Eyewitness account of the Easter Rising published for the first time

A day-by-day eyewitness account of the Easter Rising is being made public for the first time.

The account is written by Arthur Matheson of the well-known Dublin legal family who went on to become the first parliamentary draftsman of the new Irish State.

He commences writing to his sister Vera in London on Friday, April 28th, the penultimate day of the Rising and completes it on Tuesday, May 2nd. He gives a day-by-day account of the Rising, some of which he witnessed; other events were witnessed by his father. He jokes with his sister that “your Zeppelin raids are nothing beside our experience”.

Bullet

Matheson

wrote his letter from 20 Fitzwilliam Square, the family home. This was close to both St Stephen’s Green and Mount Street bridge from where he could see and hear much of what was going on. At one stage, his writing is interrupted by a noise and “a bullet whizzed across in front of this (my study window) a moment ago, not close”.

Matheson recalls how his father saw Constance Markievicz "marching about in male clothes and was seen shooting at some officers in khaki who were peacefully walking about the streets and also a number of civilians both men and women".

Exploring

On the Wednesday of Easter Week, Matheson says his father had gone out “exploring constantly and there are crowds in the streets watching the fighting as if it was a football match.”

The letter was supplied to publisher David Knight by Marie Carroll, a relative of Arthur Matheson. It had been in the possession of Charles Matheson, Arthur's younger brother.

Ms Carroll said: “I wanted it to make it public because of the centenary. I dug it out and reread it. It is a fascinating take on the Rising from someone who was there.”

Extracts from Matheson's letter are included in Willow Publishing's book Easter Rising 1916, available in Eason and at www.willowireland.com