Almost one hundred years ago seven members of the military council of the IRB organised a rebellion to try and establish a republic after years of British rule. The Irish volunteers led by Patrick Pearse and James Connolly and two hundred Cumann na mBan members seized key locations throughout Dublin and declared Ireland a republic. Smaller scale attacks happened throughout the rest of the country as well as a larger one in Ashbourne Co. Meath. They flew the new tricolour flag of the republic outside the GPO instead of the Union Jack. The white in between the green and orange of the tri colour stood for peace between the north (orange) and the south (green). On Easter Monday Pearse read the proclamation aloud outside the GPO. It was modelled on Robert Emmett’s 1803 proclamation and it declared that the military council of the IBR were to be the "Provisional government of the Irish republic."
The proclamation had to be printed prior to the rebellion so many problems arose for the typesetters William O'Brien, Michael Molloy and Christopher Brudy, which affected the design and layout of it. Notably the document was printed in two halves due to a shortage of lettering. This led to a huge increase of half copies sold most of which were destroyed by British soldiers in the aftermath. They lacked a sufficient supply of same font and size lettering, resulting in the the second half of the document having smaller 'e's then the first. The 'R' in 'Irish republic' is bruised and the 'E' of the word 'the' in the line 'The people of Ireland' was made by adding ceiling wax to the foot of an 'F'. They were printed in liberty hall which had direct entry to the baby clothing store called the "co-operative store" in front of it ran by Countess Markievickz and Helen Moloney.
On several occasions detectives raided their shop saying that were searching for pamphlets and literature regarded as illegal however the brave Countess Markievickz prevented them from entering at gun point.
It still remains unclear today because of statements ambiguously declaring Pearse's title why Tom Clarke's name was first among the 'signatories' instead of Patrick Pearse. Was the plan to have Tom Clarke as symbolic head of the state and Pearse as head of the government or was Pearse always to be central?
The British Military saw the leaders as committing treason in war time (World War 1) and ordered their executions. James Connolly who had been wounded during fighting was carried on a stretcher propped on a chair and shot although he had been told by doctors he had a few days to live. British prime ministers stated later they regretted allowing the British military to treat the case as a matter of military law in wartime rather than civilian criminal law.
Eventually Asquith ordered the executions to be stopped and for those not already executed to be dealt with under civilian law but by then all seven signatories had been executed as well as many others.
Originally the Irish people were generally against the rebellion until they learnt of the horrific treatment of these brave men and women. Although in military terms the rising was a failure the principles of the proclamation influenced Irish politicians of later generations. The document promised universal suffrage which only a few countries had at the time, gender equality stating "religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens."
