3-011-943 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Laying the foundation-stone of the O'Connell Monument in Sackville-street, Dublin, 1864. Engraving from a photograph by Mr. W. H. Monney. '...the streets of Dublin were thronged with persons wearing green sashes and rosettes, and every point from which a view of the procession could be [had] was crowded with spectators...In the procession, which started at noon...the associated trades took the lead. About one o'clock the City Hall was passed by the first banner, which was green, inscribed "Memory of O'Connell, the Immortal Liberator."...Various Roman Catholic...societies...next appeared...with a painting of O'Connell and Pope Pius...The fantastic costumes of the societies of the Oddfellows and the Foresters were set off by the sober appearance of the ecclesiastical part of the procession, who were...preceded by the boys from various Roman Catholic charity schools, by the children from Dr. Spratt's Orphanage, and by several of the Catholic religious societies...Then came...a double rank of seventy-two priests, followed by fourteen carriages with bishops...The "Guild of the Blessed Virgin Mary" bore a large religious banner...The mallet and trowel were then presented to the Lord Mayor [Peter Paul M'Swiney} for the purpose of laying the stone'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.