harpflag

He had ten thousand men

from National Library of Ireland on The Commons

• 22 older comments, and then…
• Suck Diesel said:

  Is that a hearse, surely not?

• John Spooner said:

  There is no shortage of press accounts of miltary reviews in Phoenix Park in the early years of the 20th century, for example to celebrate the King's birthday every June. Another which caught my eye (and it's a long shot) was the review of Nationalist Volunteers on Sunday 4th April 1915 (reported next day in the Dublin Daily Express).

  Yesterday a review of the Nationalist Volunteers was held at the Phoenix Park. The event attracted a big gathering. Excursion trains were run from many parts of Ireland. From the South and West there were particularly strong contingents.

  and

  There was an abundance of green flags, though no Union Jack was to seen.

  and

  The weather was ideal for such a display and there seemed to be nothing lacking in point of numbers. In other respects, too, contingents appeared quite to the mark.

  The officer on the white horse appears (to me at least) to have a beard. From investigations several years ago I know that beards were not allowed in the British Army (except in the Pioneers), so if (big if) these were Volunteers (and if it's a beard) then perhaps the rules didn't apply to them. [Volunteers in and before WW 1 were not people who joined up of their own free will, but equivalent to the modern Territorials, i.e. part-time solders. e.g. my grandfather failed his WW1 medical, but joined the local Volunteers] On the other hand, these look too disciplined and well-drilled to match what I imagine Volunteers to look like, and

  But few lost sight of the fact that many of the Volunteers were dressed not in military garb but in the rough clothes of the country

  and a can't see any sign of rough clothes, although it's possible the photographer chose to record for posterity a part of the parade where only military garb was on view.

• National Library of Ireland on The Commons said:

  Suck Diesel I don’t think so.

• John Spooner said:

  Suck Diesel A couple of the officers appear to be looking at it asking themselves the same question, but the privates know that they have to look straight ahead until the saluting base where the general(s) stood. (Is my interpretation)

• Quite Adept said:

  Was it this gathering of Redmond’s Volunteers in April 1915? www.rte.ie/centuryireland/index.php/articles/200000-peopl...