A PROCLAMATION By the Lords Justices General and General Governors of Ireland

A PROCLAMATION Whereas disaffection and unrest still prevail in certain parts of Ireland, causing anxiety and alarm amongst the peaceful and law abiding subjects of His Majesty: NOW WE, the Lords Justices General and General Governors of Ireland DO HEREBY proclaim that a state of MARTIAL LAW shall
continue to exist throughout Ireland until further order. Given at His Majesty’s Castle at Dublin, the 26th Day of May, 1916. / Richd. R. Cherry / J.O. Wylie / GOD SAVE THE KING. With royal Cypher at head of document. 51 x 35cms. Verso blank. No printer, no date, [1916]. In green mount. Framed and glazed.

This document is an original copy of the Proclamation of Martial Law in Ireland dating from 26 May 1916. Ireland was governed under martial law until November 1916. At this time Defence of the Realm Regulations and other emergency measures were used and special military areas under military governors were proclaimed. Government repression in response to the rising - in the executions of the rebel leaders, mass arrests, internment and marital law - provoked public outrage and sympathy for the insurgents.

Richard Robert Cherry PC, QC (1859-1923) Irish politician and judge was born in Waterford, the second son of Robert William Cherry,  solicitor; the family was of French Huguenot origin. He was Attorney-
General for Ireland from 1905 to 1909, a judge of the Irish Court of Appeal and subsequently Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench in Ireland 1913-1916. After the Easter Rising he served briefly as Lord Justice of Ireland, entrusted with emergency powers of government.