NICIE Thematic Unit Easter Rising 1916 Easter 1916 - The ... · NICIE Thematic Unit Easter Rising...

1NICIE Thematic Unit Easter Rising 1916

NICIE Thematic Unit Easter Rising 1916

Easter 1916 - The Background In 1916 Ireland was still part of the British Empire. The streets of Dublin looked quite like any English city. The Union Jack flag was flown on public buildings like the GPO and post boxes were painted red. British Army were common place on the streets.

However in Ireland, there was renewed interest in the Irish language and in Irish culture and literature. Much of this interest was led by The Gaelic League, The GAA and The Gaelic Revival. People like WB Yeats were part of this cultural ‘revolution’. In the country as a whole a growing number of people believed that Ireland was a distinctive country and not just a region of the United Kingdom. They believed that while remaining within the British Empire, Ireland should be allowed to make many its own laws. This was called Home Rule. Two Home Rule Bills had been rejected in the British Parliament but the third Home Rule Bill had passed and was waiting to be enforced. It was thought that it would become law in the summer of 1914.

The support of Irish M.P.s for the British government in parliament had led to this promise of Home Rule - after the end of the war. The Irish Parliamentary Party and in particular its leader John Redmond had encouraged Irish men to join the British Army and to fight against Germany. He hoped that this act of allegiance would help secure Home Rule after the war.

In Europe in 1916 World War I had been ongoing for 2 years. Thousands of Irish soldiers were now fighting. Many had joined the British Army in the hope of getting a secure wage and of being able to fend for their families. Many lost their lives in the trenches and on the battle fields fighting against the German Kaiser William and his army.

In the North East of Ireland, Unionists were opposed to the idea of Home Rule. They wanted to remain completely within the United Kingdom with parliament in Westminster. In order to protect their interests and to oppose Home Rule they had set up The Ulster Volunteer Force. Guns were imported and the UVF practise drilling and training. In response to this, the Irish Volunteers were founded by Eoin Mac Neill with the aim of ensuring that Home Rule was introduced at the end of the war. They also practise drilling and training. However, they have limited supplies of weapons. They too had been gun running.

By 1916 The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), a more militant group, had infiltrated the Irish Volunteers and other organisations associated with the Gaelic revival. With its connections to the Fenians, the IRB was not satisfied with Home Rule but wanted a completely independent Ireland. With Britain at war in Europe, the IRB was convinced that now was the time to stage an armed uprising. ‘England’s difficulty is Ireland’s opportunity’ was their thinking!

Planning for a rising began and there were hopes of getting guns from Germany. A nationwide rising involving thousands of Irish Volunteers was planned for Easter Sunday. The IRB kept its plans secret from the leadership of the Irish Volunteers. That is where we pick the story up.

2 NICIE Thematic Unit Easter Rising 1916


Introduction To The ThemeThis information gives a brief context and provides a background to the events that unfolded in Dublin between April 23rd and 29th 1916. It is not necessary for the children to know much of this in any detail. The teacher may decide what to share with them. The history of Ireland and its relationship with Britain is so complicated that it cannot be fully explored within the context of this theme.

The purpose of this Thematic Unit is to explore the events which happened in Dublin in that fateful week and what happened subsequently.

The subject is one which engenders many differing views and opinions even now 100 years later.

It is important that children have an accurate and unbiased account of what happened, an account that allows them to gain some understanding of the lead up, course and consequences of Easter 1916 in Ireland. They will learn about the people who took part in the Rising on both the Irish and the British side. They will find out about the buildings and the places connected to the Rising. They will gain some knowledge of the chronology of the Rising.

During their learning they will also consider the mistakes and errors which led to the calamity of this event. They will be encouraged to think about questions such as; if and how the Rising was a success or failure. They will explore how lessons can be learned form History and from the Rising itself.

The children will explore sources and they will be encouraged to use skills in the areas of Geographic and Historic investigation.

They will also be encouraged to use all the Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities. There are opportunities for them to develop the Core Skills of Communication and Using ICT.



The Lead Up! A set of cards which creates a timeline of the important events in the lead up to the Rising has been given.

During this activity the children will complete some ‘guided’ research. The timeline which is provided will focus their research. They can use the event mentioned to locate information about the relevant date. This timeline should be cut up into 10 strips. The strips which are jumbled up can be given to the children who have 3 tasks to perform:

1. Find out the relevant dates for each of the events they have been given2. Complete the timeline by filling in these dates on the space 3. Order the timeline to show the correct chronology of what happened in the lead up to the Rising

Completion of this activity will give the children some background information so that they will have some knowledge of what the history to the Rising was. Once they have done this they could then complete the fourth tasks

4. Sort the short pieces of information which have also been provided to match them to the timeline and the relevant organisation.

Alternatively this could be an extension activity or teacher led so that they teacher can assure that the children have the necessary knowledge to move forward with.



Understanding The Times

Event Date: Month /Year(To be completed by the children)

Irish Volunteers Formed

Cumann Na Nban Formed

Irish Citizen Army Formed

World War 1

Act Of Union

Ulster Volunteers Formed

The Easter Rising

Famine Years

Lockout Of Workers And Unrest Dublin

Irish Republican Brotherhood Is Formed



Some Basic Information For Timeline Events

This organisation was formed to support the workers who had been locked out of their places of work.

Under this agreement Ireland was governed by British rule. There was no parliament in Ireland.

This group wanted to make sure that Ireland remained under British rule and so they armed themselves and began to practise fighting if they needed to to protect the Act of Union. They did not want Home Rule.

This war broke out in 1914 and lasted until 1918. Britain and the allies were at war with Germany. Many thousands of Irishmen fought with British forces.

During this event trade unions in Dublin supported workers who were asking for better working conditions and hours of work. The employers locked the workers out and they got no pay.

A planned rebellion. Most of the action taking place only in Dublin.

Formed to counter the Ulster Volunteer Force this group wanted to ensure that Ireland was given Home Rule which had been promised for after WW1.

This was an army made up of only women. They wanted to help Ireland get Home Rule and they were organised to help the men who might have to fight to achieve this.

This secret organisation was formed. They were willing to fight for the indepence of Ireland.



Plans That Were Shot Out Of The Water!The Ulster Volunteers had successfully brought more than 25,000 guns into Ireland by 1916. These were ready to be used to stop the granting of Home Rule. They had arrived in boats in Larne, Bangor and Donaghadee in April 1914.

The Irish Volunteers had been less successful with the running of just about 1000 older rifles into Irleand in July 1914. These guns arrived in Howth.

The leaders of the IRB knew that they needed more arms. As Germany and Britain were at war they contacted German leaders and arranged for guns and ammunition to be brought to Ireland from Germany. A man from Dublin called Roger Casement left Ireland to bring back these weapons and also the rebels hoped that the Germans would send soldiers to fight the British. They hoped that the Germans would help in the fight for Irish freedom. They would be disappointed. Roger Casement managed to get around 20,000 rifles from the Germans and several million rounds of ammunition but this was not the help that the IRB leaders had hoped for.

The arms were being smuggled in on a boat called the Aud. It was captained by Captain Karl Spindler. Roger Casement meanwhile travelled from Germany in a German U boat.

The Aud and its cargo were due to arrive in Ireland on 23rd April just in time for the rebellion. However it was caught by British forces on 21st April and all who were on board arrested. The ship itself was, however, deliberately sank by the IRB peope who were on board at the time. Casement and the men helping him had nearly drowned as they made their way ashore from the U-boat at Banna Strand . Casement was arrested and taken to a prison in England. He was tried for treason and executed there in August 1916.

The outrage caused by his actions of joining with Germany did make people very angry and it was seen as treason. This event probably coloured the reaction to the rebels and the rebellion in general.



Some Suggested Activities: The teacher could share this story with the children. Then they could use the information to:

■ Research the journey / route taken by the Aud and then create a map to show the jour-ney taken by the Aud from Germany to Ireland.

■ Use maps to plot the possible journeys that the Aud could have taken on its voyage from Lubeck to Tralee Bay.

■ Write sets of directions for the captain of the Aud for different routes so that it would avoid British contact.

■ Create diary accounts for some of the participants of the journey or of the day they were caught

■ Write newspaper headlines or reports to tell the story of these events

Discussion Point:

The teacher could look to see what was going on in Europe at the time that Casement went gun running and making overtures to Germany. They could explore the Battle of the Somme and see what was happening as World War 1 ravaged Europe. They could see if they could include some of this information as additions to their timeline display.

Then they could ask their children to consider:

Why would people in Britain have been so horrified by Casement’s actions?Why was it different from other gun running events of the time?

Some Other Activities:

The children could find out about the other gun running activities of the Ulster Volunteers and The Irish Volunteers.

They could find out:

■ who was involved in these events? ■ what were the ships/ boats involved in the gun running called?



Who Else Is On The Streets In Dublin 1916?During this activity the children will find out some information about who was involved in the Rising and who was on each side of the story.

The teacher could begin this activity with some discussion based on what happens when there is an argument or a fight. They could discuss with their class that there has to be at least two sides to an argument or conflict.

They could think of how people make decisions about which side to take in an argument…what reasons have they had for getting involved in an argument?

The children could have some time to find out a little more about the groups involved on the side of the rebels, these include:

Some Points For Discussion:

The children have already met these groups but Fianna Eireann is new to them. This group was made up of boys,teenagers mainly who were too young to fight. They had uniforms and practised drills and training.

The children could discuss if this was a good idea or not. Some children were killed during the Rising and some of them were from this group.

The children could find out about places in the world where children are fighting in wars. Or they could look to see how children are being affected by war today in our world. They could find out about the impact of conflict on children such as refugees and evacuees. Perhaps this is prior learning which they could draw on or revise to inform their discussions.

Later in the theme they could pretend to be a member of Fianna Eireann. They could be hot seated to find out what they did during the Rising…jobs like taking messages or transporting guns and ammunition.

They should now have time to find out about the British side and who took part in the Rising from that side.

The IRB The Irish Citizen Army

The Irish Volunteers

Cumann na nBan



On The Side Of Government (British):

The men in Ireland who represented the government in London were:

The teacher could give these short information cards to the children. Alternatively they could source some information for themselves:

At the time of the Rising the police force in Ireland was called the RIC or Royal Irish Constabulary. There were about 10,000 officers in the force which was unarmed. In Dublin there were 1000 officers working in the city. They reported to The British forces at Dublin Castle and were expected to inform the people there about any news to do with rebellions or risings.

At the time of the Rising there wasn’t a huge number of British army soldiers in Ireland as Britain was busy fighting WW1. Actually when the Rising began the authorities had just over 400 troops to confront roughly 1,200 rebels. Their immediate priorities were therefore to send for reinforcements, gather information on rebel strength and locations and protect strategic positions, including the seat of government, Dublin Castle, which had initially been virtually undefended. The army was able to call on all the resources it needed…just a short distance away on mainland Britain.

There was some confusion at Dublin Castle among the men in charge there.The intelligence service at Dublin Castle knew that a rising was planned fairly quickly after Roger Casement’s arrest on 21st April. As Casement had been in Germany getting arms those in charge in Dublin knew that something was about to take place. On April 23rd, Wimborne demanded that Nathan issue arrest warrants for between 60 and 100 known republican leaders. Nathan managed to persuade Wimborne that there was no need for action as there was no immediate crisis to worry about. His spies had told him that the Rising had been cancelled by Eoin Mac Neill who was head of the Irish Volunteers.

On Easter Monday when few expected it the Rising began and many of the British army officers who were in Dublin at the time were out for the day at The Races at Fairyhouse.In fact, Nathan had concluded that if anyone did participate in the uprising, the numbers would be small and those involved would be hopelessly disunited. With the Irish Volunteers split and with no weapons, what did the British have to fear?

Augustine Birrell

Chief Sectretary

Sir Matthew Nathan, Assistant Secretary Major-General Field, commanding officer of the

British army in Ireland

Lord Wimborne Lord-Lieutenant

of Ireland

Dublin Metropolitan

Police/RIC

The British Army

British Intelligence

based at Dublin Castle



The teacher could help the children think about and discuss these questions:Why would the rebels think that they could win in a battle with the RIC?How did the actions of Nathan and Winborne help the leaders of the Rising?Did Dublin Castle seem well organised? Explain your answer.The children could research these men and find out some further information about them.The children could reenact interviews with Nathan and Winborne about their actions at the start of the Rising.

Activity Timeline – The Rising

The children could use the information which they learn in the up- coming activities to create a timeline display of the events of the rising. They could display the dates of each day and they could add relevant points about what happened on each day. They could add information about the main characters on each day or add names of people who come into the story as it unfolds. The information about Casement could also be included at the beginning of the timeline.

Some information and related activities are set out in the theme, however, the teacher may like to carry out further research with their class.

Easter Sunday 24th April– The Day That Never Happened!This is a message sent by Eoin Mac Neill who was the leader of the Irish Volunteers. He had discovered the plot to stage the Rising on Easter Sunday. The Rising was being organised by people like Padraig Pearse and other members of the IRB who had infiltrated the Irish Volunteers

Volunteers completely deceived. All orders for tomorrow Sunday are completely cancelled.”

The Irish Volunteers had been planning to hold peaceful manoeuvres but on Easter Saturday, MacNeill discovered that a group within the organisation from the IRB, led by Pádraig Pearse, had secret plans to launch an armed rebellion against British Rule.

When he discovered the deception, and after receiving news of Roger Casement’s failed attempt to import arms from Germany, MacNeill tried to prevent the Rising.

He hand-wrote several copies of his countermanding order, on headed notepaper at his home – Woodbrook, in Rathfarnham, Co Dublin – and dispatched men to deliver copies to local commanders nationwide.

The countermand was only partly successful and caused confusion, especially outside Dublin. Consequently there was no Rising in Cork or Limerick.

The rebels delayed their plans by 24 hours and decided to launch the Rising on Easter Monday, April 24th, 1916.



Activities:

Ask the children to consider how this would have affected the plans for the Rising.

Ask them to pretend to be a Volunteer who wanted the rising to take part…write words to describe how he feels thinking that it has been cancelled.

The children could try to reenact the conversations which would have taken place between the men who delivered these notes and the Volunteer Commanders they delivered them to.

Pretend to be Eoin Mac Neill and write another piece to add to the note. Think about and write two reasons for the planned Rising being stopped.

Discussion Points:

So not all the leaders of the Irish Volunteers agreed that a rising should go ahead! What does this tell you about the planning of this rising?

Now there have been two problems; Casement was captured so there were no new guns and Eoin Mac Neill had caused confusion all over

the country by calling off the Irish Volunteers. What do you think should have happened at this point? Should the Rising have gone ahead or not?



Easter Monday 24th April -The Rising begins The teacher is going to help the children to undertand the impact of the reading of the Proclamation on the people of Dublin by getting the classroom assistants from the school to come into the classroom as if they are staging a ‘revolution’ or ‘rebellion’. The classroom assistants should stick up some of their proclamations and they should also hand them out around the class…just as it happened with the reading at the GPO in Dublin in April 2016.A ‘proclamation’ is provided. This can be amended as suits the need of the participating group/ school. The name of the school can be added to the document for effect.

When the classroom assistants have read their ‘proclamation’ and the children have had a chance to look at it…from the leaflets they have been given, the teacher should begin to explore the children’s response to this event.

The teacher could ask the class to think about their reaction to the classroom assistants’ anouncement. Some questions could be posed and responses and reactions could be recorded.

Possible Questions:

■ What is a Proclamation? ■ What do you think about what the classroom assistants have said? ■ How do you feel about their ‘proclamation’? How did you feel when they

were reading it? ■ What do you think our Principal will say? ■ What do you think is going to happen next? ■ What kind of changes might happen? ■ How do you feel about what could happen next? ■ What things could go wrong here now? ■ What do you feel about different leaders of our school? ■ What important groups of people, who might have something to say about this, are the

classroom assistants forgetting about? ■ Who will be affected by this Proclamation and how will they be affected?

Discussion Point:

The teacher could ask the children to consider what clues are there in the actions of reading the proclamation and in the proclamation itself which tell you that the classroom assistants had been planning what they did that day?

Clues Include:

■ The ‘proclamation’ was printed and ready to read ■ It had already been signed ■ The wording of the proclamation in places tells us that they had been thinking about this

beforehand



Some Suggested Activities: The teacher could share this story with the children. Then they could use the information to:

■ Research the journey / route taken by the Aud and then create a map to show the jour-ney taken by the Aud from Germany to Ireland.

■ Use maps to plot the possible journeys that the Aud could have taken on its voyage from Lubeck to Tralee Bay.

■ Write sets of directions for the captain of the Aud for different routes so that it would avoid British contact.

■ Create diary accounts for some of the participants of the journey or of the day they were caught

■ Write newspaper headlines or reports to tell the story of these events

Discussion Point:

Why would people in Britain have been so horrified by Casement’s actions?Why was it different from other gun running events of the time?

Some Other Activities:

The children could find out about the other gun running activities of the Ulster Volunteers and The Irish Volunteers.

They could find out:

■ who was involved in these events? ■ what were the ships/ boats involved in the gun running called?



ProclamationThe New Rulers of the School

The Classroom Assistants GovernmentOf:

______________________________

Integrated Primary SchoolMessage to the Teachers and Pupils

All members of the school community we are making a stand for freedom in this school. We believe that we, the classroom and learning assistants of this school should take control of it. Immediately! We have believed this for some time now.

We believe that we should not have to listen to the Principal or the teachers anymore! We have been training hard and meeting to plan this day for a very long time! Now the day is here and we are taking over!

We think that everyone in our school should be equal and no one should have more power than anyone else! From now on we will all make decisions together on things that matter to us. The Principal will do as we say!You must be ready to join up with us and to begin to help us work to build a new ________________ Integrated Primary School. A school where we all have a say!

We have a new school crest and it will be our badge of honour from now on. When people see it they will know which school you represent so you must act as we say and do as we say so that people who see you know that we mean business!

Wait for orders and be ready to act!



This Proclamation was read out loud by Padraig Pearse on the steps of the GPO in Dublin at 12:04 pm on April 24th 1916. The Easter Rising had begun!

The teacher should read through the Proclamation with the class and help them to understand the content as far as is necessary and possible.

It is not necessary to go into every detail but rather to identify what points will form part of the study you are about to undertake.

Use the imaginary experience that they have just had with the classroom assistants to help you with this piece of the work and to help the children understand what was going on. This was a rebellion on a country wide scale. Or was it?

Identify possible questions to ask about what this Proclamation says. These can include such questions as: Possible questions:

■ What do you think about what the signatories have said? ■ How do you think the people of Ireland/ Dublin would have felt about the

‘proclamation’? Think about how you felt when the classroom assistants read their ‘proclamation’.

■ What do you think the British Government will say? ■ What do you think is going to happen next? ■ Do you think everyone will listen to this proclamation? ■ Who would be affected by this Proclamation and how would they be affected? ■ What kind of changes might happen in Ireland now? ■ What things could go wrong now?

Discussion Point:

I was a nice morning so I decided to go for a walk around the city. I boarded a tram into Dublin just around mid day for the short journey into the city centre. As the tram came close to the city centre I saw a large march taking place. It was strange because there were members of the Irish Citizen Army, The IRB, The Irish Volunteers and Cumann na nBan all marching together! There was about 1,000 of them in total.

Padraig Pearse who read the Proclamation

Read this account of what happened in the lead up to the reading of the proclamation:

Eye Witness Account 1 Mon 24th April 1916



I jumped off the tram and followed them as they made their way to Sackville Street and they marched right up to the GPO. People stopped to watch. A man who had gone inside the GPO came out again. He began to read what he called a Proclamation!Some people laughed at him and shouted at him to go home. Others seemed worried and walked off quickly. One or two people asked him what they could do to help and he told them to go inside and to wait there for orders. I wondered what I should do? It was all very confusing! I decided to get back on the tram and to go home…something big seemed to be about to happen! I didn’t want any part of it!

■ What clues tell us that the reading of the proclamation and the Rising that followed had been planned?

■ What clues tell us that not everyone in Dublin knew about the plans? ■ What tells us that there were different reactions to the reading of the Proc-

lamation?

I was waiting for something to happen! I knew that it would be in Dublin so I had travelled there on Easter Sunday but was surprised when nothing happened at all. Then, around lunchtime on Easter Monday, I heard that a large group had marched to the GPO. I made my way there as quickly as I could. I was just in time to hear Padraig Pearse read the Proclamation. When he had finished I clapped till my hands were sore. I walked right up to him and asked how I could help the rebels. He slapped me on the back, thanked me and told me to follow him. I marched behind him into the GPO.

■ How are the two eyewitness accounts different? ■ What is the same about them? ■ What facts can we learn from them both? ■ What can we learn about peoples’ opinions at the time from these 2 ac-

counts?

Now compare and contrast this eye witness account to the first one:




I had been on duty since 8 am when news came through to the Castle that some sort of march was happening on Sackville St and that there might be some unrest. I hope not because most of the officers are off today and there is only a handful of us on duty here. Probably nothing to worry about. We have heard rumours of a rising but nothing definite yet. They would be mad to try anything…we’d soon get reinforcements here. I have sent out a couple of RIC men to see if they can find anything out.

■ The teacher should help the children now extend their questioning and their thinking. Some of the earlier questions they asked can now be re-peated for the third account.

■ How are the three eyewitness accounts different? ■ What is the same about them? ■ What facts can we learn from them? ■ What can we learn about peoples’ opinions at the time from these ac-

counts? ■ Again the teacher can lead the children as they consider the view points of

different people at the time of the Rising. It is important for the children to understand that there was some confusion about events and that there were many different opinions about as to whether a rising should happen or not.

Read this account of what happened in the lead up to the reading of the proclamation:




What questions can we ask when we look at the Proclamation as a source?

Make a record of all the questions that the children can come up with. Some of the following activities should help you find the answers to these questions they come up with, such as who the signatories were.

Possible questions:

■ Who were the signatories of the proclamation? ■ What was/ Who were The Irish Volunteers? ■ What is/ Who are the Irish Republican Brotherhood? ■ Who are the Irish Citizen Army? ■ Who are ‘the allies in Europe? ■ Why would they want to help Ireland? ■ What is a republic? ■ What is a provisional Government?

These questions can be written on strips of paper and as the work of the theme unfolds the answers can also be displayed. Writing OpportunityWrite a ‘Peace Proclamation’ for your school or a ‘Proclamation’ for Harmony in your school.



People of The Rising - The Signatories

Suggested Activity:

The children could be given these pictures and told that they must act like RIC officers or British Intelligence of the time and try to work out which signatory is which.

To do this they can use a search engine to identify who is who. They could create a police record card for each of the signatories which can be used and amended as the theme progresses.

Information cards have been provided for the teacher to be able to shortcut this process. The teacher may wish to remove some aspects of the information before printing the cards.

Then the children could be asked to work in groups to see which group can complete the cards quickest. Alternatively the teacher could use the cards in whatever way they wish to help the children learn about the people who signed the Proclamation.



Name: Eamonn Ceannt (Born: Edward Thomas

Kent)DOB: 21/09/1881

Place Ballymoe, IrelandJob: Accountant

Hobbies; Teaching Irish, Playing Pipes

Number

Name: Padraig Pearse (Born Patrick Henry

Pearse)DOB: 10/11/1879

Place Dublin, IrelandJob: Barrister and

TeacherHobbies; Irish Language,

Poetry and Writing

Name: Joseph Mary Plunkett

DOB: 21/11/1887Place Dublin, Ireland

Job: JournalistHobbies; Roller skating,

Theatre, Poetry

Name: Thomas Mac Donagh

DOB: 01/02/1878Place Cloughjordan,

IrelandJob: Teacher

Hobbies; Poetry, Writing Plays

Name: James ConnollyDOB: 05/06/1868

Place Cowgate, Edinburgh, Scotland

Job: Trade Union LeaderHobbies; Trade Union

ActivitiesNote was ex British Army

Name: Thomas ClarkeDOB: 11/03/1858

Place Millford on Sea, England

Job: ShopkeeperHobbies; Unknown

Note: was ex-British Army

Name: Sean Mac Diarmada

DOB: 27/01/1883Place Kiltyclogher,

IrelandJob: Journalist

Hobbies; Writing

Name: ....................................

DOB: ............. ..........................

Job: ........................................

Hobbies .................................

.................................................

.................................................

Do YourOwn Research

3 4

1 2

5 6

7

Number

Number Number

Number

NumberNumber



Other suggested activities:

These cards can be used in other ways. For example they could be used could be used as the information for an Each One Teach One Activity.

The children could be divided into 7 groups…each group could be given the information card of one of the signatories. To differentiate the teacher could complete some of the information on some of the cards. Giving better groups more research and weaker groups less.

When the groups have completed their research and filled in all the information on their card the activity can begin. The children move around the room or hall and as they meet children from other groups they share their learning with them. They tell each other about the signatory which their group researched. They in effect teach each other.

Alternatively the children could work in groups of 7. Each child could take on the persona of one of the signatories and then feedback information to their group pretending to be one of the signatories who is introducing themselves to them. They could use the information on their card to tell the others or additional information could be researched.

Discussion Point:Look at jobs of the men who were the signatories. Are you surprised that these men planned a Rising…a military operation? Do you think that they have the necessary qualifications or experiences? Who among them may have had experiences that should help them?

The following are made up messages which the children can use to help them find out what happened later on Monday 24th. The teacher could give the children the messages and ask them to complete a news report based on what they learn from the messages they have been given. The teacher could also source some newspapers from the time to see how events were being reported. The children could consider who might have sent these messages too.

Using these messages the teacher could help the children to add information to their timeline display about what happened on each day of the Rising.



Message sent to Dublin Castle from outside GPO at 1pm Send troops quickly please. Building stormed and taken over. There is a large group of rebels here. They have taken down the Union flag and replaced it with two flags. One is green and has gold writing on it. It says Irish Republic. The other is a tri-colour which is green, white and orange. 7 Guards and a British officer who was in the building have been taken prisoner. All the windows have been broken and they have guns trained on the street outside. Someone needs to get civilians off the Streets as they are wondering around watching all that is going on!! Hurry!!

Message sent to Dublin Castle from outside GPO at 1pm Send troops quickly please. Building stormed and taken over. There is a large group of rebels here. They have taken down the Union flag and replaced it with two flags. One is green and has gold writing on it. It says Irish Republic. The other is a tri-colour which is green, white and orange. 7 Guards and a British officer who was in the building have been taken prisoner. All the windows have been broken and they have guns trained on the street outside. Someone needs to get civilians off the Streets as they are wondering around watching all that is going on!! Hurry!!

Message sent to Volunteer leader from GPO at 4pm Came under heavy attack from British about an hour ago but fought back and shot several of them as they charged down the street. We have some casualties too. Snipers have set on the roof and is managing to pick off some soldiers. We have barricades in place. I am concerned that there are still people standing about outside the building…do they not know that a Rising is underway…they will get hurt. Where are you now? What is happening with you?

Message sent to GPO from outside Dublin Castle from VolunteerCalled off attack on Castle. Couldn’t be sure how many soldiers were on duty. Hadn’t enough men to take it so drew back and moved to new location. We killed one policeman and took some prisoners. Have heard that we have secured positions at The Four Courts, St Stephen’s Green, Boland’s Mill, Jacob’s Factory, South Dublin Union, Liberty Hall and Mount Street bridge.Await orders.



Tuesday 25th AprilBy dawn on Tuesday General Lowe has taken charge of the British Army in Dublin and has arrived with over 4000 troops from The Curragh. A further 1000 are en route from Belfast. Before the day is out the rebels will be outnumbered 5-1. However there are so many rumours in Dublin that no one really knows what is going on.

The only paper to report the Rising is The Irish Times and it only reports 3 lines which really tells nothing.

The rebels are set up in locations around Dublin and they start to build tunnels under the GPO to be able to get messages in and out.

The British are unsure what to do as they want to find out how many rebels they are dealing with.

The people of Dublin cannot find out what is happening and there are no shops open so they are beginning to find life difficult.

Some suggested Activities:

The teacher could ask the children to list all the ways events can be reported or news spread today and also ways the army could use to find out information. These could include:

The list is not exhaustive and there may be more.The children could consider how little information was known and why…so many of these things have been invented since then. They could think of how these inventions could have made communication easier for all sides on the rebellion.They could write questions which each side might need answered on Tuesday 25thApril.

■ Word of mouth ■ News on TV ■ News on radio ■ News online

■ Texts ■ Social Media ■ Emails ■ Pictures and images

sent in so many ways

■ Drones ■ Helicopters and aircraft ■ Bugging devices



Geography of the Rising

The teacher should use Google Earth, maps or atlases to find and locate Dublin on maps. The children could use a route finder website or maps to work out how far Dublin is from the location of their school.

The children could mark all the places of importance onto a map of Dublin. This could be a road map or a map sourced on Google Earth. The children could download or draw small images to represent the significant places and pin them onto the map.

These should include rebel locations and positions:

■ The GPO ■ Liberty Hall ■ City Hall ■ The Dublin South Union ■ St Stephen’s Green ■ Jacob’s Biscuit Factory ■ Boland’s Bakery ■ Mount Street Bridge ■ The Four Courts

These should also include British Army and Gov locations:

■ Trinity College ■ The Shelbourne Hotel ■ Dublin Castle ■ Kingsbridge Railway Station ■ The Curragh

Other places which the children discover during their studies can also be added to this map.

The children could pretend to be one of the young members of Fianna Eireann who was used to pass messages between the different buildings. They could work out routes which could be taken on journeys between the buildings. They could write directions in the style of ‘Sat Nav’ directions which would be given today for walking between these buildings. Again they could use maps from Google Earth to plot and draw out these routes.



Activities for Timeline

At St Stephen’s Green the rebels come under heavy fire from the British Army who have set up in The Shelbourne Hotel.

1. The children could check the map of Dublin to see that these places are right beside each other.

2. They could and this message and add relevant information to the timeline Display3. They should discuss how this location was a mistake made by the Rebels

4. The children could read the cards and then add all this relevant information to their time-line display

5. The children could find out what Martial Law is and discuss why it would be important to safeguard the ordinary people of Dublin.

6. The children could add The Curragh to their map of locations

Message sent to Volunteer leader from St Stephen’s GreenMorning of Tuesday 25th April

At dawn our trenches came under heavy attack from British who have taken up position in Shelbourne Hotel. We fought back but there seem to be a lot of them. They have shot several of us dead. We have moved to College of Surgeons. There are many casualties…what should we do…we need supplies! What is happening with you?

Order from General Lowe to all troops. Morning of Tuesday 25th April

Set up barricades and hold positions. We await the arrival of artillery. It is on its way. In the meantime Martial Law has been declared. Wait for orders. Find out whatever information you can about the numbers of rebels.



Activity- The Question of Looting

By Tuesday there is wide spread looting as the police are not patrolling the streets. The Rebel leaders send out messages from The GPO asking for it to stop but the people of Dublin are hungry and poor and the Rising brings opportunities and needs. The teacher could read this ‘charge sheet’ for a young looter caught on Tuesday 25th April.

NAME: Patrick O’ Reilly AGE: 11 years Charge: LOOTING FORM SHOPS IN DUBLIN ON MONDAy 24TH AND 25TH APRIL 2016

The boy was caught with fruit and jam and bags of sugar in a pram. When asked to prove how he had paid for the goods he could not. The shop window was broken and he said he had not done it but had seen some boys do it and he had waited until they left and he had gone in and helped himself.

The children could be asked to consider what should be done with Patrick and what his punishment should be. They could debate if it is a serious crime or a stupid act. Then the children should hear or be given this information:

In His Defence O’Reilly Said:I am the oldest of 7 children and my Mammy sent me out to see if there were any shops open. We have very little money and my Daddy is away fighting for the British Army in France. My little brother is very sick and we are all hungry. We have nothing to eat in our home at all. We live in a tenement and there are 5 families in our building. No one has any food and all the babies are crying.

Given this information the children could think about and discuss if this changes their point of view. They could discuss if at times of war or at other times can ‘bad things’ be done for the right reasons.

They could also find out about tenements and the problems of the poor in Dublin at the time of the Rising.

Point for Discussion:Isn’t it strange that Patrick’s father was away fighting for the British and they were at home hungry and looting to find food.



Wednesday 26th AprilFor today the teacher could give the information to the children and ask them to think up and create some messages which might have been sent by the different sides in the conflict. The teacher should read the information with the class and ask them to think about the impact of these events on all those involved:

■ The Rebels ■ The Army Who Were Fighting A War Else Where ■ The People Of Dublin

Here is a summary of what happened:

Wednesday morning, General Lowe and the British have a better picture of the opposition they are facing. They begin a serious campaign to start putting down the rising. The artillery has arrived and they begin to literally demolish rebel positions. From now on it is clear what the outcome of the Rising will be.

■ Wednesday morning, the gunship Helga anchors close to the Custom House and begins firing on Liberty Hall. The firing on Liberty Hall continues for some time eventually, the gunners find their target causing major damage to the building and surrounding tene-ments. Unknown to the military, Liberty Hall is deserted except for a caretaker who runs for his life.

■ Fighting continues across Dublin. Areas around the rebel locations such as Four Courts, the College of Surgeons, the South Dublin Union (St. James’ Hospital) and Mount Street Bridge see some of the heaviest fighting.

■ Meanwhile, British reinforcements continue to arrive at Kingstown (Dun Laoire). One such group, the Sherwood Foresters, are pleasantly surprised when they are greeted by well wishers on arrival in Kingstown. They commence to march on foot to Dublin com-ing under heavy fire from buildings near Mount Street Bridge. They are ordered forward by their commander even though they are unprepared for such an ambush. They suffer heavy casualties.

■ Inside the GPO, the deployment of artillery onto the streets of Dublin means that the relative calm of the previous two days has ended abruptly. There can be no doubt now about the intentions of the military. Despite this spirits remain high and there is still con-tact between the different rebel positions.

■ The children could add information to their timeline and they could also add any relevant positions to the map they have been creating too. They could now include the position of the gunship the Helga on the map.



Breaking the Code ActivityThe children could work in groups and half of the groups could pretend to be rebels sending messages to each. The other groups could pretend to be British forces sending information to each other. They could create codes using letters or numbers for their messages and the other groups could try to crack each other’s codes to decipher the message.For example they might decide to write messages by using the letter two ahead so that;‘We need urgent supplies’ becomes ‘Yg pggf wtigpv uwrrnkgu’.

Groups could give little clues and hints to each other to help the codebreaking.

Point for discussion:

When all of this heavy artillery fire began the ordinary people of Dublin were still trying to survive. They were trapped in their homes without supplies of food. Can you imagine how they felt!

Opportunity for Writing

Think about some of the emotions and feelings of the ordinary people. The children could work together in their groups to think about these adjectives.

They could then share their words and create a bank of adjectives to use to create poems about the feelings of the people caught up inadvertently in the conflict.

These poems could take shape as a day to day account:For example:

Monday was excited and confusedTuesday was unsure and worriedWednesday was fearful and anxiousThursday was panicked and distraughtFriday was terrified and hungrySaturday was relieved and thankful



Thursday 27th AprilHere are some of the HEADLINE events of this day. The children could use these to make newspaper headlines using appropriate ICT Programmes. They could draw pictures to illustrate their Headlines. Alternatively they could create Breaking News Updates and film these using ipads.

For example:

‘Reports are coming in of an attack outside the GPO…’

The children could be divided into groups and each group could script and create one update and these could all then be used to inform the class about the events on Thursday.They can add any relevant information on to the Timeline Display.

Headlines:

Much of Sackville Street is now on fire after heavy shellingMore troops arrive so army outnumbers rebels 20-1James Connolly shot but manages to get back to GPOOil depot is hit and it explodes near GPOLooting continues as food shortages worsen Life is almost impossible for civilians as the army and rebels are destroying the city

The teacher can help the children discuss these statements and how to turn them into headlines. To do this they could look at how events from around the world are being reported today.

Extension ActivityAs an extension the teacher could source some of the papers of the day and see how the rising was being reported on at the time. Most major papers in Ireland were very against the Rising and called for harsh penalties and punishment for those involved.



Friday 28th AprilLooking at this event from the British perspective children will decide what orders could be given to bring an end to events.

General Sir John Maxwell has arrived in Dublin to take charge. The shelling of all rebel locations has been ongoing. Many parts of Dublin are completely destroyed. By the evening of Friday 28th the GPO is nothing but a shell.

The children should again use maps of the streets of Dublin or Google Earth to locate the streets in and around the rebel locations.

Maxwell arrived at 2pm on Friday and ordered the final push to destroy all rebel positions and to capture and deal harshly with all rebels.

The children should look for street names around the rebel positions and send orders to the British Troops to try to take these streets and to capture the rebels they find.

They should plot routes for the soldiers to take the captured rebels to Kilmainham Jail.

Other suggested activities:

The teacher could source photos of Dublin before and after the shelling and the events of the Rising. These are easily available. The children could compare and contrast the images and write words to describe the devastation that they see. They could write diary accounts for someone living in Dublin for a day before and for a day after the Rising.

Discussion Point:Connolly and Pearse had been among the last to leave the GPO. Connolly was carried on a stretcher…how do you think they feel now compared to when they entered the building on Monday 24th.

Do you think they will think it was worthwhile when they see the devastation on the Friday.

Tomorrow one side will surrender…who do you think it will be and why?



Saturday 29th April‘At 12:45 pm on 29th April a nurse called Elizabeth O’ Farrell, a member of Cumann na nBan, is sent from the rebels who are in a shop on Moore Street to ask for terms of surrender. Lowe sends her back to say that the British will only accept unconditional surrender.’

‘At 2:30pm Padraig Pearse and Elizabeth O’ Farrell surrender to Lowe at the top of Moore Street.’

‘Elizabeth O’Farrell is sent with orders written by Pearse and Connolly to all rebel positions to tell them to surrender’.

‘3:45pm the Rising is effectively over’

The teacher could share this with the class and they can see if they got this right when they discussed who would surrender. They can then discuss what unconditional surrender means and how the rebels acceptance of this shows that they knew they were beat.

This information can be added to the timeline display.

Suggested activities:

The children could re-enact the arrival of Elizabeth at the different groups in the city and they can think of things which might have been said or questions that the rebels at these locations might have had for her.

Write Newspaper Headlines for the day. Think of the difference that the headlines would have been on National papers and the papers that were against the Rising. Write headlines for some of the local papers at the time which were more in favour of the rebels. How would the papers have differed?

Find out more about the women who took part in the Rising like Countess Markievicz. Find out about some of the activities they got involved in like making soup kitchens and caring for the wounded.

Consequences of The Easter Rising

The Easter Rising brought large scale death and destruction to the streets of Dublin. In all, 142 British soldiers and police were killed while 64 rebels were killed. A total of 254 civilians were killed during the week, many of them caught in crossfire.

One was a baby called John Foster who was killed by a stray bullet which hit his pram. He died on Monday 24th April 1916 at just 2 years old. Other children were killed and injured as they searched for food or got caught up in the widespread looting.



An estimated 2,000 people were injured during the fighting. In addition to the loss of life, large sections of the centre of Dublin had been destroyed especially in and around Sackville Street/ O’Connell Street.

Sackville/ O’Connell Street photographed after the fighting.

General Maxwell decided to pursue a tough policy against the leaders of the Rising. Following court martial, Pearse, McDonagh and Clarke were executed by firing squad in Kilmainham Jail on the morning of May 3rd. The executions of the rest signatories of the Easter Monday Proclamation followed. Others thought to have been involved in its planning were executed too. In addition, General Maxwell ordered the arrest and imprisonment of a further 3,500 people thought to be sympathetic to the Rising. This meant that about three times the number who actually took part in the rising were arrested.

The executions continued until May 12th. At this stage, 15 of the leaders and those thought to have been involved in the planning of the Rising were dead.

Public opinion had largely been against the Rising.

However the determination of General Maxwell to continue with these executions gradually started to shift that opinion onto the side of the rebels. By May 10th, newspapers such as The Irish Times and The Irish Independent, both of which strongly condemned the Rising, were calling for an end to the executions. General Maxwell ignored these calls and James Connolly and Sean Mac Diarmada were executed on the morning of May 12th.



Discussion Points:The teacher could ask the children to consider if all the death and destruction had been worth it?

Can they think of other ways to solve disputes rather than fighting?Who suffered the most from the Rising? Was it the rebels? Was it the

British Army or was it the ordinary people of Dublin? They could consider if the rebels deserved to die or should they have received another punishment. The teacher could look at what else was happening in Europe at the time…World War 1 and they could look at the number of estimated casualties for that conflict. They could also source and explore the estimated casualties for World War 2 and see how many civilians or ordinary people get killed in conflicts. They could consider how the loss of life in any conflict is too great. They could think about the lessons we should learn from any of these conflicts. The teacher could pose the question of how we can learn things form History.

Suggested activities:The final strands of information could be added to the timeline display. The children could find out the exact place and date of death of each of the signatories and add it to the information cards for each of them.

The children could take part in a ‘Conscience Alley’ activity. They could select prominent people from the Rising and they could be questioned by the class about their reason, actions and opinions regarding the Rising.

Two sides to a story The children could be given this short story or it should be read to them by their teacher:

The rebels were rounded up from their positions around Dublin and were marched up Sackville/ O’Connell Street. They were lined up and forced to give up their arms. Then British Army officers went along the lines taking their names. One of those arrested later tells of an incident that he witnessed during this event.

‘As the officer went past asking the rebels their names he made note of them in a notebook. He came to one man, he asked him nothing but wrote his name in the book and moved on. When he was some distance away the rebel was asked if the officer knew him…he replied, ‘Yes, he is my brother!’

Having heard/ read this the children could write a diary entry for each of the brothers in their diaries. Alternatively they could re enact the scene and create short pieces of dialogue for the brothers to say to each other.



What Happened Next?

If the teacher wishes to they could look briefly at the next few years which saw so much change in Ireland. Home Rule was never granted but instead Ireland split on the Treaty agreed with Britain and a devastating Civil War was fought before the Republic was established and Northern Ireland came into existence. The class could take some time to create an addition to their timeline to include these vents.

Geography of the Rising revisited

Public opinion changed so much that the people of Dublin wanted to remember the rebels and so many monuments were built to recall them. Many streets were renamed in their memory too.Using maps of Dublin the children could find out how many streets have been named after people that took part in the Rising. The children could look for streets and bridges, stations and other buildings which have been named after people and research to find which of these were from the Rising. They could pin point these and use Google Earth to view them. They could try to find out what their names were before they were renamed.

Commemorating the Rising The children could look at some of the events that are being held in Dublin over Easter and over the year to see how the Rising is being commemorated. The teacher should help them understand that even today it is an event that splits public opinion. The emphasis of this commemoration is on reconciliation. The teacher should explore with their class how we reconcile our ‘conflicts’ and our differences. They should consider all the things that are important to do to avoid conflict. The children could design a peace flower or similar symbol to display all the ways that conflicts can be avoided.

For example:

These peace flowers could be added to the timeline display. The children could perhaps contact a school in the Republic and find out how they are remembering the Rising. This could be done with educate Together schools in the Republic. The schools could exchange information with each other and exchange school crests to display and show that they learned from each other Messages for our world today. The teacher could help the children consider how conflict is still part of our world today and they could look to see where conflicts are taking part and what the impact of these conflicts are especially for children. They could create peace posters asking for peace for the children of the world.

■ Listening to all the sides ■ Respecting opinions ■ Talking things through

■ Trying to reach compromise ■ Not breaking promises

■ Accepting others ■ Learning from history

NICIE Thematic Unit Easter Rising 1916 Easter 1916 - The ... · NICIE Thematic Unit Easter Rising...

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