THE DECADE OF CENTENARIES: A LOOK BACK

Las Fallon reviews an important time of commemoration

As we move towards the end of the ‘Decade of Centenaries’, as the Revolutionary period (de ned as 1912 -1923) was called in the o cial program of events, it might be time to cast an eye back over the events remembering those years with a particular eye on DFB involvement.

Commemoration is a strange thing, and o en speaks more to today’s society than it does to the original events. Who commemorates what? Who ‘owns’ the right to commemorate? Do some attempts at commemoration go too far? All of these questions arose over the 11 years of the ‘Decade’. I think it is fair to say that Ireland acquitted itself well, but o en the best of the content was community and nonGovernment group driven, rather than Government-led.

By coincidence, the initial year of the State commemoration of the Revolutionary years also coincided with the 150th Anniversary of the DFB as a municipal re service in 2012. e DFB events were not linked to Decade of Centenary events and stood alone. State events that year included the commemoration of the founding of the Irish Volunteers, which was marked with exhibitions, books and ceremonies.

On the DFB front, I had stepped away from my role in the DFB Museum in 2011, where I had been curator from 2008, and was not involved in any of the DFBs commemoration events. As I have mentioned before, I was genuinely surprised that no coverage was given to the 300th anniversary of the rst city re service in 1711, but I think it fair to say that the 2012 events were more about celebration than commemoration, which is a quite legitimate road to take.

MILESTONE

2012 was a very important year for me personally. I decided to make positive use of years of research and collecting and, with the encouragement of a number of historians who are good mounted an exhibition with SDCC on the 300 years of Dublin’s re service history in the County Library in Tallaght.

Both the book (launched by my good friend, the late Shane Mac omais) and the exhibition were popular and well received generally. It opened doors to me which would take me to a new level in studying and speaking on our history, especially in the Revolutionary years. Over the following years, I would have the privilege of giving talks in all sorts of locations from the chamber of Seanad Eireann and the bench of the Supreme Court, to parish halls, schools, universities, Garda Stations(!) and Men’s Shed groups. I would later return to heritage projects within the DFB and really enjoyed my time doing that in 2015 and 2016, but still feel that changing course in 2012 was an enriching experience and a good decision.

Lockout

One of the early ‘big events’ of the Decade was the anniversary of the 1913 Lockout. I remember attending a ‘History Ireland’ conference in Glasnevin Cemetery in 2012 where the theme, looking at the years ahead, was ‘who do we remember –Volunteer or Fusilier?’ It soon became clear that there was room for both traditions in the events ahead, but the coming one was possibly slightly di erent.

In the questions and answers session of the conference, I asked with tongue in cheek if it was proposed that events around the centenary of the Lockout would include an event to commemorate Dublin Metropolitan Policemen and Royal Irish Constabulary constables who had played their part in suppressing the striking workers. e view of those at the conference was that there would be no remarked to me that the question had, intentionally (if not subtly!) thrown a brick through the window and made people more aware of the more di cult aspects of the coming years. In 2020, a decision by the Fine Gael government to commemorate the Royal Irish Constabulary and by extension their integral elements in the Black and Tans and Auxiliary Division RIC, led to massive public outcry and a rapid change of heart by the Government.

2014 and 2015 were quiet enough on the commemoration front, with much of what did happen aimed at remembrances of those who had fought in the British Army of WW1 rather than events at home. An exception was the commemoration (and indeed recreation) of the O`Donovan-Rossa funeral in 2015. It pointed to a di erence in methodology between the o cial Government line and the more popularly based commemorations which would de ne the anniversary of the Rising.

Appetite

On the morning of the O`DonovanRossa centenary, there was a small-scale Government ceremony which was dwarfed by the a ernoon’s events organised by a committee including Sinn Féin and the O`Donovan-Rossa family, which recreated his lying in state in City Hall, the funeral procession from there to Glasnevin and the famous speech by Pearse at the graveside. I attended this event as an interested spectator and later walked in the procession to Glasnevin, where I was lucky enough to get a ticket to allow access to the events inside the graveyard. It was an amazing event and one which I was delighted to take part in. What it also did was show the appetite among the general public for events commemorating an aspect of Irish history which had been played down to a great degree in recent decades.

year to mark the 1916 centenary. CFO Fleming’s interest in, and recognition of the importance of these events for the DFB, was crucial. It was a turnaround for the DFB in terms of addressing our history and using it to tell our story to the public. Without his personal interest in the projects, nothing on the scale of what was done could have been achieved. I was transferred to Projects work in HQ (a er 30 years in Dolphin’s Barn) and tasked with looking at how the DFB could be involved in the coming commemorations, what we could do ourselves, and how to get support for this among our own people. Working initially with then-CFO Fleming, and later with a small group, plans were made. One obstacle to be overcome was that initially the Government plan was that only organisations involved in the 50th anniversary in 1966 would take part in a planned parade in Dublin to commemorate the Rising. Our problem was that the DFB had not taken part in the 1966 events. Quite a bit of lobbying of interested parties was called for. In fairness, there was a sympathetic response and soon we were part of the planning for the national parade, principally by the Defence Forces. John Keogh represented the DFB on that committee and did sterling work on the Brigade’s behalf.

Exhibitions

Soon there was a list of events in various stages of planning, from living history displays in the Training Centre in January 2016, through commemorative events in Glasnevin to mark the graves of DFB 1916

Comhaltas Ceolteoirí Eireann in the church in the Training Centre, talks on the role of the DFB in 1916 to various groups including former members of the Oireachtas in the Senate chamber, a small scale version of the DFB2016 exhibition, and a commemorative event for the DFB in the Mansion House.

I was tasked with curating an exhibition on the Dublin Fire Brigades, to include DFB, Rathmines, Pembroke and the works re services in Powers and Guinness who

Week 1916. is was a highlight of the year for me. I got to design the exhibition cases which were based on ones in use in the National Gallery, but ours were wheelchair accessible, tailored to our requirements, locally made, and 50% cheaper than comparable cases available.

It also took me into the world of design and printing as I produced information panels and images to tell the story of the various brigades during that week in 1916. Using my own collection and contacts in the history and collecting world, I was able to track down relevant items for display and had the full help and cooperation of Paul Hand in the DFB Museum. Paul was, as always, not just a huge help, but he also threw himself 100% in to the project and became, with John McCrory, our living history ambassador –attending events in a replica DFB uniform from the 1916 period. Paul, John and the others who helped in this role played a very important role in getting our message across. e exhibition, initially in smaller form in the Training Centre in January, was due to be in City Hall for three months, but due to public interest it was extended to the full 12 months of 2016 (actually my last day’s work in the DFB was dismantling that exhibition and returning the items to the lenders). Mention of the replica uniforms reminds me of the e ort to put them together. Sourced from a variety of places including a lm props suppliers in Wales (German WW2 boots and American Civil War hats – both items then tweaked to suit here in Dublin), red shirts made to the original pattern by a major Dublin tailor at cost price and replica DFB brass helmets from India. e trousers were a problem until I found an army surplus dealer in England with a small stock of woollen, navy blue trousers with no belt loops and a red stripe on the leg. Apparently, they came from a recently discovered stock of 1950s-made trousers for the British Army’s Brigade of Guards. So, our living history personnel and mannequins were dressed in an eclectic mix of gear to achieve an historically accurate look. e question of insignia to mark the year came up and there were various ideas. A red band on DFB dress hats to remember the red shirt of the Revolutionary period did not work out, nor did an issue of red lanyards for the same purpose. e idea of a red chevron on the sleeve of the dress tunic as issued to the Brigade in 1916 and 1923 was also lost in the process.

As the brigade had recently issued medals to mark the 150th year of the municipal brigade and the 114th year of the DFB ambulance service, the idea of yet another medal was addressed. My suggestion of a replica of the cap badge worn from 1862 to 1941 to be worn as an award above the ribbon bar was adapted as it commemorated the foundation of the Brigade, the Revolutionary years and the 75th anniversary of the DFB and DLFB members volunteering to go to that aid of Belfast in 1941 (2016 was the 75th anniversary). A full-sized version of the badge was issued to all members who took part in DFB/DCC or national events and all employees received a 75% size badge as a remembrance of the year.

A medal would later be issued by the Government to all re service personnel, but the DFB badges mark an award in the only re service which actually took any part in the events of the Rising.

Events

It was a busy year with events not only in Dublin, like the ceremony at the graveside of the 1916 CFO, Captain Purcell, in Deansgrange, but follow on events, like being asked to speak over two nights at an awards ceremony for Kilkenny FRS members, where Captain Purcell had learned the re ghter’s trade as a member of the Kilkenny Volunteer Fire Brigade. Paul Hand, John McCrory and I represented the DFB at events to mark the 75th anniversary of the Belfast Blitz in April, and myself and Peter Barriscale attended a commemoration ceremony in East Belfast at Glentoran Football Club grounds in May to mark the ‘ re raid’ of 5 May, 1941.

Appreciation

While this is very much a personal look back rather than an o cial history, I should mention some people who were crucial to the DFBs contribution to the 1916-2016 events. People such as thenCFO Pat Fleming, CFO Dennis Keeley, Paul Hand, Dan Fynes, Jonathon Forbes, Danny Fitzpatrick, Declan Rice, John McCrory, Dave Snee, John Keogh, the DFB Pipe Band, the DFB Honour Guard, and so many others. In many ways it is dangerous to list names in case equally important ones are omitted, but my very sincere thanks go to all who were involved in the events of that year.

I retired from DFB in January 2017. In the years since I have been involved in some heritage projects for DFB and other groups, including the committee for the centenary of the Fire Brigades Union in 2018 when I was invited to London by the FBU to take part in their events.

I contributed articles to Firecall on a regular basis through the year but also was asked to do articles for the Defence Forces magazine ‘An Cosantoir’ for their 1916 commemorative issue, as well as for various papers including the Irish Examiner and some DCC publications. I was also asked to contribute the chapter on the story of Dublin Fire Brigade in 1916 to the o cial DCC history, ’Dublin City Council and the 1916 Rising’. An added bonus in that work was that my eldest son Donal also contributed a chapter on Major John McBride, as he was the biographer of McBride in the ’16 Lives’ biography series on the executed leaders. Another very special piece for me was a plaque naming the members of the DFB who fought in the Rising as members of the Irish Citizen Army and Irish Volunteers, and giving details of their DFB service. is project was put together in-house in our workshops on a plaque provided by Dave Snee, and with artwork done by Ernie Harold RIP, a hugely talented artist. It was unveiled at the ceremony in Glasnevin to mark the graves of our 1916 veterans and now hangs in the entrance hall of the Training Centre.

e commemoration of much of the ‘Tan War’ (1919-1921) phase of the Revolution was lost to COVID-19 and important events (many with a strong DFB involvement) had to be remembered in isolation. Zoom talks became the norm and I contributed some to various groups and events, and was involved in the o cial remembrance online video of the Burning of the Custom House centenary. I felt many events were worth more than the pandemic would allow, but have been heartened to see the strength of commemorations around the events of the Civil War this year as things have opened up again.

Now as we come to the end of the Decade of Centenaries, there are still some projects I hope to see through, including some plaques to be erected and unveiled. One I would love to see completed is a plaque in Dun Laoghaire re station to mark two former members of the old Dun Laoghaire Fire Brigade who were pre-Truce IRA Volunteers in the same battalion, split during the Civil War when they took opposite sides, but who both later joined Dun Laoghaire re service and worked together to serve and protect the people under their care. It might be a tting bookend to the long decade for the DFB.