A British Soldier stands by the body of a man killed during the burning of the Custom House in Dublin on 2 May 1921 during the War of Independence. Image: Mercier Archives
Burning of the Custom House, 1921
A clerk examines a ledger amid the ruins of the Custom House where records and documentation were destroyed when it burned in May 1921. Image: Mercier Archives
Civil War, Dublin, 1923
Free State soldiers pose for the camera as fighting ends in Dublin during the Civil War. Image: Mercier Archives
British soldier and civilian, undated
An Irish civilian adopts a defiant stance as a British soldier searches him on the street in the run-up to the War of Independence. Image: Kilmainham Gaol Museum

Children carrying firewood salvaged from the ruins of Sackville (now O'Connell) Street in the 1916 Rising. Mercier Archives

Revolution

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Susan Daly

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