Dún Laoghaire’s involvement in the 1913 LOCKOUT
JAMES BYRNE ames Byrne from 5 Clarence Street, Dún Laoghaire, was a 38 year old father of six in 1913. He was Secretary of the Dún Laoghaire ITGWU branch also Secretary of the Bray and Dún Laoghaire Trades Council. He was arrested on October 20th 1913 by the Dublin Metropolitan Police and charged with intimidating a tram worker. Refused bail he ended up in Mountjoy Prison where he went on a hunger and thirst strike. Eventually the British authorities gave in and he was granted bail but died of pneumonia in Monkstown Hospital weeks after he was first arrested. “He had been thrown into a cold, damp, mouldy cell,…, so contemptuous had be been of those who put him there that he had refused food and drink” said James Connolly in his grave- side oration. He is buried in Deansgrange Cemetry near the Republican Plot.
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EDWARD LEE he Dublin Lockout of 1913 is often portrayed in black and white terms as a struggle between the forces of capitalism and socialism,. You were either on the side of the workers looking for trade union recognition or you were on the side of business and profit. However as with most things, it was not that simple. This is the story of one employer, Edward Lee, the owner of a chain of drapery stores in Bray, Dún Laoghaire, Rathmines and Dublin and a man of high principle, who disagreed with the tactics of the employers and was prepared to stand up and say so. Breaking ranks with his fellow employers, he felt that “the employers should withdraw the pledge requiring their employees to cease to belong to the Transport Workers’ Union. To my way of thinking such a pledge is an unfair interference with the personal liberty of the worker”.
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PATRICK MORAN Roscommon man, he lived in Dún Laoghaire for the last five years of his short life. In 1961 he was honoured for his contribution to Dún Laoghaire when the Harbour House and grounds were renamed Moran House and Moran Park. In 1913 he was involved in the Lockout in Dublin City when he worked in Doyle’s Corner, Phibsboro. He participated in the 1916 Rising and was interned in Knutsford and Frongoch. On his release he lived and worked in Dún Laoghaire (in Lynch and O’Briens, grocery and pub, where Shaws Department Store is now located). He was a founder member of the Irish National Union of Vintner’s and Grocers (now MANDATE ) Trade Union, was chairman of the Dún Laoghaire Branch, its delegate to the Bray and District Trades Union Council and its National President at the time of his death. He was arrested in 1920 for attempting to stop deliveries of beer to Brady’s Pub at 17 Upper George’s Street, Dún Laoghaire (now Scotts) during a strike. He was executed in 1921 for his alleged involvement in an incident in Mount Street on Bloody Sunday, November 21st 1921. He was a member of the Dún Laoghaire Club, where many of this year’s 1913 Centenary events will be hosted.
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DORA MONTEFIORRE and the 1913 CHILDREN uring the 1913 LOCKOUT there was no system of social welfare so the children of the locked out workers were starving. In October 1913, Dora Montefiorre, a British socialist, a suffragist and member of the Jewish community, proposed bringing the starving children from Dublin to trade unionists’ homes in Britain where they could be properly looked after. Archbishop of Dublin, William Joseph Walsh, wrote a public letter condemning the plan. His “Save the Kiddies Campaign” began. The clergy in Westland Row acted unsuccessfully to stop the children from travelling but when the children arrived at the Carlisle Pier in Dún Laoghaire they were prevented from boarding the ship by police and a mob lead by a Fr. Flavin. Those involved in organising the children were arrested and charged with kidnapping but the charges were later dropped. Fr. Flavin later organised a trade union in Dún Laoghaire as an alternative to the ITGWU. His alternative union existed until the Lockout was “safely out of the way”.
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ADH E R I U C TION A T I V IN
1913 - 2013 DÚN LAOGHAIRE & THE 1913 LOCKOUT FRITHDHÚNADH 1913
Commencing Friday August 23rd 2013 and running until 18th January 2014 - the same period as the 1913 Lockout.
DÚN LAOGHAIRE & THE 1913 LOCKOUT EXHIBITION
Including unique photos of Dún Laoghaire c. 1913 Daily 11a.m. to 5.00p.m. 7 days a week incl. bank holidays
THE NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM
Moran Park, Dún Laoghaire. (Adjacent to Haigh Terrace, East Pier and Adelaide St.) Guided tours everyday GROUP BOOKINGS (including Schools, Active Retired, GAA, Trade Unions, Resident & Tenant Associations, Social Clubs, Sports Clubs, Book Clubs etc.) CONTACT + 353 (0)1 2143964 EMAIL administration@mariner.ie
Members of the Dublin Metropolitan Police launch an attack on both passers-by and Union supporters who had turned up for a public meeting in Dublin’s O’Connell Street
MARINERS CAIFE AND SOUVENIR SHOP Closed Christmas Day ALL WELCOME 5 entry
DÚN LAOGHAIRE 1913 COMMEMORATIVE BOOK
Including contributions by Padraig Yeates, Joe Duffy, Myles Dungan, Martina Devlin, May Moran, Mike Lee. On sale at all 1913 events in Dún Laoghaire and in the National Maritime Museum shop.
A tram at the Christian Institute, Upper George’s Street, Dún Laoghaire. Tram workers were at the the centre of the 1913 Lockout
Organised and published by Dún Laoghaire 1913 Commemorative Committee; 1 Northumberland Avenue, Dún Laoghaire EMAIL dunlaoghaire1913@gmail.com
22/07/2013 15:41:01