1.  Irish families have been known to set a place for deceased loved ones who died the year before at the New Years Feasting table and also to leave the front door ajar for them.

2.  The 1st person through the door on New Year’s Eve was a lucky or unlucky sign. If it was a dark handsome man it was good luck but if it was a red headed woman it meant trouble ahead. Wow! With my flaming hair, I guess I would be booted to the curb!

3.  Single men and women placed holly or mistletoe under their pillow in the hopes of dreaming about their future mate.

4.  Some Irish people left the front or back door open to let the old year out and the new year in.

5.  For good luck with finances, the Irish brought their purses outside before the New Year rolled in. They did not bring the purses inside until after midnight hoping for good fortune in the coming year.

6.  It is common for Irish people to clean their houses top to bottom at the end of the year.

7.  To bang the wall with a loaf of bread is seen as a way to chase away bad luck.

8.  Food was never sent out of the house on New Years Eve but on New Years day goody bags were often sent away with guests.

9.  Now this one is interesting. People look to the direction of the wind as a way to tell what kind of year they can expect and Ireland certainly is a windy country for that. If the wind comes from the West on New Years day, it means Ireland will have good luck in the coming year but if it comes from the East all the luck would be bad and all the good luck would go to England.

10.  As with most Christian customs in Ireland, Paganism figures into its origins. New Years is no exception. The real beginning of a New Year (According to Pagan and Celtic standards anyway) is at the end of October with the festival of Samhain or ‘Halloween’ as it is now known.

The Molly Maguires

The Molly Maguires were a secret society started in Ireland in the 19th century. Originally known as the Ribbon Society before its expansion outside of West Munster and Northern Connacht, they conducted their meetings in  lodges across Ireland. The champions of the poor, they sent threatening letters, boycotted, or used violence against wealthy landowners who were charging ridiculous prices for rent and anyone accused of acquiring land where starving peasants were evicted.

An  Irish mafia in America.

A movie about the Molly Maguires came out in 1970 starting Sean Connnery, Richard Harris, and Samantha Eggar. The movie takes place in Pennsylvania however depicting coal miners struggles  against oppression and corrupt mine owners.

Leaving Ireland for America, the Mollys (or Ribbonmen)  settled in Pennsylvania, learning the trade of a coal miner. They also blended with two similar Irish societies, the Hibernian Benevolent Society and St. Patrick’s boys in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. These legal organizations sought to affect change in working conditions for coal miners. From here, the Molly Maguires enrolled in politics, bought businesses and nearly every Irish tavern or saloon was a devoted member of the Molly Maguires or more commonly known as the Hibernians or St Patrick’s boys. It was the first unionized group of Coal Miners and strictly Irish.

Eagerly, the Irish had flocked to American shores for the promise of a job in industry.  Most were farmers and  unskilled but willing to learn a trade.

It was a hard life.

They worked long days and many hours in the dark,

Below ground,

Breathing coal dust into their lungs

Just so their families could get ahead.

They were not the only immigrants doing so but the only Irish group in Pennsylvania working towards unionizing workers. Many of the men did not  know English.

Steel Factory

At the end of the 19th century and into the 20th, the people of industrial America experienced dropping wages, layoffs, and recession.

Although people in the mines worked long and hard, wages decreased instead of increasing.

Poor working conditions as well as anti-Irish prejudice, fueled confrontation between workers and employers.

Coal miners formed their own union, one of the first of its kind in America.

In addition to working underground and not seeing the light of day for days on end, the miners had to endure horrendous conditions.

Floods, mine explosions and the ever-present danger of being buried alive gave many families good cause to worry. Things were rough and conditions were not improving despite miners discontent. Repercussions against the Coal Kings, specifically murder were blamed on the Molly Maguires.

Four Irishmen hung for murder 1877

Their troubles escalated from the 1850s to the 1870s. On June 21st, 1877 four Irishmen were hung for murder. They were Jack Donahue, Edward Kelly, Mike Doyle, and Alec Campbell.

People packed into the prison yard for viewing and what a show they had because unfortunately, the mechanism malfunctioned and the men were strangled not hung.

In addition, thirty miles away in Pottsville, six more Irishmen, Jim Boyle, Hugh McGeehan, Jim Carroll, Jim Roarty, Tom Munley, and Tom Duffy were hung. Boyle held a red rose as he walked to the gallows. When the trap was sprung the rose fell to the ground.

June 21st 1877 became known as Black Thursday. Twenty men in all were hung ending 2.5 years later, the last one, Charlie Sharpe who only moments before might have had a reprieve.

Miners Strike of 1902

In 1897 there was a depression in America.

In response to lower profits, coalmine owners dropped wages. To make matters worse , competition by a multitude of minority groups afforded owners the opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

The Coal Kings gave miners credit at the local store as well as housing instead of a paycheck. If they wanted to get rid of a worker they simply cut off his credit and they could do this without any notice at all.

Coal mine strike 1902 w/ John Mitchell in carriage

By 1902, workers were on strike.

Employers refused to negotiate, believing the unions were the cause of all their troubles in the first place. Strikers were evicted from their homes and their houses given to non-strikers or ‘scabs.’

President Theodore Roosevelt

Six months into the strike, President Roosevelt intervened.

He established a commission to investigate conditions of the coal mines. No other president had ever intervened in an industrial dispute before. After five months of hearings, coal miners were offered 10% increase in wages, a 10% reduction in hours, and the right to elect their own weighing men. Although corruption of the Coal Kings was finally unveiled, miners did not get all they wanted. Their union was still not recognized.

Some men decided to leave the mines for better opportunity. They traveled west to Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Montana to mine for gold, copper and silver. Others joined another trade or worked int the booming oil industry.

The stories of the men executed were sung in Irish ballads.

For a more detailed account of the Molly Maguires go here.

For more little known facts of Irish history read 100 Things You Didn’t Know About Ireland

Please leave a comment if you have more information about the Molly Maguires

Women on Different Continents fighting for a common cause.

Both Eva Gore Booth and Edna Purtell and others like them fought for women’s rights but in different ways and on different shores.

Eva Gore Booth, an Anglo-Irish woman from County Sligo Ireland, had always been sensitive to the plight of others, as was her more famous sister, Constance Gore Booth or the Rebel Countess as she became known during Ireland’s rebellious past. Both women grew up educated, well cared for, and worldly.  While Constance would live most of her adult life in Ireland, Eva  moved to Manchester, England to live with her lifelong companion, Esther Roper. Both women worked toward women’s suffrage, a journey they spent their lifetime traveling through. They wrote letters, created posters and banners, and gave speeches. Had anyone listened though? Anyone that could give women the vote which would help them change their circumstances.

The fight for women’s suffrage was not a new war nor an unusual battle at this time in history yet the way Eva and Esther fought was different from many who spoke out in England and even in America. Eva and Esther were pacifists while the rest of the world moved toward more controversial and often risky means of protest.

The media labeled them, Suffragettes.

These women believed the only way to win women the vote was to force the general public, specifically men, to stand up and take notice of their demands. The only way to do that ..  was to shock them.

They began with marches.

For their efforts, many women were thrown in jail both here in America and in England.

Some went on hunger strikes and were force fed cruelly.

Women were put in the same category as criminals, people needing to be controlled for their own good. In fact, it was a common belief among men that educated women were inferior.

The task of educating girls was the subject of intense debate in Manchester, where Eva and Esther lived.

Mark Pattison, Chief Commissioner of Schools published a report stating, ‘An average man of middle classes prefers a woman who is less educated to one who is more.'(from Petticoat Rebels of 1916)

James Bryce, added to the report,  …  ‘the defects of women as teachers is they have not themselves been well taught and they do not know how to teach.’ He continued his caustic remarks by saying that the notion women had minds as cultivatable as men’s was offensive.Women with Irish backgrounds fought for Women’s Suffrage from American shores. Edna Purtell was one of these women.

She was Irish American living in the state of Connecticut. As president of an organization that supported Irish independence from Great Britain she soon became involved in politics, most importantly the women’s suffrage movement.

Purtell had some unexpected luck that landed her in Washington.

In 1918 a suffragist rally was set to take place in Washington D.C. Anyone outside of Connecticut would have a difficult time attending as the passage and expense could not be afforded but Purtell had some unexpected luck that landed her in Washington.

A woman by the name of Katharine Mary Houghton, (later when she married, Hepburn) the famous American actress, Katharine Hepburn’s mother provided the funds for Edna Purtell’s trip to the rally. Katharine Hepburn was a suffragette herself and very involved but she was also very pregnant at the time of the Washington rally.  She asked Edna, “Could you go to Washington to be arrested and demonstrate?” Edna was thrilled when she learned that Mrs. Hepburn would pay her way.

When I refused he broke two of my fingers taking it away.

A bonfire was set on the sidewalk before the white house and women marched through Lafayette Park shouting slogans and carrying banners.  Some climbed a statue of Lafayette and yelled from the top. Said Edna, “I was so young I could climb the statue. The police wouldn’t arrest you until you spoke so I yelled ‘Lafayette we are here.’  I was arrested 4 times. Later a policeman told me they had orders to take our sashes. When I refused he broke two of my fingers taking it away.”

So many women were arrested the jails were overflowing. Police had to decide where to put them so they took many of them to the Washington District Workhouse, a place that was filthy and inadequate with poor drinking water. It was set in a swamp and had been closed down previously finding it ‘unfit for human habitation.’

Edna’s broken fingers had not been treated for over five days!

One by one the women became ill. When U.S Senators visited they were shocked at the conditions of the jail. Most were sleeping on the floor without adequate sanitation or water. Outraged citizens sent hundreds of telegrams to President Wilson. After five days, he had no choice but to set the women free. Edna’s broken fingers had not even been treated yet. The second rally met in Lafayette Park. This time the police did not bother them.

1  Thomas Jefferson (3rd U.S president) and John Adams (2nd president of the United States) both died on July 4th 1826, the 50th anniversary of the of the Declaration of Independence.

2  John Adams argued that Independence day should be July 2nd not July 4th as that was the day the Continental Congress voted for independence from Great Britain.

3  In 1778, American Independence day was celebrated not in America but in Paris when Benjamin Franklin and John Adams confirmed France’s involvement supporting American Revolutionary troops.

4  In pre-Revolution years, colonists held celebrations with ringing of bells, bonfires, and festivities in honor of King George’s birthday but by 1776 this all changed. The celebration of the day began with a mock funeral for King George III.

5  George Washington gave double rations of rum to his soldiers on Independence day.

6  Philadelphia may have been the first place to celebrate Independence day with fan fair. On July  4th 1777, they marked the occasion with bells, bonfires and possibly for the first time—fireworks.

7  July 4th was not made a federal holiday until 1938.

8  July 4th, 2012 the 1st Irish-America Day was celebrated in New Ross, Ireland in recognition of friendship between Ireland and the United States. The ties to New Ross in particular include John F Kennedy’s great grandparents. Thousands of more Irish men and women left the shores of New Ross during famine times in the 1840s. Many more fought in American wars including the Revolutionary War.

9  The original draft of the Declaration of Independence was drawn up by Charles Thomson, secretary to the Continental Congress and an Irishman emigrated from Londonderry in 1739.

10  The 1st printer of the Declaration of Independence also was Irish, John Dunlap from Strabane, County Tyrone. He was also the founder of the 1st daily American newspaper.

Joseph Mary Plunkett, well known as one of the signatories of the proclamation and his involvement in Ireland’s fight for independence, suffered from tuberculosis all of his life, but that didn’t stop British soldiers from executing him. Historians have found his life fascinating, especially when they learned he married his sweetheart, Grace Gifford in Kilmainham jail a short time before his execution by firing squad.  It is his sister Geraldine, who knew her brother better than anyone however.

Who was Joseph Mary Plunkett?

Born into a wealthy family in 1887, he was the 2nd born son of 7 children to George Nobel Plunkett and Mary Josephine Cranny.

Sickly, most of his life, he never let ill health stop him from learning all he could and accomplished much more than many healthy individuals.

Count and Countess Plunkett and daughter Mimi

His family owned large Georgian houses and tenements all over Dublin.

From one of the tenants, Joe obtained an infantry manual containing British tactical notes left behind by Captain Harold Kinsman. In the book were infantry maneuvers including how to destroy a bridge.  Joe used this manual to plan the Easter Rising.

Fascinated by math and science, he built a laboratory in the basement of his house.

When he was thirteen, he began to build wireless sets in his home, using his lunch money to buy equipment and books. He kept this interest in wireless communications throughout his adulthood and  delighted in teaching his younger siblings all sorts of things.

At the age of 29, he became engaged to Grace Gifford in what was to be a double wedding ceremony with his sister, Geraldine and Thomas Dillon.

They were due to be married on Easter Sunday 1916 but the Easter Rising changed all that.  While Geraldine and Thomas, who were engaged much longer than Joe and Grace, married on the appointed date, Joe and Grace postponed their wedding.

An accomplished poet and writer, Joe took over as editor of the Irish Review from Padraic Colum. He became owner of the Review in 1913.

Escaping the Hangman’s Noose and Roger Casement

Roger Casement was blamed or credited (depending how one looks at it)  for negotiating arms with Germany in 1915. The shipload of arms, carried by a German tugboat arrived earlier than expected for the Rising.  He also attempted to recruit Irish prisoners of war and German officers.  According to Plunkett, he took this mission on himself and not by orders from the Military Council.

Casement, who also suffered from tuberculosis, was not the perfect spy.

It is likely someone identified and followed him to Berlin.  After all was said and done; the British captured Casement on Banna Strand. They tried him in a court of law and eventually hung him for treason.

Joe, who was an admirer of Casement’s, followed him to Germany. The IRB paid for his passage. He could have easily been in the same predicament as Casement, but escaped the hangman’s noose due to his extreme caution.  Joe, who remained skeptical of those he did not know while traveling, trusted Casement but found him naive and too much in the public’s eye. Casement had been very open in writing and speaking about anti-conscription in England, so it is likely, he was under the watchful eye of the British.  Joe noticed that Casement knew he was being watched and brought a servant with him to carry his papers.  Casement introduced his servant as Adler Christiansan,  to Joe. Believing the servant was reporting to the  British government, Joe refused to use his real name around Christainan although Casement was convinced of his servant’s trustworthiness.

In addition to Joe’s careful comings and goings, he destroyed all photographs of himself and used the fake name, James Malcolm and then later, Johann M. Peter.  He hid secret documents in a hollow cane and grew a beard. There were several narrow escapes in his travels and his passport was checked everywhere.  On a boat from Barcelona to Genoa, a French warship stopped Joe’s ship, the passengers searched. After contacting some friends in Florence, he was educated in how to spot Italian spies from that day forward.

British Army soldiers smile as they march to the front lines in France

Soldiers and soldiers and soldiers

Aiden McCabe was Plunkett’s IRB contact in Dublin so he wrote to him often.  Relating in a letter about his travels to Berlin, he stated there were no sleepers. This must have been a hardship for Joe as he suffered from not only malaise but also tuberculosis. Traveling left him exhausted and ill. He writes to Aiden McCabe, “Train and train all day and night. Big towns and soldiers and soldiers and soldiers.”

The Red Herring

At this time in history, Dublin Castle was the seat of British government. Considering Plunkett’s poor health, they were not suspicious when he left the country. It was customary for Irish gentry to flock to warmer climates in order to improve health although they were not convinced he was as sick as he was, possibly because he was so active in his travels.  As far as the British were concerned, Plunkett was hardly ill at all, but had grown tired of the Volunteers.  This may have had something to do with Joe spreading the word about Dublin that he was traveling to Jersey for his health. Whatever the reason behind the government’s disinterest in Joe’s journey, it apparently worked.

Keeper of Secrets

Geraldine Plunkett was probably the closest person to her brother Joseph. Although four years his junior, she often felt responsible for his safety, often at the insistence of their overbearing mother.  Joe trusted Geraldine implicitly and he confided in her often. Anticipating Gerry’s anxiety, he told her the IRB was sending him to Germany. He involved her in his plans and taught her how to cipher the coded letters he would send home. They were addressed to Aiden McCabe  and signed James Malcolm.  Aiden gave the letters to Geraldine.  After she presumably read them, she forwarded the correspondence to Sean Mac Diarmada or Patrick Pearse.

Joe confided in Gerry further, telling her the Germans had doubts about working with Casement due to his strange erratic temperament, and that he was not sent from the IRB. Although Casement laid the groundwork, Joseph Plunkett was delegated to draw up the official plans. It seemed he had a knack for international politics and knew when to ask questions, when to nod at the appropriate moment, etc. In addition, his IRB credentials gave him authenticity and confidence with the Germans. Coming from Joe, the request for arms sounded reasonable.

The First Fianna Fail

After Casement’s arrest and the failed mission to obtain German guns, Eoin MacNeill published a countermand of the Rising, which had been set for Easter Sunday 1916. It did however happen on Easter Monday, amid mass confusion among the Volunteers.

All over the country, Volunteers and IRB soldiers knew to stay home but those in Dublin only took orders from their leaders. Patrick Pears explained that Ireland needed a blood sacrifice in order to become free, believing their generation could not afford to miss this small window of opportunity. With the war raging in Europe, they need to strike, while England was preoccupied.

Joe kept a detailed diary, ciphering names and places, often in very good Irish. Both he and Casement tried to organize an Irish Brigade from prisoners of war in Limburg, but few were convinced to join.  He called this brigade Fianna Fail.  The diary was left in Berlin but was recovered by Casement’s cousin, Gertrude Bannister in 1918, two years after the Rising and both Casement and Plunkett’s executions.

Joe believed that without the Rising, Irishmen all over Ireland and England would be conscripted into the British army. He told Gerry that Home Rule would never happen anyway.  Given only a few weeks to live, this was his sacrifice, not only for Ireland, but to prevent so many deaths in a foreign war.

How I would have loved to see my little girls compete but would like to see it performed more simply, without the wigs, and extravagant dresses. My hats off to Brianna Broesler! when she dared to dance wearing trousers.

By the way, the word, phony, was derived from Irish. This is one of the fascinating trivia facts in the book, 100 Things You Didn’t’ Know about Ireland

Scottish Sword Dance

Irish music and dancing are one, and like Irish music, the steps were taught  from person to person, generation to generation,  never to be written down until centuries later. Although most Irish culture was forbidden by England during Colonial times, the king of England loved entertainment.

Two Irish dances were imported at the request of the Tudor King.

They were both country dances performed in a ’round.’ In addition the English were fascinated by the sword dances, favored by Scots. In fact, Ireland, Scotland, and France share history with Irish dance.

The Dance Master

As far back as the 1700s or more, Dance Masters traveled through rural villages, stopping along the way to teach dance steps to country people. He brought his own musicians and stayed with a local family. Dancing took place in kitchens, barns, at crossroads or out of doors.

This later form of education was called Hedge Schools. This is where the phrase, “tripping the sod ‘ came from.

Jumping and Twirling to an Irish Muse!

Not all Irish dance is the same. Some dances are meant as solo performances while others are meant to be with partners or in a large group. All share the frenzied jumping and often twirling to an Irish muse.

Irish dance has also migrated and mingled with the American Colonies of the South with Irish French, Scottish and Polish migrations. Their dances can be very similar.

Different Types of Dance

1. Set Dancing is the older type of dance with a European flare, very much like American “square dance.” Traditionally it was done at a cross roads. They were extremely popular in County Clare.
2. Ceili Dances were created because someone thought other types of set dance were not Irish enough. These days no one cares and often Ceiliis and Step dances are mixed together.
3. Sean-nos-dancing is the solo sort of isolated dance with the arms hung loosely at the sides. I’ve heard this was in order that dancing were secretive should a British soldier be peeing in a window but I’m not sure if this is true.
4. Lastly, we have the step dance which is the more contemporary dance we see today in shows like ‘River Dance.’ and competitions.

If you enjoyed this post you may like: Why Irish Music Remains a Mystery

So why does Irish music remain a mystery? The same reason much of Irish history, stories, and culture was lost for hundreds of years.

. The British strangled it! They forced musicians to abandon their art in more ways than one.

When King George proclaimed himself king of Ireland, he banned everything Irish including Irish dress and hair styles. After his death, his daughter finished what he started.

Queen Elizabeth issued the decree, “Hang the harpers wherever found and burn their instruments.”

This certainly put a damper on the art of harping on the small island.

Years later, those few Irish men and women who had hidden their talents from the British either emigrated or sold their instruments during the famine of the 1840s.

Irish music only grew popular again in the last 150 or so years when the Gaelic Revival and those working to preserve Ireland’s history, made huge efforts to not only reclaim and promote Irish music, but to teach dance, history, literature, and culture to the people of Ireland. Ironically, many of those responsible for making Ireland Irish again, had English blood in their veins. These were Anglo Irish gentry who now considered themselves Irish. Many had come from families going back to the original Colonial planters given land from Queen Elizabeth. Some of these same people were involved in the Easter Rising of 1916, having gone one step further to reclaim their heritage in a new Republic separate from England.

Roger Casement may  have been gay but is that important to his accomplishments? He was hung by the British for being a traitor. Some thought it was his homosexuality that tipped the scales of justice. Casement did admit being gay at his trial which probably did not help his case.  Today we probably would not care.

Did you know there was a time in British history that sodomy was punishable by hanging?

That would be a whole new post wouldn’t it?

There  is the fact of whether he was a traitor or not?  But to which country?

Lets look at the facts

Because Ireland was still part of the British Empire, Roger Casement’s activities promoting an insurrection were categorized as sedition, rebellion, and treason. But what does Ireland think? Other rebels during the Easter Rising were probably gay too. Are they traitors as well?

Irish Revolutionary Accomplishments of Roger Casement

• he was a member of the provisional committee of the Irish Volunteers
• member of the Gaelic League
• attempted to raise an Irish Brigade from prisoners of war in Germany. He even went as far as trying to persuade Irish officers in America to head his brigade. Sadly only one officer , Robert Monteith agreed which is one reason Germany did not feel confident in sending troops to Ireland.
• met with Joseph Plunkett in Germany to discuss what would become the Easter Rising. Plunkett hid their secret plans for the insurrection inside his cane.
• wrote a permanent record on the topic of Chivalry for the official Fianna handbook which was also written by Constance Markievicz. (for more on the Irish boy scouts go here)
• successfully convinced Germany to donate machine guns, ammunition, and explosives to Ireland for the Easter Rising

Friends an family did not abandon Casement at his trial

WB Yeats wrote a poem about Casement calling him a gallant gentleman. You can read it here.

Alfred Noyes, a wartime propagandist published a letter denouncing Casement and his own version of the Black Diaries which he called ..

“an insult to a pig’s trough to let the foul record touch it.’.

Later, Noyes was lecturing on English poets in America a young lady stood up and shouted,

“This man is a blackguard scoundrel.  Your countryman hanged my brother, Roger Casement.”

The lady was Roger Casement’s sister, Nina. Stung by this attack, Noyes wrote a letter to the Irish Press stating he may have been misled by the diaries.

In 1957 he published The Accusing Ghost or Justice for Casement in which he admitted that Casement may have been the victim of a British intelligence plot. In other words, he was set up. A little too late!

Alfred Noyes

A victim of a British conspiracy?

When Casement was working as British consul in South America, he translated another private diary of one Armando Normand, a cruel man who inflicted torture, slavery, and vicious brutality on native rubber plant workers. These notes may have been  incorporated into Casement’s  own private diaries.

Was Casement a victim of a British conspiracy? Did the fact that he was a gay man have anything to do with it?

A little Half Affair.

Perhaps the most loyal friend of all to Roger Casement was Eva Gore Booth, younger sister of Constance Markievicz. Casement’s favorite cousin, Gertrude Parry convinced Eva to frequent his trials in Bow Street Police Court each day.

She wrote that he presented a well-groomed and distinguished appearance. He smiled when he saw her and sent notes through his cousin, Gertrude, who claimed, “they had a little half affair.”

Eva did everything she could to help Casement’s court case including

• Pleading with the editor of The Manchester Guardian to organize press support.
• Convinced Lord Carew, the Foreign Minister to influence the cabinet on Casment’s behalf, saying he was trying to stop the Rising.
• She tried to convince President Taft to sign a petition to gain a reprieve
• She also had an audience with King George V to gain an appeal. The King claimed he was powerless to act.

One man recanted what he wrote about Casement years later

Roger Casement is best known for his ‘Black Diaries’ which in my opinion have overshadowed the history of his  previous life in the British government as a humanitarian.   A man respected and loved by family and friends, he was not abandoned at his trial as the media and history books would have us believe.

In fact one man recanted what he wrote about Casement years later. Unfortunately, it came too late and Casement was executed. The real Casement story takes place years before the Easter Rising. He deserves more notoriety showing his contributions to his country and to society.

One major achievement attributed to Roger Casement is his work as a consul for the British government exposing atrocities and exploitation of Peruvian natives working on the rubber plantations of the Amazon jungles.Casement was knighted by the queen for documentation he provided against a British company brutalizing and .exploiting natives who worked in rubber plants.

The Devil’s Paradise

Casement wrote a report to the British government entitled, the Putamayo Report or the Devil’s Paradise. In this report he wrote about what he witnessed.

• Brazilians attacked without protection of the law.
• bands of armed men constantly organized to obtain men and women turned into prisoners in the midst of extermination and blood
• Children are torn from mothers, wives from husbands, without pity, turned into slaves.
• People flogged until their bones were laid barren
• People left to die with their wounds festering with maggots and their bodies used for food for the agent’s dogs!
• Indians burned alive, put in stocks, crucified, or cut to pieces by machetes.

England dragged her feet

When these unspeakable outrages were reveled to the Foreign Office by Roger Casement it was denied (at first) by the London Press and some papers refused to publish the story, fearing a libel suit from the rubber company. Two years earlier, the Arana brothers, owners of the rubber company visited London to borrow money for their empire. This was a British company!

The Foreign Office held onto Casement’s report for a full year. They waited for the Peruvian government to take action to end the abuses. The rubber company  continued their abuses of mankind.

Help sought from a US President

Casement wrote a journal of his experience published in 1997 by Lilliput. He had visited Africa in the 1880s as a teenager and the Congo in 1903 all with the same horrible circumstances that appeared in his report in 1911 so this was not the first time he’d witnessed such cruelty.

Casement even visited Washington in an attempt to cajole the president. He brought the plight of these poor exploited people of Africa and Peru to President Taft’s attention an explained all the sordid details. The situation went unresolved however.

What did get the world’s attention was the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society. Finally, the outrages were revealed.

Casement was thoroughly frustrated by the inactivity of the British government to stop what was happening in the rubber trade. Arana’s henchmen went unpunished. This was a turning point in Casement’s views on Colonialism. He had a keen grasp of the price of economic concessions of Imperial Capitalism throughout the world. The rubber trade was simply relocated to Malaya but the Amazon Indians continued to suffer.

Dingle, Ireland

Annihilation of Culture

Through Casement’s experiences in the Amazon, he realized something else. The annihilation of a culture of a people.

At this point in time, Ireland was involved in the Gaelic Revival. Casement grew up reading Irish history and knew how to speak Irish.

He related the loss of a culture to Ireland. Through Colonialism the loss of not only life but language and a whole history of a people. He did not want to see this in Ireland and told Alice Stopford Green, who was involved in Irish politics his views on the matter.

How is it that a man who fought so hard for a lost and exploited people, traveled the world and lived through the awful experiences himself is now only thought of as a gay traitor in the history books? Why are the other men and women of the Easter Rising celebrated and remembered? Was it the fault of the Catholic Church? Because he was gay? Or something else? Will he be remembered during the Centenary of the Easter Rising?

By Brighid O’Sullivan

Excerpt from Chapter 7:

Helen (Ruth) Gifford

Nellie Gifford did not graduate and left Alexandra College in her late teens. Both she and her sister, Sidney were disgusted with the snobbery of both staff and pupils. Nellie, who was considered by her mother not as smart as her sisters, did not regret leaving. Instead, her mother put her to work in her own kitchen serving tea and treats to her mother’s high society guests who arrived in flowing skirts and big hats. Like a common maid, Nellie was not allowed to speak to those she served, nor was she to be spoken to. Here, in her mother’s own presence, she learned more lessons that would shape the rest of her young life. Several of her mother’s friends were the parents of her classmates, people she’d come to disdain for the way they looked down on everyone around them . These high society women talked about the war as if it was unimportant. They referred to young men, fresh out of school, dieing in a foreign land as if it were a foregone conclusion, almost boasted about. She found it appalling when one woman spoke about her own son joining his regiment The mother sounded so nonchalant, as if she were describing her son on a holiday. Conversations like this flooded Nellie’s blood with rage and she wanted to do something about it. Serving tea and scones however was not likely to change anything.

Conscription

In 1908, Susan Mitchell wrote a Christmas ballad about an Irish boy in a workhouse conscripted into the British army ‘for the glory of the Empire.’ Padraic Column’s play, ‘the Saxon Shilling’ also was published. By 1910 , Arthur Griffith was promoting anti-enlistment propaganda in both large and smaller newspapers. Griffith wrote, the strength of England lies in her armed forces. Guns and battleships are useless … and … Without a large Irish contingent in the British army that army would be of no more use in serious warfare than an armed police.

Conscription was not implemented in Ireland but like a cat outside a mouse hole, Republicans believed her majesty’s army would capture her prey eventually. They needed to take action to prevent this from happening.

Nellie Gifford remembered her friends and relatives lost during the Boar War and she was determined that if it was at all possible to keep Irishmen from going to war she would help. She was concerned about Irishmen living in Britain. Would they fall through the loopholes and be conscripted the same as Englishmen? Would these boys be safe? She expressed her fear to Helen Molony who suggested asking an Irish MP to pose the question in the House of Commons. There was a very short window of time as Parliament sat on Tuesdays just 2 days away. The only MP who had not already left for England was Alfie Byrne. He lived around the corner from Liberty Hall. When Gifford and Molony had arrived at Byrne’s house, they found he had taken a boat to Holyhead so they followed him there. Unfortunately, he had continued onto another house so the women decided to go back to his house to wait for his return. When they met with Byrne they found him very cooperative and willing to ask what needed to be asked. On Tuesday in the House of Commons, Byrne posed the question of whether Irishmen living in England were exempt from conscription. When they said they were not and that they could indeed be drafted. It influenced a huge wave of Irishmen, one being Michael Collins, to travel back to their native country of Ireland.. Without that question put to Parliament these men would never have known until it was too late. They may have been forced into a war they did not believe in and were not prepared to fight.

There seemed to be another problem when all these Irishmen returned to Dublin. Read what Nellie created to support the out-of-work Irishmen and how she met Michael Collins.

The above is the unedited version of the Ebook Petticoat Rebels of 1916

PETTICOAT REBELS OF 1916Available for 1.99