Easter Rising Stories

1883 — Birth of Elizabeth O’Farrell, Easter Rising courier

O’Farrell was born in Dublin and became a nurse and member of Cumann na mBan. On 28 April 1916 she was chosen to deliver Pearse’s offer of surrender, walking through the firing lines carrying a white flag, and later carried the surrender order to the other garrisons. Famously, she was later airbrushed from the surrender photograph.
Historical significance: Her erased image became an emblem of the recovery of women’s part in the Easter Rising story.
Here is a documentary I made about her life with one of her relatives, Donna Cooney.

1920 — Killings at Ardfert, Co. Kerry

Fifteen-year-old Teresa O’Connell and 55-year-old shopkeeper Michael Maguire were killed by the RIC at Ardfert. Maguire was arrested, taken to Causeway barracks and shot dead; one account holds O’Connell was shot as the result of a wager between two Black and Tans. The killings became notorious in contemporary reporting. This incident shows the collapse of police discipline that destroyed the RIC’s legitimacy in 1920.

1921 — Lloyd George meets Craig on an all-Ireland parliament

British Prime Minister Lloyd George met James Craig in London to persuade him to accept a Northern Ireland parliament subordinate to an all-Ireland parliament. Craig appeared initially receptive — the first serious British attempt to reunite the island within a settlement. This was the moment partition’s permanence was genuinely in the balance, before Craig’s allies stiffened his resistance.
Sources:

1922 — Ernie O’Malley captured on Ailesbury Road

Anti-Treaty Assistant Chief of Staff Ernie O’Malley was shot twice and captured when Free State troops raided Sheila Humphreys’ home on Ailesbury Road, Dublin, where his headquarters lay. One pro-Treaty soldier was killed. O’Malley, gravely wounded, was treated under guard and later wrote the classic memoir On Another Man’s Wound. The loss of O’Malley — organiser of much of the anti-Treaty war — was a serious blow to the republicans.

Here is a documentary I made about Ernie O’Malley

And this is an interview I had with Ernie O’Malley’s son Cormac

1951 — Death of Agnes O’Farrelly

O’Farrelly (Úna Ní Fhaircheallaigh), Gaelic League scholar, poet and first woman on the staff of UCD, died on 5 November 1951. She chaired the inaugural meeting of Cumann na mBan in 1914 and led the 1916 petition demanding Roger Casement’s reprieve, for which she was nearly deported.

References

1. Irish History 1919–1923 Chronology (n.d.) ‘November 1920’ [Entry for 5 November 1920]. Available at: http://irishhistory1919-1923chronology.ie/november_1920.htm (Accessed: 2 November 2026).

2. Irish History 1919–1923 Chronology (n.d.) ‘November 1921’ [Entry for 5 November 1921]. Available at: http://irishhistory1919-1923chronology.ie/november_1921.htm (Accessed: 2 November 2026).

3. Irish History 1919–1923 Chronology (n.d.) ‘November 1922’ [Entry for 5 November 1922]. Available at: http://irishhistory1919-1923chronology.ie/november_1922.htm (Accessed: 2 November 2026).

4. Wikipedia contributors (n.d.) ‘Elizabeth O’Farrell’. Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_O%27Farrell (Accessed: 2 November 2026).

5. Wikipedia contributors (n.d.) ‘Ernie O’Malley’. Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_O%27Malley (Accessed: 2 November 2026).