| Vol.15 No. 2 Easter Rising Centenary edition March 2016 ISSN 0791-458X Historic green flag comes home By Frank Connolly The Green Flag of Ireland which was raised above Liberty Hall on Palm Sunday 1916 is coming home for the first time in one hundred years. In an unexpected beneficial effect of the growing cross border co-opera- tion between institutions on the is- land the Inniskillings Museum, Enniskillen, has given the original Green Flag of Ireland raised over Lib- erty Hall on loan to SIPTU. The flag has been in the possession of the British Army since it was re- trieved from the burnt out Liberty Hall by a Royal Inniskilling Fusilier, 21 year old Acting Corporal John McAlonen on 26th April, 1916. It was presented to the Inniskillings Mu- seum in 1935 by McAlonen’s com- manding officer, Colonel John McClintock. Informed of the flag’s existence, the union initiated contacts with In- niskillings Museum curator-manager, Neil Armstrong, and chairman of its trustees, Mark Scott, earlier this year. This led to an agreement that the flag would be given on loan to SIPTU in time for the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising. The flag, with a gold harp on a green background, was raised on Palm Sunday, 16th April, 1916, by a teenage member of the Irish Citizen Army, Molly O’Reilly. Mary Shannon, a machinist at the Liberty Hall shirt- making co-operative, made the flag which resembled ones flown outside British Army recruitment offices, with one major difference - there was no crown above the harp. Earlier that month, James Connolly, had written in The Workers Republic of the need to hoist the Green Flag of Ireland in Dublin “as a rallying point of our forces and embodiment of all our hopes”. He added: “Where better could that flag fly than over the unconquered citadel of the Irish working class, Lib- erty Hall, the fortress of the militant working class of Ireland.” The flag was restored by conserva- tor, Rachel Phelan, and was presented to President Michael D Higgins on Tuesday, 22nd March, in Áras an Uachtaráin. The Green Flag of Ireland will be on display in Liberty Hall dur- ing the 1916 commemorative events. The Green Flag of Ireland. Photo: Peter Moloney, PM Photography Volunteers in Irish Citizen Army uniforms at Liberty Hall on Sunday 20th March. Photo: William Hederman |
| 2 Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition Highlights 4 Dublin communities remember the ICA Them Ducks Died for Ireland 6 5 James Connolly: a professional revolutionary Theo Dorgan on how the Rising changed the world “6 of our waterfowl were killed or shot, 7 of the garden seats broken and about 300 shrubs destroyed.” – Park Superintendent in his report on the damage to St. Stephen’s Green during the Easter Rising, 1916 7 Time slides slowly down the sash window Moore Street saved is a great lung, exhaling like breath on the pane puddling in light on oaken boards. The Green the seasons’ turn, sunset and moonset, the ebb and flow 17 9 President Higgins on the centenary Sisters in arms: the women of the ICA of stars. And once made mirror to smoke and fire, a Republic’s destiny in a Countess’ stride, the bloodprice both summons and antidote to pride. When we’ve licked the wounds of history, wounds of war, we’ll salute the stretcher bearer, the nurse in white, 16 12 SIPTU celebrates the Rising The men who printed the Proclamation the ones who pick up the pieces, who endure, who live at the edge, and die there and are known by this archival footnote read by fading light; fragile as a breathmark on the windowpane or the gesture of commemorating heroes in bronze and stone. Paula Meehan, Dublin, 2004 21 18-19 1916 Rising Tapestry 25 Songs of the Rising 28-31 Pick of the Rising books The story of the Starry Plough Editor: Frank Connolly, SIPTU Head of Communications Journalist: Scott Millar Design: Sonia Slevin (SIPTU), Joe Mitchell (Brazier Media) & William Hederman Publications Assistant: Deirdre Price Administrative Assistant: Karen Hackett Produced, designed, edited and printed by trade union labour. Printed by The Irish Times, City West, Dublin. Liberty is dedicated to providing a platform for progressive news and views. If you have any ideas for articles or comments please contact: communications@siptu.ie Liberty is published by the Services, Industrial, Professional & Technical Union, Liberty Hall, Dublin 1 SIPTU General President, Jack O’Connor • Vice President, Gene Mealy• General Secretary, Joe O’Flynn Production: SIPTU Communications Department, Liberty Hall, Dublin 1, Tel: 01 8588217 • Email: communications@siptu.ie |
| Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition 3 Connolly’s Harp flag, seized as war trophy in 1916, returns to Liberty Hall Back where it belongs By Scott Millar W HEN the young Irish Citizen Army mem- ber, Molly O’Reilly, raised the green flag of Ireland over Liberty Hall on Palm Sunday, 1916, the po- litical message was clear – the writ of the British Crown was neither respected nor would it be accepted by the ITGWU. As Ireland’s foremost progres- sive historian, Irish Citizen Army (ICA) commanding officer and ITGWU acting general secretary, James Connolly, knew the symbol- ism of the harp banner well. Its use first entered Irish recorded history during the rebellion of Owen Roe O'Neill in the 1640s but its prove- nance is likely to stretch much further into the Gaelic past. Only two weeks earlier, Connolly had written of the plans to raise the flag at Liberty Hall in The Workers Republic. He stated: “The Council of the Irish Citizen Army has resolved after grave and earnest deliberation, to hoist the green flag of Ireland over Liberty Hall, as over a fortress held for Ire- land by the arms of Irishmen.” The flag of green tabby weave wool measuring approximately three feet by four feet with a cen- tral uncrowned harp in yellow wool and string made from cream braid was the work of shirt maker Margaret Shannon. On Wednesday 26th April, 1916 three days into the Rising, the flag still flew proudly from Liberty Hall. Although the building was central to the planning of the Ris- ing, Liberty Hall was left vacant throughout Easter Week, a fact un- known to the British authorities who chose it as the first to be shelled by the gunboat Helga as it made its way up the Liffey. After several hours of shelling, the flag was seized from the ruins of Liberty Hall by a Royal In- niskillings Fusilier, 21-year-old Acting Corporal John McAlonen. Captured as a trophy of war, it was eventually presented to the In- niskillings Museum in 1935. In 2012, a flag was found in a box in the museum that had been un- opened for many decades. The mu- seum label read ‘Citizen Army flag captured Easter Rising 1916’. After months of analysis and re- search, all evidence would appear to confirm that this is the flag that James Connolly placed over Liberty Hall as a symbol of ‘Ireland free’. Textile conservator Rachel Phe- lan, who has restored the flag, said: “Having conserved many impor- tant Irish flags over the years, this is one of the most exciting discov- eries to come to light. In construc- tion and design the flag is clearly comparable to other surviving 1916 flags. “As it has never been exposed to the light, the strength of the colours are as strong as 100 years ago and the flag would have been clearly visible along the quays”. I hand you this flag as the sacred emblem of Ireland’s unconquered soul First photo of the original flag as recently restored by conservator, Rachel Phelan. Photo: Peter Moloney, PM Photography A flag staff which was seized from Liberty Hall by the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers on 26th April, 1916. Held in the Inniskillings Museum, Enniskillen. It is inscribed with the words: Captured from the Sinn Feiners during the Irish Rebellion 1916 by the Machine Gun Detachment 3rd Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers presented to the Officers Mess by 2/Lieut. T. Taylor Photo: Frank Connolly James Connolly to ICA member Molly O’Reilly News of the discovery reached Liberty Hall and the SIPTU Head of Communications, Frank Connolly. Contact was made with the curator of the Inniskillings Museum, Neil Armstrong. After discussions the trustees of the Inniskillings Mu- seum agreed that there was demonstrable public benefit in placing the flag on loan to SIPTU. After many weeks of meticulous conservation work, the flag was of- ficially presented to the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins in Áras an Uachtaráin on Tuesday 22nd March 2016 before going on public display in Liberty Hall for Easter. The Chairman of Trustees for the Inniskillings Museum, Mark Scott, said: “It is right and fitting that this historic object should be made available to SIPTU, the direct suc- cessors to the ITGWU, for their commemoration of the part played Top of drum major’s mace, Irish Citizen Army, which was seized from Liberty Hall during the Easter Rising. Held in the Inniskillings Museum, Enniskillen. Photo: Frank Connolly by the union in 1916. SIPTU General President, Jack O’Connor, said: “We were de- lighted to learn earlier this year that the Green Flag of Ireland had been discovered by the In- niskillings Museum among the col- lection of items seized from Liberty Hall during the Easter Ris- ing in 1916. “The return of the iconic flag on loan from the museum is particu- larly welcome in this centenary year as SIPTU members across the country commemorate the role our predecessors in the ITGWU, in- cluding James Connolly and the men and women of the Irish Citi- zen Army, played in the Rising and the revolutionary period. “It is a matter of immense pride for the union that the flag will be displayed in Liberty Hall where the events of Easter 1916 were planned and where the Proclama- tion was printed.” Plaque to honour ICA dead ON Tuesday 29th March, President Michael D. Hig- gins, will unveil a plaque at Liberty Hall in memory of the 14 members of the Irish Citizen Army (ICA) who were killed in action or exe- cuted in 1916. Four of them, Louis Byrne, Sean Connolly, George Geoghe- gan and Sean O’Reilly, were part of the City Hall Garrison, while John Adams, Philip Clarke, James Corcoran, James Fox and Fred Ryan fought with the St. Stephen’s Green/College of Sur- geons Garrison. James McCormack, Thomas O’Reilly and Arthur Wicks (alias John Neal) were Citizen Army members of the GPO Garrison. ICA Chief of Staff Michael Mallin, and James Connolly, Com- mandant General of the ICA and Commander of Republican Forces in Dublin, were executed by fir- ing squad at Kilmainham Jail – Mallin on 8th May and Connolly on 12th May 1916. Also commemorated on the plaque are ICA Lt. Constance Markievicz, the only woman in- surgent to be sentenced to death (sentence commuted to penal servitude for life), and Francis Sheehy-Skeffington, former member of the ICA Provisional Army Council and anti-war cam- paigner, who was summarily exe- cuted by the British Army during Easter Week 1916. A Roll of Honour to all those enlisted in the ICA at April 1916 will also be unveiled as part of this state commemoration of the role played by the Citizen Army during the revolutionary period. The ceremonies will include the rendering of full military ho- nours by the state at the Connolly statue in Beresford Place and the hoisting of the Starry Plough flag under an honour guard of the Dublin Fire Brigade and their band and local community re-en- actors in period uniform. There will also be music by tra- ditional musicians Sean McKeon and Liam O’Connor, readings by the families of James Connolly and Francis Sheehy-Skeffington and a solemn candle-lighting cer- emony by pupils from St Vin- cent’s National School. The commemoration will con- clude with addresses by SIPTU General President, Jack O’Connor and President Higgins followed by the choir of St Louis High School, Rathmines. See pages 32-33 |
| 4 Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition SIPTU plaques commemorate Irish Citizen Army members By Scott Millar TWELVE plaques commemorat- ing the Irish Citizen Army (ICA) will be unveiled in communi- ties across Dublin over the coming months by the SIPTU Dublin District Committee. A separate plaque containing a ‘Roll of Honour’ that lists the names of all the people registered as mem- bers of the Irish Citizen Army in April 1916 as well as one recording those who died will also be unveiled in Liberty Hall (see page 3). The first SIPTU Dublin District Committee ICA plaque was unveiled outside Marino College of Further Education, North Strand on Friday, 11th March. Speakers at the unveiling cere- mony included playwright Peter Sheridan and SIPTU Dublin District Council member Alison Regan, while SIPTU Dublin District Council joint secretary Kevin Glackin read out a roll call of members of the ICA from the local area. Addressing the crowd of more than 100 people, SIPTU Dublin Dis- trict Council joint secretary John Dunne said: “During 2016 the SIPTU Dublin District Council in conjunc- tion with local community groups and Dublin City Council are unveil- ing a series of plaques to commemo- rate the working-class men, women and young people who served in the ‘The story of these ICA members can provide a valuable opportunity for communities to rediscover their history and the values that motivated people to risk all for a new future’ ICA in the areas were they lived. “The story of these ICA members can provide a valuable opportunity for communities to rediscover their history and the values that moti- Robert Norgrove (centre) with members of the Prison Officers’ Association at the unveiling of an ICA plaque at Marino College of Further Education, North Strand on 11th March. vated people to risk all for a new fu- ture.” The plaque was officially unveiled by Robert Norgrove, representing the Norgrove family, several of whom served with the North Strand section of the ICA. The event was followed by a sem- inar on the life and politics of ICA leader James Connolly, and was chaired by Michael Halpenny and addressed by historians including Brian Hanley, Donal Fallon, Theresa Moriarty and Nell Regan. For more information on the dates of future plaque unveilings, visit the Facebook page, ‘Irish Citizen Army community commemorations’. Women in window mystery half solved By Padraig Yeates ONE OF the women pho- tographed watching the Irish Citizen Army parade from a window in Liberty Hall has been identified. She is Mary Hyland and is the fig- ure on the right immediately above the first ‘S’ on the banner “We Serve Neither King Nor Kaiser”. She helped make the banner and has been identified by her nephew Bren- dan Hyland, a member of the Peo- ple’s College Choir. Although a Women’s Section of the Irish Citizen Army was not formed until 1915, a number of women activists such as Mary had been involved from the start and had been in the Irish Women Workers’ Union through the 1913 Lockout. Mary served in the food kitchen at Liberty Hall alongside figures such as Delia Larkin, Rosie Hackett, Jinny Shanahan and Constance Markievicz. During the Rising Mary held up a milkman and requisitioned his supplies in the name of the Irish Republic Members of the Irish Citizen Army outside Liberty Hall in 1915 According to Frank Robbins of the ICA, Mary was “a bit of an actor” and performed with the Liberty Players in Sunday entertainments at Liberty Hall, which her brother Jim at- tended. They both joined the ICA while an- other brother, Thomas, joined the Irish Volunteers. In 1916 Mary and Jim served as part of the Stephen's Green garrison, while Thomas was in the Four Courts. During the Rising Mary held up a milkman and requisitioned his sup- plies in the name of the Irish Repub- lic. She ran a makeshift kitchen in the Royal College of Surgeons to feed the Stephen's Green garrison and bartered her milk for biscuits with the Jacob’s garrison nearby – an army marched on its stomach. Her brothers were later interned in Frongoch but Mary escaped cap- ture because Michael Mallin, the commander of the Stephen's Green garrison, sent her with a letter to his wife Agnes before the surrender. Agnes was expecting the couple’s fifth child at the time. Mary later married another ICA member, Lt Michael Kelly, and they were caretakers of Liberty Hall in the 1920s and 1930s, living there until 1937. Michael was promoted to Lieu- tenant on April 24th, 1916, when he was given command of 16 men guarding the approaches to the city from Rathmines and Portobello (now Cathal Brugha) Barracks. This detachment was deployed in Charlemont Street and Davy’s pub commanding the canal crossing. He later saw action at the top of Grafton Street. Brendan believes the other woman visible in the window may be Helena Molony. If any of our read- ers have any information on this they might let us know. Email: padraigyeates@gmail.com |
| Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition 5 How the 1916 Rising changed the world English artist Walter Paget’s impression of the scene inside the GPO shortly before its evacuation in Easter week 1916. By Theo Dorgan J OHN Redmond, rallying Irish men to the British war effort, was thinking only in terms of the impact on Irish-British politics of such recruitment. He seems to have been entirely unaware that the first World War was a contest between empires for the control of resources, for the extension of imperial powers, and that he was recruiting Irish men to support and bolster im- perial ambitions and greed. Or perhaps he knew but didn’t think it important. A similar charge, however, can be laid at the door of the IRB and the Irish Volun- teers – they failed entirely to con- sider (and potentially profit from) the international context of the in- surrection. Only James Connolly fully understood that Ireland’s struggle against Britain was a strug- gle against empire. In the Workers’ Republic, on 8th April 1916, 16 days before the Ris- ing, Connolly wrote: The power which holds in subjec- tion more of the world’s popula- tion than any other power on the globe, and holds them in subjec- tion as slaves without any guar- antee of freedom or power of self-government, this power that sets Catholic against Protestant, the Hindu against the Mo- hammedan, the yellow man made the history of our race read like the records of a shambles, as she plans for the annihilation of another race appeals to our man- hood to fight for her because of our sympathy for the suffering, and of our hatred of oppression. of Independence, had a galvanising and morale-building influence on contemporary and subsequent inde- pendence movements. In an excellent article on this very subject (tinyurl.com/z932npt) Liam Ó Ruairc argues that: “The 1916 Easter Rising had a very signif- Only Connolly fully understood that Ireland’s struggle against Britain was a struggle against empire... Across the world, the Irish Rising and War of Independence had a galvanising and morale-building influence on contemporary and subsequent independence movements against the brown, and keeps them quarrelling with each other whilst she robs and murders them all – this power appeals to Ireland to send her sons to fight under England’s banner for the cause of the oppressed. The power whose rule in Ireland has made of Ireland a desert, and Connolly’s point here was that Ireland was neither alone nor unique in suffering under empire, and by and large, until very re- cently, Irish commentators have failed to place Ireland’s struggle in this international context. Paradoxically, all across the world, the Irish Rising, and subsequent War icant impact and influence on anti- imperialist movements worldwide, at the time particularly on those in India and Egypt.” The British were well aware of the consequences of losing Ireland, consequences that were not always clear to most of those Irish fighting for independence. Ó Ruairc quotes It would do us no harm at all to consider the international context and consequences of the Rising, and to ask ourselves where we place ourselves now in the ongoing contests between great powers and sovereign peoples Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Field-Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, saying on 30th March 1921: “If we lose Ireland we have lost the Em- pire.” And, Sir Edward Carson: “If you tell your Empire in India, in Egypt, and all over the world that you have not got the men, the money, the pluck, the inclination and the backing to restore order in a coun- try within 20 miles of your own shore, you may as well begin to abandon the attempt to make British rule prevail throughout the Empire at all.” The fact is the Rising signaled, perhaps even began, the process of disintegration in the British empire – but this has not always been ac- knowledged in Ireland, and in cer- tain sectors, I suspect, remains an unwelcome thought. There has al- ways been a double pulse in Irish political life. On the one hand we find a servile tendency on the part of po- litical elites to seek the approval and patronage of larger powers, ex- emplified in the spineless accept- ance of direction from the ECB, for example, or the unwillingness to assert our sovereignty in the matter of US troop movements, and rendi- tions, through Shannon. On the other hand, there is a gen- erous willingness on the part of non-State formations to identify with and support liberation move- ments, social and political, throughout the post-colonial world. It would do us no harm at all to consider the international context and consequences of the Rising, and to ask ourselves where we place ourselves now in the ongoing contests between great powers and sovereign peoples. Theo Dorgan is a poet and writer. |
| 6 Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition By John Callow W HEN heckled on a street corner about how he knew so much about revolu- tion, James Con- nolly did not hesitate to respond that: “My business is revolution!” This insight offers the thread by which to understand the nature, and essential continuity, of Con- nolly’s career, binding the Red to the Green. As a trade union leader he fought for a social and eco- nomic revolution; as a socialist he fought for a political revolution. It was a struggle that led him from the Edinburgh slums to Dublin, to New York, to Belfast and – finally – to the flames of the GPO. He was a man of big ideas and high ideals, who as his old friend and comrade, Cathal O’Shannon, put it, aimed through his every word, thought and deed to secure “the advancement of the working class to power.” Few Labour lead- ers had such a sense of purpose. Few Labour leaders had seen and learned so much. He had experienced, first-hand, the poverty and vast disparities of wealth that underscored both the industrial revolution and Fordist production; he had organised among new immigrant communi- ties on the Dublin docksides and in the sweatshops of Manhattan; and he left behind him – through the paragraphs he contributed to the Proclamation of the Irish Re- public – a legacy enshrined at the heart of the modern Irish state, that emphasises economic equal- ity, the rights of women and civil liberties. Yet, it is his role in the 1916 Ris- ing and the heroism of his death, tethered, wounded and reviled, in the courtyard of Kilmainham Jail, that continues to define him a cen- tury on. Because of the Rising, Connolly and Pearse can be side- lined, re-imagined, excoriated or sanitised: but they cannot be ig- nored. Furthermore, because of the con- tinuing inequities and inequalities at the heart of our society, Con- nolly’s message continues to have a potency and an immediacy that the other voices of Easter Week may have lost due to marked changes in Irish culture and soci- ety. He remains a hope to the poor and the marginalised; and a wak- ing nightmare to the acquisitive and to the exploitative super-rich. That is why, amid the politics of commemoration, Connolly the natural rebel remains a difficult and uncomfortable figure. That is also why he, of all the sig- natories of the Proclamation, has recently been singled-out for the most savage and unremitting criti- cism for his decision to leave Lib- erty Hall, one last time, and to put himself at the head of the Irish Cit- My business is - revolution William Martin Murphy lobbied hard for Connolly’s execution Thus, when we think of ruthlessness in 1916, let us not think of it solely in terms of the exchange of fire between enemy combatants, brave young men and women committed to their respective causes: but of its cold-blooded variety, conducted not upon the battlefield but in the boardroom, the gentleman’s club and the debating chamber izen Army in the battle for Dublin. If we can dismiss him as no more than a murderous fanatic, we can dismiss his words and den- igrate his dreams of a world made better for all. Yet, this is to overlook what ac- tually took place in Easter 1916. Connolly and Pearse were per- fectly clear in their own minds that the Rising was an insurrec- tion conducted by the conven- tional forces of an Irish Republic, that they themselves had called into being as an expression of the Because of the continuing inequities and inequalities at the heart of our society, Connolly’s message continues to have a potency and an immediacy that the other voices of Easter Week may have lost due to marked changes in Irish culture and society. A painting of James Connolly believed to be by the artist Harry Kernoff Photo: William Hederman. popular will. Both men were scrupulous in their adherence to the rules and conventions of war, and did their level best to ensure that British Army prisoners were not abused or ill-treated by the insurgents. In- deed, it was the failure of the British government to accord the same status to the rebels, and the extra-judicial executions in the wake of the Rising, that turned public opinion decisively in favour of the insurgents and made possible the eventual realisation of the Republic in the South. Throughout Easter Week, Con- nolly had fought a soldier’s battle. He was everything and every- where: Commandant and front- line combatant; heartening his men, raising barricades, leading sorties and directing volleys. More- over, the Irish Citizen Army under his command, comprising the most loyal and committed of his adherents in the trade unions, had distinguished itself in the fighting to an extent that transcended mere numbers. The Rising had validated Connolly’s decision “to fight the way I want, not the way the enemy wants,” and the sense that this – far from being a gesture or a ritual sacrifice – was a blow in an ongo- ing war against capitalism and im- perialism. His injunction to his men to “hold on to your rifles” until economic as well as political liberty had been won - reveals his view of freedoms that had not only to be achieved but constantly de- fended, and daily improved upon. Certainly, as he lay wounded in his hospital bed, Connolly’s foes still felt him to be a threat. William Martin Murphy, Dublin million- aire, strike-breaker and slum land- lord, could not – and would not – forget his part in the Dublin Lock- out, or that the Starry Plough of the Citizen Army had flown, in tri- umph and defiance, from his own hotel building during the Rising, while his businesses and tene- ments burned. Thus, each day, Murphy’s news- papers demanded the harshest of sentences for the captured rebels and, even as the public mood swung against the executions of their leaders, continued to press for Connolly’s death lest “the worst of the ringleaders” should live to fight another day. Murphy crossed the Irish Sea and lobbied hard at Westminster in order to en- sure that Connolly, in particular, would not be spared. Thus, when we think of ruthless- ness in 1916, let us not think of it solely in terms of the exchange of fire between enemy combatants, brave young men and women com- mitted to their respective causes: but of its cold-blooded variety, con- ducted not upon the battlefield but in the boardroom, the gentle- man’s club and the debating cham- ber. It was concern for moderation that led Arthur Henderson, on be- half of the British Labour Party, to do nothing to oppose Murphy’s calls for vengeance. Perhaps, when seeking to commemorate the 1916 Easter Rising we should remember Connolly’s own clarion call on be- half of the entire Labour move- ment – both national and international – then as now, let us “Be moderate, we only want the earth!” John Callow is the author of James Con- nolly and the Re-conquest of Ireland, published by the RMT and GMB. The book is available from Connolly Books in Dublin. |
| Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition 7 Site of Rising surrender saved for future generations TIMELINE Lead-up, Rising & aftermath MAY-SEPTEMBER 1915 Military Council of the IRB is formed, consisting of Padraig Pearse, Joseph Plunkett, Sean MacDiarmada, Eamon Ceannt and Tom Clarke. These men commit to plotting a Rising to take place in the spring of 1916 AUGUST 1915 1st Pearse gives graveside oration at the funeral of veteran Fenian leader, Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, warning Britain: “Ireland unfree shall never be at peace”. Members of the Irish Volun- teers and Irish Citizen Army (ICA) form the funeral guard of honour. JANUARY 1916 2nd British government says Ireland will not be exempt from conscription. Relatives of participants in the 1916 Easter Rising including James Connolly Heron (right of picture) and their supporters celebrate the High Court victory in Moore Street on Friday, 18th March. The site of the last stand of the rebel leadership of the 1916 Easter Rising on Moore Street, central Dublin, was saved from destruction by a High Court order on Friday, 18th March. The ruling by Justice Max Bar- rett that much of Moore Street is a national monument follows years of campaigning by the 1916 Relatives Group, representing families of the Rising leadership, and other political activists against a plan to turn the area into a shopping mall. Among the organisations which voiced its support for the rela- tives’ campaign was the SIPTU Construction Division. In a 399-page judgment, the judge stated that the whole battle site of Moore Street and adjacent areas was worthy of being a na- tional monument. He said that the site had been the location of “the hardest of battles, fought by the toughest of people for the greatest of ends” during the Easter Rising. Caretaker Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys, had at- tempted to argue that only one terrace of buildings at Nos 14 to 17 Moore Street should be pro- tected as a national monument. However, the ruling states that the national monument should include much of Moore Street, Moore Lane, Henry Place and O'Rahilly Parade. Welcoming the High Court rul- ing, James Connolly Heron, a great-grandson of James Connolly, said that it amounted to “a vindi- cation of our 14-year long cam- paign to save this national monument. “The judgment endorses the National Museum’s position that the Moore Street battlefield site is the most important national monument in Ireland from the modern period of Irish history.” SIPTU to commemorate the Battle of Ashbourne The SIPTU Meath District Council will commemorate the Battle of Ashbourne, 1916, with a a series of events in Ashbourne town centre on Saturday, 30th April. SIPTU Meath District Council President, Anton McCabe, said: “The Battle of Ashbourne was the largest encounter between rebels and crown forces outside of Dublin during the 1916 Rising. Those involved in the battle on the rebel side were members of the 5th Battalion of the National Volunteers and were in the main working men. It is fitting that our union, which is the direct succes- sor of the ITGWU whose mem- bers were at the very centre of the planning and conduct of the Easter Rising, should commemo- rate these men.” SIPTU Meath District Council Coordinator, John Regan, said: “The rebels who took part in the historic battle that happened in Ashbourne, County Meath, on 28th April, 1916, deserve to be commemorated in a permanent way during this centenary year.” 16th Special mobilisation of ICA, during which members are asked are they pre- pared to fight alone in the coming rev- olution. 19th James Connolly holds secret meeting with IRB for three days and is co-opted onto Military Council. 21st Connolly agrees to plan joint ris- ing with IRB against British Empire. 29th Workers Republic asks its readers will they be ready for the “Day of Days”. FEBRUARY 1916 6th The ICA publishes guide on ‘First Aid in the Battlefield’. 26th Workers’ Republic attacks em- ployers supporting British Army re- cruitment as the same who supported the Lockout. MARCH 1916 15th Order issued for mobilisation of ICA and Ambulance Corps to parade on St. Patrick’s Day. 22nd ICA bomb and munitions factory in full swing on the first floor of Liberty Hall. 24th Military and police raid on Liberty Hall to seize banned newspapers is re- pelled. ICA is mobilised to defend Lib- erty Hall. 26th Premiere in Liberty Hall of James Connolly play Under Which Flag star- ring ICA captain, Seán Connolly. APRIL 1916 3rd Padraig Pearse, as Director of Op- erations, issues orders for national mo- bilisation of Irish Volunteers on Easter Sunday 9th German arms ship Aud sails for Ire- land with 20,000 rifles and million rounds of ammunition. 16th ICA parades in Beresford Place, and Green Flag of Ireland is hoisted over Liberty Hall by Molly O’Reilly. 17th Military Council of the IRB meets in home of Cumann na mBan president to approve draft of the Proclamation Thomas Ashe, leader of the rebel force at the Battle of Ashbourne and to ratify the Provisional Govern- ment of seven signatories. 19th Irish Volunteer commanders told of plans for Rising on Easter Sunday, 23rd April, at 6.30am. 20th German arms ship, the Aud, intercepted by Royal Navy patrol in Tralee bay. Captain Karl Spindler scuttles vessel at Queenstown (Cobh). Countermanding order by Eoin MacNeill, Chief of Staff of the Irish Volunteers effectively cancelling the Rising planned for Sunday. 23rd Connolly and fellow signatories of Proclamation meet in Liberty Hall and decide to press ahead with Rising. Proclamation is printed in Liberty Hall behind ITGWU shop on Eden Quay. 23rd - 27th Attempts made by volunteers in the rest of the country to mobilise. Some success in Louth, Meath, Wexford and Galway. 24th Main body of Volunteers and ICA assembles at Liberty Hall to seize strong points in city, including GPO. Capt Seán Connolly, commander of ICA garrison at City Hall, is first rebel killed. 25th Heavy fighting in St Stephen’s Green. ICA contingent under Michael Mallin forced to fall back on Royal College of Surgeons. 26th Frances Sheehy-Skeffington, socialist and feminist and onetime member of ICA, executed in Portobello barracks. British capture City Hall where ICA member Dr. Kathleen Lynn is senior surviving officer. 27th James Connolly, Comdt General of rebel forces, seriously wounded by sniper fire. RAMC prisoner and volunteer medical student tends his wounds as he directs operations from stretcher in GPO. 28th GPO garrison forced to retreat into Moore Street by British artillery fire. Fingal volunteers under Thomas Ashe defeat larger RIC force at Ash- bourne, Co. Meath. 29th Padraig Pearse orders surrender of rebel forces to prevent further slaughter of civilians. Connolly en- dorses surrender for forces under his command, including Stephen’s Green garrison. 30th Most rebel prisoners marched to Richmond barracks, where those sus- pected of being leaders are singled out for court-martial. James Connolly is taken to St. George’s military hospital. MAY 1916 1st Rebel prisoners deported to jails in England and Scotland. 2nd Some shops reopen in central Dublin. Irish Parliamentary Party leader, John Redmond, describes Rising as “wicked and insane”. GPO staff trans- ferred to Rotunda Rink to resume postal services to public. |
| 8 Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition Shot strapped to a stretcher By Martin Fitzpatrick THE familiar imagery of the execution in Kilmainham Gaol of the 1916 leader James Connolly may not be as accu- rate as most of the history books show. The accepted story – and the one being told repeatedly in the run-up to the Easter commemorations – portrays the leader of the Irish Cit- izen Army strapped to a chair to allow the British Army firing squad to execute him. But one of the very small hand- ful of eye-witnesses to the event suggests that the execution took a somewhat different turn. In a booklet written some 72 years ago to mark an anniversary associated with the Church of St. James, James’s Street, the recollec- tions of the curate who attended the executions suggest that Con- nolly was too ill even to be left in the chair brought for that purpose and that the stretcher which bore him to the prison was used to hold him upright while the firing squad pursued its grisly task. Being the parish church closest to Kilmainham Jail, the curate in James’s Street church, Fr. Eugene McCarthy was officially designated to attend the executions so that ‘last rites’ could be administered after the firing squads had fin- ished. The church sacristan Hubert O’Keeffe was obliged to accom- pany the priests on their jail visits and the account of Connolly’s exe- cution comes from a conversation between the sacristan and Fr. Mc- Carthy and written down by Mr. O’Keeffe in 1944. He writes: “In giving a description of James Con- nolly’s execution, Father McCarthy told me that the prisoner, who was in a bad condition, elected to stand like the rest but failed. Traditional accounts of James Connolly tied to a chair during his execution at Kilmainham, right, may be mistaken From Revolution 1916 exhibition, Ambassador Theatre, Dublin. Photo: Liadh Connolly Photo: Irish Labour Party He was then tied to a chair but slumped so much he overbalanced “He was then tied to a chair but slumped so much he overbalanced. Finally, he was strapped to a stretcher and placed in a reclining position against the wall. In this manner he passed into the role of Ireland’s honoured martyrs.” The account also suggests the strapping had unfortunate conse- quences. It says: “The sight left an indelible impression on Fr. Mc- Carthy. Describing the scene to me afterwards he said, ‘The blood spurted in the form of a fountain from the body, several streams shooting high into the air. The pos- sible explanation of this may have been the tightening of the straps Blood spurted in the form of a fountain from the body, several streams shooting high into the air... around the body.’ Most of the texts which deal with Connolly’s execu- tion, including the exhaustive 2005 biography by Donal Nevin, persist with the widely-held story that Connolly was strapped to the chair when he was shot. But it may well be that the imagery will have to be reassessed. Hubert O’Keeffe’s account was re-produced more recently in a booklet, The Place, the Parish and the People – Celebrating 150 Years 1844-1994. This was published in 1994 to mark the 150th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone of St. James’s parish church by Daniel O’Connell. Home to celebrate great-aunt Molly O’Reilly AMONG the many thousands of Irish people living abroad who are traveling home to commemorate the Easter Ris- ing are Marianne and Rachel Murphy from Canada, relatives of Molly O’Reilly who raised the Green Flag at Liberty Hall. Marianne told Liberty: “Molly is my grandmother’s sister, which would make her my great-aunty and Rachel’s great-great-aunty. I am very proud to be related to someone who played a vital part in an historic event like 1916. Look at what those involved in 1916 achieved with so little. A small group of brave men and women who wanted to make Ireland a bet- ter place for everyone to live free from imperialism. “From a very young age, my mam and dad told us the stories of Molly and 1916. Molly was deter- mined, strong, and courageous. Marianne and Rachel Murphy from Canada From a very young age she was ap- palled by the poverty she saw in Dublin and wanted to help; she ac- tually helped organise a soup kitchen in Liberty Hall at the age of 13. Of course I pass on these stories to my children here in Canada.” She added: “It means so much for me to be home for this historic event. To see these wonderful peo- ple honoured. It’s even more spe- cial to me because my daughter Rachel is here with me. My daugh- ter is so proud of her heritage and culture. “We have a Government invita- tion to the Easter Sunday Com- memoration; we are really looking forward to that. “I am also excited to see the Rev- olution 1916 exhibit at the Ambas- sador Theatre. Part of the exhibition is centred around Molly’s story, I am sure it is going to be amazing.” |
| Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition 9 By Mary McAuliffe D URING the 1913 Lock- out, many radical, politicised women of- fered their services to assist the striking workers and their families. In Liberty Hall, they engaged in activities in support of the strikers including running soup kitchens. The women involved read like a roll call of the well-known names of Dublin feminist and nationalist activists. Many already had a long history of service in feminist poli- tics, through groups such as the Irish Women’s Franchise League, the separatist nationalists of Ingh- inidhe na hÉireann and trade unionists through the Irish Women’s Workers Union (IWWU). The Lockout may have ended in defeat for the workers but the ex- perience had radicalised further a new generation of female activists, many of whom were now more aware and engaged with socialist politics. By 1914, the driving force and leader of the Irish Citizen Army was socialist, union organiser and self-proclaimed feminist James Connolly. Connolly was convinced that the oppression of women and the oppression of the worker by “a social and political order based upon the private ownership of property” were inseparable, and recognised the double burden of the working woman: “The worker,” he wrote, “is the slave of capitalist society, the female worker is the slave of that slave.” Influenced by Connolly, many of these women joined the IWWU and used it as a platform to fight for their feminist, socialist, and na- tionalist goals. Because of him, and their involvement in union poli- tics, women were drawn into in- volvement in the Irish Citizen Army with many socialist women preferring to join it rather than other militant nationalist organisa- tions. There is a debate as to whether the Irish Citizen Army accepted women on an equal basis to men. There was a women’s section within the organisation. However, the women themselves felt that there was an egalitarian nature to the Citizen Army. Member, Made- line ffrench-Mullen told her friend Rosamund Jacob that “there was absolutely no difference between men and women in the Citizen Army”. Despite this view, the nature of what members did within the Cit- izen Army was demarcated in many ways by gender. In theory, women were full members, but much of their work before and during the Rising was in first aid and food provision. In- deed, all members were trained in first aid by the Chief Medical Offi- cer, Dr Kathleen Lynn. On the other hand we do know that some of the women had train- In May 1917, four IWWU members barricaded themselves inside Liberty Hall and hung out this banner in memory of James Connolly Photo:UCD Library Special Collections Citizen Army: of arms and the women... Wounded in action: Margaret Skinnider ICA officer: Dr Kathleen Lynn Photos: 1916 Relatives Association ing with guns, some aided in mak- ing bombs, and participated in drill training and route marches. It has also to be noted that the Irish Citizen Army provided the only two female officers who took part in the Rising – Kathleen Lynn who was stationed at City Hall and Constance Markievicz who was second-in-command to Michael Mallin at the Royal College of Sur- geons/St Stephen’s Green. When the Rising broke out on Easter Monday 1916 more than 30 IWWU members on the steps of Liberty Hall in 1914 Citizen Army women joined their male comrades as they received their orders in Liberty Hall and marched off to their designated outposts. As they left Liberty Hall, Helena Molony recorded that Connolly gave the women revolvers. During the Rising, ICA women served many functions; first aid helpers, food providers, couriers, dispatch carriers and frontline combatants. Indeed one, Margaret Skinnider, was wounded leading a military ac- tion in St Stephen’s Green. After the surrender, 29 Citizen Army women were arrested, marched to Richmond Barracks, and impris- oned in Kilmainham Jail. The experience of violent rebel- lion and imprisonment did not, however, dent their activist fer- vour. After their release all contin- ued their political work for the cause of Ireland, the cause of women and the cause of the worker. As many of the men were interned in prison camps they began the re-organisation of the ICA and the IWWU. In May 1917, four female mem- bers, Helena Molony, Rosie Hack- ett, Brigid Davis and Jinny Shanahan, barricaded themselves into Liberty Hall and hung a large banner out the top window in commemoration of the execution of James Connolly. It read ‘James Connolly Murdered May 12th 1916’ and it took the Dublin police many hours to break into Liberty Hall and bring down the banner. They were also at the forefront of the anti-conscription campaign in 1918 and many of the women who fought in 1916 would see fur- ther action during the War of Inde- pendence. Mary McAuliffe is the editor, with Liz Gillis of ‘Richmond Barracks’, 1916: "We Were There": 77 Women of the Easter ‘Rising’, published by Dublin City Public Libraries. |
| 10 Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition Piercing the heart of a giant By Brian Hanley IN MARCH 1916, just a few weeks before the Easter Ris- ing, the police raided Liberty Hall. In response, the Irish Citizen Army was mobilised across Dublin. James O’Shea remembered how “all jobs stopped (with) men run- ning out of foundries, fitting shops, forges and building jobs. Carters left horses in the street and ran for their rifles and equip- ment…it was a glorious sight to see men in all conditions of clothes, some with whips hanging to their belts, others in smocks all full of grease, mud, coal or ce- ment…” Though no further confronta- tion ensued on the day, the mobil- isation illustrated how the Citizen Army drew its membership from among Dublin’s working class, es- pecially members of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union. A few weeks later, more than 250 members of the ICA would take part in the Rising. Early in Easter Week the ICA’s Starry Plough flag was hoisted over the Imperial Hotel in O’Connell Street. As the hotel was owned by William Martin Murphy this act carried special meaning as a reminder that the roots of the Citizen Army lay in the Lockout. The ICA was formed in the win- ter of 1913 in response to police vi- olence against workers. Initially trained by former British officer Captain Jack White, it numbered over 1,000 men by early 1914, armed only with sticks and hur- leys. Nevertheless, it succeeded in ensuring the police attacks on strikers became rarer as the Lock- out wore on. In the aftermath of the workers’ defeat, however, the numbers in- volved declined. Now led by James Larkin, the ICA was a smaller, though a more professionalised and uniformed militia. It adopted a constitution which stated that “the first and last prin- ciple of the Irish Citizen Army is the avowal that the ownership of Ireland moral and material, is vested of right in the people of Ire- land” and that “the ICA shall stand for the absolute unity of Irish na- tionhood and shall support the rights and liberties of the democ- racies of all nations.” It also as- serted that “the Citizen Army shall be open to all who accept the prin- ciple of equal rights and opportu- nities for the Irish people”. (See page 26) The diversity of the city’s working class was also reflected, with a significant number of Protes- tant ICA members, including Fred Norgrove, Seamus McGowan and Sean O’Casey. ‘Glorious sight’: Easter Rising veteran James O’Shea in full Citizen Army uniform In the run up to Easter Week, one ICA member recounted how Liberty Hall ‘resembled a military barracks in all but name’ Unlike the much larger Irish Volun- teers, the ICA al- lowed women to become active within it, with Constance- Markievicz the most high-pro- file female recruit. But other women, including Dr. Kathleen Lynn, Helena Molony and Nellie Gifford were also active, along with young workers such as Rose Hackett. The majority of the members were ITGWU activists, though a few, such as Michael Mallin and WP Partridge, had been in other unions. The diversity of the city’s work- ing class was also reflected, with a significant number of Protestant ICA members, including Fred Nor- grove, Seamus Mc- Gowan and Sean O’Casey. In August 1914, war broke out in Europe and large numbers of Dublin’s workers (including some ICA members) were called up by the British Army. Larkin soon departed for America and James Connolly succeeded him not only as head of the ITGWU but also of the ICA. Connolly was out- raged that the European socialist movement had not done more to stop the war and determined that the ICA would fight any attempts to deepen Ireland’s involvement. He lamented that “we are helpless! What then be- comes of all our protests of fraternisation; all our threats of general strikes… were they all as sound and fury, signifying nothing?” But Connolly also sug- gested that “Ireland may yet set the torch to a European confla- gration that will not burn out until the last throne and the last capitalist (are) shriveled on the fu- neral pyre of the last war lord.” Under Connolly, the ICA became |
| Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition 11 Sean O’Casey sketch of ‘Captain Brennan Irish Citizen Army’ made for a production of the Plough and the Stars (Marsh’s Library) Irish Citizen Army members pictured on the roof of Liberty Hall (Image Camera Press Ireland) a proficient military force. A key decision was appointing Mallin, a former British soldier, (one of sev- eral in the ICA) as Chief of Staff. Training as well as arms procure- ment was stepped up during 1915. There were also weekly route marches, public parades and con- certs. James O’Shea recalled that “we… had something that was worth more than anything else be- fore or since – a peculiar comrade- ship with no limits. It meant you stood by your mates against all comers, friend or foe. We were like a big family when you got the swing of it. Home or nothing else mattered. I stress this as I have felt it and sensed it amongst the ICA in this period. It made for a careless- ness in danger and a happy-go- lucky, devil-may-care comradeship that I had never experienced be- fore.” Uniformed ICA members took part in drill competitions with the Irish Volunteers and formed part of the guard of honour at the fu- neral of O’Donovan Rossa in Au- gust 1915. The ICA was also mobilised dur- ing two strikes on Dublin docks during that year. Despite com- plaints from the employers, the Citizen Army paraded with arms on the quayside and Connolly as- serted that “They should always re- member the way in which they were followed and buffeted by the police… two years ago, but such a thing was impossible today. The rise of the Citizen Army had made that a thing the authorities would not try on.” In fact, Connolly may have hoped that the dock strikes would spark off a wider working class re- volt. He was now stressing that an armed rebellion was necessary at all costs. Despite the numerical weakness of his forces, he hoped that “a pin in the hands of a child (could) pierce the heart of a giant.” During late 1915, Connolly met ICA members individually and asked them were they prepared to fight on their own or co-operate with the Irish Volunteers, if neces- sary. In early 1916, Connolly, con- vinced that the Irish Republican Brotherhood were serious about a rising, entered into an alliance with them. In the run up to Easter Week, an ICA member recounted how Lib- erty Hall “resembled a military bar- racks in everything but name” as Citizen Army men “some in dark green uniform, some in their ordi- nary working clothes, some in their Sunday best” took over the building. On the first floor “improvised hand grenades were being manu- factured. Cartridges were being al- tered, to fit rifles and guns for which they were never meant. Bay- onets, of an old French type, were being heated over a blow-lamp and Irish Citizen Army members pictured outside Liberty Hall in 1917 bent or reshaped to fit an old German Mauser rifle… [it was] common to see... [a] man sitting over the fire; brewing a can of tea on one side of it, while melting a pot of lead on the other side; two or three men at a bench making re- pairs to a rifle, while at the same time, two or three others were stretched on the bare floor, snor- ing, fast asleep.” Despite their relatively small number, the ICA played a leading role in the Rising. ICA members fought at the GPO, City Hall and the College of Surgeons and at least 14 of its contingent died as a result of the rebellion. James Connolly commanded the Republican forces in the GPO and both he and Michael Mallin were executed in the Rising’s aftermath. (Countess Markievicz narrowly es- caped the firing squad). Nearly 100 members of the ICA were interned in the Rising’s aftermath. The Citizen Army’s place in his- tory was assured by Easter Week but their birthplace was the Lock- out, the ITGWU and the Dublin working class. |
| 12 Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition By Francis Devine F ROM January 1916, Lib- erty Hall operated at “two levels”, the nor- mal work of the union and preparations for insurrec- tion. An armed guard from the Irish Citizen Army (ICA) was placed, but tensions emerged, especially after James Connolly – then acting General Secretary of the ITGWU in Larkin’s ab- sence in the United States – flew a ‘Challenge Flag’ from the building on 16th April. This was a green flag that Con- nolly hoped would rouse people in Ireland. After some objections within Dublin No 1 Branch Com- mittee, the Union agreed that the flag could be flown on the under- standing that the ICA would, in the future, vacate the hall. They did, but not until Easter Monday. Liberty Hall was seen by the Irish Times as the “centre of social anar- chy, the brain of every riot and dis- turbance”. and Rosie Hackett was to regard the Hall “historically” as the “most important building we have in the city”. She continued: “Yet, it is not thought of at all by most people. More things happened there, in connection with the Rising, than in any other place. It really started from there.” The men who printed the Procla- mation – the printer or pressman Christopher Brady, and compositors Liam O’Brien and Michael Molloy – were ITGWU employees producing The Workers’ Republic and worka- day union print jobs. All were members of the Dublin Typographical Provident Society (DTPS), later the Irish Graphical So- ciety/Irish Print Union, now the SIPTU Irish Print Group. In early 1915 Connolly acquired the Double Crown Wharfedale printing press. So dilapidated was it – and short of type, despite Andy ‘Dazzler’ Mulligan fetching some from West’s printers – the Procla- mation could be printed only one half at a time, and several typefaces had to be used. Connolly gave them the option of not being involved as they worked overnight on Easter Sunday, under ICA guard commanded by Lt William Partridge, an ITGWU organiser. They chose to carry out the task, fully aware of its historic signifi- cance. When printed, the Proclama- tion was “parcelled up and delivered to Miss Helena Molony”, ICA member and Secretary of the Irish Women Workers’ Union, then effectively part of the ITGWU. The three printers went on to fight in Easter Week: Brady with the ICA in City Hall; Molloy and O’Brien with the Volunteers in Jacob’s and St Stephen’s Green. In 1934, ICA veteran Nellie Gifford re- called: Michael Molloy, Christopher Brady and Liam O’Brien: all were members of the Dublin Typographical Provident Society (DTPS), later the Irish Graphical Society/Irish Print Union, now the SIPTU Irish Print Group. The men who printed the Proclamation How faithfully those three men had fulfilled their trust. They took the risk of setting up and printing what others who only posted up paid for with their lives. Having done the task as- signed them, they returned to the quiet, unspectacular work of earning their living. Their courage and their patriotism is, however, now part of our history, for they had a special part in ush- ering in the Irish Republic. It is hoped that when every school student learns of the Procla- mation, they will hear the names Brady, Molloy and O’Brien – even Joe Newman who assisted them and Dazzler Mulligan – and of course Liberty Hall and the ITGWU. Brady went on to work for the Bank of Ireland, Molloy in the Free- man’s Journal and O’Brien in O’Reilly’s. The DTPS, on a motion of the Irish Independent Chapel, honoured them with a presentation dinner in the Ormond Hotel on 8th December, 1916. At Easter 1916, the men who printed the Proclamation should be recalled as workers – no Proclama- tion would have been possible without their ingenuity and inven- tive skill; as courageous soldiers, for they acted effectively as such both Having done the task assigned them, they returned to the quiet, unspectacular work of earning their living. Their courage and their patriotism is, however, now part of our history, for they had a special part in ushering in the Irish Republic during the printing and in the weeks and years that followed; and as employees of the union. For Brady certainly, the Ireland he fought for was the workers’ repub- lic, and that is evident in those ele- ments of the Proclamation that vested Ireland in the hands of its people and spoke of equality – con- cepts and phrases expressed in the Constitution and in the ambition of Connolly and the ICA. When the Proclamation is draped from Liberty Hall as part of the 1916 tapestry, it should be remem- bered it was first printed by union members employed by the ITGWU. |
| Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition 13 paid to the central role of Limerick as the main conduit for arms distribu- tion. There was in any event a sketchy plan about “holding the line of the Shannon”. One slightly bemused Volunteer commander noted that based on the average company strength in Limerick of 200, this would mean one man for every 300 yards. By Michael Halpenny Louth and Meath Dundalk and Louth Volunteers mo- bilised on Easter Sunday as planned and, alone among all the volunteers nationally, stayed in the field in de- fiance of Eoin MacNeill’s “counter- manding order”. Under the leadership of Comman- dant Donal Hannigan, their orders were to proceed to Slane and then to Tara to link up with volunteers from Meath, Down and Monaghan and hold a line north of Dublin to stop or delay British reinforcements reach- ing the city. A detachment was also to proceed to the internment camp at Oldcastle and free a number of German POWs who had indicated their willingness to fight with the rebels. In the event, the confusion engendered by Mac- Neill’s countermanding order stymied the plans to link up with the Meath Volunteers. Nevertheless, there was an engage- ment at Castlebellingham, arms were also captured and a small force occu- pied Tyrellstown House at Mulhud- dert for the remainder of Easter Week. Once the Meath Volunteers under Sean Boylan had established that the Rising was on, they made valiant ef- forts to implement the original plan. However, as elsewhere, MacNeill’s order had a significant effect and while arguably the most successful military operation of Easter Week took place in County Meath, the Bat- tle of Ashbourne, it was the 5th Dublin (Fingal) Battalion under Thomas Ashe that was the decisive ingredient. Laois & the Midlands It can be said that the first shot of the Rising was in Laois as local volunteers commenced operations to sabotage railway lines in advance of the Rising due for Sunday 23rd April, the original date. Part of their orders were almost a mirror of those for the Louth and Meath volunteers - to link up with other Midland volunteers, particu- larly Carlow, to hold a line, this time south of Dublin. Yet again, the “coun- termanding order” had its effect. Similarly the plans for Kilkenny envisaged linking up across country with the County Wexford volunteers. Those plans met a similar end. Wexford On Thursday of Easter Week local volunteers declared the Republic in Wexford and seized the town of En- niscorthy, holding it even beyond the general surrender. Surrounded by overwhelming Crown forces, the Wexford rebels only surrendered after one of their number, under safe passage, was allowed travel to Dublin to confer with the rebel leadership. It was rightly regarded as one of the most successful actions outside Dublin, referred to even by the au- thorities as the “The Enniscorthy Ris- ing”. Galway Pupils from Fenit National School examine one of the restored anchors from the gun-running ship the Aud, which was scuttled in 1916. Two of the anchors were raised from the seabed in 2012 PICTURE: Gavin O’Connor The Rising outside the city of Dublin... Cork In accordance with the original plans, hundreds in the Cork companies of the Irish Volunteers mobilised on the Easter Sunday. When MacNeill’s countermanding order arrived it was distributed by brigade staff to the volunteers, some of whom were al- ready heading for their allotted posi- tions in the field. According to some reports they were still in the process of commu- nicating this order on the Monday when a courier (Maria Perolz of the ICA Women’s Section) arrived by mo- torbike with an order from Pearse stating, “We go into action at noon today”. There followed what appeared to be a flurry of attempts to establish what was happening but with the passage of time so also was the op- portunity for a successful re-mobili- sation. As well as that, the Volunteers leadership appeared to be under in- tense pressure locally and, ulti- mately, through little fault of the local volunteers, the moment passed. In the end the fighting men were probably more forgiving than those who hurled on the ditch then or now and when Terence MacSwiney en- tered Frongoch internment camp as a prisoner, he was accepted by the others on equal terms, even by some who had been critical of his per- Clare Liam Mellows ceived lack of leadership. Of course, the quality of his and of Thomas MacCurtain’s leadership was put to test in the years that fol- lowed, tragically to a hero’s death in both cases. Finally the only shots fired were those by the Kent brothers at their farm near Fermoy in a follow-up op- eration by the armed RIC in which a head constable and one of the Kent brothers was killed. Thomas Kent was captured, tried and executed in Cork, becoming the 15th man exe- cuted in the Rising. Roger Casement was to be the 16th and last of the 1916 men to face execution. There were more than 400 volun- teers in Clare under the leadership of Michael Brennan. It was envisaged they would meet at the Shannon to collect and distribute arms which were being shipped on the German arms ship, the Aud. Despite what might appear to be a relatively small number for a fair sized county, one historian of the period, Charles Townsend, reports the assessment of the RIC County Inspector for Clare that if a rising had taken place, many more would have joined the rebel colours. The same observation no doubt was made by more than one of his colleagues elsewhere. In the end the arms ship, shad- owed by the Royal Navy, was not able to land its cargo of rifles, machine- guns and ammunition and the Aud was taken under destroyer escort but finally scuttled by its captain rather than allow its cargo to fall into the hands of the British. It was this, and other factors, which was then osten- sibly key to MacNeill’s order, which in turn put paid to any successful mobilisation outside Dublin. Limerick & Kerry With much of their fate tied into the distribution of the arms from the Aud and in the case of Kerry, linking eastwards with Cork and in the case of Limerick interfacing with Clare, its capture and subsequent sinking put Outside of Dublin, Galway saw the greatest numerical mobilisation of volunteers under the leadership of Liam Mellows. The original plan was to arm with rifles from the Aud, and, again, hold the line of the Shannon. On the day, it is estimated that per- haps up to 1,000 mobilised across the whole county. Unfortunately, as we know, the expected arms from the Aud did not materialise. Neverthe- less, several hundred came out around Galway city later linking up at Oranmore with several hundred from Athenry. An RIC man was shot dead at Carn- more, a destroyer was reported to have fired shells in the general direc- tion of where they thought the rebels were and later in the week a party of Royal Marines was landed. Following a clash between armed RIC elements and some volunteers, the main body of around 600 held large swathes of east Galway throughout Easter Week, from their base at Moyode Castle. However, by Friday, the writing was on the wall even for them. It is a testament to the Galway Vol- unteers that the largest number of men interned in Frongoch prison camp after Dublin (926), certainly were those from Galway (322), followed by Wexford (150). If others didn’t understand the potential threat, the authorities did. Mayo Once news spread out that the Rising was on in Dublin, there was a re- ported attempt led by Volunteers leader Darrel Figgis to mobilise on Achill and cross to the mainland to join up with units from Castlebar, Westport and Newport. The plan was to take the police barracks in those locations. However, it seems that clerical opposition to the plans may have succeeded where the effect of the “countermanding order” was be- ginning to wear off and so nothing seems to have come of it. Tyrone/Belfast It had been decided early on that there would be no Rising in the North for fear of a sectarian backlash. Instead it was planned that volun- teers from Belfast and Tyrone would assemble in the Dungannon area, march westwards to the Shannon and link up with the forces under Commandant Liam Mellows, centred on Galway. In the event, volunteers did assem- ble in Coalisland but yet again the “countermanding order” effectively put paid to any prospect of imple- menting the admittedly sketchy plans to join up with Mellows’ forces in the west. |
| 14 Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition Answering Connolly’s call By Philip O’Connor THE Citizen Army in Bal- doyle, then a small and re- mote farming village in North Co Dublin, had a stormy his- tory. Formed of farm workers in the heat of a tough dispute with their employers, it was the only ICA unit to endure in the county area, with members taking part in the 1916 Rising and the struggle for independence that fol- lowed. Conditions had been improving for farm workers, with the build- ing of labourers’ cottages, the in- troduction of modest social welfare and direct employment by rural councils. In June 1913, the ITGWU began organising farm workers in the county. Baldoyle – where Larkin’s contact was local socialist, Michael Nolan – was at the centre of the campaign, with 1,200 in the North County soon joining the union and Larkin nego- tiating major improvements in wages and conditions. But in September 1913 the farm- ers joined the city employers’ anti- ITGWU lockout and reneged on the agreement. Following a bitter struggle involving RIC baton charges, attacks on “blacklegs” and the burning of hay ricks, the work- ers were finally beaten, returning to work in January 1914. Nolan and his fellow union col- leagues, Jim McCormack and Joseph McDonagh, formed a Bal- doyle section of the Citizen Army in 1914. The other members were James and Lar Rooney, John and Charles Blake, Pat Doherty, Joseph, Pat and Philip Roche, James Gough, William Kennedy and Pat Fox. Un- usually for ICA units, there were no women involved. All of these men were farm labourers, and while the leaders were older, with large families, most were young workers. They were a close-knit group, several being related, some sharing lodg- ings and all living close by in the council cottages on Station Road, Burrowfield, Moyne and Saxe Lane in Sutton. At a big ITGWU/Citizen Army sports event in September 1915 – much heralded in Connolly’s Workers’ Republic – a dispute erupted when the Baldoyle men ac- cused the Kinsealy tug-of-war team of having been “scabs” during the Lockout. Most of the Baldoyle group left the union and ICA in protest, including Lar Rooney, who had served a month’s hard labour for union militancy in 1913. The ITGWU (and later WUI) Baldoyle Branch Secretary Mick Nolan James Gough, who fought with the ICA in 1916 and with the IRA in 1919-21 James McDonagh, ICA fighter from 1916 to 1923 Pat Connolly, who resigned from ICA in 1915 but later fought with Baldoyle IRA James McCormack, killed by a sniper’s bullet in Moore’s Lane on Easter Wednesday. Below, the 1916 veteran’s medal later presented to his family and the officer’s whistle taken from McCormack’s jacket pocket after he was shot, and still in the possession of his descendants Davy’s Pub at Portobello Bridge, where Gough’s small group held off a vastly stronger force of British troops in 1916 Baldoyle ICA was dissolved but the core group – Nolan, McCormack, McDonagh and Gough – remained, “attached to the Army in the city,” as the police noted. On Easter Monday morning, 1916, McDonagh was alerted to events by Dick Mulcahy, an Irish Volunteer officer living in Sutton, and walked the eight miles to join his comrades in the city. Both he and McCormack, who had been on guard duty at Liberty Hall, were dispatched with the main group to occupy the GPO. Nolan was at- tached to the force under Mallin at Stephen’s Green. McDonagh was one of the nine men under Joe Doyle who occu- pied Davy’s Pub at Portobello Bridge with orders to hold it until the garrison at Stephen’s Green had fortified their position. In this they succeeded, fighting off large British forces for four hours before withdrawing over roofs and lanes to join the fight at Stephen’s Green. On Wednesday, James McCor- mack was tragically killed by a sniper’s bullet while on patrol |
| Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition 15 TIMELINE (continued from page 7) 3rd Execution of Padraig Pearse, Tomás McDonagh and Tom Clarke. Joseph Plun- kett and Grace Gifford marry in Kilmain- ham jail. 4th Execution of Joseph Plunkett, Ed- ward Daly, Michael O’Hanrahan and Willie Pearse. 5th Execution of Sean McBride. 6th Countess Markievicz (ICA) sen- tenced to be executed but commuted to life imprisonment. 8th Execution of Michael Mallin (ICA), Con Colbert, Eamon Ceannt and Seán Heuston. 9th Execution in Cork of Thomas Kent. 10th Irish Independent calls for execution of remaining leaders, including James Connolly. 12th Execution of James Connolly (ICA) and Seán MacDiarmada. 14th In all, 160 rebel prisoners con- victed by court martial receive sen- tences ranging from two years to life. 18th Government Inquiry into Rising opens. William Martin Murphy in his sub- mission says it stemmed from 1913 Lockout. The formation of ICA was “the most amazing thing outside Mexico”, Murphy states. 20th 287 rebel prisoners deported to Glasgow, Perth, Lewes and Woking pris- ons. An ICA veterans’ parade in the 1930s – holding the flag is Joseph McDonagh of the Baldoyle Section from the GPO in Moore’s Lane. Joseph McDonagh also led sorties from the GPO, charged with build- ing street barricades. He was later wounded by British artillery fire on the GPO. In Stephen’s Green, Nolan too was wounded. At the general surrender, all three surviving Baldoyle ICA men were arrested and deported first to Stafford Jail and then Frongoch Camp. McCormack, who had been killed in action, was buried at Glas- nevin in a common grave with 12 other Republican dead, now marked by a memorial. On their release, Nolan and Mc- Donagh sought to rebuild the Bal- doyle ICA but many opted instead for the national movement, Sinn Féin. Nolan, appointed Baldoyle ITGWU branch secretary, was elected a Sinn Féin councillor in Howth in 1920 while Gough, to- gether with his brother, Peter, a Great War veteran, fought with the Baldoyle company of the IRA’s fa- mous 2nd Dublin Battalion. McDonagh remained with the small Baldoyle ICA group. Several men who had resigned in 1915 now also joined the IRA, including Pat Doherty and Pat Roche. In the Civil War, Roche, McDon- agh and Nolan fought on the Re- publican side, being arrested in August 1922 by Free State in swoops on Raheny and Baldoyle. In the 1920s, some former mem- bers of the old Baldoyle ICA left McDonagh was one of the nine men under Joe Doyle who occu- pied Davy’s Pub at Portobello Bridge with orders to hold it until the garrison at Stephen’s Green had fortified their position. In this they succeeded, fighting off large British forces for four hours before withdrawing the area for work elsewhere. Those that remained were active locally. Mick Nolan joined Larkin in founding the Workers Union of Ire- land and was also involved in the Irish Workers League, the tenants’ movement and other social strug- gles. He signed Larkin’s nomination papers for the Dáil election shortly before his own tragic death in 1927. Roche, Doherty and Gough were to be promi- nent in community activism lo- cally over the following decades. This article is a tribute to the men of the Baldoyle ICA who, when it mattered, were pre- pared to put their lives on the line for the liberation of their class and of their country. Philip O’Connor is a member of the Howth-Sutton-Baldoyle 1916 Commemoration Commit- tee. All photos courtesy of the families. 21st Grave-diggers at Glasnevin Ceme- tery complain they cannot cope with fu- nerals. Only one mourner permitted per coffin to reduce traffic jams. 485 casual- ties of Rising buried. 24th First batch of Irish prisoners ar- rive at Frongoch internment camp. The camp would soon hold over 1,800. Among those interned there are ITUC&LP Secretary, PT Daly, William O’Brien, Secretary of Dublin Trades Council and Thomas Foran, President of the ITGWU. 26th Trial of Sir Roger Casement for High Treason begins at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. Defence argument that accused committed no treasonous act on British soil rejected. 27th Hardinge Commission publishes its findings on Easter Rising. It blames the Irish Executive for tolerating law- lessness to avoid a “collision with any faction of Irish people”. 29th Casement sentenced to death. He refuses to recognise the court and says the treason committed by Unionists leads to the Woolsack (House of Lords) but his actions lead to the gallows. JULY 1916 1st The 36th Ulster Division suffers 5,550 casualties on first day of the Bat- tle of the Somme, of whom over 2,000 are killed. The 16th Irish Division also suffers heavy casualties. 11th By now 1,862 rebel prisoners transferred to and interned in Frongoch Camp. Five women (mainly ICA) rebel prisoners interned separately. 22nd Dublin Chamber of Commerce votes for extension of martial law in the “interests of public safety” and con- demns “wild criticisms” of soldiers. 14th Over 100 released internees from Frongoch are greeted in Dublin and Cork by large crowds and cries of “Up the rebels!” 28th Two committees set up for de- pendents of rebel prisoners: the Irish Volunteer Dependents Fund by widows of executed leaders, and Irish National Aid Association by veteran Fenian, Fred Allen. 22nd Letter by George Bernard Shaw in Manchester Guardian asks that Sir Roger Casement be treated as a pris- oner-of-war. 29th Former DMP Commissioner Sir John Ross tells Inquiry into Rising that ICA was first body to openly defy gov- ernment’s authority in 1913 Lockout and encourage disaffection. JUNE 1916 3rd Total number of rebels detained in English prisons reaches 2,555. 6th Court-martial of Captain Bowen- Colthurst for murder of Francis Sheehy- Skeffington and journalists Thomas Dickson and Patrick MacIntyre on 26th April. 8th ITUC&LP (Irish Trades Union Con- gress and Labour Party) calls for re- lease or speedy trial of men arrested after Rising. 200 suspects released. James McDonagh’s Stafford prison cell button tag 10th British military begins converting German prisoner-of-war camp at Frongoch in Wales to internment camp for Irish rebels. First batch of prisoners begin to arrive. 28th Casement’s conviction upheld in Court of Criminal Appeal, London. AUGUST 1916 3rd Execution of Roger Casement. 18th Numbers held at Frongoch fall to 600 as Sankey Committee continues interviewing and releasing internees. NOVEMBER 1916 25th 15 hut leaders in Frongoch court- martialled after 200 internees refuse to answer roll call for fear it will be used to identify former British residents liable for military service. DECEMBER 1916 22nd-23rd General Release of Frongoch prisoners. |
| 16 Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition SIPTU 1916 PROGRAMME OF EVENTS MARCH - APRIL Glórtha 1916 Glórtha 1916 Freedom doesn’t fall from the sky The Rising Centenary Concert Easter Saturday, 26th March 2016 Christy Moore Damo Paula Meehan Matt Molloy Louise Mulcahy and Conor McKeon Stephen Murphy Mick Blake Robert Ballagh Tickets: € Friday 1st April ll P D ull u own ow o rse eman a H orseman by Eugene McCabe The secret meeting that agreed the date for the Easter 1916 Rising The play depicts a private discussion between Pearse and Connolly during the three days of the meeting with the IRB in January 1916. L ib i b Liberty t r er y H Hall, l a l, Du u b lilin Dublin W Wed e 3 30, 0 , Th u 3 31 1 M March ch c r a h & F Fri 1 A April ril 2 2016 1 0 6 Thu p at a t 1pm m i in n t the h e Conno o l l y R Room m 1 p Connolly o o Communications Department ( bo o o online (book k onl n l ine n or o b buy y a at t tht the he h sh s show) ) u o w www.dublinlyric.ie Easter Saturday 26th March The Rising Centenary Concert Featuring: Christy Moore; Damo; Paula Meehan; Matt Molloy; Louise Mulcahy and Conor McKeon; Stephen Murphy; Mick Blake, Robert Ballagh. President Michael D Higgins will attend 8.00 p.m. – 11.00 p.m. Liberty Hall Tickets: €30. Tel: 01 858 8217 Email: info@siptu.ie Wednesday 30th March Connolly Was There – songs of Labour, Connolly and the Irish Citizen Army Clé Club centenary session, featuring: Tommy Sands; Liam O’Connor; Bread and Roses; Síle Denvir 8.00 p.m. – 10.30 p.m. Clé Club, Liberty Hall Tickets €5 at door. Easter Monday 28th March Liberty Hall and the Rising SIPTU - RTE Co-Production. MC: Padraig Murray, featuring Frances Black, Francis Devine, Nell Regan, Rachel Phelan, Mick Halpenny, Joe Duffy. 2.00 p.m. – 4.00 p.m. Liberty Hall Free public event. Tickets available from Liberty Hall and from RTÉ website: www.rte.ie. Easter Tuesday 29th March State Commemoration of Irish Citizen Army President Michael D Higgins will lay a wreath at the statue of James Connolly at Liberty Hall and unveil a plaque to the members of the Irish Citizen Army who died during the Easter Rising. Relatives of those mem- bers of the ICA who lost their lives during the Easter Rising and of survivors will attend. A public viewing area will be erected for the wreath laying ceremony. 11.00 a.m. – 1.00 p.m. Liberty Hall Saturday 2nd April Photo: Mason M13/17 Photographic Exhibition and debate on where women are 1 OO years after the 1916 Easter Proclamation. 5.00 p.m. – 8.00 p.m. Connolly Room Liberty Hall, Admission: €5 at door Followed by reception in Cois Life Bar THURSDAY 31st MARCH Liberty Hall Theatre Sunday 24th April March re-enactment Re-enactment of the march by the Irish Citizen Army, Irish Volunteers and Cumann na mBan from Liberty Hall to the GPO on Easter Monday 1916. 11.00 a.m. – 1.00 p.m. Liberty Hall |
| Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition 17 LibertyView By President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins T HIS issue of Liberty is published as we reach the crescendo of a wave of events marking the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising. time, for whom women’s emancipation was a pre- condition for any just society. And we understand that the Rising was about more than military or political actions – it was also an act of imagination. The leaders were inspired by the idea of creating a very different Ireland and they believed in a social as well as a national revolution in which every facet of Irish life could be improved. It was this vision for a different Ireland – a better Ireland – that turned the movement for workers’ rights into an essential element of the broader move- ment for Irish independence. Yet it is precisely be- cause theirs was not only a struggle limited to political independence but a struggle for equality and social justice that the aspirations of those who joined the Irish Citizen Army remain such a well-spring of inspiration for us nowadays. It is a history that continues to inspire us, because the ambition of the men and women of the Irish Cit- izen Army was transformational – geared towards the creation of such a Real Republic as would be operated on the principle of full and equal participation of all its citizens – and because it was from the tenements and the ranks of the excluded that so many of its members came. For us, living a century later, their ambition and perseverance are a source of inspiration. As we mark the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising, we can pause and reflect on what motivated the insurgents and we can take stock of their achievements, and on how the ideals formulated a century ago might apply today, in very different global settings, in a world that has yet to bear the imprint of peace, freedom from As a nation, it is important that we celebrate and honour a moment, now 100 years ago, that a small group of people had the courage and vision to strike against Empire for a free republic. Maurice Walsh in his recent ‘Bitter Freedom’ tells us that “nationalist movements across the world were taking advantage of the immense pressure on the empires that controlled them.” Why should Ire- land be any different? According to the Czech leader Tomáš Masaryk, the war had turned Europe into “a laboratory atop a vast graveyard.” As we commemorate the Easter Rising, we recog- nise that it must be seen as the product of combina- tion of the forces of Irish nationalism and various revolutionary, social, cultural and language move- ments. We appreciate now also that the Rising took place in a context of urban and rural poverty, indus- trial unrest, political upheaval and a global war that It is particularly important that we recog- nise the central role played in the Rising by the movement for labour rights which had taken on new momentum in the early 20th century, illustrated so dramatically in the 1911 Wexford Lockout and the 1913 Great Dublin Lockout. would rob Europe of a generation of young people. It is particularly important that we recognise the central role played in the Rising by the movement for labour rights which had taken on new momentum in the early 20th century, illustrated so dramatically in the 1911 Wexford Lockout and the 1913 Great Dublin Lockout. It was the Lockout that brought Pearse closer to Connolly. It is reflected in their joint influence on the Proclamation; the loss of both explains much of the diminished emphasis on equality in what fol- lowed. The remarkable attempts to realise greater rights for workers were the closest Ireland ever came to a socialist revolution – and they were met with vio- lence on the part of the authorities and with great condemnation from the Church. The violence experienced by those who were in- volved in the trade union movement in turn prompted the creation of the Irish Citizen Army, turning the loosely organised groups of union rally stewards into a highly disciplined security force. And although its initial aim was to protect striking work- ers, by 1914 it had evolved – under the leadership of men like James Connolly – into a force engaged in armed insurrection against British rule in Ireland. The vision of those who formed or joined the Irish The Liberty Hall wrap which features images from the 1916 Rising Tapestry and will be in place throughout the centenary commemorations Photo: Paddy Cole Citizen Army was not confined to replacing an alien landlord class with a native one. It was not about sup- planting one form of conservative nationalism by an- other; it was about challenging power relations and tackling the social and cultural, as well as political, hierarchies of the Ireland of the turn of the 20th cen- tury. As such, the emancipation of women was an inte- gral part of the social transformation called for by the leaders of the Irish Citizen Army, such as Francis Sheehy Skeffington and James Connolly. The atmos- phere of equality that prevailed between men and women in the ranks of the ICA reflected the vision held by many Irish and international socialists of the The atmosphere of equality that prevailed between men and women in the ranks of the ICA reflected the vision held by many Irish and international socialists of the time, for whom women’s emancipation was a pre- condition for any just society. hunger, sustainability or solidarity placed upon it. The moment of commemoration prompts us to re- flect on what it is to be an active and responsible cit- izen, in a free and independent Ireland and a highly globalised and inter-connected global society. We must now ask ourselves how we might best use the freedom which was handed down to us by previ- ous generations. And we must undertake the work of making Ireland the Real Republic of which our founders dreamed; of sharing responsibility for a dif- ferent global order, free of war; of celebrating our inter-dependence with genuine solidarity as we face challenges such as eliminating global poverty, achiev- ing gender equality and protecting our vulnerable planet from the effects of climate change. |
| 18 Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition The SIPTU 1916 Rising tapestry To mark the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising, SIPTU commissioned seven tapestry panels. Based on drawings by the artist Robert Ballagh and sewn by groups of volunteers, the panels depict images associated with the Rising. The panels will be displayed in Liberty Hall during the centenary events, along with the 30 tapestry panels produced to commemorate the Great Dublin Lockout of 1913. Birthplace of the Republic Robert Ballagh’s reinterpretation of English artist Walter Paget’s painting, Birth of the Irish Republic is the inspi- ration for this panel depicting of a wounded James Connolly in the GPO, which is under British shell fire, continuing to direct rebel troops. Also depicted are Padraig Pearse, Tom Clarke, Seán Mac Diarmada and Elizabeth O’Farrell. Production: Blanchardstown Irish Countrywomen’s Association: Sheryl Cullen, Dympna Judge, Angela Archbold, Margaret O’Rourke, Margaret Keating, Helen Ward, Ann Kehoe, Triona Donohue, Ann Conlan, Sandra Keating and Sue Mulvihill. Heros of Easter (left to right) 1) Winifred Carney: Born in Co Down, Carney was a suffra- gette and trade unionist. Held the rank of adjutant in the Irish Citizen Army (ICA) during the Rising. 2) Kathleen Lynn: Born in Co Mayo, the daughter of a Church of Ireland rector, Lynn was a suffragette and trade unionist, and served as the rebel forces chief medical officer during the Rising. 3) Madeleine ffrench-Mullen: Born in Malta, ffrench-Mullen was a radical feminist and suffragette. She commanded the ICA medical station in St Stephen's Green during the Rising. 4) Margaret Skinnider: A Scottish Cumann na mBan mem- ber, suffragette, trade unionist and teacher, Skinnider joined the ICA after arriving in Dublin the week before the Rising. She played an active military role in the Rising and was wounded. 5) Helena Molony: Born in Dublin, Molony was active in fem- inist politics. She was an actor and secretary of the Irish Women Workers' Union before serving with the ICA in the Ris- ing, during which she took part in the attack on Dublin Castle. 6) Elizabeth O’Farrell: Born into a working-class Dublin family, O’Farrell was active in the Cumann na mBan before being assigned to serve with the ICA during the Rising, dur- ing which she cared for the wounded James Connolly in the GPO. 7) Countess Constance Markievicz: A leading figure in the ICA, she had played a key role supporting workers during the 1913 Lockout. She was part of the command staff of the St Stephen’s Green garrison during the Rising and played an active role in the battle. Production: Former NCAD graduates: Sally Hewston, Audrey Barrett, Karen Tierney, Paula Byrne, Ann O’Mahoney, Michaela Wilson and Kathleen Firth. Binding: Mary O’Reilly and Tess Flynn. Frongoch – ‘The university of revolution’ This depicts prisoners’ huts in the Frongoch Internment Camp in North Wales and is based on a postcard from the private collection of Vincent Byrne, who later served with E Company 2nd Battalion IRA during the War of Independence. Frongoch was used to intern over 1,800 Irish prisoners from June to December 1916, many of them rebel prisoners who had fought in the Rising, along with others rounded up by British forces in the following weeks. Notable prisoners included Michael Collins, Sinn Féin leader Arthur Griffith and ITGWU acting general secretary William O’Brien. The camp effectively brought together republicans to discuss revolutionary tactics, and many internees went on to play an important role in the War of Inde- pendence. For this reason it would later become known as “ollscoil na réabhlóide”, the "University of Rev- olution". Production: Sew Busy Group: Maria Bolton, Deirdre Anglim, Linda O’Leary, Alice Whyte, Sahar Boran, Phyllis Murphy, Moira Lyne, Patty Murphy, Gina Buckley and Carole Mortcock. |
| Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition 19 Irish Citizen Army outside Liberty Hall This panel depicts members of the Irish Citizen Army drilling outside the ITWGU headquarters in Liberty Hall prior to the Easter Rising. The banner, 'We serve neither King nor Kaiser', was raised when James Connolly be- came acting general secretary of the ITGWU following James Larkin's de- parture for America in October 1914. Production: Patchwork Guild Group: Mary Hunter, Marie Byrne, Mary Maguire, Aileen Hennegan, Dearbhla O’Reilly and Marilyn Roantree. James Connolly faces the firing squad Proclamation of the Irish Republic The Proclamation of the Irish Republic was printed in Liberty Hall by ITGWU employees Christopher Brady (ICA), Liam O’Brien (Irish Vol- unteers) and Michael Molloy (Irish Volunteers) on Easter Sunday 1916. Laying out the bold prin- ciples of equality and national sovereignty to which the Rising leadership had committed themselves, the document is seen as the basis of the Republic it was hoped the rebellion would give birth to. It was issued in the name of the Provisional Government of the Irish Re- public, which was how the men of the Military Council of the IRB styled themselves once the Rising had commenced. Production: Blanchardstown Irish Country- women’s Association: Therese Brennan, Mau- reen Caffrey, Marie O’Neill, Dorothy Sheridan, Joan Greene, Pat O’Looney and Teresa Hill. The Starry Plough and republican martyrs The Starry Plough flag of the Irish Citizen Army is depicted on this panel alongside the republican leaders Liam Mellows (beside Starry Plough), Thomas Kent (below Mellows) and Thomas Ashe. These three men all took part in armed actions outside Dublin during the week of the Easter Rising. Mellows, who would later be executed by the Free State during the Civil War, led republican forces in a number of abortive attacks in Co Galway during Easter week. Kent was executed by the British following his involvement in a gun battle with police who went to arrest him and his brothers in Cork. Ashe commanded rebel forces in north Co Dublin during Easter week. His force was involved in a major engagement with police in Ashbourne, Co Meath. Imprisoned for his republican activities in 1917, he died after being force-fed during a hunger strike.. Production: Liam Mellows and Starry Plough: Cherry Orchard Group – Joe Dixon (supervisor), Ellen Maher, Marian Dunne and Joan Duggan. Ashe and Kent: Liberty Hall Group – Mary Enright, Anne Fitzpatrick, Sylvia Yates, Sue O Brolchain and Ciara O’Sullivan-Brennan. On 12th May 1916 badly wounded ICA leader James Connolly was taken from the Royal Hos- pital Kilmainham to Kilmainham Gaol to be executed. With a shattered ankle and gangrenous foot, Connolly was brought into the yard of the prison on a stretcher. The image depicts him tied to a chair facing a firing squad of British soldiers, although there is speculation that he may have been shot while strapped to an upright stretcher. His absolution and last rites were administered by a Capuchin priest. Asked to pray for the soldiers about to shoot him, he said: "I will say a prayer for all men who do their duty according to their lights." Production: Abbey Theatre Group: Eimer Murphy, Aisling Mooney, Mairéad Delaney, Patricia Malpas, Saileog O’Halloran, Helen Fahy, Eileen Collins, Mary O’Reilly, Annette Quigley, Mark Palmer. |
| 20 Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition ITGWU leader recalls events of 1916 By David Connolly W ILLIAM O’Brien was General Secretary of the ITGWU for 20 years – a union he helped to build after 1916. He was one of the most influ- ential figures in the Irish labour movement and was a delegate to the ICTU for 30 years and president of Con- gress four times. O’Brien was also a comrade and close friend of James Connolly and was mainly responsible for Connolly’s return to Ireland, and later for the preservation and publication of his writ- ings. In later years, O’Brien provided a 145-page witness statement to the Bureau of Military History, upon which this short account is based. “APRIL 24th 1916: The last words said to me by James Connolly just before he left Liberty Hall were: ‘Go home now and stay there; you can be of no use now but may be of great service later on.’ In accor- dance with this instruction I went to my home.” This comment referred to the fact that, while O’Brien had been fully aware of the military arrange- ments for Easter week, Connolly had informed him that it was in- tended to form a Civil Provisional Government comprised of O’Brien, Arthur Griffith, Sean T. O’Kelly, Al- derman Tom Kelly and Hanna Sheehy Skeffington. After the con- fusion caused by MacNeill’s coun- termanding order, Winifred Carney and Markievicz stayed with O’Brien on Easter Sunday. O’Brien arrived at Liberty Hall at 10.00 a.m. next morning to find large num- bers of Volunteers and Citizen Army men continually passing in and out loading quantities of am- munition and bombs into cars and trucks. After he shook hands with Con- nolly, O’Brien recounts: “As I cy- cled across Abbey Street, I saw the Irish Republican troops breaking the windows of ‘Kelly for Bikes’ and dragging bicycles and motor- cycles across the street to form a barricade... The fight was on.” On Tuesday morning at 10.00 a.m. he went to Sackville Street (now O’Connell Street) to investigate the situation. He met with Connolly at the corner of Henry Street who informed him that the Citizen Army had done badly in Stephen’s Green, with a large number of them killed by a machine gun mounted on the roof of the Shelbourne Hotel. Connolly William O’Brien, left and inset right, stands next to Cathal Brugha, who fought in the Rising and later died in the Civil War. On the far right is Major John MacBride who was exe- cuted by the British. O’Brien first heard about McBride’s exe- cution while placed under detention by British troops Photo: National Library of Ireland day. Young Connolly stayed with the O’Briens for the remainder of the week until Sunday morning 30th April when O’Brien, together with Connolly, decided to check for damage from the bombardment of Liberty Hall. When they were crossing Beres- ford Place they were detained by a British soldier, after a policeman identified O’Brien as an ‘enemy’. They were held in the Custom House for two days before being marched up to Richmond Barracks as part of a contingent of 150 pris- oners. O’Brien was detained in the gymnasium alongside uniformed Volunteers including Mc- Donagh, Ceannt, MacBride, Plunkett, O’Hanrahan, Cos- grave, De Valera etc. On June 1st, 200 prisoners were deported to Knutsford, Wandsworth and Wakefield pris- ons. During the week prisoners He met with Connolly who informed him the Citizen Army had done badly in Stephen’s Green, a large number killed by machine gun mounted on the roof of the Shelbourne Hotel made no comment on the general situation but to O’Brien he seemed rather depressed. At noon, he met Francis Sheehy Skeffington, who was concerned about looting, which O’Brien wit- nessed on the Tuesday evening. Skeffington told him that a cruiser and two gun-boats were landing British troops in Kingston and O’Brien agreed to pass on the in- formation to the GPO, where he in- formed Diarmuid Lynch of the position. On Wednesday morning, two men came to O’Brien’s house at Belvedere Place accompanied by 15-year-old Roddy Connolly who had been in the GPO since Mon- Extract from William O’Brien’s statement to Bureau of Military History Photo right:William O’Brien and Francis Sheehy-Skeffington on steps of Liberty Hall, September 1913. He met with Connolly who informed him the Citizen Army had done badly in Stephen’s Green, a large number killed by a machine gun mounted on the roof of the Shelbourne Hotel were selected and moved out. On Saturday morning one of the guards was reading a Dublin news- paper and O’Brien was able to read the headline “Another rebel exe- cuted. Major McBride pays the penalty.” This was the first knowl- edge they had that anyone had been executed. On 6th June, O’Brien was removed with about 40 other prisoners to Knutsford prison. |
| Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition 21 Unfurling the Starry Plough By Scott Millar D URING Easter week, the standard of the Irish Citizen Army (ICA), the Starry Plough, flew over the Impe- rial Hotel on O’Connell Street. The hotel was owned by William Martin Murphy of 1913 Lockout infamy. That the standard of the workers’ militia that grew out of that bitter industrial conflict now flew over Murphy’s building was a clear indication of the social revo- lution that some hoped the rebel- lion would herald. The exact provenance of the de- sign of the Starry Plough, with its unique combining of agricultural implement, sword and stars arranged in the constellation of Ursa Major, the Great Bear or Plough, remains a source of histor- ical debate. Officially unveiled in Liberty Hall on the 4th April 1914 at an event addressed by Countess Con- stance Markievicz, the banner, along with their recently obtained uniforms and continued drilling, was part of the ICA’s wider move towards professionalism. The newspaper of the ITGWU, the Irish Worker, stated that the flag was the work of Belfast man William Megahy, a teacher at the Metropolitan School of Arts in Dublin. However, the evidence would point to Megahy not being the originator of the design. In his The Story of the Irish Cit- izen Army, published in 1919, Sean O'Casey, writes that the idea for the banner was “was given by a sympathiser, and executed by Mr. McGahey (Megahy).” Some ac- counts state that the sympathiser was the writer George William Rus- sell, although there appears to be little evidence to confirm this, and O’Casey dismissed it. Trade union banner maker Jer O’Leary, who researched and re- popularised the original Starry Plough design in the early 1970s, believes that the main inspiration for the flag was most likely Jim Larkin, who was a leader of both the ITGWU and the ICA during most of 1914. “The historian RM Fox, who was a contemporary of Larkin, places the inspiration for the design with him. The idea that it captures the concept of the Irish working class, free from the plough to the stars also speaks of the epic scope Larkin so often dis- played in his thinking.” The image of the sword being at- tached to the plough would also seem to draw upon the biblical ref- erence – “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against na- tion, neither shall they learn war any more,” (Isaiah 2:3-4). Larkin’s oratory was often strewn with similar Old Testament references. This might be expected of a trade unionist who was first introduced to socialism in indus- trial England, where the left tradi- tion was deeply underpinned by the radical Protestantism of pre- ceding generations, and whose wife, Elizabeth, was herself the daughter of a Baptist lay-preacher. The design of the flag also echoes that of the Southern Cross banner which flew over the Eureka Stockade in Australia during a re- bellion by gold miners in 1852. Beresford Place statue of James Connolly framed by Starry Plough President Higgins at the unveiling of a newly-conserved National Museum of Ireland exhibit – the original Starry Plough flag as flown in the 1916 Rising The original ICA Starry Plough flag Photo: RollingNews.ie This design, which remained prominent within the revolution- ary wing of Australian trade union- ism, may have had an influence. The original Starry Plough stan- dard was thought to have been de- stroyed in the fire that consumed the Imperial Hotel during the Ris- ing. In fact, it had been captured by the British Army and returned to Ireland in 1956 when it was pur- chased by the National Museum of Ireland. During the period the Starry Plough was out of the country, it was O’Casey who did much to maintain its imagery within the consciousness of the workers’ movement in Ireland. The banner lending its name to his 1926 play The Starry Plough, in which one protagonist, declares: “It’s a flag that should only be used when we’re building the barricades to fight for a Workers Republic!” When the Republican Congress attempted to re-assemble the ICA in the early 1930s, it sought to also resurrect the organisation's ban- ner. According to O’Leary, it was during this period that the version of the Starry Plough as seven white stars on a blue field first came into use. “Memory is fickle and in 1934 they had the meeting about recon- stituting the ICA as the paramili- tary wing of the Republican Congress. Veterans of the ICA at this meeting were asked what they believed the original flag looked like. It would seem that most thought it was blue, which was backed up by an early design of the flag that O’Casey had in his posses- sion. The version of the Starry Plough that emerged during this period remained the one in use by most left-wing organisations until at least the 1970s.” |
| 22 Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition Wishing nin i sis i W WiWi Wis iWi Wi s h hi hsh ihis n ng g y yo you o ou u a an and nd n d y yo your ur family imi mam a f fa mil il i m l lylyi lil y o our a V Ver Very ererery y Happy y Easter! erter tst as aster! erer!er! ! !er t s H Ha a app pp pppp ppppppy Easas ppppy ppy E Eas WOULD D YOU W OU L Y OU LIKE E TO O A ADD D KIL T D YOUR R B BRAND D TO O Y O U R A N T OUR R CAMPAIGN? ? O U C A MP GIA N Email: fabiagavin @supportingquality.ie IF EVERY HOUSEHOLD SPENDS AN EXTRA €4 ON GOODS MANUFACTURED IN IRELAND EACH WEEK, IT CAN CREATE UP TO 6,000 NEW JOBS IN IRELAND! Calor Gas proudly joins Supporting Quality Calor Gas, a market leader in the Liquid Petroleum Gas industry in Ireland employs over 250 people across multiple sites in Ireland. We are very proud to support the Supporting Quality campaign and look forward to growing our business on the island of Ireland with continued investment in new product development, marketing, sales and operations. a joint t jo in initiative evitait i ni w www.supportingquality.ie ei.ytli w w s. u p p o nitr g q u a THE POWER UNION P O WER pr proud par tner oud partner |
| Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition 23 The civilian dead and killings by the military By John Dorney WE STILL do not know, and may never know, exactly how many people died in the Easter Rising of 1916. The Irish Times reported on May 13th that there had been 217 burials in Glasnevin Cemetery of victims of gunshot wounds. The total number interred in the cemetery was 417 and it seems reasonable that some of the remainder died violently from such causes as explosives, shrapnel or collapsed buildings. More than 30 further civilians killed in the Rising were buried in Dean’s Grange Cemetery and 22 more at the Protestant Mount Jerome cemetery in Harold’s Cross. The most comprehensive count done to date lists the fatal casualties at 482 dead, which we know in- cluded some 130 British soldiers and police as well as 63 Volunteers and Citizen Army fighters – of whom 16 were later executed. This would mean that in the re- gion of 280-290 civilians were killed in the week’s fighting and that is probably a conservative estimate. The Irish Independent reported that at least 50 of the Rising’s casualties were unidentified and buried, cof- fin-less in pits. There were also at least 2,500 civilians injured. Fearghal McGarry, in a chapter entitled Violence and the Easter Ris- ing, in the 2012 book Terror in Ire- land 1916-1923, argued that those who had planned the Rising bore much of the blame. It was entirely foreseeable, he pointed out that tak- ing the decision to fight in a densely populated city centre would put the lives of civilians at risk. Volunteers also sometimes delib- erately killed civilians who tried to tear down their barricades on the first day of the Rising. On the other President Michael D. Higgins with his wife Sabina along with broadcaster Joe Duffy are joined by schoolchildren from St Patrick’s National School holding the names of young victims of the Rising. It followed a service of remembrance and reclamation in St Patrick’s Parish Church, Ringsend, Dublin, in May last year. 1916 Rising medal PICTURE: RollingNews.ie I pitied him from my heart though I had to shoot him. He had made tea for me hand McGarry argued that it was the British Army who most likely caused the majority of the deaths. There were far more British troops than insurgents, they were far better armed – including with heavy ma- chine guns and artillery – and often fired indiscriminately during the week’s fighting. Moreover, there is one incident that stands out for the largescale deliberate killing of civil- ians at Easter 1916 and it was the British Army that perpetrated it. At North King Street, behind the Four Courts, where there was fierce house-to-house fighting. British troops took 16 men and boys who were hiding in cellars out and killed them in cold blood. Rosanna Knowles, a 23 year old who lived on North King Street spoke to a soldier who had shot a barman named Paddy Bealen: “I pitied him from my heart though I had to shoot him. He had made tea for me.” Among the dead were father and son Thomas and Christopher Hickey, and a lodger Peter Connolly who had all been bayoneted and four men who worked at the Louth Dairy at number 27 North King Street. Most of the bodies were buried by the troops in gardens and cellars. This was not a spontaneous act of revenge by soldiers who had lost comrades to rebel bullets. But in fact the killings seem to have been the PM Herbert Asquith was briefed on summary executions carried out by British troops PICTURE: Bain Collection, Library of Congress; no known copyright result of orders from General Lowe that the rebels, “had placed them- selves outside the law and that they were not to be made prisoners.” In a private brief prepared for the Prime Minister Herbert Asquith, senior civil servant Edward Troupe judged that the troops assumed “they could shoot anyone they sus- pected of being an active rebel.” Troupe thought that if the case had occurred in England, the sol- diers would have been prosecuted. In Ireland though, “There are many points that could be used for hostile propaganda… nothing but harm could come from this.” One acquaintance of the dead re- called: “This brutal atrocity filled me with a sort of personal loss and aroused in me a fierce hate for Eng- lish soldiery.” When we consider why the public mood later turned in favour of the Rising, the actions of the British Army in Easter Week, along with the standard explanation of the execu- tions of the Rising’s leaders, must be borne in mind. Wounded 12 times but still defiant... By Joe Mooney ON Tuesday 25th April 1916, Michael O’Doherty of the Irish Citizen Army was eating a sandwich on the roof of the Royal College of Surgeons when he was hit by a burst of British machine gun fire which raked his upper body. He was wounded 12 times (in his right eye and cheek, left jaw as well as the side of his head and in both arms). Madeline fFrench-Mullen described him as being in “a mangled condition”. Despite his catastrophic injuries he survived, and after three months in hospital was transferred to Fron- goch. Back in Dublin, Dr Kathleen Lynn assisted him, but just over three years later he died. The O’Doherty family had a proud radical pedigree – in the 1890s his fa- ther received a six-month jail sen- tence during a fierce dock strike. Michael, a warehouseman and carter, was an early member of the ITGWU. He led a sympathy strike of 300 workers during the Lockout (which cost him his job), and when the ICA was formed, he joined up to “defend the workers from the batons of the police.” At Frongoch he had declared; “While I have one eye and one hand to fight with, no one will ever stop me fighting for Ireland.” However, he dropped out of activ- ities in 1918, and as Markievicz re- called, he was “dying slowly from the effects of his treatment at the enemy’s hands”. He died in December 1919, the passage of time shamefully allowing the military pensions assessor to re- fuse to recognise his death as Rising related despite the fact that his head- stone in Glasnevin, erected by the National Graves Association, records his death as “from wounds received in action 1916”. Michael O’Doherty Joe Mooney is involved with the East Wall for All history project. He is a SIPTU shop steward and community activist. |
| 24 Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition Nell Regan Helena Molony 1883–1967 H ELENA Molony was an important and intriguing figure in Irish public life be- tween 1903 and 1941. Among her many roles was that of a leading trade unionist. She was second General Secretary of the Irish Women Workers' Union and a central figure in that organisation until her re- tirement in 1941. She was an executive member of, and prolific speaker at, Irish Labour Party and Trade Union Congresses. From 1929 she was on the executive of the Dublin Labour and Trades Union Council and was elected President of the Irish Trades Union Congress in 1936, in recognition of her leading role (only the second woman to become President, the first being Louie Bennett, who had suc- ceeded Molony as IWWU General Secretary.) Molony was also a prominent left republican in the Free State and as a founding member of Saor Éire, the Friends of Soviet Russia and a regular speaker with the Women’s Prisoners’ Defence League, she was a central target of the “Red Scare” of the early 1930s. Throughout these years and until her death in 1967 she consis- tently used the 1916 Proclamation and James Connolly’s teachings to inspire radical and fundamental Molony was a member of the Abbey Company, with whom she appeared on the stage of London’s Royal Court. But for her the developing political situation provided a greater draw. In 1915 she accepted Connolly’s invitation to lead the Irish Women Workers' Union As Secretary of the Inghinidhe and editor of feminist paper Bean na hÉireann, Molony was responsible for involving many other prominent women, including Constance Markievicz and Kathleen Lynn Helena Molony: among her many roles was that of a leading trade unionist. She was second General Secretary of the Irish Women Workers' Union and a central figure in that organisation until her retirement in 1941. Life imitates art change in Irish society. She had developed this radical outlook in the years from 1903 when she joined Inghinidhe na hÉireann, Maud Gonne’s organisa- tion for nationalist women, and became immersed in the vibrant cultural, political, social and artis- tic world of “the movement” in Dublin. As Secretary of the Inghinidhe and editor of Bean na hÉireann, their feminist and separatist newspaper, Molony was responsi- ble for involving many other prominent women, including Constance Markievicz and Kath- leen Lynn. Her socialist outlook developed and in 1911 she worked closely with James Connolly and others to oppose the royal visit of that year. She became the first female polit- ical prisoner of her generation on the occasion of that visit. Her career as an actor also devel- oped, and in 1912 she was a mem- ber of the Abbey Company and was rapidly promoted to the First Company, with whom she ap- peared on the stage of the Royal Court in London. However, for her, the develop- ing political situation provided a greater draw. In 1915 she accepted James Connolly’s invitation to be- come second General Secretary of the Irish Women Workers' Union, as well as Secretary of a clothing co-op and organiser of the Women’s Section of the Irish Citi- zen Army. Her last role in the Abbey in 1916 was in a production of Lennox Robinson’s The Dreamers, the cast of which also featured Seán Connolly, another member of the ICA. They had acted oppo- site each other for many years, in- cluding in The Memory of the Dead by Casmir Markievicz, in which Molony played the 1798 rebel girl who saved a rebel leader played by Connolly. Life would imitate art on Easter Monday 1916, when Molony was at the head of a small contingent of ICA women who mobilised and marched to Dublin Castle under the command of Seán Connolly. Her account of what happened next makes for extraordinary reading and is available online from the Bureau of Military His- tory. Molony was interned as an “extremist of some importance” until Christmas 1916. On her return she picked up the threads of her life as IWWU Gen- eral Secretary, actor, agitator and was also co-opted onto the newly- formed Sinn Féin executive. Nell Regan is the author of Helena Molony: A Radical Life, 1883 – 1967 to be published by Arlen House with the support of SIPTU. |
| Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition 25 The victors write the history, the defeated write the songs By Michael Mac Donncha There are many sad songs of Irish rebellion but there are also many that are uplifting, defiant, and, at times, humorous IT HAS been said many times that 1916 was a poets’ Rising. It could equally be called a rising of ballad-makers and singers. The late Dublin singer Frank Harte said that the victors write the history but the defeated write the songs. This was very true of Ireland before the Rising. Our songs recorded our story of resist- ance to oppression and the songs themselves became a weapon in that resistance. There are many sad songs of Irish rebellion but there also many that are uplifting, defiant and, at times, humorous. It seems to me that it is the latter spirit in song that characterised the pre-1916 pe- riod among the revolutionary men and women who marched out on Easter Monday. It was the same type of high-spir- ited defiance that gave rise to the song The Peeler and the Goat in the middle of the 19th century. Lampooning England’s paramili- tary police force, the Royal Irish Constabulary, the song earned prosecution for many. To even whistle it in the presence of a Peeler was risky. To the same air and in the same spirit, Séamus O’Farrell in 1915 wrote The Recruiting Sergeant. It reflected the struggle against re- cruiting to the British Army be- tween September 1914 and early 1916, the prelude to the Rising. But hail or rain or frost or snow We won’t be going to Flanders, O, While there’s fighting to be done at home, Let your captains and command- ers go. Let Englishmen for England fight, It’s nearly time they started, O. Then I bade the sergeant a nice good night And there and then we parted, O. In September 1914, Irish Party leader John Redmond joined British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith on the platform of a British Army recruiting meeting in the Mansion House. James Connolly led a counter- demonstration of thousands headed by the Irish Citizen Army. At College Green, Citizen Army vol- unteer Seán Connolly, a noted singer and Abbey actor, sang rebel songs to the crowd. Less than two years later he was killed not far from College Green, at City Hall, Sean Connolly Sean O’Casey, a founder member of the Irish Citizen Army, playwright and occasional ballad writer on the first day of the Rising. Seán O’Casey was Secretary of the Irish Citizen Army for a time and he wrote the satirical Grand Oul’ Dame Britannia in 1915. It was published in James Connolly’s Workers’ Republic newspaper: Och, Ireland sure I’m proud of you, says the Grand Oul’ Dame Bri- tannia To poor little Belgium tried and true, says the Grand Oul’ Dame Bri- tannia Close your ears to the Sinn Féin lies For every Gael that for England dies Will enjoy Home Rule in the clear blue skies, says the Grand Oul’ Dame Britannia. A similar satirically humorous song is Peadar Kearney’s Whack fol the diddle (surely an anthem for today’s historical ‘revisionists’!): Oh Irishmen forget the past Whack for the diddle fol the di do day And think of the time that is coming fast Whack for the diddle fol the di do day When we shall all be civilised Neat and clean and well advised Oh won’t Mother England be sur- prised Whack for the diddle fol the di do day. Peadar Kearney (Jacobs Factory garrison, 1916) wrote The Soldier’s Song, with its ‘cheering, rousing chorus’, later translated as Amhrán na bhFiann and adopted as the Na- tional Anthem, replacing God Save Ireland and A Nation Once Again. The Soldier’s Song was widely sung from about 1912. Liam Ó Bri- ain recalled that it was sung by hundreds of Volunteers on a night march before Easter 1916 and it was heard widely during Easter Week. All the above songs were popular before and during the Rising. Of course the aftermath saw count- less songs written, some enduring, some not so, right up to our own time. None can surpass Rev. P O’Neill’s The Foggy Dew. But of the myriad verses written by others, space only allows one, and what better than Patrick Galvin’s James Connolly: Who carries high that burning flag? Who carries high that burning flag? ‘Tis our James Connolly all pale and wounded Who carries high our burning flag. |
| 26 Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition Sóisialaí Gaelach 1916 By Aindrias Ó Cathasaigh Pheadar Ó Maicín 1878-1916 IS BEAG eolas atá ar Pheadar Ó Maicín, a maraíodh go tru- amhéileach in éirí amach na Cásca. Ba spéisiúil an duine é, áfach, a thug le chéile ina chuid oibre cúis na Gaeilge, cúis an neamhspleáchais, agus cúis na n-oibrithe. Rugadh Peadar Ó Maicín i lár Bhaile Átha Cliath in 1878. Péin- téara tí ab ea a athair, agus lean Peadar den cheird chéanna. D’oib- righ sé ar fud na cathrach agus na tíre, agus bhí sé gníomhach i gceardchumann na bpéintéaraí ar feadh a shaoil. Bhí sé i mBráithreachas na Poblachta faoi 1899, tráth a raibh borradh ag teacht faoin náisiúnachas radacach. Chuir sé dúil sa nGaeilge go luath, dúil nár fhág ariamh é. Ba ghearr thar éis dó a ghabháil is- teach i gConradh na Gaeilge go raibh craobh nua curtha ar bun aige. Ba mhinic é ag obair i gceantracha Gaeltachta, ag cur snas ar a chuid Gaeilge agus péint ar thithe solais. Scríobh sé i ngach iris Gaeilge dá raibh ann, agus é in ann fód na conspóide a sheasamh in aghaidh na scoláirí acadúla. Peter Macken Born in Dublin, Peter Macken was an ardent Gaelic revival- ist, as well as a socialist and labour leader. He founded the St. Patrick's Branch of the Gaelic League, and as a student of Irish he held many distinctions. He was an effective public speaker, and wrote forcibly. He was elected on the Labour ticket to Dublin Cor- poration as Alderman for the North Dock Ward, and was ac- cidentally shot in the fighting at Boland's Mills during the Easter Rising. He is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery. Sheas sé mar iarrthóir lucht oibre do Bhardas Átha Cliath i 1906, agus níor chruthaigh sé go dona. Nuair a cuireadh cruth ar shóisialaithe na cathrach, ba é Ó Maicín a mhol Cumannacht na hÉireann mar ainm Gaeilge dóibh. Bhí sé sáite san obair, agus thapaigh sé gach deis le cur ar shon an tsóisialachais i nGaeilge. Níor leor neamhspleáchas a bhaint amach d’Éirinn, dar leis, mara n-athrófaí dála na n-oibrithe ó bhonn: “Éire agus rialtas ar leith aici; Éireannaigh saibhre díomhaoine falsa a’ tarraingt fiú an deor dheireanach d’fhuil na nÉire- annach bocht a chaithfeas a bheith ag obair dóibh; saighdiúirí an Rial- Pheadar Ó Maicín tais Ghaelaigh ag scuabadh den tsráid, le grán is púdar, na hÉirean- naigh a dhiúltódh d’oibriú ach ar chothrom páighe. An é siúd an cruth a bheidh ar Éirinn le linn a saortha di — nó an ceart a insint do na daoine roimh ré gurb é atá fúinn ná Stát a chur ar bun in Éirinn a mbeidh cothrom na Féinne dá thab- hairt do gach aoinne ann?” Ar an gcaoi chéanna, bheadh ar lucht na Gaeilge freagra a thabhairt ar cheisteanna dá leithéid: “Ní haon mhaitheas dúinn an chéad leabhar de shliocht Uí Ghramhna a thaispeáint do dhuine atá ar easpa béile nó do dhuine nárbh fheasach dó cá bhfaigheadh sé lóistín na hoíche. …go dtí go mbeidh slí mhaith bheatha ag gach aoinne anso in Éirinn ní bheidh teanga na hÉireann saor ó bhaol báis. Ní féidir slí bheatha a thabhairt do gach aoinne fé réim seo na sealb- haíochta príobháideach atá ar bun anois.” Toghadh ar an mBardas é i 1912, agus an bhliain chéanna bhí sé páirteach leis an bPiarsach i gCumann na Saoirse agus An Barr Bua. Nuair a bunaíodh Óglaigh na hÉireann an bhliain dár gcionn, bhí Ó Maicín ar an ardchoiste, é ina cheangal tábhachtach le gluaiseacht an lucht oibre. Rinneadh lea- suachtarán ar chomhairle ceardchu- mann Bhaile Átha Cliath de i 1915. Throid sé i gceantar Mhuilte Uí Bheoláin i 1916. Bhí sé i gceannas ar bhuíon Óglach Déardaoin 27 Aibreán, agus déine na troda ag luí go trom ar chuid acu. Chaill duine amháin guaim air féin, agus d’iarr Ó Maicín srian a chur leis. Scaoil an fear urchar leis an Maicíneach a mharaigh é. Sráid Uí Mhaicín a thugtar ar an áit sin anois, ach is beag cuimhne eile atá air. Céad bliain i ndiaidh a bháis, b’fhiú suim a chur aríst ann, duine díobh siúd a d’oibrigh go dílis le snáthanna éagsúla na saoirse a thabhairt le chéile. The Irish Citizen Army Constitution The Irish Citizen Army was born as a workers’ self-defence force in the 1913 Dublin Lockout but it was 22nd March 1914 that marked its political rite of passage into the world of realpolitik. On that day, it began to forge its way into the stormy centre of Irish politics. It was a large gathering that met in Lib- erty Hall under the chairmanship of Jim Larkin, General Secretary of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union (now SIPTU). Those present, scarred by the experience of the Lockout, adopted a constitution, elected an Army Council and agreed the rules and reg- ulations that would transform their aspira- tions into a programme of action. This Constitution was drafted by Seán O’Casey but the last point was added at the suggestion of Larkin. It was formally proposed by Countess Markievicz, the only female member. The 1916 Proclamation, which was printed in Lib- erty Hall, was strongly influenced by the prin- ciples contained in the Constitution of the Irish Citizen Army. The Irish Citizen Army Constitution Bunreacht Arm Catharha na hÉireann 1. That the first and last principle of the Irish Citizen Army is the avowal that the ownership of Ireland, moral and mate- rial, is vested of right in the people of Ireland. 1. Gurb é tús deiridh prionsabail an Airm Chathartha an gealltanas go bhfuil úinéireacht na hÉireann, idir úinéireacht mhorálta agus ábhartha, dílsithe de cheart i muintir na hÉireann. 2. That the Irish Citizen Army shall stand for the absolute unity of Irish nationhood, and shall support the rights and liberties of the democracies of all nations. 2. Go seasfaidh Arm Cathartha na hÉireann d’aontacht ab- salóideach náisúntacht na hÉireann, agus go dtacóidh sé le cearta agus saoirsí daonlathas gach náisiún. 3. That one of its objects shall be to sink all differences of birth, property and creed under the common name of Irish people. 3. Go mbeidh sé ar a chuspóirí neamhshuim a dhéanamh de gach éagsúlacht cine, maoine agus creidimh faoin ainm coitianta Muin- tir na hÉireann. 4. That the Irish Citizen Army shall be open to all who accept the principle of equal rights and opportunities for the Irish people. 4. Go mbeidh Arm Cathartha na hÉireann ar oscailt do gach duine a ghlacann le cearta agus deiseanna comhionann do mhuintir na hÉireann mar phrionsabail. 5. Before being enrolled, every applicant must, if eligible, be a member of his trade union, such union to be recognised by the Irish Trade Union Congress. 5. Sula ndéanfar iarrthóir a chlárú, ní mór don iarrthóir sin, más incháilithe dó nó di, bheith ina bhall nó ina ball de cheardchu- mann, agus ní mór go mbeidh an ceardchumann sin aitheanta ag Comhdháil Cheardchumann na hÉireann. |
| Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition 27 A movement not a moment By Alice-Mary Higgins THE women who played active roles in 1916 were not just part of a moment they were part of a movement. Indeed in many cases they were part of multiple movements, driven by intersect- ing ideals of socialism, national- ism, feminism, anti-imperialism and internationalism. In her book At Home in the Rev- olution, Lucy McDiarmaid de- scribes how “one of the most extraordinary sights of Easter 1916 must have been the 16-handed reel, danced by the women prisoners in Kilmainham”. This intricate dance, on a morn- ing when the women had been awoken by gunshots, is perhaps a perfect metaphor for the agility and fearlessness with which so many weaved between the suffrage move- ment, the Cultural Revival, Irish Cit- izen Army, Cumann na mBan and of course trade unionism. Many had become engaged and radicalised by the events of 1913. Members of the Irish Women Work- ers' Union (IWWU), such as Helena Members of the Irish Women Workers' Union at Liberty Hall circa 1914. Their board reads: ‘Freedom's Martyrs: Members of the Irish Women Workers' Union who suffered terms of imprison- ment in the cause of Labour’ Molony, were active throughout the Lockout and the Rising, and cru- cially, with Louie Bennett and oth- ers, continued to grow that union in the years that followed. It was women that kept the move- ments and the revolutionary mo- mentum alive following the rising, scaling Liberty Hall in 1917 to hang banners marking the first anniver- sary of Connolly’s execution with a renewed call to action. Women such as Rosie Hackett were part of the printing of the Proclamation, and it was women such as Jinny Shanahan who reprinted that Proclamation a year later to keep its vision alive. Through the War of Independ- ence and beyond, to the battles over the 1937 Constitution, opposed by many for betraying so much of the Women may have suffrage but we are still battling for equal representation in every aspect of national life. There is a growing demand to protect women’s health and wellbeing by removing the shadow of the Eighth Amendment equality hoped for, these women continued to strive for emancipa- tion through every channel of na- tional life from the cultural movement. Helena Molony, through the IWWU which won two weeks' holi- day for the first time, Kathleen Lynn through her work in health and welfare, Constance Markievicz and Jenny Wyse Power through seeking and winning election. I believe that the same determina- tion to seek equality on every front is still to be found in the intersect- ing strands of the women's move- ments today. Women are at the frontline of low pay and precarious work but they are also at the frontline of the fight- back against that casualisation. Women may have suffrage but we are still battling for equal represen- tation in every aspect of national life. There is a growing demand to protect women’s health and wellbe- ing by removing the shadow of the Eighth Amendment. Our artists are still leading the way in shining a light on history, in- cluding the dark legacy of institu- tional violence against women. The call for international solidarity with women across the world has never been more immediate then in the current refugee crisis. That same spirit of determination and agility shown by the women in Kilmainham Gaol 100 years ago, must surely inspire and guide our movements today. Alice-Mary Higgins is a SIPTU member and an Independent candidate for the Seanad (NUI panel) Threads of history By Audrey Barrett COUNTESS Markievicz, with her determined profile, Dr Kathleen Lynn with her perceptive, intuitive gaze, Winnifred Carney with her modest, efficient demeanour and Madeline ffrench-Mullen with her empathetic expression. These diverse women – intelligent, able, determined – focused their considerable energy and intellect to create a new reality for the ordinary citizens of early 20th century Ireland. To stitch these women, to partic- ipate in this project designed by Robert Ballagh and supported by SIPTU, has been a great honour and a truly creative experience. Our respect for these women is huge and we enjoyed recreating them in stitch and thread, colour and shading. Our group came together after we completed the Embroidery module as part of the CEAD pro- gramme in the National College of Art and Design. Under the inspired and expert guidance of our tutor, Rosemary Cullen, we honed our needlework skills. We continued to meet once Photo from left to right: Audrey Barrett, Paula Byrne, Kathleen Frith, Sally Hewetson, Ann O Mahony, Karen Tierney and Michaela Wilson. Photo: Anne Ebeling Profile in courage: Countess Markievicz, revolver drawn, in Citizen Army uniform Photo: National Library of Ireland The finished tapestry panel. Photo: Anne Ebeling the course was finished, supporting each other as we worked on individ- ual projects. We were delighted to get an opportunity to participate in this commemorative event, and to join other stitchers to create this exhibition. Audrey Barrett, Paula Byrne, Kathleen Frith, Sally Hewetson, Ann O Mahony, Karen Tierney and Michaela Wilson. |
| 28 Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition The Dublin Bread Company buildings on Lower Sackville Street in ruins following the house to house fighting Photo: National Library of Ireland Essential handbooks on Easter 1916 Reviews by Michael Halpenny O VER the years there have been numerous caustic remarks passed about the elas- ticity of the walls of the Gen- eral Post Office, such were the number of those who claimed to have fought for the freedom of this small na- tion there during Easter Week 1916. The GPO Garrison Easter Week 1916 – A Biographical Dictionary by Jimmy Wren (Geography Publications 2015) Indeed, in his introduction, artist Robert Ballagh reminds us of Brendan Behan’s quip that the British would have had no need to shell the building in the first place because the walls would have col- lapsed of their own accord, due to the internal pressure caused by all those who said they were present! Now, perhaps for the first time, we can get a good idea of what the answer might be. This is largely due to the recent publication of Jimmy Wren’s rich compilation of biographies on every single person who served there, no matter for how long a pe- riod of time, during that seminal week. This invaluable work by Wren – whose father, James, fought in the GPO – is the culmination of years of painstaking research to gather together in one volume not only the acknowledgement of each per- son’s involvement, but also a short biography, accompanied by sources and, in many cases, finished with portraits in pen and ink by the au- thor. Within its pages you meet not only well-known leaders such as James Connolly, Tom Clarke, Padraig Pearse, Sean MacDiarmada and Joseph Plunkett but also the rank and file of the Irish Volun- teers, Cumann na mBan, Citizen Army and Hibernian Rifles, as well as those who were classed as ‘un- attached’. Jimmy Wren’s work brings to life the story of the GPO and those who fought there These were the activists who worked in factory and shop – the carpenters and labourers, hair- dressers and laundry workers as well as boys and girls barely out of school – and at least one who was- n’t – young Citizen Army Boy Scout, Frank (Fred) Norgrove who was all of 13 years of age when he saw service in the GPO. At the other end of the age scale was a man described by Sean O’Casey as “a fine old skin and a brave honest man,” 64-year-old Quartermaster Matt Stafford of B Company, 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers, who was detailed to sniping duties. Citizen Army women who served included Winifred Carney, who assisted James Connolly “with a typewriter in one hand and a re- volver in the other”. Molly O’Reilly, who had hoisted the Green Flag of Ireland over Liberty Hall the previous week, was active in the GPO as was Maeve Cavanagh, Citizen Army member and writer in the ITGWU weekly, The Workers’ Republic, the woman who Connolly called “the poetess to the Revolution”. There were others there from ‘across the water’, such as Irish- born Liam Parr (Power) from Stock- port who was in the Manchester Company of the Irish Volunteers. There were even those who were |
| Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition 29 ‘unattached‘, such as 18-year-old May Gibney who was engaged in cooking duties and the delivery of despatches, and a Finnish seaman, Antil Makapalatis, who, with his Swedish friend and interpreter, de- cided to fight for the freedom of small nations with the rebel forces. His lack of English was no im- pediment to his involvement and it was later said of him elsewhere by another GPO fighter: “The Finn could not speak English and he was no Catholic, but by the end of the week he could say the Rosary in Irish!” Jimmy Wren’s work brings to life the story of the GPO and those who fought there and he allows us to see them as people and not merely shadows on the wall of his- tory – the more to marvel at their bravery. He provides carefully compiled notes, tables and appendices for the interested reader and the “citi- zen historian”, detailing places of origin, education, occupation, po- litical, cultural, sporting and trade union affiliations (11 of them were later officials in ITGWU and the WUI). Above all he shows us a more complex and therefore much more interesting picture of an event which, albeit a source of enormous pride, is often reduced to cliché. This is clearly not only a labour of love but a work of great mastery in accessing a fuller understanding of 1916 for us all. And the numbers in the GPO and all its various outposts? As the author notes, having carefully ex- amined all previous estimates and with the advantage of newly re- leased records “... a figure of 572 emerges as the credible total num- ber of insurgents that served at various times.” So thanks to Jimmy Wren, we now have a better measure of the GPO’s elasticity – and much more besides. Who’s Who In The Dublin Rising 1916 by Joseph E. A. O’Connell Jnr (Wordwell 2015) The great survivor... Eamon deValera pictured at a political rally in the year after the Easter Rising Photo: National Library of Ireland A bird never flew on one wing (no pun intended) and a close companion to Jimmy Wren’s book on the GPO Garrison is Joseph O’Connell’s Who’s Who in the Dublin Rising 1916 which deals not only with the GPO, but with all six other city garrisons, as well as the Dublin 5th (Fingal) Battalion at Ashbourne, County Meath, where – under the leadership of Thomas Ashe – they delivered one of the few military successes of Easter Week, convincingly de- feating a large force of armed Royal Irish Constabulary . Wider in sweep than Wren’s work and accompanied by detailed maps and diagrams, he leads the reader through each battle site. Be- fore doing so he explains the geo- graphic areas from which the various Irish Volunteer Battalions came: 1st Battalion – North city west of Sackville Street (O’Connell Street); 2nd – North city and west of there; 3rd – South of the Liffey; 4th Rathmines etc.; 5th – Engi- neers and north county Dublin. He notes that the Irish Citizen Army (ICA) was organised in 11 sections throughout the north and south city between the canals. It also had a section in Baldoyle and, unlike the Volunteers, it had a women’s section. There is a helpful breakdown of participation in and fatalities for each garrison area and their out- posts, and the author reckons the overall number of insurgents at 2,171, a figure which includes 247 women. Finally, he provides a list of those killed in action by garri- son/battalion. His treatment of each garrison area follows a clear pattern, com- mencing with a brief description of the action there, more extensive pen portraits of the leading figures and then allowing the story to emerge as he marks off each of two north city garrisons. In contrast to Mount Street Bridge over the canal, where the British suffered their greatest number of casualties, de Valera’s 3rd Battalion area centred on Boland’s Mill, was probably the quietest of all. It also had a total absence of women participants Sean Connolly. The author notes that his ultimate successor Kathleen Lynn, poignantly wrapped him in the green flag from James Connolly’s play, Under Which Flag, in which he had starred a short while previ- ously. Alone among the rebel forces, the ICA produced two fe- Joseph O’Connell’s Who’s Who in the Dublin Rising 1916 which deals not only with the GPO, but with all six other city garrisons, as well as the Dublin 5th (Fingal) Battalion at Ashbourne, County Meath those serving. At the GPO he notes that the “Kimmage Garrison” of volunteers who came mainly from England was the first detachment to occupy the rebel headquarters and that women, notably Winifred Carney (ICA), Julia Grennan (ICA) and Elizabeth O’Far- rell (ICA & Cumann na mBan) were among the last to leave. The 1st Battalion area of opera- tions was around the Four Courts which saw some of the fiercest fighting, while the 2nd Battalion at Jacobs biscuit factory in Aungier Street had a relatively ‘quieter’ time as the British forces decided to concentrate their efforts on tightening the noose around the because for reasons that are not clear, de Valera refused to have them. The 4th Battalion under Eamon Ceannt had a more torrid time dug in around the South Dublin Union, the site of present day St James, and some of the most intense fighting was expe- rienced here, with second-in- command, Cathal Brugha, wounded 25 times, yet still rally- ing his men. James Connolly’s Irish Citizen Army had responsibility for the City Hall and St Stephen’s Green strong points and the first fatal- ity of the week was the com- mander at City Hall, Captain male commanders – Lynn at City Hall and Constance Markievicz as second in charge at St Stephen’s Green/ College of Surgeons. This is an accompaniment to Jimmy Wren’s work which has only one point of dissonance – the figure he gives for those in the GPO. Joseph O’Connell estimates that at 617 as opposed to Jimmy Wren’s 572 – a difference of 45. But, to be honest, the debate about numbers stands well in the shadow of the flesh and blood sto- ries of those who stood for the Re- public. Add this one to your list as well. |
| 30 Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition A photo taken inside the GPO during the Easter Rising, showing members of both the Irish Citizen Army and Irish Volunteers. Aftermath of the Rising: Liberty Hall is on the left, and next to it, the Brooks Thomas building, almost destroyed by shelling from the British gunboat, HMS Helga. Find the bullet holes 1916: The Rising Handbook by Lorcan Collins J UST when you thought all the Rising handbooks had been covered, along comes another one. This time it’s a pocket-sized edi- tion by 1916 expert Lorcan Collins who, if he doesn’t know every inch of 1916 Dublin, knows a fair few yards of it. One of the defining characteris- tics of the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising in 1966 was the fact that quite a few of the partici- pants were still alive or had only recently died. So knowledge of their activities was well-known, albeit mainly to their family and community. On the other hand, one of the defining features of this cente- nary is the much wider availabil- ity of information, not just to the academic historian, but to the cit- izen at large. This is partly due to the wealth of historical scholarship in the in- tervening years, but much more down to global access to digitised public records. And it is this cru- cial feature that makes such hand- books and guides possible. If other works’ attributes are that they are rich in detail and dense in texture, then the attrac- tion of Lorcan Collins’ book is that it provides a readily accessible “toolbox” of essential informa- tion, interesting facts and indis- pensable lists to the wider public. The 240 pages of this publica- tion should not only lighten the historical step of anyone anxious to move beyond the basics of the Rising, but also to settle many an argument in the process. Preceded by a chronology which provides historical context, 1916 – The Rising Handbook devotes an- other 10 sections to such subjects as ‘Documents and Newspapers’, ‘Weapons and Barracks’, ‘The Sea and the Rising’ and ‘Organisa- tions, Flags and Banners’. In dealing with the Proclama- tion, the author points out that its essence was to replace royalty or kingship with the sovereignty of the people, placing democracy at the core of the Republic and sub- stituting the “subject” with the “citizen”. He extends this observation to His section on weapons covers the wide range of firearms and guns in play during Easter Week, in the process acknowledging the absence of two weapons in partic- ular that could have weighed in on the side of the rebels – the cap- tured Russian Mosin-Nagant rifles and the Maxim machine guns on board the German arms ship, the Aud which was sunk off Cork. His chapter on naval aspects of the Rising covers not only the Aud, but also the equally well- known British gunboat, HMS Helga (later the Free State’s LE Muirchu) and noted for its shelling of the empty Liberty Hall. What is less well-chronicled was the use of its 18-pound guns to Collins’ book provides a readily accessible toolbox of essential information, interesting facts and indispensable lists which should not only lighten the historical step of anyone anxious to move beyond the basics of the Rising, but also to settle many an argument in the process the way in which the Irish for kingship – “ríocht” – was altered by extracting the “rí” part of the word and replacing it with the root of the Irish word for people – “pobal” – thereby creating a new word “Poblacht” to encapsulate in word and deed the new dispensa- tion brought to life in the GPO. bomb Bolands Mills upriver. How- ever, where it really showed its paces was the near-destruction of the totally inoffensive Brooks Thomas building next door to Lib- erty Hall. Clearly the gunners had- n’t gone to Specsavers. On the subject of flags, the book references the fairly well-known array of flags of Easter Week, in- cluding the ‘Starry Plough’, the flag of the ‘Irish Republic’ and so on, and notes that the tricolour flew over both Irish Citizen Army (ICA) garrisons at City Hall and the College of Surgeons at St Stephen's Green. The author also records that the original ICA uniforms of dark green were made by Arnott’s. On the action of the Rising it- self, the writer summarises the main garrisons across the north and south cities and gives a brief description of the often forgotten Rising outside Dublin. Supporting this and his treat- ment of the aftermath are an im- pressive array of lists. These cover combatants per garrison, casual- ties including enemy forces, civil- ians and children, as well as insurgents who died later of their wounds. However, here yet again the curse of the dreaded list raises it confusing head. For example, for the GPO Garrison he gives a differ- ent figure again to the ones al- ready arrived at or estimated by Jimmy Wren and Joseph O’Con- nell in their work (see reviews in this edition). However, to be fair, there is a “health warning”, and the author states his pragmatic objective of ensuring that in the various (and sometimes competing) rolls of ho- nour, prisoner and medal lists of those who did participate in the Rising are mentioned at least once. Despite the absence of maps or any treatment of the ‘University of Revolution’ – Frongoch Prison Camp in Wales where 1,865 rebels He points out that the essence of the Proclamation was to replace royalty or kingship with the sovereignty of the people, placing democracy at the core of the Republic and substituting the ‘subject’ with the ‘citizen’ were sent – or Aylesbury where a handful of women insurgents were imprisoned, this is nevertheless a book to be recommended. It does what it says on the tin and more, so that you can not only rest confident that you will be “armed” with a grasp as good as any of the detail of the Rising. You can also point out where the bul- let holes are. For starters try the College of Surgeons and then “Traitor’s Arch”, (or as he more kindly terms it, ‘Fusiliers Arch’) at St Stephens Green. Then buy the book. |
| Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition 31 Actors play their part W HEN the Abbey Theatre unveiled its 50th anniver- sary memorial plaque in 1966 to those of its company and staff who had participated in the Rising, it contained the following words: The Abbey Rebels of 1916- A Lost Revolution by Fearghal McGarry (Gill & Macmillan 2015) “It is hard service they take that help me.” Little could have been more apt than this excerpt from Yeats’ “Kathleen ni Houlihan”, the play which the author of this book, Fearghal McGarry, notes as the one most identified with the cultural revival’s revolutionary impact. Nothing either could have been more poignant in the case of actor and Citizen Army Captain Sean Connolly who was billed to appear in the Abbey’s Easter Monday pro- duction of that play along with an- other Abbey rebel and GPO veteran, Arthur Shields - later Hol- lywood star and brother of Barry Fitzgerald. Connolly was to be killed shortly after leading his small ICA detachment to take over the City Hall stronghold on Easter Monday. Situated a stone’s throw from the Liberty Hall muster point for the rebellion, and near which the insurgents would have wheeled their handcart of revolution on the way to take over the General Post Office in Sackville Street (now O’- Connell Street), it stood also at the centre of the cultural revival which preceded the Rising. Such was the perceived influence of that revival, the role of the Abbey and ‘Kathleen Ni Houlihan’ in particular, that in his later 1938 poem, ”The Man and the Echo”, Yeats was moved to ask, ‘Did that play of mine send out/Certain men the English shot?’. While much can be made of liter- ature in what , for propaganda pur- poses was usefully described as ‘ the poet’s rebellion’, because of the involvement of those such as Joseph Plunkett and Thomas Mac- Donagh, McGarry’s book paints a wider canvass, acknowledging there were many who had other strings to their bow, even in an artistic milieu such as the Abbey. Therefore cheek by jowl with Abbey star, Maire Nic Shiubhlaigh (Cumann na mBan - Jacobs Garri- son) stands Ellen Bushel (GPO Gar- rison) who was an usher in the theatre and was imprisoned after the Rising. Later she carried on her activities to the point that Peadar Kearney once remarked that she stored enough explosives in the theatre’s library to ‘blow the Abbey sky high’. A theatrical all-rounder who could turn his hand to anything, Peadar Kearney (2nd Battalion – Ja- cobs Garrison) excelled at song writing, most famously and signif- icantly in the case of the ‘Soldiers Song’, later to become the new an- them of the Free State. Beside him stands Barney Murphy (1st Battal- ion – Four Courts Garrison) Abbey stage hand and prompter, piper, O’Toole’s GAA player and rebel. McGarry’s book also covers well known actress and 1913 Lockout veteran Helena Molony (ICA – City Hall Garrison), one of whose maga- zines, ‘Bean na hEireann’, the au- thor notes, ‘featured an appealing mix of guns and chiffon’! This is a feast of a book - the lit- erary/historical equivalent of ‘death by chocolate’ for the inter- ested. It is full of anecdotes, illus- trations and memorabilia as well as honest pen portraits of the subjects who the author follows through to the post-Rising period, and in some cases, disillusion. Most of all, it remembers not just the contribution of the rank and file insurgents and workers, but also their remarkable personal gifts in the whole constellation of their lives. Rail workers fought and died on both sides during Rising By Peter Rigney T HE IMPACT of the Easter Rising on railway workers is revealed in documents kept by the Irish Railway Record Soci- ety from the period, copies of which will be displayed on Platform 1 of Heuston Station, Dublin, from late March. The documents include details of the sab- otage of railway lines by rebel forces, British troop movements and the building of ar- moured trains at some railway works. It is recorded that the attempts to sabotage the Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) at Dublin had mixed results. An unsuccessful attempt was made to blow up the bridge at Fassaugh Avenue. However, a special train conveying pigs was derailed near Ashtown, which blocked the main line to the west for a period. In addition, a locomotive was seized at Broadstone and sent up the line where it de- railed at Liffey Junction – now Broombridge. Railway staff who were killed during the Rising and its aftermath are recorded. These include rebel leader Sean Heuston who was executed on 8th May 1916. He had worked as a clerk in the Goods office at Kingsbridge Sta- tion. Also logged is the death of Mr. Moore, the District Auditor, Limerick, who was killed in crossfire as was that of Albert Warmington who was killed while fighting with the Royal Irish Regiment in the South Dublin Union. Warmington was recruited to the Great Southern Western Railway (GSWR) as a strikebreaker in 1911 and subsequently worked in Maryborough (Portlaoise) before joining the British Army. Irish Volunteers in Portlaoise claimed to have fired the first shots of the Rising when they fired on a railway inspector as they sab- otaged the line in an attempt to block troop movements to Dublin from the south two days before the Rising. The rail companies went to great lengths to find out if members of staff who had been absent during the Rising had been involved with the rebels. Documents show that employees who kept the rail system operating during the Rising were paid a bonus. A memo from 29 employees of the GSWR at the company’s Inchicore works, who had been interned for six months following the Rising, shows them requesting their jobs back. The men state that they were “wrongfully detained” and highlight that others in a sim- ilar situation working in government depart- ments had been reinstated to their jobs and paid for the time they had been absent. Grandpa the Sniper: The Remarkable Story of a 1916 Volunteer by Frank Shouldice (The Liffey Press) Drawing on prison letters, personal diaries and secret military and police files, Grandpa the Sniper retraces a remarkable journey by a reluctant hero. Part biography, part memoir, it offers readers a rare insight into one of the quiet men who gave their all for Irish freedom. |
| 32 Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition The Citizen Army dead By Michael Halpenny A FEW weeks before the Rising, Bugler William Oman of the Irish Cit- izen Army (ICA), who was all of 16 years of age, was told that he needed an ap- pendix operation. Aware of the possibility of some- thing happening in the near fu- ture, he approached the Commandant General of the ICA, James Connolly, and, in view of his impending hospitalisation, en- quired whether there was any chance of postponing the Rising? Connolly kindly assured him that there wasn’t, but that he’d be back in time. He was, and around noon on Monday, 24th April 1916, he sounded the ‘Fall-in‘ at the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union (ITGWU) Head Office, Lib- erty Hall, before heading off to his garrison at City Hall. He was a member of the Boy Scouts’ section of the ICA and the army overall had approximately 360 on its pre-1916 muster roll. It was organised in 11 sections around Dublin city between the canals and one in Baldoyle. Unlike the Irish Volunteers, it also had a Women’s Section. This mainly ITGWU workers army was originally raised by James Connolly and Jim Larkin graphic structure, with a small of- ficer corps headed by Connolly as Commandant General and Michael Mallin as second-in-command. They had a distinctive dark green uniform with slouch hat, one side often pinned up with the ITGWU Red Hand badge. They had an equally distinctive flag, the Republican Brotherhood (IRB), the planners of the Rising, he worked assiduously with them to make it a reality. He used the columns of the ITGWU weekly the Workers Repub- lic to instruct and encourage all as- pects of the army. He organised regular route marches, including night marches to famil- Model 1871 Mauser – the so-called ‘Howth rifle’ used by many of the rebels during the Rising PICTURE: Older Firearms (CC BY 2.0) early on in the 1913 Lockout to protect strikers and their families from attacks by the police and ‘scabs’. Its constitution, written by Sean O’Casey avowed the “ownership of Ireland, moral and material”, as vested as “of right in the people of Ireland”. After the Lockout it was reorganised into its pre-Rising geo- ‘Starry Plough’. Although independent of the Irish Volunteers, Connolly was nevertheless, like them, commit- ted to a rising against the British colonial government before the end of their war against Germany which had started in August 1914. Nevertheless, he was quite pre- pared to go it alone if necessary, and organised the ICA to do so. However, after his co-option on to the Military Council of the Irish iarise the ICA with its intended garrisons and role in the coming Rising. Members armed themselves with guns from a variety of sources including “Howth rifles” as well as stolen or purchased British army weapons. In the run up to Easter Week, a bomb factory was set up in Liberty Hall, which by then was becoming an armed fortress. When the Rising eventually came, the Citizen Army had re- Bullets fell like rain... T Louis Byrne (ICA number 217) Louis Byrne lived at Corporation Buildings in the north inner city and was a member of the Glouces- ter Street Section of the ICA. He was part of the Citizen Army initially sent to the GPO Headquar- ters in a detachment which in- cluded his son Louis (junior) of the Boy Scouts Section. He was then detailed to the City Hall Garrison beside Dublin Castle where he was killed on the first day of the Rising on 24th April. Captain Sean Connolly (ICA number 54) Sean Connolly (no relation to James Connolly) from Phillipsburg Avenue was the 33-year-old cap- Capt Sean Connolly tain of the small ICA detachment whose job it was to seize and hold City Hall. They marched from Lib- erty Hall after the ‘Fall-in’ sounded by young Bugler Oman. With him were his three brothers Eamon, George and Mathew (Mattie) and as they passed Tara Street Fire Sta- tion on their way they met their other brother Joe on his way to mobilise at the ITGWU Head Office before himself heading in the di- rection of St Stephen’s Green. Also in the detachment was his sister Katie who wrote for the union newspaper, The Workers’ Republic and had appeared with him only a short time previously in the play written by James Connolly Under Which Flag. A promising actor, in fact he was billed to ap- pear with another soon-to-be rebel, fellow actor Arthur Shields (later Hollywood star and brother were executed. This was the high- est proportionate casualty rate among the rebel forces. Others were wounded, some to die later of those wounds and many were deported to prison, mainly Fron- goch Camp in North Wales, with a small number of prominent women ICA to Aylesbury in Eng- land. These are the stories of those who lost their lives... ICA GPO GARRISON ICA CITY HALL GARRISON HE City Hall Garrison party, led by Captain Sean Connolly, num- bered about 40 when it left Liberty Hall to see the earliest and some of the fiercest fighting and where, in the words of Dr Kathleen Lynn, ICA Medical Officer, “the bullets fell like rain”. sponsibility for two of the seven main strongpoints to be seized, garrisoned and held – City Hall and St Stephen’s Green/College of Sur- geons. The army also had a signifi- cant number of members detailed to the GPO Headquarters Garrison. In the course of the conflict, 12 members were killed in action and two, Michael Mallin and James C o n n o l l y, of Barry Fitzgerald) in an Abbey Theatre production of WB Yeats’ play Kathleen ni Houlihan on Easter Monday evening. It was also said he was the basis of the charac- ter Captain Clitheroe in Sean O’- Casey’s The Plough and the Stars. Shortly after leading the initial assault on Dublin Castle in which Constable O’Brien of the DMP was killed, he withdrew his small force to the body of City Hall. A couple of hours later at around 3.15 p.m. he was himself mortally wounded on the roof of the building becom- ing the first rebel casualty of the Rising. He was attended by Dr Kathleen Lynn, Medical Officer of the ICA who herself would later take charge of the ultimate surren- der to Crown Forces. It is reported that she wrapped his body in the green flag from Connolly’s play Under Which Flag, as she recalled his final words in that production: “Under this flag only I will serve. Under this flag only I will die.” Charlie D’Arcy Lieutenant Charles D’Arcy was a 15-year-old leader in the ICA Boy Scouts’ Section. When the call to action came he is reported to have said: “I’m ready lads, where do you need me?” Part of the small City Hall Garrison, he was sent to help man one of the outposts of the gar- rison at the nearby Henry & James store in Parliament Street opposite City Hall. It was while in action on the roof of that rebel outpost that he was killed by enemy fire on Tuesday 25th April on the second day of the Rising. George Geoghegan (ICA number 323) George Geoghegan was a 36-year- old railway worker who was em- ployed at Inchicore Works. Originally from Kildare, he lived with his wife and children in Upper Dominick Street in Dublin’s north inner city. He was a member of the Capel Street Section of the ICA and was a member of the City Hall Garrison. According to a sub- sequent report to the National Graves Association, he was killed in the fighting at City Hall and then initially buried in Dublin Castle Yard on Wednesday 26th April. Lt. Sean O’Reilly After the death of Captain Sean Connolly, the City Hall Garrison was led by 30-year-old Lieutenant Sean O’Reilly. However, his com- mand was brief as he himself was killed by enemy fire a few hours later on Monday 24th April. Like George Geoghegan, he was ini- tially buried in Dublin Castle Yard. (He is not to be confused with John O’Reilly who also served with the Citizen Army but who was not a casualty). At the side of Connolly James McCormack (ICA number 89) Originally from County Meath, he lived at Sutton Cottages in Bal- doyle with his wife and four chil- dren. He was enrolled in the Baldoyle Section of the Citizen Army and was attached to the GPO Garrison during Easter Week, though some reports say he was detailed to the College of Sur- geons. There is equally some de- bate as to where he met his death. However, local research believes he was killed while on patrol in Moore Lane. The National Graves Association records him as having been killed in action on Friday 28th April. Thomas O’Reilly (ICA 240) Thomas O’Reilly from Geraldine Street was a member of the Dorset Street Section of the ICA. He was an electrician and also member of the St James’ Brass and Reed Band and the Emerald’s GFC. His brother John was part of the ICA City Hall Garrison while another brother, Patrick, also a member of the |
| Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition 33 EXECUTIONS ICA ST STEPHEN’S GREEN GARRISON Trench warfare... in his case on the east side of the Green facing Hume Street, when he was fatally injured by enemy fire on Tuesday 25th April. James Fox (ICA number 62) T HE St Stephen’s Green/ College of Surgeons Garrison was led by Commandant Michael Mallin and numbered about 150 men and women, includ- ing Lt Constance Markievicz and was supplemented by Irish Volunteers from the nearby Jacobs Garrison. John Adams (ICA number 97) 38-year-old John Adams from Cork Street was part of the ICA occupy- ing the west side of St Stephen’s Green opposite the present day shopping centre. In the early phase of the operation the ICA dug into slit trenches which provided little cover when enemy fire opened up, particularly from early Tuesday morning when machine gun fire from the roof of the Shelbourne Hotel began raking the park. John Adams was mortally wounded by enemy fire at his exposed position opposite South King Street and died on Tuesday 25th April. Slit trench next to railings in St Stephen’s Green used by rebels for cover Photo: eastwallforall.ie Philip Clarke (ICA number 21) Philip Clarke was a man estimated to be in his late thirties. He was from Slane, County Meath, and lived with his wife and eight chil- dren at Cork Street. He was a mem- ber of the High Street Section of the Citizen Army and was detailed to the St Stephen’s Green Garrison. He was on duty early on the morn- ing of Tuesday 25th April, building a barricade in front of the Shel- bourne Hotel, when a British ma- chine gun which had been mounted on the roof overnight opened up and he was cut down. James (Jimmy) Fox was only 16 when he was posted as part of the St Stephen’s Green Garrison. His family was originally from Meath; however, he lived in nearby Peter Street beside Jacobs biscuit factory, itself another rebel garrison, and a short walk from St Stephen’s Green. He was a member of the Aungier Street Section of the ICA and was shot on Tuesday 25th April when escaping from a trench on the north side of the Green op- posite the United Services Club held by British troops. Fred Ryan (ICA number 80) James Corcoran James Corcoran 33-year-old James Corcoran was originally from Gorey, County Wex- ford. Like John Adams, he was re- ported to have been manning an exposed position in a slit trench, Fred Ryan was a 17-year-old mem- ber of the Citizen Army from High Street. Said to have been originally a Volunteer, he joined the High Street Section of the ICA. Part of the St Stephen’s Green Garrison, he was in the attacking party on the Russell Hotel along with Mar- garet Skinnider when he was killed in action at Harcourt Street on Thursday 27th April. Margaret Skinnider was seriously wounded in the action but survived. Retribution Following the Rising, 14 insur- gents were executed in Kil- kmainham Jail after a summary Field General Court Martial. Among them were Michael Mallin and James Connolly. Others such as Eamon deValera and Con- stance Markievicz received the death sentence but had their sentences commuted.Thomas Kent was executed in Cork Jail while Roger Casement, having been tried in the Old Bailey in Lon- don for High Treason, was hanged in Pentonville Prison. Michael Mallin executed 8th May Michael Mallin was aged 42 and a British Army veteran. He was ICA Chief of Staff under James Connolly and Commandant of the St Stephen’s Green/College of Surgeons Garrison. He was ex- ecuted on 8th May along with three others, Eamonn Ceannt, Con Colbert and Sean Heuston. He left a widow and family, the youngest child being only two – now Father Joseph Mallin, who is still alive. James Connolly executed 12th May Life returns to the streets of Dublin after the Rising. In the distance stands the gutted remains of the GPO Photo: National Library of Ireland Dorset Street Section of the ICA, was a member of the St Stephen’s Green Garrison. Thomas was de- tailed to the GPO Headquarters Garrison where he fought until badly wounded on Thursday the 27th April. He was taken to the nearby Jervis Street Hospital but died of his wounds later that day. Arthur Wicks [alias John Neal] Arthur Wicks (sometimes referred to as Weekes) was originally from Norwich in England. He was a life- long trade union activist said to have been associated with the IWW (‘Wobblies’) and was impris- oned in 1913 for his role in a hotel James McCormack strike in London. Because of victimisation for his union activities he came to Dublin in 1915 and worked in the hotel trade under the alias John Neal. He was also reported to have been in- volved in gun running for the ICA. Though not known to be at- tached to any ICA section, he was detailed to Ballybough and assisted in the blowing up of the GNR rail- way line at the Fairview viaduct. On the Tuesday of Easter Week he was posted to the GPO Garrison and then sent to the nearby Metro- pole Hotel post where he was in ac- tion for the rest of the week. One report says that on the Friday, in an effort to boost morale, he dressed up in a chef’s uniform and cooked up a meal for his comrades before returning to the GPO. It was while waiting there for the order to evacuate that he suf- fered serious multiple injuries when an ammunition pouch ex- ploded beside him. He was eventu- ally stretchered out to Moore Street where the last stand of the rebel forces was made and then, after the surrender, was taken to Dublin Castle where he died. He was listed by the authorities as a civilian casualty under his alias of John Neal but is recognised by the National Graves Association as a rebel casualty under his real name. – – James Connolly as Comman- dant General of the Citizen Army and of the rebel forces in Dublin was the last to be executed. He led by example in the GPO Headquarters and was wounded twice on the Thursday of Easter Week. It was the second wound to his ankle which was the more serious and which confined him initially to a stretcher for the final stand in Moore Street and then to his hospital bed in Dublin Castle. Despite his being seriously ill as gangrene infection set in, the authorities led by Gen- eral Maxwell were deter- mined to proceed with his court martial. They were equally determined to press ahead with his execution along with that of the dis- abled Sean MacDiarmada. Both were shot in Kilmain- ham Jail on 12th May. Con- nolly was so ill that in a final ghastly act the British author- ities had him strapped to a stretcher for the firing squad. He was the last of the 1916 leaders to be executed there. Ann Mathews – “The Irish Citizen Army” [Mercier 2014] Joseph A.E. Connell – “Who’s Who in the Dublin Rising 1916” [Wordwell 2015] Jimmy Wren – “The GPO Garrison Easter Week 1916“ [Geography Publications 2015] |
| 34 Liberty • Easter Rising Centenary Edition The Wolfe Tone games – Frongoch 1916 By Michael Halpenny F RONGOCH Prison Camp in North Wales, was opened up for over 1,800 Irish rebel prisoners in June 1916. Up to then it had been used as a camp for German POW’s captured in the European War from the start of hostilities in August 1914. The rebel prisoners were from every county in Ireland, many of them fit young men, more than a few practiced in their chosen sport, particularly Gaelic games. In previous places of detention such as Stafford and Knutsford jails and in Frongoch they regularly played Gaelic football, often naming teams after the heroes of Easter Week, although one of the most successful was one called “The Leprechauns” because of the stature of the players. Following arrival in Frongoch a Camp Council was established to organise prisoner affairs. One of the bodies set up under this com- mand structure was the Games Committee. Their first major chal- lenge was the organisation of the 1916 “Wolfe Tone Commemora- tion Games” to coincide with the anniversary of Wolfe Tone nor- mally celebrated at Bodenstown, Kildare at the end of June.” The committee secretary was Drogheda man, Joseph Stanley, often called “The Printer to the Revolution”. He is so called be- cause it was he who published the daily “Irish War News“ and bul- letins each day of the Easter Rising from commandeered premises in Halston Street, Dublin. His committee minutes show an impressive programme of athletics for the Wolfe Tone Commemora- tion Games, including the follow- ing events: 100yards 220 yards 440 yards Half Mile One Mile Relay Long Jump ‘Hop, Step and Jump’ (modern Triple Jump) The Ragballers’ Gaelic football team in Stafford Jail Photo source: "My Grandpa the Sniper Frank Shouldice"( Liffey Press 2015) ‘Standing Jump’ High Jump Shot 16lb Hammer Tossing the Caber (Surprisingly!) Overall Games Champion The ‘pièce de résistance’ was the Wolfe Tone Gaelic Football Final between Louth and Kerry in Fron- goch’s very own “Croke Park” - a Their first major challenge was the organisation of the 1916 “Wolfe Tone Commemoration Games” part of the camp which had been turned into a playing field. When the games were held, records reveal an impressive show- ing by athletes such as a certain Michael Collins and Dublin foot- baller, Frank Shouldice, who had fought with the 1st Battalion at Church Street as part of the Jacobs Garrison and who is the subject of a recent book called “My Grandpa the Sniper”. Collins posted a very respectable 10 4/5 seconds for the 100 yards, a time which occasioned some sar- castic comment in the House of Commons about the standard of food provided in the camp, if a prisoner could produce such a per- formance. Collins was rightly en- raged. He also excelled at the long jump while Martin Costelloe from Galway won the mile. A prisoner from Cork called John (Sean) Hales won the Hammer. Five years or so later it was his killing by Anti – The ‘pièce de résistance’ was the Wolfe Tone Gaelic Football Final between Louth and Kerry Treaty forces that was the reason given by the Free State authorities for the summary execution of Liam Mellows, Rory O’Connor and two others. Frank Shouldice pressed Collins hard on the ‘Hop, Step & Jump’ and actually beat him in the Standing Jump, adding athletic achievement to his undoubted prowess as a sniper. However, the event which drew the most attention was the foot- ball match between Louth and Kerry. Louth had experienced glory days in the early years of the cen- tury while Kerry was – well, even then, simply Kerry. Their team was captained by the famous Dick Fitzgerald (after whom the modern Kerry stadium is named) and was populated by names which even nowadays evoke immediate recognition, such as O’Shea, Spillane, Sullivan and McEllistrim. However, the “Wee County” gave Kerry more than a run for their money and only lost by a point! Sport, allied to the other daily activities and struggles of the pris- oners in the camp played a vital role in maintaining the morale of the rebels in what became known as “The University of Revolution”. |
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