Irish Volunteers parading their strength at Cork St Patrick's Day Parade in 1916

IF THE August 1915 funeral of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa was a portent of the Irish Volunteers’ military strength, British authorities were given an even clearer picture just five weeks before the Easter Rising began.

On St Patrick’s Day, 1916, thousands of men and boys in uniform — almost half of them carrying arms — took to the streets of cities and towns to demonstrate the growing membership.

Even they did not know on that mid-March Friday that they were being readied to take varying roles in a major rebellion against British rule in Ireland by the end of April.