badge / Fenian Old Guard, 1895

Fenian Old Guard insignia, c. 1895. White metal pinned brooch engraved with a round tower, wolfhound and shamrock and the words ‘SEMPER PARATUS’ (‘always ready’), surmounted by a semi-circular shaped piece with sunrise design engraved with the words ‘OLD GUARD’, supporting a stylised silver shamrock with ribbed leaves, against a green and gold silk tasselled ribbon woven with shamrocks and the letters ‘O.G.U.’. The silver shamrock bears maker’s mark ‘H&H’ (Hopkins & Hopkins) to reverse and Dublin hallmarks for 1895. Possibly prepared for an event connected with the 1798 Centenary, such as the Wolfe Tone Centenary Parade in August 1898. Another possibility is that the ribbon was worn at one of the annual demonstrations held in Dublin to commemorate the Manchester Martyrs. According to Owen McGee in ‘“God save Ireland”; Manchester-Martyr demonstrations on Dublin, 1867-1916’, in Éire-Ireland: Journal of Irish Studies, Fall-Winter, 2001, p. 5, the Old guard Benevolent Union consisted mostly of the substantial minority within the I.R.B. that, since 1868, had continued to swear allegiance to James Stephens as Fenian chief and refused to recognize the authority of the I.R.B. Supreme Council. From 1897 until 1912 the Old Guard played the leading role in organizing the Manchester-Martyr demonstrations in Dublin.;