4 January 2014: Commemoration of the death of Alicia Brady during the 1913 Lockout, Glasnevin Cemetery

The centenary of the funeral of Alicia Brady (1897-1913) was commemorated in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, on Saturday, 4 January, at 2.00 p.m.

A member of the Irish Women Workers’ Union, Alicia was among the last people to die as a result of the social conflict surrounding the 1913 Lockout, after being hit by a ricochet from a revolver fired by a strike-breaker in December 1913.

 

SIPTU General President, Jack O’Connor will lay a wreath at Alicia Brady’s grave. and delivered an oration. This was be followed by a commemoration event in the Glasnevin Cemetery Museum addressed by Alicia Brady’s niece, Brigid Taylor; Terese Caherty, Chairperson of the Irish Women Workers’ Union Committee; and Padraig Yeates, 1913 Committee co-ordinator. Ethel Buckley, SIPTU Campaigns and Equality Organiser, Ethel Buckley, chaired the commemoration.

 

The event also included a theatrical performance celebrating Alicia’s life performed by ANU Productions.

 

Before the commemoration, Padraig Yeates remarked that ‘this event will be one of the last commemorations of the 1913 Lockout Centenary. Alicia died from tetanus which she contracted after being hit by a ricochet from a revolver fired by a strike-breaker on 18th December during a confrontation in Mark Street, Dublin.
Alicia was a 16 year old worker in Jacob’s Biscuits factory who was locked out with over 300 other women and 600 men, because of their stand in support of workers on strike at the Dublin United Tramway Company which was owned by William Martin Murphy. Thousands attended her funeral on January 4th, 1914, where orations were delivered by Jim Larkin and James Connolly. In his graveside oration Connolly said, ‘Every scab and every employer of scab labour in Dublin is morally responsible for the death of the young girl we have just buried’.’

 

The event was organised by the 1913 Committee, SIPTU Campaigns and Equality Department and the Glasnevin Trust.

 

From Century Ireland: the death of ‘Alice’ Brady.

 

 

To watch a report on the commemoration, click here.