We have had the pleasure of meeting Art Ó'Brían before but in top hat and tails! Here he is in less formal attire with the staff who supported him in his role. It would be really interesting to find out who those people were and perhaps what became of them?
With thanks to our contributors, and in particular our own
Carol Maddock, it seems that this image is described in that recent tome the 'Atlas of the Irish Revolution'. It describes this as an image of Art Ó Briain's embassy staff, specifically:
"
(front, L to R): Liam Moore, Fintan Murphy, Ó Briain, C.B. Dutton;
(back, L to R): Seán Molloy, Maeve O'Brien, Paddy Codyre.
In March 1919 Ó Briain was officially appointed Dáil Éireann envoy to Great Britain. His bureau located off the Strand (City of Westminster) employed a small 'embassy' staff [..] Significant international relations were developed. Between 1919 and 1920 Ó Briain met with and advised Saad Zaghloul, the Egyptian revolutionary and statesman, in the latter's negotiations with the British government. He also became a close associate of the Indian nationalist and communist Shapurji Saklatvala. Ó Briain also collaborated with Scottish National League leaders William Gillies and Ruaraidh Erskine of Marr...."
Photographers:
Various
Collection:
Irish Political Figures Photographic Collection
Date: Catalogue range c.1919-1924. Perhaps c.1919-1920
NLI Ref:
NPA POLF215
You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at
catalogue.nli.ie
Info:
Owner:
National Library of Ireland on The Commons
Source:
Flickr Commons
Views: 21761
Niall McAuley
From this doc at the NLI dug up for that previous pic: In early 1919, partly on Collins’ suggestion, Ó Briain was appointed the envoy of Dáil Eireann in Britain, founding its ‘London Office’ which he practically co-ran over the next few years with Fintan Murphy and later Charles Betrand Dutton, an old business associate who was also a prominent Gaelic Leaguer.
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The catalogue says the photographer was Lizzie Caswall Smith (1870-1958) - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lizzie_Caswall_Smith www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp60354/lizzie-c...
Niall McAuley
That doc references this one in the collection: MS 8437 /4 1920 Accounts by various individuals of a police raid on Ó Briain’s office (30 Nov. 1920).
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Irish Times article about Art Ó Bríain's files at the NLI - www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/a-lock-of-hair-1.1557975 - including this ...
Carol Maddock
This photo is on p. 522 of the brilliant Atlas of the Irish Revolution in Darragh Gannon's chapter 'The Irish Revolution in Great Britain', and the caption gives loads of information on the envoy, his office, and the times that were in it...
Dún Laoghaire Micheál
Liam Moore's depiction (bottom left) looks like one of those schooldays team photos when someone was "as lathair" and later got their head superimposed. I wonder might they have got someone else to sit in as "the body"? Its deportment seems suitably awkward
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Fintan Murphy and Art Ó Briain look like they have a hand on each other's leg !
Dr. Ilia
Superb capture! Gorgeous image