The cover of the Annual is a most atmospheric painting by Norman Teeling, “Sackville Street before the Rising.”
This is a special centenary edition of the Donegal Annual to commemorate the main events of 1916 – the Easter Rising and WW1.
From the 20+ articles in this edition (see Contents below) it is appropriate to focus on two in particular. Helen Meehan writes about Patrick Pearse and the MacManus brothers and this is Helen’s 25th consecutive year contributing to the Annual.
Rev. Dr. John Silke has a detailed article about Donegal and 1916. This sadly is believed to be Dr. Silke’s final piece of writing and the Annual includes an obituary in his memory, written by Timothy O’Sullivan.
The first RIC officer to die in the Rising was Constable Charles McGee, a native Irish speaker from the Donegal island of Innisboffin. He is the subject of two articles in the Annual, one by Dr. Méadhbha Ní Bhaoill and the other by Dr. Seosamh Ó Ceallaigh. In a similar vein Seán Boner writes about Private Con Duggan of the Royal Irish Rifles who also died in the Rising.
Seán Beattie, the editor of the Annual, examines early reactions to the Rising in the North-West, while John Cunningham peruses the local press for that year with a selection of interesting snippets. Rev Raymond Blair similarly examines “The Donegal Vindicator” which described the Rising as “an outbreak of criminal folly” and that’s the title he uses for his article.
Emerson Herdman from Sion Mills was in Dublin and photographed the city in the days after the Rising. Seán Boner prints some of these in his article and tells us that the entire collection is in the National Library, including ones he took in the Rosses where the Herdmans also had extensive business interests.
Standing back to reflect on the entire spectrum of commemoration and memory is thoughtfully achieved by Dr. Desmond Murphy, a barrister from Derry. Dr. Sandra Buchanan focuses on the Rising in a wider global context, backed up with an immense amount of bibliography.
And the events of WW1 are also in the Annual. Rachel Magowan features Dorothy Young, a Belfast trained nurse who served in war time hospitals in France and who had spent her youthful summers in Culdaff. She later moved to Jersey and named her house Inishowen, evidence surely of the serenity she had found in that beautiful peninsula.
We must never forget the excellent service provided by the Donegal County Archives Centre for a lot of our information and Dr. Niamh Brennan, the Head of Archives, details the 1916 collection held at Lifford, “a small but intriguing collection” is how she describes the 1916 material.
This is not the full extent of the Annual – see the Index on our website for that. It was launched by Prof. Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh, Emeritus Professor, NUI, Galway.
Full credit to Seán Beattie and his editorial staff in bringing to fruition this milestone publication to remember a significant year in Irish history.
Contents
| Description | Author | Page |
| President Bio | 4 | |
| Pearse’s Letter to a Donegal Mother | Anthony Begley | 5 |
| Easter Rising 1916 – Early Reactions in the North West | Dr. Seán Beattie | 11 |
| Easter Rising 1916 – A Global Context | Dr.Sandra Buchanan | 23 |
| Military Presence in Donegal in 1916 | Richard Doherty | 28 |
| Donegal County Archives and 1916 | Dr. Niamh Brennan | 31 |
| From Culdaff to the Somme | Rachel Magowan | 39 |
| Patrick Pearse and the MacManus Brothers | Helen Meehan | 43 |
| From Nationalism to Republicanism: Letterkenny and 1916 | Kieran Kelly | 49 |
| Constable Charles McGee RIC (1892-1916) | Dr. Méadhbha Ni Bhaoill | 54 |
| Constable McGee and the Easter Rising | Dr. Seosamh O Ceallaigh | 62 |
| Noble Sentiments | Dr. Lochlann McGill | 67 |
| Derry and The Easter Rising 1916 | Brian Lacey | 70 |
| The Fermanagh Press and Donegal 1916 | John Cunningham | 81 |
| Commemoration and Memory | Dr. Desmond Murphy | 85 |
| Donegal and 1916 | Rev. Dr. John Silke | 88 |
| “An Outbreak of Criminal Folly”: Donegal Vindicator 1916 | Rev. Raymond Blair | 96 |
| Vol. Joseph O’Doherty Recalls 1916 | Joseph O’Doherty | 100 |
| Feeding the Rising: Food and Farming in 1916 | Mervyn Watson | 102 |
| Reflections on the Rising | Rev. Bernard J. Canning | 105 |
| The IRB and The Easter Rising | Liam Diver | 107 |
| Private Con Duggan | Seán Boner | 109 |
| Emerson Herman’s Photographs of the Rising | Kieran Kelly | 111 |
| Notes on Medieval Donegal Ill | Tomás G. O Canann | 114 |
| Book Reviews | 121 | |
| Donegal Bibliography | Helen McNutt | 123 |
| Fr John Silke Obituary | Timothy O’Sullivan | 130 |
| List of past presidents | 131 | |
| Officers 2016-17 | 132 | |
| List of Members | 133 | |
| Calendar of Events 2017 | 140 |
Copies of this Annual are available for sale here