24 November 2014: Dublin Fire Brigade log-book for Easter Rising of 1916 goes on display at Dublin City Library and Archive
L-R: Fire brigade historian Tom Geraghty, City Archivist Mary Clark and City Librarian Margaret Hayes with the fire brigade log book .
On Monday 24 November 2014 a Dublin Fire Brigade log-book covering the period of the Easter Rising of 1916 (24-29 April 1916) will go on display at Dublin City Library and Archive, 138-144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2.
The log-book, which was recently purchased at auction by Dublin City Council, relates to Tara Street Fire Station and records the hour-by-hour response of the Dublin ambulance service to those injured in the Rising. It contains details of the call-out of ambulances throughout Easter Week, giving names, addresses and ages of victims with an account of injuries suffered and the name of the hospital to which they were delivered. Victims include civilians (including children) and military personnel, but not members of the Irish Volunteers or Irish Citizen Army, as each garrison had its own cohort of nurses. As the week progresses, entries record fires in the city and by the end of the week, both the ambulance and fire brigade had been forbidden by Lieutenant John Myers from responding to calls within areas that had seen fighting, as he deemed this to be too dangerous.
Inserted into the volume are loose-leaves giving an account, compiled in July 1916, of the activities of Thomas Street Fire Station during the 1916 Rising. Lord Mayor Christy Burke was presented with the Log-Book in the Mansion House on 20 November 2014, and said that ‘I am delighted that Dublin City Council has obtained this important contemporary record of the 1916 Rising. This volume details the impact of the Rising on Dublin and particularly the citizens who were caught up in these historic events. It also records the bravery of those who staffed the ambulance and fire brigade services, continuing to look after the public even under fire’.
Click here for more details and to view the log-book online.
From Century Ireland: watch the RTÉ report on the purchase of the log-book.
From History Ireland: Kevin Myers reviews Las Fallon’s Dublin Fire Brigade and the Irish Revolution.