Indicated — Unknown Townland

The following account of this monument is derived from the report on the ‘History of monuments. O’Connell Street area’ commissioned by Dublin City Council in 2003 (SMR file): ‘While the foundation stone for the O’Connell monument [DU018-423----] was laid in 1864 and not completed until 1882, the intervening period saw a number of other luminaries commemorated in prominent locations. The statues to Oliver Goldsmith in 1864 and Edmund Burke in 1868, both placed on the front lawn of Trinity College, were politically neutral and unanimously praised as great works of art by John Henry Foley. However, the statue dedicated to William Smith O’Brien (1803-1864) a leader of the doomed rebellion of 1848, was the first monument erected in Dublin to commemorate an individual who had stood for armed resistance to British rule. O’Brien was also a descendant of the Protestant nobility who traced his lineage back to Brian Boru. The date chosen for the unveiling of his monument was 26 December 1870. As he had been a revolutionary nationalist, the statue of Smith O’Brien broke the sculptural mould in the capital. The occasion was a significant one for it marked: 'the first time for 70 years that a monument had been erected in a public place in Dublin to hour an Irishman whose title to that honour was that he devoted his life to the Irish national cause (cheers). In other countries it is such men only that received the honour of a public monument, but in this city there were statues to the men who had served and loved England, and did not care for Ireland. As to this country, it had been held that it was treason to love her, and death to defend her. The monuments which had been erected till now have been rather monuments of this haughty mastery of the English people and our servility and helplessness. A favourable change took place recently. Ireland had ventured to erect statues to Moore, Goldsmith and Burke, whose genius was Irish and whose sympathies also were mainly Irish. Though these men loved Ireland, and their memories were thus commemorated, none of them ever exposed themselves to the danger of imprisonment or transportation for life for Ireland. There stood the statue of a man who 22 years ago, was sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered for his love of Ireland. (Cheers).' [Irish Times 27 Dec. 1870] O’Brien had been sentenced to death for high treason resulting from his part in the insurrection of 1848. After his death in 1868 a committee was formed to gather subscriptions and organise the erection of a monument in his honour and 'To this undertaking men widely differing in their political and religious sentiments have subscribed, desiring to testify their respect for the noble and honourable character of our distinguished country man, whose unselfish devotion to, and sacrifices for, Ireland had never been questioned even by the sternest critics or severest censors.' [Irish Builder 15 Oct. 1867, 276] The committee was led by John Martin and John Blake Dillon, both of whom had been caught up in the radical politics of the mid-nineteenth century and shared O’Brien’s belief in physical force. Dublin Corporation granted permission for the site at the junction of Sackville Street and D’Olier Street in 1867. The committee commissioned one of the most prominent sculptors of the day, Thomas Farrell RHA of Lower Gloucester Street, to sculpt the figure of O’Brien. He sculpted the figure in marble in an ‘ordinary frock coat, high buttoned waistcoat and pantaloons, all of which are treated with the most commendable taste and skill. There is not the slightest approach to stiffness in the pose which is most easy and natural.’ [Irish Builder, 1 Oct. 1867, 262] O’Brien is depicted in a resolute stance, arms folded, weight borne on one leg in a manner of a man at ease with his leadership. The statue was unveiled on 27 December 1870 with this inscription: William Smith O’Brien / born 17th October 1803, / sentenced to death for high treason / on the 9th October 1848. / Died 16th June 1864. Processions were prohibited by the authorities, because of O’Brien’s politics. It did not deter the masses from assembling and from bands taking up their positions and playing through the proceedings. These displays of nationalism signalled a change in the sculptural composition of the city which would be further reinforced with the monument to Henry Grattan at College Green in 1876. By 1929 traffic congestion on O’Connell Bridge was such that it was recommended by the Streets Section of Dublin Corporation that the O’Brien statue be removed from its location to a site near the centre of O’Connell Street approximately twenty feet south of the junction with Lower Abbey Street.’ [Report No. 107, Streets Section, Dublin Corporation, 1929] Compiled by: Paul Walsh Date of upload: 14 July 2015