Burnt Gallery

The Easter Rising - Dublin, Ireland

The Easter Rising also known as the Easter (or Irish') Rebellion and referred to erroneously in some contemporary British reports as the Sinn Fein Rebellion - an armed insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916, mounted by Irish republicans who aimed to end British rule in Ireland and establish an independent Irish Republic (whilst the United Kingdom was heavily engaged in World War I). Evidence of the fighting on Sackville Street, Dublin. Date: 1916

© Mary Evans / Grenville Collins Postcard Collection

Policemen guarding house in Sidney Street, East London

Policemen guarding the devastated house in Sidney Street, East London, after the Sidney Street Siege (popularly known as the Battle of Stepney) in East London. The siege took place when it was discovered that a gang of Latvian anarchists responsible for the deaths of three policemen during an attempted robbery were living at 100 Sidney Street. The street was cordoned off and the two sides fired at each other for some time. The siege ended with a fire inside the house, and the deaths of two of the gang. The involvement of the Guards was authorised by the Home Secretary, Winston Churchill, and caused some controversy. The leader of the gang, Peter the Painter, also known as Peter Piaktow (or Piatkov, Pjatkov, Piaktoff), was never found, and there is confusion over his true identity

© Mary Evans Picture Library

A theatre company is disbanded after a charge of blasphemy

A theatre company is disbanded after a charge of blasphemy. Actors, actresses and stage painters react in shock to the news. A tragic story at Avignon. Handcoloured copperplate engraving after an illustration by Thomas Rowlandson from Journal of Sentimental Travels in the Southern Provinces of France, translated and abridged from Moritz August von Thummel's Reise in die mitt??glichen Provinzen van Frankreich im Jahre 1785'??1786, Rudolph Ackermann, London, 1821

© Florilegius