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1916 (28 April - 2 May). The Rising in Enniscorthy - Unique and important documents including ceasef

Currency:EUR Category:Collectibles Start Price:0.00 EUR Estimated At:5,000.00 - 7,000.00 EUR
1916 (28 April - 2 May). The Rising in Enniscorthy - Unique and important documents including ceasef

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Auction Date:2012 Apr 21 @ 12:00 (UTC+1)
Location:38 Molesworth Street, Dublin, Dublin, ., Ireland


Lieutenant Colonel Francis Howard, 7th Earl of Wicklow, reserve officer, South Irish Horse; thence by descent


This remarkable collection of three documents comprise: (1) typescript "COMMANDEERING ORDER For Gen Staff" for shaving brush and stick, thought to have been issued by the Enniscorthy Volunteers, stamped with date of 28 April 1916; (2) typescript single page "I.R. Headquarters. To the Officers in Command. An armstice [sic] having been declared between our forces and those of the enemy you are to hold your position place piquets and cease active hostilities till further orders. SIGNED SEUMAS DOYLE for General Staff." Initialled "R.B." (Brigade Commandant Robert Brennan) and dated in manuscript "30 April"; (3) a manuscript letter on paper embossed "G.R." (Georgius Rex) "To Lady Wicklow - Lord Wicklow is in Enniscorthy and wishes to know how you are? Send me a note and I will convey it by telephone to him - (no private telegrams can be accepted until further notice) S.E. Mulligan (Postmaster) 2/5/1916"These fascinating documents were found in Countess Wicklow's papers and show that the Seventh Earl, a reserve officer, possibly stationed in Wicklow, was apparently sent to Enniscorthy to assist Colonel G.A. French and his force of 1,000 men sent to quell the rising in Enniscorthy. The Volunteers, under the command of Robert Brennan, assisted by Seamus Doyle and Sean Etchingham, had, under James Connolly's orders, taken over the town, surrounded the RIC Barracks, blocked the railway from Rosslare, and all main roads. When the British forces arrived on 29 April the Volunteers refused to believe their assertion that there was a general surrender in Dublin, and insisted on receiving orders from Padraig Pearse. The British under the command of local officers French and Howard (Wicklow) - who would have probably personally known many of the Volunteers - relented and arranged for Seamus Doyle and Sean Etchingham to be brought to Dublin to see Pearse on Sunday 30 April. On their return the same day the order in this archive was presumably given, and the next day, 1 May, the IV garrison surrendered. 270 were arrested, and the leaders, including Robert Brennan, Seamus Doyle, Sean Etchingham, James Rafter, RF King, Paul Galligan (whose forces occupied Ferns), and Michael de Lacy, were all sentenced to death but had their sentences commuted. This is only the second ceasefire order from the 1916 Rising recorded in private hands and as such is of immense importance and value.