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Topical Film Company
Films related to Topical Film Company
Sinn Féin Rebels
In this newsreel we see disarmed Sinn Féin rebels marching from the Richmond Barracks in Inchicore, to be deported from Kingstown (now known as Dun Laoghaire).The Richmond Barracks is where more than 3,000 rebels including 1916 Rising leaders were sent for executions or to prison camps in England and wales. A still of Eoin Mac Neill is shown towards the end of the newsreel. Mac Neill established the Irish Volunteers in 1913, and served as its Chief-of-Staff. He held this position at the outbreak of the Easter Rising but had no role in the Rising or its planning, and after learning about the Easter Monday uprising he confronted Patrick Pearse and put up a last-minute news advertisment advising Volunteers not to take part. He was later elected to the First Dáil as a member of Sinn Féin.
The Trial of Roger Casement
This newsreel contains various segments, the first short item capturing crowds gathering on Bow Street Magistrates Court waiting to hear the outcome of the trial of British diplomat turned Irish nationalist Sir Roger Casement. Only one piece of footage of Casement himself is known to exist, and for this Topical Budget’s newsreel, cameras had to improvise as his dramatic downfall played out. Arrested on April 21st 1916, hours after landing on the Kerry coast in a German submarine and just three days before the Easter Rising began in Dublin, Casement was whisked away to London to stand trial for treason. He was executed on August 3rd , his fate sealed by the discovery and distribution of the legendary ‘Black Diaries’, which contained accounts of his homosexual activities. His body was buried in quicklime at Pentonville Prison and his remains not repatriated to Ireland until 1965. The remaining segments include Sir John Maxwell inspecting the troops in the Trinity College grounds in May 1916 as well as soldiers stacking up Rifles and Pikes at Islandbridge Barracks.
Sinn Féin Rebels
In this newsreel we see disarmed Sinn Féin rebels marching from the Richmond Barracks in Inchicore, to be deported in Kingstown (now known as Dun Laoghaire). The Richmond Barracks is where more than 3,000 rebels including 1916 Rising leaders were sent for executions or to prison camps in England and wales. A still of Eoin Mac Neill is shown towards the end of the newsreel. Mac Neill established the Irish Volunteers in 1913, and served as its Chief-of-Staff. He held this position at the outbreak of the Easter Rising but had no role in the Rising or its planning, and after learning about the Easter Monday uprising he confronted Patrick Pearse and put up a last-minute news advertisment advising Volunteers not to take part. He was later elected to the First Dáil as a member of Sinn Féin.
Irish Food Committee
A close up of three Irish women at a table preparing food, most likely for soldiers. During the First World War era (1914- 1918) the women of Ireland quickly adapted to the many challenges initiated by Britain’s declaration of war against Germany.. The country’s existing network of philanthropic organisations provided a solid foundation for a variety of voluntary war work, from establishing paramilitary organisations like Cumann na mBan, to the mobilisation of working-class women and war refugees in the provision of food parcels and clothes for soldiers.
Requiem Mass
This newsreel from 1916 shows Irish Guards attending the mass service for officers and men of their regiment who have fallen in the war.
Saint Patrick's Day – 1917
This newsreel set in London shows the Lord Mayor of London arriving at Saint Patrick’s Church for the celebration of Mass for Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. Irish women are seen selling flags in the street to passersby. These women were most likely collecting for charitable organisations, like the London Irish benevolent society, or for Irish War widows and orphans.
Ireland's Agony
The Burning of Cork by British forces took place on the night of December 11th and 12th 1920 , during the Irish War of Independence. It followed an Irish Republican Army ambush of a British Auxiliary patrol in the city, which wounded twelve auxiliaries, one fatally. In retaliation the Auxiliaries, Black and Tans and British soldiers looted and burnt numerous buildings in the city center. Many civilians reported being beaten, shot at, and robbed by British forces. Firefighters testified that British forces hindered their attempts to tackle the blazes through intimidation, cutting their hoses and shooting at them. More than 40 business premises, 300 residential properties, the City Hall and Carnegie Library were destroyed by the fire. Over £3 million worth of damage (equivalent to €172 million today) was wrought, 2,000 people were left jobless and many more became homeless.
Ulster’s Parliament Assembles
In this newsreel the Lord Lieutenant, Lord FitzAlan-Howard and 40 elected Unionist members of Parliament, are seen attending the historic opening and first session of the Ulster Parliament in Belfast City Hall on June 7th 1921. Sir James Craig, seen towards the end of this newsreel, was made Prime Minister just a few days before this event. The formal opening of Parliament by King George V did not occur until later in the month on June 22nd.
Ulster Will Not Yield
In this newsreel Orangemen march with banners, through a crowd-lined street in Belfast, to demonstrate their loyalty to Britain on July 12th 1921. Sir James Craig is in attendance and is seen being welcomed onto the platform and addressing the large audience. Craig was highly critical of Lloyd George’s negotiations with Sinn Féin at this time, having previously refusing to attend the peace conference which led to the signing of the Treaty.
Is it the Dawn?
Following truce talks with Lord Middleton between July 4th and 8th 1921, having previously refused to do any interviews, Éamon de Valera released this statement to the world exclusively through this Topical Budget Newsreel. This intertitle only newsreel is unusual as we see his quote from an extract of the poem “Celts and Saxons” by poet Thomas Davis. ‘Ireland is fighting solely for the right to live her own life in her own way. She loves equally all her children and she needs them all’. ‘Oh! it were a gallant deed to show before mankind, How every race and every creed might be by love combined ? Might be combined, yet not forget the fountains whence they rose. As, filled by many a rivulet, the stately Shannon flows’’
I Want Peace
In this newsreel Éamon de Valera arrives in London in July 1921 for discussions on a peace proposal for Ireland with Count George Noble Plunkett, Robert Barton and Arthur Griffith. The first stage in these negotiations was the despatch of an Irish delegation to London on July 12th . The party consisted of de Valera, Arthur Griffith, Austin Stack and Erskine Childers but these conversations were primarily between Lloyd George and de Valera.
Ireland's Fate Decided in the Highlands
In this newsreel from 1921, Prime Minster David Lloyd George meets Irish Viceroy, General Macready and Sir Hamar Greenwood at Brahan Castle, in Easter Ross, Highlands Scotland. Lloyd George presided over the Government of Ireland Act 1920 which partitioned Ireland into Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland in May 1921 during the Anglo-Irish War. Lloyd George famously declared of the Irish Republican Army that “We have murder by the throat!” However, soon afterwards he began negotiations with IRA leaders to recognise their authority and to end a bloody conflict. This culminated in the Anglo-Irish Treaty signed in December 1921 with Irish leaders Under it, Southern Ireland, representing over a fifth of the United Kingdom’s territory, seceded in 1922 to form the Irish Free State.
Is it Peace?
October 11th 1921: London, and Sinn Féin delegates, including Arthur Griffith, arrive for the first formal peace negotiations at 10 Downing Street. In this newsreel, scenes of the Irish Embassy at 17 Grosvenor Place, London are shown, with the Irish Tricolour flag prominently placed above the main entrance. Crowds are seen kneeling and praying on the street outside and cheer with Flags as the delegates leave the Embassy and make their way to Downing street to discuss the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It’s interesting to note the strong presence of the Tricolour in this newsreel as the National flag. It was first presented as a gift to Ireland in 1848 by the French, representing the reconciliation between Protestant and Catholics. Following the events of the 1916 Rising it was locally accepted as the national flag but wasn’t until 1937 that this was made official under the Constitution of Ireland.