When Wolfe Tone and King Edward died for Ireland . . . kind of

AS THE BATTLE for Dublin raged during the 1916 Easter Rising and British forces closed in on the city centre, Volunteers in the GPO garrison could do little but wait for the inevitable offensive. 

Between occasional skirmishes, the Volunteers found some rather novel ways to keep their spirits up during Easter Week.

Volunteer Seamus Ua Caomhanaigh recalled that the Waxworks (then at 30 Henry Street) provided “a good deal of fun during the week” as Volunteers donned “various uniforms and costumes from the wax figures, and musical instruments were also acquired, such as mouth organs, melodeons and fiddles”.

Established in 1893, the Waxworks which also contained a theatre, was a popular family entertainment venue in the city.

Volunteer William Daly, who fought in the GPO, recalled how he and others entered the Waxworks Exhibition and took a number of wax prisoners.

“We had an inspection of the wax figures and came away with the effigies of King Edward VII (pictured) and Wolfe Tone and brought them to our post,” he said.

British snipers keeping an eye on the GPO were treated to the bizarre spectacle of a deceased English king moving from window-to-window inside the rebel HQ at the Post Office:

“Some genius put the figures at the windows and immediately a fusillade of bullets came through and we had to duck for a few minutes until the firing died down. The idea of the wax figures of Wolfe Tone and King Edward being riddled by bullets amused us a great deal,” laughed Daly.

“First, King Edward would have his head out of the window and the British snipers saluted him with a fusillade. And then Wolfe Tone, in turn, had a look. About an hour later, King Edward and Wolfe Tone hardly had any heads left at all!”

Even James Connolly, often described as quite a stern and serious man, joined in with the fun. 

Lieutenant Desmond Ryan of the Irish Volunteers was present during a meeting between Connolly and other rebel leaders in the GPO:

“Connolly startled them [the other leaders] with the announcement that the Citizen Army had captured the King and Kitchener [Britain's Secretary of State for War].

“In the waxworks,” he added, with a twinkle in his eye.

● The famous 1914 World War One recruitment poster depicting Lord Kitchener

The wax figures also caused some confusion as the rebels attempted to evacuate the GPO as it came under heavy artillery bombardment from the British gunboat Helga on the Liffey. 

Volunteer Ignatius Callender became disorientated as he attempted to leave the GPO during the chaos:

“On my way I got lost in one of the buildings. Seeing a man standing in a dark corner I shouted: 'Where's the hole in the wall?'

“Getting no reply, I repeated the question, and moving nearer to him I saw it was a wax figure. I was in the Waxworks Exhibition!”