Dublin by Lamplight

The Daughter’s of Erin, the Ladies’ Land League, and Dublin By Lamplight.

In the play, Dublin By Lamplight, a very important political activist group is highlighted within the context of the play. The Daughters Of Ireland were a major women’s movement group that sprung from the roots of the Ladies’ Land League in the early 1900′s. In order to fully comprehend the intentions and goals that the Daughters of Ireland strive for, we must go back to the very beginning. The Women’s Land League (WLL) was created just after the fall of the Irish National Land League in 1879. The WLL was made during the Irish famine that was occurring in Ireland due to the amount of taxes that were paid towards the rent. The men of Ireland did not want to disengage their battle with the landlords, but they were forced back down. They created the WLL in the hopes that the wage-war would continue on through a non threatening organization, led by women. The Ladies’ Land League was therefore created in the hopes that the battle for lower living costs would pursue, and so that women could be involved in politics. This fact alone encouraged large groups of women to stand up for themselves and demand their right to be involved in the organizations of political movements. The Daughters of Ireland was created there afterward, “a nationalist feminist group that resented being excluded, as women, from National organizations.” (Imperial Feminism and the Ladies’ Land League 75, 87, 88). After the short lived Ladies’ Land League, the Daughters of Ireland were even more determined to get what they wanted. We join the Daughters in Dublin by Lamplight as they embark on a campaign to stop Irish soldiers from enlisting in the war against Britain in what was known as the Boer war.-Amanda Martinali

Inghinidhe na hEireann, better known in the English speaking world as the Daughters of Erin, was a political and nationalist organization formed in October of 1900. While the main reasoning behind the formation of this group was due to the exclusion of women from politically nationalist societies, the Daughters of Erin were not solely a feminist organization. While they did adopt an ideologically orthodox mentality, the Daughters of Erin pushed Ireland to assert equality among all people and to bring the nation together as a family. Despite their efforts to of this familial atmosphere, whose purpose was to accept the idea of the nation and represent it as a raw unity, these visions were not in accordance with the “Victorian middle-class family ideology adapted by the largely middle-class Gaelic League” which was founded in 1893 (Bradley, 41). – Evangelia Kambites

 

The Birth of Inghinidhe na hEireann

As stated above the Daughters of Erin were an actual political group that existed in Ireland during the time period Dublin by Lamplight was set, however it is important to discuss the famous woman who conceived and built them, Maud Gonne. Gonne, the woman whom the character Eva St. John is based on, first became interested in politics through “Lucien Millevoye…a French journalist and politician” (www.secondat.blogspot.com) whom Gonne had an affair with as well as two children. After leaving her lover in France she moved back to Ireland where she was invited to attend meetings of such prestigious political groups as the Contemporary Club and the Celtic Literary Society, which were usually not open to women. After being told that she could never become a member of either she retorted by stating “…she would start a woman’s society and would get all their sisters and sweethearts to join” (Ward 43). However it was not until Queen Victoria’s visit on April 4^th, 1900 that Gonne was presented the opportunity to make good on her word.

 

During the Queen’s visit there was a treat held for only a few thousand children creating an uproar within the nationalist community thus spurring them to create an counter-treat (Ward 48) “which successfully upstaged the government-sponsored festivities” (Broderick 197). “The ad-hoc committee, soon to be called the Patriotic Children’s Treat Committee, was immediately formed, with Maud as the unanimous choice for president” (Ward 48). After successfully completing the event the women realized they could not simply disband after their great achievement and decided they should form a group to, “…educate little girls into an understanding of the national ideal” (Ward 50); thus the Daughter’s of Erin were born. They, like the group portrayed by Michael West, hoped to accomplish goals such as “the re-establishment of the complete independence of Ireland…to discourage the reading and circulation of low English literature…[and] the vulgar English entertainments at the theatres and music hall, [as well as] combat in every way English influence, which [was] doing so much injury to the artistic taste and refinement of the Irish people” (Ward 51).  

Thus Dublin by Lamplight is actually art imitating reality. Eva’s character, though seemingly a little superstitious and flighty, wholeheartedly supports Willy Hayes’ idea to not only open the first national theatre, but also a company which only produces original Irish plays. An aspect of the play which is acutally true and was started by Gonne as well as the Daughters of Erin and became known as the Irish Literary Revival. Like Maud, Eva is also a Nationalist that abhors the monarchy, seeing the King’s presence in Ireland as an attempt to reiterate the power of the monarchy and England. Hence the reason Eva leads her sisters in chaining themselves to the railings outside Trinity, one of the places the King is to pass on his procession through Dublin, shouting “Sons of Erin, listen to your sisters. Do not fight for the imperial powers. Join the struggle for Ireland” (West 23). Though she is arrested she never stops fighting for Ireland or having faith that one day it will become a nation in and of itself, never letting anything get in her way of her duty as a Daughter of Erin.

 

Image Sources:

Maud Gonne

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/0/02/Maudgonne.jpg

Queen Victoria

http://www.famouspeople.co.uk/q/images/queenvictoria01.jpg

 

-Shana Pereira

 

The Royal Dublin Fusiliers

Ireland during the early 20th Century. This period marks a time of major strides for Irish independence from British rule. It thus stands to reason that any British military presence in Ireland would be met with mixed results, at best. What makes this regiment interesting is that it was comprised, as the name implies, of soldiers, mostly of Irish descent. In Dublin By Lamplight, a Hussar of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers make a brief appearance as security for a royal visit by the king and is quickly made the subject of ridicule by Willy. British soldiers re-appear at the end of the play and kill Willy in the crossfire of a small battle with the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB).

The soldiers of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers were made up primarily of protestant Irish Rugby community. (Karsten, 34)

Typical Equipment For Early 19^th Century British Soldiers:

Uniform

- Gray collar-less undershirt

- 5-button tunic with closable collar

- Straight trousers held up by suspenders

- Leg wraps to be wound from ankle to calf,

- Trenchcoat

- A trenchcap

- A leather jerkin for cold weather.

<Insert Image of British Soldier… If Possible>

Weaponry

- Short Magazine Lee Enfield .303 rifle.

- Two ammunition pouches that could each hold up to 150 rounds

(Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association)

http://www.rt66.com/~korteng/SmallArms/leenfld.htm

The RDF would be disbanded on the 12^th of June 1922.

- Michel Hau

The Irish Republican Brotherhood

The Irish Republican Brotherhood was one of the major nationalist groups in turn of the century Ireland.

“The ideology of the IRB was nationalist and separatist, mildly modernizing and radical in a non-socialist sense. It also had a strong streak of militarism. It was modernizing despite the existence of a nostalgic theme in its declarations, and it espoused democratic and egalitarian ideas; it was extremist, even by the standards of the time, only in its uncompromising separatism” (Garvin, 476)

In Dublin by Lamplight the IRB serve mainly as antagonists and ruffians, rather than seeming like an organized force. This is likely due to the fact that during the early period of the 20^th Century, the IRB had become largely unpopular, though the Second Boer War (1899–1902) did briefly revitalize them. This antagonism first becomes apparent in Act One, Scene Fifteen, when we first meet the IRB men and they steal from Willy. This also serves to foreshadow the rather tragic nature of Willy’s death.

-Michel Hau

Negative Reactions to Royal Visits by Individuals and Groups

There were often negative reactions to any visit by a British Monarch, usually from anti-imperialist groups or individuals. In Dublin by Lamplight these manifestations are seen at the protest where Eva ties herself to the railing and gets arrested, and then when Frank causes the explosion.
Arthur Griffiths also played a significant role in the negative public reactions against the Monarchs, as he was the leading member of Cumann na nGaedhael, a leftist political party of the time. In 1905, five years after Queen Victoria’s last visit to Ireland, Griffiths used the contacts he had made during the visit as a member of Cumann na nGaedhael to form the Sinn Fein party, still present in Ireland today. Also present in the protests and reactions were the Irish Republican Brotherhood, an underground society that only allowed select members to join, and later the Irish Republican Army, which took a much more militant and violent stance against the Crown. References to the these groups are made in Dublin by Lamplight, including Frank’s comment when he fears that everyone wants his head, including both the police and the IRB (West, 65). Unfortunately, like Willy Hayes and Maggie, many Irish who tried to remain neutral about the situation ended up either facing a life alone and uncertain, like Maggie, or were caught in crossfire and killed, like Willy. – Arthur Griffiths visiting County Sligo

-Laura Moniz