The Irish Citizen Army, or ICA, was a small paramilitary group of trained trade union volunteers from the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU) established in Dublin for the defence of workers' demonstrations from the Dublin Metropolitan Police. It was formed by James Larkin, James Connolly and Jack White on 23 November 1913. Other prominent members included Seán O'Casey, Constance Markievicz, Francis Sheehy-Skeffington, P. T. Daly and Kit Poole. In 1916, it took part in the Easter Rising, an armed insurrection aimed at ending British rule in Ireland.
Irish Citizen Army group outside ICA HQ Liberty Hall under a banner which reads "We serve neither King nor Kaiser, but Ireland!”
Members of the Irish Citizen Army including Kit Poole (2nd from left) Capt Joseph Byrne (left)
ICA founder and leader James Larkin. Mugshot taken upon his 1919 arrest for "criminal anarchism" in New York state.
Plaque
James Larkin, sometimes known as Jim Larkin or Big Jim, was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. He was one of the founders of the Irish Labour Party along with James Connolly and William O'Brien, and later the founder of the Irish Worker League, as well as the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU) and the Workers' Union of Ireland. Along with Connolly and Jack White, he was also a founder of the Irish Citizen Army. Larkin was a leading figure in the Syndicalist movement.
Officers of the Dublin Metropolitan Police break up a union rally during the lock-out
William Martin Murphy - The central opposing figure during the lock-out
Members of the ICA outside of their Liberty Hall HQ in 1914
Aftermath of the Black Tom explosion, which Larkin was initially thought to have had some involvement with.
