The National Library of Ireland has a very nice set of early 1900's photographs by Robert French available to view on its website. I was particularly interested in one of the NLI photos of an early Vickers machine gun loaded on a cart used on the Mount Street Bridge site but was taken in by the following photo which (zooming in) has a laundry cart and horse :
NLI photograph of Beggars Bush Barracks Dublin
The zoom feature on the NLI site is fantastic and allows easy zooming in and out.
The ghost like figure of a soldier and a dog walking towards the two soldiers at the back, and the detail on the laundry cart :
a. the advert on the back of the cart re "Dublin's Most Progressive Laundry" and
b. the little sign at the front of the cart "Pioneers in Modern Methods"
I half expected to find the cart belonged to the Swastika Laundry Company which opened around 1912 in nearby Ballsbridge. A search on FindmyPast newspapers though delivered a similar text for the Inchicore based Metropolitan Laundry, with the adverts appearing in the 1911-1912 timeframe. May need some help in checking the Irish newspaper archives.
The Irish Military Archives site has a nice map showing the layout of the buildings in the barracks but no context to it sadly. I think the route being marked may be the route taken by Captain Gerrard and CQMS Robert Gamble went they ventured from the barracks to attack members of the 3rd Battalion Irish Volunteers during the Easter Rising.
The archives also have a map showing the electrical layout of the barracks giving the building letters. This means we can position the NLI photos as they carry some of the building letters e.g. the laundry horse and cart is outside the back of building U. The soldiers on parade and the Vickers machine gun crew stand in front of the large building that contains U, and are between it and building D. My rough labelling below (let me know if you think this is right or wrong) :
Behind the left most man in the machine gun photo, by zooming, in L can be seen just above his head on the building doorway behind him
Modern photo of Block D on Wikipedia
Additional Resources
British Pathe Film Clip. National Army soldiers march in and parade in front of Block D.
British Pathe Film Clip. The Tricolor is hoisted above Block D. Lines of men in a civilian clothing and uniform are lined up with their backs to the entrance/guard room/detention room and facing towards Block D.



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