The Ulster Museum - Object Of The Month

Military Medal awarded to Louisa Nolan

October

The Ulster Museum has a wide range of specimens in its History collections relating to Ireland's military past. Many of these relate to Ireland's role in World War One.

One of the most intriguing is a Military Medal awarded to Louisa Nolan, who received it for the heroism she displayed, as a civilian, during the Easter Rising in Dublin in April 1916.

The Irish Volunteers, whose aim was political independence for Ireland, undertook an armed rebellion that began on Easter Monday 24 April 1916, when they took over the General Post Office in Sackville (later O'Connell) Street.

For six days most of the city centre was in turmoil. Louisa Nolan, as a civilian, was so taken aback by the sight of combatants, British soldiers and Irish republicans, lying on the streets of her native city that she crawled among them, tending to the wounded irrespective of whether they were British or Irish.

Louisa Nolan Military Medal

_{The image to the left above shows King George V. The image to the right shows the back of the Medal and is inscribed 'For Bravery in the Field'.}

Most unusually, the award of the Military Medal to Louisa in 1917 was back-dated to take account of her heroism in April the previous year. Moreover, she is only one of two females to have been awarded the Military Medal in its 81-year history. The daughter of an Royal Irish Constabulary officer, Louis later went to work in the theatres of London.

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