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  • 58cm x 42cm Quaint vintage poster of a jaunting car carrying a group around Phoenix Park- the giant Wellington monument can be seen in the background. The Wellington Monument or sometimes the Wellington Testimonial,is an obelisk located in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland. The testimonial is situated at the southeast end of the Park, overlooking Kilmainham and the River Liffey. The structure is 62 metres (203 ft) tall, making it the largest obelisk in Europe

    History

    The Wellington Testimonial was built to commemorate the victories of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. Wellington, the British politician and general, also known as the 'Iron Duke', was born in Ireland. Originally planned to be located in Merrion Square, it was built in the Phoenix Park after opposition from the square's residents. The obelisk was designed by the architect Sir Robert Smirke and the foundation stone was laid in 1817. In 1820, the project ran out of construction funds and the structure remained unfinished until 18 June 1861 when it was opened to the public. There were also plans for a statue of Wellington on horseback, but a shortage of funds ruled that out.

    Features

    There are four bronze plaques cast from cannons captured at Waterloo – three of which have pictorial representations of his career while the fourth has an inscription. The plaques depict 'Civil and Religious Liberty' by John Hogan, 'Waterloo' by Thomas Farrell and the 'Indian Wars' by Joseph Robinson Kirk. The inscription reads:
    Asia and Europe, saved by thee, proclaim
    Invincible in war thy deathless name,
    Now round thy brow the civic oak we twine
    That every earthly glory may be thine.

    Cultural references

    The monument is referenced throughout James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. The first page of the novel alludes to a giant whose head is at "Howth Castle and Environs" and whose toes are at "a knock out in the park (p. 3)"; John Bishop extends the analogy, interpreting this centrally located obelisk as the prone giant's male member. A few pages later, the monument is the site of the fictional "Willingdone Museyroom" (p. 8).
  • 50cm x 48cm
    ORD NA MÓNA produces some 315,000 tons of briquettes per annum from 800,000 tons of milled peat. Production takes place at three factories situated at Derrinlough (between Birr and Cloghan), Co. Offaly, Croghan (between Edenderry and Daingean), Co. Offaly, and at Lullymore, Co. Kildare. Lullymore was erected in 1935 and modified extensively in 1957-58, and production is 45,000 tons/annum. Derrinlough followed in 1959 and Croghan in 1961, each producing 135,000 tons/ annum. There are several descriptions available of earlier attempts at briquetting dried milled peat in Ireland, and of these the most interesting is that by Hodgson (Transactions of I.C.E.1. 1862, and Proceedings of the Inst. of Mech. Engineers 1865) at Derrylea, Co. Offaly. Considerable detail is given in these articles of, not alone Hodgson’s method of winning milled peat on Derrylea bog, but of the erection and operation of the associated briquette factory. Much of the technical data on the process at the time is topical still. Of particular interest is the means by which he dried the peat to 10% m.c. in a 500 foot long scraper dryer, and his development of the string type briquette press claimed to be the progenitor of all subsequent presses as used for brown coal and peat briquetting throughout the world. Bord na Móna briquettes go to customers in the form of bales (28-lb. bundles), loose or in brickeen form, i.e. single loose briquettes cut into 3 equal parts. These latter are used extensively for industrial boiler applications. The processing of the milled peat from its arrival in the factory as far as the briquetting and storage stages is shown in the accompanying flow diagram. The data and descriptions which follow refer to the new factories unless otherwise designated. Following the tippling, blending, fine milling and screening process, it will be seen that the peat tailings are used as fuel in a boiler producing steam at a pressure of 37 atmospheres for a back pressure turbo-alternator of 2,400 kW. maximum output. All power used in the factory is supplied from this source, whilst the low pressure steam at 3 atmospheres passes to the peat dryers. About 9 tons per hour of tailings are used in the boiler, whilst 36 tons per hour of fine peat are conveyed from the screens to the Peco drying process. This system of drying was developed in Scotland during the First World War and the first plant using the system was built near Dumfries. The Peco system is essentially the indirect drying of milled peat by means of hot water and steam while the peat is being pneumatically conveyed in an air/vapour stream. The peat in finely divided form (all through a 10 mm. screen) dries rapidly from its intake moisture-circa 50% m.c.-to 10% m.c. At this moisture content briquettes can be formed under a pressure of some 750 atmospheres in a specially designed press which extrudes the briquettes continuously into cooling runners some 70 metres long. This process is necessary so as to cool and thereby harden the briquettes prior to baling and storage, and to provide steady back pressure on briquettes issuing from the press mouth. The output of briquettes in the new factories averages 18 tons an hour from an input of 45 tons, or 2.5 to 1 input/output ratio.

    Special Equipment

    Milled peat as delivered to the briquette factory possesses rather variable physical characteristics in regard to moisture content, bulk density, fibre content, ash content, etc., and there is need to process this variable feed material to make it suitable for manufacturing a finished product of minimum variation from fixed standards. To this end a number of special pieces of equipment have been developed and built into each factory:
    • Blending Bunker
    • Buffer Bunker
    • Dryers
    • Spiral tubes (dryers)
    • Press Prepackers
    • Anti-corrosive devices
     

    Blending Bunker

    Each day’s factory requirements of milled peat ­ about 1,000 tons – is tippled and conveyed by belt over a 150 metre long x 10 metres wide x 12 metres high concrete box building. The belt runs overhead on the centre line of this building and distributes the milled peat in layer upon layer to a total depth of about 8 metres. Some 200 wagons per day from 3 or more bog piles are blended in this way and a mean value for each of the peat physical characteristics is obtained. The bog piles of peat have widely different characteristics and blending achieves the following results. Moisture content -This varies on receipt from 40% to 60%. As far as possible blending is arranged to yield a moisture content of around 50% in the factory supply. Ash content – In blending peat from bogs of low ash content the target is 1.5% plus/minus 1%, and from higher ash bogs the target is 3% plus/ minus 1% in practice. Bulk density – As measured at the presses ­ where the peat is both fine and free flowing – the target density is 210 grms/litre from bogs of low general density, and 240 grms/litre from higher density areas. A given blend will vary some 10 grms/litre above and below this target figure during the duration of the blend-1 day. If peat were fed to the factory directly as it came from the bog, then 2-hourly (train load) variations in density from 140 grms/litre up to 350 grms/litre could be expected, making control of the process virtually impossible. Fibre -Some areas of bog provide milled peat of very high fibre content and this is controlled during the blending operation by dilution to a figure acceptable to the factory process. Some conveyors in the factory have an upper tolerance level for fibre and these conveyors are used as controls. High fibre content restricts peat flow in ducts and chutes and can inhibit output as a result.

    Buffer Bunker

    Interposed between the blending bunker and the 125 KW. hammer mill is a buffer bunker which is designed to act as the factory feed control. Its floor consists of an infinitely variable speed chain grate to feed milled peat to the factory screens via the hammer mill. This finely regulated feed is necessary in order to present the mill with a steady load and so ensure even and regular comminution. The bunker itself has vertical walls in order to keep the milled peat flowing downwards evenly – particularly when it is in the higher moisture ranges. In the case of narrower bunkers and chutes within the factory the walls have been given negative slopes to aid flow, and are insulated where desirable. The fully automatic peat removal device in the main blending bunker bites into the milled peat pile in a regular forward motion, but for a variety of reasons the flow of peat to the underground belt conveyor can vary plus/minus 20% or more on the control figure. The buffer bunker is essential in the levelling out of this fluctuation in peat coming from the blending bunker. The forward speed of the blending bunker peat removal device is controlled automatically by upper and lower level indicators in the buffer bunker.

    Dryers

    The Peco type dryer consists essentially of an upper and lower tube plate set in a shell capable of holding either hot water (as in the first 2 of the 5 dryers in the factory dryer system) or steam (as in the last 3 dryers). Tubes are fitted between the tube plates, and fine peat is blown up through these tubes and dried due to heat transfer from the heating medium surrounding the tubes. Owing to the fact that the largest peat briquette factories built up to 1958 were for 50,000 tons briquette output, it was necessary to redesign the dryers to suit outputs of 135,000 tons/annum. Dryers for the lower output were some 2 metres diameter by 10 to 12 metres high and with tubes from 38 mm. i.d. to 55 mm. i.d. Throughputs of 8-10 tons per hour were possible but some tube chokage was a recurring factor in operation. Redesign involved lengthening the dryer to 18 metres high, increasing the diameter to 3 metres, and increasing the tube size to 70 mm. i.d. with consequential increases in all loadings and in the problems associated with the peat feed flow and distribution to the bottom tube plates. After some initial commissioning difficulties in providing the necessary air and air/vapour quantities the dryers performed satisfactorily at throughputs ranging from 18 to 24 tons per hour, depending on input moisture content, density and flow characteristics, of the peat feed.

    Dryer Tubes

    In order to obtain the highest possible specific evaporation rates from the heated tube area in 5 dryers of the system, it was essential to fit specially designed tubes with a 3-start indented spiral helix­ a form of rifling. By such means the ascending peat particles are pressed by centrifugal force against the hot walls of the tube and this effectively breaks the adhering air skin flowing at 15 m/sec. parallel with the tube inner surface. As a result heat flows more efficiently from the tube walls to the moisture in the peat.

    Press Prepackers

    Following initial experiments without any form of prepacking of the dry peat fines just prior to their entry to the ram of the press, it was found essential to fit such a device. Without a pre-packer the maximum thickness of briquette obtainable from a press was 18-21 mm. A simple push type ram prepacker was added above and behind the main press ram in such a way that the peat fines descending into the press chamber were held in a packed condition (approximately 2 to 1 by volume) awaiting the next stroke of the main ram. With this device briquette thickness is controllable up to 40 mm. (or more in the case of higher density peat).

    Anti-corrosion

    As would be anticipated when dealing with a product which has a pH value of 3.5 in its moistened condition, many problems of corrosion have had to be solved in the briquette factories. Associated with corrosive attack is that of erosion from mineral matter in the peat, and care had to be taken in deciding which form of attack was the pre­dominant one prior to prescribing a solution, as combatant materials are costly. Amongst the items of plant modified were the press formes or moulds within which the briquettes are formed. Originally made from carbon steel with a life between grindings of about 3 weeks, the use of a stainless die tool steel increased forme life to some 12-26 weeks, depending on the mineral matter content of the peat being briquetted. Apart from the elongation of time between grindings the main gain was the ability to hold a high standard of briquette finish and strength over a much longer period. Many mild steel ducts and cyclones are in use where condensation of vapour caused corrosion the products of which were soft enough to be cleaned off by low level erosion. This erosion exposed the surface to renewed corrosion and the vessels had to be clad internally, or be replaced entirely in stainless steel of suitable quality. An interesting example of this occurred on outdoor cyclones where the supports passed through the heat insulation and were welded to the vessel. A small area of the 6 mm. thick shell of the cyclone where each support was attached was colder than the vapour temperature within the cyclone. Rapid corrosion-erosion of this area showed itself by distortion of the sheeting, and settling of the cyclone. Covering of each small area with 2 mm. stainless steel eliminated further trouble. Other equipment which required protection against aggressive attack by peat vapour comprised the heat exchanger units and associated vessels and ducting, fan impellors, screw conveyor spirals and troughs etc. Erosion of the peat inlet ends of the tubes of the dryers was stopped by the insertion of 100 mm. lengths of Yorcoron CuNiFeMn alloy tubing.

    Boiler Plant

    The boilers in all three factories are pulverised peat fired type with steam outlet conditions of 37 atmospheres pressure and 425°C. temperature. Derrinlough and Croghan boilers are of 20 tons/hr. and Lullymore is 10 tons/hr. output. Each is operated for 7,200 hours per annum and is shut for maintenance every 2,000 hours. Steady and continuous running help to reduce wear and tear and the blended peat supply helps greatly to this end.

    Turbine Alternator

    A 2,400 kW. 3000 r.p.m. Stal radial flow back pressure set is installed at both Derrinlough and Croghan factories. Inlet steam pressure is 35 atmospheres and back pressure is 0.2-3 atmospheres. Generation is at 220/380 volts, 50 cycles. The turbo alternator at Lullymore is a Metropolitan Vickers 1,000 kW. B.P. set with similar inlet and outlet conditions to the other sets. Condensers are used to return unwanted steam to the hot well.

    Pressing, Baling and Storage

    The briquette presses are 7″ twin type supplied by Buckau Wolf and without the tongue adjustment which is a usual fixture on brown coal presses. Each press flywheel is of 7 tons weight and the short centred drive is by flat extramultus type belt. There are 5 such presses in each of the larger factories. The crankshaft is 180 degree two throw and press speed is variable in the range 40-80 r.p.m. normal operation being about 70 r.p.m. The motor is commutator type 3 phase, size 160/80 kW. 540/270 r.p.m. and designed to give P.F. improvement on the system. Press operation is continuous for periods up to 3 weeks or longer, between stops for forme, ram, or other routine maintenance.

    Baling

    Customer preference has increased steadily over the years for briquettes in bales of 28 lbs. weight (12.6 kg.) and these are made up at the end of the cooling runners – a distance of 70 metres from the press, and are strapped on automatic wire baling machines. Storage of bales takes place on flat pallets. Each pallet takes up to 2½ tons and is fork lifted into covered storage to a height of up to 7 metres. Prior to the onset of winter sales this storage of bales can run to 15,000 to 20,000 tons at the larger factories, with perhaps 5,000-10,000 tons of loose briquettes and brickeen stocks. Out loading of these latter from the storage bunkers into lorries is effected by remote control of the special pusher type outloader and the associated underground conveyor belt system. The operator is positioned above the lorry being loaded and can call up the precise amount of briquettes required by the lorryman.

    General

    Almost all equipment in each of the larger factories is controlled, started or stopped from a central control desk and the necessary safety devices have been incorporated to protect personnel when remote starting is in progress. The factory operators number six per shift and a 4 shift system is used. Supporting maintenance, loading and supervisory personnel bring the total factory staff to 120 people.
  • 57cm x 48cm The Dewar's whisky brand was created by John Dewar, Sr. in 1846.Under the control of his two sons, John A. Dewar Jr. and Thomas "Tommy" Dewar, the brand expanded to become a global market leader by 1896 and began to win several awards, including a gold medal in the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. Tommy became famous as the author of a travel journal, Ramble Round the Globe, which documented his travels while publicizing the Dewar name. Dewar's eventually expanded their product by constructing the Aberfeldy Distillery in 1896.
    John Dewar & Sons 1926 client correspondence with watermark on document
    The company joined Distillers Company in 1925. Distillers was acquired by Guinness in 1986, and Guinness merged with Grand Metropolitan to form Diageo in 1997. Diageo sold Dewar's to Bacardi the next year. Dewar's rose to prominence in the United States when Andrew Carnegie requested a small keg of Dewar's Scotch whisky be sent to the White House for President James Garfield's inauguration. Carnegie also sent the same gift to President Benjamin Harrisonon his inauguration eight years later. In 1987, numerous cases of still perfect Dewar's Scotch were recovered by underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence from the shipwreck of the SS Regina, which sank in Lake Huron in 1913.

    Notable processes

    Dewar's pioneered the process of "marrying" the whisky in oak casks to allow the blend to age as one within the casks. After the blend is created, the whisky is returned to an oak cask and aged even further to obtain a smooth, robust finish.
  • 42cm x 32cm  Limerick The Jacobs Biscuit Bakery originated in Waterford in 1851,after being founded by William Beale Jacob and his brother Robert.It later moved to Bishop Street in Dublin with a further factory in Peters Row.Jacobs Bishop Street premises was occupied as a strategic location by rebels during the 1916 Easter Rebellion. W. & R. Jacob's were one the largest employers in the Dublin of 1916, and their factory was seized on Easter Monday by perhaps 100 members of the 2nd Battalion of the Dublin Brigade of the Irish Volunteers under Thomas MacDonagh. The factory itself was an enormous and formidable Victorian edifice located on the 'block' enclosed by Bishop St, Bride St, Peter's St and Peter's Row, and between St Patrick's Cathedral and St Stephen's Green. Its seizure helped to complete a loop of building cross the south inner city; the factory had two large towers that could act as observation points, while its location was very close to both Camden St and Patrick St: natural routeways for troops entering the city centre from Portobello Barracks in Rathmines and Wellington Barracks on the South Circular Road. There were only a few staff present in the building when the Volunteers broke into it; a number of smaller outposts were established in the area around the factory. While the garrison saw some fighting early in the week, their principal enemies proved to be boredom and the locals: the factory was surrounded by tenements, and the Volunteers were attacked and abused by residents, many of whom were Jacob's workers themselves. The families of servicemen were also quite hostile, but there may have been another reason for this hostility: Michael O'Hanrahan, who was in Jacob's, expressed his concern that the choice of location might endanger local residents if the British chose to attack. As it happens, the factory was largely by-passed, though it was fired upon intermittently throughout the week by troops in Dublin Castle and elsewhere. MacDonagh surrendered in nearby St Patrick's Park on Sunday 30 April; some of the factory was looted after the Volunteers had left. Three members of the Jacob's garrison were executed. Most of the factory was eventually demolished, though fragments of the ground storey and one of the towers are still visible on Bishop St between the DIT campus on Aungier St and the National Archives of Ireland.  
     
  • 47cm x 37cm  Limerick Here’s a quick, but loaded, question: Do you prefer Barry’s or Lyons? The Great Irish Tea War is the most intractable rivalry in the country. While Munster and Leinster have been known to put their differences aside for the sake of Irish rugby glory, tea drinkers are not so easily appeased. Mention a preference for the “wrong” tea and you can expect strong words at best – and definitely no biscuits. At worst, tea drinkers will go cup to cup in pitched battles, kettles angrily steaming, while insults like curdled milk sour friendships and family relationships. It’s more than just a battle of the brews. Barry’s Tea was founded the Rebel City in 1901 and is still one of Cork’s most famous brands. Lyons is originally from Dublin. Do you prefer Barry’s to Lyons? The yellow Snack or the purple one? Tayto or King Crisps? Cork or Dublin? Really, it is all a matter of taste…  But there are many great reasons why anyone looking for a new job, or a whole new life, should consider a move to Cork.
    Lyons is a brand of tea belonging to Unilever that is sold in Ireland. It is one of the two dominant tea brands in the market within the Republic of Ireland, along with Barry's Tea. Lyons Tea was first produced by J. Lyons and Co., a catering empire created and built by the Salmons and Glucksteins, a German-Jewish immigrant family based in London. Starting in 1904, J Lyons began selling packaged tea through its network of teashops. Soon after, they began selling their own brand Lyons Tea through retailers in the UK, Ireland and around the world.In 1918, Lyons purchased Hornimans and in 1921 they moved their tea factory to J. Lyons and Co., Greenford at that time, the largest tea factory in Europe. In 1962, J Lyons and Company (Ireland) became Lyons Irish Holdings. After a merger with Allied Breweries in 1978, Lyons Irish Holdings became part of Allied Lyons (later Allied Domecq) who then sold the company to Unilever in 1996. Today, Lyons Tea is produced in England. Lyons Tea was a major advertiser in the early decades of RTÉ Television, featuring the "Lyons minstrels" and coupon-based prize competitions. The story of J Lyons is told in the book 'Legacy: One Family, a Cup of Tea and the Company that Took On the World' by Thomas Harding (writer)

    Popular culture

    A Lyons Tea sign is shown in the background in a scene in Castletown in The Quiet Man (1952), the iconic film directed by John Ford that starred John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. Again in Ford’s ‘’How Green Was My Valley’’ (1941) an advertisement for Lyon’s Tea is to be seen in an early scene under the shop window near the church. In the BBC/RTÉ Mrs Brown's Boys TV series, there is a box of Lyons Tea sitting on top of the bread bin in Mrs Brown's kitchen. In Chariots of Fire, a Lyons sign is shown at Dover train station.
  • 48cm x 38cm  Limerick In 1791 James Power, an innkeeper from Dublin, established a small distillery at his public house at 109 Thomas St., Dublin. The distillery, which had an output of about 6,000 gallons in its first year of operation, initially traded as James Power and Son, but by 1822 had become John Power & Son, and had moved to a new premises at John's Lane, a side street off Thomas Street. At the time the distillery had three pot stills, though only one, a 500-gallon still is thought to have been in use. Following reform of the distilling laws in 1823, the distillery expanded rapidly. In 1827, production was reported at 160,270 gallons,and by 1833 had grown to 300,000 gallons per annum. As the distillery grew, so too did the stature of the family. In 1841, John Power, grandson of the founder was awarded a baronet, a hereditary title. In 1855, his son Sir James Power, laid the foundation stone for the O'Connell Monument, and in 1859 became High Sheriff of Dublin. In 1871, the distillery was expanded and rebuilt in the Victorian style, becoming one of the most impressive sights in Dublin.After expansion, output at the distillery rose to 700,000 gallons per annum, and by the 1880s, had reached about 900,000 gallons per annum, at which point the distillery covered over six acres of central Dublin, and had a staff of about 300 people.
    The Still House at John's Lane Distillery, as it looked when Alfred Barnard visited in the 1800s.
      During this period, when the Dublin whiskey distilleries were amongst the largest in the world, the family run firms of John Powers, along with John Jameson, William Jameson, and George Roe, (collectively known as the "Big Four") came to dominate the Irish distilling landscape, introducing several innovations. In 1886, John Power & Son began bottling their own whiskey, rather than following the practice customary at the time, of selling whiskey directly to merchants and bonders who would bottle it themselves. They were the first Dublin distillery to do so, and one of the first in the world.A gold label adorned each bottle and it was from these that the whiskey got the name Powers Gold Label. When Alfred Barnard, the British historian visited John's Lane in the late 1880s, he noted the elegance and cleanliness of the buildings, and the modernity of the distillery, describing it as "about as complete a work as it is possible to find anywhere". At the time of his visit, the distillery was home to five pot stills, two of which with capacities of 25,000 gallons, were amongst the largest ever built.In addition, Barnard was high in his praise for Powers whiskey, noting:"The old make, which we drank with our luncheon was delicious and finer than anything we had hitherto tasted.It was as perfect in flavour, and as pronounced in the ancient aroma of Irish Whiskey so dear to to the hearts of connoisseurs,as one could possibly desire and we found a small flask of it very useful afterwards on our travels." The last member of the family to sit on the board was Sir Thomas Talbot Power,who died in 1930,and with him the Power's Baronetcy. However, ownership remained in the family until 1966, and several descendants of his sisters remained at work with the company until recent times. In 1961, a Coffey still was installed in John's Lane Distillery, allowing the production of vodka and gin, in addition to the testing of grain whiskey for use in blended whiskey. This was a notable departure for the firm, as for many years the big Dublin distilling dynasties had shunned the use of Coffey stills, questioning if their output, grain whiskey could even be termed whiskey. However, with many of the Irish distilleries having closed in the early 20th century in part due to their failure to embrace a change in consumer preference towards blended whiskey, Powers were instrumental in convincing the remaining Irish distilleries to reconsider their stance on blended whiskey. In 1966, with the Irish whiskey industry still struggling following Prohibition in the United States, the Anglo-Irish Trade War and the rise of competition from Scotch whiskey, John Powers & Son joined forces with the only other remaining distillers in the Irish Republic, the Cork Distilleries Company and their Dublin rivals John Jameson & Son, to form Irish Distillers. Soon after, in a bold move, Irish Distillers decided to close all of their existing distilleries, and to consolidate production at a new purpose-built facility in Midleton (the New Midleton Distillery) alongside their existing Old Midleton Distillery. The new distillery opened in 1975, and a year later, production ceased at John's Lane Distillery and began anew in Cork, with Powers Gold Label and many other Irish whiskeys reformulated from single pot stills whiskeys to blends. In 1989, Irish Distillers itself became a subsidiary of Pernod-Ricard following a friendly takeover.Since the closure of the John's Lane distillery, many of the distillery buildings were demolished. However, some of the buildings have been incorporated into the National College of Art and Design, and are now protected structures. In addition, three of the distillery's pot stills were saved and now located in the college's Red Square.
     
  • 45cm x 45cm The "Manchester Martyrs"  is a term used by Irish nationalists to refer to three men—William Philip Allen, Michael Larkin and Michael O'Brien—who were executed following their conviction of murder in 1867 after an attack on a police van in Manchester, England, in which a police officer was accidentally shot dead, an incident that was known at the time as the "Manchester Outrages". The three were members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, also known as the Fenians, an organisation dedicated to ending British rule in Ireland, and were among a group of 30–40 Fenians who attacked a horse-drawn police van transporting two arrested leaders of the Brotherhood, Thomas J. Kelly and Timothy Deasy, to Belle Vue Gaol. Police Sergeant Charles Brett, travelling inside with the keys, was shot and killed while looking through the keyhole of the van as the attackers attempted to force the door open by shooting the lock. Kelly and Deasy were released after another prisoner in the van took the keys from Brett's body and passed them to the group outside through a ventilation grill; the pair were never recaptured, despite an extensive search. Although Allen and Larkin admitted taking part in the attack, none of the defendants was accused of firing the fatal shot, but they were convicted on the basis of "joint enterprise" for taking part in a criminal enterprise that ended in the killing. The trial has nonetheless been described by an eminent Irish historian as "unsatisfactory", and the evidence as "dubious".Two others were also charged and found guilty of Brett's murder, Thomas Maguire and Edward O'Meagher Condon, but their death sentences were overturned—O'Meagher Condon's through the intercession of the United States government (he was an American citizen), and Maguire's because the evidence given against him was considered unsatisfactory by the court. Allen, Larkin and O'Brien were publicly hanged on a temporary structure built on the wall of Salford Gaol, on 23 November 1867, in front of a crowd of 8,000–10,000. Ireland reacted with revulsion and anger to the executions,and Allen, Larkin and O'Brien were hailed as political martyrs. Annual commemorations were held throughout Ireland, and monuments were built in many Irish towns.Brett, the first Manchester City Policeofficer to be killed on duty, is memorialised in a monument in St Ann's Church.
  • 64cm x 39cm

    Early years and expansion: 1822–1900

    Admission ticket to Lord Mayor Thomas Gabriel's reception of H.I.M. The Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz Khan at The Guildhall, 18 July 1867, issued to The Chairman of the P&O Steam Navigation Company.
    In 1822, Brodie McGhie Willcox, a London ship broker, and Arthur Anderson, a sailor from the Shetland Isles, went into partnership to operate a shipping line, primarily operating routes between England and Spain and Portugal. In 1835, Dublin shipowner Captain Richard Bourne joined the business, and the three men chartered the William Fawcett and started a regular steamer service between London and Spain and Portugal – the Iberian Peninsula – using the name Peninsular Steam Navigation Company, with services to Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon and Cádiz. As The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company was incorporated in 1840 by a royal charter its name therefore included neither "plc" nor "Limited". The company flag colours are directly connected with the Peninsular flags: the white and blue represent the Portuguese flag in 1837, and the yellow and red the Spanish flag. At the height of the Carlist Wars the British lent their support to the legitimate heirs of Spain and Portugal and all three of P&O founders played their part, from gun running to chartering steamers. As a consequence of this association and involvement P&O officers are some of the few Merchant Navy officers entitled to wear swords, alongside the likes of Trinity House.
    William Fane De Salis(1812–1896), joined P&O in 1849. Director 1851–1895, Chairman 1878–1881.
    A P&O steamer in Venice circa 1870, in an album owned by W. F. de Salis, a director and sometime chairman.
    In 1837, the business won a contract from the British Admiralty to deliver mail to the Iberian Peninsula and in 1840 they acquired a contract to deliver mail to Alexandria in Egypt. Brindisi, Italy was added to the route in the 1870s. P&O first introduced passenger services in 1844, with a leisure cruise departing from Southampton to the Mediterranean.These voyages were the first of their kind and the forerunner of modern cruise holidays. The company later introduced round trips to destinations such as Alexandria and Constantinople and underwent rapid expansion in the later half of the 19th century, with its ships becoming larger and more luxurious. One particularly notable ship of the era was the SS Ravenna, built in 1880, which became the first ship to be built with a total steel superstructure. In 1847, shortly after the Opium War, P&O entered the opium trade; shipping 642,000 chests of Bengal and Malwa opium in the next eleven years. They faced stiff competition from the incumbent shippers, Jardines and the Apcar Line.

    Early 20th century years: 1900–1945

    Mail contracts were the basis of P&O's prosperity until the Second World War, but the company also continued to become a major commercial shipping line and passenger liner operator. In 1914, it took over the British India Steam Navigation Company, which was then the largest British shipping line, owning 131 steamers. In 1918, it gained a controlling interest in the Orient Line, its partner in the England-Australia mail route. Further acquisitions followed and the fleet reached a peak of almost 500 ships in the mid-1920s. In 1920, the company also established a bank, P&O Bank, that it sold to Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China (now Standard Chartered Bank) in 1927. At this time it established a commercial relationship with Spinney's of Haifa, that developed into a major regional high-end grocery store chain, which eventually provided shipping services access to much of the Middle East. Until 1934 it operated liners from Key West, Florida to Havana; then it operated from Miamito Cuba until 1960. In 1932, P&O expanded their passenger operations to Australia, with the introduction of Strathaird, which departed on a cruise to Brisbane and Norfolk Island. Eighty-five of the company's ships were sunk in the First World War and 179 in the Second World War.

    Post war: 1945–2000

    After 1945, the passenger market declined to India, but boomed to Australia with the advent of paid-passages for literate and healthy European immigrants known as Ten Pound Poms.P&O built 15 large passenger liners, including Himalaya, Chusan, Arcadia, and Iberia, culminating in Oriana and Canberra, which were an unprecedented speed and size.By 1968, over 1 million immigrants had arrived—many via P&O—and Australia ended the programme. P&O entered the cruise market and began to sell and scrap many of these liners. It concentrated mainly on cargo ships. It entered the tanker trade in 1959 and the roll-on roll-off (RORO) ferry business in the mid-1960s. P&O and Orient Line were formally merged in 1960 to form P&O-Orient Lines. In 1964, Orcades and Oronsay were transferred to the P&O fleet. The name Orient Line was dropped altogether in 1966 when Orsova and Oriana were also transferred to the P&O fleet.
  • 63cm x 52cm The greatest band in the world came from Liverpool, a city with an Irish population so large that it’s known as “The Real Capital of Ireland”, but although The Beatles’ success is familiar to all, their Irish roots are not so well-known. “We’re all Irish” John Lennon declared when the band toured Ireland in 1963. The singer was born in war-time Liverpool on October 9, 1940 to Julia and Alfred Lennon. His father, a merchant seaman of Irish descent, was away at the time of John’s birth and for much of his life.John knew little about his connection to Ireland whilst growing up, but it was in the post-Beatles days that he became one of the most famous voices calling for a United Ireland and for an end to English presence in Northern Ireland.
    Known for their political activism, John and Yoko penned two protest songs “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “The Luck of the Irish” inspired by the events in Northern Ireland for their 1972 album Some Time in New York City Such was the connection Lennon felt to his homeland that he had hoped to make a piece of it a place for him and Yoko Ono to retire. He purchased an island off the West Coast of Ireland, which he owned until his untimely death in 1980.
    “I'm a quarter Irish or half Irish or something, and long, long before the trouble started, I told Yoko that's where we're going to retire, and I took her to Ireland. We went around Ireland a bit and we stayed in Ireland and we had a sort of second honeymoon there. So, I was completely involved in Ireland” – John Lennon, 1971.
    James Paul McCartney was born on June 18, 1942 in Liverpool to Jim and Mary Patricia (Mahon) McCartney, and like many other Liverpool families descended from Irish immigrants. His mother’s father was born in Ireland, and was Roman Catholic, while his great-grandfather was an Irish native, and Protestant.
    It is unknown which part of Ireland Paul McCartney’s paternal side is from, but it is known that they first emigrated from Ireland to Galloway, Scotland, and then on to Liverpool. McCartney, who immortalised the Mull of Kintyre with his song of the same name also wrote about his Irish heritage in his music. Like John and Yoko, Paul and his first wife Linda wrote in response to the events of Bloody Sunday, drawing from his Irish background in their controversial song “Give Ireland Back to the Irish”. The song was completely banned in Britain but reached number one on the singles chart in Ireland.Then there’s Ringo, and while Ringo Starr is often described as the most English Beatle, Mark Lewisohn in his book Tune In describes one family line going back to County Mayo suggesting that all four of The Beatles can be accurately described as having ancestral roots in Ireland.
    It was however George Harrison who had the strongest Irish connections, coming from an Irish Catholic family on his mother’s side. Unusually for the time his grandparents never married and Mark Lewisohn suggests that the secretive aspect to his family life and their suspicion of “nosy neighbours” had a lasting effect on the attitude of ‘the quiet Beatle’. Harrison would return to Ireland throughout his life to visit family living in North Dublin, often catching the ferry across from Liverpool to Dublin. He also took his soon-to-be-wife Pattie Boyd on an early vacation to Ireland. Harrison’s music however didn't overtly draw from his Irish heritage, but the films produced through his own company are peppered with references to Ireland.
    The “Scouse” accent of Liverpool itself betrays Irish influence, the port city became a melting pot of several languages and dialects, as sailors, traders and migrants from other parts of Britain, Ireland and northern Europe established themselves in the area throughout the 19th century. The Irish have played a major role in Liverpool's population and social fabric for a good part of its 800 year history and it is apparent today when visiting the city. It’s safe to say that the people of Liverpool are extremely proud of its four sons and the way that Irish influence has helped to shape this famous musical city.
  • 43cm x 38cm   Dublin The Easter Rising (Irish: Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the aim of establishing an independent Irish Republic while the United Kingdom was fighting the First World War. It was the most significant uprising in Ireland since the rebellion of 1798 and the first armed conflict of the Irish revolutionary period. Sixteen of the Rising's leaders were executed from May 1916. The nature of the executions, and subsequent political developments, ultimately contributed to an increase in popular support for Irish independence. Organised by a seven-man Military Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Rising began on Easter Monday, 24 April 1916 and lasted for six days.Members of the Irish Volunteers, led by schoolmaster and Irish language activist Patrick Pearse, joined by the smaller Irish Citizen Army of James Connolly and 200 women of Cumann na mBan, seized strategically important buildings in Dublin and proclaimed the Irish Republic. The British Army brought in thousands of reinforcements as well as artillery and a gunboat. There was street fighting on the routes into the city centre, where the rebels slowed the British advance and inflicted many casualties. Elsewhere in Dublin, the fighting mainly consisted of sniping and long-range gun battles. The main rebel positions were gradually surrounded and bombarded with artillery. There were isolated actions in other parts of Ireland; Volunteer leader Eoin MacNeill had issued a countermand in a bid to halt the Rising, which greatly reduced the number of rebels who mobilised. With much greater numbers and heavier weapons, the British Army suppressed the Rising. Pearse agreed to an unconditional surrender on Saturday 29 April, although sporadic fighting continued briefly. After the surrender, the country remained under martial law. About 3,500 people were taken prisoner by the British and 1,800 of them were sent to internment camps or prisons in Britain. Most of the leaders of the Rising were executed following courts-martial. The Rising brought physical force republicanism back to the forefront of Irish politics, which for nearly fifty years had been dominated by constitutional nationalism. Opposition to the British reaction to the Rising contributed to changes in public opinion and the move toward independence, as shown in the December 1918 election in Ireland which was won by the Sinn Féin party, which convened the First Dáil and declared independence. Of the 485 people killed, 260 were civilians, 143 were British military and police personnel, and 82 were Irish rebels, including 16 rebels executed for their roles in the Rising. More than 2,600 people were wounded. Many of the civilians were killed or wounded by British artillery fire or were mistaken for rebels. Others were caught in the crossfire during firefights between the British and the rebels. The shelling and resulting fires left parts of central Dublin in ruins.
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