First Envoy to the Irish Republic in London : Art Ó Bríain 1919-1924, with members of the staff.

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Where: Unknown

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When: 01 January 1920

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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

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Owner: National Library of Ireland on The Commons
Source: Flickr Commons
Views: 20706

irishpoliticalfiguresphotographiccollection nationallibraryofireland politicalfigures ireland artóbrían firstirishenvoytotheuk staff groupphoto lizziecaswallsmith artóbriain liammoore fintanmurphy charlesbertranddutton seánmolloy maeveobrien paddycodyre thestrand london england unitedkingdom embassy

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Niall McAuley
- 05/Feb/2019 09:05:09
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.
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
- 05/Feb/2019 09:09:27
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
- 05/Feb/2019 09:19:20
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).
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
- 05/Feb/2019 09:28:23
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 ...
... One French journalist, Joseph Kessel, who visited Ó Bríain at his office in Adam Street, just off the Strand in London in September 1920, later spoke about the unusual circumstances under which Ó Bríain operated. Kessel remembered visiting a very busy office with lots of mackintosh-wearing young men hanging about. Serene amid all the clatter of the office, a pipe-smoking Ó Bríain was calmly giving orders, scribbling down messages and answering the telephone, all at the same time. Years later, Kessel said that the fact that the Irish had such an office in London at that time would be akin to the FLN having an office in Paris at the height of the Algerian War. ...
Carol Maddock
- 05/Feb/2019 17:09:12
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...
"Art Ó Briain's embassy staff: (front, left to right): Liam Moore, Fintan Murphy, Art Ó Briain, C.B. Dutton; (back, left to right): 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, while 3 Adam Street became an Irish centre of the metropolitan web of anti-imperial nationalists. Burmese, Catalan and South African representatives all converged on the 'London office' in search of Irish republican support. 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. The Dáil had additional diplomatic missions in New York, Washington DC, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Berlin, Brussels and Geneva, and representation in Genoa, Buenos Aires and Santiago. Roving envoys were also present in Australia, South Africa and the Soviet Union at different stages."
Dún Laoghaire Micheál
- 05/Feb/2019 17:51:44
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
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
- 06/Feb/2019 09:35:10
Fintan Murphy and Art Ó Briain look like they have a hand on each other's leg !
Dr. Ilia
- 18/Feb/2019 09:00:07
Superb capture! Gorgeous image