Eater Rising of 1916

[Lachlan09]

Easter was always a time of special religious significance in Ireland, just as it was in Britain and the rest of the Christian World. As well as remembering the pain of the crucifixion, the resurrection was remembered with joy and celebration, by rolling painted eggs on the ground and by baking traditional Easter simnel cake, a joyous rich fruity cake decorated with fondant icing / marzipan shapes representing eggs and baby chicks.

In August 1914, the clouds of war cast a dark shadow over Europe, though it would take time for all its effects to be felt. Therefore at Easter 1915, the people of Ireland could still make their traditional simnel cakes with no interference. However, by early 1916, the situation had deteriorated. The British suppliers of baking powder, a central ingredient of simnel cake which caused it to rise during baking, had to turn their factories to war-production, manufacturing chemicals for shells and bullets. Baking powder was therefore unavailable. With Easter 1916 looming, the idea of having no simnel cake was unacceptable to Irish people. Some tried to make it with yeast, but it made the sweet cake bitter and yeasty. To make it without a rising agent was not to be considered.

However, one Dublin baker, Michael Collins, read in a trade journal that an American company, Independent Baking Products of Cicero, Illinois, was manufacturing a form of baking powder, known as “Independent Rising Agent” or I.R.A. Collins canvassed his fellow bakers, cake shop owners and even politicians to bring the product to Ireland in time for Easter 1916’s simnel cakes. Due to their canvassing for the American product, Collins and his colleagues became known as “I.R.A. supporters”. So convinced was Collins that he would receive the “IRA” from America, that he announced to the people that there would be simnel cakes after all, in a bake-fest he called the “Easter Rising of 1916”.

However, as time came close, there was no sign of the baking powder. Collins and others were becoming agitated at its non-arrival. Then he got some bad news ! According to IRA insiders, the product had indeed arrived, but it had been secretly taken to Dublin’s main General Post Office building, where it was being split up and put into envelopes, to be mailed to all of Ireland’s leading Irish and Anglo-Irish families, so they would not miss Easter.

Collins was galvanized into action. Rounding up fellow IRA supporters, he headed for the General Post Office to seize the baking powder delivery and claim it for the Irish people. However, once there, they were surrounded by troops and police and a prolonged battle took place. They were forced to surrender when the British threatened to burn down the building and its contents, including the IRA baking powder.

When the Americans entered the war in 1917 and stopped wartime IRA production, it was up to the Irish people to make their own baking powder. This they successfully did, renaming the product “Irish Rising Agent”. When the nationalists severed ties with the British Crown, they re-christened the product “Irish Republican Agent”. Finally, when the supporters of Ireland’s own baking powder could boast large numbers, they decided to call themselves the “Irish Republican Army”.

The rest is history, this history being given to me by an amateur historian who is also a baker.

[Duthill]

I love this history forum . Ya learn so much good stuff