Title: The Lives and Legacies of Robert Emmet and Anne Devlin
Speaker: Liz Gillis
Time: @ 7:45 PM
Location: Iona Pastoral Centre

Historian and author Liz Gillis is from the Liberties. Specialising in the Irish Revolution, she is the author of six books including, ‘The Fall of Dublin’, ‘Revolution in Dublin’, ‘Women of the Irish Revolution’, ‘The Hales Brothers and the Irish Revolution’ and ‘May 25: The Burning of the Custom House 1921’. She is the co-author of ‘We Were There: 77 Women of the Easter Rising’.

In 2021, Liz was appointed Historian in Residence for Dublin South County Council for the Decade of Centenaries and lectures at Champlain College Dublin.

She worked as a Researcher for the History Show on RTE Radio and was a Historical Consultant for the new Custom House Visitor Centre and the Hyatt Centric: The Liberties Hotel. She was a Curatorial Assistant in RTE, specialising in researching the Easter Rising.

Liz has also contributed to numerous publications, television and radio documentaries covering the Irish Revolutionary period and had given talks nationally and internationally on the subject and is the owner of Revolution in Dublin Walking Tours.

In 2018 Liz was a recipient of the Lord Mayor’s Award for her contribution to history..

Source: https://lizgillis.com

Gallery: click on images to enlarge

Anne Devlin (c.1780–1851) was an Irish republican from a strongly insurgent Wicklow family who became Emmet’s housekeeper, confidante, and key conspirator in 1803. Having moved with her family to Rathfarnham after her father’s imprisonment for his 1798 activities, she met Emmet when he rented Butterfield House nearby and soon began carrying messages, arranging meetings with her cousin Michael Dwyer, and moving arms and supplies in preparation for the rising.

After the failure of the 1803 rebellion, Devlin was arrested and subjected to brutal interrogation, repeated floggings, and imprisonment in Kilmainham Gaol and later Dublin Castle, with her family also jailed and a younger brother dying as a result, yet she consistently refused to betray Emmet or the wider network. Released in 1806 after public concern about her condition, she lived out a hard life in domestic service and as a laundress, ultimately dying in poverty, but has since been recognised as a heroine of Irish republicanism and is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.

The Irish film “Anne Devlin” (1984), directed by Pat Murphy, tells the story of Anne Devlin’s role in Robert Emmet’s 1803 rebellion from her perspective. The film has been shown at venues like the IFI and cultural centers, but no major streaming platforms like RTÉ, MUBI, or YouTube list it. You can rent the DVD online through UK-based services like Cinema Paradiso, which ships to Ireland. 

Source: Perplexity Ai – Oval portrait of Anne Devlin:en.wikipedia