Stamp marks centenary of Irish Volunteers

3 October 2013

The 60c stamp was designed by Dublin’s Zinc Design Consultants and features a group of Irish Volunteers from Waterford in uniform.

The image was taken by A.H. Poole Studio Photographers (Courtesy of The National Library of Ireland). A first day cover (FDC) which features an illustration of an Irish Volunteer (Courtesy of Osprey Publishing/ Bill Younghusband) is also available. Both may be viewed and purchased at irishstamps.ie, at main post offices or by calling (01) 7057400.

The Irish Volunteer Force, or Óglaigh na hÉireann, was formed in November 1913 to defend the application of the Home Rule Bill to the whole of Ireland.

The organisation split into two in 1914 with the outbreak of World War 1. The majority formed the National Volunteers who favoured enlisting to fight in the First World War in the hope of being rewarded with Home Rule. The remaining Irish Volunteers, led by Eoin MacNeill stayed in Ireland.

The Irish Volunteers were forced underground after their active part in the 1916 Rising. In the War of Independence which began in 1919, the Irish Volunteers became known as the Irish Republican Army.