Little Rebels

The first summer of the new century and children of all ages streamed through the streets of Dublin and gathered under the Loopline. The rattling rhythm of the overhead trains was drowned in the cacophony of their excited voices. Freshly scrubbed, faces shining, and dressed in their very best, some even proudly sported shoes.

Their excitement had been building for weeks. Earlier that year, on April 7th 1900, Queen Victoria had held a children’s picnic in the Phoenix Park. Tens of thousands attended, with special trains laid on from the provinces and all feasted on rare treats of sandwiches, biscuits and fruit and waved at Queen Victoria parading by in her royal carriage. Nationalists were incensed by such imperialist propaganda and furious that the older boys might be won over to fight for the British in the Boer War.

In response, the Patriotic Children’s Treat Committee was formed with Maud Gonne at the helm. Whatever Queen Victoria could do, Maud Gonne could do better!  ‘The Nationalist’s Treat’ was advertised in the United Irishman newspaper for July 1st, a week after the Wolfe Tone commemoration and when nationalist passion was ablaze. Parents were urged to register their children in advance. The children of the inner city poor were especially welcome.

Meanwhile an army of the better class of women swung into action. Sponsorship was sought and given from Dublin firms and for four days before the event over a hundred men and women packed the picnic lunches. On the day, July 1, 1900, the parade of children, stretching two miles long, marched out from under the Loopline, heading for Clonturk Park on Dublin’s northside. 

Defiantly they flew flags, if they had them - Irish, French, American and Boer - branches and sticks if they didn’t. They belted out rebel songs as they went, all the while cheered on by bemused Dubliners. And watched, perhaps, by those who had not been invited - all who had attended Queen Victoria’s picnic, if only for the free food. Maud Gonne herself awaited them in the park, re-energising all with an impassioned speech, railing against those who might join the forces of imperialism against the Boers, be they boy, man, father or brother. The children devoured the buns and sweets, most unaccustomed to the luxury of even a daily meal.

It was judged a great success. James Connolly called it ‘the first political parade of the coming generation’ and pronounced that ‘British imperialism had cast no glamour over their young minds’. The picnic over, the majority of the children returned to their quietly desperate parents and their daily diet of hunger, squalor, and disease - in the shadow of the Loopline.

by Annette Black, Wicklow
Published on 10th September 2013