to create an exhibition that would respectfully display information concerning Belvedere College’s connection to the Easter rising, 1916;
to provide the current students with an opportunity to engage with the history and legacy of the rebellion in its centenary year;
to promote awareness of the school’s history throughout the current student and staff body, the past pupils’ Union and the wider Belvedere community.
The exhibition comprised the following:
profiles of people directly and indirectly connecting Belvedere College with the rebellion;
student exhibition pieces inspired by the history and legacy of Easter, 1916;
the play ‘Children of the Rising’ by Fiachra Sheridan, starring students of Belvedere College and students from nearby schools;
a recording of the Junior Choir and of the Chamber Choir;
a public questions and answers session, chaired by Dr John Bowman (OB);
a schedule of short talks delivered by specialist speakers.
The Strong Heart Stir exhibition and events ran from the evening of Friday, 29 April to the evening of Saturday, 30 April.
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This blog contains profiles of the twenty-six identified direct links between Belvedere College SJ and the Easter rising of 1916—twenty-six men who were students or staff at the school and who were actively engaged in the events of Easter week, 1916. Shorter versions of these profiles were displayed throughout Belvedere House at the Strong Hearts Stir exhibition.
These twenty-six short profiles show the varied traditions and range of political views held by the Belvedere community, wider Dublin and Ireland in the early-twentieth century. There are committed career soldiers in the British Army, those fighting for Home Rule for Ireland, Irish-Ireland cultural nationalists and militant republicans. These men display a representative cross-section of the middling classes at Eastertide, 1916.
The main source for this research was the school yearbook, The Belvederian. Publishing its first volume for the school year 1905-1906, it charts the activities of current and past pupils and staff, as well as providing news of the Society of Jesus and world events. The volumes for 1914-1919 were crucial for understanding the context of the Great War and Belvedere students’ contribution to it. The volumes from 1906 onwards were important to understand the generation of schoolboys who were to witness the war and the Easter rebellion as young adults.
The profiles in this blog focus on the individual’s involvement in the events of the Easter rising, 1916. Where possible, information is given concerning their earlier lives, including time at Belvedere College, and brief sketches, again, where possible, of their lives and careers after the rebellion. The profile of Éamon deValera may be considered a little short considering the long and varied life and career of such a man—I direct readers’ attention to Prof R. Fanning and Prof D. Ferriter, amongst others, and their recent publications regarding the former Taoiseach and former President of Ireland. Longer profiles given below are compiled by bringing various sources together to create short biographies of individuals who do not receive the same attention as other figures such as ‘Dev’.
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References to newspapers and the Dictionary of Irish Biography (Cambridge, 2009) were accessed via the National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2, subscriptions to Irish Newspaper Archives, The Irish Times archive and to the Dictionary of Irish Biography online edition.
Please note that the titles and ranks given to the men in the subtitles are those that they held during the rebellion in Dublin, Easter, 1916.
Dublin, June, 2016.
LM.
