7 June 2022
By Mary Bermingham
mary@TheCork.ie
Exceedingly rare Proclamation will be on public display at UCC
This copy of The Proclamation has an impeccable provenance, known to have been brought directly from the General Post Office (GPO) during Ireland’s 1916 Easter Rising. It has been donated to UCC by Liam and Kaye Cronin.
File photo
1,000 copies of The Proclamation were printed at Liberty Hall, Dublin on Easter Sunday, 1916, and it was read from the steps of the GPO, O’Connell St., Dublin on Easter Monday morning by Pádraig Pearse in the presence of the other signatories of the document, heralding the Easter Rising, and Ireland’s advance towards self-determination. Very few survive today.
The Proclamation donated to UCC has belonged to Richard Gogan TD. Gogan came from a strongly republican family, joining the volunteers at the age of 14, and was reputedly the youngest member of the GPO garrison during the 1916 Rising. He attended to James Connolly after he was wounded, and was one of the stretcher-bearers for Connolly when the GPO was evacuated. Gogan was later a founder member of Fianna Fáil, and a TD for Dublin North West from 1954-1977. He died in 1982. This copy of the Proclamation was his proudest possession and it is known that he carried it with him personally from the GPO.
Originally from Cork, the donors of this copy, Liam and Kaye Cronin, came into possession of the Proclamation in 1998, through Éamonn de Búrca who is considered one of the world’s leading dealers in Irish antiquarian books and manuscripts. “UCC is a university with deep heritage in Irish history and it is wonderful that this remarkable document will now be preserved here for future generations” commented Liam at a handover ceremony in UCC.
Scholarship fund to Advance Access
In addition to the Proclamation, Liam and Kaye have also gifted €500,000 to support students, at undergraduate and PhD level, from under-represented socio-economic backgrounds. “The Daniel and Margaret Cronin Advancing Access Scholarships” will be created at UCC in honour of Liam’s parents.
President of UCC, Professor John O’Halloran paid tribute to Liam and Kaye for their generous donation and gift to support access scholarships for researchers, “We are honoured to have become the guardians of this unique Proclamation and I wish to thank Liam and Kaye for their wonderful gift. In a matter of weeks, UCC will host Ireland’s National Conference on the Civil War and this donation further recognises UCC as a centre for Irish History and the preservation of our rich national heritage”.
The Proclamation will be placed on display to the public in the university’s Glucksman Gallery from 10am-5pm on 8th – 12th June. Eventually, it be on public display in UCC’s planned Treasures Gallery, a fully secure and serviced space for public display and interpretation of important and unique material from the UCC Collections.
