Something interesting is happening out of frame on the right.

I was going to suggest that it was during the hunger strike by Terence McSwiney but that was in 1920. There were other hunger strikes but of course you had Barrett, O'Connor, McKelvey and Mellowes executed in November 1922? Could it have been a vigil for them? It looks not unlike Government buildings today but why do you think that it is not London???

@swordscookie Is it very unscientific and unprofessional to say "just a feeling"??

I'd like to suggest that this was in fact taken on Prince's Street North, in Dublin.......(that's the one that goes down by the side of the GPO on the way into what is now the entrance to Arnott's multi-storey car park). The pillars look the same but there aren't as many of them nowadays, perhaps a by-product of the extensive damage caused to the building?

I'm in two minds. The heavy showing of patriotic symbols (flags in hand, harp pins on lapels, etc) make me think this is in the UK somewhere. I know this sounds a bit backwards, but I don't think that a crowd in Ireland would've felt the need to wear their colours quite so loudly. On the other-hand, if this was taken during the Civil War, then it's probably a vigil for Anti-treaty hungerstrikers. Possibly outside a prison. Maybe Mountjoy if it's for one/other of the MacSwiney sisters.

The wooden doors puzzle me; they look like a loading entrance ..or possibly a prison. Not much help but these are not the front steps of a government building.

If we're going on feelings, then I'll say somewhere near the Cenotaph in London.

@gnmcauley Oi, McAuley, that better not be a dig about "feelings"! :) Perhaps I should have said some hard to grasp memory of the pillars, etc. of the building in the background...

@20727502@N00 I don't think that it is Mountjoy, that prison is set back a couple of hundred feet from the road and was enclosed inside lower outer walls. Up to the 80's there were houses for prison staff on either side of the main entrance avenue and there is no sign of these here. I cannot speak for the English prisons but it would be unusual for Victorian prisons to have walls directly onto the street. I am inclined to agree with you about the symbols, they would appear to be unnecessary in Ireland.

@swordscookie Agreed. It was just a thought. I couldn't match the surroundings to Mountjoy either. I sit happily waiting for someone with stronger evidence/science to correct me, but my "hard to grasp" feelings are that this is a vigil: * In London * Organised by a woman's group (possibly related or in sympathy with Maud Gonne's Women's Prisoners' Defence League) * In sympathies with similar vigils held in Ireland outside Mountjoy/etc. I think this because: * The overt showing of nationalist symbols would likely take a different aspect if this was in Ireland * While the women are front and centre and the men appear as largely hangers-on, there are a lot of men in shot. Men in particular may not have been so quick to show anti-treaty sympathies in Dublin during this time * The leading/prominent women (up front) don't seem to be notables in the WPDL. If this was Dublin, one might've expected Gonne or McSwiney or similar to be photographed in such a vigil. These are all small points, but they add up (in my gut/head) to suggest it's not Dublin. As an FYI, compare this photo for instance. Here we see Maud Gonne (no intro neccesary I hope), M. Barry Delaney (coeditor of L’Irlande Libre with Gonne), and Annie McSwiney (the woman in front of the "holy picture"). Annie McSwiney was sister to Mary and Terence McSwiney. When this photo was taken, Terence was dead two years (from hunger strike), Mary was intered in Mountjoy (and was on hunger strike inside), and Annie was on a protest fast outside the gates. Hunger strikes were one of the tools employed (often by women) to obtain publicity and put pressure on the Free State Government to release and/or improve conditions for anti-treaty prisoners. Because of the issue and the nature of the strikes, they tended to draw support from womens and religious groups. Until after the war when everyone seemed to get jaded with them.

@20727502@N00 I've been checking a lot of newspapers (variety of Irish papers & London Times) to see what I could come up with. Did try a focus on November 1922 around the McSwiney sisters but to no avail. In any case, I've been thinking that the women are dressed for summer, not winter...

Wherever is a beautiful picture, I love the photos you upload to flickr, I transported to another time and I am witness to the moment, fantastic photo. Best Regards

@nlireland Not a dig at all! I'm just eyeballing that stonework behind, and it looks very Whitehall/Downing Street to me. A bit like this in streetview. But I'm not going to search all of London for a match!

@gnmcauley I had a good look at that and for some reason had it in my head that the tops of the windows in the subject photo were arched/rounded but on closer examination they bear a strong resemblance to those in Streetview. I think that London is the likely setting but only a feeling that that is so!

@hillview7/4779149385/ I think Downing St is it - look at the barriers here.

See this from the NLI Whitehall / Downing St @79549245@N06/7486640262/in/photostream

Almost 100% sure this is on the corner of Downing Street....

Members of the Irish community in London pray outside Downing St for the success of the Truce negotiations in July Link to a very similar picture (taken within Minutes of each other) with the above title From generalmichaelcollins.com This picture is from a different angle - may even be a different photographer? So looks like it is Treaty related rather than Civil War and date is October to December 1921 not 1922

Interesting Piece re Euston Station on the arrival of the group, the same could be said about the people in our photo. "The scene outside Euston station, London, is described as being thronged by London Irish men and women, most of whom were wearing green flags. Many women had donned blouses, hats and coats of vivid emerald, and almost everyone made some attempt to show the Sinn Fein colours".

@79549245@N06 Brilliant work Danny and Niall, looks like you got a winner yet again! Interesting that the comment on one of those shots in French states that they await the arrival of MR. DEVALERA who is about to arrive to confer with Lloyd-George! If that had happened we might all have been saved a lot of pain?

Echoing @swordscookie ! Well done, @gnmcauley and especially @79549245@N06 Danny!! However, think this might be July 1921, when negotiations started?? From Irish Times, Friday, 15 July 1921: PRAYERS AT WHITEHALL While the Sinn Fein delegates were at No. 10, Downing street, in conference with the Prime Minister, a large crowd of Irish sympathisers knelt in the rain in Whitehall, at the end of Downing street, recited the Rosary, and sang several hymns. Before the prayers started they sang "Ireland, a Nation." Mr. de Valera and his colleagues emerged from No. 10 Downing street at ten minutes past seven p.m., the conference having occupied over two hours and thirty minutes. The crowd again cheered him heartily. They had waited patiently, and the singing of Irish songs and the praying never ceased.

. Well dressed women, not a sign of a woman wearing a shawl, and a man deliberately displaying a tricolour for the camera. All signs that this is in the UK, most likely the Big Smoke. The fact that the rosary beads are in use leads me to believe that they are praying for someone political or or something political. Lovely to see that old Irish tradition of the man down on one knee with his cap under the knee. You don't see it so much nowadays, probably due to lack of caps and religion !

@nlireland Aagree with you (not Annoyingly), but some of us dont have access to the very expensive Irish Times Archive!! :) you should let us have your subscription details sometime!!!!!!

@nlireland I've just learned a little more about Irish history with this process. I never knew that Dev had gone to London to Lloyd-George and now I find that our French correspondent was correct because Dev did, but did not go back. He met L-G 3 times in July!

Wow. Well done. My little theory on hungerstrikers was based on the date and knocked into a cocked hat now. So happy to see it confirmed though. Well done to Danny on finding the confirming shot!

Access to Irish Times, Irish Indo, plus loads more freely available to all visitors to Library Towers! @79549245@N06 I'm not allowed near things like subscription details, for fear I'd be handing them out like sweeties to all our off-campus Flickroonies... :) One interesting thing I hadn't considered with this photo, is that they are most definitely posing at this moment, and NOT praying! From the Irish Independent, Friday, 15 July 1921:

ROSARY IN WHITEHALL The full repertoire of Sinn Fein songs was gone through, and during a lull in the proceedings all heads were uncovered while the Rosary was recited...

Report continues (and I wish we could see the cloaky lady in this shot):

... One old Irish woman wearing a cloak and bonnet stood at the entrance to Downing St. during the whole time the conference was in progress, holding in her hand a large tricolour ...

Oh, and our photo exposes a bit of journalistic overenthusiasm:

... There was not a single individual in the gathering that did not sport the tricolour. ...

@nlireland I have never ventured inside the doors of Library Towers, must put on my to do list in the "Soon Section" ps you can award yourself another "Location Identified" tag..

I think you might like this, Irish Peace Congress And Delegates and this, Sinn Feiners In Downing Street

@33577523@N08 I liked

@33577523@N08 That's absolutely brilliant! Wish it was the crowd at "our side" of the gate though.

@79549245@N06 We don't bite, you know! (Or at least, not unless there's a full moon) And have awarded us a "Date Established" tag too - see revamped description under photo itself... :)

@nlireland How do you guys have the 'time' to do all this detective work? Incredible results, I would tip my hat to you all......if I was'nt knealing on it!!!

@swordscookie @79549245@N06 @gnmcauley How do you guys have the 'time' to do all this detective work? Incredible results, I would tip my hat to you all......if I was'nt knealing on it!!!

Excellent detective work. Notice that the man at the back has got his pipe going in this photo.http://generalmichaelcollins.com/WEB_Photo_Folder/1.PhotoAlbum/Praying_negotiations.html

Danny deserves the kudos for this one, all I did was have a vague feeling...

@photoken04 Far be it from me to take any credit, Danny and Niall did any work that was done, I was just stirring the pot a wee bit!

Oh, you're all being far too modest!

excellent sleuthing

Brilliant as always. I love your posts. Thanks to you and your fathfull team of detectives :)

@dorameulman They are pretty amazing alright, aren't they?! :)

Marvelous research and results... way to go Flickrites!!!

Fascinating information from a University College Cork site Four meetings took place between the British Prime Minister and President de Valera at 10 Downing Street, London, on July 14th, 15th, 18th and 21st. Official Correspondence relating to the Peace Negotiations June-September, 1921 (Author: Eamon de Valera and David Lloyd George

To see all these pictures is a joy, thanks for publishing them.

@nlireland We're gonna win another award again aren't we? I mean like those trophies from the government that you posted a while ago... Or some sweets would work too!

@66151649@N02 If we're going to win sweets I want some Cleeves toffeee OK, I may not have the teeth anymore but I'll savour that taste!

@daisygreeneyes77 It's an absolute pleasure!

@66151649@N02 @swordscookie Sweets, eh? I'll have to have a look at the petty cash situation in the office, or maybe I could break into our swear jar?

@nlireland Carol, just expense it as "promotional materials" or some such thing when you submit your budget to the suits upstairs... A few Euros here and there never bothered anyone ;)

@66151649@N02 Brian this is Ireland 2011 - every euro counts and is counted............you must be talking pre 2008!!!!!!!

@79549245@N06 2011 Danny? You've been researching too much and have not caught up yet. Having said that our poor public servants are suffering from that very counting euro complaint, quite painful. I'll buy my own Cleeves toffees.

I'm still surprised at the technique in use here ... the depth is like selective and cuts off almost directly after the crowds .... how!?

To get everything in a photo in focus, you must get maximum depth of field, which requires a long exposure and the smallest aperture possible. When photographing a crowd, this is a problem, since someone will move. If you use a shorter exposure to limit motion blur, you need to use a wider aperture to capture the same amount of light, and this gives a shallow depth of field, where everything is blurred except what you are focused on.

@gnmcauley Yep exactly ... this is one of the basics in photography of course... but what astonishes me is the degree of isolation and the sharpness of the foreground. It does indeed look like two images were imposed on each other as if to yield a 3D effect!

Hi, No one has mentioned the use of flash photography. This photograph was almost certainly taken by a press photographer who would always use flash so that he could be sure of consistent results, add a tripod and the depth of field would be predictable every time. The flash powder in use at this time would burn for 10ms, short enough to prevent the subject from closing their eyes which was a problem with earlier flash powder.

@31363949@N02 amazing!

Hi, Thanks for adding your photo.

I wonder if I could prevail on all of you knowledgeable about Ireland's history to look at this image which is posted in our "What's that picture" group (which seeks to identify the subject in "found" photographs. We think it might be in Ulster and there has been an interesting discussion but there may be something you could add? Many thanks @26093461@N00/8203004614/

I have just added this photo to our 50,000+ Views Album. [https://www.flickr.com/photos/nlireland/sets/72157651136879037]

Another clue www.loc.gov/item/2004669705/

several photos linked to this image appear on Getty Images. Also several pics of the wooden barricade being erected across Downing St. Ditto British Pathe film clip www.britishpathe.com/video/sinn-feiners-in-downing-street/

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/192338609@N06] Thank you Mr. Doyle,

IFI now have quite a few Gordon Lewis/Pathe film clips online. A good view of the Downing St barricades appears in this one ifiarchiveplayer.ie/is-it-peace/

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/192338609@N06] This is great. Found the IFI archive is brilliant for research, or just pure enjoyment!