One of the features of the Irish newspaper industry at this time was the emergence of photographs, which gradually overtook sketches and cartoons.
The Irish Examiner newspaper was among a number who regularly carried images in their pages, highlighting an number of important aspects of Irish life in the process. In early August 1920 the
Examiner carried images of members of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union who enjoyed a boat trip during the conference which took place in Cork, providing faces to many of the important players in the Labour struggle in Ireland in 1920. Likewise, a photograph of the Cork Volunteers Pipers Band (does any other image exist?) highlights an important cultural aspect of the independence movement. The Cove Rowing Club and the Killarney Total Abstinence Society are also pictured highlighting the diverse social world of Ireland in 1920. However, the most interesting image in that edition is that of the volunteers in county Kerry who came to the rescue of Mr JS Taylor and helped repair his house in the Glencar Mountains after it sustained an attack, presumably by the British military. The house, which contained a family (and one in his eighties), was consumed by flames in the middle of the night when the attack commenced. The following day more than 60 volunteers, some of whom are picture, helped to clear the debris and rebuild the house. Such defiance highlighted that military brutality would not break the people.
Source: Irish Examiner 1841-current, 05.08.1920, page 5
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