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LIFE BEFORE THE RISING

Before the Rising Michael Gorman and Catriona Crowe Image Name: Before the Rising Michael Gorman and Catriona Crowe
Before the Rising Catriona Crowe Image Name: Before the Rising Catriona Crowe
Before the Rising Catriona Crowe 1 Image Name: Before the Rising Catriona Crowe 1

Before the Rising in April 1916, most Irish people had little idea of what was to come.  Most ordinary people were concerned with the same things we all think about today: where to live, where to work, relationships, families, romance, food, drink and leisure time..

This was a complex society, about to experience huge change. But that was in the future.

What was it like to live in a country on the eve of revolution?

Presented by historian Catriona Crowe of the National Archives, this documentary explores  what was happening in the lives of Irish people from the growing catholic middle classes to the tenement dwellers, in the months and years leading up to the Rising.  It reveals that the records of the Dublin Metropolitan Police were primarily concerned with soldiers being charged with desertion from the army – and petty crime.  There was little to indicate Dublin was a city teetering on the brink of armed insurrection.

It looks at where people lived, what their houses were like, what they wore, ate, drank and did for entertainment.  It tells the story of the explosion in film as a form of entertainment and the vigilantes who tried to stop it.  The programme also looks at the fact that Dublin was a major tourist destination at the time and reveals what the 1916 guidebooks tell us about the city.

World War 1 had already brought bereavement and trauma to many families but the effect of the Gallipoli campaign would bring it to a whole new level – the convalescing, the lame and the blind were clearly visible on the streets of Ireland by the end of 1915.

The documentary also tells the story of Susan Fitzgerald and Michael Gorman who met  in 1912 and started a relationship despite the opposition of their families.  Susan was Church of Ireland Protestant and Michael was Catholic.  Their son Michael Gorman (88) discovered dozens of letters from Susan to Michael  in the years leading up to the Rising, reflecting life at the time,  although little is mentioned about the political situation.  As their son Michael Gorman said – they were not on any side of the political fence – just on  the side of getting on with life.