MEMORIAL ON DORSET STREET - PEADAR KEARNEY

MEMORIAL ON DORSET STREET - PEADAR KEARNEY


MEMORIAL ON DORSET STREET [PEADAR KEARNEY]

Peadar Kearney (12 December 1883 – 24 November 1942) was an Irish republican and composer of numerous rebel songs. In 1907 he wrote the lyrics to A Soldier's Song (Amhrán na bhFiann), now the Irish national anthem. He was the uncle of Irish writers Brendan Behan, Brian Behan, and Dominic Behan.

Kearney was born in 1883 at 68 Lower Dorset Street, Dublin, above one of the two grocer's shops owned by his father, John Kearney (1854–1897), originally from Funshog, Collon, County Louth.

Peadar's mother, Katie née McGuinness (1859/60–1907), was from Rathmaiden, Slane, County Meath. Peadar was educated at the Model School, Schoolhouse Lane and St. Joseph's C.B.S. in Fairview. He heard Willie Rooney give nationalist lectures on history in the Mechanics' Institute. He started at Belvedere College but played truant to escape beatings, so that his father ended his education and got him a job at a bicycle repair shop. His father died of pneumonia soon after, leaving Peadar to support his mother and five younger siblings. He had various menial jobs for three years before being apprenticed to a house painter.

Kearney's songs were highly popular with the Volunteers (which later became the IRA) in the 1913–22 period. Most popular was "The Soldier's Song". Kearney penned the original English lyrics in 1907 and his friend and musical collaborator Patrick Heeney composed the music. The lyrics were published in 1912 and the music in 1916. After 1916 it replaced "God Save Ireland" as the anthem of Irish nationalists. The Irish Free State was established in 1922 and formally adopted the anthem in 1926. Subsequently, theatres and the state broadcaster began playing the anthem at the end of performances, and Kearney prepared to take legal action to demand royalties, obliging the state to acquire the copyright in 1934 for £980 (half each to Kearney and the heirs of Heeney, who had died). From the 1930s, the anthem was increasingly sung in Irish, in a translation by Liam Ó Rinn.

Other well-known songs by Kearney include "Down by the Glenside", "The Tri-coloured Ribbon", "Down by the Liffey Side", "Knockcroghery" (about the village of Knockcroghery) and "Erin Go Bragh" (Erin Go Bragh was the text on the Irish national flag before the adoption of the tricolour).

Kearney was the uncle of the writers Brendan, and Dominic Behan, both of whom were also republicans and songwriters, via his sister Kathleen Kearney who married Stephen Behan, one of Michael Collins's "Twelve Apostles". Brendan Behan was in prison when Kearney died, and was refused permission to attend his funeral. In a letter to Kearney's son, Pearse, he said, "my Uncle Peadar was the one, outside my own parents, who excited the admiration and love that is friendship."

In 1957 his sister Margaret's son, Seamus de Burca (or Jimmy Bourke), published a biography of Kearney, The Soldier's Song: The Story of Peadar Ó Cearnaigh. In 1976 De Burca also published Kearney's letters to his wife written during his internment in 1921 were published as My Dear Eva ... Letters from Ballykinlar Internment Camp, 1921. A wall plaque on the west side of Dorset Street commemorates his birth there.

FIRST DAFFODILS OF THE YEAR - HAPPY NEW YEAR 2021 SEAN HEUSTON BRIDGE - PEDESTRIANS AND TRAMS ONLY EGGING PASSING TRAMS AND PEDESTRIANS THE HEART OF STONEYBATTER - PAINT-A-BOX STREET ART PLUS A REPURPOSED PHONE KIOSK YELLOW BUG - VW BEETLE PARKED ON MANOR STREET IN STONEYBATTER THIS IS COWTOWN BY JOSEPH O'CONNOR PAINT-A-BOX STREET ART ON MANOR STREET PAINT-A-BOX STREET ART - KIRWAN STREET DUBLIN 7 THE VIKING AREA OF STONEYBATTER - BEN EDAIR ROAD - HALLIDAY ROAD - HAROLD ROAD HALLIDAY ROAD AND THE STREETS OFF HALLIDAY ROAD PRUSSIA STREET MANOR STREET IN STONEYBATTER LOWER GRANGEGORMAN ON CAMPUS TABLE TENNIS TU BUILT ENVIRONMENT VIEWS OF CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL IN DUBLIN WOMEN'S CHRISTMAS - 6 JANUARY 2021 VICTORIAN UNDERGROUND TOILET BLOCK SOON TO BE A RESTAURANT - STILL DERELICT 6 JANUARY 2021 RADKUTSCHE MUSKETIERS HEAVY DUTY TRIKE NOW USED BY AN POST HAROLDS CROSS ROAD LOST CRANE - POSTER BY ARTOF ASBESTOS SACRED HEART CHURCH - ARBOUR HILL 1916 MEMORIAL AT ARBOUR HILL PAINT-A-BOX STREET ART AT VICTORIA QUAY BACK LANE HOSTEL NOW MORE THAN 100 YEARS IN OPERATION CHANCERY STREET - FEATURING TRAM TRACKS BRONZE COW BY JACKIE McKENNA BACK LANE NEAR CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL - ONCE THE HOME OF THE BACK LANE PARLIAMENT JOHN DILLON STREET DUBLIN 8 AREA OF DUBLIN CITY HANOVER LANE AND NEARBY - I WAS SURPRISED TO DISCOVER THAT IT IS OFF FRANCIS STREET THE BARLEY MOW PUB IS NOW A DERELICT BUILDING ON FRANCIS STREET WHICH WAS A GOOD LOCATION FOR STREET ART CLANBRASSIS STREET UPPER A COMPLEX OF OLD LANES NORTH ANNES STREET - CUCKOO LANE - GEORGE'S HILL ORMOND SQUARE AND ORMOND PLACE JUST EAT HAS BEEN REPLACED BY NOW TV AS MAIN SPONSOR - DUBLINBIKES DOCKING STATION WESTERN WAY BUGINGHAM PALACE - ALL BUGS WELCOME CABRA LUAS TRAM STOP MOUNT BERNARD PUBLIC PARK IN CABRA ULSTER STREET SAINT COLUMBA CRAWFORD AVENUE IS A VERY WIDE STREET MY LEAST FAVOURITE BUS STOP EVER HOLLYBANK ROAD - THIS IS THE TYPE OF LENS FLARE PROBLEM THAT I HAVE WITH THE iPHONE 12 PRO MAX LOWER DRUMCONDRA ROAD THE SONY A1 CAMERA WAS LAUNCHED 26 JANUARY 2021 ST MARY'S PLACE NORTH - STREET MARKINGS INDICATING A SCHOOL ZONE PARADISE PLACE OFF NORTH ST. MARY'S PLACE CONNAUGHT STREET PHIBSBOROUGH SHANDON GARDENS SHANDON PARK IN PHIBSBOROUGH LINDSAY ROAD IN GLASNEVIN GARTAN AVENUE - GLASNEVIN NORTH LEINSTER STREET PHIBSBOROUGH ROAD SHANDON ROAD - JANUARY 2021 McGEOUGHS - THE BOHEMIAN IN PHIBSBOROUGH DOYLE'S CORNER PUB IN PHIBSBOROUGH PHIBSBOROUGH SHOPPING CENTRE MAY BE REDEVELOPED AS A CO-LIVING COMPLEX 2ND LOCK ON THE ROYAL CANAL AS SEEN FROM BINNS BRIDGE DRUMCONDRA MEMORIAL ON DORSET STREET - PEADAR KEARNEY MALDRON HOTEL PARNELL SQUARE LANEWAY IN PHIBSBOROUGH CONNECTING CONNAUGHT STREET TO SHANDON CRESCENT
ABBEY STREET - LOWER ARRAN STREET EAST - DERELICT BUILDING AUBURN STREET - BROADSTONE OFF THE WESTERN WAY AUGHRIM STREET IN STONEYBATTER AUNGIER STREET BACK LANE BACK LANE NEAR CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL - ONCE THE HOME OF THE BACK LANE PARLIAMENT BAGGOT STREET LOWER BLACKHORSE AVENUE BENEDAIR ROAD AND STREETS OF BEN EDAIR ROAD CAMDEN ROW CAPEL STREET CASTLE STREET CLONLIFFE ROAD CLONLIFFE GARDENS CONNAUGHT STREET PHIBSBOROUGH COKE LANE COOK STREET CHANCERY STREET CRAWFORD AVENUE IS A VERY WIDE STREET DAME STREET DISTILLERY ROAD WAS THE HOME OF OF THE JONES ROAD DISTILLERY DOMINICK STREET - MARCH 2021 DORSET STREET DRUMCONDRA ROAD LOWER LEAFY STREET - LOWER DRUMCONDRA ROAD ESSEX GATE ESSEX QUAY ESSEX STREET EAST DRURY STREET - MUCH OF THE PEDESTRIANISATION MAY BE REVERSED POST COVID FRANKFORT PARK IN DUNDRUM FRANCIS STREET - THE BARLEY MOW A DERELICT PUB GARVILLE AVENUE IN RATHGAR GEORGE'S LANE GROSVENOR ROAD IN D6 HARBOURMASTER PLACE LOWER GRANGEGORMAN GLENBEIGH ROAD IN DUBLIN - CONNECTING OLD CABRA ROAD TO ST DAVID'S TERRACE GREAT DENMARK STREET GREEN STREET GRIFFITH AVENUE HALLIDAY ROAD AND NEARBY DOORS OF HENRIETTA STREET HANOVER LANE AND NEARBY - I WAS SURPRISED TO DISCOVER THAT IT IS OFF FRANCIS STREET HAROLD'S CROSS ROAD HENDRIK STREET - MARCH 2021 HOLLYBANK ROAD WHERE KATE ISABEL HAMPTON THE FIRST TELEPHONE OPERATOR LIVED INFIRMARY ROAD JOHN DILLON STREET DUBLIN 8 AREA OF DUBLIN CITY JONES'S ROAD KIRWAN STREET OFF MANOR STREET LEINSTER STREET NORTH LINDSAY ROAD LANEWAY IN PHIBSBOROUGH CONNECTING CONNAUGHT STREET TO SHANDON CRESCENT MANOR STREET IN STONEYBETTER MOUNTJOY SQUARE MOUNTPLEASANT AVENUE MOUNT PROSPECT AVENUE OAKLEY ROAD IN RANELAGH O'CONNELL STREET ORMOND QUAY - RESTORED BUILDING ORMOND SQUARE AND ORMOND PLACE THE DOORS OF EAST PARNELL SQUARE PARADISE PLACE OFF NORTH ST. MARY'S PLACE PEMBROKE ROAD IN BALLSBRIDGE PHIBSBOROUGH ROAD PRUSSIA STREET ROSEMOUNT ROAD RYDER'S ROW - URBAN DECAY ST MARY'S PLACE NORTH - STREET MARKINGS INDICATING A SCHOOL ZONE SHANDON GARDENS SHANDON PARK IN PHIBSBOROUGH STABLE LANE ST COLUMBANUS ROAD LITTLE STRAND STREET RICHMOND VILLAS ST DAVID'S TERRACE DUBLIN STREETS PHOTOGRAPHED DURING 2020 UPPER CLANBRASSIL STREET ULSTER STREET WATLING STREET WILTON PLACE WOLFE TONE STREET WOLFE TON STREET BEING RESURFACED A COMPLEX OF OLD LANES NORTH ANNES STREET - CUCKOO LANE - GEORGE'S HILL RUSSELL STREET WHERE BRENDAN BEHAN GREW UP THE STREETS OF DUBLIN AREAS OF DUBLIN
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