They Died for Ireland – The Republican Dead, Volume 1 (1916-1919)
The first volume of a six volume series which will cover all Republican deaths from 1916 to 1924. Volume 1 covers 1916-1919 and was limited to 500 copies. It quickly sold out and is now a collector’s item. This version is uploaded in collaboration with its author, Colum Ó Ruairc. Colum has been a great supporter and advisor to the archive. We are indebted to him for such a wonderful gesture. Historical editor Éireann Nic Uaitéir is also a friend and supporter of this project.
The book is 425 pages long; heavily illustrated and contains eyewitness accounts chronologically covering Easter Week, Frongoch, the rejuvenation of the movement, and the growth in its support throughout 1917-1918, but most importantly over 250 profiles of republicans who died during the 1916-1919 period, from insurrection, wounds, disease and even the Spanish flu.
The appendices list all those who turned out across Ireland in 1916; the earliest TD’s, GHQ (IRA) 1917-1921 and the Ard Craobh of Na Fianna Eireann and Cumann na mBan.
The copyright of this book remains with its author, Colum Ó Ruairc.
They Died for Ireland – The Republican Dead, Volume 2 (1920)
Produced 2022-2023, Volume 2 encapsulates the ferocity of 1920, showing the transition in fighting between the IRA and Crown forces to a more intense stage. The Black and Tans and Auxiliaries were brought in to rally the RIC into a counter-insurgency force with brutal methods. It was the year of Kilmichael and Mallow; the rise of sectarian attacks on the Nationalists of Derry and Belfast and the political tug-of-war between Westminster and an underground Dáil Éireann. Kevin Barry, a boy of Eighteen summers, would be the first martyr to die by execution since Roger Casement. He would not be the last. This book also captures the intensity surrounding the hunger strikes in Cork and that of Terence MacSwiney. The world began to watch Ireland and embrace its sorrow as its towns and villages smouldered from British flame.
The year of 1920 is considered one of the darkest years in the Tan War. The IRA, suffering with arrest and poor resources, proved themselves as a worthy adversary to the might of Britain and its Churchillian tactics; so much so they brought pressure on Lloyd George to eventually find a political solution.
This book contains the sadness of Croke Park, Balbriggan, Tralee and Cork City, so much so, that readers of these books admit feeling that they have experienced the emotions of the period; feelings that some might define as already transgenerationally evident in the Irish spirit within us.
The author, Colum Ó Ruairc, is administrator and researcher of the 1798 Rebellion Casualty Database, having already amassed over 4,000 names of those who perished in that Rebellion.
The copyright of this book remains with its author, Colum Ó Ruairc.
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