We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
A COPY OF the ill-fated order by Eoin MacNeill to call off the 1916 Rising sold at auction for €30,000 today.
The handwritten note, which reads “Volunteers completely deceived. All orders for tomorrow Sunday are entirely cancelled,” had had a guide price of between €30,000 and €50,000.
The note is dated Saturday 22 April 1916 and is signed by Eoin Mac Neill, who was the head of the Irish Volunteers force.
MacNeill had asked for the order to be delivered to local commanders around the country after he found out about plans by the Irish Republican Brotherhood to begin the rebellion against British rule in Ireland on Easter Sunday. Pádraig Pearse had issued orders for “parades and manoeuvres” to begin on Easter Sunday, which was a signal to volunteers to begin the rebellion.
MacNeill asked men he trusted to deliver the order to as many commanders as possible. He himself brought a longer version of the note to the Sunday Independent newspaper, where it was inserted as an advertisement.
MacNeill’s prevarication over whether or not to go ahead with the rebellion, combined with the late notice, meant that the message caused confusion among rebels, especially in areas furthest from Dublin. Members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, led by Pearse, James Connolly and Tom Clarke, delayed the Dublin rebellion by 24 hours, and instead began on Easter Monday.
The Rising started early on Easter Monday morning, 24 April 1916, when around 1,200 rebels took over buildings in Dublin city centre. However it was quickly subdued by British forces, and the rebels surrendered on Saturday 29 April.
The surrender note, written by Pearse, said that they were stopping to prevent the further slaughter of Dublin citizens and to save the lives of the rebels who were “hopelessly outnumbered”.
The note
It is not known how many copies of MacNeill’s letter were made, with estimates of between 12 and 20, but very few copies of the order have survived.
The auctioneers described it as “with the exception of the Proclamation itself, it is probably the most important and influential document of the period of the Rising”.
The auction at Adam’s Auctioneers in Dublin city centre saw a number of lots from Ireland’s political, literary and military history go under the hammer.
A copy of the original Proclamation of Independence from the same month sold for €90,000 at today’s auction.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Hope it was kept in the country.
To think that there were nearly 100,000 Volunteers at the time(granted guns and ammo were scarce), and almost 99% didn’t take part. Shows you how militarised the situation had become. There were also 100,000 well-armed Ulster Volunteers, ready to fight and die to stay in the Union. Not to forget the tens of thousands fighting in France. Mad times.
The UVF was away fighting in the war. The 100,000 were pre-war estimates and was probably exaggerated. There is also a big difference between volunteering and actually fighting as the reluctance of the Irish Volunteers proves.
The point I was making really was that the British were caught out a bit when the Tan war started, there was an army waiting for them.
John Redmond send the majority of them over to the slaughter house in Europe. John was desperate to get his peerage.
The Irish Parliamentary Party wanted to replace the landlord class, to be the big shots and have the entitlements for themselves.
John Redmond wanted the scraps off the table for Ireland.
That’s right. John Redmond personally put a gun to all their heads and made them go to war. Let’s have an informed discussion here instead of having to listen to the usual republican propaganda. A lot of Irishmen went to war out of a sense of duty and while some had no other option, most of them felt they were fighting for the right side.
No John, most of them did it because they had families to feed and there were no other jobs available.
Seanie, at the time of the rising the Home Rule Party were hugely popular as was Redmond himself. The rising itself was hugely unpopular. It took the executions to kick start the independence campaign. Basically, shut up
Why doesnt the article mention who it was sold to?? important info i wouldve thought……
Are bidders not anonymous if they chose?
The only ones who did the deceiving were John Redmond and his friends.
Taking over 100k Irish volunteers in to the Killing Fields of France so that John could be assured of a future peerage and even though Westminister crossed him and his party at every turn.
so you said already
A peerage? Nonsense – the thinking was to show loyalty to ensure the Home Rule Act was enforced after the war. Redmond had already lost his power at this time, the volunteers were split between constitutional nationalists , cultural nationalists and republicans. Much more subtle than people realise these days
CORRECT….
The IRB are still in existence today. Mr Maguire turns the sovereign seal every year.
Imagine how different the following years might have been if those volunteers had taken part in the rising !
have your say