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The Michael Davitt Papers in the Manuscripts & Archives Research Library

Carla King, Michael Davitt After the Land League 1882-1906The Michael Davitt Papers, held in the Manuscripts & Archives Research Library, are a rich source for historians of late nineteenth-century Ireland. Davitt, a Mayo-born man of humble origins, was one of the leading political figures of the day. He exerted a significant influence over popular opinion, as an author, journalist and public speaker in Ireland, Britain, and internationally. For many years, Dr Carla King has studied this rich collection, in preparation for her newly published study, Michael Davitt After the Land League. Here she reflects upon Davitt’s life, the provenance of the Davitt papers, and the invaluable insights which the collection offers to researchers. Continue reading “The Michael Davitt Papers in the Manuscripts & Archives Research Library”

‘And so the pillar lived to fall another day…’

The role of Trinity College Dublin during the Easter Rising has been well documented, and during the course of the commemorations, numerous personal experiences of this period have been brought to public attention.  An eye-witness account by alumnus James Alexander Glen was presented to the Manuscripts & Archives Research Library just over 50 years after the events of 1916, and it is a record of his involvement in the protection of the College (TCD MS 4456). We know from other manuscript sources that JA Glen, the son of a farmer, was born in Newtowncunningham, County Donegal, and entered College in October 1911, aged 17 years. He received his early education at Foyle College, Derry. In 1914 he was awarded a scholarship in classics, graduating with a BA in Winter 1915 and MA in Summer 1919. He joined the TCD Officer Training Corps (OTC) in his second year as an undergraduate. He was a recipient of a silver cup, one of a number of replicas of the two original cups that were presented to the College by local business who had benefited from OTC actions during the Rebellion.

TCD MS 4456 fol. 1
TCD MS 4456 fol. 1

At the outbreak of trouble, a uniformed Glen and a fellow artillery officer, with whom he had enjoying an outing to the Phoenix Park, made a cautious journey to TCD after their tram was halted in O’Connell Street. They met with a group of Australian and South African soldiers en route, who subsequently volunteered to act as lookouts on a portion of the College roof. Under the direction of AA Luce and EH Alton (both OTC captains and College professors), operations began to protect the College from within the walls. The gates were closed, ammunition distributed and sentries were posted at various locations.

As events unfolded during Easter Week, Glen was ordered to follow a colonel to an attic window in one of the College buildings that overlooked Westmoreland Street and O’Connell Street. The ‘red-tabled and red-hatted senior officer’ was considering a possible plan to demolish Nelson’s Pillar, and enquired of Glen about the type of artillery that would be required for such an operation. The pillar was seen to act as a shelter for the rebels as they moved between Clery’s department store and the General Post Office. As Glen himself recognised, even with his limited knowledge of firearms, this method would not have been a success even with the most powerful of guns. While parts of central Dublin were destroyed during Easter week, the pillar remained standing until 8 March 1966 when, fifty years after the events of 1916, it was severely damaged by explosives planted by the Irish Republican Army. The remnants were later removed.

TCD MS 4456 fol. 2
TCD MS 4456 fol. 2

The manuscript is in very good condition, consists of five sheets written in the author’s hand, and can be consulted in the Manuscripts & Archives Research Library.

Aisling Lockhart

Trinity College Dublin and Rebellion in Ireland

Among the many commemorations that coincided with the hundredth anniversary of the Easter Rising were articles that reflected on Trinity’s role. Described in one newspaper as ‘a bulwark of Empire,’ the College was a crucial staging ground for the British army in its effort to subdue the insurgents. It occupied a strategic point between the General Post Office and St. Stephen’s Green, both held by Irish Volunteers.

Petition of Provost etc. to Lords Justices and Council, 25 November 1641 (TCD MUN P/1/329)
Petition of Provost etc. to Lords Justices and Council, 25 November 1641 (TCD MUN P/1/329)

As an early modernist examining the history of Trinity during the mid-seventeenth century British Civil Wars, I was struck by some parallels between Trinity’s role in 1916 and its place in the 1641 Rebellion. Founded fifty years earlier, by 1641 Trinity had largely failed in some aspects of its mission, namely to train a native clergy and spread Protestantism in Ireland. It catered increasingly to settlers that had arrived during the Elizabethan and Jacobean plantations. However, with the outbreak of rebellion in 1641, Trinity assumed a role as an English military outpost—and it nearly drove the University into dissolution.

A series of manuscripts in the College Archives highlight the extent to which the rebellion left Trinity destitute, with the Provost fleeing to England and the College losing access to revenues from its lands in Ulster, the epicentre of the rising. Trinity also quartered soldiers during the rebellion. While meant to aid in the defense of Dublin and the Pale, the presence of troops represented another financial drain on the University, which was supposed to pay the soldiers out of its own dwindling finances. This prompted the Vice-Provost, Fellows and Scholars to petition the Lords Justices and Council asking for recoupment of expenses (TCD MUN P/1/329). Students were also pushed to the brink of starvation in holding a continuous watch for the safety of the University. Their plight was outlined in another petition (TCD MUN P/1/334). The College’s petitions to Dublin Castle did not go unheeded. The government recognized that while the rebellion required defensive measures be taken, it could not risk the closure of the University, which was still viewed as central to the Crown’s rule of Ireland.

Petition from the students to the Lords Justices and Council, [? June 1642] (TCD MUN P/1/334)
Petition from the students to the Lords Justices and Council, [? June 1642] (TCD MUN P/1/334)

Trinity thus played comparable roles in the risings of 1641 and 1916. Both times the College quartered troops in an effort to subdue rebels, and both times the welfare of the College was considered crucial to the governing of Ireland and indeed, the preservation of imperial designs.

Salvatore Cipriano, Jr.
Ph.D. Candidate
History Department
Fordham University

Eight decades of testimony- the Hall of Honour in TCD

In 1928 the Hall of Honour, which acts as the entrance to the 1937 Reading Room, was officially inaugurated. It was built to house the Roll of Honour, the names of Trinity staff, students and alumni who lost their lives in the First World War. On 26 September this year a specially-commissioned memorial stone will be unveiled on the plinth in front of the building to commemorate those whose names are inscribed within.

The order of service for the opening of the Hall of Honour in Front Square in 1928. (Gall.S.13.40)
The order of service for the opening of the Hall of Honour in Front Square in 1928. (Gall.S.13.40)

The Library began planning a new reading room before the War. In 1918 it was decided to build the portico first to serve as an immediate memorial to those who had died. The whole building was designed by architect Sir Thomas Manly Deane (1851-1932); it was one of the few architectural works he undertook after the death, at Gallipoli in 1915, of his son Thomas. The building work was overseen by John Good and the carving of the names was the work of a Mr. Harrison. The Reading Room itself was finished in 1937.

It had always intended to have some additional sculptural element on the central plinth in front of the Hall but this was never completed. The College Archives, which are kept in the Library, contain the drawings for the Hall, and the correspondence with the architect in which he discusses the addition of a sculptural element.

One of architect Thomas M Deane's drawings for the Hall of Honour and the Library reading room. (TCD MUN MC 42 p 11)
One of architect Thomas M Deane’s drawings for the Hall of Honour and the Library reading room. (TCD MUN MC 42 p 11)

The Hall of Honour was officially opened by the Vice-Chancellor Lord Glenavy in the presence of Provost E. J. Gwynn and invited guests. A two-minute silent black and white film of the event, by British Pathé, may be see on YouTube

In 2014 Provost Patrick Prendergast decided that one of the key Decade of Commemorations events would be the commissioning, installation and unveiling of a memorial stone, to be placed at the front of the Hall of Honour, drawing attention to nature of the building behind it. Sculptor Stephen Burke  accepted the commission and, in consultation with the Hall of Honour Memorial Stone committee, undertook to produce a Portland stone with the following text:

Tionscaíodh an Halla Onóra sa bhliain 1928 in onóir mball foirne, na mac léinn agus na gcéimithe de chuid Choláiste a fuair bás sa Chéad Chogadh Domhanda. Cuireadh críoch leis in 1937 le tógáil seomra léitheoireachta nua don leabharlann.

The Hall of Honour was inaugurated in 1928 in honour of the staff, students and alumni of the College who died in the First World War. It was completed in 1937 by the addition of a new reading room for the Library.

The formal handing over to the Provost of the key to the Hall of Honour was the first act in the inauguration of the Hall of Honour (TCD MS Object 27)
The formal handing over to the Provost of the key to the Hall of Honour was the first act in the inauguration of the Hall of Honour (TCD MS Object 27)

The unveiling of the Hall of Honour Memorial Stone will begin at 11.00 in Front Square and will be followed by a reception in the Dining Hall. All are welcome; please register your intention to attend here.

Jane Maxwell