This September 1882 print shows a mob attacking the statue of King William of Orange which stood on College Green, outside Ireland’s historic parliament. The monument predated the parliament building, and was ultimately bombed in the 1920s. There’s a lot going on in this image, but I particularly like the worried looking policemen at the ladder.
16 years after this attack on the monument, one publication would write that:
This equestrian statue of William III stands in College Green, and has stood there, more or less, since A.D 1701. We say “more or less” because no statue in the world, perhaps, has been subject to so many vicissitudes. It has been insulted, mutilated and blown up so many times, that the original figure, never particularly graceful, is now a battered wreck, pieced and patched together, like an old, worn out garment.
The William monument was the work of the wonderfully named artist Grinling Gibbons. While the 1928 bombing failed to destroy the work, it was removed and placed in storage by the Corporation, before suffering the humiliation of being beheaded by persons unknown.
Click on the book for more.
Click on the book for more.
Donal
Ciarán
Sam
Come Here To Me! 
My relative Liam Parr was brought up in the Liberties at the turn of the twentieth century and the only story of his childhood that has been preserved in his family is that he was taught to spit on the statue of King Billy every Saturday. He developed his commitment to Irish nationalism by becoming a bagpiper on the war pipes and played music with Andy Dunne, a prominent member of Fianna Eireann. It is likely that Liam had links with the Fianna himself between 1909 and 1911 when he moved to Manchester. There he joined the Gaelic League and was to help launch the Manchester Volunteers. In early 1916 he was one of four men who travelled to Dublin to take part in the Rising. He was in Kimmage and then the GPO during Easter week, though he spent time across Sackville Street where the radio station was set up. He was in Moore Street at the time of the surrender and was imprisoned in Knutsford and then Frongoch..We have collected the stories and the histories of the Manchester Volunteers in a book and website with more information at hiddenheroesofeasterweek.wordpress.com We are still looking for more memories of these Volunteers so would love to hear from anyone who could add to our knowledge. Thanks