NEWSLETTER 1916-2016 Lynch Commemoration Newsletter 8

Volume 1 Issue 8

December 2015

ABSTRACT [Draw your reader in with an engaging abstract. It is

typically a short summary of the document. When

you’re ready to add your content, just click here and

start typing.]

Ruairi Lynch [Course title]

NEWSLETTER 1916-2016 Lynch Commemoration Newsletter 8

Volume 1 Issue 8

December 2015

1913 Rev. P.B.Murphy

American cleric,

Fenian revolutionary

& Spanish- American

War veteran, visits 6

Belgrave Place, Cork.

Patrick Bowen Murphy

of Boston photographed

in Cork c.1913 visiting

his cousins Margaret

Lynch and Julia Ahern.

But just who was the

Rev. Patrick Bowen

Murphy?

Ruairi Lynch explores a

distant relative’s colourful

life story that was lost in

time.

website: www.diarmuidlynch.weebly.com

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 2

22

2

Cover Article: Rev. P.B.Murphy (1850-1929) Cleric and

Fenian Revolutionary

Irish Volunteers Annual Convention 1915

Telecommunications in 1915 Ireland

German Prisoners of War, Templemore & Lynch Family Correspondence

Devoy, Lynch & Cunningham. Central Park 1924

Richard Henchion & Reply from Eileen McGough

British Intelligence files on Michael Collins

2016 News

The GAA and revolution in Ireland

Hill 60 versus Hill 16

Patrick Pearse & his Christmas Message

Nationalist Private Armies 1914-1916

Transport in 1915

Passenger Manifest – Michael, Carmel & Deirdre,1925

Conscription Threats 1915

Passenger Manifest – Diarmuid & Kit, 1929

David McWilliams Opinion on 1916 Leaders

Snapshots in Time

December 1915 snippets – this month 100 years ago

Century View & Events 2016

GPO Participants

The Dublin Castle Personalities Files

Mrs. Kathleen Clarke on Casement

The Rockingham Transport shipwreck, 1775

The U24 & the El Zorro shipwreck, 1915

December shipwrecks off the Tracton coast

Alloys Fleischmann at Man of War Cove, 1927

Dublin on the eve of Revolution

Joseph Mary Plunkett

Home Rule laid the foundations for a Rising

Casement’s Mission to Germany

Archbishop Daniel Mannix

Tracton Memorial Famine Walk

Ireland 1915 – before the Rising

John Redmond

Prelude to Revolution & Cork burns 1920

Websites, Birthdates & Next Month’s issue

DMP Detective Reports: October-November 1915

REV. PATRICK BOWEN MURPHY (1850-1929) C L E RI C , W AR V E TE R AN AN D F E N I AN R E V O LU TI O N AR Y

Photo above: Jeremiah Ahern (c1841-25 Feb 1915), Margaret Lynch nee Murphy (1847-11 Jun 1915), Julia Ahern nee Murphy (c1842 - ?), Rev. Patrick Bowen Murphy (1850-1929) Photo taken c.1913. Location presumed 6 Belgrave Place. Cork. Margaret and Julia were sisters and first cousins with Patrick. Jeremiah was a corn merchant based in 36 John Street, Cork and both he and Julia lived at 6 Belgrave Place, Cork (previously resident at 5 Waterloo Place, Cork).

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 3

22

2

Patrick Bowen Murphy (1850-1929), was an Irish

born, American Roman Catholic priest. He took part in the 1898 Spanish-American War as Chaplain to the Ninth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer, was a member of the Arundel Art Society of London; of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society; an honorary member of the Grattan Literary Association and member for life of the Congregation of Laval, Quebec, Canada. For four years he was state chaplain of the Massachusetts Knights of Columbus, an active member of Division 1, Ancient Order of Hibernians, Boston, a member of Simpson Assembly, No. 169, Royal Society of Good Fellows and he was the ex- chaplain-in-chief of the Legion of Spanish War Veterans. But the Rev. Murphy was also a Fenian member & revolutionary. A close friend of John Boyle O’Reilly (the famous poet, journalist & Fenian escapee from the West Australian convict Prison) and both took part in the 1870 Fenian Raid on Canada. Patrick Bowen Murphy was born on May 17, 1850, in Inniscarra near Cork to Daniel Walter Murphy (1833-1904) and Marianne Bowen (1832-1901) His father Daniel was born in 1833 to Patrick Denis Murphy and Anna Wall. Daniel’s siblings were Ellen, Jane, Denis (died in infancy), William, Margaret, Mary, Bartholomew, Michael and George. Patrick Denis Murphy was the son of Timothy (d.15 Mar 1843) and Mary Ann Murphy (d. 1 Feb 1838) of Blarney Street in Cork. The direct Lynch family connection is with Bartholomew Murphy. His daughter Margaret (c1847-11 Jun 1915) married widower, Timothy Lynch (1844-1890) of Granig in 1879, becoming step-mother to two year old Diarmuid and then produced five children: Mary (May 1881), Timothy (Jan 1883), Daniel (Jul 1884), Dennis (Jul 1886) and finally Michael (Jan 1890). Michael is whom from the family lines of Granig Lynch, Daly and Scott descends. Margaret & Patrick were first cousins.

Daniel was a civil engineer and constructed the military

road from Ballincollig to Ovens. He married Marianne

Bowen (1832-1901), a descendant of the Bowens of

Passage, county Cork, Ireland, famous boat builders of

that time in Cork c.1849. Two of Patrick’s siblings were

born in Ireland; William Bowen Murphy (1853-1903)

and Edward John Murphy, who died at a young age and

was buried in what was then the Botanic Gardens, Cork,

in a grave adjoining that of the famous Father Matthew.

(now St. Joseph's Cemetery).

(By the way, did you know there was once Botanic Gardens in

Cork?: On the south side of Cork City, between Turners Cross football

stadium and Munster Rugby's Musgrave Park, lies the remnants of the

southern city's long lost botanical garden. It's so long ago since the site

was used as a botanical gardens and the duration of its existence so

short, that the memory of it is almost gone from the public

consciousness. The Royal Cork Institution was set up in 1803 and

received a Parliamentary grant of two thousand pounds per year. The

Governors decided to establish a botanical garden, and in 1807 leased

a 5.5-acre (22,000 m2) site at 'Lilliput', Ballypehane, Cork. In 1808 they

employed Scotsman James Drummond (1787–1863) to lay out the

gardens. In 1822 the garden was described (Power: Botanist's guide to

the County of Cork, 1845) as having approximately six acres and a

glasshouse in a walled enclosure of 1-acre (4,000 m2). Drummond was

a noted field botanist during his time in Cork (and subsequently in

Western Australia). The Government grant was withdrawn in 1830 and

the Governors declined Drummond's offer to lease the gardens and

opted to surrender the lease. The lands were then let to Fr. Mathew of

Temperance fame for a cemetery, St. Joseph’s, which use still

continues. The only current evidence of the gardens is a cedar tree.)

Another of Daniel's brothers, George and his wife Mary

emigrated from post-famine Ireland to America in 1850

and settled in Milford, New Hampshire. There, George

became the first sergeant of Company B, First

Massachusetts Volunteers and for thirty years he was

chief truant officer of the Boston public schools. Some of

his wife Mary’s relatives, the Bowens also emigrated to

the US and settled in Milford.

Daniel was described as "a man of splendid physique, six

feet four inches tall, and very straight" and his young

family emigrated to America on the vessel "Daniel

Webster" in 1854, and settled first in Milford, New

Hampshire, where he was a road builder and where his

wife taught in local schools.

Sail

packet ship “Daniel Webster”. 1855

He moved his family to Boston, Massachusetts, and

worked as a sand contractor supplying sand for the

building of the Carney Hospital, the Little Wanderers'

Home and other public buildings in the city. Later he was

foreman in the paving department of the city. "He was

exceedingly fond of reading, and accumulated a library of

choice books, including many works on mathematics, of

which he was especially fond. This library is among the

most cherished possessions of his son [P.B.Murphy]"

Born to the Murphy family in Boston were Walter Daniel,

who died in his teens and Annie Louise, who was a

teacher in the public schools and later a graduate of New

England Conservatory of Music, Boston becoming a

teacher of organ and piano. She married John Henry

McCarthy (?-09 Feb 1909) of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 4

22

2

This was unknown to O’Neill as he marched his men, whom he called the ‘advance guard of the Irish American army for the liberation of Ireland’ towards Canada. The Fenians crossed the border around noon at which point they came under fire from Canadian militia units, many of them located on a high point named Eccles Hill. A force of militia (amongst which was Queen Victoria's son and a future Governor General of Canada, Prince Arthur) awaiting the Fenians at Eccles Hill put up resistance, resulting in firefights and skirmishing. Lieutenant-Colonel William Smith hurried to the field with a battalion of volunteer cavalry and charged the Fenian positions. The Fenians fled, leaving behind their artillery and their dead. The Canadians sustained no casualties during the engagement because of the information supplied by Thomas Billis Beach, (aka Henri Le Carron) a double agent working against the Fenians from within their own organization. "The invasion failed for lack of men, as had the first for lack of means….The story of their trip is told by Patrick Bowen Murphy in the Pilot Newspaper of September, 1878. He was present when John Boyle O'Reilly, General O'Neill and Major Maginess were formally placed under arrest by the federal government, and housed in the old jail at St. Albans, Vermont.” Once back on American soil O’Neill found that he had a new foe. The sitting US President, Ulysses S. Grant, had become fearful that, if his government was seen to do nothing while an attack was launched from US territory, then the relationship between the United States and the British Dominion of Canada could be irreparably damaged. He therefore had issued an order allowing for the arrest of any Fenian violating Canadian territory. The whole affair was a crushing blow to Fenianism in the United States. John Boyle O’Reilly, who had suffered imprisonment in Ireland, England and Australia because of his Fenian activities, gave voice to the dismay felt by many of the participants. “After the failure of the invasion, the bulk of the Fenians”, he wrote, were ‘sadder and wiser men’. He was particularly upset by the factionalism that rendered the Fenians incapable of united action as well as the condemnation which many American newspapers poured upon the whole Irish community. His paper, The Pilot, would launch a series of editorials attacking O’Neill and other Fenian leaders: ‘The men who framed and executed this last abortion of war-making have proved themselves to be criminally incompetent.’ Fenianism within the United States had been shattered. Its place would soon be taken by a new revolutionary group, Clan na Gael. The greatest impact of the Fenian raids was in developing a sense of Canadian nationalism and leading the provinces into a Confederation. This was seen as necessary for survival and self-defence; the raids showed Canadians that safety lay in unity and were an important factor in creating the modern nation-state of Canada In 1872 Governor Washburn commissioned Patrick Bowen Murphy as a second lieutenant in Company F, Ninth Regiment the Massachusetts Volunteers. In 1873 Patrick Bowen Murphy decided to study for the priesthood, entered Saint Charles College, Maryland, graduating from Leval University, Quebec, Canada and later attending the Nicholet College, Canada. In 1882, he was ordained in St. Vincent Church, South Boston. The services were attended by many relatives and friends, and in his honour, a battalion of the Ninth Regiment was present in full uniform and under arms. Fr. P.B.Murphy next became involved in organising the repatriation of the preacher & lecturer Dr. Cahill to Ireland. Daniel William Cahill (Nov 28, 1796 – Oct 28, 1864) was a Roman Catholic preacher, lecturer, writer and educator in Ireland and the United States. In 1825 he was appointed professor of natural philosophy (mathematic, physics, chemistry and astronomy) at Carlow College, where he taught for some years. He then opened a school at Seapoint, Williamstown, which he conducted from 1835 to 1841. Meanwhile he wrote largely for the press, and for a time edited the Dublin Telegraph. He became a distinguished preacher and lecturer, and his vigorous attacks on the government and the Established Church of Ireland only extended his reputation. In December 1859 he visited the United States, where he lectured on astronomy and other scientific subjects and preached in many American and Canadian cities. As he generally gave

his services for religious and charitable purposes, large sums of money were raised by him for Roman Catholic projects. He died in 1864 and was buried in Boston.

Their brother, William Bowen Murphy became a writer for magazines and contributed to many New York and Boston papers; served in the US Army under General Miles during the Geronimo uprising* and was an observer when this chief was brought in as prisoner and attempted to assassinate the General; was orderly sergeant in Battery I, Fourth Regiment of Artillery, under General George W. Getty, and honourably discharged as a "most excellent soldier" after eight years' service. He was given charge of the Metropolitan Parks Police of Boston as Sergeant and visited Europe to investigate the methods of caring for public parks and horticulture. He saved three children from drowning in the Back Bay Fens in May 29, 1892, for which he was awarded a medal by the Massachusetts Humane Society; was life member of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and never married. He died in Boston on Monday, May 11, 1903. ‘* Geronimo (June 1829 – February 17, 1909) was a prominent leader of the Bedonkohe Apache who fought against Mexico and Arizona for their expansion into Apache tribal lands for several decades during the Apache Wars. In 1886, after a lengthy pursuit by American forces, Geronimo surrendered to the Arizona authorities as a prisoner of war. At an old age, he became a celebrity, appearing at fairs, but he was never allowed to return to the land of his birth

Patrick Bowen Murphy graduated from the Lincoln School, South Boston in 1867 "… and a warm affection has existed since that time for all his schoolmates, as is attested by his presence at each yearly gathering." At an early age he became a member of the Ninth Regiment. Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, under General P. R. Guiney and Colonel B. F. Finan, and was quickly appointed sergeant-major. (The 9th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was a military unit from Boston, Massachusetts, part of the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War seeing action at Mechanicsville, Gaines Mill. Malvern Hill, the Second battle of Bull Run, Antietam, The Wilderness, Fredericksburg and Gettysburg until Union victor in 1864. It is also known as "The Fighting Ninth". The unit was an Irish heritage unit, with many volunteers having been born in Ireland.)

In 1869, through the influence of the pioneer Irish patriot of South Boston, Andrew R. Strain, Murphy became a member of the Patrick Henry Circle, Fenian Brotherhood, "... which held on its membership rolls some of the most prominent men of Irish blood in Boston". Fenian Invasion of Canada 1870

Background: Between 1866 and 1871, the Fenian Brotherhood, an Irish Republican organisation who were based in the United States, crossed the border with Canada and raided British army forts, customs posts and other Imperial targets in Canada. These raids were used to engineer a border incident that would entangle British forces in a war with the United States. (At the time the US Government had a difficult relationship with the British and various provinces in British North America due to their support for the Confederacy during the recent Civil War. While this ill-feeling was unlikely to lead to full-scale conflict, the US Government was in no mood to provide any aid to the British in Canada. While President Andrew Johnson was aware of the Fenians plans but did little to hinder them.) There were five Fenian raids of note and all of them ended in failure.

In 1870, Fenians met at a convention which took place amid much in-fighting. Only around 200 delegates attended but it resulted in a resolution to launch another raid into Canada. The Fenian force would be commanded by O’Neill and its goal was to capture two small towns on the Canadian side of border, in the hope that this success would lead to a larger confrontation. The journalist and Fenian John Boyle O’Reilly, who would write some of the most detailed accounts of the invasion, joined with the Fenian force on 25 May 1870. O’Neill, as General, mustered his men near the town of Franklin, Vermont, a few miles south of the Canadian border. Sergeant Major Murphy went to the front in the capacity of secretary to Major Maginess. "This determined and hopeful party of men left Boston in May 1870. In the party were General John O'Neill, Colonel W. J. Barry, Major Maginess, John Boyle O'Reilly, Thomas Wentworth Higginson (then a reporter), P.B.Murphy and others..." John Boyle O'Reilly (1844 –1890) was an Irish-born poet, journalist and fiction writer. As a youth in Ireland, he was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, or Fenians, for which he was transported to Western Australia. After escaping to the United States, he became a prominent spokesperson for the Irish community and culture, through his editorship of the Boston newspaper The Pilot, his prolific writing, and his lecture tours.

The army consisted of 400 Fenians (there were hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Fenians in the locality but O’Neill had weapons for only a fraction of the men). Typically, the Fenians had been infiltrated by British agents. Consequently, the Canadians had prior knowledge of the Fenian’s plans.

1915 Christmas Greetings Some Christmas Card greetings from Britain & Germany - 1915.

"One of the first duties undertaken by Father Murphy was the removal of Dr. Cahill's remains to Ireland. He succeeded so well that on Washington's birthday, [16 February] 1885, the remains of the patriot priest, scientist and scholar, Dr. Cahill, were exhumed from Hollywood, Brookline, where they had rested over twenty- one years, and transferred to Glasnevin, Dublin, Ireland's national cemetery. The Irish societies of Boston, through the aid of Patrick Ford, editor of the Irish World, and New York societies, jointly bore the burden of the great display in both cities, the Dr. Cahill memorial committee of Ireland taking charge of the remains and of the delegates accompanying them at Cobh (Queenstown). All Ireland turned out. The lord bishop of Cloyne, Dr. McCarthy, officiated at Cove Cathedral; the lord bishop of Cork. Dr. Delaney officiated in his city. His grace. Archbishop Crooke, of Cashel, met the remains at Cashel steam road station, and the people of Tipperary filled a car with their floral tributes. The See of Dublin was vacant, but the administrator, then of Maynooth and later the archbishop of Dublin, showed every courtesy to the remains and to the visitors. Before Father Murphy left on this mission he was presented with a beautiful chalice by Rev. Denis Murphy, of Cork. This chalice he has used daily ever since, in the celebration of mass…While in Ireland he was presented with an Irish jaunting car by his many friends there, and this he still has." Father Murphy was stationed as curate of the Portland Cathedral, Portland, Maine; in St. Mary's Church, Cambridgeport, with Father Scully, the war chaplain of the Ninth Regiment; in the Sacred Heart Church of East Boston and in Saint Patrick's Church, Natick, with Father Walsh. "While in Natick he organized four hundred boys as the John Boyle O'Reilly Cadets, and he also organized the John Boyle O'Reilly Band, a musical organization which attracted much attention, and played all over the country. He also organized all the children of the public schools into Bands of Mercy, in connection with the work of the Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. This action was gratefully acknowledged in Dumb Animals, the official organ of the society. No priest was ever more popular in Natick than Father Murphy. He was respected and admired by all the people, no matter of what creed. He was elected a member of the school committee of the town, and served faithfully several years." Murphy was next appointed rector of St. George’s Church, of Saxonville, one of the oldest churches in the archdiocese of Boston, where he served for fourteen years, when he was transferred as Parish Priest to the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Spanish-American War 1898 Background: The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, the result of U.S. intervention in the Cuban War of Independence. Revolts against Spanish rule had been occurring for some years in Cuba. In the late 1890s, US public opinion was agitated by anti-Spanish propaganda led by journalists such as Joseph Pulitzer and William Hearst which used yellow journalism to criticize the Spanish administration of Cuba. After the mysterious sinking of the US Navy battleship Maine in Havana harbour, political pressures from the Democratic Party and certain industrialists pushed the administration of Republican President William McKinley into a war he had wished to avoid. Compromise was sought by Spain, but rejected by the United States which sent an ultimatum to Spain demanding it surrender control of Cuba. First Madrid, then Washington, formally declared war. Although the main issue was Cuban independence, the ten-week war was fought in both the Caribbean and the Pacific (The Phillipines). US naval power proved decisive, allowing expeditionary forces to disembark in Cuba against a Spanish garrison already brought to its knees by nationwide Cuban insurgent attacks and further wasted by yellow fever.

When the Spanish-American war broke out, Fr. Murphy was commissioned on May 14, 1898, as chaplain of the Ninth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, under Colonel Bogan, appointed at his request by the late Archbishop Williams, of Boston "with good wishes and happy return for himself and regiment “

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 5

22

2

On July 17, 1898 the Spanish army surrendered. For the following two weeks 3,000 U.S. troops moved on to Puerto Rico, encountering little resistance. Of the 943 in the Ninth Regiment who were shipped to Cuba, only 342 returned to the US. 601 died in Cuba – not one killed in battle but all as a result of disease. Total American losses were 345 killed in action and 2,565 dead from disease. This war had started out as a very popular campaign, but by wars end, the shine had worn off and some brave citizens began to raise their voices in protest. Among them was the author Mark Twain. He pointed out the enormous contradictions between “our benevolent" foreign policy and its brutal consequences. As American involvement became progressively more difficult to justify, and eventually came to be defended on the grounds that the U.S. could not retire from it without suffering "dishonour", Twain advocated the position that "An inglorious peace is better than a dishonourable war." The result was the 1898 Treaty of Paris, negotiated on terms favourable to the US, which allowed it temporary control of Cuba, and ceded ownership of Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippine islands. The cession of the Philippines involved payment of $20 million ($568,880,000 today) to Spain by the US to cover infrastructure owned by Spain. The defeat and collapse of the Spanish Empire was a profound shock to Spain's national psyche, and provoked a philosophical and artistic revaluation of Spanish society known as the Generation of '98.The United States gained several island possessions spanning the globe and a rancorous new debate over the wisdom of expansionism To pay the costs of the war, Congress passed an excise tax on long-distance phone service. At the time, it affected only wealthy Americans who owned telephones. However, Congress neglected to repeal the tax after the war ended four months later, and the tax remained in place for over 100 years until, on August 1, 2006, it was announced that the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the IRS would no longer collect the tax. By the end of December 1898, Fr. Murphy had returned to his ministry in Saxonville after a compulsory 30 day quarantine period for all returning personnel in Montauk, Long Island.

Fr Murphy on return from Cuba. Photo courtesy of Ronnie Herlihy.

He was then rector of Saint George's Church at Saxonville. His military rank was equivalent to that of mounted captain, entitling him to the use of a horse, necessary to the performance of his duties. But only five horses went to Cuba with his brigade, and his saddle horse was sent home when General Shafter's order forbidding horses was issued. (It was alleged that only mules could live in Cuba). Of course, without his horse, he shared all the hardships of the regimental marches, for which he was so unprepared by his profession. His services were not confined to the Ninth Regiment but, with those of Fathers Hart and Fitzgerald, owing to his vows as a priest, were given to the whole of the third division of the Fifth Army Corps, comprising thirty thousand men. Despite the gradual build-up of hostilities, the U.S. armed forces were ill-equipped and untrained for war in Cuba, especially one involving highly coordinated land-sea operations. It was enormously fortuitous for the U.S. that the Spanish forces were even less prepared. The Spanish fleet, after successfully crossing the Atlantic, managed to trap itself in Santiago Bay, and was destroyed by the U.S. navy a few days before U.S. ground troops captured Santiago and they tried to flee the blockaded harbour. “Among his acquaintances made in Cuba was the celebrated traveller and lecturer, Peter MacOueen, who was a correspondent there for certain Boston papers. This acquaintance ripened into friendship which has continued to the present time….. Another friendship made at that time was that of James A. King, president of the Michigan American Patriotic Association, serving in Cuba as surgeon of the Thirty-third Michigan Regiment. He having learned that some strictures had been passed upon Father Murphy's performance of his duties, in a letter dated October 19, 1898, after expressing his surprise and indignation, refers to the fact in this way: "It seems to be the lot of all energetic men ambitious to do their full duty, to suffer from unjust and ignorant criticism." And again: "You are the only chaplain I saw who was always ready for duty and always looking for duty to perform… Of the many stories about Father Murphy sent from the seat of war, a correspondent of the Chicago Journal thus wrote about him: "Father Murphy was as fine a type of the American chaplain of volunteers as I saw in Cuba. He had the faculty of winning both respect and the affection of soldiers, and that was largely due to his adaptability." Further illustrating his estimate of Father Murphy, the same writer relates this incident: "Once several civilians and a slightly wounded soldier marched with him from the firing line to Siboney. That is nine miles, and we crossed two mountains and encountered two rain-storms. But the parson never whimpered, though we marched at a Killing pace, for we wanted to get under cover before night fell …and in spite of his years, he (Father Murphy) offered on that very trip to carry the wounded soldier's gun, and every mile or so he would call back to the man 'You know, my boy, what to do with that rifle if it gets too heavy for you, give it to me.”…At the request of the Archbishop of Santiago, Father Murphy performed two of the very few marriages contracted in Santiago Province during the campaign. .. Stalwart and energetic, he was occasionally called on for services not usually looked for from one of his cloth. At Siboney, with the hospital staff and engineer corps, he was active in executing the order of General Nelson A. Miles, designed to check the spread of yellow fever, to burn hundreds of buildings condemned as unsanitary” Numerically superior Cuban, Philippine, and US forces obtained the surrender of Santiago de Cuba and Manila despite the good performance of some Spanish infantry units and fierce fighting for positions such as San Juan Hill. With two obsolete Spanish squadrons sunk in Santiago de Cuba and Manila Bay and a third, more modern fleet recalled home to protect the Spanish coasts, Madrid sued for peace.

Following his service in Cuba, Fr. Murphy settled back into clerical life. According to the Biographical History of Massachusetts: Biographies and Autobiographies of the Leading Men in the State (volume 6) Published in 1916 (from which much of the detail for this article was sourced) Fr. Murphy was a member of the Arundel Art Society of London; of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society; honorary member of the Grattan Literary Association, member for life of the Congregation of Laval (affiliated), Quebec, Canada. For four years he was state chaplain of the Massachusetts Knights of Columbus, and an active member of Division 1, Ancient Order of Hibernians, Boston. He was a member of Simpson Assembly, No. 169, Royal Society of Good Fellows; he is the ex- chaplain-in-chief of the Legion of Spanish War Veterans. By 1916 “Father Murphy is at present the rector of the Church of the Holy Rosary, South Boston. He is a graceful speaker and is much in demand on public occasions. Father Murphy is decidedly in favour of military training for school boys, and believes that all young men should be affiliated with some military organization, as it teaches them proper carriage, erect form, respect for all superiors, promptitude in all things, and even makes them better business men, and better companions. In word and act Father Murphy has upheld the dignity of his high calling.” There is scant information relating to Murphy between 1916 and 1929 apart from brief family references to him by Diarmuid Lynch while he lived in New York (1918-32). Fr. Murphy was a frequent visitor to Ireland, Ovens and Granig over the years. A number of photos survive in the Lynch Family archives of these visits (such as the cover of this month’s Newsletter) and portraits in his military chaplain uniform. On April 30, 1929, Fr. Murphy left his South Boston parish of Our Lady of the Rosary and sailed aboard the S.S. Cedric to Ireland for an annual holiday. While at sea in mid-Atlantic, he passed away aged 80. His funeral service was held in Cobh Cathedral where he had lain in state for a number of days, attended by ‘the great and the good’ until burial on a wet Tuesday morning, 7th May, 1929 to his Great Grand-parent’s plot in St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Cork.

Photo courtesy of Ronnie Herlihy. Source: Cork Examiner. May 8th, 1929.

The Tablet, the London based Catholic international weekly review in the 11 May 1929 issue reported: "A PRIEST'S DEATH AT SEA.—In St. Joseph's cemetery, Cork, there was buried last Tuesday an Irish priest, the Rev. P. B. Murphy, whose field of labour was in the United States, and who died on board the Cedric while on the way home to his native land. The body was landed at Cobh on Monday and rested, until the funeral, in St. Patrick's, Cork.—R.I.P."

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 6

22

2

Shortly afterwards, the Cork Examiner reported on the

'Decoration of the Grave’ c. June 1929. Diarmuid Lynch

was amongst relatives attending (below and thanks to

Ronnie Herlihy for contributing these photos and cuttings to

the Newsletter):

St, Joseph’s Cemetery Headstone left: The burial place of Timothy Murphy of Blarney Lane and family. His beloved wife Mary Ann departed this life February 1, 1838 aged 68 years. Also the aforementioned Timothy Murphy. Departed this life March 15, 1843 aged 77 years. Centre: Patrick B. Murphy Chaplain 9 Mass.Inf. Sp.Am. War. In loving memory of Rev Patrick B. Murphy. Pastor. South Boston, Mass. (Photos courtesy of Ronnie Herlihy)

Continued >

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 7

Irish Volunteers Second Annual Convention. Dublin, 1915.

BY THE AUTUMN of 1915, the Military Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood was well-established and was busy planning an insurrection for the spring of the following year. Joseph Plunkett had been to Germany earlier in the year to seek German Government aid, Roger Casement was still in Germany, and Military Council and other IRB members were in key positions in the Irish Volunteers. It was a year since Irish Parliamentary Party leader John Redmond had split the organisation by urging Irishmen to join the British Army to fight in the First World War. The Irish Volunteers who remained true to their original aim included those seen as moderates such as the Volunteers’ President, Eoin Mac Neill, as well as the strong IRB element. Though greatly reduced in numbers due to the Redmondite split, the Volunteers in late 1915 saw themselves as a leaner and tougher organisation, with a greater emphasis on military training. Delegates from across Ireland, as well as from Glasgow and Liverpool, assembled for the Second Annual Convention of the Volunteers in the Abbey Theatre in Dublin on Sunday 31 October. The largest contingents were from Dublin, Cork and Limerick and included the Tracton Irish Volunteer Captain, Michael F. Lynch.

Michael Lynch

Mac Neill, who had previously given qualified support to Redmond as Home Rule leader, used his presidential address to denounce his leadership. He said the Volunteers were asked “to submit to the rule of an autocracy which claimed to be infallible and which looked with disfavour on any expression of opinion that did not take the form of a vote of confidence”. Mac Neill said they had tried to maintain unity in the Volunteers while the British Government adopted the policy of partition, but the breaking point was reached “when we were called upon to cast aside our pledges and to become a British imperial organisation”. He said: “We are now and must continue to be a national defence force for Ireland, for all Ireland and for Ireland only.” Mac Neill’s main ally in the Volunteer leadership was Bulmer Hobson, Honorary Secretary, who had fallen out with the IRB. He presented a detailed report on the work of 1915. Joseph Plunkett reported on the formation of the Headquarters Staff. The key IRB figures on that staff were both IRB Military Council members – Plunkett himself, who was Director of Military Operations, and Pádraig Pearse, who was Director of Military Organisation.

Rev. P.B.Murphy continued Postscript: While completing research for this article, I came across a reference to Daniel Walter and his son William Bowen on Ovens R.C. Church. Historian Kieran McCarthy visited Ovens Church and wrote of the stained glass windows and their inscriptions in one of his popular weekly articles published by the Cork Independent Newspaper: “I sat in one of the pews in St. John the Baptist, the light streaming through a stained glass window of the ‘Lamb of God’. At the base is inscribed the name Daniel Walter Murphy, born Muloughroe RIP, 1823 and his Mary A. Bowen, his wife, born Passage, Cork 1823, RIP. A second stained glass window of Mary, Mother of Christ, is inscribed William Bowen Murphy, born Mullaghroe, died Boston. USA, RIP, The inscriptions do not say anymore but do invite the viewer to remember the patron. Through my actions, I perform what the memorial wants me to do. Memorials such as these tend to indirectly highlight the remembered in a high social standing stressing their personal qualities, goodness and piety….” Our City, Our Town, Words of Stone by Kieran McCarthy. 14 January 2010 – http://kieranmccarthy.ie/?p=2205

Article Sources: Biographical History of Massachusetts: Biographies and Autobiographies of the Leading Men in the State (volume 6) Published 1916 http://www.mocavo.com/Biographical-History-of-Massachusetts-Biographies-and-Autobiographies-of-the-Leading-Men-in-the-State-Volume-6-Volume-10/938617/381, The Ninth Regiment of Infantry, USV in the Spanish American War by F. T. Pope. 1911. Thanks too to Ronnie Herlihy for copy photos and news snippets. His book on St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Cork will be in bookshops May 2016, Kieran McCarthy for permission to reference his work and T. Hayes for photographs of Ovens Church and one of the church’s Stained Glass windows.

It is with sadness that we announce

the passing of:

Frederick (Fred) O’Dwyer

Father of Freddie O’Dwyer

Fred passed away on Thursday, 12th November 2015

in his 93rd year.

Our condolences to Freddie, Emer and family.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 8

were no reported escape attempts. The prisoners were well fed and accommodated, and one commented to a policeman that ‘it would take a good many bayonets to get us out of Templemore barracks!’

The POWs referred to Richmond, Templemore as ‘Turnhalle barracks’ in letters home to their families. Each day they were taken out of barracks for exercise, usually for a route march to the nearby village of Barnane before returning to camp. Some of the soldiers were accomplished musicians and singers, and each Sunday the prisoners were marched to their respective churches in the town, where they played the organ and formed choirs. It was reported that prisoner’s faiths were evenly divided. As they marched to and from church, the POWs sang their national songs, and, appropriately in the circumstances, were often heard singing ‘It’s a long way to Tipperary’.

Two German prisoners died while detained in Templemore. Private A. Gierzweski died of diabetes in December 1914, and Private L. Spellerberg died of food poisoning in March 1915. Both were buried in the Church of Ireland, Templemore cemetery with full military honours provided by the Leinster Regiment, and the Last Post was played as the coffins were lowered. In 1959 the remains of both soldiers were re-interred at the German Military Cemetery in Glencree, Co. Wicklow. As a mark of gratitude to local people for respectfully maintaining the graves over the years, the German War Graves Commission gave permission for both headstones to remain in the cemeteries where they had originally been laid.

At Christmas 1914 it was reported that the ‘number of presents received from the Fatherland was almost beyond counting’. On Christmas Eve, local people came to the barracks to listen to the POWs singing Christmas carols in their native tongue. Despite the ongoing war, a warm and friendly relationship had developed between the prisoners and the local townspeople.

In March 1915, however, a decision was taken to move the prisoners to England. The official reason for the move—as reported in the RIC magazine—was that sanitary facilities in Templemore were not up to standard, and also that the barracks were now required as a training depot for Irish soldiers preparing for the front. A secret report compiled by the RIC Special Branch, however, revealed that Pierce McCann, a senior member of the Irish Volunteers from Tipperary, had ‘attempted to visit the POWs in Templemore’ and had been involved in ‘the distribution of anti-recruiting and pro-German leaflets’. It was also reported that volunteers under McCann’s command had formulated a plan to attack Richmond barracks, Templemore and liberate the prisoners. The RIC reported that McCann was ‘intimately acquainted with P. H. Pearse, the O’Rahilly, Thomas McDonagh, the Plunketts and other extremists’. Given the links that existed between Irish Republicans and the German government, it is credible that McCann’s attempt to visit the POWs was the real reason behind the decision to move the prisoners to England.

Not keen to leave The POWs were not keen to leave with the RIC magazine reporting that ‘many were the regrets uttered at the thoughts of being taken away from the comfortable quarters and the “Gudde nicey people” of Templemore’. They were moved to the Lilford Mill camp at Leigh, Lancashire. Prior to their arrival, local newspapers began publishing virulent anti-German propaganda as part of a wider campaign to boost morale on the home front. ‘Spy fever’ abounded in England, and it was alleged that German soldiers had been involved in atrocities in Belgium and France. Journalists were sent to report on the preparations for the prisoners’ departure from Templemore, which was described as ‘the quietest place on earth’. When the prisoners first arrived in Lancashire, they were depicted very negatively in local newspapers. One commented that ‘they had a villainous look about them which satisfies one of their being capable of committing every conceivable kind of atrocity’. Another stated that ‘we are sorry to think that for a couple of years the pure air of respectable Leigh will be tainted with the breath of these specimens of the scrapings of Hell’. Anti-German sentiment was very strong in the area, particularly after the sinking of the Lusitania off the coast of Ireland in May 1915. Consequently, the POWs had a difficult time during their detention in Leigh and were employed working in local coalmines under very harsh conditions.

Continued on next page >

1914-15: German Prisoners of War, Templemore Research for Newsletter articles can sometimes lead to unusual discoveries. Case in point was this cutting attributed to the Irish ‘Daily Independent’ of 12 December, 1914 which made me curious. Was there a POW camp in the north Tipperary town? Garda Sergeant John Reynolds, serving in the Garda Síochána College, Templemore confirms there was a huge Prisoner of War camp referencing a 2008 article published by History Ireland.

Following the outbreak of the Great War in August 1914, the UK government interned ‘all Germans, Hungarians and Austrians of military age’ throughout Britain and Ireland, and 300 civilians were briefly interned at Richmond Barracks, Templemore [not to be confused with Richmond Barracks, Dublin]. When the first batch of 400 military prisoners arrived on 10 September 1914, the civilian internees were moved to camps at Oldcastle, Co. Meath, and on the Isle of Wight. The arrival of the POWs in Templemore generated much interest both locally and nationally. The magazine of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) commented that the POWs were received ‘with much cordiality by the townspeople’, who had long been campaigning to have the barracks reoccupied for the economic benefit of the town. The prisoners arrived in Ireland on specially chartered vessels, landing at the North Wall in Dublin. They were then taken under heavy guard by train to Templemore. On their arrival they were described as having a ‘very crestfallen appearance’ and that ‘utter dejection seemed to have fallen upon them’. Up to 50 of the soldiers were suffering from serious injuries sustained in battle, and they were cared for in the military hospital at Richmond.

‘Mastering the subtleties of the Bearla’ While marching to the barracks from the railway station, one prisoner was heard to ask a local publican to get him ‘a pint’, prompting a local newspaper to interpret this as a sign that the new arrivals ‘had mastered the subtleties of the Bearla’. Within two weeks over 2,300 prisoners had arrived in Richmond. The two large barrack squares were divided into four separate compounds. Each had high observation towers complete with machine-guns and searchlights. The entire camp was surrounded by barbed wire and patrolling sentries from the 3rd Leinster Regiment. The prisoners had been captured during battles in the early months of the war, including Aisne and Mons. There was also a detachment of the élite Uhlan cavalry and fourteen sailors from the Koenign Luise minelayer, which had been sunk by the Royal Navy’s HMS Amphion on 15 August 1914, the first naval engagement of the war.

The prisoners included soldiers from the 35th Brandenburg Infantry, the 74th Hanoverian Regiment, the 211th Reserve Regiment, the 241st Reserve Regiment, the 4th Jaeger Regiment, the 212th Reserve Regiment and the 9th Regiment. A local newspaper commented that ‘the arrival of the prisoners is calculated to greatly re-enliven the town’. This proved to be the case, with many visitors coming to the barracks out of curiosity to see the POWs. Local businesses benefited from supplying the barracks, and one enterprising local shopkeeper, Mr Percy, set up a store in the barrack yard to supply the prisoners. In keeping with established POW conventions, the Germans were paid the relevant wage to which they were entitled while bearing arms for the Kaiser, according to their rank. Officers were allowed to have their own servants of private rank and were also permitted out of Richmond each day for a walk, but always under armed guard.

No reported escape attempts. The POWs were kept busy maintaining the camp and barrack squares. Some of the soldiers were skilled tradesmen, and laid a parquet floor in the local convent. One soldier of the 35th Brandenburg regiment carved seventeen amusing verses commemorating his detention into the shoulder blade of a cow, ending with the comment ‘The English are very brave but nothing to be afraid of’. The captured soldiers and their guards soon settled into a comfortable routine and there

It was reported that several prisoners were shot dead during various attempts to escape in the years that followed. After the POWs left Templemore, it became a huge training barracks for Munster Fusiliers and Leinsters destined for the trenches of the Western Front. Little evidence remains today of the time spent by over 2,300 German prisoners in Richmond Barracks as ‘guests of the nation’. On Independence, Richmond was renamed McCann Barracks in honour of Pierce McCann who had planned to liberate the German prisoners in 1915 and died on hunger strike in Gloucester Jail in 1919. The Garda Training College took over the barracks in 1964.

Ludwig Spellerberg. Further research shows that today in the Templemore Church of Ireland parish church, which lies at the Roscrea end of the town, a small stone cross with a German inscription can still be seen: “Hier ruht unter lieber kamerad L. Spellerberg vom Inf Regt 212 21e Komp am 21 Feb 1895 aw 21 Jan 1915”

“Below here lies our dearly loved comrade”. A German infantryman, Ludwig Spellerberg dead a month short of his twentieth birthday. He died from food poisoning and was buried with full military honours by members of the Leinster Regiment. Templemore was not to be Ludwig Spellerberg’s last resting place. The German War Graves Commission, the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, opened a military cemetery at Glencree in Co Wicklow in 1961 and the mortal remains of German soldiers buried in various parts of Ireland were brought to a place of beauty and tranquility. Each flat stone cross marks a paired burial. Some are named and some are not.

Ludwig Spellerberg (21 February 1894 – 21 January 1915) is buried next to Gefrite (Private First Class) Franz Gunther (24 August 1918 – 29 September 1940). (Franz Gunther was one of five crew members aboard a Luftwaffe Heinkel HE-11P from 8-111-KG55 Kampfgeschwader 55 "Greif" (Squadron 8, Group 3, Battle Wing 55) on a night bombing mission from France over the Bristol Aircraft factory at Filton, 29 September 1940. Lost and damaged, the Heinkel crew of Kohler, Birkolz, Firchau, Gunther and Lippert were intercepted at dawn off the Wexford coast by three Hurricanes from the RAF 79 Squadron based in Pembrey, Wales. In the ensuing dogfight, all three Hurricanes were shot down before the Heinkel crashed into the sea close to Curracloe. None of the Heinkel’s crew survived. The bodies of Birkholz, Firchau and Gunther were buried locally and later reinterred in Glencree. Kohler & Lippert were never found. Of the three RAF Flight Officers shot down, George Peters was killed when his aircraft crashed into the sea near Rosslare. His body was later washed up at Grange, Co. Wexford and buried in Rathnew cemetery. George Nelson Edwards bailed out into the Irish Sea and was rescued by a passing vessel and returned to Wales. Paul Mayhew crash landed north of Curracloe at Ballyvadden, Co. Wexford and interned as a prisoner of war in Co. Meath. He “escaped” in July 1941 but was later killed in a flying accident in February 1942. The RAF aircraft was salvaged and purchased by the Irish Government, later entering service with the Irish Air Corps in 1941.

Family Correspondence Judging by various letters exchanged between Alice Lynch and her sister-in-law, Mary in Granig, there were frequent misunderstandings and difficulties between both. However, the letter printed here is a beautifully crafted Christmas note of peace and goodwill. There seems to have been little correspondence between both following a disagreement earlier in the year but this letter was one of the very few that Mary retained and has survived to be included in the archives. 23 December, 1915 Jones Rd Distillery. My dear Mary. I, or rather, we cannot let this holy season of peace and goodwill pass without sending you from Denis and myself, best wishes for a happy Xmas filled with untold consolations. I know it will not be as other Xmas’ but please God you will find at this time many joys and blessings. You may be surprised to hear from us, but Mary [our] relationship is too sacred, and brotherly and sisterly love ought to be above such differences. Each of us have, and will have many sad trials to bear which will be God’s will for us, without making trials and sadness for ourselves. I am at the moment overwhelmed by the news of dear Uncle Richard’s death. Only, thank God that I have a dear, loving husband to console and cheer me, it would be more than I could bear. We are all broken hearted, for poor Uncle Richard with his big soft heart was dearer to each one of us. He shared all the joys and sorrows when he was amongst us, and since he went to Canada also. He lightened everyone’s problems often by increasing his own and now God has taken the good, big-hearted man to himself. Denis and I have had sorrows this year which has left us well-nigh desolate and so I say Mary, we will all have our share of sorrows, without making more for ourselves. And now may our dear Lord console us all this Xmas, and replace our sorrows with joys and blessings. Will you give our love and good wishes to Diarmuid, Tim, Dan and Michael and accept the same for yourself. Yours affectionately, Alice

PS Our love and good wishes to Aunt Julia also. Lynch Family Archives – Folder 2 – 1915-1916

The Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway

(CB&SCR), was an Irish gauge (1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)) 94

mile (151km) railway in Ireland. It opened in 1849 as the

Cork and Bandon Railway, changed its name to Cork

Bandon and South Coast Railway in 1888 and became

part of the Great Southern Railway in 1924 and closed in

1961. Above is a rare 2d stamp ‘fee for conveyance of

single post letters by railway’

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 9

Although a neutral country Ireland did not entirely escape the direct effects of the Second World War. There were events such as the bombing of Dublin’s North Strand, the destruction of the Campile Creamery in County Wexford, isolated bomb droppings in many locations, the sinking of Irish ships, the threats of invasion and the general rigours of war time restrictions. Some of the Germans killed in action over Ireland resulted from causes such as aircraft getting lost in foul weather or crashing as a result of damage in action over England. Running out of fuel and navigational errors from inexperience also caused fatalities. These Luftwaffe (Air force) personnel are all buried in Glencree. Interred here also are a number of regular naval personnel (Kriegmarine) whose bodies were found washed up, sometimes in remote coastal locations. 53 of the air and naval service men buried in Glencree have identities while 28 are unknown. Probably the most unfortunate victims were 46 German civilian detainees who were in the process of been shipped from England to Canada for internment and died when their ship, 'The Arandora Star' was torpedoed by a German U Boat off of Tory Island in July 1940. Although civilians, these persons were deemed military casualties and so were entitled to be buried in the military cemetery. Six soldiers of the First World War are also interred. These soldiers died while prisoners in a British prisoner of war camp located in Ireland in 1915/18. In all 134 persons are buried in the cemetery. The idea of the German War Cemetery was originally espoused in 1951 by Dr Katzenberger, the first accredited German envoy to Ireland after the war. He was devoted to locating and centralising the German war graves in Ireland so they could be better maintained and the dead given due recognition. In the immediate aftermath of the war German dead in Ireland were scattered through 15 counties in 59 graves. In 1959 the Glencree site was agreed by the Irish and German governments as the suitable location for a central German war cemetery and the project was then handed over to Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgraberfursorge of Kassel in Germany, who organise and care for German war cemeteries all over Europe and further afield. The old quarry site was modified and landscaped over several seasons by German and volunteers of other nationalities through the summers of 1959, 1960 and 1961. Glencree Deutsche Kriegsgraberstatte dedicated on 09-Jul-1961.

The Glencree cemetery has a commemorative poem by Stan O’Brien’s inscribed upon a memorial stone in German, English and Irish:

It was for me to die Under an Irish sky There finding berth In good Irish earth

What I dreamed and planned bound me to my Fatherland

But War sent me To sleep in Glencree

Passion and pain Were my loss my gain:

Pray as you pass

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 10

Devoy, Lynch and friends Central Park, New York 1924 Eileen McGough recently contributed this never before published photograph of John Devoy, Diarmuid Lynch and two unknown friends. No details were recorded on the photo other than an impression it was taken in Central Park, New York prior to Devoy’s visit to Ireland in 1924 and a hunch as to who the person on the extreme right was. Identifying images captured over ninety years ago can be problematic, particularly in never before published photographs where vital information is not recorded. While various online image recognition sites can locate other copies of an image online, nothing was found to identify these two unknown friends of Devoy & Lynch. Old fashioned research work followed. Images containing Devoy were checked online and in various published books, theses and articles in an effort to identify the sartorial duo by connection and inclusion. While interesting little items surfaced (see photo below) and some possibilities were ruled out, no direct photos to prove or disprove the Historian’s hunch were discovered. This photo dates from c.1924. Central Park, New York. With John Devoy were the former Cumann na mBan member Kathleen Kemmy McLoughlin, her son Charles McLoughlin and an unknown member of the 69th Regiment. (Source: Terry Golway

‘John Devoy’ 1998. Note Devoy’s habit of carrying papers in his right hand jacket pocket in both photos)

A newspaper item finally lead to a positive identification of one of the men. The background story is that on July 19th 1924, having spent 54 years as a political exile in America John Devoy boarded the President Harding as it prepared to sail from New Jersey's Hoboken's pier to Ireland. His friend Harry Cunningham, an emigrant from Donegal, IRB and Friends of Irish Freedom member, accompanied him on the voyage and travel in Ireland. On the 28th of July, photographer W.D.Hogan of the Irish Times captured an image of John Devoy arriving at Government Buildings to meet President Cosgrave of the Irish Free State Government. The figure accompanying Devoy clearly resembles the man seated next to Diarmuid in the earlier photo above. Research through the Irish Times establishes that our unknown man (and incidentally Eileen’s hunch) is Devoy’s long-term friend, New Yorker and former Donegal man, Harry Cunningham (1891-1938).

On hearing of Devoy’s return, his childhood sweetheart Eliza Kilmurray wrote to him. The letter came as a surprise to Devoy as he had heard some years earlier that she had died. He responded by visiting her home in Naas and a visit to where his house once stood at Greenhills. Three days previous to his meeting with Eliza Murray he was a guest of honour in Croke Park for the opening of the Tailteann Games and was greeted with a very enthusiastic reception from a full stadium. President Cosgrave saluted him with a banquet in Dublin's Dolphin Hotel before his return to New York. After a memorable six weeks in Ireland Devoy returned to New York on September 6. Devoy, now in old age would begin writing his memoirs, Recollections of an Irish Rebel. At the age of 86 his health, which had been fading for some time deteriorated further and early in the morning of 29 September, 1928 in a hotel room in Atlantic City John Devoy died in the presence of his friend Harry Cunningham. His body was returned to New York for a funeral mass in Manhattan's Church of the Ascension before John Devoy would make one final visit to Ireland on the President Harding leaving New York in June 5, 1929. His remains arrived in Dublin where he lay in state in City Hall before he was accorded a state funeral to Glasnevin Cemetery and laid to rest alongside his Fenian comrade, O’Donovan Rossa.

Richard Dalton, Diarmuid Lynch and Harry Cunningham were

executors of Devoy's Will. “The Devoy grave was originally purchased

by Harry Cunningham. The trusteeship was later transferred to James

Reidy - both these men were from New York” (Edward Maguire

statement to the Bureau of Military History.

Harry Cunningham was honoured on his return in 1929:

Harry Cunningham died aged 48 in 1938:

As for the younger unidentified man? Research is continuing.

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 11

Richard Henchion survey Tracton Abbey Graveyard

In the current edition of ‘The Journal of the Cork

Historical and Archaeological Society (2015)’, local

historian Richard Henchion authored a survey of the

Tracton Abbey graveyard. This included historical

notes on the Lynch family and specifically, Diarmuid

and is reproduced here:

“If the Cadogan and Falvey Dictionary is accepted as the biographical bible of Cork then Diarmuid Lynch (1878-1950) will be acknowledged as one of Tracton's most important personages for only four natives of the parish are profiles in that authorative work and he is one of the four. Nor will there be any inclination to cast doubt on Diarmuid's own claims that he was of the ninth generation of Lynch's in Granig for all that was needed to prove that was an ancestor born around 1620 and we know from the census returns of the 17th century that Lynch was among the most numerous surnames in Kerrycurrihy at that particular time. Moving on to the next century we meet Daniel Lynch of Granig who died about 1772 9Index of Cork Wills) and Dan Lynch of Granig (20) who dies in 1801. In 1828 Jeremiah Lynch (c.1808-c.1875) was farming 41.5 acres in the town land. Granig was a very crowded place at that period there being no less than 22 farming households with acreages ranging from 6 to 73 and names as familiar as Ahern, Brien, Canty, Coveney, Daunt, Lynch, Neill and Walsh. The Great Famine boosted rather than crushed the Lynch's for in 1850 three substantial holdings were in the name of Jeremiah Lynch, although it is possible that two or even three Jeremiahs, rather than one person so names, were in question. The farms were of 61, 91 and 47 acres, the last two having substantial buildings valued at £5.10.0 and £3.10.0 attached. A Jeremiah also had a slate quarry valued at £6. What series of events brought about this transformation must remain one of Tracton's mysteries until unravelled. By 1875 Timothy J. Lynch (1844-1890) was the top man at

Granig. In February, 1877, when described as the youngest son of the late Jeremiah Lynch and Margaret Collins, Tracton Abbey, he married Hannah, the second daughter of Denis Dunlea, Ballyvorisheen House, Carrignavar, at her home, Canon Freeman, PP, Glanmire, who was her cousin, officiating. Diarmuid (d.1950) asserted that this lady was his mother and that she died at his birth. He was christened Jeremiah Christopher. In December 1879, Timothy married secondly Margaret, the 26 year old daughter of Bartholomew Murphy, Knockanemore, Ovens, whom Diarmuid described, mistakenly it would seem, as a native of Riverstick. Five years later, by an extraordinary twist of fate, Timothy found himself in the Bankruptcy Court. There he stated that he had two farms but they were not worth much after rent was paid. He thought one was worth about £300 the other £150. His father had made a will, which had not been proved. One of his sisters had married and gone to Australia. When he himself was married in 1879 he received £300 with his wife. His father-in-law Bartholomew Murphy handed it to him. After he received the money, he paid off a number of debts. In the bank there was a bill for £170 to which his name and that of his brother were appended, but he had paid off the final instalment. No settlement had been made at the time of his marriage, but two years later one was concluded for the benefit of his wife and family. Whatever answers were given later to questions about the value of the stock and property were not published, nor were the details of his wife's examinations made available, for an adjournment intervened and the final outcome of the hearing seems to have eluded journalistic attention completely. Mr Thomas F. O'Connell acted on behalf of the bankrupt. Timothy Lynch died 28 December 1890 at 28 Waterloo Place leaving a personal estate of £510. He was only 46 years of age at the time. In 1901 his widow, Mrs Margaret Josephine Lynch (48) was residing at Granig with four sons, Timothy B (15), Daniel J. (13), Denis J (13) and Michael F (11) as well as a daughter, Mary (16),Three servants, one a male, were part of the household. Timothy B. (b.1885) of Temple View, Ballintemple, died 27 April, 1958, his wife, the former Nellie Forde, on 8 August 1967; Daniel Joseph (b.1877) of Granig died on 24 February 1955, while Mary (b.1884) of Granig died unmarried on 11 October, 1957. All four were buried in St. Joseph's Cemetery in Cork in a plot purchased by Daniel Joseph in 1915 to receive his mother who had died at Granig on 11 June, 1915.

Denis J, who acquired Upton House, and his wife Alice Mary Wyatt who died there on 10 March 1968, are also buried in this plot. On the other hand, Michael F (1890-10 October 1956) is buried in Ballyfeard as is his wife Carmel Quinn (d. 3 December 1960) who was the sister of his step-brother Diarmuid's wife, Kit Quinn. To Michael's son, Diarmuid and his wife Mary Rose Coveney, author and columnist, the Granig acres descended being now farmed by their family. Going back to Diarmuid, the first son of Timothy, it could be said that in attempting to evaluate his ranking as an Irish nationalist there is inclination to admit that he is deserving of more acclaim than has been afforded to him, but also a recognition that time was more likely to push him onto the sidewalk of history when he had not been at the coalface of battle during the War of Independence even though he had been a close associate of the 1916 leaders and had fought as a Staff Captain in the GPO during that most famous of Easter Weeks before being deported to the USA in 1918 where he was to remain until 1932. For him, deportation to the USA would not have been as displacing as it would have been for many another for he was a citizen of that country, which had already provided him with his own first home. Furthermore, becoming a married man just before he was shunted out was also likely to change his priorities substantially so that when he came to weigh up the advantage of the new life beckoning to him from abroad against assuming the duties first of Sinn Fein MP for Cork South-East and later a TD in an impoverished, war torn Ireland it was not too difficult to make a choice. By contrast with the exuberant tones of the telegram which he sent from New York in December 1918 on hearing of his first election success, the wording of which was 'To Lynch, C.I.V. Rochestown, Cork. Convey my heartfelt thanks to the people of south-east Cork. All lovers of liberty in America are enthusiastically with us'. The letter announcing his unwillingness to serve in the first Dail, which emanated from New York in 1920, was long winded - over 1,000 words - and seemed to suggest he was - just then at least - more an idealist than a pragmatist where Irish freedom was concerned. One perceives that he had been softened by foreign and domestic influences to approach Irish politics more as a spectator than a participant. He was not cast in the same mould as Michael Collins and as time as shown it was the Michael Collinses that the people came to cherish. One suspects that there was some doubts about his true blue bloodedness in the minds of his IR colleagues when he was not inducted onto the Military Council that planned the details of the Rising, although he was a member of the Supreme Council and Pearse had entrusted him with the deciding where in Kerry the German arms were to be landed. Justification for the doubts may be extracted from Lynch's behaviour once he had been deported to the US. He continued to be attached to Ireland's cause, but it was as a paid desk-operative, not a fiery revolutionary. He became increasingly influenced by his superiors, Daniel F. Cohalan and John Devoy, men who viewed Ireland's trauma from the grandstand of a foreign country experiencing nothing of the raids, burnings and shootings that were convulsing what had once been the Island of Saints and Scholars. There was extra ground for a personal closeness with Devoy since he and Lynch's wife were both natives of Co. Kildare. Lynch's reputation suffered its most serious set-back when the powerful support group, the Friends of Irish Freedom, of which he was National Secretary, was devastated as a result of De Valera's setting up the American Association of the Irish Republic in opposition. Sensing that the tide was turning against him, Lynch declined to make common cause with De Valera, at the same time resigning his Dail seat to which he had been elected unopposed in 1918 thanks to his Coveney neighbours at home fighting his cause in his absence. Being the first deputy ever to resign from Dail Eireann was hardly an achievement likely to warm the chilled hearts of those at home who had chosen him as their representative. And it was not conducive to his reputation that his resignation was received without demurral. Another shattering blow to Lynch's good name was the editing of his biographical sketch with the title The IRB and the 1916 Insurrection by Florence O'Donoghue in 1952. In nearly 100 pages of that work was reproduced line-by-line excoriations of published work by R.M. Fox and Desmond Ryan, which left the reader believing that Lynch was nothing more than a crotchety old nit-picker. It was a withering misjudgement on the part of O'Donoghue for it put the seal on a career that had a recent essayist describing Diarmuid as 'one of the forgotten men of 1916'. Other set-backs that deflated the character of Lynch were (a) the opinion of fellow

deflated the character of Lynch were (a) the opinion of fellow Corkman J.J.Walsh who reckoned he was only in the 'second grade' and (b) the loss of recognition that prompted the exclamation 'Who is he?' when Diarmuid was proposed for office in Cummann na Gaedheal in 1927. Hopefully there will be new and more balanced assessments of Lynch's status generated between now and the centenary of the Easter Rising in 2016.Having returned from America, Lynch finally settled at Tracton, occupying a bungalow facing the Graveyard. When he died, 9 November, 1950, Mr Sean T. O'Kelly, President of Ireland, attended the funeral. The chief mourners were Mrs Kit Lynch, his widow, Miss Mary Lynch, his step sister, Messrs Tim, Dan, Denis, and Michael, his step-brothers, Diarmuid Lynch (nephew), Misses Carmel Clancy, Deirdre, Dolores and Ann Lynch (nieces), Mrs M. Lynch, Mrs T. Lynch and Mrs Denis Lynch (sisters-in-law). A party of the Old IRA was led by Mr. Ted Barrett, William O'Reilly was the bugler while S. O'Brien (Chairman), T. Lyons (Secretary) and D. Murphy (Treasurer) represented Tracton GAA Club.”

“Ill-founded Assumptions and Inaccurate Historical Account by Cork Historian Richard Henchion”. Eileen McGough’s response. In the current edition of the Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society (2015) an updated survey by local historian, Richard Henchion, of the graveyard at Tracton Abbey, County Cork, once the site of an important Cistercian Foundation (1224) is included. In his accompanying 'historical' notes concerning one interred member of the local Lynch family of Granig, Henchion shows an ignorance of Irish-American politics during the turbulent years between 1916 and 1932. This lack of knowledge has not stopped him from surmising and recording his unfounded opinions in this eminently respected journal on what compelled Tracton native, Diarmuid Lynch, Supreme Council of the IRB, to remain in the USA as National Secretary of the FOIF (Friends of Irish Freedom) following the Treaty of 1921. As the 'predominant force within the FOIF' according to the current AIHS (American-Irish Historical Society) archives, Lynch spent the 1920s in American courtrooms, representing the FOIF in several court cases, all of which were decided in favour of the FOIF. Lynch prepared the court submissions (in most cases these ran to hefty files of hundreds of documents). He was the man who stood in the dock giving witness for the FOIF in every case. The legal successes of the FOIF in the decade 1920- 1930 were attributed, according to Florrie O' Donoghue(1957), to Diarmuid Lynch's integrity and honesty, his attention to detail and the meticulous completeness of the records he kept on behalf of the organisation of which he was National Secretary from 1918- 1932, . One of those court cases was a battle for funds collected in the USA during 1919- 1921, for the new Irish Republic through the sale of 'Bond-Certificates'. Following the Treaty and establishment of the Irish Free State, Éamon De Valera wanted to acquire the funds thus raised for the specific reason of setting up his 'Irish Press' newspaper. That this case too went in favour of the FOIF led to even greater hostility in some political circles in Ireland and in sections of the Irish-American Diaspora opposed to the FOIF and its representative, Diarmuid Lynch. Henchion's suppositions are quite insulting; 'One perceives that he (Diarmuid) had been softened by foreign and domestic influences to approach Irish politics more as a spectator that a participant.' Again he states that Diarmuid chose a softer life as a 'paid desk-operative over the life he would have as a TD in 'war-torn Ireland.' On the contrary Diarmuid frequently expressed his and Kit's strong desire to return and live in Ireland (i.e., expressed in a letter to Piaras Beaslaí in 1925). While on holiday in Ireland during the 1920s he actively looked for employment which would enable the couple to survive financially if they returned. Further vexation is added because Henchion’s brief history of the Lynch family is replete with annoying errors. For example, he states that Diarmuid recounted that his mother, Hannah nee Dunlea of Carrignavar died when he was born. This claim has no foundation as Hannah's death certificate, now in the hands of the Lynch family, shows that Diarmuid was six months old when she died of bronchial pneumonia. He also mistakenly claims that Diarmuid recorded that his step mother, Margaret Murphy, was a native of Riverstick (she was a native of Ovens); that Diarmuid's father, Timothy, died in Cork City whereas the family knows that he died in his own bed in Granig. Considering these inaccuracies in Henchion's 'historical' notes on just one family whose members lie in the graveyard at Tracton Abbey it can be surmised that further inaccuracies are contained within his 'potted' histories of other families there interred. Eileen McGough. Author, 'Diarmuid Lynch a Forgotten Irish Patriot' Mercier Press 2013

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 12

British Intelligence file on Michael Collins

Dublin Barrister-at-Law John McGuiggan, on a most unusual discovery in 2011: “We have an ordinary index card, 6in. by 4in., brown and fragile with age; a rough photograph, cropped from something larger; a description, not very accurate; and a typed legend of remarks, intended, perhaps, to be helpful but of questionable value. The card was found in an old book, a 1926 edition of Michael Collins and the making of a new Ireland by Piaras Beaslaí, his close political comrade. It was folded in three and tucked into the book, where it had perhaps been used as a bookmark, or placed there for safekeeping. The book came from the library of a Wicklow man, a man without connections to either the republicans fighting for Ireland or to the Crown forces against whom they fought. It is not too difficult to date the card in that the title refers to Collins as ‘chief of [the] IRA’ and ‘organizer of all ambushes and murders’. We know that the first ambush was the unapproved 21 January 1919 Soloheadbeg attack led by Dan Breen and Seán Tracey in which Constables James McDonnell and Patrick O’Connell (both Irish-born Catholics) were shot dead. So it must be from after that date. The phrase ‘all ambushes and murders’ indicates that the card was made quite late in the War of Independence, perhaps late 1920. And then there’s the photograph. It has been cut from a larger, good-quality photographic print rather than from a newspaper, then pinned to a wall and re-photographed. We know the date of the larger photograph: it was one in which Collins was unhappy about being included. It is the photograph taken in April 1919, in the gardens of the Mansion House, of members of the first Dáil Éireann. The photograph was subsequently used, as Collins feared it would be, to identify him in wanted posters, and it duly appeared in the December 1919 issue of the police gazette, Hue and Cry. There can be little doubt that that famous group photograph was used extensively in intelligence circles to identify the Sinn Féin ringleaders, and probably many of the men in the group had their faces cropped and stuck onto intelligence index cards. Of the four wanted men pictured in that December issue of Hue and Cry, certainly two and possibly three of the photographs used were cropped from the same Dáil Éireann group who posed for posterity in the Mansion House gardens. So we know that, if genuine, the index card certainly post-dates the taking of the photograph of the first Dáil. We also know that, at least prior to 1919, British Intelligence had no photograph of Collins. Broy, his secret agent in ‘G’ Division of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, had checked the file held on Collins just before he met him for the first time in 1919 and recalled that the police file contained no photograph of the man. It would have been difficult, in those early years of photography, to take a covert photograph of Collins, or indeed of anyone else, and it was the common practice of intelligence services to crop photographs from whatever source they could – newspapers, wedding photographs…

College photographs and so on. Indeed, the practice remains common even today, although the sources of such photographs are much richer. We can be confident that Facebook images are regularly trawled by today’s intelligence services, of all colours, creeds and kind. The description of Collins that appeared in Hue and Cry was a bit light on detail and got his age wrong (he was then 29, not 26). But it got his height correct at 5ft 11in., whilst the index card gets his age (more or less) correct at ‘about 30’ but incorrectly has his height at 5ft 7in. or 8in. (more of a ‘little fella’ than a ‘big fella’!). So who might have put this information together? By January 1920 the December issue of Hue and Cry with the photograph and description of Collins would have been circulated to every police barracks in Ireland, and no doubt pinned on notice boards throughout the 32 counties. It is therefore unlikely that the index card is a product of police intelligence services—or, if it is, it is unlikely to have been produced by police intelligence officers after December 1919. The British intelligence war was widely acknowledged as being disastrous, with Collins and his men and women consistently out-spying His Majesty’s secret services. In the immediate post-war period the British made a detailed analysis of their intelligence failures in Ireland and, in a flurry of activity, papers were published, conferences held, reports commissioned and lectures given in which the failures were fully acknowledged. From that analysis, some of it published in Peter Hart’s British intelligence in Ireland 1920–21, we know that as late as May 1920 the chief of police had an intelligence staff consisting of one officer. Its primary source of information, from the political detectives of ‘G’ branch of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, had all but dried up, as most of those detectives had been assassinated by Collins. By late 1920 intelligence officers had been appointed to each divisional commissioner of the RIC to coordinate military and police intelligence. The military, now present throughout Ireland in force, together with Auxiliaries, had their own intelligence service with young officers, many of them noted for their zeal in intelligence matters, and it is most likely that this card, if genuine, emanates from a local centre of intelligence rather than from the Castle. So is it the real thing? In all probability it is. The mis-description of Collins’s height and the somewhat romanticised remarks as to his habits rather support its being genuine, for had it been produced after the events of the time it would have been possible to be much more accurate in such details. This, then, is the real thing and was produced at the very height of the War of Independence, the very height of Collins’s reputation, in the very heat of the intelligence battle. It is how his enemies and pursuers saw him”

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 13

NEWS

“The Choclamation”

Fears that 1916 commemorations will become "overly commercialised" have been sparked by a chocolate bar. The 1916 Easter Rising commemorative chocolate bar - dubbed the 'choclamation' - bears images of the seven executed rebel leaders and the proclamation on its wrapper. It is being sold in Heatons stores for €3. James Connolly Heron, great-grandson of 1916 leader James Connolly, said the bar risked undermining the centenary commemoration. "There's so much more we can tell about the 1916 leaders than reducing them down to covering a chocolate bar," he told RTÉ's 'Liveline'. He said it is important to educate younger generations about the Rising, but said the bar was "simply a commercial venture". "One would expect a certain amount of sensitivity particularly around those that were executed," he said. Fianna Fáil Wexford Councillor Malcolm Byrne, who initially raised concerns about the bar, said the centenary must not be "overly commercialised". Heatons did not respond to a request for a comment.

NEWS

RTÉ’s Easter Rising centenary focus to include ordinary people

RTÉ’s commemorative programmes to involve ‘framing the future’, says Director General RTÉ’s programme for the 1916 centenary was launched in Dublin November 2nd with the station pledging to “embrace all of the complexity” of the Easter Rising with storytelling of the key events and protagonists as well as the ordinary people caught up in the violence. Director general Noel Curran said the station’s approach to commemorating 1916 would involve “framing the future” as well as “taking stock” of what has been achieved over the past 100 years, and examining aspects of the proclamation that remain unfulfilled. “RTÉ wants to engage by telling the stories of the key events and protagonists but also of the ordinary families, children, soldiers and the broader cultural context of the time,” he said.

In that context, RTÉ One is running a one-off documentary called Ready for Revolution? Presented by National Archives head of special projects Catriona Crowe, it will provide a snapshot of Ireland in the first few months of 1916. Seeking to create a picture of “what ordinary lives were like”, it will examine the impact of the Rising on the lives of the vast majority of people who had no hand in the revolution. Mr Curran said perspectives on the Rising were “constantly changing”, with global and national events – and particularly the violence associated with the Troubles – “complicating perceptions of nationalism”, and views of the Rising. A three-part series on RTÉ One called 1916, narrated by Liam Neeson, will seek to place the Rising “in its European and global contexts” as anti-colonialism found its voice in the wake of the first World War. It will also explore the role of the United States and of Irish America in both the lead-up to and the aftermath of events in Dublin and elsewhere. Little resonance Mr Curran said the broadcaster would also seek to engage younger audiences with the Rising as it currently has “little resonance” due to the gradual disappearance of real human connections with the people of that time. A one-off show on RTÉ Two with the working title 1916 Children will document how eight children spent 24 hours as their ancestors would have in 1916. Stripped of all modern trappings, they undertook 10 challenges typical for a 1916 child. The show will seek to “reconnect today’s children with the reality of the past”. Another one-off special, Children of the Revolution, will be presented by Joe Duffy, who will tell the stories of the 38 children killed during the Rising, who were aged from two to 16. The programme will “retrace and respect their lives and deaths”. On Easter weekend, The Rising on 2fm will cover events “as if the events of Easter 1916 are happening live in 2016”. All shows, news and social media channels “will have the urgency and drama of the moment”, and the station will delve into the National Archives for famous and not-so-famous recollections to retell them for younger audiences. Mr Curran added that the programmes would be available across television, radio, and mobile so audiences could “engage with, understand, commemorate and celebrate 1916”.

NEWS Siptu to festoon Liberty Hall with 1916 banner Siptu is to fully drape three sides of the landmark 60m-tall Liberty Hall with images from 1916 to mark the centenary of the Easter Rising. Liberty Hall was the head office of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union, which later became Siptu. It was the base of the Irish Citizen Army, the location where the Easter Proclamation was printed and the building where the final plans were made for the rising itself. The wrap, to be installed in March 2016, will include a depiction of the Proclamation. It will be in situ when the country commemorates the Rising on April 24 and will remain there until August. The wrap will also include six panels, created by artist Robert Ballagh.

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 14

The GAA & Revolution in Ireland 1913-1921 Edited by Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh, published by The Collins Press 2015

The Kerry and Wexford teams parading before the 1913 All-Ireland senior football final. James Rossiter, who played in this final, fought with the Irish Guards and once wrote home that he felt more nervous before an All-Ireland final than before an Irish Guard attack on the Germans.

Michael Collins, Luke O'Toole and Harry Boland at Croke Park for the September 11th 1921 Leinster hurling final.

Eamon de Valera throwing in the ball to start the April 6th 1919 Gaelic football match between Wexford and Tipperary in Croke

Park, in aid of the Irish Republican Prisoners Dependants Fund.

Action shots from a 1924 Ladies Hurling Match at Nenagh, as published by the Cork Weekly Examiner.

The 1904 Cuchullains Camogie team. The dress and the shape of the caman, as seen here, were standard for camogie players at the time and for the foreseeable future.

Camera crews filming the opening of the 1924 Tailteann Games. The filming of Gaelic games became popular between 1913 and 1923.

The 1914 Clare team, which included John Fox who, in 1915, enlisted in the Irish Guards and joined the Munster Fusiliers. Fox was injured in the Battle of the Somme in 1916, rescued by another serving Clare man

and brought home to Ireland.

Arthur Griffith, Eamon de Valera, Lord Mayor Laurence O'Neill and Michael Collins at Croke Park for the April 6th 1919 Irish Republican Prisoners Dependants Fund match between Wexford and Tipperary.

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 15

Gallipoli’s Hill 60 to Croke Park’s Hill 16

So, what has a battle in the 1915 Gallipoli Campaign to do with Croke Park? The Gallipoli Campaign, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign, was a campaign of World War I that took place on the Gallipoli peninsula, Turkey in the Ottoman Empire between 25 April 1915 and 9 January 1916. The peninsula forms the northern bank of the Dardanelles, a strait that provided a sea route to the Russian Empire, one of the Allied powers during the war. Intending to secure it, Russia's allies Britain and France launched a naval attack followed by an amphibious landing on the peninsula, with the aim of capturing the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (modern Istanbul). The naval attack was repelled and after eight months' fighting, with many casualties on both sides, the land campaign was abandoned and the invasion force was withdrawn to Egypt. The campaign was one of the greatest Ottoman victories during the war. In Turkey, it is regarded as a defining moment in the nation's history: a final surge in the defence of the motherland as the Ottoman Empire crumbled. The struggle formed the basis for the Turkish War of Independence and the declaration of the Republic of Turkey eight years later under Mustafa Kemal (Kemal Atatürk) who first rose to prominence as a commander at Gallipoli. The campaign is often considered as marking the birth of national consciousness in Australia and New Zealand and the date of the landing, 25 April, is known as "Anzac Day" which is the most significant commemoration of military casualties and veterans in those two countries, surpassing Remembrance Day (Armistice Day). The Battle of Hill 60 was the last major assault of the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign. It was launched on 21 August 1915 to coincide with the attack on Scimitar Hill made from the Suvla front by Major-General H. de B. De Lisle's British IX Corps. Hill 60 was a low knoll at the northern end of the Sari Bair range which dominated the Suvla landing. Capturing this hill along with Scimitar Hill would have allowed the Anzac and Suvla landings to be securely linked. Two major attacks were made by Allied forces, the first on 21 August and the second on 27 August. The first assault resulted in limited gains around the lower parts of the hill, but the Ottoman defenders managed to hold the heights even after the attack was continued by a fresh Australian battalion on 22 August. Reinforcements were committed, but nevertheless the second major assault on 27 August faired similarly, and although fighting around the summit continued over the course of three days, at the end of the battle the Ottoman forces remained in possession of the summit. Allied losses were high with hundreds of Irish serving in the British Army dying alongside British, Australian and New Zealand troops. The GAA & Croke Park Connection Having purchased a ground on Jones Road in Dublin in December 1913, the GAA named that ground Croke Memorial Park and set about redeveloping the stadium. By the time of the GAA’s annual convention in April 1915, the association’s secretary Luke O’Toole was able to report that the wall at the Railway End had been built and that the enclosure on the side of the pitch facing Jones Road was almost complete, as was the banking behind the bottom goals: that is, the area now known as Hill 16. The work was complete by the playing of the All-Ireland finals late in 1915.

At the very moment that Croke Park was being redeveloped, ‘Hill 60’ was emblazoned in newspaper headlines and was documented in letters home from the front that were reprinted in the Dublin press. The redeveloped corner of Croke Park was considered to resemble the description of Hill 60, and soon after, that part of the ground became known as ‘Hill 60’. There was already precedence for this of course. Several English soccer grounds used the term Spion Kop (or Kop for short) to describe their terraces; the logic was that their steep nature was evocative of a hill near Ladysmith, South Africa, where the Battle of Spion Kop was fought in January 1900 during the Second Boer War. This happened at soccer grounds such as Anfield, Hillsborough and others. Either way, Hill 60 was born and it lived through the 1916 Rising, the War of Independence, Bloody Sunday and more. It was known as such, for example, in a newspaper report which described the atmosphere in Croke Park while Kevin Barry was being executed in October 1920. Newspaper reportage on GAA matches through the 1920s regularly note the great crowds which congregated on Hill 60, with the Irish Independent noting in September 1925 that it was ‘a living mountain of human faces'. It is not just the Dublin papers that referred to it as Hill 60, the same was the case for local papers such as the Munster Express and the Connacht Tribune. There appears to be no official documentation in which the name Hill 60 was used, rather it is something which appears time and again in newspaper reports. The use of the name Hill 60 was a matter of disquiet to some members of the GAA. It is reasonable to suggest that this disquiet existed for some time before it surfaced publicly for the first time at a meeting of the Central Council of the Association in September 1931. Dan McCarthy, a former President of the GAA and then Chairman of the Munster Council, said that he took exception to the use of the name Hill 60. He said that Croke Park was ‘sacred ground… sanctified by the blood of martyrs’. The fight for Irish freedom should be commemorated, McCarthy argued, rather than one that ‘took place in a foreign country, fought by a foreign army’. In response to McCarthy’s words, the secretary of the GAA told the meeting that he had already drawn the attention of the newspaper to the matter. The meeting agreed that whenever he found the name Hill 60 used, he should draw newspaper’s attention to the association’s disapproval. Finally, McCarthy said that they should call it Hill 16, but that if they couldn’t, they should find some other appropriate title. They called it Hill 16. Advertisements around matches now set out the charges for spectators entering Hill 16. The pressure on the newspapers was also successful and in that same month of September 1931 of the GAA meeting where McCarthy had raised his objections to the Hill 60 name, The Irish Press newspaper was published for the first time. It always referred to Hill 16; only once did it use the term Hill 60 in connection with Croke Park, and even then the paper apologised the following day. It was one thing, of course, to change the name; it was another to change its origin myth and it took the rest of the decade for the full foundations of the myth to be set out. When the Cusack Stand was opened in August 1938 in honour of the founder of the GAA, Michael Cusack, the then president of the GAA, Pádraig MacNamee said in a speech that Hill 16 was ‘an ever constant reminder of the gallant band who made the supreme sacrifice that this land of theirs might be Gaelic and free’. The first mention of the rubble of the 1916 Rising being used in the redevelopment comes from a letter from ‘Two Gaels’ to the editor of the Meath Chronicle. These men in urging Meath to victory in an All-Ireland Final in 1939, note that the team will be facing the tricolour that will fly above Hill 16 during the playing of the National Anthem ‘in respect to Ireland’s fallen heroes, whose blood stains the debris in that immortal hill’. And so the story began to take hold; it was repeated in the newspapers and eventually hardened into fact: Hill 16 had been built from the rubble of the 1916 Rising The Hill has always lagged behind the rest of the stadium in terms of comfort. It was only in 1936, when the Cusack Stand was redeveloped, that the turf and mud of Hill 16 was replaced with concrete terracing. It was only after the 1983 All-Ireland Football Final where overcrowding on Hill 16 caused a few supporters to suffer injuries, that the GAA decided to rebuild the Hill. This work was completed in 1988, allowing a capacity of 10,000 spectators. In the mid-1990s the GAA came up with a masterplan to rebuild the whole stadium. It was envisaged that Hill 16 would be replaced with an all-seated stand, however, this met with opposition from Dublin supporters. There were also the problems of the nearby railway line and the fact that the GAA doesn't own any of the land behind Croke Park. The plans were redrawn and a new, terraced area was built to replace the old Nally Stand, named after Pat Nally, and Hill 16. The new Railway End, which includes Hill 16 and the Nally terrace, is capable of holding more than 13,000 spectators. In 2006 the Hill was renamed Dineen/Hill 16 in honour of Frank Dineen, who purchased the grounds for the GAA in 1908

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 16

Patrick Pearse & “Peace and the Gael’ Dec.1915

A century ago, Patrick Pearse gave his equivalent of a Christmas message titled ‘Peace and the Gael’ and published anonymously in ‘The Spark’ on December 15, 1915. Pearse commenting on the war, wrote in ‘The Spark’: “The last sixteen months have been the most glorious in the history of Europe. Heroism has come back to the earth. ..It is good for the world that such things should be done. The old heart of the earth needed to be warmed with the red wine of the battlefields. Such august homage was never before offered to God as this, the homage of millions of lives given gladly for love of country…..Ireland has not known the exhilaration of war for over a hundred years. Yet who will say that she has known the blessings of peace? When war comes to Ireland, she must welcome it as she would welcome the Angel of God. And…we must not faint at the sight of blood. Winning through it, we (or those of us who survive) shall come unto great joy.’ This opinion was certainly not shared by James Connolly writing in the “Irish Worker” shortly after ‘Peace and the Gael’ was published: ”No, we do not think that the old heart of the earth needed to be warmed with the red wine of millions of lives. We think that anyone who does is a blithering idiot. We are sick of such teaching” Even a century later, it’s not difficult to disagree with Connolly. Tim Pat Coogan commented in 2009: “These Rupert Brooke-like sentiments were not uncommon amongst romantics on both sides of the Irish Sea at that stage in the Great War’s history. Before the grinding horror of the conflict became more generally understood. They attracted attention at the time and amongst revisionists who examined Pearse’s career posthumously, revulsion” Tim Pat Coogan. Ireland in the 20th Century. 2009. P42

Joseph Theodoor Leerssen in ‘National Thought in Europe: A Cultural History” agrees, commenting: “at the outbreak of the war and maybe even still in December 1915 when Pearse wrote this, such a sentiment was still an acceptable rhetorical continuation of nineteenth century romantic attitudes, sharpened by the prevailing fear of decadence and degeneration; a few years later it became an obscenity. The horrors of the mud clogged trenches, with their barbed wire, their poison gas, their artillery barrages, splintered forests and endless casualty lists spread far and wide into society-at-large by new media such as press and photography. Press coverage was followed by artistic representations of what war could inflict, in the poems of Wilfrid Owen, the novels of Remarque and Hasek, the drawings of Otto Dix. All this cast a pall over the old Romantic glorification of the military and of warfare…” An attempt to fully understand Pearse is not possible in such a short article for a family Newsletter, but the reality today is that he has been negatively regarded for decades, or another writer put it, he’s ‘a very unfashionable figure these days’ Pearse tends to get written off for what is perceived as his version (and his vision) of fundamentalist Irish Catholicism, what with offers to God, blood sacrifice and other phrases that tend to raise the ire of historical revisionists and many readers today. Some have even commented that Pearse was “not a mad Catholic theocrat in the Maria Duce mould, but basically a Rousseauist political thinker” While I will leave you to work that theme out for yourself, it can be argued that what sets Pearse apart from his fellow revolutionaries was that he was also a poet with an intimate knowledge of Gaelic Irish history, tradition, lore and language.

An opinion is that “It’s worth remembering the basic transformative element of the aisling genre, a patriotic verse form that Pearse was steeped in, whereby the cailleach (hag) becomes the spéirbhean (goddess or woman of great beauty). This is a very old theme in folklore, and a sanitised version appears in European fairy tales in which a girl kisses a frog, whereupon it magically transforms into a handsome prince. In the old Irish versions, not only are the gender roles reversed, but, as Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill is fond of reminding us, the hero doesn’t get away with just demure kissing – no, he has to sleep with the hag. The aisling poems of later centuries tend to be more elevated in tone than the Old Irish texts, as befits their identification of the cailleach-spéirbhean transformation with the cause of national rebirth, but nonetheless they build on the original…” The full text of this Christmas message from Pearse: “When we are old (those of us who live to be old) we shall tell our grandchildren of the Christmas of 1915 as the second Christmas which saw the nations at war for the freedom of the seas; as the last Christmas, it may be, which saw Ireland, the gate of the seas, in the keeping of the

English. For that is the thing for which men are bleeding to-day in France and Serbia, in Poland and Mesopotamia. The many fight to uphold a tyranny three centuries old, the most arrogant tyranny that there has ever been in the world; and the few fight to break that tyranny. Always it is the many who fight for the evil thing, and the few who fight for the good thing; and always it is the few who win. For God fights with the small battalions. If sometimes it has seemed otherwise, it is because the few who have fought for the good cause have been guilty of some secret faltering, some infidelity to their best selves, some shrinking back in the face of a tremendous duty. The last sixteen months have been the most glorious in the history of

Europe. Heroism has come back to the earth. On whichever side the men who rule the peoples have marshalled them, whether with England to uphold her tyranny of the seas, or with Germany to break that tyranny, the people themselves have gone into battle because to each the old voice that speaks out of the soil of a nation has spoken anew. Each fights for the fatherland. It is policy that moves the governments; it is patriotism that stirs the peoples. Belgium defending her soil is heroic, and so is Turkey fighting with her back to Constantinople. It is good for the world that such things should be done. The old heart of the earth needed to be warmed with the red wine of the battlefields. Such august homage was never before offered to God as this, the homage of millions of lives given gladly for love of country.

War is a terrible thing, and this is the most terrible of wars. But this war is not more terrible than the evils which it will end or help to end. It is not more terrible than the exploitation of the English masses by cruel plutocrats; it is not more terrible than the infidelity of the French masses to their old spiritual ideals; it is not more terrible than the enslavement of the Poles by Russia, than the enslavement of the Irish by England. What if the war kindles in the slow breasts of English toilers a wrath like the wrath of the French in 1789? What if the war brings France back to her altars, as sorrow brings back broken men and women to God? What if the war sets Poland and Ireland free? If the war does these things, will not the war have been worthwhile?

War is a terrible thing, but war is not an evil thing. It is the things that make war necessary that are evil. The tyrannies that wars break, the lying formulae that wars overthrow, the hypocrisies that wars strip naked, are evil. Many people in Ireland dread war because they do not know it. Ireland has not known the exhilaration of war for over a hundred years. Yet who will say that she has known the blessings of peace? When war comes to Ireland, she must welcome it as she would welcome the Angel of God. And she will. It is because peace is so precious a boon that war is so sacred a duty. Ireland will not find Christ's peace until she has taken Christ's sword. What peace she has known in these latter days has been the devil's peace, peace with sin, peace with dishonour. It is a foul thing, dear only

to men of foul breeds. Christ's peace is lovely in its coming, beautiful are its feet on the mountains. But it is heralded by terrific messengers; seraphim and cherubim blow trumpets of war before it. We must not flinch when we are passing through that uproar; we must not faint at the sight of blood. Winning through it, we (or those of us who survive) shall come unto great joy. We and our fathers have known the Pax Britannica. To our sons we must bequeath the Peace of the Gael.” Source: http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/E900007-009/text001.html

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 17

Assembling armies and acquiring arms: the building up of the powder keg The years leading up to the Rising saw plenty of activity as the Irish nationalists began to make long-term plans, writes Dr Conor Mulvagh

A mounted National Volunteer saluting the flag during a drill at Keash, County Sligo. The Irish National Volunteers objected to Irish involvement on the British side in the war against Germany. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)

Looking back on the Easter Rising, many in Irish administration and British politics asked why the clear warning signs had not been taken more seriously. In hindsight, the evidence was there to suppress nationalist and socialist paramilitary organisations who paraded and trained unmolested across Ireland but, on the advice of Irish MPs fearing a backlash if the government was seen to act harshly against these groups, tolerance rather than a clampdown was the policy pursued. Who were these private armies that carried on drilling and arming before and during the First World War, provoking the ire of the authorities? It had begun in the north, where the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) was established in January 1913. The establishment of the UVF actually represented the formalisation of a situation which had been ongoing in Ulster for some time whereby unionists had been drilling and arming in localised and uncoordinated initiatives. The UVF brought a central command structure to this. Within 11 months, the precedent made by the UVF was deemed worthy of emulation by nationalists. Again, prior local initiatives preceded the foundation of a nationwide organisation for the defence of Home Rule: the Irish Volunteers, founded in November 1913. Interestingly, although it was perhaps more rhetorical than sincere, the Irish Volunteers maintained that it did not stand in opposition to the UVF or to unionist Ulster in general. Stressing its non-denominational ethos and how it was open to all Irishmen, the Irish Volunteers openly welcomed cooperation with the UVF, ignoring the fact that the Ulster Volunteers was pledged to resistance to Home Rule, whereas the Irish Volunteers had been constituted with the defence of that same principle as its primary objective. By the summer of 1914, both the Irish and Ulster Volunteers had swollen their ranks. The Irish Volunteers' numbers peaked at approximately 180,000 and the UVF had between 80,000 and 110,000 members at its height. Both were genuinely mass movements and, with major arms shipments coming in for the unionists in April 1914 and for the nationalists in July of that year, both clearly possessed funds and organisational abilities that made them forces to be reckoned with.

On the outbreak of the First World War, John Redmond, chairman of the Irish Parliamentary Party at Westminster, pledged the Irish Volunteers to the defence of Ireland during wartime. When, on 20 September 1914 he urged Volunteers to fight abroad as the surest means of securing Home Rule for Ireland, he precipitated a split in the movement. Roughly 153,000 sided with Redmond becoming 'National Volunteers'. However, this organisation lapsed into inactivity by the middle of 1915. Ultimately, only 25,000 National Volunteers had enlisted for service with the British Army by the spring of 1917. Meanwhile, Eoin MacNeill, the founder of the Irish Volunteers, retained the name and 12,500 (seven percent) of the membership of the original volunteer force. The other thing which MacNeill's Volunteers retained was a concealed cohort of Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) activists. This secret movement had been reinvigorated after 1905 when two northern republicans, Bulmer Hobson and Denis McCullough, took over and revamped the movement. The IRB had seized the opportunity presented by the vogue for volunteering to infiltrate the Irish Volunteers from its inception. The infiltration went to the very highest echelons of the force. When the provisional committee of the Irish Volunteers was formed in November 1913, 12 of its 25 members were also members of the Brotherhood. Subsequently, other provisional committee members, most notably Patrick Pearse, Joseph Plunkett, and Thomas MacDonagh were sworn into the IRB; their potential having been recognised through their work in the Volunteers. Though by no means as large as the aforementioned Irish, Ulster, and National Volunteers, two other forces - the Irish Citizen Army and the Hibernian Rifles - were also founded prior to the First World War and joined with the Irish Volunteers in forming the combat troops of the Easter Rebellion in 1916. The Irish Citizen Army had been founded in 1913 to protect the citizens of Dublin from the Dublin Metropolitan Police following notable clashes such as Bloody Sunday on 31 August 1913 in which a DMP baton charge resulted in the deaths of two citizens. Approximately 500 were injured in that incident alone. The Irish Citizen Army numbered no more than 350 members in 1916 but, an impressive 250 of these turned out to fight during Easter 1916. The Hibernian Rifles was smaller again. So small, in fact, that it has been almost forgotten in the history of the Rising. While the Irish Citizen Army wore its own uniform, distinctive to that of the much larger Irish Volunteers, by 1916, the Hibernian Rifles wore a uniform identical to that of the Volunteers but with 'blue facings on the cuffs and collars and slacks'. Numbering around 50, the Hibernian Rifles was established by a faction of the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) known as the Irish American Alliance. Whereas the better known and more populous AOH 'Bord of Éireann' was a key part of the Home Rule electoral and constituency machine, the AOH IAA had, as its name suggests, links to radical Irish America. Around 20 of the Hibernian Rifles fought during Easter week. The unit suffered combat casualties, most notably when it was dispatched to engage in heavy fighting at the Exchange Hotel on Parliament Street. Two further organisations were Cumann na mBan and Na Fianna Éireann. Cumann na mBan was the women's auxiliary to the Irish Volunteers and Na Fianna Éireann a rebel boy-scouts organisation which long predated the rush to arming and drilling but who nonetheless militarised as the vogue for volunteering swept Ireland in 1913. Both units served prominently during the insurrection. The question of gender is an important one. Although entirely gender equal on paper, the Irish Citizen Army has come in for fresh scrutiny in recent years as files in the Bureau of Military History reveal that traditional gender roles perpetuated in the army. Only two female members, Constance Markievicz and Margaret Skinnider, played full combatant roles during the Rising with many others confined to cook or messenger duties. By contrast,

confined to cook or messenger duties. By contrast, Cumann na mBan, which was officially an 'auxiliary' organisation to the all-male Irish Volunteers, was an autonomous organisation with its own leadership and command structures. All five of these bodies: the Irish Volunteers, the Citizen Army, Cumann na mBan, Fianna Éireann, and the Hibernian Rifles fought as part of the rebel army of the provisional government of the Irish Republic declared on Easter Monday 1916. While historians often dwell on the importance of nomenclature nowadays, Dublin Castle was happy to dub any organisation unsympathetic to the official Home Rule party and to the British war effort as 'Sinn Féiners' and referred to Irish Volunteers as 'Sinn Féin Volunteers'. Strictly speaking, 'Sinn Féin' denoted membership of Arthur Griffith's dual-monarchist party which advocated parliamentary abstention in this period. However, the term features regularly in police reports and Under Secretary's dossiers during the war years with reference to advanced nationalism and republicanism more generally. Returning to the British government's attitudes to these organisations, Sir Mathew Nathan had been appointed Under Secretary at Dublin Castle in September 1914, after the First World War had broken out. From then until his resignation in the wake of the Easter rebellion, he was the top civil servant on the ground in Ireland. He reported directly to his Chief Secretary, Augustine Birrell, who was a member of Cabinet in London. Nathan and Birrell were the focus of blame when the Royal Commission of Investigation into the Irish Rebellion reported on 10 May 1916. Although others such as the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Wimborne, and the heads of the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Dublin Metropolitan Police, weathered the storm, both Birrell and Nathan resigned thereafter. Inactivity rather than ineptitude was the criticism levelled at them. Why were large musters of armed citizens allowed to parade and drill in public even after the First World War had broken out? In a climate where all sorts of activities from eating seed potatoes to lighting bonfires were outlawed, the relative lack of suppression, surveillance, and infiltration of these private armies can often appear remarkable to modern observers. Assembling young men and women willing to become members of these paramilitary organisations was one thing, the acquisition of arms was quite another. After spectacular large scale arms importations by the UVF and Irish Volunteers prior to the declaration of war, a steady stream of rifles continued to be acquired by nationalists through various methods after the First World War broke out. In an apparent irony, while it had been illegal to import arms to Ireland at the time of the Larne and Howth gun runnings, the ban on arms importation had actually been lifted upon the outbreak of the war. One practice that became prevalent during 1915 and into 1916 was that rifles were acquired from British Army Ordnance stores in Ireland. Soldiers sympathetic to republicanism or just eager to make money by selling arms to persons willing to pay a premium would smuggle rifles out of army stores and remove the brass cap containing its serial number, replacing these with wooden inserts. The government became aware of this practice as late as March 1916, by which point one informant reported that 60 rifles had been acquired in this fashion. Police and intelligence reports from this period indicate official awareness of large Irish Volunteer arms dumps around the city of Dublin. Ten full boxes of ammunition were being stored in Father Matthew Park in Fairview, north Dublin. Continued on next page>

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 18

Assembling armies and acquiring arms continued… Similarly, authorities were aware of an arms cache on Connaught Road, near the back of Dalymount Park. This was in the home of Michael O'Hanrahan, second in command to Thomas MacDonagh in the 2nd Dublin Battalion of the Irish Volunteers. Similarly, in the suburb of Donnybrook, Éamon de Valera, then commandant of the 3rd Battalion, had an arms stash in his house on Morehampton Terrace, and Batt O'Connor, an IRB member who was sent to Kerry during Easter week, stored a vast quantity of arms and especially ammunition at the house he had built for himself on Brendan Road, Donnybrook. After her husband's death, Batt O'Connor's widow recalled how their house, as well as a builders' yard adjacent to it, were stuffed with munitions; they even kept boxes of cartridges in the hollow kerbs on their fireplaces. A military raid on the premises after the Rising failed to uncover the remnants of the cache. Mrs. O'Connor recalled how, showing them around the adjacent yard, she brought the soldiers 'actually over the places where the stuff was stored but they got nothing.' Despite official knowledge of these arms dumps and with both Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army carrying out mock attacks and armed parades in Dublin prior to the Rising, there was still an outright reluctance to suppress these movements. Warnings had been received from low-level informants and from America where John Devoy was speaking rather openly about plans for an insurrection in the hope of obtaining funds from sympathetic Germans. Dismissed as improbable, the Rising that broke out on 24 April 1916 still shocked those in power. Dr Conor Mulvagh is a lecturer in Irish History at the School of History at University College Dublin (UCD) with special responsibility for the Decade of Commemorations. Published: Irish Independent October 29, 2015

Transport back to the future

Fergus Cassidy writing in the Irish Independent (29 October 2015) on an era when horses were slowly being overtaken by cars and trains.

No planes. Just trains and automobiles. And ships, bicycles, and horses. All 560,916 of them, as recorded by the Department of Agriculture for Ireland in 1915. Along with 28,923 mules and 227,422 asses. Whether pulling freight barges on canals, or hitched up to carts and carriages, horsepower moved people and goods. Jaunting cars had room for four passengers, seated back to back on top of two wheels. A Charabanc long car had wooden benches and four wheels, and a Phaeton was a sporty, four-wheel open carriage.

In 1915 Dublin had 529 Cabriolets, a light, single-horse, two-wheeled carriage with a folding hood. In rural areas, horse transport provided links to the rail network, which became the dominant form of transport from the 1850s.

There were 65 miles of rail track in 1845, 1,000 in 1857, 2,000 in 1872, and 3,500 in 1914. Between 1873 and 1902 the number of ticketed passengers doubled to more than 20 million. 1897 saw the start of a four-hour service from Dublin to Killarney, and a second storey was added to Kingsbridge (now Heuston) station in 1911.

With the arrival of electricity generation, initially for street lighting, horse-drawn trams in Belfast, Cork, Galway, Derry and Dublin were gradually replaced. But not without opposition, as the Lord Mayor of Dublin protested about the consequences for oat growing and horse breeding. By 1915 there were 270 tram cars in Dublin, running on 60 miles of lines, the experience captured by James Joyce in Dubliners: "His head was full of the noises of tram-gongs and swishing trolleys and his nose already sniffed the curling fumes punch".

As with train engines, steam provided power to the ships transiting from the main ports of Belfast, Dublin and Cork,

essential for mail, goods and passenger travel. The total value of imports and exports increased from £108m in 1905 to £148m in 1913. In 1906 a new route was opened between Fishguard in Wales and Rosslare in Wexford. By 1918 at least 38 shipping companies operated across the Irish Sea. An indicator of the increasing power of ships was the Lusitania, whose engines were rated at 65,000 horsepower.

Change was also coming with the rise of the internal combustion engine. The first car imported to Ireland, a Benz Velo, arrived in 1898. The Motor Car Act of 1903 raised the speed limit to 20mph and introduced compulsory registration. In 1904 there were 38 registered motor vehicles, 5,058 by 1911 and 19,554 in 1914.

The number of licensed petrol dealers doubled from 1901 to 1914. In July of that year, there was an experimental run of eight motor buses from O'Connell Bridge to the North Quay docks in Dublin. However, motor vehicles were very expensive. One newspaper advertisement in 1916 invited a trial run of a 35 horsepower Overlands 83, costing £275 plus £6.6s road tax (in comparison, a policeman's annual salary was £65 and a sergeant earned up to £101).

The use of the roads by different types of traffic can be seen in the 110 fatalities during 1914: 49 by horse-drawn; 53 by motor vehicles; and eight involving bicycles.

Although the world's first cycle factory opened in Dublin in 1888, and 25 cycle companies launched on the Dublin Stock Exchange thereafter, bicycles were also expensive. With the average Dublin wage less than £1 a week in 1915, a Model de Luxe bike was out of range for most people at £4.10s. Appealing to aesthetics, an advert claimed: "To ride a Triumph Cycle is to be in fashion, and to possess a mount which can thoroughly be relied on..." And it was relied on during the Rising.

The mobilisation order for the Irish Volunteers, Dublin Brigade read: "Cycle scouts to be mounted, and ALL men having cycles or motor cycles to bring them". James Cullen, an Irish Volunteer, recounted that "...Commandant Gilligan, who had gone to Dublin on Good Friday, arrived back in Enniscorthy late on Wednesday night. He had cycled all the way from Dublin".

Margaret Skinnider, an Irish Citizen Army member based in St Stephen's Green, wrote: "As I rode along on my bicycle, I had my first taste of the risks of street-fighting. Soldiers on top of the Hotel Shelbourne aimed their machine-gun directly at me. Bullets struck the wooden rim of my bicycle wheels, puncturing it; others rattled on the metal rim or among the spokes. I knew one might strike me at any moment, so I rode as fast as I could. My speed saved my life, and I was soon out of range around a corner…’

Did You Know? THE deaths of 10 executed leaders of the Easter Rising, including Pádraig Pearse, were never registered until Bertie Ahern, as Taoiseach, quietly arranged to have the state records amended in 2000, it has emerged. The discovery of the 84-year delay has shocked the men’s relatives, as they were unaware the deaths had not been registered in 1916. The discovery was made by Pearse O’Hanrahan, a grand-nephew of Micheál Ó hAnnracháin who fought at Jacob’s Biscuit Factory, while researching his family’s history in the General Register Office in Dublin. O’Hanrahan, a former Fianna Fail councillor in Dundalk, now wants to have the death certificates changed because he believes they are “derogatory”. He was upset to find his grand-uncle’s death certificate states: “Probable cause of death gunshot wounds”. The certificates of all 10 men record the same cause of death.

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 19

Passenger Manifest S.S. Alaunia. December 1925

Shipping Passenger Manifest Record – U.S. Immigration

Name: Michael F. Lynch Carmel J. Lynch Deirdre M. Daly

Age 35 28 3

Gender . Male Female Female

Marital Status Married Married Child

Nationality Irish Free State Irish Free State Irish Free State

Departed: Departed from Cobh (Queenstown) 20 December, 1925

Arrived: Not recorded but would have been c.26/27 December, 1925.

Address in US: Not recorded.

Ellis Island ID: Not recorded. Ship Details: 14,040 tons gross. Built by John Brown & Co. Ltd in Glasgow and launched on February 7, 1925. This was the last of the six

14,000 ton cruisers built for Cunard. 519.6 feet x 65.2ft. Accomodation for 500 cabin passengers and 1,200 3rd Class passengers. Completed maide voyage on July 24 from Liverpool to Qubec and Montreal. Operated on the Transatlantic service to the US and Canada until 1939 when she was requestioned as an armed merchant cruiser. In 1940, she was sold and became a fleet repair ship. Remained in this work until 1957 when the Alaunia was scrapped at Blth, Scotland.

Note: A future article on this visit to the US by Michael and family will feature in a future Newsletter. Carmel was 7 months pregnant on departure to the US with Diarmuid Eoin Lynch who was born there on February 23, 1926.

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 20

As talk in Westminster turned increasingly towards a military draft, public anxiety and nationalist hostility to conscription grew in Ireland. Redmond was called on to withdraw his pledge to recruit Irish volunteers for the British army. By early summer in Ireland, public resistance to the war was visibly growing, army volunteer recruits had dramatically dropped and the Irish Volunteer numbers increased. In June 1915, The Redmond’s Irish Parliamentary Party responded by publically opposing compulsory military service and that any attempt to introduce it would be met with vigorous resistance. The party also argued that the existing system of voluntary recruitment had produced magnificent results and that any attempt to undermine it was ‘scandalous and treacherous' Within a month, as Carson was publically calling for conscription, the rise in opposition to the prospect of a military draft introduced for Ireland continued with a public meeting in Beresford Place in Dublin. Amongst the speakers on the platform were the trade unionists and socialists William O’Brien and James Connolly, and the nationalists Thomas Kelly and Sean T. O’Kelly. Each speaker in turn condemned the plans to get all working men in Ireland to register their names, deriding it as the ‘thin end of the edge of conscription’. Thomas Kelly, a City Alderman, told the meeting that he had never made shells, but that if he were ever put to make them they would be for use against Britain, not Germany. Sean T. O’Kelly told the meeting that he was sure the British government would try and introduce conscription in Ireland but they needed to show there was a large body of men in Ireland who would strongly resist any such move. Mr. O’Kelly continued by saying that they would not follow the traitor path mapped out for them by John Redmond and his people. Bulmer Hobson informed the crowd that the Irish Volunteers would continue to resist conscription in Ireland. After the meeting had unanimously pledged to resist conscription, Hobson announced that the General Council of the Irish Volunteers has re-iterated their commitment to resist any attempt to force the men of Ireland into military service until a free National Government is empowered by the Irish people themselves to deal with it. “Reports from British intelligence from both Dublin and the countryside indicated that they believed anti-conscription sentiment had grown so rapidly and had become so entrenched that MacNeill’s volunteers, with support from some Redmondites, had planned an anti-conscription uprising as early as October 1915” Patrick Pearse and the Politics of Redemption: The Mind of the Easter Rising Rising by Sean Farrell Moran

The human cost of the war and now the threat of conscription effectively undermined the Irish Parliamentary Party position on Ireland and on recruitment. This was quickly recognised and some attempts were made to reassure nationalist concerns in June. Redmond and the IPP newspaper ‘The Freeman’s Journal’ commented that both the British and Irish people were opposed to conscription and that any attempt to alter the voluntary recruiting ‘would wreck British national solidarity…conscription, being similar to Prussian militarism, would be resisted by the liberty loving people of the British Isles.’ Nationalists and Sinn Fein countered Redmond’s calls on the community to safeguard Irish liberties by continuing to enlist in the British army with charges that he had not secured a Home Rule parliament but only a suspended Home Rule Act and then the prospect of an Amending Bill by possibly partionining the island. The cobbled together Coalition government gave every indication that Home Rule would never be implemented.

Moves towards Conscription The Government continued to edge towards conscription during the summer of 1915 with the National Registration Act 1915, passed by Parliament on 15 July. Its purpose was primarily to discover just how many men of military age were still civilians, how many could be spared for war work and, more pressingly, how many would be eligible to join the armed forces. “Registration day” for the UK excluding Ireland was 15 August 1915. Some 29 million forms were issued and the extraordinary census was completed on every man and woman aged between 15 and 65 and not in the armed services. While the register did not in itself make men liable to serve, the responsible minister (Walter Long) said that ‘it will compel them to declare that they are doing nothing to help their

Conscription & Ireland, 1915 Unlike other European nations at the outbreak of war in 1914, Britain did not introduce conscription but instead appealed for volunteers. This was phenomenally successful and brought in 2.5 million men in the first two years of the war, so much that the army was unable to cope. In addition to difficulties outfitting, arming and organising the volunteers, there was concern that almost 40% of all volunteers were rejected for medical reasons including malnutrition and poor health. This public enthusiasm continued through early 1915, when enlistments averaged 100,000 men per month throughout Britain and Ireland. However, by early summer of 1915, British military offensives to break the military stalemate of trench warfare on the Western Front and to open a new front on Gallipoli had failed and at an enormous cost in lives. With military setbacks and increasing casualties of war, the numbers of volunteers rapidly declined throughout Britain and Ireland and as quickly, rumours of a military draft or conscription circulated. In an attempt to boost numbers, the upper age limit for volunteer recruits was raised from 38 to 40 in May 1915 but it became clear to the Government that voluntary recruitment was not going to provide the numbers of men required to continue the war or to take the offensive against German and Axis forces. The obvious remedy was conscription, which quickly became a hotly debated political issue both in Ireland and Britain. In May, 1915 the ruling Liberals merged with the Conservative/Labour/Unionist opposition to form a war-time coalition administration following revelations that insufficient munitions were being supplied to Allied forces. This led to the appointment of Sir Edward Carson as Attorney General. Carson, as leader of the Irish Unionist Party, abhorred any idea of Home Rule as “Rome Rule” and was determined to take the Act off the Statute Book and as determined to introduce conscription throughout the United Kingdom. His appointment was seen as a direct betrayal of all promises to Redmond and the Irish Parliamentary Party on Ireland’s entry into the War. Home Rule, the one persuasive political card the British had to play in Ireland – immediately became more remote. Various Irish public organisations expressed their dissatisfaction with Carson’s appointment. At a meeting of Kildare County Council, members expressed their opinion of this move as “a direct insult to the great majority of Irishmen, and must express our surprise that leading statesmen in England should sanction such a course at a time when thousands of Irish Nationalists are sacrificing their lives to maintain the integrity of the British Empire.” Kildare Observer-5 June,

1915

Conscription & 1915 continued. country in her hour of crisis.’ Essentially, each person who registered was agreeing to be conscripted if, in the future, such a step was considered necessary. All those who registered were then sent a certificate.

The results of this census became available by mid-September 1915 and showed there were almost 5 million males of military age who were not in the forces, of which 1.6 million were in the "starred" (protected, high or scarce skill) jobs, 2.18 million were single and 2.83 million were married. Carson resigned from the coalition government in October 1915 citing government inaction and procrastination in prosecuting the war, particularly in relation to Serbia and conscription which he continued to call for in Parliament. Redmond emphasised the bitterness felt by Irish Nationalists over Irish losses in the Dardanelles and believed there had been a ‘systematic suppression’ of the gallantry of the Irish troops, and did ‘not think that there was any single incident that did more harm’ to his efforts to encourage Irish recruitment. Despite this, on 23rd August 1915 in Waterford, Redmond exhorted ‘Your first duty is to take your part in ending the war’ (which formed the text of the recruitment poster on page 20)

The Derby Scheme On 11 October 1915, Lord Derby was appointed Director-General of Recruiting. He brought forward a programme five days later to determine whether British manpower goals could be met by volunteers or if conscription was necessary; ‘The Group Scheme’ but more often called “the Derby Scheme”, for raising the numbers of army recruits. This was a moral scheme in that it attempted to give voluntary enlisters one last chance to do so. Men aged 18 to 40 were informed that under the scheme they could continue to enlist voluntarily or attest with an obligation to come if called up later on. In other words, agreeing to be conscripted. The War Office notified the public that voluntary enlistment would soon cease and that the last day of registration would be 15 December 1915. There was a surge in recruiting as many men volunteered without waiting to be ‘fetched’. Face to face with the canvasser each man announced whether or not he would attest to join the forces, no one was permitted to speak for him. Those who attested promised to go to the recruiting office within 48 hours; many were accompanied there immediately. If found fit they were sworn in and paid a signing bonus of 2s 9d. The following day they were transferred to Army Reserve B. A khaki armband bearing the Royal Crown was to be provided to all who had enlisted or who had been rejected, as well as to starred and discharged men (they were no longer issued or worn after compulsion was introduced). It obtained 318,553 medically fit single men but not sufficient for war purposes. Little option remained but formal conscription. Meanwhile, an unofficial form of recruitment continued in Ireland – known as ‘Economic Conscription’, this was where men of military age were sacked from workplaces or simply not employed if applying for work, forcing most into the armed services to survive. Others emigrating to the United States from Ireland via Liverpool were similiarly refused passage by shipping companies. On a single day in mid-November 1915, over 600 Irishmen of military age were refused permission to leave the United Kingdom.

A novel approach to Recruitment in Ireland took place on October 28, 1915 with a letter distributed throughout the country:

Sir, Lord Kitchener sends me the attached message for YOU. He wants 50,000 Irishmen at once for the period of the war. You will be equipped and will start your training in Ireland, and complete it in different parts of the world. Wherever you go you will be serving with Irishmen. The relatives whom you look after will be looked after for you while you are away. Your Wives, your Children, or those dependent on you will receive an allowance every week. Every great Irishman urges the appeal. The safety of your homes and your possessions depend on your answer. Sons of farmers whose lands are passing into your own possession, you must come out and defend this heritage. Townsmen, your interests are threatened too. You must equally respond to the call. It is your privilege as an Irishman to come forward voluntarily. Will you come now? Fill in this form and post it today. Yours faithfully,

Wimborne Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Director of Recruiting Page 2: Message from Lord Kitchener.

Please tell all Irishmen from me how deeply interested I am in their present effort to increase the Irish Forces in the Army. Born and brought up in Ireland as I was, I feel certain that my countrymen will not allow our brave Irish soldiers to feel that they are unsupported by those at home. We ought not to see our Irish Divisions and Regiments kept up to strength in the field by other than Irishmen. Such neglect on our part would be a deep disgrace to Ireland. They MUST be Irish to a man. I appeal for men from Ireland on behalf of those gallant men in the Irish Regiments – our Regiments, who have fought so magnificently. Yours very truly,

Kitchener Newspaper sources show how prominent the issue of Conscription had become. An attention grabbing little advert from the Irish Volunteer of October 30th:

Issues were coming to a head by December, 1915. The Irish correspondent of The Times on 7 December reported that Sinn Fein and the Irish Volunteers were now quite open in their opposition to recruiting. The British Administration in Ireland were also very aware of the opposition to conscription. On 18 December, Sir Matthew Nathan, British Under-Secretary, informs the Chief Secretary that the situation in Ireland is "most serious and threatening" and "that an outbreak is certain if any attempt is made to enforce conscription" By year’s end, the war, Irish losses, the Irish Parliamentary Party impotence in Westminster and Britain’s insensitivity towards nationalist issues began to interlink. Ireland was becoming more and more marginalised away from the War, as the political situation between the two unfolded. Economic necessity continued to force many to join the armed services but much was to change during the following year, 1916.

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 21

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 22

Passenger Manifest SS Westphalia 1929

Shipping Passenger Manifest Record – U.S. Immigration

1929

Name: Diarmuid Lynch. Kathleen Lynch

Age 51 41

Gender Male Female

Marital Status Married Married

Nationality Naturalised US Citizen - U.S.P. 298852. Washington 11/3/26. Superior Court, NY 1902

Vessel SS Westpahalia

Departed: Cobh (Queenstown) September 28, 1929. Destination: New York

Arrived: New York. October 08, 1929.

Address in US: 286E 206 Street, NY.

Ellis Island ID: PASSENGER ID9011983240520 FRAME395 LINE NUMBER3 Ship Details: 11,343 gross tonnage. Launched in 1923 at Kiel by Howaldtswerke Hamburg America Line 473.6ft x 60.7ft. Maiden voyage june 21, 1923

Hamburg to New York. 1930: Renamed "General Artigas", transferred to South American service. 1934: Chartered to Hamburg South American

Line. 1936: Sold to Hamburg South American Line. 1943: Burnt out in British air attack on Hamburg. 1946: Scrapped.

Notes: Diarmuid and Kit travelled to Ireland as part of an entourage accompanying the body of John Devoy from New York departing aboard the President Harding, June 5, 1929. Devoy’s funeral service was held in Dublin, with a lying-in-state before burial on 26 June, 1929. While in Ireland, Diarmuid attended a memorial service to Rev. Patrick Bowen Murphy in St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Cork. (Details in main article)

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 23

In addition, wealth, which in agricultural Ireland primarily stemmed from land ownership, was also undergoing a transformation. The various Land Acts from 1870 to 1909 began the mass transfer of land from the Anglo Irish aristocracy to the local farmers. This too would have had a profound positive impact on the wealth of the local population. Finally, the Irish stock market, which if the country had been an economic basket case would have been falling, actually doubled in the late Victorian era. Indeed some household names such as Arnotts were quoted at the time, revealing a buoyant retail sector in Dublin. During this period, we had an Irish Home Rule party that held the balance of power in Britain and could therefore extract concessions from British imperialists who were looting the globe at the time. As a result, large-scale sanitation and infrastructural projects were undertaken such as bringing clean water to Dublin from Roundwood Reservoir. (By the way, there is a statue of the dude behind that initiative, which saved the lives of thousands of poor Dublin children - more than Jim Larkin ever did - situated just behind "Big Jim" on O' Connell Street. Can you name him?) All this taken together explains how in 1913, on the eve of the Rising, far from being poor, Ireland was actually a rich country - one of the richest in Europe. Income per head was on a par with the Scandinavian countries of Norway, Sweden and Finland. Seventy years after the Rising in 1986, Irish income per head was half the income of the Scandinavians. What happened? Did our population expand rapidly so that our income per head fell - which would have been the inverse of what had happened between 1850 and 1900, when wages rose because the population fell? No, in fact, the Irish population kept falling up until the 1970s. Emigration remained at ridiculously high levels. Consider this: in the 1950s, we know that 450,000 Irish people emigrated to England alone. That is not taking into account the people who went to America, Canada or Australia. And we are talking about a decade when the rest of the world boomed. In the 1980s, again, when our major trading partners - the English-speaking world - boomed, we went backwards. This is hard to do. Since then, things have got much better. In fact, since the mid-1990s, even despite the crash, Ireland's living standards have increased dramatically. However, the fact remains - the first 80 years of this State were an economic disaster. I am talking here about the ability of the new State to look after its own people, to match the rhetoric of nationalism with some semblance of achievement. Two out of three people born in the country in the 1930s - the first real generation of the new State - ended up living abroad. Just take that in. I wonder will any of these individual stories be referenced in the many centenary celebrations that lie ahead? Don't get me wrong: I wouldn't trade my Irish citizenship for anything and I believe in a nation's right to make its own mistakes. And yet we should acknowledge that the people who took over this country in the aftermath of 1916 in our name were about as economically literate as the Taliban, and it wasn't until these men were dead that this country began to deliver economically for its citizens. Published 11/11/2015. Irish Independent.

Anniversaries- December

06 Dec 1921 – Anglo-Irish treaty 06 Dec 1922 – Free State established 11 Dec 1920 – Cork set on fire by British Forces 12 Dec 1928 – Irish coinage introduced 13 Dec 1867 – Clerkenwell outrage 21 Dec 1916 – Prisoners released from Frongoch 28 Dec 1918 – SF wins in General Election

Opinion

Economist David McWilliams on the Easter Rising:

“The heroes of 1916 were economically clueless and the nation paid for it” The decades leading up to the Rising were a period of relative prosperity for those who didn’t emigrate – despite the narrative of ‘rich Britain subjugating poor Ireland’ As we are about to embark on a year of celebrating 1916 and the birth of the nation, maybe it's a good idea to stand back and ask what 1916 did for the economy. The last time I checked, you couldn't buy bread with slogans, speeches and flags, so isn't it a good idea to ask what happened to living standards and economic opportunity after the Rising? What was the economic and financial backdrop to the Rising? And what economic policies were followed to ensure that the pledge to "cherish all the children of the nation equally" (which was intended to refer to Unionists rather than the poor) was underpinned by financial reality? When I learned about 1916 and the national struggle, economics was never mentioned other than scant reference to Horace Plunkett and his co-operative movements. Because this Plunkett, a former Unionist MP, was often confused with his relative Joseph Plunkett, a Proclamation signatory, there was always a vague sense that some Plunkett who was involved in national politics at the time had something to do with economics. That was about the height of the economics - which is unusual because the story of revolutions tends, typically, to have a big economic component. The story of our revolution, as told in school, is one of rich Britain subjugating poor Ireland. This sounds good, but it's not entirely accurate. Work by economists Kevin O'Rourke and Ronan Lyons reveals another, more nuanced, story. In fact, the decades leading up to the Rising were a period of relative prosperity for those people who stayed in Ireland. They were decades of rapid social improvement. I know it sounds counterfactual, but it's true. Take for example, the lot of Irish skilled workers and tradesmen, such as carpenters and fitters. During the Famine they earned about 90pc of what their English counterparts did. This ratio remained more or less unchanged, but in those decades leading up to 1913, both English and Irish tradesmen saw rapid increases in their wages. The Empire project enriched all of Britain and Ireland. In the later part of the 19th century both Irish and English tradesmen got richer together. However, we see much greater upward mobility in the wages of unskilled Irish workers and farm labourers, which actually rose rapidly after the Famine. This goes totally against the national narrative. I am not saying that people weren't poor, but they were beginning to get richer. In 1845, Irish unskilled workers earned half of what their counterparts were earning in Britain - by 1913 they were earning three quarters. This seems counterintuitive because these were years of natural catastrophe and mass emigration - and surely that should be the key metric for any assessment of economic viability. But the fact is that those workers who stayed in Ireland did well after the Famine. When there are fewer workers to do the work, their wages tend to rise, and that's what happened. Therefore, strange as it may sound, the typical economic reasons for a Rising, which traditionally should be a deterioration in the plight of the local people ahead of the Revolution, were not present in Ireland.

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 24

In Jimmy Wren’s north Dublin home, there’s a dated black-and-white photograph in the hall showing about 300 people. The image is shallow but very wide. Behind the first row of people seated, there are five more rows, with everyone standing on raised ground so all may be seen. “That’s my father there,” says Jimmy pointing to a small face in one of the middle rows, over on the right side of the frame, before going on to identify some of the others. “Sean T O’Kelly; Stephenson, the city librarian, Paddy Stephenson; Harry Colley. It’s some photograph,” he says. It is, and it was taken in 1938. “Croke Park, Hill 16…before the Galway-Kerry All-Ireland final.” “Galway won,” he adds with a smile. The people in the photograph all took part in the 1916 Rising, a subject dear to Jimmy’s heart and the basis of his latest book, The GPO Garrison Easter Week 1916 – A Biographical Dictionary. The volume is a comprehensive, accessible and altogether fascinating, bringing together of data on the men and women who fought in and around the GPO. “My aim was to bring the story of the people who wouldn’t normally appear [in history books] just to have a record of them in a publication,” says Jimmy, a man of few words and much modesty. “I always had an interest [in history] since school. I am very interested in local history.” Jimmy is aged 78 and has written six other books on Dublin local history and the GAA. He has lived alone since the death 15 years ago of his wife Bernadette. For more than 40 years, he was a supervisor in the housing department of Dublin Corporation, overseeing the caretakers in the council’s inner city flat schemes. His new book contains the biographies of 572 people. To date, the figure most commonly given for the number of men and women in the GPO garrison has been just over 400. However, by examining old newspapers, the archives of the Military History Bureau, the recently made available pension records and the 1916 Roll of Honour that was created in 1936, Jimmy has come up with what he says he believes is a comprehensive record of participants in the garrison. “I don’t think there has been any biographies of the general participants, except leaders and well-known people,” says Jimmy. “This is about the ordinary rank-and-file.” Some 320 of the 572 biographies are illustrated with small pen-and-ink portraits that Jimmy drew himself, using as his guide such grainy photographs as he could find in old newspapers. The book also contains a wealth of social data, compiled with the help of Kildare teacher David Gorry, confirming the strongly working class, north inner-city Dublin character of the rebels. Of the known addresses of members of the garrison, 287 were in the north inner city. By age, 362 were under 30 and by social class, 56 per cent were skilled workers, shop assistants and clerks, and 18

per cent were semi- or unskilled workers. “A lot of these were working people,” says Jimmy. “They were just patriotic. Beyond that, some of them weren’t very well educated. It was just pure patriotism that they took part.” Thumbing through the volume, Jimmy stops at random entries and is able to talk about them all, as though he and they are old acquaintances. Page 222: Andy Mulligan, Irish Citizen Army; occupation: coal carter. “Andy Mulligan,” says Jimmy, “he’s an interesting guy. They nicknamed him ‘The Dazzler’. He was a carter and brought the ammunition and guns from Liberty Hall to the GPO.” Mulligan also hauled the typeset from West’s Printers on Capel Street to Liberty Hall for the printing of the Proclamation. After the Rising, he was interned for four months in Frongoch camp in Wales but later helped reorganise the Citizen Army. He died an invalid in St Kevin’s Hospital in 1942. “That guy there,” says Jimmy pointing to an entry beside The Dazzler, “that’s Stephen Mulvey. He was attached to the Bray company of the Volunteers and walked into the city from there. He won an All-Ireland medal with Dublin in 1902.” Jimmy’s father, also named Jimmy, was also in the GPO, going there from his home on the North Strand. “On Easter Monday,” says his entry, “at the age of 17½, he, accompanied his first cousin, Tommy Mahon, and friend, Paddy Halpin, went to the GPO and offered his services. He was given a shotgun and put on sentry duty. “He was later sent out with dispatches and was attacked in the street by a pro-British crowd. He was badly beaten and he received a back injury. He made his way back to the GPO and was ordered home due to illness.”

According to Jimmy’s record, there were 74 women associated with the garrison at one time or another throughout Easter Week. The biographies start and end with women. The first is Mary (Molly) Adrien from north Co Dublin, who delivered dispatches between Thomas Ashe of the Fingal Brigade and Patrick Pearse, and scouted the coastline. Described as a “heroine ranking with the bravest”, she tended the wounded, volunteers and police, in the battle of Ashbourne. The final biography is that of Nancy de Paor, a member of Cumann na mBan and daughter of prominent nationalist activists Jennie de Paor, founder of the Ladies Land League, and John Wyse Power, a prominent member of Sinn Féin. Jimmy ascribes much to the way in which 1916 pensions were paid initially only to those rebels who took the Free State side in the Civil War. “At first, pensions were only given to the Free State Army people. And then when Fianna Fáil got in ’31, they included everybody that took part in the Rising. But before that, it was just one side.” Published in the Irish Times.

He is phlegmatic as to the Ireland inherited from the Rising and War of Independence, noting today’s housing crisis and levels of poverty. “I suppose it’s the same in other countries too; you have a lot of poor.” The GPO Garrison Easter Week 1916 is published by Geography Publications (with financial support from the GAA and Dublin City Council) and is available from bookshops, including Eason

Click to view

Snapshot in Time: GPO Garrison Veterans, Easter 1938

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 25

This Newsletter is now going to 91 family & friends addresses monthly

throughout Ireland, the UK, US & Australia.

Feel like writing an article or passing

on comments?

Email: ruairi_lynch@hotmail.com

Family members & friends attending

Easter 2016:

Daly, Daire Daly, Saoirse Daly, Ruairi

Daly, Diarmuid Daly, Aja

Daly, Cale Daly, Duibhne Duggan, Brid

Lynch, Dolores Lynch, Mary Lynch, Ruairi Anglim, Helen

Ryan-Lynch, Rebecca Ryan-Lynch, Cianna Ryan-Lynch, David

Lynch, Cormac (US) Lynch, Gaye (US)

Fitzgerald-Lynch, Amy (US) Lynch, Diarmuid Lynch, Christine Lynch, Robyn

Lynch, Diarmuid Lynch, Hugh

McGough, Eileen Collins, Mylie Murphy, Nora

Murphy, Mark & Eilis Scott, Dolores, Paul & Family

Winters Family Cohalan, Judge Peter Fox & Eileen

Kremers (US) Freddie & Emer O’Dwyer

Plus others to confirm.

Missed anyone? Get in touch and I’ll mail you the form.

.

Many of us are staying at the Hilton Double Trees, Dublin 4 (former Burlington) so do

come and join with family & friends.

‘Dardanelles casualties were 25,000 dead, 76,000 wounded, 13,000 missing and 96,000 sick admitted to hospitals ‘ Actual casualties were 50,133 killed. Of these, 21,255 were British & Irish, 9,874 French, 8709 Australia, 7597 Indian and 2701 New Zealanders. In Australia, it is still commonly felt that the ‘British fought ‘till the last Australian’.

22nd Henry Ford leaves his peace party at Christiania and returns to the United States. The Irish Parliamentary Party pledged a ‘vigorous resistance’ to the parliamentary move to enforce conscription in Ireland. Pearse and Plunkett held a meeting at 41 Parnell Square, at which Thomas MacDonagh ‘had unexpectedly turned up…Pearse was proposing that he and Plunkett should launch a new weekly paper in which he was to write inflammatory articles, designed to rouse the country to fever pitch. The idea was reminiscent of what Mitchell had done, and for which he had been transported…MacDonagh took great exception to what Pearse was proposing and left the meeting very angry. He told Tom [Clarke] he believed the sole reason for the proposal was that Pearse and Plunkett resented the fact that Sean and Tom had more power than they had…Pearse had no money to start the new paper, so he and Plunkett had been obliged to await Tom’s return from Limerick [where he was spending Christmas with his wife’s family] to get his consent on the proposal’ Kathleen Clarke. ‘Revolutionary Woman’. O’Brien, Dublin. 1991. P61

Monteith wrote that Casement went to spend Christmas with some friends, and that although he wanted to spend it with the Brigade, he was persuaded to go. ‘Christmas festivities require careful handling in an Irish Regiment, and I did not want to disillusion the chief. Before he left, he made ample provision to give the boys a good time. This was the first entertainment the men had in Germany…few delicacies were obtainable, but the boys searched the countryside to provide a substantial dinner. Invitations were sent out and we were honoured by the presence of a number of charming girls…during the evening it was clearly demonstrated that the language of love is universal – those who could not speak German got on as well with the girls as those who could…the sequel of our dance came within a few days. I had five applications for permission to marry…after a few days I spoke to these men individually, and urged them to use common sense. I pointed out that there were enough widows in Germany without adding to the list. All agreed with me but one. The lad ended up by asking for an advance of fifty marks on his pay to buy an engagement ring. He was a private and fifty marks would have mortgaged his pay for a period of almost six months’ Capt. Robert Monteith. ‘Casement’s Last Adventure’. Private Printing – 1st Edition. Chicago 1932. Lynch Family Archives p72-73

25th Eoin MacNeill wrote in the Irish Volunteer, directed to Connolly ‘No man has a right to seek relief of his own feelings at the expense of his country’.

27th Following a discussion on the proposed Pearse newspaper, Clarke vetoed it on the grounds that the Rising was planned and publication would alert the authorities to the potential dangers in their own back yard.

30th Mediterranean: 400 die when a U-Boat sinks the P&O Liner “Persia”.

Hits of the year: “Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag” & “Back home in Tennessee” By years end, the stalemate in the West continued. Military thinking, particularly on the Allied side, still operated in the Napoleonic era, sending troops forward in hapless attempts to capture enemy lines through a hail of shell and machine gun fire, barbed wire, poison gas and land that was churned into a mire of mud. Advances had been miniscule and losses were mounting. 600,000 German and 1,500,000 British and French men were lost. The Eastern front saw widespread Russian defeats as German forces took Poland and Lithuania. However, the worst of the war was still to come.

December 1915 Snippets 3rd Robert Monteith returned to Berlin as Casement was ill. ‘He was unable to attend to the Brigade business and handed it over to me. Zossen was within easy reach of the capital, so I persuaded him to join us there and rest. The village was about half an hour’s walk from my quarters and I saw him almost daily. He always accompanied us on our route marches, much to the delight of the boys, whom he treated to light refreshments at the quiet little inns along some of our routes….Sir Roger remained with us until about December 22nd when he left to spend Christmas [in Dresden and Munich] with some friends’ Capt. Robert Monteith. ‘Casement’s Last Adventure’. Private Printing – 1st Edition. Chicago 1932. Lynch Family Archives p72

4th Henry Ford, with large party of peace advocates, sails for Europe on chartered steamer Oscar II, with the object of ending the war. The Citizen Army had its third and last night manoeuvre with the target being a raid on an army drill hall in Sutton, Co. Dublin. Only wooden rifles were found, for use by the local home defence force

10th US: In Detroit, Henry Ford makes its one millionth car. 13th Serbia in hands of enemy, Allied forces abandoning last positions and retiring across Greek frontier.

14th Further reports of genocide in Armenia: over 1 million Armenians have been killed by the Turks. Casement received a letter from John Devoy, warning him that Adler Christensen was in his opinion, little more than a double agent

15th Western Front: after 16 months commanding British forces, Sir John French has been replaced by Sir Douglas Haig, First Army Commander in Flanders Pearse writing in the pamphlet ‘Peace and the Gael’ commented that ‘Ireland has not known the exhilaration of war for over a hundred years. Yet who will say that she has known the blessings of peace? When war comes to Ireland, she must welcome it as she would welcome the Angel of God. And…we must not faint at the sight of blood. Winning through it, we (or

those of us who survive) shall come unto great joy.’ See article in Newsletter.

18th Writing in the Workers’ Republic, Connolly reminded his readers of the great strike of 1913 ‘..when the misguided Irish people stood so callously by....out of that experience is growing the feeling of identity between the forces of real nationalism and labour which we have long worked for and hoped for in Ireland... we want and must have economic conscription in Ireland. Not the conscription of men by hunger to compel them to fight for the power that denies them the right to govern their own country, but the conscription by an Irish nation of all the resources of the nation - it’s land, its railways, its canals, its workshops, its docks, its mines, its mountains and rivers and streams, its factories and machinery, its horses, its cattle and its men and women, all cooperating together under one common direction that Ireland may live and bear upon her fruitful bosom the greatest number of the freest people she has ever known.’

19th Chief Secretary Birrell wrote to Redmond that the real conditions in Ireland were alarming and mostly due to the conscription scare.

20th The Allies finally retreat from Gallipoli disaster - over 90,000

men, 4,500 animals, 1,700 vehicles and 200 guns were evacuated. The House of Commons was told plainly that the

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 26

2015 No further State events planned for the remainder of 2015

2016

January 1

Dublin Castle: Opening events of the State Commemorative program.

Issue of 16 Commemoration Stamps by An Post and special coins by the Central Bank.

March 8

Richmond Barracks, Dublin: Women in the 1916 Rising Commemoration & Exhibition.

March 15

Proclamation Day – all educational establishments

March 26 Easter Saturday

Wreath laying ceremonies at key sites to mark the Rising centenary.

Garden of Remembrance., Dublin 1: Remembrance Ceremony for all who died during 1916.

State Reception for relatives of the1916 participants. Farmeligh House

March 27 Easter Sunday

State ceremonies at the GPO, Dublin marking the centenary of the Rising.

State Reception for all guests invited to the State Ceremony at the GPO.

Wreath laying ceremonies - nationwide

March 28 Easter Monday

Wreath laying ceremonies throughout the capital & state at 13:15hrs – marking the time the Rising began.

Official opening of the Easter Rising Centenary Interpretative Visitor Centre at the GPO.

Ireland 2016 Public Celebrations nationwide

March 29 Easter Tuesday

Liberty Hall Ceremony to mark the contribution of the Irish Citizen Army and James Connolly.

Official opening of the Kilmainham Courthouse

Official opening of the Tenement Museum, Dublin 1.

April 2: National Children’s Day & opening of an exhibition on children of 1916.

1916 Academic Conference – speakers from Third Level Institutions Island wide. Dublin. Venue to be advised.

April 3: Journey of Reconciliation 1916-2016 interfaith service in Glasnevin cemetery

April 9: Pearse Museum – Presidential visit

Official opening of the Military Archives, Cathal Brugha Barracks, Rathmines, Dublin 6

April 10: Commemoration event 1916-2016

April 11: Garda Museum – opening of an exhibition on the DMP & the 1916 Rising.

April 12: National Concert Hall – opening of new facilities

April 21: Banna Strand, Co. Kerry. Wreath laying ceremony marking the centenary of Casement’s landing.

April 24: Arbour Hill – Commemoration event

May 2: Richmond Barracks. Re-opening of the historic barracks on the same day as the Courts Martials began.

May 3-12 – Stonebreakers Yard, Kilmainham Jail. Ceremonies will take place to commemorate the 15 executions. Marked by Military Colour party, wreath laying and piper’s lament.

May – Grangegorman Military Cemetery. Ceremony marking British soldiers killed during the Rising.

May – Pearse Cottage, Rathfarnham. Official re=-opening of Pearse’s Cottage.

August 3 – Roger Casement Centenary - commemorative events for Roger Casement marking the centenary of his death in Pentonville Prison, London.

December – Conclusion of the 1916 Commemoration year at Aras an Uachtaráin

More events are being added weekly. For full details, visit the Government 1916-2016 Commemoration website at ireland.ie

April 1916: Rebels in the GPO

May 1916: Michael Mallin and Countess Markievicz being led away by troops.

May, 1916: Rising prisoners are marched along the Dublin quays past the Croppy Acre towards the docks and jail in Britain.

July 1916, London, England. In the prison courtyard of the

Bow London Court during the recess hour of the Casement

Trial, on the extreme right is Sir Roger Casement with a leaf

of paper in his hand. On his left with his back to the camera,

Bailey, alleged co-conspirator with Casement. In the

background with his arm behind his back is Corporal

O'Connor. On the right is Mary Gorman, the Kerry girl who

aided in capturing Casement. Directly in front of the PC on

the right is Martin Collins. Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 27

GPO Participants 1916

Based on the 1916 Honour Roll instigated by Diarmuid Lynch, this lists some 423 individuals whose claims were cross checked and referenced by multiple witnesses before being accepted as having fought in the building during the Rising.

Cullen, May. Cumann na mBan. Delivered food and dispatches to the Mount Street Bridge Garrison at about noon on the Wednesday. Cullen, William F (Liam). “F” Company, 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers. Born in 1888 died on the 18th of February 1942, aged about 28 years old during the Rising. Fought in the G.P.O. and Moore Street areas. William Cullen joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913 and from 1914 onwards was involved in the storage, distribution and transportation of munitions serving with General Headquarters and the Quartermaster Generals Department of both the Irish Volunteers and IRA as well as providing transport generally to those organisations. He served as a GHQ staff officer during the 1916 Easter Rising and was wounded on Saturday 29 April, received a bullet wound to the thigh. Cullen was imprisoned from July to September 1918 and also from November to December 1920 and took no part in the Civil War. Cummins, Tom - no information Cunningham, Andrew, Killed in Action. Dalton, Patrick. 1st battalion, Dublin Brigade Irish Volunteers. Born in 1900 died on the 26th of December 1989, aged about 16 at the time of the Rising. Fought in the General Post Office, O'Connell Street, Moore Street, Williams’s Henry Street and Cole's Lane areas. Patrick Dalton was not interned following the Easter Rising having been released on account of his age. Joined the Irish Volunteers a fortnight before the 1916 Rising, he lost his employment and unable to obtain work he emigrated to England where he subsequently joined the British Army with which he served up to June 1922. He joined the National Army in July 1922 serving until discharged time expired in March 1923. He then joined the Protective Officers Corps which he left when it was disbanded in July 1923 subsequently joining the Prison Service. Daly, Dennis, Kimmage Garrison. Daly, Liam (William D.) Kimmage Garrison, he was 21 years old at the time of the Rising and was born in London, his mother had left Kerry at the age of 4 and his father was born in London of Irish parents. He joined the Irish Volunteers at a meeting in Saint George’s Hall Westminster Bridge Road London on Saturday the 6th of December 1913. After the split in the Volunteers his group formed the South London Volunteers numbering about 60 men. Due to the treat of conscription a meeting of the London Volunteers was held at St. George’s Hall in the first week of January 1916 and it was decided that all single men should go to Dublin to avoid conscription, assistance would be given for travel expenses and accommodation in Dublin. On the morning of the 10th of January along with other members of his Company he left London and travelled to Dublin via Holyhead. On Easter Monday while the G.P.O. was being occupied he assisted in erecting barricades across Lower Abbey Street using large rolls of paper from a newspaper storage depot and equipment from a bicycle shop. On several occasions the Volunteers were forced to fire over the heads of crowds that had gathered and were ordered to fix bayonets to discourage looters. Under orders from James Connolly along with Volunteer Joe Good he constructed a line of communication between the main hall and the roof of the G.P.O. He also assisted in erecting aerials for the wireless that would operate from the Wireless School to send messages to the outside world.

On Wednesday morning he assisted in loading large quantities of food from the Dublin Bread Company and the wireless transmission set into a cart to be transported to the G.P.O. Later in the day he assisted in evacuating Reis’s to the Hibernia Bank. After a short time at the bank they were forced to retreat to the G.P.O. On the Friday he left the G.P.O. as part of a group of about 40 men led by The O’Rahilly with orders to establish headquarters at William and Woods factory. During the attempt to reach the factory the group came under heavy fire and he was hit in the arm the wound caused considerable bleeding. Due to his wound he was forced to take refuge in a stable where he remained until the Saturday morning. After the surrender he was taken first to Parnell Street with the rest of the wounded, their names were taken and then they were taken to Dublin Castle where their wounds were dressed by a Military Doctor. On the Sunday morning he was transferred to Kilmainham Jail where he was kept for four days. On Friday the 5th of May, along with about 300 other prisoners he was taken to the North Wall and put aboard a cattle boat and transported to Holyhead. From Holyhead he was transported by train to Wakefield prison in Yorkshire and later to Frongoch where he was prisoner number 135, he was released from Frongoch in September 1916. He returned to Dublin with Citizen Army Captain Robert de Coeur who was released from Frongoch on the same day. Daly, Seamus. 2nd Battalion Dublin Brigade Irish Volunteers. After the countermanding order he, along with several hundred other Volunteers, assembled at Father Matthew Park on Easter Monday, they were ordered to return home by Frank Henderson but refused. After acquiring several horse drawn wagons to transport their arms the group set off for the G.P.O., Seamus Daly was part of a group which was split from the main body and ordered to intercept a party of British infantry coming from the School of Musketry in Dollymount. The group were then ordered to take up positions at Ballybrough Bridge, they took possession of Lamb’s Public House and another shop and remained there through Monday night. On Tuesday morning, about 11am, the group were ordered to report to the G.P.O., using the back-roads to reach the G.P.O. they received a very hostile reception from the residents of the tenements. On entering the G.P.O. Seamus Daly was put in charge of a group of men and ordered to the Imperial Hotel. That evening he had to make four trips under heavy fire to deliver bedding to the G.P.O., it was after this that Pearse promoted him to Lieutenant. On Wednesday afternoon the tank holding their water supply was hit and all their water was lost. At about 5pm British troops were seen erecting sand-bag barricades in Clery’s and soon after this the big-guns opened up and sometime during the night the Imperial Hotel was hit, a large shell exploding in the basement. The Hotel filled with flame and smoke, they sent a message to the G.P.O. but the reply was that they could do nothing for them as they were in a similar position. At about 7pm on Thursday the Dublin Bread Company building collapsed affording the Volunteers an ideal barricade. About midnight on Thursday the order was received to evacuate the Hotel, no attempt was to be made to reach the G.P.O. as this was about to be evacuated. Part of a group of Volunteers attempting to break out of the British cordon around O’Connell Street. These men had been in various positions including The Imperial Hotel and surrounding buildings. Frank Thornton had taken the first group but and Seamus Daly was to lead the second group 10 minutes later. Some of the first group did not make it through the cordon and were forces to retreat into the Pro-Cathedral. When they reached the intersection between Railway Street and Gardiner Street they came under heavy fire. The group ended up in a house in Gloucester Street and while discussing the best option for surrender the house was raided by British troops and they were captured. After capture he was taken to Richmond Barracks and then to Wakefield and then to Frongoch. He was released from Frongoch late in August.

Darcy, Charles (Recorded on some Sinn Fein records as Peter D’Arcy), Killed in Action. de Burca, Aoife (Eva Burke). Nurse with Cumann na mBan. Served in the G.P.O. and was sent to Reis’ Shop to attend to some wounded there. She was with Captain Tom Weafer when he was killed. She was the sister of Frank Burke who also fought in the G.P.O. for the week. Owing to the seriousness of the position in the G.P.O. on the Friday she was sent with the wounded and the Red Cross section to Jervis Street Hospital. de Stainera, Michael – no information available Dennahy, Patrick – no information available Derham, Joseph. “F” Company 1st Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers. Died on the 12th of August 1966. Worked as a Civil Servant in the Office of Public Works before the Rising. He fought in the Area of Ballybough, Summerhill, and the General Post Office, O'Connell Street, Dublin. Devereux, Patrick. Irish Citizen Army. Born in 1895 died on the 4th of November 1955, aged about 21 during the Rising. Fought in the General Post Office, Delahunt's Public House, Fleet Street, Imperial Hotel, O'Connell Street, Dublin Pro-Cathedral and Marlborough Street areas. Employed in Ross & Walpole Engineers, North Wall, Dublin. He was awarded a pension by the Irish Government for Traumatic Neurasthenia which he suffered as a result of his participation in the Rising and detention after. Devine, Francis. Hibernian Rifles. Born in 1881 died on the 2nd of April 1939, aged about 35 years old during the Rising. Fought in the G.P.O. and Parliament Street areas. He was not arrested following the Easter Rising. During the War of Independence he was appointed Company Quarter-master and was involved in raids for arms and ammunition. He was involved in an armed ambush of a police car at Parnell Street. During the Truce Period he was involved with tobacco raids during the Belfast boycott and he occupied Fowler Hall for 6 to 8 weeks. He assisted in training at Mulhuddart. During the Civil War he was involved in exchanges with National Army forces at the Sackville Club, ordered to evacuate on 4 July 1922. He is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery. Devine, Thomas William. (Tommy) “E” Company, 3rd battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers. Born in 1898 died on the 16th March 1969, aged about 16 during the Rising. Fought in the G.P.O. and the areas of Fairview, Henry Street, Liffey Street and Moore Street. On the Monday of the Rising he was sent along with seven or eight other men under the command of Harry Boland to occupy Gilbeys in Fairview. They returned to the G.P.O. on Tuesday afternoon. After the Rising he was detained at Richmond Barracks for eight days, he was released due to his age. He resigned from the Irish Volunteers in 1917. Devoy, James Joseph (Seamus). “B” Company, 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers. Died on the 31st of January 1982. Took part in the Howth Gun-Running. Interned after the Rising until December 1916. He was one of the stretcher party for James Connolly. Donnelly, Charles. “E” Company, 4th Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers. Born in 1892 died on the 29th of June 1964, aged about 24 years old during the Rising. Fought in the G.P.O. and Moore Lane areas. On Easter Monday he attended a wedding, he left the wedding breakfast to go to the G.P.O. After the Rising he was interned until December 1916 arriving back in Dublin on Christmas Eve. He re-joined his company after release and took part in various activities during the War of Independence.

Ennis, Thomas. Part of the Company that went with Captain Weafer to occupy the Hibernian Bank block to provide cover for the Radio at the Wireless School. Achieved the rank of Major General in the Free State Army . Finnegan, Michael – no information available Fitzgerald, Desmond – no information available Fitzharris, John J. Born in Dublin. He was 22 years old at the time of the Rising. He was released from Military custody between the 4th and 7 of June 1916. Fitzpatrick, Andrew J. Citizen Army. Part of a small garrison of 5 men who occupied the premises of Hopkins and Hopkins a silversmith on the corner of O’Connell Street and the Quays makers of the Sam Maguire Cup. Flanagan, Matthew. Severely injured while attempting to retreat from O’Connell Street in the early hours of Friday morning. Part of a group of Volunteers attempting to break out of the British cordon around O’Connell Street. These men had been in various positions including The Imperial Hotel and surrounding buildings. Frank Thornton had taken the first group but and Seamus Daly was to lead the second group 10 minutes later. Some of the first group did not make it through the cordon and were forces to retreat into the Pro-Cathedral. When they reached the intersection between Railway Street and Gardiner Street they came under heavy fire. Flanagan, Reverend John CC – no information available Flynn, Ignatius George. "E" Company. Wounded during the fighting. 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers. Born in 1895 died on the 14th of March 1922, aged about 21 during the Rising. Fought in the Hibernian Bank, O'Connell Street. He was captured by British forces and hospitalised at Dublin Castle Hospital, the Mater Hospital, Dublin and Beaumont Convalescent Home. He died on the 14th of March 1922 of Meningitis and Asthenis (Asthenias). His widow made a claim to the Army Pensions board claiming that his death was due to injuries received during the Rising but this claim was rejected. Flood Josephine nee Neary. Ard Craobh (central) branch, North Dublin, Cumann na mBan. Born in 1895, aged about 21 years old during the Rising. Joined Cumann na mBan in 1915 and served until 1921. She mobilised for Easter Week on Tuesday 25th April. She was arrested by British military in January 1921 and detained in Mountjoy for a fortnight. Her sister, Sarah Neary (Henderson) was mobilised on Monday 24th and was in charge of Colmcille branch. Fogarty Thomas– no information available Foley Michael Patrick. “D” Company, 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers. Born on the 10th of July 1893 died on the 19thof July 1960, aged 22years old during the Rising. Fought in the G.P.O., Henry Street and Moore Street. He was interned after the Rising, released in August 1916. He served as a Company and Battalion Commanding Officer with the Irish Volunteers and IRA from 1918 to 1920. He was arrested in December 1920 and interned at Rath Camp until December 1921. Michael Foley claims to have been appointed by Michael Collins to assist reorganisation of the Irish Volunteers in County Offaly. He also claims to have provided Irish Volunteers GHQ with intelligence regarding RIC Detective Sergeant Daniel Hoey's activities in Offaly. Evidence in file from Foley and references/witnesses contain evidence of some confusion/disagreement regarding Foley's actual activities during Easter Week 1916. Similarly file contains evidence of considerable disagreement within Irish Volunteer and Sinn Fein circles within Edenderry and Offaly generally during 1917-20.

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 28

Duffy, Joseph. Volunteer, Kimmage (Larkfield) Garrison, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers. Born in 1892 died on the 13th of May 1972, aged about 24 years old during the Rising. Fought in the Fairview, Abbey Street, the G.P.O. and surrounding areas. He joined Irish Volunteers in Liverpool in 1913 arriving in Dublin in February 1916, he had been a member of the I.R.B. since 1910. He was interned after the Rising being detained in Stafford and Frongoch, he was released from Frongoch on the 24th of December 1916. He re-joined the Volunteers on released and served up to the 31st of March 1917 when he returned to England to be with his wife and child. He took no part in the War of Independence or Civil War. Dunne, Francis – no information available Dunne, John Joseph. Born in Dublin, he was 19 years old at the time of the Rising. He was employed as a Clerk. He is recorded in the 1911 census at the same address given when he was detained by the British after the Rising. He is recorded on the census as speaking English and Irish. He was detained in Knutsford. He died on the 10th of October 1978 at his son’s residence in Connecticut U.S.A. Dunne, Joseph – no information available Dunne, Thomas – no information available Dwyer, Michael. Died in 1943 aged 41, he fought in St Stephen’s Green and the G.P.O., he was a prominent member of the 1916 Veterans Association. Dyas, Albert – no information available Early, John – no information available English, Máire. Ard Craobh Branch, Cumann na mBan. Born in 1887 died on the 2nd of January 1968, aged about 29 years old during the Rising. Served in the Hibernian Bank, Reis's Building, Irish School of Wireless Telegraphy, Reis's Building, O'Connell Street/Lower Abbey Street and General Post Office areas. She joined Cumann na mBan Central Branch before Easter Sunday and remained a member until 1923. She helped mobilising others on Sunday 23rd and Monday 24th of April. She and others first went to the Hibernian Bank to set up a base hospital and she was sent home on Wednesday 26th. Later in the week she carried ammunition and messages to Paddy Belton for the Volunteers in Ashbourne. Following the Rising she visited people amongst others, Captain Weafer's wife to whom she did not reveal that her husband had died and general was involved with the Dependants' Fund, as well as doing anti-conscription work and more routine work up to the Truce. She also took care of a man called Peter Fleming, on the run at that time. During the Civil War she helped in a general manner getting bandages to Lily Brennan in the Four Courts, courier, helped with food in Hickey's following this, she worked mostly as a dispatch carrier for Maria Gleeson. She helped other men on the run among them Bartle Flynn, Charlie Price English, Patrick “F” Company, 4th Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers. Born March 1894 died on the 27th of January 1970, aged about 22 years old during the Rising. Fought in the G.P.O. Detained in Stafford Jail and then Frongoch after the Rising, released in December 1916. He was a member of Fianna Eireann before joining the Volunteers. English, Patrick Francis “F” Company, 1st Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers. Born in 1879 died on the 24th of March 1949, aged about 33 years old during the Rising. Fought in the Imperial Hotel, O'Connell Street, and Pro-Cathedral, Marlborough Street areas. He was not arrested after the Rising. He joined the Volunteers in 1914. He was at his home in Howth on Easter Monday when he heard of the Rising, he walked into the city arriving about 10pm, and he spent Tuesday at a friend’s house and reported for duty at the Imperial Hotel on the Wednesday morning about 10am. He re-joined his Company when it reformed after the Rising but had to resign due to ill health in October 1918, he did not take part in the War of Independence or Civil War.

Donnelly, Charles contd. He was imprisoned in Mount Joy from July to October 1919, he was arrested and imprisoned for distributing political leaflets outside Rathfarnham Church, while in prison he served as Officer Commanding political prisoners and took part in a hunger strike. He served as 2nd Lieutenant with “E” Company from 1918 until the Truce. He acted as a rate collector in County Dublin providing funds for Dáil Éireann and provided information regarding a British intelligence. Donnelly, Patrick – no information available Dore, Eamon T – no information available Dore, Mrs. Nora Daly - no information available Dowling, Michael. His two brothers Andrew and John also fought in the Rising. Downie, Margaret (Margaret Viant, Peggy). Liverpool Branch. Cumann na mBan. Served in the G.P.O. Jervis Street Hospital and Jacob's Biscuit Factory, Bishop Street. She was not arrested or detained after the Rising and returned to Liverpool in May 1916, she had no further service. Doyle, J.J. - No information available. Doyle, John Joseph. “E” Company, 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers. Born in 1889 died on the 26th of November 1961, aged about 27 years old during the Rising. Fought in the G.P.O., Moore Street and Moore Lane areas. After the Rising he was captured and interned until December of 1916. After release he was again arrested and imprisoned between January and October 1919 undergoing hunger strike during this time. On his release he travelled to Liverpool and then to the U.S.A. Working for the Irish Republican Mission there and returned to Ireland in September 1920. Following his return he became IRA Company Lieutenant and from then until his arrest in April 1921 he was involved in a large number of IRA attacks and operations against British forces and military targets especially in the area of Dublin popularly known at the time as the "Dardanelles" (the area of Camden Street, Aungier Street, and George’s Street). John Doyle was also involved in the IRA operations against suspected British Intelligence agents in Dublin on 21 November 1920, Bloody Sunday, in particular the killing of a Captain Fitzgerald in Earlsfort Terrace. Rearrested in April 1921 Doyle was imprisoned until released from Dartmoor Prison, England in January 1922. Doyle, John. Medical Services, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers. Died on the 19th of December 1972 age at the time of the Rising unknown. Served in the G.P.O. and Coliseum Variety Theatre, O'Connell Street. John Doyle served as Medical Officer for Dublin Brigade Irish Volunteers and IRA from prior to the Easter Rising in 1916 through the War of Independence up to the end of the Civil War in 1923. During Easter Week while in the General Post Office he was attached to Irish Volunteers General Headquarters. John Doyle was held prisoner for 2 days by British forces following the surrender at the end of the Easter Rising and was not subsequently interned. At the outbreak of the Civil War in June 1922 John Doyle served with the IRA in the fighting against National Army forces in Dublin and was captured and imprisoned for approximately 6 weeks from October 1922. Doyle, Peter – no information available Duffy, Edward. Volunteer, F Company, 4th Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers. Born on the 12th of October 1898 died on the 17th of August 1951, aged 17 years old at the time of the Rising. Fought in the G.P.O. He was deported after the Rising first to Stafford and then Frongoch and released in August 1916. He took part in the War of Independence taking part in raids for arms and during the Truce acted as a Republican Policeman and attended Mulhuddard Camp. At the outbreak of the Civil War his gun was taken from him in Blackhall Street and he took no further part in the Civil War.

Fox Michael. “F” Company, 4th Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers. Born on the 27 of October 1891 died on the 3rd of January 1982, aged 24 years old during the Rising. Employed as a labourer in the Great South Western Railway Company at the time of the Rising. Interned until August 1916, served with the IRA during the War of Independence and Truce Period from 1920 to 1922 and with the National Army through the Civil War from 1922 to 1923. Participated in the Red Cow ambush in 1921. Joined the National Army in February 1922 and served on the Quartermasters Staff in Beggars Bush Barracks. He continued serving, at the rank of Private, with the Defence Forces until April 1924. Frick Bernard – no information available Furlong Andrew, Kimmage Garrison. Wounded in the knee when all the Volunteers where gathered in the large main room of the G.P.O., Pearse was addressing the group informing them that their position had become untenable, a bullet struck Furlong in the knee. Patrick Caldwell, Bernard Carmichael and Andrew Friel, members of the Kimmage Garrison, were ordered to take Furlong to Jervis Street Hospital. Unable to reach the Hospital the group returned with the injured man to the G.P.O. which they found was evacuated when they returned, the group left the G.P.O. into Henry Street and on to a barricade in Henry Place. Gahan Joseph, Kimmage Garrison. Born in 1895 died on the 30th of July 1969, aged about 21 during the Rising. Fought in the General Post Office, O'Connell Street, Dublin Pillar House O'Connell Street, General Post Office, Ship Inn and Abbey Street, areas. Took part in occupying Ship Inn, Abbey Street, and Pillar House, O'Connell Street. Detained in Wandsworth and Frongoch until July 1916.

Joseph Gahan is buried in Glasnevin cemetery Dublin,

he died on the 30th of July 1969.

Gallagher Patrick. “E” Company, 4th Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers. Born on the 7th of October 1893 died on the 10th of August 1964, aged 22 years old at the time of the Rising. Fought in the G.P.O. Interned until December 1916.

Galligan Paul – no information available

Gannon Henry (Harry) Born in Dublin and was a painter by trade. He was 34 years old at the time of the Rising. He was detained in Knutsford after the Rising.

Garland Patrick Joseph. Born in Dublin and was 19 years old at the time of the Rising.

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 29

Gavan John James. “F” Company, 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers. Born in 1892 died on the 21 of July 1945, aged about 24 years old during the Rising. He joined the Volunteers when the Volunteers occupied Lambe’s Public House where he was employed as a barman on Easter Monday. He was interned after the Rising in Stafford Jail and the North Camp Frongoch, he was released August 1916. John James Gavan received an award under the Army Pensions Acts in 1928 in respect of neurasthenia (Chronic Fatigue) which Gavan and references attributed to mistreatment which it is alleged he received from a British Army officer following the surrender of Irish Volunteer forces at the end of the Easter Rising.

Gethings Lucie – no information available

Gibson Richard. “F” Company, 1st Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers. Date of birth unknown died on the 4th of February 1977. Fought in the G.P.O. and Moore Street areas. Interned until December 1916 he was taken from Kilmainham to Knutsford then Frongoch and after spending some time in Wandsworth Jail he was returned to Frongoch, he was wounded during the fighting. He was employed by the Midland Railway at the time of the Rising and did not go to the G.P.O. until the Tuesday because he was working on Easter Monday. Although he re-joined after his release he had to resign soon after due to ill health as a consequence of his injuries received during Easter Week.

Giffney Michael – no information available

Gleeson Joseph, Kimmage Garrison, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers. Born in 1889 died on the 18th of December 1959 aged about 27 years old during the Rising. Fought in the G.P.O. He was the North of England representative on the Supreme Council of the IRB from 1912 to 1917. After the Rising he served on the staff of Michael Collins before serving with the Meath Brigade during the War of Independence until his arrest and internment in December 1920. During the Civil War he served in the Printing and Stationary Department of the Quartermaster General's staff. His brother Martin (see below) also fought in the G.P.O. during the Rising.

Gleeson Martin, Kimmage Garrison, Irish Volunteers. Born in 1882 died on the 12th of November 1947, aged about 34 years old during the Rising. Fought in the G.P.O. and Moore Street areas. He was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood before the Rising. His brother Joseph also fought in the G.P.O. He was interned until December 1916. He joined the National Army on 1 May 1922 and served throughout the subsequent Civil War in the Accounts Office of Quartermaster General's department. He was demobilised from the Defence Forces in March 1924 at the rank of Lieutenant while serving with the Kerry Command. He was the owner of the premises, 10A Aungier Street, Dublin, from which An t-Óglach was printed in 1921.

Gogan Richard P. “B” Company, 1st Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers. Born in 1900 died on the 28th of May 1982, aged 16 at the time of the Rising. Spoke Irish. Assisted in carrying the injured James Connolly across Henry Street into Henry Place and on to Moore Street under heavy machine-gun fire. Served as a mobiliser and was released after a week’s detention on account of his age following the surrender. Served with the Irish Volunteers and the IRA from 1916 through the War of Independence, Truce Period and Civil War until 1923. Richard P. Gogan served as company orderly and was responsible for care, maintenance and delivery of weapons to and from subject's father's premises at 184 Parnell Street and 371-373 North Circular Road, which were used as IRA arms dumps throughout the period and 184 Parnell Street as a munitions factory during the Civil War. He also provided first aid to wounded volunteers following ambushes on a number of occasions, carried out dispatch work and took part in fighting in Dublin against National Army forces.

Goode Alfred Joseph - no information available

Grenan Julia. Cumann na mBan, Nurse. Served in the G.P.O. throughout Easter Week providing first aid and meals to the Rebels during Easter Week.

Harris Thomas – no information available

Hayes James Joseph. “C” Company, 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers. Born in 1888 died on the 26th of April 1941, aged about 28 years old during the Rising. Fought in the Annesley Bridge Fairview, General Post Office and Imperial Hotel areas. Following the Easter Rising he was interned until August 1916. Due to ill health he had limited involvement in the War of Independence.

Healy John, Killed in Action.

Healy Richard – no information available

Heffernan Michael. Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers. Born in 1889 died on the 5th of June 1954, aged about 27 years old during the Rising. Fought in the G.P.O. Michael Heffernan was arrested by British forces in Jervis Street Hospital at the end of the Easter Rising where he was being treated for injuries received in a fall while participating in fighting against British forces earlier in the week. He was subsequently interned until August 1916. During the War of Independence he mobilised for IRA operations surrounding the escape of Frank Teeling and other IRA prisoners from Kilmainham Jail in 1920 as well as the occupation of the Inchicore Railway Works. In April 1922 he took part in the IRA occupation of the Four Courts and following the outbreak of the Civil War in June that year and took part in the IRA defence of 44 Parnell Square against National Army forces. He had no further activities.

Hegarty Sean, Kimmage Garrison

Henderson Frank Captain “F” Company 2nd Battalion Dublin Brigade Irish Volunteers. Joined the Irish Volunteers at the inaugural meeting in 1913. After the countermanding order on Easter Sunday, Henderson’s company were ordered to ‘stand to arms’ and no man was to leave the City. The Company was ordered to parade in Stephen’s Green at 10am on Easter Monday. After some confusion and disagreement among the officers and a short de-mobilisation the Company re-mobilised with a strength of between 80 and 100 Volunteers and they marched off from Father Matthew Park at about 3pm. The first action Frank Henderson’s column saw was on the march to the G.P.O., they encountered a detachment of British troops coming from Bull Island training camp. Henderson’s column seized a house commanding the Tolka Bridge at Ballybough, the house was barricade by the Volunteers but the British troops had retreated. After some time the Volunteers decided to occupy Lamb’s Public House which gave them a complete view of the bridge from the city and to defend if from an approach from Drumcondra. They occupied these positions until late Tuesday when they were ordered by James Connolly to try and make it to the G.P.O., when they eventually made it to the front entrance of the G.P.O. they were fired on by Volunteers in the Imperial Hotel who thought they were enemy forces due to the fact that they had some prisoners in British Army uniform with them. Once inside the G.P.O. Henderson was ordered to occupy buildings in Henry Street, McDowell’s Shop and Bewley’s. The group secured food from the shops in Henry Street, sending a large proportion of this back to the G.P.O. As they erected barricades across Henry Street using goods from the shops, a mob removed them as quickly. The Volunteers first fire a volley of shots over the heads of the mob but this had no effect so they were forced to fix bayonets and charge the mob, the bayonet charge had the desired affect and the mob fled. On Thursday, all Volunteers withdrew to the G.P.O. as an attack was felt to be imminent. Henderson remained in the G.P.O. until the evacuation. After the surrender, he was transferred to Richmond Barracks the next day. After Richmond Barracks he was taken to Holyhead by cattle boat and then to Stafford Jail. In July he was transferred to Frongoch, he appeared before the Sankey tribunal and was released from Frongoch on Christmas Eve 1916.

Next month: further biographies of the GPO garrison

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 30

The Dublin Castle ‘Personalities Files’ by Ferghal McGarry

Beginning in the late nineteenth century, Dublin Castle’s ‘Personalities Files’ span the emergence of Sinn Féin, the Easter Rising and the War of Independence, with the largest number relating to the period 1917–20. As might be expected, the documents provide a rich source of information on leading figures such as Michael Collins and Eamon de Valera—detailing their movements, contacts with other revolutionaries, public speeches, private correspondence and legal struggles with the authorities—but their value is enhanced by the fact that many of the files concern lesser-known political activists, individuals who never became household names but were crucial to the success of the republican movement. Perhaps the most significant aspect is the light that they shed on the security forces and Dublin Castle during these final years of revolutionary violence and administrative chaos. Origins How was the intelligence in the Personalities Files gathered? For what purpose? What does it tell us about law and order in Ireland and the administration’s attempts to contain the growing social unrest and political violence of the period? What do the files reveal about the outlook of the politicians, officials and Crown forces tasked with suppressing the Irish revolution? What do they tell us about the strategies adopted by republicans to overthrow British rule? The documents, only declassified during the past decade, form a small section of Colonial Office class 904 (better known as ‘the Dublin Castle Records’), a series of records of the British administration in Ireland held by the National Archives in London. They originally formed part of the records of the Crimes Special Branch of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), one of two police forces operating in Ireland at this time. The RIC was responsible for law and order throughout the country, while the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) had responsibility for Dublin and the surrounding metropolitan area. It was the latter’s G Division (or Special Branch) that would fight the IRA for control of the streets of Dublin during the War of Independence. The Personalities Files were assembled by the RIC, not the DMP, but include many documents generated by ‘the G’ because of Dublin’s role as the administrative centre of the republican movement. Given the dearth of surviving material on the DMP, the Personalities Files represent an important source for its crucial G Division. Like the DMP, the RIC operated a discrete section tasked with monitoring and prosecuting subversives: the Crimes Special Branch (more commonly known as Special Branch). Both special branches shared intelligence but maintained separate staffs and records. Contrary to popular belief, neither was a particularly impressive organisation. Even at the height of the IRA’s campaign, ‘the G’ employed fewer than two dozen men exclusively dedicated to political work, while the RIC’s Special Branch consisted not of a nationwide detective force along the lines of Scotland Yard but a confidential records office based in Dublin Castle, staffed by several clerks, a detective inspector and a chief inspector. The vast bulk of intelligence gathered by Special Branch was collected by ordinary RIC men throughout the country, and forwarded to Crimes Special Branch’s small office in Dublin Castle. Until the final year of Dublin Castle’s rule, there was no ‘secret service’ in Ireland; Special Branch did not run undercover agents, rarely recruited informers and made little effort to penetrate the organisations of its enemies. The documents gathered here demonstrate the old-fashioned methods employed by the police: republican premises were kept under observation, train stations and other public places were watched, suspects were shadowed from town to town, and their speeches were recorded by policemen who rarely disguised their identity. The Personalities Files were generated for a variety of purposes: to gather intelligence on revolutionaries, to compile evidence for their prosecution, to respond to the many inquiries about suspected republican sympathisers that Dublin Castle received, and to justify the dismissal of

An early reference to Michael Collins. (British National Archives, Kew)

republicans from public employment. The series documents the correspondence not only of the police but of the offices of the chief secretary, under-secretary, lord lieutenant, government departments such as the General Post Office, and various sections of the Irish and British security forces, including Scotland Yard and MI5. The comments appended to the files by these officials offer revealing insights into the political rationale behind Dublin Castle’s decisions and the legal and bureaucratic difficulties they encountered in securing prosecutions. The enemy within The largest proportion of files relate to public servants, demonstrating that teachers, clerks, telephonists, excise officers and even postmen were viewed by the regime as potentially dangerous enemies within. The outspoken Borrisoleigh schoolteacher Thomas Bourke was ‘a disgrace & a danger to the state’, suspected of ‘instilling disloyalty into his pupils’. The Strabane postman Cornelius Boyle delivered more than the mail: ‘on his travels . . . he is stirring up revolts in the minds of the young men on his walk every day’. Schoolteacher Michael Thornton, a ‘devilish ruffian’, was dismissed for ‘teaching disloyalty and sedition to the children in Furbough School’. Unfortunately for Dublin Castle, teachers, clerks and other public servants belonged to a class particularly drawn to republicanism: young men who were educated, status-conscious and ambitious but frustrated by the lack of social and political opportunities available to them in Ireland under the Union. Although some individuals were dismissed on dubious or malicious grounds, the files indicate that the quality of evidence demanded for prosecution, or even dismissal, was generally high: no action was taken in many of these cases despite the RIC’s efforts to gather incriminating evidence. Consequently, the Irish administration remained penetrated by republican sympathisers despite its periodic attempts to purge potentially subversive employees.

These sensitive documents, written by officials who would not have expected them to become available for public scrutiny within their own lifetimes, shed much light on the mentality of Britain’s officials in Ireland and their response to the growing subversive threat: hostility, anger and frustration are frequently expressed, but so also are incomprehension and some sympathy for

also are incomprehension and some sympathy for individuals tragically caught up in the violence of the Irish revolution. The police reports are particularly illuminating, given that many RIC men felt compelled to report not only on the politics but also on the character and morals of those who fell under their gaze, providing judgements that shed light on the outlook of the official mind and the mores of contemporary society as well as the suspects in question. There was very little, in the early years at least, that escaped the sharp eyes and ears of the local RIC: certainly not a drinking problem, an addiction to gambling, a propensity for keeping bad company or an adulterous affair. Even their social betters did not escape the RIC’s perceptive evaluations. Thomas St John Gaffney, a former US diplomat, merited a grudgingly approving assessment as ‘a man of wonderful pretensions . . . a man able to live by his wits’. These frank and often intimately detailed reports provide fascinating insights into the lives of republican activists and the wider community among which they sought to proselytise. The range of propaganda material gathered here is vast: personal letters stopped by the wartime censor, political pamphlets, subversive news-sheets, seditious leaflets, anti-war posters, rebel ballads and even overheard conversations. Republicans active in other countries, particularly the United States, also came under the scrutiny of Special Branch. Most of those who fell under police suspicion were male, but there are files on almost 50 women, including such prominent republicans as Maud Gonne MacBride, Countess Markievicz, Helena Molony and Alice Milligan, as well as lesser-known activists and various victims and opponents of the republican movement.

Cartoon satirising Maud Gonne, from her file. (National Archives, Kew)

Most of the files concern republican suspects or victims of republican violence, but a substantial number outline the activities of socialists, trade unionists, feminists, communists and agrarian radicals during a period of disturbed social and economic conditions. For example, Sylvia Pankhurst’s visit to Dublin in 1919 to speak to the Irish Women’s Franchise League was closely observed. There are also files on deserters, suspect foreign nationals, disgruntled policemen, poison-pen letter-writers, swindlers and paranoid fantasists. There are appeals

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 31

The Dublin Castle ‘Personalities Files’ continued…

swindlers and paranoid fantasists. There are appeals to Dublin Castle for jobs, money, favours and the redress of grievances, real or imagined. The files also contain letters from several informers and would-be secret agents eager to volunteer their services against the IRA. Kahan Singh Chowdhury, an Indian studying in Dublin in 1920, wrote to the chief secretary offering the use of his ‘Eastern brain’ in the campaign against the IRA. Such men were not always suited to their chosen vocation. P. J. Gartland’s request to join the Irish ‘secret service’ was, bizarrely, supported by the police in his hometown of Liverpool despite his prominent hunchback, drink problem and history of mental instability. The difficulties faced by the police in securing convictions for political crimes are clearly evident, particularly in troubled areas where local justices and juries were reluctant to convict suspects for political offences and witnesses were invariably unwilling to come forward. The files also demonstrate how republican strategies evolved during the Tan War. Whereas the rebels of 1916 responded to defeat in an idealistic (or naïve) manner, defiantly admitting their actions and making little effort to evade capture and punishment, the rules had clearly changed by 1919. Republicans found in possession of incriminating documents denied any knowledge of them, publicly repudiating their political sympathies if necessary. Convicted republicans signed undertakings to abstain from political activism to secure early release without any intention of honouring them. Suspects rarely admitted the charges against them—no matter how strong the evidence—and exploited every legal (or illegal) loophole to avoid prosecution or dismissal

The RIC undermined Indeed, it is the increasing inability of the police to respond to the transformed political circumstances that provides the vital context to these files. Before the outbreak of the Great War, the lot of the Irish policeman was not particularly arduous. Although grievances about pay and conditions existed, the police enjoyed a respectable status within their local community. Admittedly, in contrast to the English constabulary, the RIC was an armed force—its 12,000 constables living in military-style barracks outside their home counties for reasons of security and discipline—but it was not generally resented as an alien body, except during periodic outbreaks of political or agrarian tension. The vast majority of RIC men were Catholics—and most, therefore, were nationalists—although the higher ranks of the force, like the judiciary and the upper echelons of the Dublin Castle administration, remained predominantly Protestant and unionist. The force was experienced in dealing with political and agrarian crime and, with its intimate knowledge of the local community, was well placed to chart the volatile political mood of nationalist Ireland. The RIC played a crucial role as ‘the eyes and ears of Dublin Castle’ and symbolised the power of the British Crown in Ireland. For these reasons, the acceptance of the policeman within his community, and his ability to perform his duties, inevitably came under challenge after 1916. During the War of Independence, the RIC was placed under intense pressure by the republican movement, which identified the policeman as its principal enemy. The police were ridiculed, intimidated and attacked. Public drilling and the intimidation of witnesses and jurors further humiliated the force by demonstrating its inability to preserve order. The IRA’s most effective weapon was the boycott, which began in the summer of 1918. Policemen were shunned by their neighbours, who refused to talk to them, sit beside them at church or conduct business with them. In reality, the police represented more of a soft target than the cutting edge of British imperialism.

Mug shot of Charles Collins, arrested on 19 May 1918 near Brittas, Co. Wicklow, for carrying sixteen sticks of gelignite and other incendiary equipment. (National Archives, Kew)

Many policemen, the inspector general of the RIC reported, opted to resign rather than live ‘boycotted, ostracised, forced to commandeer their food, crowded in many instances into cramped quarters without proper light or air, every man’s hand against them, in danger of their lives and subjected to the appeals of their parents and their families to induce them to leave’. Ostracism was followed by assassination. The first meeting of Dáil Éireann in January 1919 coincided with the killing of two policemen at Soloheadbeg, Co. Tipperary, an attack that shocked many nationalists. By 1920 such murders had become commonplace: some 400 policemen were killed during the conflict. The RIC’s strength during times of relative peace—its closeness to the community among whom it lived—became a serious weakness. It was not difficult for determined IRA leaders to cultivate contacts with friendly, frightened or otherwise vulnerable policemen, to intimidate diligent policemen out of their jobs and encourage their less enthusiastic colleagues to remain. A subsequent military report asserted that ‘the police service of information had practically broken down by December 1919, owing to the murder of the best and most active members of the RIC and DMP’. By then, the police had also been seriously penetrated. The IRA recruited confidential clerks and Special Branch detectives as informers, while on one famous occasion Michael Collins spent a night locked inside the records room of the DMP. The streets of Dublin, however, were the front line in the conflict between the police and the IRA. Well known to their putative targets, the G-men who specialised in political work proved particularly vulnerable to IRA attacks. In mid-1919 Michael Collins formed ‘the squad’ to assassinate these men. The decision was partly pragmatic. Their elimination would remove a vital source of intelligence from the Irish administration, allowing the IRA vital breathing space. But there were also political and symbolic motives. The G-men were the most hated symbols of the British regime, particularly despised for their role in picking out the leaders of the rebellion for execution in 1916. Their killings could be depicted as justifiable, while the British response to them would escalate the conflict. Between July 1919 and May 1920, a dozen DMP men were assassinated. By the end of the IRA’s brutal but effective campaign, the DMP’s intelligence-gathering capabilities had been destroyed and the force was on the verge of collapse. Remarkably, the DMP was compelled to withdraw from direct involvement in the conflict, its members refusing to carry arms or assume any responsibility for political crime. The RIC proved more resilient, particularly in terms of morale, but it was placed under enormous strain by the IRA’s campaign. The police increasingly came to view entire communities as hostile. By the summer of 1920, even Dublin’s Mater Hospital appeared a hotbed of intrigue: ‘The community of nuns who manage this hospital, the majority of the medical staff, the nurses and practically all the students are Sinn Féiners or Sinn Féin sympathisers’.

Irish Volunteers’ target-practice sheet found in 1918 in the Larkfield estate home of Grace Plunkett (née Gifford), wife of the executed Joseph Mary Plunkett. (National Archives, Kew)

These files testify to the RIC’s growing inability to meet the republican challenge. Activists could not be located despite continuing to operate within their own areas. IRA men could not be arrested without military support. Although aware of the identity of many of its enemies, the RIC was unable to gather sufficient evidence to prosecute them. Witnesses would not testify against the IRA, and those who were prepared to do so could not be protected. The police’s authority in rural areas diminished, increasingly displaced by that of the IRA. By 1920 judges were frequently presented with white gloves, signifying not the peaceful state of the country but the RIC’s inability to bring offenders before the courts. Despite misgivings, many RIC men remained loyal to the Crown but—increasingly demoralised and anticipating Britain’s eventual withdrawal—hundreds resigned, looked the other way or defected to the enemy. These files illustrate the consequent decline of the police’s intelligence capabilities. While many of the earlier files contain detailed and vivid information, the police had clearly lost touch with political crime by 1920. The British Army’s ‘Record of the Rebellion in Ireland’ attributed some of the blame to the RIC’s outdated methods and lack of resources: ‘The Crimes Special Branch depended much more on personal and local knowledge than on organisation and methodical recording . . .’ The unwise economy which reduced the personnel of the Crimes Special Branch made it almost impossible to keep adequate, up-to-date and reliable records and files. Moreover, nearly every “Crimes Special” report was laboriously written out in longhand and copies were seldom kept. They were passed backward and forward between the central and subordinate officers, thus greatly increasing the opportunities for discovering their contents. The result was that when those men, whose knowledge would have been invaluable during 1920 and 1921, were murdered, the intelligence system in Ireland collapsed for the time being and had to be built up afresh. Too much responsibility for these shortcomings, however, could be placed on the police, who had little influence over the policies they were expected to execute. Until mid-1920, no coherent security policy was put in place either by the British government or its administration at Dublin Castle, which was regarded by many of the politicians and civil servants who worked within it as dysfunctional and chaotic. The superficially orderly appearance of the Personalities Files masks the confusion that reigned within Dublin Castle. Closer scrutiny provides many examples of these problems. Cooperation and coordination between the army and the police were poor and relations were often strained—as is revealed by such incidents as the forced resignation of the RIC’s county inspector for Londonderry, ‘who has not the confidence of the military’, or the police’s anger at the army’s failure to come to its assistance following the murder of a sergeant in Clare. Police advice to Dublin Castle, whose approach oscillated between conciliation and coercion, was frequently ignored: leading republican

Continued on p27

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 32

“Roger Casement made a fool of himself’ Kathleen Clarke, wife of executed Easter Rising leader reveals disdain for Casement on secret tape

Sir Roger Casement “made a fool of himself” in his dealings with

the Germans, according to the wife of executed Easter Rising leader Tom Clarke. Kathleen Clarke described Casement as someone who really knew nothing about Ireland and who considered himself a leader of the Irish Volunteers despite being nothing of the kind. The interview with Ms Clarke was recorded in 1968 by Fr Louis O’Kane and has been stored in the Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich Memorial Library and Archive in Armagh until now. A full transcript of its contents has never been released previously. The Fr Louis O’Kane collection includes some 120 interviews with about 70 veterans or witnesses of the War of Independence, nearly all from the North. In late 1914 and early 1915, Casement went to Limburg prisoner-of-war camp in Germany in an attempt to raise a brigade among Irishmen who had been captured early in the war. He hoped it would be the vanguard of a German invasion force which would liberate Ireland from the British, but only 56 out of some 2,000 prisoners joined. Mrs. Clarke told Fr O’Kane that Casement had no mandate to do such a thing. “He went off to Germany and started things that the revolutionary group here didn’t want,” she said. “They didn’t ask Germany for men. All they asked them for was arms. And he was trying to get men.” She described Casement as the “aristocratic kind and he assumed that when he went into any movement, ipso facto, he was one of our leaders, if not the leader . . . and what could he know of Ireland, when he was all the time out of it.” However, Casement was successful in securing arms for the rebellion although the Aud Norge, the ship which carried the arms, was intercepted by the Royal Navy on Good Friday 1916 and scuttled. Mrs. Clarke said her husband had said, while awaiting execution in Kilmainham Gaol, that the Germans “to the last letter of the law” had sent the arms they promised and deserved credit. Mrs. Clarke told Fr O’Kane her husband had made up his mind years before the first World War to start a rebellion if war broke out between Britain and Germany. She and her husband only disagreed on one thing – they were living in New York in 1907 and he wanted to come back to Ireland but she initially refused. “I said, ‘You’ve done enough for your country, as much as any man could be expected’ and he said, ‘You can never do enough for your country’,” she said. Mrs. Clarke said to her husband: “I don’t want to go. If you’re taking me home to a nice quiet life, I’ll be satisfied to go. I’d love to go, but if you’re going home for a revolution, I’m likely to lose you and I don’t want to lose you.” She went back understanding the consequences. “Once I surrendered then I went into it wholeheartedly, even though I realised I couldn’t see, [how we would win] . . . with the small might that we could throw up against the immense might of the Empire.” Mrs. Clarke became a formidable republican in her own right after her husband was executed in 1916. She was a founder member of Fianna Fáil in 1926, the first woman mayor of Dublin, a TD and senator. She lived until 1972. She was anti-Treaty and was interned by the government during the Civil War, but claims in the interview that she tried to persuade the men who were occupying the Four Courts in 1922 to lay down their arms. She told Michael Collins she would support the Treaty on the basis that it gave Ireland the “machinery to work out to full freedom”. In June 1922 she went to the Four Courts to remonstrate with the anti-Treaty forces who were occupying it. The occupation led to the Civil War. “It’s a challenge to Mick Collins and I know Mick well enough that he’ll only accept that challenge until such time as he can get an army together and kick you out of here. Are you going to wait for that?”

she told them. Liam Mellows, who was occupying the Four Courts at the time and was later executed by the Free State government, responded: “You’re only a woman, what would you know about it?” The recording is available to visitors of the Cardinal Ó Fiaich library on Moy Road, Armagh, (the project is supported by the UK Heritage Lottery Fund).

[Ed note: While renowned for her forthright and straight talking manner, Mrs. Clarke was factually incorrect to claim that Casement had no mandate to recruit Irish POWs. Devoy had instructed him to do so as one of three objectives of his mission to Germany. See page 36 for further information on Casement’s Mission objectives.)

Servants and ladies: 100 years ago in The Irish Times The Irish Times of November 3rd 1915 was dominated by Britain, war and servants’ positions. One hundred years ago today, less than six months before the 1916 Rising, The Irish Times reflected an Irish society still deeply embedded in British politics and social norms. The news stories of the day included the sorry tale of a “Shocking motor accident: car goes over a 250 feet cliff with a Lady”. The Lady in question was the 32-year-old wife of Second Lieutenant St John Sampson, an Irishman, who while visiting a lighthouse in Eastbourne fell behind his wife who returned to their car alone and “apparently, accidently set the vehicle in motion”. His wife wasn’t named but it is reported that when her body was found “her right hand was still clasping a handbag.” Elsewhere there was much coverage of the recovery of King George, who had fallen from a horse while on parade and on November 3rd was still confined to bed, according to a statement from Buckingham Palace. On the same page there were multiple articles on the war in Europe and a roll of honour listed the names of officers who had experienced casualties, under the headings of Officers killed; Officers accidently killed; Officers suffering from gas poisoning and latterly “Irish regiments, other ranks”.

Perhaps the most enlightening of all is page two of that day’s edition, much of which was devoted to situation vacant advertisements for servants of all station, including parlourmaids, domestic servants, male servants, chauffeurs, cooks and dairymaids. The lists of positions wanted and servants disengaged is fascinating. Having a wife but no children was a bonus it seemed: “Wanted: Yardman, married, no family: strong active Man required, care pony and trap and odd jobs. Wife assist with milking, feeding of calves etc. State age, wages expected, house, firing, milk. Apply with references to John Blunden, Castle Blunden, Kilkenny” Religion and nationality were also factored in with a “superior English infant’s nurse, Protestant” available for placement while a “Young girl R.C. wishs to be trained as a housemaid”. Some estates still seemed to be financially secure being able to hire rabbit trappers and chauffeurs, while accommodation was often a welcome perk. “Rabbit trapper - wanted, experience Trapper for estate in Co Cork. Permanency for good man: married man (Protestant) preferred. Wife cares gate lodge” “Chauffeur wanted. Wife as caretaker of offices. Free apartments. State age and wages expected.” Many of the ads were placed by servants “recently disengaged” but if difficulties finding a position or a servant continued, readers were advised to call to The Irish Times Servant’s Registry which had recently moved to Westmoreland Street. The office opened at 10am for servants and at 11am for Ladies.

The Dublin Castle ‘Personalities Files’ continued…

activists were often released by Dublin Castle despite the RIC’s opposition. The resulting tensions between the demoralised police force and Dublin Castle were reflected by the poor relationship between the staunchly unionist lord lieutenant, Field Marshal Lord French, and the inspector general, General Joseph Byrne, until the latter’s acrimonious removal from office.

General Sir Nevil Macready (left, with Viceroy Lord French), an officer with a knowledge of both policing and Irish affairs, was appointed general-officer-commanding, Irish command, in March 1920.

Few of these files concern the final twelve months of the conflict, the period when the British cabinet applied serious effort and resources to the Irish crisis. The appointment of a military officer, Major-General Hugh Tudor, as chief of police signalled a decision to militarise the embattled police force. General Sir Nevil Macready, an officer with a knowledge of both policing and Irish affairs, was appointed general-officer-commanding, Irish command, in March 1920. The RIC was opened to non-Irish recruits, resulting in an influx of demobilised British soldiers (soon known as ‘Black and Tans’) into the force. These men, and the more effective Auxiliary Division, would earn a notorious reputation for their involvement in reprisals such as the murder of the Sinn Féin lord mayor of Cork, Thomas MacCurtain, and the burning of Cork city. The time-consuming process of gathering evidence for often fruitless civil prosecutions to which many of these files bear testimony was bypassed in favour of an aggressive counter-insurgency campaign relying on martial law, internment and an increasingly dirty undercover war. The RIC’s intelligence role was superseded by a reorganised intelligence branch under Brigadier-General Ormonde Winter. These changes placed the IRA under greater pressure but alienated moderate nationalist opinion and shocked international and British opinion, thereby increasing the pressure on both sides for a negotiated end to the conflict. They also spelled the end of the old RIC, many of whose members resented service alongside their less disciplined comrades and the aggressive policies they were now expected to execute. The Personalities Files provide a valuable insight into the final years of that force, illuminating diverse aspects of the Irish revolution. For students of the Irish revolution, they represent a rich source of information about the social and political unrest of the last decades of British rule in southern Ireland. The files provide valuable and often vivid insights into the challenges facing the British administration and the background and activities of the young men and women who fought Britain’s Crown forces to a stalemate by the summer of 1921. Fearghal McGarry lectures in history at Queen’s University, Belfast. Further reading:

P. Hart (ed.), British intelligence in Ireland: the final reports (Cork, 2002). E. O’Halpin, The decline of the Union (Dublin, 1987). C. Townshend, The British campaign in Ireland, 1919–1921 (Oxford, 1975).

…the officers saved were Capt. Glover, Lieutenants Booth and Cator, and the Doctor's Mate - it is impossible, says the writer of the account, to paint the distress of the officers and soldiers who were saved, the greatest part of whom, being cast on the rocks, had their flesh torn in a shocking manner, and, instead of receiving, the least assistance from the inhabitants, were attacked by some thousands of the common-people, who carried away every article that could be saved from the wreck."

Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, Volume 46” Pub.1776

The Chronicle of 1775, page 187 (below) also recounts the event:

Transcription: "At night, the Rockingham transport was lost, by mistaking (as is supposed) Robert's Cove, about ten miles from Cork, for the Cove of Cork, it blowing a gale of wind, and being thick weather. There were on board three companies of the 32nd Regiment. Lieut. March and his wife, Ensign Sandiman, Lieut. Barker's wife and upwards of 90 soldiers, besides the Captain and crew, were drowned. Five officers and twenty soldiers saved themselves in the flat bottomed boat. By a similar mistake, during the last war, the Ramilies, of 90 guns and 850 men (taking the Bolt head for the Ram, near Plymouth) perished, with all on board, except twenty seamen, and one midshipman. These, among innumerable other inheritances, show the great necessity of sea lights, particularly distinctive ones..." Wrecking

Wrecking was well known & practised in south-west England and southern coasts of Ireland where the rocky coastline, and strong prevailing onshore winds helped wreck many merchant ships and warships. It is rumoured that ships were sometimes deliberately attracted: false lights on the shore were said to be used sometimes to lead ships into disaster. Under Brehon law in Ireland when a ship was wrecked its cargo belonged to the people of the locality of the wreck. In 1735 a law was passed to make it an offence to make false lights, but no one was prosecuted as a result. In 1769 William Pearse was hanged at Launceston in Cornwall for stealing from a wreck. It was not until after a case in the Court of Appeal in 1870 that rewards were made for rescuing people. Wrecking was a major industry in the 19th century, and as far back as the 16th century, especially of ships returning from the New World using the Gulf Stream, wreckers would attempt to frighten off the curious, suspicious or unwanted visitors, by spreading wild rumours concerning supernatural activity, ghosts and cannibals near their wrecking sites. Wrecking was a major activity well into the 19th century. The Victorian architect Pugin supplemented his income by wrecking, using his lugger The Caroline to salvage cargoes from ships aground off the Goodwin Sands in the English Channel off Kent. Contd >

The 32nd Foot had recently returned from a disastrous posting on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent where many of the troops had been decimated by disease. Additional men had been recruited from Somerset, Devon and Cornwall to bolster numbers and by 21 November it was reported that all baggage was loaded aboard and ready to sail from Richmond. Officer’s wives and children traditionally travelled with many Regiments on overseas postings and many were also aboard. "...The regiment returned home in 1773, and was stationed at Wells [Somerset]; from thence they proceeded to Bath, and in 1774 we find them in Salisbury, probably having been moved about in the hopes of raising more men after their losses in the Carribbee Islands [West Indies]. In October of that year they look part in a grand review at Richmond. On December 17th, 1775, they were moved to Ireland... the head-quarters and three companies, together with women and children, and all the records of the regiment, embarked in the Rockingham Castle transport...." “Historical Records of the 32nd (Cornwall) Light Infantry, now the Duke of Cornwall’s. From the formation of the Regiment in 1702 down to 1892. Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Limited, 32 Paternoster Row. London. 1893.

The Rockingham was ordered firstly to Gravesend in Kent to join other vessels. From there, on December 17, 1775 she sailed for Cork in a convoy of six transports. On the night of 22 December 1775, she was just offshore, making for the "Cove of Cork" (Cobh) in a heavy gale, when Robert's Cove was mistaken for the entrance to the harbour. In the gale, she was driven onto a lee shore at Rennies Bay, a few miles distant and wrecked. A number of officers and soldiers managed to escape in a flat-bottomed boat. The numbers are uncertain, but were variously reported as either five officers and twenty men, four officers and thirty men, or three officers, thirty men, and two of the ship's crew. However, there was no uncertainty in those lost - these numbered 148 men, women and children. The regimental pay chest of £250 in gold & silver and regimental records were also lost. Edward Bourke writes that Captain Glover of the 32nd Regiment, who was aboard and was one of the officers that survived the wreck, wrote of the event to his commanding office Major General Cunningham: "The endeavour to recover such baggage as might be in possession of the country people was without the least success. What has been cast upon the sea was plundered, secreted and so dispersed that it is impossible to recover the smallest article. The ship was an entire wreck, with not two planks remaining together. On approaching Cork, the weather unfavourable, the vessel was piloted into Crookhaven [possibly Crosshaven?], afterwards sailing for Cork with a strong but fair wind. On the first strike, the ship bulged, the water immediately entered. The soldiers between decks were struck out of their berths. Weak with sea sickness, several women and children drowned. The foremast was cut down. By incessant strokes, the stern gave way and her quarterdeck fell in so that everyone was on the forecastle. The waves were as high as the main yard washing away some people. Myself and some 35 got in a boat and washed away on the rocks, three were lost in the attempt. The floating dead bodies were mangled and dashed to pieces. The paymaster lost £250, all the arms, clothing and all the baggage' Further research on the wreck of the Rockingham shows the Rockingham shipwreck was widely reported in the limited print reports of the time. In this example, “The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Chronicle, Volume 46” published in late 1776 contains the following: Transcription: "The Rockingham transport was unfortunately lost, by mistaking Robert's Cove for Cork harbour, in the night. She had on board three companies of the 32th Regiment of Foot. Lieut. March and his wife, Ensign Sandaman and Lieut. Barker's wife, and upwards of 90 soldiers, with the captain and crew, perished…

Shipwrecks off the Tracton Parish coast

Edward Bourke in an article 'Shipwrecks off the Local Coast' published in "Tracton, Where the Abbey Lies Low" (KWP, 2007) details a number of shipwrecks over two centuries in the local area: "The location of Minane Bridge at the entrance to Cork harbour meant that there was considerable ship traffic in the vicinity. An easterly or south easterly wind made this section of coast a lee shore and highly dangerous to sailing ships. Cork itself became the main supply base for naval and troop traffic to the West Indies instead of Kinsale, shortly after the American Revolutionary War (1775-1776)...smaller ships took agricultural produce from the Port of Cork to London especially and a fleet of colliers supplied coal from the English ports to Cork...in the small stretch of coast from Ringabella around Roberts Cove to Rennies Bay, there were several large ships lost and just out to sea, Daunt Rock claimed many more...local newspapers did not even mention shipwrecks because they were so common. Sailors [drowned at sea and washed up on beaches] were 'foreigners' in a locality and their graves are rarely marked in Irish churchyards. Most were not buried in churchyards at all because their religion was unknown and it was not uncommon to see a description of a burial behind a beach. If a family was well to do, a headstone might be raised to a Captain but rarely to any of the crew...'

This month, two December shipwrecks which occurred at the area and mentioned by Mr. Bourke, are examined in more detail. The troop transport vessel 'The Rockingham' which sank in 1775 off the Rennies and the SS El Zorro which broke up in Man of War Cove, December 1915.

The Rockingham, 1775 On December 22, 1775 a vessel variously named as Rockingham, Castle Rockingham, the Rockingham Transport or Marquis of Rockingham was wrecked on the coast at The Rennies, Nohoval during a heavy storm.148 lives were lost. The master and crew of the ship were drowned, as were about ninety two of the passengers - men, women and children. Allegations of wrecking* were made in various communications at the time as were calls for lighthouses in what was one of the busiest shipping ports in the British Empire. * Wrecking is the practice of taking valuables from a shipwreck which has foundered close to shore. Often an unregulated activity of opportunity in coastal communities.

Background With the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in 1775, soldiers and armaments were rapidly moved from Britain and Ireland to reinforce the existing British armies in the American Colonies. In late 1775, the vessel Rockingham was hired to transport three companies of the 32nd Regiment of Foot, along with a number of their families, to Ireland. Some sources believe the troops and their families were en route to British North America as part of a force under General Cornwallis via Cork. Others believe they were to be stationed in Cork City.

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 33

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 34

The Rockingham continued

British Parliamentary Notes for December 1775 carry the following on the Rockingham:

27 Dec 1775. - Ireland, V.456, No. 68 a, b. Lord Lieutenant of Ireland to Lord Weymouth. Enclosing a letter from Major Genl. Cuninghame, giving an account of the wreck in a hurricane in the night of the 22ud, at Cork Head, of the "Rockingham" transport, carrying three companies of the 32nd Regt., when two officers, about 90 of the men, two officers' ladies, the captain of the transport, and most of the crew were drowned. " Dublin Castle. The enclosure. "The two officers drowned were Lieut. March and Ensign Sandyman ; the ladies, Lieut. March's wife, and Mrs. Basher, wife of a surgeon appointed to the hospital in America."

The following is an excerpt from The Acts of Parliament, 1776, showing reimbursements approved by Government to claimants connected with the Rockingham:

Transcription: May 6, 1776: To Edm Armstrong, Esquire, for losses sustained by sundry Officers of the 32nd Regiment of Foot in the Wreck of the Rockingham Transport on the coast of Ireland on 22d December 1775 £624.14.0 May 17, 1776: To Colonel W. Amherfs, to replace sundry accoutrements and clothing of the 32nd Regiment of Foot lost in the Wreck of the Rockingham Transport on the coast of Ireland, the 22d December 1775 £515.17.10 Sep 16, 1776: To Sergeant Carter of Do Regiment for losses sustained by him in the wreck of do. Transport. £50.0.0 Oct 3, 1776: To Lieutenant Colonel Fletcher, of the 32nd Regiment of Foot for D[amages] sustained by him in the Wreck of the Rockingham Transport. £180.0.0

Other items of interest from the excerpt shows payment of £78.3.9 made to Anne Boscawen, widow of Lieutenant General Boscawen 'to enable her to replace sundry accoutrements belonging to the 23rd Regiment of Foot lost in the actions of the 19 April and 17 June against the Rebels in North America' and £1277.5.4 to the Colonels of the 22nd and 40th Regiment of foot for losses to regiment clothing 'being taken by the rebels at Philadelphia' June 25, 1777: To Major William Prescott, for the loss of Camp equipment,,, by the Wreck of the Rockingham Transport on the Coast of Ireland, 22nd December 1775 - £135.0.0. Note also a payment warrant of £155.3.4 to Captain T, Baker of the HMS Royal Bounty 'for the loss of his arm at the Battle of Lexington', 19 April, 1775

The 32nd Foot went on to serve in the Battle of Waterloo, 1815, The Lower Canada Rebellion of 1833 and the Indian Mutiny in 1857 before being disbanded in 1881.

1915: The SS “El Zorro”, U-24 and Benson Leck Blacklock The steam ship El Zorro (The Fox) was an Admiralty requisitioned red-ensign oil tanker of 5,989 tons built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson in Newcastle, launched in February 1914 and registered to Lobitos Oilfields Company (managed by C.T.Bowring), London. She operated on the trans-Atlantic route ferrying oil from Port Arthur near Houston Texas (then the world's largest oil refinery) to the Royal Navy Dockyards in Dartmouth. Due to the outbreak of war in August 1914, the El Zorro was requisitioned by the Admiralty for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in September but remained in service on the trans-Atlantic oil run. While on one of these outward voyages, on 3 February, 1915, the El Zorro rescued the crew of a sinking Norwegian steamer 'Imataca' mid-Atlantic.

Sacramento Union Newspaper, Number 40, 9 February 1915 Christmas 1915 saw the El Zorro mid-Atlantic on a full return voyage from Port Arthur, Texas to Dartmouth. Skippered by Master N.S. Lanier, the El Zorro had a full complement of 33 crew, of which 13 including Lanier had previously served aboard the vessel. Third Engineer, 34 year old Benson Leck Blacklock from 4 Stanley Street West, North Shields had served on the El Zorro for over a year, criss-crossing the Atlantic multiple times on the oil run. With a young son and pregnant wife in North Shields, Blacklock like most of the crew after a Christmas at sea was looking forward to a New Year with family and friends. Also aboard was an experienced 45 year old sailor Frank Fleet from Viper Cottage, Blackfield, Fawley in Southampton. This was his first run with the El Zorro having previously served on the Clio. It was largely a routine voyage back to Britain but by Monday, 27 December 1915, the crew were on full alert as the vessel approached Ireland and “U-Boat Alley” From south-west Ireland to Britain - the main sea lanes with shipping traffic from the United States, Caribbean and South America - had become the notorious German submarine 'killing fields' – an ocean war zone in which any vessel was liable to be sunk without warning. The entrance to Cork harbour was regularly mined by U-Boats, resulting in sinking and seriously damaging many vessels as well as on a number of occasions, the minelaying U-Boats.

In the darkness of the early hours of Tuesday, 28 December 1915, The El Zorro was 20 nautical miles off the Old Head of Kinsale. So too was the Imperial German Navy U-Boat submarine, U-24 under command of Rudolf Schneider. The U-24 had surfaced for a few hours to charge its batteries and change the air during a routine mission from the U-Boat base in Ostend, sinking British commercial shipping.

Shaded area shows "War Zone" announced by Germany on 4 February 1915

Rudolf Schneider (1882-1917) & U-24

The U-24, one of 329 diesel/battery powered ocean submarines in the Imperial German Navy, was engaged in commercial warfare during the First Battle of the Atlantic and had amassed a formidable tally of Allied shipping by the time she encountered the El Zorro. In seven patrols, U-24 had sank a total of 34 ships totalling 106,103 gross register tonnage, damaged three more for 14,318 tons, and took one prize of 1,925 tons.

Her second kill was the most significant. The victim was "HMS Formidable", torpedoed south of Lyme Regis in the English Channel on 1 January, 1915. Out of a crew of approximately 711 men, 547 died as a result. This was one of the largest ships sunk by U-boats during the war

On 19 August. 1915, U-24 claimed another noted victim, the passenger ship, SS "Arabic", causing 44 deaths, including three Americans when the vessel was torpedoed 80 kilometres south of Kinsale and sank in 10 minutes. This escalated the U-boat fears in the U.S. and caused a diplomatic incident which resulted in the suspension of torpedoing non-military ships without notice. (There was a family connection with the "Arabic". In September 1904, Diarmuid Lynch had travelled aboard the

ocean liner from Queenstown to New York returning from a visit to Ireland)

(The U-24 carried a crew of 4 officers and 31 men and could make 16.7 knots (31kph/19mph) on the surface or 10.3 knots (19km/12mph) submerged. Her range was 9,910 knots (18,350km/11,400 miles) on the surface or 85 knots (157km/98 miles) submerged. Her test depth was 50m (160ft). Armaments: 6 Torpedoes and a 8.8cm (3.5in) SK L/30 deck gun firing a 7kg shell)

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 35

The El Zorro continued…

At 05:30hrs on Tuesday, the SS El Zorro was now steaming at 9 knots and positioned 10 nautical miles (19 kms) south of the Old Head of Kinsale. Crew accounts have it that the U-24 was not spotted until the submarine came up on the port side and began to shell the Zorro with a deck gun in an effort to destroy the vessel but shells fell wide. Captain Lanier and crew swung into action, immediately turning stern on, went to full speed and fled the area on reverse course while William Hicks, the Marconi Operator sent out an SOS. The U-24 continued in pursuit. The Admiralty picked up the SOS and quickly sent out the "armed yacht Greta and a couple of obsolete torpedo-boats" from the Haulbowline Royal Navy base. At 06.30hrs, the U-24 caught up with SS El Zorro and launched a torpedo hitting the vessel starboard amidships followed shortly by a second torpedo port-side. In this explosion, the Third Engineer, Benson Leck Blacklock, was killed by shrapnel. The vessel lost power and the crew abandoned ship taking the body of the 3rd Engineer Blacklock with them. The armed yacht Greta and support torpedo boats arrived a few hours later "...., but by this time the submarine had made off ...Two tugs were sent out, but could not make much headway owing to the sea..."

Armed Yacht Greta. Launched in 1898, she was hired by the government for wartime service on 8th October 1914, retro-armed with a 12pdr. gun and employed on the auxiliary patrol until released in March 1919. Last recorded in 1921 as the property of Mr. Thomas Rees, Lloyd's Yacht Register of that year contains the rather enigmatic notation that Greta was "no longer a yacht".

The crew were picked up by a torpedo boat and reboarded the El Zorro to secure a line and maintain the vessel. Damaged but still afloat with no power, the El Zorro was taken in tow towards Queenstown (Cobh) and joined by the armed trawler, Freesia (one of three vessels that patrolled the area from Mizen Head to Kinsale). The Greta left and continued the pursuit of U-24 on her last known course.

Armed Trawler Freesia

Above: Crew Manifest of the SS El Zorro, December 1915: Source: National Maritime Museum.http://1915crewlists.rmg.co.uk/document/170333

Sir Archibald Hurd in his 1924 "History of the Great War - The Merchant Navy, Volume 2. Summer 1915 to early 1917" commented: "....Still pursuing her way westward down the coast, the submarine three hours later was seen by another oiler, the Viturvia, but fortunately the enemy did not molest her. At 8 a.m. (December 28th) the light cruiser Adventure, with Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly himself on board, had left Queenstown and proceeded down the coast to hunt the submarine between Kinsale and the Fastnet. At 12.45 p.m. the Adventure picked up an S.O.S. from the Leyland liner [S.S.] Huronian, proceeded towards her at 22 knots, closed her about 1 p.m.… and found that she had been torpedoed. The Adventure then searched the vicinity and undoubtedly frightened the enemy away, with the result that the Huronian was successfully escorted by sloops and the trawler Bempton into Berehaven, where she was eventually patched up sufficiently for her to proceed to Liverpool with her valuable cargo of cotton and grain..” History of the Great War - The Merchant Navy, Volume 2. Summer 1915 to early 1917. Sir Archibald Hurd. Published by John Murray, London. 1924 http://www.naval-history.net/WW1Book-MN2a.htm

Meanwhile, as the S.S. El Zorro continued the tow, the weather worsened. Sir Archibald Hurd comments: "That night it blew a gale. The El Zorro anchored [close to Man of War cove] and the crew were taken off during the night by the trawler Freesia." During this rescue operation in the middle of the gale and stormy seas, crew member Frank Fleet was swept overboard and drowned. His body was never found. The gale grew worse and the El Zorro dragged her anchor and her connection to the Freesia. Drifting in the gale, she went ashore in Man of War Cove, at 51.72N -8.33W - broke in two and totally wrecked. The Zorro's oil cargo of 8,000 tons gushed from ruptured tanks and destroyed the local seashores. The Freesia landed the surviving crew and the body of Benson Leck Blacklock in Queenstown.

and the body of Benson Leck Blacklock in Queenstown. (Incidentally, the edition of the Examiner which reported the wreck of the El Zorro reported also on the death of Major Newenham of Coolmore, and that the four pound loaf of bread was increasing in price to 9d)

The SS El Zorro, broken & beached at Man O'War Cove, January 1916

News of the death of Benson Leck Blacklock, a well-known local rugby footballer whose sporting ability was noted in the obituaries column in the Shields Daily News on 4th January, 1916: 'News has been received of the death at sea of Mr Benson Blacklock, the well-known forward player of the Percy Park Rugby Football Club, thus adding to the already considerable list of the members of that organisation who have laid down their lives in the service of their country during the last 18 months. Mr Blacklock was not a member of His Majesty's Forces, but as engineer of an oil-carrying steamer carrying fuel for the fleet he was undoubtedly in the service of his country.

The sad plight of the widows of seven Easter Rising

rebels is detailed in a heart -rending new book, says

Richard Fitzpatrick

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 36

SS El Zorro continued… …The ship.. The steamer El Zorro,.. was carrying oil from Port Arthur to the United Kingdom, was lost off the coast of Ireland… Mr Blacklock and another member of the crew lost their lives,.. [he] was 32 years of age [and] was a son of Mr Benson Blacklock, an engineer employed at Smith's Dock, and served his time at the Shields Engineering Co.'s premises before going to sea. He was an enthusiastic football player, ever one of the foremost in the rushes of the Percy Park pack, and was a great favourite at Preston Avenue. He still kept up his connection with the game after going to sea, and when home from a voyage would don the jersey if the winter game was in progress…” Benson Leck Blacklock was buried in Cobh graveyard on Friday, 7 January 1915. The Shields Daily News carried details of the funeral in its edition of 11th January, 1916. "The funeral of Mr Benson Blacklock … took place at Queenstown on Friday. An Appreciation from an Old Percy Parkite. 'Bennie' Blacklock! What memories of many hard-fought Rugby matches does his name conjure up… Home and abroad he loved to chase the ball. Alas he and others who helped to make the name of Percy Park famous are gone from us. We mourn his loss but appreciate the fact that we had his friendship…”

Grave on Benson Leck Blacklock in Cobh old Cemetery. A distant relative of Benson Leck Blacklock, Richard Blacklock of Canada was in touch during research for this article. He wrote that his relative, Benson was the third in line with the same name and continued the tradition with one of his own sons. Tragically, he left a son who was just three years old when he died and his wife, Annie was 6 months pregnant with their second son, Henry Whitfield Blacklock. Seaman Frank Fleet is remembered in The Tower Hill Memorial in Trinity Gardens, London. It is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission war memorial commemorating those from the Merchant Navy and fishing fleets who died during both world wars and have "no grave but the sea".

As for Rudolf Schneider, on October 13, 1917 he was lost overboard from the conning tower of the U-87 during stormy weather in the North Sea. He was rescued by one of the crew but had drowned. He was subsequently buried at sea between the Shetland Isles and Norway. U24 survived the war, surrendering on 22 November 1918 after the Armistice and was eventually broken up at Swansea in 1922. In total, the U24's record was: 34 ships sunk with a total of 106,122 tons, 3 ships damaged with a total of 14,318 tons, 1 ship taken as prize with a total of 1,925 tons and 1 warship sunk with a total of 15,000 tons. Meanwhile at Man of War cove, the SS El Zorro remained on the rocks. In early 1916, a Liverpool company with the salvage rights to the vessel sent a team of eight Chinese labourers to work with local men salvaging steel, manganese, brass and copper. The Chinese labourers were accommodated in a building near the wreck site close to the Roberts family home in what has been known since as 'Chinaman's Loft'. The building name has been retained and is today the home of artist Sara Roberts and family. Edward Bourke in 'Shipwrecks off the Local Coast" comments that "the copper and brass were stored in an old mill near the strand and shipped to Cork in a small ship, the Nautilus. On one occasion, carriers arrived with four horse drawn dray carts to collect the scrap. The Chinese were unaware of the arrangement and the engineer Mr. Chip Watkins was not around. When the draymen attempted to load their carts, the Chinese defended their horde with drawn knives. The Corkmen retreated empty handed' 'Tracton, Where the Abbey Lies Low'

KWP Print. 2007. P201

Man of War Cove today

There remains one postscript to the events of the sinking of the El Zorro in 1915. According to writer Nigel Clarke in the "Shipwreck Guide to Dorset and South Devon", the original "Lassie" who inspired so many films and television episodes was a rough-haired crossbreed who saved the life of a sailor during World War I. Half collie, Lassie was owned by the landlord of the Pilot Boat, a pub in the port of Lyme Regis. On New Year’s Day in 1915 the Royal Navy battleship Formidable was torpedoed by the German submarine U-24 off Start Point in South Devon, with the loss of more than 500 men. In a storm that followed the accident, a life raft containing bodies was blown along the coast to Lyme Regis. In helping to deal with the crisis, the local pub in Lyme Regis, called the Pilot Boat, offered its cellar as a mortuary. When the bodies had been laid out on the stone floor, Lassie, a crossbred collie owned by the pub owner, found her way down amongst the bodies, and she began to lick the face of one of the victims, Able Seaman John Cowan. She stayed beside him for more than half an hour, nuzzling him and keeping him warm with her fur. To everyone’s astonishment, Cowan eventually stirred. He was taken to hospital and went on to make a full recovery. He visited Lassie again when he returned to thank all who saved his life. The sinking of the battleship was a severe blow to Britain during these early years of the war. When the officers heard the story of Lassie and what she did to rescue Cowan, they told it again and again to any reporter who would listen as it was inspirational and heart-warming. In 1938 the novel 'Lassie come home' was published by author Eric Knight who is believed to have been inspired by this tale. Hollywood got hold of the story, and so a star was born.

December Shipwrecks

This a brief list of ships lost and wrecked on the coast from Crosshaven to Kinsale since 1750. 18.12.1750: The Twins, skippered by Master Swaine, from Nantz, was lost at Roberts Cove. 07.12.1758: The Pembroke, from Bristol to New York was

lost off Roberts Cove. 12 men were drowned. 22.12.1775: The Rockingham. See this month’s Newsletter

for details.

??.12.1794: The Nancy, under Master Collins, from Swansea to Cork was lost near the Old Head of Kinsale. Date in December unknown. 29.12.1798: The Charlotte, skippered by Master Williams, was lost off Cork Harbour. Only one boy was saved. 31.12.1800: The Gravalia, skippered by Master Icclerbom, from the coast of Spain to Hambro, was lost off Kinsale. It was stated that the crew were saved. 25.12.1803: HMS Suffisante, a 16-gun sloop went ashore off Spike Island. She heeled over in the heavy seas and split in two. Seven crew were drowned and three were killed by a falling mast. 27.12.1807: The Rising Sun, master Hutton, was driven on shore on her beam-ends, in Kinsale. She was gotten off without major damage the following week. “The wine on board was saved, but it was feared that the cargo of barilla (soda ash) would be lost.” ??.12.1814: The Maria, Master Henderson, was lost with all of her crew in Rocky Bay, Cork. Date in December unknown. 14.12.1844: The paddle steamer Vanguard sailing from

Dublin to Cork hit the Cow and Calf rocks off Roche’s Point and drifted ashore. All on board were rescued. The ship was later saved and resumed a sailing service on the Cork to Dublin route. 20.12.1844: Wreckage from a ships boat was driven into Rocky Bay, near Nohoval, it was painted lead-colour on the inside. On the following Monday, the mainmast of a schooner, of about 150 tons drifted into Ringabella Bay. It had only been in the water a short time, and was broken off under the rigging. It was surmised that an unknown vessel had foundered off the harbour, and that these pieces of wreck were all that remained of her. 15.12.1848: A violent storm struck the Irish coast in December 1848, damaged buildings as well as holding up all coastal and cross-channel steamer traffic. A foreign brigantine, The Minto of Yarmouth, laden with oranges and oil from the Mediterranean, parted her anchor cable and drove ashore at Dunbogue Cove. All fifteen of her crew were drowned. 24.12.1878: The barquentine Princess Royal grounded below Camden Fort in a gale. The Roche’s Point coastguard boat and pilot boat tried to give assistance, but were unable to save any of the crew. All were lost. 31.12.1905: The Pluvier was lost off Flat Head at the east end of Rennies Bay on 31 December, 1905. A severe storm had occurred and wreckage, bodies and a figurehead were washed ashore confirming that a schooner had been lost at sea. The five bodies washed ashore were buried in Nohoval graveyard. The Cork Examiner correspondent pursued enquiries as to what vessel might have been lost. In February 1906, the firm of Ebenezer Parry were in contact. They believed that their two masted 310 ton Pluvier was the lost ship. She had sailed from Figueria in Portugal on Christmas Eve and from the voyage times of other vessels, they surmised that she would have been near Cork at the time of the wreck. Their fears were confirmed when a watch and the ship's figurehead were identified. The schooner had been built at Fowey in Cornwall. 28.12.1915: The SS El Zorro. See this month’s Newsletter

for details.

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 37

Alloys Fleischmann visits Man of War Cove. 31 July, 1927

“Went on a wonderful picnic to Reanie’s Glen, or rather, Man of War Cove. Again a narrow ravine with an old ruin near the beach and cliffs with some formidable caves on either side. An oil-ship, the ‘Elsaro’ [El Zorro], torpedoed during the war, and driven ashore during a storm, lies right across the entrance to the cove, its plates larded and rived by the waves and portions of it protruding above the water in the form of iron cormorants and seals. There are great numbers of the latter all around the coast, and we had just been watching one of them swimming in front of us when a party arrived from Cork with air-guns, hooks, a collapsible boat and all things necessary for killing and skinning one of these unfortunate creatures. Since their intent was thus murderous and their manners coarse, we left.”

http://fleischmanndiaries.ucc.ie/portfolio/august-1927-sunday-31/

Aloys Fleischmann (13 April 1910 – 21 July 1992) was an Irish composer, musicologist, professor, conductor. Fleischmann was born in Munich to Ireland-based German parents. Fleischmann was educated in Scoil Íte, the school founded by Terence MacSwiney's sisters in 1916, in Christian Brothers College, Cork, and in St Finbarr's College Farranferris. He graduated from University College Cork with a BA in 1930, was awarded the BMus in 1931, a MA in 1932, and a doctorate in music in 1963. In 1932 he went to study composition, conducting and musicology at the Academy of Music and University of Munich under Joseph Haas. He returned to University College Cork in 1934 where he held the position of professor of music until 1980. In 1941 he and Anne Madden of Cork married; they had five children and six grandchildren. A fluent speaker of Irish and a scholar of Irish folk music, Fleischmann sought in his compositions to create a specifically Irish form of art music as previous generations had done for literature and painting. He received many honours for his service to his art, among them the Freedom of the City of Cork in 1978, an honorary doctorate of music from Trinity College Dublin, the Order of Merit of the German government in 1966, and the Silver Medal of the Irish American Cultural Institute in 1976. He was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Irish Academy of Music in 1991, and in the same year was awarded Honorary Life Membership of the Royal Dublin Society.

Dublin on the eve of the Rising – December 1915 by Joseph Brady A minor character in Seán O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars is the fashionably-dressed middle-aged stout woman from Rathmines. As the Rising begins to affect the city and the trams are stopped, she meets Fluther, the Covey and Peter and asks 'For Gawd's sake, will one of you kind men show any safe way for me to get to Wrathmines?' She is not treated sympathetically, for to be from Rathmines was to be far removed from the reality of life in the tenements. Dublin in 1916 was a city of great social contrasts even though it was a small place in geographical terms. It was not a single urban area but rather a city and a collection of adjacent independent towns bound by economic ties. To be from Rathmines, was not just to be of elevated social status, it was also not to be from Dublin but from an entirely different legal urban entity, a suburban township with its own council, water supply, rates - and its own view of the world. Despite the efforts of Dublin Corporation in the latter years of the 19th century to absorb the townships - and so get their rate books - Pembroke, Rathmines and the coastal townships of Blackrock, Kingstown, Dalkey and Killiney were still independent in 1916. Though the townships were relatively small compared to the city - 29,294 people in Pembroke and 37,840 in Rathmines/Rathgar in 1911 compared to 304,802 - they were middle-class in character and were important to the business and commercial life of the city. For example, though there were 2,090 civil service officers and clerks in the city, there were 303 in Rathmines and 566 in Pembroke alone. It was to the city that they came to work, to shop and to enjoy themselves. In the evening they went home, insulated from the lives of the poor whose streets they shared during the day, for even in the best street the tenements were only a stone's throw distant. They also avoided having to support the work of Dublin Corporation in addressing the housing crisis - there were 21,133 one-room tenements alone in the city in 1911 - though the 1913 Housing Inquiry suggested that Dublin Corporation's commitment to that project was not what it might be. The main business area was around College Green where many insurance and financial institutions had built impressively while the legal profession had offices along the quays between O'Connell Bridge and the Four Courts. Sackville Street, for all its impressive scale, was not a major business street but directed more to tourism with some shopping and the Metropole, Hamman, Imperial and Gresham hotels provided a high level of service with all of the facilities that wealthy people might expect. These were international standard hotels with separate accommodation and dining facilities for the servants who accompanied visitors. In fact, it was these visitors who were most immediately discommoded by the events of the Rising, given the location of the hotels. The city centre was pre-eminent as a shopping destination for the people in the townships. While they enjoyed good quality local shopping, nothing could compete with downtown. Travel was easy and efficient with good train and tram services. A minority could afford to travel by carriage and the best shops provided liveried attendants to ensure that these customers were treated as they expected. It was suggested that the more elegant suburbanites did not cross the Liffey when they came to Dublin. That is an exaggeration because the north city had excellent shopping facilities and there were middle-class areas in Clontarf and Drumcondra which had been absorbed into the city after 1900. It is equally true that the needs of most southsiders could be met south of the Liffey.

Then, as now, there were two main quality shopping districts - one bounded by Grafton Street and South Great Georges Street and a more linear area on the northside with Henry Street as its core, flanked by Mary Street and Talbot Street. Grafton Street had pretentions to pre-eminence long before 1916 and a 1904 shopping guide for visitors advised that it was there that one would see the 'wealth, fashion and beauty of Dublin' engaged in shopping in the morning and in promenade in the afternoon. Status was important and many shops boasted royal warrants, though some took care to feature the Irishness of their products. London, Paris and St Petersburg led fashion and Dubliners were kept up to date on trends by magazines such as The Lady of the House which also offered practical advice. Women's clothing dominated the shopping landscape and smaller boutique shops vied with the larger warehouses (department stores) such as Brown Thomas and Switzer's. Made-to-measure clothing was easily available and stores often maintained a manufacturing component on the upper floors or to the rear of the premises. For those who preferred an even more personal experience, there were many dressmakers who had rooms on the upper floors. In the nearby streets a range of personal services was available, including language instruction, dancing masters as well as hair and beauty salons. Men were well catered to, even though it was recognised that they did not go 'shopping' with a similar emphasis on made-to-measure clothing including suits and shirts. Exhausted by shopping, the ladies could repair to a number of fashionable coffee houses, of which Mitchell's was probably the best known, and discuss the business of the day. Perhaps they might have some servant issues and so visit one of the nearby servant registries. Even those on more modest middle-class salaries could afford a daily servant and this was the single most important respectable employment opportunity for women. Some 14,263 domestic servants lived in the city in 1911, 85 percent of whom were female. Pembroke had a further 2,600 while Rathmines had almost 4,300. It was not all hand-made items with personal service. The shops catered to the range of middle-class incomes and but even those with more modest salaries were distant from the lives of the poor. An advertisement for Switzer's appeared in the Freeman's Journal in February 1916 for a discounted consignment of tailor-made coats which usually would retail for 2-3 guineas but which they could offer for between 17/6 and 21 shillings. It was estimated that a household income of £1 per week was needed to meet basic needs but many families did not come near this. Despite the damage caused by the Rising to Sackville Street and the surrounding blocks, quality shopping was back by 5 May. This was much easier on the southside but even Arnott's, who were lucky to have survived, were back in business. Clery's, whose main premises were smoking ruins, announced on 12 May that their postal business was back in action in Earl Place and that their summer stock had missed destruction because it was in transit. Joseph Brady is a lecturer in the School of Geography, University College Dublin. Published in the Irish Independent

Leaguer and then assistant lecturer in English at UCD. The two became firm friends through a mutual interest in poetry, which seems to have taken precedence over Irish in their tutorial sessions. Even while in Algiers, Plunkett kept up his friendship with MacDonagh through correspondence wherein they sent each other their poems. From 1913 onwards, Plunkett and MacDonagh took over the running of a small but important radical journal, The Irish Review. It combined poetry, prose, and political commentary. The journal was suppressed by the censor under Defence of the Realm legislation in November 1914.

The friendship between Plunkett was enhanced through the fact that they eventually married two sisters. Thomas MacDonagh married Muriel Gifford in 1912. They had a son and daughter born in 1912 and 1915 respectively. In December 1915, Plunkett became engaged to Muriel's sister Grace. In a most unusual twist of history, Joseph and Grace were due to be married on Easter Sunday 1916 in a double wedding with Joseph's sister, Geraldine, who was engaged to Thomas Dillon, lecturer in Chemistry at UCD. Joseph was forced to postpone his and Grace's marriage not because of the Rising but because he had to undergo surgery on a gland in his cheek early in April.

With Michael Collins as his bodyguard, Plunkett left the nursing home in which he was recuperating on Good Friday 1916, the day after the Aud, the boat carrying the weapons he had convinced the German high command to send, had arrived off the Kerry coast. On Easter Sunday, while crisis meetings of the Proclamation signatories were held in Liberty Hall, Geraldine Plunkett's wedding went ahead as planned with neither her father nor Joseph in attendance. The next morning, from her bridal suite in the Imperial Hotel on O'Connell Street, she watched the Rising which she had known was coming unfold beneath her window.

Following the seizure of the Post Office, Geraldine Plunkett Dillon watched her brother Joseph out on O'Connell Street erecting barricades from whatever could be found. He placed a homemade bomb into an empty tram on Earl Street, retreated a safe distance, and fired a shot detonating the bomb and immobilizing the tram. This was the last time she saw her brother Joe.

Dr Conor Mulvagh is a lecturer in Irish History at the School of History at University College Dublin (UCD) with special responsibility for the Decade of Commemorations. Published in the Irish Independent 29

October 2015.

Did You Know? CIE, the state transport

company (which was later became Iarnród Éireann, Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus) renamed its 15 principal railway stations in 1966 in memory of the men executed in 1916. In Dublin that meant Amiens Street station became Connolly and Westland Row became Pearse (named after both brothers, who grew up nearby). CIE's headquarters at Kingsbridge was renamed after Seán Heuston, who had been a clerical officer in the Traffic Manager's Office there. A special memorial to Heuston was unveiled at the station in 1966 by defence minister Michael Hilliard. The idea was proposed by the company's chairman, Todd Andrews, who had fought in the War of Independence and the Civil War - two of his sons and two of his grandsons were later TDs. CIE also had a 1916 symbol, An Claidheamh Soluis, mounted on the front of its buses. The other stations renamed were in Cork (Thomas Kent), Limerick (Con Colbert), Dun Laoghaire (Michel Mallin), Waterford (Joseph Plunkett), Galway (Éamonn Ceannt), Dundalk (Thomas Clarke), Drogheda (Major John MacBride), Sligo (Seán Mac Diarmada), Bray (Edward Daly), Wexford (Michael O'Hanrahan), Kilkenny (Thomas MacDonagh) and Tralee (Roger Casement).

Something of a craze in the city in the early 1900s with several rinks operating, the biggest of which was the Olympia at the RDS, which opened its doors in 1909. Such was Plunkett's prowess that he was offered a job at a skating rink in Algiers. Plunkett's biographer Honor Ó Brolcháin states that one job offer he received was to manage a skating rink "after the then manager ran away with the owner's wife". Monica Leahy meanwhile states that Plunkett seriously considered the offer of work as a professional skater "being attracted by the magnificent white costume which went with it".

Algerian adventures aside, Plunkett's 1915 trip to Germany was conducted through Spain, Italy, and Switzerland and he grew a beard and moustache to disguise his appearance. In Italy he further enhanced his counter-surveillance safeguards by adopting the alias of 'James Malcolm'. Travelling to Germany on trains often loaded full of German soldiers, Plunkett's lack of familiarity with the language - for he knew Latin, Spanish, French, Italian, Irish, and Arabic but no German - made him fearful that he would be accused of being a spy.

In Germany, although efforts to raise an Irish Brigade remained difficult, he collaborated with Roger Casement on a related project, The Ireland Report, a dossier outlining a much more ambitious rising than that which ultimately occurred. On foot of this proposal, a commitment to send a shipment of arms of the southwest coast of Ireland was given. Plunkett left Germany for America and there met with the senior Fenian John Devoy in New York. By October 1915, Plunkett finally set sail for Ireland after this extraordinary six-month journey.

Back home in Dublin, Plunkett established a rebel training camp at a recently acquired family property at Larkfield, in Kimmage, south-west of Dublin city. The camp had been founded following the introduction of conscription in Britain (but not in Ireland) in January 1916. Under the watchful eye of Plunkett and his siblings, the 'Kimmage Garrison', as it came to be known, was assembled out of Irishmen - most of whom had an existing Irish Volunteer or IRB connection - who had left Britain not wanting to be conscripted. At Kimmage, they were instructed in military tactics and even ran a bomb-making factory preparing munitions for the planned insurrection. In his statement to the Bureau of Military History in 1948, Séamus Robinson, a member of the Garrison, lists 89 comrades who lived with him at Larkfield by name. There were comings and goings from the property but, ultimately, 60 inhabitants mustered on Easter Monday 1916.

The garrison was the most extraordinary training camp to have existed in Ireland during wartime. In a classically Pearsian flourish of rhetoric, Patrick Pearse told the men of Larkfield that they were 'Ireland's first standing army since the days of Patrick Sarsfield'.

Joseph Mary Plunkett's younger brother, the 22-year-old George Plunkett, was Officer in Charge of the Kimmage Garrison. Jack, the youngest of the Plunkett brothers, also fought in the Rising. An iconic photograph of the aftermath of the rebellion shows George and Jack, uniformed and in identical slouch hats, standing side by side under the eye of a sentry in Richmond Barracks. Like their older brother, both were handed down death sentences but, in their cases, the sentences were commuted. This is not the only reason why one should consider the Plunketts' association with the 1916 Rising as very much a family affair. Joseph Mary Plunkett's father, George Noble Plunkett, was an important figure during, and especially after, the Rising. He became the first-ever elected Sinn Féin MP in the North Roscommon by-election of February 1917.

If family was one important aspect of Joseph Mary Plunkett's 1916 story, then friendship was the other. Seeking a tutor to teach him Irish so that he could matriculate into University College Dublin in 1909, Plunkett found Thomas MacDonagh, well-known Gaelic Leaguer and then assistant lecturer in English at UCD.

Joseph Mary Plunkett: Ailing writer

who shaped the rebellion

Dr Conor Mulvagh on the military tactician of the Rising who married shortly before his execution in Kilmainham Gaol

Patrick Pearse and James Connolly became the icons of the 1916 Rising as it passed into history and national memory. Their edification eclipsed their comrades and, of these, among the most interesting backstories is that of Joseph Mary Plunkett. On the face of it, Plunkett was perhaps an unlikely revolutionary. Biographers have variously described him as eccentric, nervous, and fragile. By far the most financially comfortable of the Proclamation signatories, Plunkett lived a privileged existence but also came from a family with deep republican credentials.

The enduring image of Plunkett is of him, standing at the altar in Kilmainham, marrying his bride just before his execution in the breakers' yard. However, behind this romantic and romanticised representation is a much more complex figure without whom the Rising would certainly not have played out as it did. Plunkett was the primary military tactician of the Rising. Along with Pearse and Éamonn Ceannt, he was part of the group that conducted a feasibility study into holding an insurrection in Ireland as early as October 1914. Plunkett was exceptional, too, in that he managed to travel to Germany in 1915 to link up with Roger Casement both to inspect and to assist his foundering efforts to raise an Irish Brigade from Irish prisoners of war in Germany. As an experienced traveler and possessing the credible excuse that he needed to travel abroad to aid his fragile health, Plunkett was uniquely placed among the rebel conspirators to travel to Germany in wartime. Under the pretence of travelling to Jersey, Plunkett set sail for Spain in March 1915 on a long and circuitous voyage that ultimately led to Germany. Knowing the gravity of his mission, he went as far as to destroy every known photograph of himself prior to his departure. Hence, say one of his biographers, only very few 'strange schoolboy photographs' of Plunkett have survived.

As a young man, Plunkett had spent a significant period abroad. Glandular tuberculosis had plagued him since childhood and, in 1911, at the age of 23, he travelled to Italy, Sicily, and Malta with his mother to convalesce. He remained abroad until 1912, spending the winter in Algiers with his sister Moya where he studied the Arabic language and literature. Some of his most important early poems, including those for his first volume of poetry, The Circle and the Sword, were written in Algiers. He even reportedly composed some verse in Arabic.

While in Algiers, Plunkett also developed his skills at something a little more frivolous than mystic poetry and revolution: roller-skating. Plunkett had skated in Dublin, indeed Frank Nally has recently written that skating was something of a craze in the city in the early 1900s with

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 38

Home Rule laid foundations for insurrection

Dr. Paul Rouse on the Irish political landscape of the time

16th March 1914: A Protestant Truth Society's women's meeting in Carton Hall, to protest against Home Rule for Ireland. A show of hands as approval of a petition to the King

A Bill to give Home Rule to Ireland was put before the House of Commons in London in April 1912 by the British Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party, Herbert Asquith. The introduction of the Bill was driven by the fact that Asquith's government depended for its majority on the support of the Irish Parliamentary Party, led by John Redmond. The price of Redmond's support was Home Rule for Ireland.

Ireland had not had its own parliament since the Act of Union, 1801 which created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The persistence of opposition to this Act of Union and the enduring rejection of British rule in nationalist Ireland forced the British Empire - even as its global power was at its greatest - to seek compromise in its governance of Ireland.

Two previous attempts at introducing Home Rule had failed: the first one in 1886 was rejected in the House of Commons; the second one in 1892 was rejected in the House of Lords.

The context in which the 1912 Home Rule Bill was introduced was now hugely different, however, and its successful implementation seemed assured. Parliamentary reform meant that the House of Lords could delay a Bill for three years - but it could not stop it indefinitely. On its introduction in April 1912 it was sure to get a majority in the House of Commons and, although it would be defeated in the House of Lords, the Bill could be introduced again after the passage of a year. This duly happened and in April 1913 the Bill was again supported by the House of Commons - and again defeated by the House of Lords. The passage of a further year brought the process to a head. In April 1914, Home Rule was passed by the House of Commons. The moment marked the triumph of John Redmond and the Irish Parliamentary Party, and was celebrated across nationalist Ireland.

Everywhere that Redmond went, he was feted as a hero. Huge crowds turned out to hear him speak and he was celebrated as the politician who had secured for Ireland its own parliament, even if the powers of that parliament were limited. While Irish nationalists acclaimed the prospect of having a parliament in Dublin to legislate for the island, unionists were adamant in their rejection of the proposal.

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 39

Casement’s Mission to Germany ON All Saints Eve 1914, Sir Roger Casement arrived in Berlin. He had travelled from America, via Kristiania (now Oslo) and has been variously described as an ambassador, emissary and representative of the Revolutionary Directory of Clan na Gael in New York. He came with a letter of introduction from Heinrich von Bernstorff, the German Ambassador in Washington, to the Imperial German Chancellor, Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg…..and with a shopping list. John Devoy the Clan na Gael leader in the US, claimed the supply of arms and a number of capable officers from Germany would "make a good start", towards an insurrection in Ireland. Official German recognition of the Independence movement in Ireland was also requested, as was the raising of an Irish Brigade from Irish prisoners of war. Casement was not fully successful in completing these objectives. Germany did finally consent to send an arms shipment to Ireland; it was however, based on the insurrection plans submitted by Joseph Plunkett. Casement's agreement to return to Ireland with the arms is somewhat ambivalent. On 20 June 1915, Casement wrote to Joseph McGarrity, a senior Irish republican in America, regarding his failure to raise an effective Irish Brigade (of the 2,200 Irishmen in Limburg POW camp, just 56 signed up): "without the Brigade there is nothing between us [Casement and the German government]… I tried all I could… we have failed… let me go back." However, shortly before he left Germany, Casement wrote to Count Georg von Wedel, claiming he was travelling under duress, the mission was at odds with his, "reason, judgment and intelligence". To von Wedel, Casement explained: "I had always been greatly opposed to any attempted revolt in Ireland unless backed up with strong foreign military help." Casement did suffer regularly from both physical illness and depression during his stay in Germany, as witnessed by his comrade Robert Monteith in the spring of 1916. By this time Casement's only attachment to Germany was his concern for the members of the Irish Brigade left behind in Germany; his final letter to the German Chancellor bears witness to his concern. It could be argued that he was privately happy to leave Germany, clandestinely seizing this opportunity to prevent what he considered a futile insurrection. In a letter to his sister after his capture he claimed: "When I landed in Ireland that morning… I was happy for the first time for over a year." Casement, Monteith and Daniel Julian Bailey, (alias Beverley) departed Wilhelmshaven on 12 April 1916, on the submarine U-20. The SMS Libau, masquerading as the neutral Norwegian ship Aud, sailed on 9 April, from Lubeck, carrying 20,000 rifles, 10 machine guns and over a million rounds of assorted ammunitions and into history. John Devoy’s views of the Casement mission to Germany were factual as revealed in his ‘recollections of an Irish Rebel’ Devoy considered Casement’s mission to Germany had three main objectives: 1. To secure German military help for Ireland when the opportunity arose. 2. To educate German public opinion on the Irish situation so that the people would support their Government when it took action in Ireland. 3. To organise if possible, Irish prisoners of war into a military unit to take part in a fight for Irish Freedom Devoy commented: “Casement did his best in all these things, but did the first ineffectively, succeeded admirably in the second and failed badly in the third.’ In December 1915, Adler Christensen was now engaged to transport another two former officers in the Irish Volunteers from New York to Germany. Devoy writes that Casement was to detail how Christensen ‘double-crossed us in our endeavour, but suffice to say he proved himself a trickster and a fraud, with the result we were compelled to abandon the project and to summarily dismiss him. Had Christensen acted honestly, we could have dispatched at least 50 dependable and partially trained men whose presence among the prisoners of war enrolled by Casement in Germany would have improved their morale, and would in all probability have been the means of inducing a far larger number of Irish soldiers of the British army – who were then prisoners of war – to join the ‘brigade’. As events transpired at Tralee Bay in 1916, it made no difference...”

John Devoy ‘Recollections of an Irish Rebel’ C.P.Young. New York 1929. P441

Although led by the Dubliner and Trinity College graduate, Sir Edward Carson, unionist opposition to Home Rule in Ireland centered on Ulster. Massive public rallies of opposition to Home Rule, the signing of the Ulster Covenant in September 1912 by almost 500,000 people and the establishment of the Ulster Volunteer Force in January 1913 underlined determined opposition to the introduction of Home Rule. The pledge by unionists in Ulster to reject any measure of Home Rule for the north of the island received powerful support in Britain from the Conservative Party leader, Andrew Bonar Law.

Against this opposition, nationalist opinion was equally determined that Home Rule would be introduced as planned and that it would apply to all of Ireland. Irish nationalists held repeated public meetings to demonstrate in favour of Home Rule. In November 1913 they established a militia of their own to rival the Ulster Volunteer Force. This new Irish Volunteer Force quickly assumed a prominence that confirmed the militarisation of political life in Ireland. By the summer of 1914, there was a bitter, precarious stalemate as the plan to give Home Rule to Ireland dominated political life in Ireland and Britain. Plans to exclude certain north-eastern counties from Home Rule were proposed as compromise and were rejected.

Amid unprecedented scenes, there had even been a mutiny of British army officers based at The Curragh, Co Kildare. Almost 60 British Officers threatened to resign their commissions in 1914 as a result of a decision by the War Office to send extra troops to Ulster. The sensational development was said to have occurred after officers were presented with the choice of pacifying Ulster, or tendering their resignations. Led by Brigadier-General Hugh de la Poer Gough, the officers in the Curragh camp declined to obey the orders. Attempts to downplay the significance of the mutiny were unconvincing; it was clear that a military crisis had been laid on top of a political crisis.

Ulster unionists remained implacably opposed to Home Rule and were threatening armed resistance. Irish nationalists were equally determined that it be introduced across Ireland immediately. Faced with mounting pressure from all sides, the British government - not entirely sure of its army in Ireland and understandably loath to use it to implement Home Rule in any instance - was paralysed. It says much for the scale of the dilemma that the outbreak of the Great War in August 1914 offered relief from the question of Ireland. Irish politics were at once transformed by events in Europe.

Ulster unionists rallied immediately in support of the war and enlisted in their tens of thousands in the British Army. Their leader, Sir Edward Carson, metamorphosed 'from being a patron of illegality in Ulster to a law officer at Westminster' when he was appointed Attorney General in a national coalition government in London. Carson urged the Ulster Volunteers to enlist in the British Army and many heeded his call.

John Redmond, too, was offered a place at the cabinet table but, in the tradition of the Irish Parliamentary Party, he refused. On 20 September 1914, however, Redmond had endorsed the British war effort and called on the 170,000 strong Irish Volunteers to enlist in the army - many of those Volunteers answered that call.

It was a significant political gamble - one which ultimately failed - but that it should have been made at all emphasised the radical transformation wrought by the outbreak of war. And, of course, this radicalisation was ultimately revealed in rebellion in Dublin in 1916 by a tiny minority of Irish rebels who declined to follow Redmond, but pursued instead a route which saw them take up arms. They chose not to wait for world war to end - but instead made their own.

Daniel Mannix: the republican Archbishop who took on the British Empire The long-serving archbishop of Melbourne successfully fought conscription in Australia and was arrested at sea on Lloyd George’s orders to stop him from returning to Ireland When Archbishop Mannix and Eamon de Valera shared a platform at Madison Square Gardens in New York in July 1920, it must have been hard to say whose words were the churchman’s and whose the politician’s. When Daniel Mannix left Ireland in 1913 to become archbishop of Melbourne, he was best known as the quiet and austere president of Maynooth seminary in Co Kildare. The Easter Rising transformed this moderate nationalist into a radical republican. Tens of thousand of Melbourne Catholics turned out to hear him speak about Irish freedom. They also heard him challenge the Australian prime minister Billy Hughes who wanted to introduce conscription. The defeat of two conscription referenda in 1916 and 1917 owed a great deal to Mannix. He was a strikingly handsome figure and an electric speaker. Prime ministers Billy Hughes and David Lloyd George agreed that Mannix posed a danger to the British empire. But they did not know how to restrain a churchman of such standing. His travels to Rome by way of the United States in 1920 brought matters to crisis point. When Mannix and de Valera shared a platform at Madison Square Gardens in New York in July 1920, it must have been hard to say whose words were the churchman’s and whose the politician’s. An audience of 15,000 people heard Mannix’s demand that Ireland be given the same status in postwar planning as the other small nations of Europe whose fate was being decided by President Wilson’s Fourteen Point Plan. Two hundred and thirty police and 10 mounted men were sent in case of trouble but that trouble was confined to ‘a volley of hisses’ when the president was mentioned, and ‘gales of groans, boos and hisses’ for Lloyd George. That night the alliance between Mannix and de Valera was made plain when the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Hayes, offered Catholic New York’s ‘esteem, affection and loyalty’ to the two most distinguished Irishmen on the Atlantic seaboard, Mannix and de Valera. The applause that greeted Mannix lasted 15 minutes. The strain on Mannix the public performer was plain to see. While celebrating a solemn Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral, New York, he showed signs of exhaustion and he had to withdraw from the altar and lean back on Cardinal Hayes’s throne, while Hayes moved to a chair beside the other clergy. All through the remaining days of his tour, Mannix linked Ireland’s cause with de Valera’s name. He openly identified himself with the Easter Rising: ‘I am going to Ireland soon and I am going to kneel on the graves of those men who in Easter Week gave their lives for Ireland.’ He also made it clear that he wanted nothing less than a republic for Ireland.

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 40

There was no one to meet him at Penzance. He was tired and hungry, having been too seasick to eat anything on the destroyer. No one was at home in the local Catholic church. Vaughan found a convent, where nuns gave them breakfast, and made some phone calls. A well-placed old friend, Bishop Timothy Cotter of Portsmouth, offered to meet the London train en route and work out the next move. One of the few Irish bishops in England, Cotter was as intransigent a nationalist as Mannix, and just as outspoken. Two years younger than Mannix, he had been to the same school in Fermoy, Co Cork, and had followed him to Maynooth before being sent to parish work on the Isle of Wight. Advised by Cotter, Mannix went on by train to London where he had the satisfaction of refusing the government’s offer of a suite of rooms at the Jermyn Court Hotel. Instead he stayed at a retirement home for priests at Hammersmith, run by the Sisters of St Joseph of Nazareth. Here he amused himself by slipping in and out without being seen by the Scotland Yard men assigned to keep watch. As always he fed the press some good lines. The best of them appeared on August 11th, 1921 in the London Times: ‘Since the battle of Jutland, the British Navy has not scored any success comparable with the chasing of the Baltic from the Irish shores and the capture without the loss of a single British sailor of the Archbishop of Melbourne.’ For more than a year, the British government had Mannix on its doorstep, refusing to go away or to accept whatever concessions they offered him. He did not need bed and board. The Hammersmith nuns, and later the Bishop of Portsmouth, were happy to look after him. Prime minister Lloyd George tried to remove a grievance that Mannix’s friends exploited: a poignant image of 89-year-old Ellen Mannix waiting in Charleville to see her son, probably for the last time. ‘The Mother Who Waits in Ireland’ was one emotive headline. Mannix haughtily refused the government’s offer to bring his mother to London. Although it has been claimed that Ellen Mannix did come to London, the evidence is against it. If known, her visit would have deprived the archbishop of a telling reason to prolong his stay. He could not afford to let Lloyd George appear magnanimous. The risks of smuggling her in were overwhelming. British intelligence would have been watching the mother as well as the son. By the end of the war Mannix was the recognised leader of the Irish community in Australia, idolised by Catholics but detested by others, including those in power federally and in Victoria. He had spoken against the Treaty of Versailles, saying it would lead to a greater war than the one just ended. For many years he was ostracised and not invited to the official functions his position would have entitled him to attend. Mannix formed the Irish Relief Fund, which provided financial support for the families of those shot or imprisoned by the British. When he left Australia in 1920, to visit Rome and the United States, the British government refused him permission to visit Ireland or British cities with large Irish populations, which resulted in an extended stay in Penzance. There was also a serious, though unsuccessful, move to prevent him returning to Australia. Mannix supported trade unionism but opposed militancy and strikes. In the 1920s he became outspoken in opposition to the Industrial Workers of the World and the Communist Party of Australia. On all matters of personal and sexual morality, he was a traditionalist and an upholder of the authority of the Church. In Melbourne, Mannix was the leader of the city's largest ethnic minority as well as a religious leader. From his palatial house, Raheen, in Kew, Melbourne, he would daily walk to and from St. Patrick's Cathedral, personally greeting any of his flock that he encountered. On official engagements he was chauffeured about in a large limousine. In 1920 he led an enormous St Patrick's Day parade with a guard of honour made up of Irish Australian winners of the Victoria Cross. Continued next page >

Going to Ireland? Not if the British government could stop him. Mannix had official warning that he might not be allowed to land in Ireland. As always, he took no notice. There could be no better proof, he said, of the ‘jumpy and frenzied’ state of the Lloyd George government than this proposed prohibition. His planned voyage from New York to the Irish port of Queenstown (Cobh) began with industrial trouble. After being farewelled by de Valera along with thousands of Irish-American fans, he boarded the White Star liner Baltic on July 31st. Once on board, he heard that the British cooks and stewards would go on strike rather than accept him as a passenger. ‘Take him off!’ they said. This provoked the Irish firemen. Remove Mannix, their leaders said, and we go on strike. When the firemen were backed by the longshoremen who promised to ‘deal with’ the cooks and stewards, the captain of the Baltic had no choice but to set sail with his troublesome passenger on board. Several British secret service agents kept watch. Mannix was almost never alone.

The Baltic was so close to the Irish coast on August 8th, 1920 that Mannix could see the lights of Queenstown and the flames of huge bonfires of welcome on the hilltops. He could also see a ‘smudge of something’ which as it came closer was revealed as a British destroyer, the Wyvern. The Baltic was ordered to stop, and to lower a gangway for a naval lieutenant and two Scotland Yard detectives. The archbishop was summoned to the captain’s cabin where Mannix’s secretary, Fr Arthur Vaughan, joined him. They were told that the British government would not permit Mannix to land in Ireland. Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow (all of which had big Irish populations) were also off limits. The destroyer would take him to another British coastal destination. The British cabinet had been taking legal advice as to how best to deal with Mannix. Under the Defence of the Realm Act he could be kept out of Ireland, where his presence might lead to violent demonstrations. It was also claimed that his speeches in the United States amounted to sedition, and that if he landed in England he could be arrested and deported. The idea of charging Mannix with sedition was rejected on the grounds that the archbishop would get bail and that there would be a long drawn-out trial. As a compromise it was decided to have him arrested at sea, brought to England, and kept under surveillance. Vaughan described the drama in the captain’s cabin and the ensuing scene: “We took our time getting ready for the transhipment.

When quite ready we went to the deck, where the gangplank was let down to the waiting pinnace with its crew of British Jack Tars. The Archbishop then quietly and deliberately said: ‘I refuse to leave this vessel’ thereupon throwing the onus for his removal entirely on the British Government. One of the Scotland Yard men then placed his hand on the Archbishop’s shoulder, which amounted to a technical arrest.” Rather than make an angry protest against being kept out of Ireland and denied the chance to see his mother, Mannix played it as comedy. The British government helped by landing him at Penzance on the Cornish coast. Calling himself the Pirate of Penzance, he provided a perfect line for the press, and made the government look silly. All the same, his mood was grim. That glimpse of the Irish coast stirred longings for home.

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 41

After the Irish Free State was created in 1922, Mannix became less politically controversial and animosity to him gradually faded for the most part. From the 1930s he came to see Communism as the main threat to the Church and he became increasingly identified with political conservatism. He was a strong supporter of Joseph Lyons, who left the Labor Party in 1931 and led the conservative United Australia Party in government from 1932 until 1939, although he continued to support Catholics in the Labor Party such as Arthur Calwell. Mannix's best-known protégé in his later years was B. A. Santamaria, a young Italian-Australian lawyer, whom Mannix appointed head of the National Secretariat of Catholic Action in 1937. After 1941, Mannix authorised Santamaria to form the Catholic Social Studies Movement, known simply as The Movement, to organise in the unions and defeat the Communists. The Movement was so successful in its efforts that by 1949 it had taken control of the Victorian branch of the Labor Party. Another associate was William Hackett, a Jesuit priest from Ireland, who had been involved in the Irish Republic's struggle for independence from Britain before being posted to Australia. In 1951 the Liberal Party of Australia government of Robert Menzies held a referendum to give the government the constitutional power to ban the Communist Party.[7] Mannix surprised many of his supporters by opposing this, on the grounds that the bill was totalitarianism, which in his view was worse than communism: his may have been a decisive influence in the referendum's narrow defeat. This alliance with the Labor leader, H. V. Evatt, was short-lived. The Labor Party split again in 1954 over attitudes to Communism and the Cold War. Santamaria's supporters were expelled and formed the Democratic Labor Party (DLP). Mannix covertly supported the DLP and allowed many priests and religious to work openly for it. This involvement in politics was opposed by the head of the Australian church, Norman Thomas Gilroy, Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney, who worked with the Premier of New South Wales, Joseph Cahill, to hold together the Labor Party in New South Wales, and also by the Vatican which, in 1957, ruled that the Movement should not interfere in politics. Rome appointed Archbishop Justin Simonds as coadjutor to Mannix – Simonds was widely seen as Rome's man in Melbourne.

In the late 1940s and 1950s, Mannix spoke against the White Australia policy, which was in effect at the time. He described the policy as "crude" and said that Australia had much to learn from other races. In his opposition to the policy, Mannix stated in 1949 that "there is no colour bar in Australia".

In 1960 Calwell became Labor leader and sought Mannix's support to bring about a reconciliation between Labor and the DLP, essential if the Menzies government was to be defeated. Some figures in the DLP supported this idea, but Mannix supported Santamaria in his resistance to such suggestions. The negotiations fell through and Menzies was re-elected in 1961. Mannix and Calwell became permanently estranged. By the 1960s the distinct identity of the Irish community in Melbourne was fading, and Irish Catholics were increasingly outnumbered by Italians, Maltese and other postwar immigrant Catholic communities. Mannix, who turned 90 in 1954, remained active and in full authority, but he was no longer a central figure in the city's politics. He died suddenly on 6 November 1963, aged 99, while the archdiocese was preparing to celebrate his 100th birthday. He was buried in the crypt of St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne. Mannix's legacy to the Roman Catholic Church in Australia is substantial. Over fifty years during his episcopacy, the number of archdiocesan parishioners increased from 150,000 to 600,000; churches from 160

to 300; students in Catholic primary schools from 21,792 to 73,695; secondary pupils from 3,126 to 28,395; priests increased by 237, brothers by 181, nuns by 736; 10 new male and 14 female orders were introduced; 10 seminaries and 7 new hospitals, 3 orphanages, homes for delinquents, the blind and deaf, hostels for girls, and a range of other church facilities. In recognition of his influence across both Church and state, the Catholic Church commissioned a statue of Mannix, pictured above, which is located in the forecourt of St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne, facing Parliament House. The bronze and marble sculpture was unveiled by the Governor of Victoria Sir James Gobbo in March 1999. Interestingly, the statue replaced an existing one of Daniel O'Connell.

Mannix by Brenda Niall is published by Text Publishing, priced £24.99.

Thanks to the Irish Examiner for this excerpt

Restoration work starts on Easter Rising headquarters - Moore Street site where 1916 rebels surrendered will become commemorative centre

The site of Easter Rising headquarters on Moore Street in Dublin.

Restoration work has begun on the site of the final headquarters of the Easter Rising rebels on Moore Street in Dublin ahead of next year’s centenary celebrations. The Government purchased14-17 Moore Street for €4 million earlier this year. The site is to be turned into a commemorative centre, which Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Heather Humphreys expects to be completed next year. Number 16 is recognised as the site where the Rising leaders agreed to surrender. All four of the buildings will be restored to their 1916 condition following structural stabilisation work and the reinstatement of contemporary interiors. It was announced that the company behind the recent restoration of Kilmainham Courthouse, Dublin-based conservation and heritage specialists, Lissadell Construction Ltd, will undertake the Moore Street project. National monument The buildings in question date back to the 18th-century, and were declared a national monument in 2007. “I am delighted to see this project moving ahead. The national monument at numbers 14-17 Moore Street has such special historical significance in the context of the Easter Rising,” Ms Humphreys said. “This project is a very important element of the Government’s plans for the 1916 centenary commemorations. The conservation work will reveal the period architectural detail, the living conditions and, above all, the imprint of the insurgency. The primary focus of the work is to reveal the buildings as they were during the Rising, allowing them to illuminate that period in our history.” Preservation campaigners have praised the Government for its actions in securing the future of numbers 14 to 17, but some have voiced concerns about development proposals for adjoining houses. Planning permission still stands for a stalled retail development in the neighbouring area, which may be resurrected after Nama sold its stake in the premises to UK-based property group Hammerson last month

Irish Independent: Tue, Nov 10, 2015

More Details: http://1916rebellionmuseum.com/

The mourners’ wailing, the bailiff’s triumph- the curse that requited it. I witnessed despair in every face and desolation on every hearth. Distress in the same terrific reality pervades all the coterminous parishes as you pass from here to Donegal via Skibbereen and Kilrush.” The published letter of, Rev J.Cecil Rogers, Rector of the Church of Ireland in Nohoval, should also give us pause for thought. Rev Roger’s letter was published in the Evening Standard in February 1847. In it he wrote, “We are accused of exaggerating our distress and painting it in darker colours than truth will warrant, in order to obtain more liberal supplies from the wealthy English. Oh, I so wish that they who so accuse us were but one hour in my parish. I could show them such scenes of misery as would thrill their blood could show them living skeletons crouching and trembling together in one corner of their dark and cheerless chambers while at the other lies the corpse of a father or a brother dead from the effects of hunger…”

Beginning of the 2013 Famine Walk.

It is incredible to us in today’s world that while the Parish Priest of Tracton, Canon Cornelius Corcoran, and the Rector of the Church of Ireland in Nohoval, Cecil Rogers, were literally carrying emaciated bodies on their backs to the churchyards for burial that a grand ball in Cork City was graced by wealthy young women of Tracton, near neighbours of those emaciated bodies, whose only worry for the night was that their gowns would be as rich as the next one. However, let it be also told that the local landlords, the fathers of those fashion-conscious ladies, did their best to help their starving tenants; several of them served on the Governing Body of the Kinsale Workhouse, and one Famine victim was Lady Roberts of Roberts Cove, who died when she contracted a fever as she administered to the sick. The Tracton famine victims will be well remembered by those who walk in their names. Funds raised are donated to the local Community Centre and to the Kinsale Community Hospital. At the conclusion of the Famine Walk of 2012, a hawthorn tree was planted to commemorate the Tracton Famine victims admitted to the Kinsale Workhouse during the years of the Great Famine. The tree is thriving.

The Famine tree still stands For more information see the Facebook pages of Tracton Famine Walk, or Tracton Family History, or, Tracton Arts and Community Centre, or call the Tracton Centre at 011-353-86-0711910. Published in IrishCentral.com 03.05.15

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 42

The meticulous records kept by the personnel of the workhouse, which are available to be studied at the Cork County and City Archives, mean that we can identify every man, woman and child who was admitted to the workhouse, those who died in the workhouse or who died outside the gates waiting for admission, and those who survived and made it home again. For example, on February 4, 1847, 40 persons were admitted to the Workhouse, ages ranging from a baby of four months to a man of 60 years. Eleven of those admitted were children. Among those admitted on that day was Mary Dineen of Kilpatrick and her five children, aged from five to 16 years. Mary died on the day she was admitted, leaving her five orphans to the mercy of the Kinsale Workhouse. Cornelius Desmond, Tracton, aged 17, died on the day he was admitted in May of 1847. An entry made on June 22nd in 1850 shows that four sibling orphans, Mary, Kate, John and Norah (aged two) Neil (Neill) were all admitted to the workhouse on that day. After being registered, washed, deloused and inspected, John was sent to the boys’ quarters and the three girls, Norah in her ‘big’ sister’s arms, were directed to the girls’ quarters. During their time in the workhouse this strict segregation continued. Wives and husbands were separated, children were separated from their parents, brothers from sisters. That was the official policy. We do not know if any of the Neil children survived the diseases rampant in the workhouse. The two older girls may have been shipped out to Australia as part of the solution by the Board of Guardians to deal with the large number of orphaned teen aged children left bereft in workhouses during Ireland’s Great Famine (1847- 1850). The orphans were of a party of 124 men, women and children, old and young, who left their homes in the Tracton area in South Cork on that day in June 1850 to walk the eight miles to the Kinsale Workhouse.

The Kinsale Workhouse admission house still stands today.

Another famine-stricken family was that of Cornelius Coffee/Cowhig, his wife, Mary and their five children, who were signed in on December 13, 1848. The awful truth about the chances of surviving the rampant diseases in the workhouse is brutally exemplified by the fact that when Cornelius and his family were discharged in May 1849, only two of their five children were left alive to return home with their parents. The bodies of those who died in this workhouse lie in the Famine Graveyard just 100 yards from the main gates. The voice of Fr. Cornelius Corcoran, the Parish Priest of Tracton, was loud in publicizing the crisis in his parish, (and, by extension, of other parishes) as he issued statement after statement from Ballyfeard House. Most appeared in the London and local newspapers, such as this one on February 1947: “This large sea-coast territory which stretches from Cork’s Harbour mouth to that of Kinsale, is steeped in affliction. It witnessed this week the most appalling miseries that a civilised country could present, or a savage tribe endure - auctions, evictions, famine, fever houses tumbling, manhood weeping, hearts breaking, emigrants adieu…

Tracton Memorial Famine Walk

124 poor Irish souls forced to walk to workhouse, where families were torn apart and death was certain for many

June 22 was the exact date in 1850, writes Eileen McGough on which 124 natives of Tracton, County Cork left their homes in a convoy - mothers, fathers, children, infants, grandparents. Their destination was the Kinsale Workhouse, eight miles away. Their abject circumstances at the height of Ireland's Great Hunger compelled them to seek help at the gates of the Workhouse, though the building was grossly overcrowded with starving, sick and dying inmates. Built to accommodate 500 normally and a stipulated maximum of 700 inmates, on July 28, 1849, the meticulously kept records show that there were 2,127 inmates on that day, that 90 had been admitted in that week and that 21 had died in the workhouse in the same week. The most frequent descriptions used were “Mendicant” (describing a tramp or homeless person), “Beggar,” “Weak and Infirm,” “Idiot,” and “Weak-minded.” Many were described as “poorly clad” and “dirty.” In their memory the people of Tracton hold an annual Famine Walk on a date near June 22. The same roads are travelled on foot, and every walker represents a named Workhouse/Famine victim. The following are a few of their stories. At the first signs of potato blight in the autumn of 1845, local relief committees were set up by the leading landowners and by the church ministers. After a hard winter, in January 1846 the board of the Kinsale Workhouse urgently petitioned the House of Lords for a “system of uniform eating for the maintenance of paupers.” All the signs of a looming catastrophe were now evident. Potato prices had gone through the roof and the workhouse managers decided to drop potatoes from the diet of the inmates. The workhouse was well known to Tracton people by that date; every day since the failure of the main food source, the Lumper potato in the autumn of 1845, a constant stream of destitute and starving people trekked in desperation to the gates of the Kinsale Workhouse.

'At the Gates of the Workhouse'

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 43

Irish Times 18 Nov 2015. Maurice Walsh

If John Maynard Keynes had been able to take time off from his treasury job in the autumn of 1915 to write a moment-defining prequel to his famous treatise on the peace conference he might have called it The Economic Consequences of the War. In late September British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith revealed that the campaign was costing £5 million a day. Coal and bread were in short supply. On the assumption that Chancellor of the Exchequer Reginald McKenna was planning substantial tax rises in his imminent budget, there was a run on tea, sugar and tobacco; one Dublin tea merchant reported that his stocks had virtually disappeared. But although McKenna raised income tax by 40 per cent, such was the worry about the possible scale of the new indirect taxes that a nine-fold increase in the sugar duties and 50 per cent on tea were greeted with equanimity by Irish retailers. The exemption of spirits from punitive taxation was greeted with relief but the budget was but another sign of how, after a year, the war had become a banal but insidious feature of everyday life. The enthusiasm of the first months when enlisting men had been cheered off at the train stations by crowds singing it’s a Long Way to Tipperary had given way to a burdensome sense of indefinite sacrifice. Millions of casualties on the western front had produced little progress. Every day the papers carried lists of the dead and reports of funerals. In the late summer of 1915 as the disaster of the Gallipoli campaign unfolded, the scale of the Irish losses at Suvla Bay hit home. The censorship regime precluded official public celebration of heroic deeds. Instead, an awareness emerged in letters from the front reaching national and local newspapers that the Irish soldiers had been treated as cannon fodder, betrayed by the callous incompetence of British generals. Suddenly the invective of the small band of anti-war nationalists seemed in tune with the prevailing mood of cynicism and indifference. From deriding the Irish recruits as dupes the papers and news sheets dubbed by British officials as the mosquito press had switched to portraying them as brave and gallant men whose lives were being wasted in an imperial war. They claimed to show the reality of life in the trenches concealed by the censorship. James Connolly’s Workers Republic printed an account by a soldier who had been at the Battle of Mons which prefigured the kind of war literature which would become commonplace a decade later. “Men’s arms, legs, heads and intestines were mixed with rock and clay and were blown skywards, and the rain of human blood which came down was indescribable.” The relentless debunking of official propaganda pointed to unforeseen ramifications of an increasingly global conflict. In October 1915 Arthur Griffith warned in Nationality that “the introduction of savage Asiatics and

Africans into Europe in war between civilised Powers is unparalleled in European history since anno domini. It is a betrayal of the white race, and an infamy pregnant with a grim and horrible danger and woe in the future”.

The mosquito press enjoyed limited sales but readers of Griffith’s polemics became ventriloquists for his arguments. And in towns and cities across Ireland anti-recruiting posters amplified the message that this was not Ireland’s war. In the autumn of 1915 there was a notable fall-off in enlistment, scarcely concealed by official euphemisms. “Though there have been no distinct rushes to the various recruiting offices”, a correspondent in The Irish Times reported at the beginning of September, “the response, taken as a whole, has been reasonably satisfactory, and not at all discreditable to the City of Dublin.” The ire of the recruiting agents turned on shop assistants who were singled out as a class of men with a unique propensity for shirking which suggest that their work had rendered them effeminate. Unlike men accustomed to a robust outdoor life, they had been corrupted by the creature comforts afforded by standing behind counters. In a speech in Clonmel, the director of the new body established to organise recruiting fulminated that “no man had a right to do anything but a man’s job, and if he was doing a woman’s job for God’s sake let him put on a woman’s skirt”. But rugged and virile farmers’ sons were proving no less reluctant than their cosseted urban peers; they listened to such speeches leaning against walls with hands in their pockets, oozing indifference and hostility. Marching bands and the exhortations of local dignitaries did little to lift the mood of recruiting meetings. Nor did a significant new marketing tool, touring vans displaying film of war scenes from Champagne and Flanders, showing the ruins caused by German bombardment. The boasts that these carefully chosen images were shot at the front at great risk to the cameramen who captured them may well have reinforced the determination of sullen audiences not to go anywhere near the battlefield. The fact that they were used at all is a clue to how the cinema had gripped the imagination of Irish audiences. Well before the war, picture halls were opening in the smallest of Irish provincial towns, “brightening the dreary existence of the Irish peasant” as the British trade journal Bioscope noted in 1913. While the British and French film industries withered during the war, American production companies flooded Europe with slick and compelling features. By 1915 the United Kingdom was biggest foreign market for American films. Packed halls from Mullingar to Mallow were captivated by alluring visions of a lifestyle in which everybody chatted on the telephone, ate in restaurants instead of at home and danced to jazz music; unmarried women thought nothing of dining alone with young men and accepting a lift home in a shiny car. The American movie houses had also begun to create stars, names guaranteed to fill a theatre. None was bigger than Charlie Chaplin, whose box office popularity enabled his studio to make demands which outraged British picture house proprietors. One member of the London Cinema Exhibitors’ Association ventured that it was possible to have too much of Charlie Chaplin, prompting The Irish Times to suggest that the cinema owners were at odds with public opinion. Chaplin, an editorial asserted, “has become almost a craving with many persons”. There was plenty of evidence to suggest that this was true. Picture houses in Dublin advertised special films about Chaplin in addition to their usual features and held competitions to find the best Chaplin imitator among audiences. Professional Chaplin impersonators took to the stage and at the end of September the Coliseum Theatre put on a revue entitled Charlie Chaplin Mad featuring “the only Charlie Chaplin girl extant”. There was plenty of evidence to suggest that this was true. Picture houses in Dublin advertised special films about Chaplin in

addition to their usual features and held competitions to find the best Chaplin imitator among audiences. Professional Chaplin impersonators took to the stage and at the end of September the Coliseum Theatre put on a revue entitled Charlie Chaplin Mad featuring “the only Charlie Chaplin girl extant”. Cross-fertilisation did not stop at cinema and theatre: professional boxing was now a transatlantic spectacle, its leading practitioners drawing tens of thousands to open-air stadiums with millions more watching films of their bouts at picture houses around the world. Champions such as Jack Dempsey and Jack Johnson – the first black man to win the world heavyweight crown – emerged as celebrities, signing lucrative contracts with film companies and photo agencies. Promoters doubled as film producers and theatrical agents. Six months before the Easter Rising, Dublin was not untouched by this remarkable transformation in commercial entertainment. In October 1915, Jack Johnson – who the previous April had lost the world heavyweight title he had held for seven years – arrived to present his revue, Seconds Out, at the Theatre Royal. He was accompanied by his white wife Lucille – who promised to perform the risqué “Oyster Dance” billed as the latest American craze – and a cast of dancing girls, magicians, comedians and acrobats. Three years earlier Johnson had relocated to Europe after being convicted of a racially motivated charge of kidnapping his wife. Such was his celebrity that soldiers on the western front had nicknamed big German shells “Jack Johnsons” because of the pall of black smoke they produced. When a reporter pointed out to the boxer in Paris in May 1915 that his name would now go down in war history, Johnson replied: “Wasn’t I in history before this war?” On opening night in Dublin the first of two performances was packed, with almost a thousand people waiting outside the Theatre Royal to be admitted to the second show. Johnson’s appearance on stage was greeted with cheers and applause. But a picture of a naked female figure resting on an easel behind him drew shouts of anger from some members of the audience. Johnson ordered its removal and then thanked the audience for their intervention, requesting them to make their wishes known if anything else should offend them. He made a short speech, sang a song, presented his face to be covered with soap suds by the comedian and gave a boxing exhibition with a sparring partner before asking if any patrons would be prepared to go a few rounds themselves. A Mr O’Neill accepted the challenge and took to the stage. “Although a man of fine physique,” a correspondent noted, “he was overshadowed by the champion.” Furious interruptions such as Johnson experienced were not uncommon in Dublin theatres. A couple of weeks earlier a man called William Larkin appeared in court on charges of causing a disturbance in the Bohemian Picture House in Phibsborough during a showing of A Modern Magdalen. Witnesses said they had heard Larkin hiss loudly when a woman appeared on screen in Eastern costume dancing on a supper table. He roared “Dirty Catholic Dublin” and then continued shouting at the top of his voice causing teenage girls to flee their sixpenny seats, before making his way outside and shouting from the steps that there was a woman prostituting herself on the screen inside. Asked by Mr Larkin’s counsel if he had seen the woman with a bunch of grapes in each hand feeding a gentleman, Charles Millen a civil servant said the film appeared to him to be perfectly clean. “The figure of the woman was not naked to the waist. She was bare to the breasts.” Larkin had previously created disturbances at other theatres and turned out to have accomplices dedicated to invigilating immoral cinema, noting down what they regarded disgraceful scenes to document their case for stricter censorship. At the annual conference of the Catholic Truth Society that autumn, Sir Joseph Glynn called for a campaign to blacklist unsuitable productions in theatres and cinemas and that “the Press did its duty in a vigorous attack on anything savouring of indecency”. He accepted that to blame theaters for this was like blaming publicans for intemperance.

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 44

Irish Times 18 Nov 2015. Chris Dooley

On the night of May 18th, 1915, the Irish nationalist leader John Redmond was staying at the south Dublin home of his daughter Johanna and her husband Max Green, the chairman of the Irish Prisons Board. Redmond was not at home, then, to hear a late-night knock on the door of his house at Aughavanagh, an old military barracks in the Wicklow Mountains previously used as a shooting lodge by Charles Stewart Parnell. The caller was not to be deterred, however. He was bearing an urgent message from British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith and it was imperative that he get it to Redmond, regardless of the lateness of the hour. On arrival at the correct address at 3am, the messenger was at first turned away by the suspicious housekeeper, before Redmond was eventually roused from his sleep to be presented with an invitation to join the British cabinet. The First World War was by now into its 10th month and Asquith, facing a crisis over press revelations of a shortage of shells for soldiers fighting in France, as well as the disastrous prosecution of the Gallipoli campaign, had decided to bring all of the main parties – including the Irish nationalists – into the government. There were strong reasons for Redmond to accept the prime minister’s invitation. For some time he had been frustrated by the British government’s failure to deliver on a promise to establish a separate Irish army corps to fight in the war, or indeed to take on board any of Redmond’s advice on recruitment policies in Ireland. A position in the cabinet would give the nationalist leader a direct say in these matters for the first time. Of even more importance, perhaps, was the intimation given by Asquith in his early hours message to Redmond that Edward Carson might also be invited to join the government. By this stage Redmond and the Irish Party he led had secured the passage of legislation establishing a home rule parliament in Ireland. The Government of Ireland Act – providing for this – was now on the statute book. Implementation of the act had been suspended, however, because of the outbreak of the war. Of further concern to the nationalists was the government’s commitment to bring in an amending bill ensuring the exclusion from home rule of a number of Ulster counties. There was much still to play for, then, and Carson had already signaled his determination to resume resistance to home rule as soon as the war was over. By joining the government, Redmond could ensure he was on hand to thwart any efforts by Carson or his fellow unionists to obstruct the nationalist cause. It was also an unusually propitious time for an Irish nationalist leader to consider joining the British government. The offer to Redmond came at a moment of unprecedented anti-German sentiment in Ireland and elsewhere. Just 12 days earlier, the sinking, by a German U-boat, of the Lusitania passenger ship off the Old Head of Kinsale, with the loss of almost 2,000 lives, had provoked worldwide indignation. Cognisant of all of these factors, Redmond gave an instant response to the prime minister’s invitation: it was a no.

Later that morning, following a meeting with the Irish Party’s deputy leader John Dillon, Redmond wrote to Asquith setting out his reasons: “While thanking you, I feel sure you will understand when I say the principles and history of the party I represent make the acceptance of your offer impossible….From the commencement of the War the Irish Party and myself have been anxious to do, and have done, all

all in our power to aid your government in the successful prosecution of the War, and in the future you can fully rely on us for all the help in our power to give; but, even if I were free to accept your offer, I am convinced my doing so would not increase my power to be of service.”

The prospect of Carson’s inclusion in the cabinet, however, weighed on Redmond’s mind, and later in the day he sent a further message to Asquith: “In view of the fact that it is impossible for me to join I think most strongly Carson should not be included. From Irish point of view inclusion would do infinite harm, and make our efforts to help far more difficult.” Asquith made at least two subsequent attempts to persuade Redmond to come on board, but to no avail. While resisting the prime minister’s entreaties, the nationalist leader continued to press the case for Carson’s exclusion from the new administration: “For the Irish people,” he told Asquith in a letter, “it will mean installed in power the leader of the Ulster revolters who, the other day, was threatening hostilities to the forces of the Crown and the decision of Parliament. It will arouse grave suspicion and will certainly enormously increase the difficulties of my friends and myself.” The sudden change in the make-up of the government left Redmond and his party in an extremely vulnerable position. For the previous five years it had held the balance of power in the House of Commons, and its close alliance with the ruling Liberal Party had brought it to the brink of its long-prized goal: the establishment of an Irish parliament to deal with exclusively Irish affairs. Now the Conservative and Unionist Party was back in office – albeit as a coalition partner of the Liberals – after a nine-year absence, and in a position to directly influence policy on Ireland. Redmond’s protestations over Carson fell on deaf ears, and the Ulster unionist leader joined the cabinet as attorney general. Making matters worse for the nationalists, Asquith moved to appoint Carson’s fellow Unionist MP for Trinity College, James Campbell, as Lord Chancellor for Ireland. In a remarkable twist, Campbell would go on to become the first chairman of the Free State Seanad, but at this time he was a hate figure in nationalist Ireland, having just months earlier urged Ulster loyalists that it was their “duty” to take part in a civil war to prevent the introduction of home rule. Word of Campbell’s imminent appointment triggered outrage in the nationalist press, and forced Redmond to fire off an uncharacteristically hot-tempered letter to Asquith. “I protest most vigorously . . . that one of the most powerful positions in the Executive Government of Ireland should be handed over, not merely to a Unionist, but to a Unionist with Mr Campbell’s record,” he wrote. “There is a limit to our patience. We cannot, and we will not, agree to this.” Redmond eventually succeeded in having Campbell’s appointment overturned, but the episode underlined the extent to which the Irish Party’s influence over the government had diminished. In tandem with that came a slow-burning loss of faith on the part of the nationalist electorate in the party’s ability to deliver. A letter to Redmond from the bishop of Killaloe, Michael Fogarty, underscored the change in mood. “Home Rule is dead and buried and Ireland is without a national party or a national Press,” the bishop lamented. “What the future has in store for us God knows. I suppose conscription, with a bloody

feud between people and soldiers. I never thought that Asquith would consent to this humiliation and ruin of Irish feeling.” Indications that the party’s hold over nationalist public opinion was slipping began to appear from all sorts of quarters. The Irish Independent, Ireland’s biggest selling nationalist daily, began a series of vituperative attacks on the party and its leader for a variety of perceived failures. Typical was an editorial in its edition of July 15th, lamenting that a “bad” Government of Ireland Act would be “mutilated” by the promised amending bill to deal with Ulster. “Through Liberal weakness and Irish supineness we may be given only a parody of a Constitution.” Redmond shrugged off the denunciations, but he knew that further criticism was inevitable as the first anniversary of the Suspensory Act – under which the implementation of home rule had been delayed by a year or until the end of the war – approached. In mid-July the members of Dublin Corporation debated a motion calling for home rule to be put into effect for the whole of Ireland immediately once the Suspensory Act expired on September 17th.

The motion was defeated after an amendment – expressing confidence in the ability of Redmond and his party to adopt the best and speediest means of bringing home rule into operation – was passed by 30 votes to 22. But the debate was a heated one and the narrowness of the margin was evidence of the extent to which increasing numbers of nationalists were prepared to openly question Redmond’s judgment. Opponents of the constitutional movement then scored a propaganda coup on August 1st when thousands lined the streets for the funeral procession of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, the veteran Fenian leader who had died in early July in the United States. The graveside oration by Patrick Pearse – with its concluding words, “The fools, the fools, the fools! They have left us our Fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace” – pointed to the turbulent times ahead. By now another potential menace to the Irish Party’s standing was coming over the horizon – the threat of conscription to boost the rapidly-deleting ranks of the British army, which was suffering enormous casualties in the war. The introduction of compulsory military service, Redmond told the House of Commons on November 2nd, would be a “folly and crime”. He believed the best way of fending off conscription in Ireland was to ensure voluntary recruiting was kept up, and actively supported the campaign for recruits. But he still took the precaution of writing to Asquith to warn him that the introduction of conscription in Ireland would “alienate public opinion” and was “an impossibility”. The intervention was successful and, when the government brought forward a Military Service Bill in early 1916, introducing conscription for unmarried men and widowers aged between 19 and 41, Ireland was excluded from its terms. Redmond received little credit, however, for behind-the-scenes successes of that kind. By now, all that was visible to an increasingly impatient nationalist public was a continuing delay in implementing home rule. Frustration was compounded by the actions of a distrustful British government that seemed unwilling to give Ireland its due over its contribution to the war, through either the establishment of an Irish army corps or even proper recognition of the sacrifices made by Irish soldiers on the battlefields, which seemed always to be slow in coming. The delay in issuing an official dispatch about the Suvla Bay massacre, in which the 10th (Irish) Division suffered terrible losses, was a particular bone of contention and was raised by Redmond – with the support of Carson – in the Commons. All of these factors were having a detrimental impact – from Redmond’s perspective – on Irish public opinion. On December 19th, he received a disturbing assessment from Irish chief secretary Augustine Birrell of the growing strength of the Irish Volunteers and other dissident elements. The volunteer movement in the south, set up as a rival armed body to the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force, had split into pro- and anti-Redmond factions at the outset of the war. The vast majority had supported Redmond’s call to back the British war effort and joined his breakaway National Volunteers, but now Birrell warned that the rival Irish Volunteers were increasing in number month by month. “I am afraid it is no exaggeration to say that there are now nearer 14,000 than 13,000 of these Volunteers, and though many of them are men of straw and wind, still wherever there is an organisation it is a centre of sedition, both to Dublin Castle and the Government, and the revolutionary propaganda grows in strength and, I think in sincerity of purpose.” Redmond didn’t take the warning seriously – or at least seriously enough. Indeed, he was at this time pushing the idea that the Royal Irish Constabulary was an untapped resource of potential recruits for the war, an idea with which Birrell disagreed: “I don’t think . . . this is the time to underrate the services of the police,” he wrote, “or to draw a rosy, however truthful, picture of the crimelessness of Ireland.” Within a matter of months Birrell was to be proved right: there was a lot more work for the police in Ireland than Redmond – or even Birrell – realised. The Easter Rising came as a rude awakening to both men; it cost Birrell his job and Redmond, ultimately, his reputation. Chris Dooley’s Redmond – A Life Undone is published by Gill & Macmillan

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 45

Irish Times 18 Nov 2015.

Ireland in 1915: Prelude to Revolution Dr Richard McElligott lecturer in modern Irish history in UCD. By the autumn of 1915 Ireland appeared to be a haven of tranquility in a continent tearing itself apart through war. Her economy boomed as Irish farmers reaped the benefits of the huge wartime demand for food produce. Having been beset by militant trade unionism in 1913 and a seemingly inevitable descent into civil war in 1914, this transformation was all the more remarkable. With home rule placed on the statute books a year before, most Irish nationalists now appeared content to wait until the end of the war and hoped for a rapid implementation of devolution once it finished. Few could know or suspect that plans were secretly in train to launch a bloody insurrection which would change the course of Irish history forever. For the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) the decade before 1916 had been one of regeneration. Once dismissed as an organisation of “prating mock rebels”, the emergence of cultural nationalism as a force in Irish society helped to radicalise a committed core of young militant Irish nationalists who revitalised the Brotherhood. One veteran of 1916, Padraig O’Kelly, believed that his generation experienced “a kind of natural graduation” from cultural nationalism to republican violence. Men like Pádraig Pearse, Joseph Plunkett, Thomas MacDonagh and Éamonn Ceannt would crystallise this overlap between cultural and physical force nationalism. The ruling Supreme Council of the IRB had long regarded itself as the legitimate government of the Irish republic. The Brotherhood sought first and foremost to safeguard its own existence until the next revolutionary opportunity arose. However, in 1907 its reorganisation was given added urgency by the return to Ireland from America of the veteran Fenian activist Thomas Clarke. Aware of the possibility that Britain might become embroiled in a European war with her industrial rival Germany, Clarke returned to ensure that if such a conflict broke out, Irish republicans would be in a position to react. He was appointed to the Supreme Council and became a close friend and mentor to the young men who were spearheading the IRB’s revival, among them Seán Mac Diarmada. Clarke’s influence secured Mac Diarmada’s appointment as IRB national organiser in 1908. In August 1914, the IRB’s Supreme Council held a meeting soon after the British declaration of war on Germany and came to a decision to stage an insurrection before the conflict’s end. In the summer of 1915, a Military Council was established within the IRB to drawn up plans for an uprising against British rule using the Irish Volunteers. The continuation of the war offered the council both the opportunity and, more importantly, the time to execute its plans.

Three high-ranking IRB officers in the Irish Volunteers: Pearse (director of military organisation), Plunkett (director of military operations), and Ceannt (director of communications) were the only ones initially on the council, and numbers were kept small for security purposes. In September, Clarke and Mac Diarmada joined. Meeting in secret, often in Clarke’s tobacconist’s shop at 75a Parnell Street, the council left no record of its deliberations. But by the autumn of 1915 it had become the real power in the IRB, and not even the Brotherhood’s nominal leadership in the Supreme Council was aware of its plans.

Once it had decided on a date for the rebellion, initially planned for the autumn of 1915, but subsequently pushed back to the spring of 1916, Clarke used his contacts in the Irish-American republican movement to help secure aid from a sympathetic German government. Roger Casement, one of the original founders of the Irish Volunteers, had already styled himself Irish ambassador to a friendly ally and travelled to Germany with the IRB’s support. Casement’s mission was threefold: to recruit an Irish brigade from Irish POWs held in Germany who could be used in any forthcoming rebellion, to secure general German support for a declaration of Irish independence, and to arrange an arms shipment from Germany to support any rebellion.

However, it soon became evident that there were problems with Casement’s cherished desire for a German declaration of support for Irish independence and also with the idea of raising an Irish legion. On November 20th, 1914, the German government issued a statement which declared that if it invaded Ireland, “it would do so with goodwill towards a people to which Germany wished only national welfare and national liberty”. This was far from the direct recognition the IRB hoped for. The military authorities, who were in charge of allowing Casement to address prisoners and to make arrangements to free those who joined him, were even less enthusiastic. In any event, embarrassingly few POWs did so. The summer of 1915 also found Plunkett in Germany, sent on a mission to meet up with Casement and persuade German military leaders that Ireland offered a strategic opportunity tantalising enough to justify sending a German expeditionary force to support an IRB-led rebellion. Plunkett proposed a German invasion around the mouth of the Shannon which would support a mass rising of Irish Volunteers in western Ireland at the same time as Volunteers in Dublin seized the capital. He suggested that 12,000 German troops bringing 40,000 rifles would be enough to begin the process of unravelling British control in Ireland. While Plunkett’s argument displayed plausible strategic thinking, the Germans’ major concern was the obvious danger of attempting to land a force and support an entire division after a 2,000-mile sea voyage through British-controlled waters. Also there was the problem of how quickly British forces in Ireland could be reinforced. Though the Germans rejected Plunkett’s plan, he was able to secure an agreement for Germany to land a shipment of arms and ammunition on the eve of an Irish rising. Into the winter of 1915, the Military Council perfected their plans for a rebellion which was largely based on a strategy worked out by Plunkett over the previous year. This advocated that a ring of fortified positions in strategically placed buildings in Dublin would be seized by the rebels and defended against a full-force British counter attack, while reinforcements from the countryside advanced on the city. Any rebellion needs an army and the Military Council looked to the Irish Volunteers which the IRB had successfully infiltrated and gained increasingly control over at all levels. Following the split within the greater Volunteer movement, the more radical Irish Volunteers (whom British intelligence estimated numbered only 13,500 out of the original force of 188,000) had throughout 1915 begun to slowly but surely rebuild and increase its numbers. The principal reason for this was the ever-increasing fear among young Irishmen that due to the huge losses being sustained in the European war, Britain would introduce compulsory conscription into Ireland. Even the moderates within the organisation (like its leader Eoin MacNeill) were determined to resist, by force if necessary, any attempt to introduce conscription into Ireland. By the autumn of 1915, the IRB’s control over the leadership of the Volunteers was a secret one which most ordinary members were unaware of.

Yet, increasingly, Volunteer units across the country came under the authority of local commanders who were invariably IRB men and who reported directly to IRB officials such as Pearse, bypassing MacNeill’s official chain of command. By now, Pearse and the Military Council were also able to use the nexus of control and influence the IRB enjoyed among nationalist organisations such as the Gaelic League and the GAA to further their designs. For example, in October 1915, Pearse visited Tralee and appointed Austin Stack, the senior IRB officer in Kerry and chairman of the Kerry GAA, as commander of the county’s Irish Volunteers. At this time, Pearse first informed Stack of the IRB’s plans for revolt and asked him to prepare a plan to help land a German arms shipment off the Kerry coast on the eve of the Rising. In preparation for this, Stack used the All-Ireland Final between Kerry and Wexford in November 1915 as cover for an operation to smuggle a sizeable consignment of rifles from Dublin in order to properly arm the local Volunteers so as to protect the planned German arms landing. Tadgh Kennedy, a lieutenant in the Tralee Volunteers and a member of the Kerry County Board, was put in charge of a group of Volunteers ostensibly travelling as supporters to the match. The morning after the game, Kennedy’s men drove to the residence of Michael O’Rahilly, the Irish Volunteers’ director of arms, where the weapons were secured and smuggled aboard the returning supporters’ train to Tralee that evening.

Similarly British intelligence reports from Ireland warned that the Gaelic League had come under the influence of men “of extreme views”. Pearse and several of his co-conspirators were all enthusiastic Gaelic Leaguers. By 1915, members of a radical group of Irish language activists with strong IRB connections, known as “The Left Wing”, had taken control of the league’s ruling executive board. The group included O’Rahilly, Ceannt, Diarmuid Lynch and Thomas Ashe. All were destined to play a prominent role in the upcoming rebellion. Meanwhile, for James Connolly the outbreak of the Great War was a watershed moment which sent him down the road of revolutionary nationalism. As a committed socialist, Connolly had believed that the working masses of Europe were on the verge of overthrowing their capitalist masters and creating a socialist golden age for European civilisation. Throughout 1915, Connolly and his tiny Irish Citizen Army moved closer to Pearse. The latter’s increasingly explicit talk of revolution seems to have convinced Connolly that some within the IRB were prepared to go beyond rhetoric and empty gestures. Pearse, genuinely shocked by the events of the 1913 Lockout, had afterwards shown an inclination towards cautious socialism. This gave Connolly hope that a revolution in Ireland might achieve more than simply a change of capitalists. In November 1915, Connolly was asserting that if Ireland “did not act now the name of this generation should in mercy to itself be expunged from records of Irish history”. Ironically, in the autumn of 1915, the organisation which would benefit most from the IRB’s Rising, Sinn Féin, verged on obscurity. Arthur Griffith’s movement had preached a doctrine of national independence through a campaign of passive resistance and social and economic self-sufficiency. Yet after contesting and losing a by-election in Leitrim in 1908, the movement had seemingly missed its opportunity. With the Irish Parliamentary Party’s successes in the form of the Third Home Rule Bill after 1910, Sinn Féin was cast into the political shadows. According to one Dundalk Sinn Féin activist, by 1915 the public looked upon them “as cranks and dreamers”. But Sinn Féin would be important for what it represented, an attempt to harness the energy and idealism of cultural nationalism in a more tangible and political form. Though it had no involvement with the IRB’s planned rebellion, for a decade British authorities had casually branded radical nationalists as “Sinn Féiners”. The defeated rebels of 1916 would be labelled the same, inadvertently investing Griffith’s Sinn Féin party with a role of authority in Irish nationalism it had never achieved by itself.

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 46

20 December 1909: James Joyce

opens the Volta cinema, Dublin.

The Volta Cinema, Dublin, opened on Monday 20 December 1909 to a select audience, and opened to the general public the following day. It was the first dedicated cinema in Dublin. Up to 1909, films had only been seen in Dublin as part of variety performances in theatres, but Joyce’s sister Eva had suggested the idea of a dedicated cinema for Dublin. Through his friend Nicolò Vidacovich, Joyce found a group of Triestine businessmen willing to fund the venture, and he arrived in Dublin at the end of October to start looking for suitable premises. Joyce settled on a building at 45 Mary Street and set about making structural alterations. Once completed, the interior was decorated in crimson and light blue, and had a capacity of 420. The films were to be shown daily between 5 and 10pm, and admission cost between three and six pence. The silent films were accompanied by a string quartet, and the programme was to be changed twice weekly. Two of the Triestine businessmen, Machnich and Rebez, arrived in November. Neither of them could speak any English, and it was probably Machnich that John Joyce described as ‘that hairy mechanic in a lion-tamer’s coat’! Novak, the manager, arrived from Trieste at the beginning of December with the projectionist, Guido Lenardon, and the imminent opening was announced in the English film magazine, the Bioscope, on 9 December: ‘The International Cinematograph Society Volta is about to open a branch in Dublin,’ it declared. On the evening of the opening, the Monday of Christmas week, the electrician disappeared and Joyce had to go out in search of another. By the time he returned, the crowd was so large that the police had to be called to restore order. Among the first films shown were The First Paris Orphanage, La Pouponnière, and The Tragic Story of Beatrice Cenci (which the Freeman’s Journal claimed ‘was hardly as exhilarating a subject as one could desire on the eve of the festive season but it was very much appreciated and applauded’). The Freeman’s Journal also claimed that the special feature of the cinema ‘is that it is of Italian origin, and is in that respect somewhat out of the ordinary…As an initial experiment it was remarkably good…’ Over the following weeks the Italian films included Nero, Manoeuvres of the Italian Navy in the Mediterranean, Alboino, Fatal Forgetfulness, The Abduction of Mrs Berrilli, Bewitched Castle, and Devilled Crab. Perhaps it was the programmes of Italian films that put off Dublin audiences, or perhaps it was Novak’s dislike of the Irish climate, but the partners were soon talking about selling out, and in June 1910 the Volta was sold to the British Provincial Cinema Company at a loss of £1,000.

Nationality Newspaper during autumn/winter 1915 carried this cinema advert.

95th Anniversary. Cork Burned by the Black and Tans – December 1920

The Burning of Cork took place on the night of 11–12 December 1920, during the Irish War of Independence. It followed an Irish Republican Army ambush of a British Auxiliary patrol in the city, in which one of the patrol, Spencer Chapman, was killed by an IRA grenade. In retaliation for Chapman's death, Auxiliaries, Black and Tans and British soldiers set fire to a number of houses and then looted and burnt numerous buildings in the city centre. Many civilians also reported being beaten, shot at, robbed and verbally abused by British forces. Firefighters later testified that British forces hindered their attempts to tackle the blazes by intimidating them, shooting at them and/or cutting their hoses. There were four known fatalities, the above-mentioned Auxiliary, as well as two IRA volunteers (who were brothers), and a female civilian who died of a heart attack. More than 40 business premises, 300 residential properties, City Hall and the Carnegie Library were destroyed by fire. Over £3 million worth of damage (1920 value; 172 millon euro in today's money) was done, 2,000 were left jobless and many were left homeless. Two unarmed IRA volunteers were shot dead at their home in the north of the city, and a woman died of a heart attack when Auxiliaries burst into her home. British forces carried out many other reprisals on Irish civilians during the war, but the burning of Cork was one of the biggest and most well known. The British government initially denied that its forces had started the fires and blamed them on the IRA. However, a British Army inquiry (which resulted in the "Strickland Report") concluded that a company of Auxiliaries was responsible. Although many witnesses described the burnings as systematic and organized, there is debate over whether they had been planned before the ambush. The War of Independence had begun in 1919, following the declaration of an Irish Republic and its parliament, Dáil Éireann. The army of the new republic, the Irish Republican Army (IRA), waged a guerrilla war against British forces in Ireland: the British Army and the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC). To help fight the IRA, the British Government formed the Auxiliary Division. This was a paramilitary unit composed of ex-soldiers from Britain which specialized in counter-insurgency. It also recruited thousands of British ex-soldiers into the RIC, who became known as "Black and Tans". Both groups became infamous for their reprisals against Irish civilians for IRA attacks. Many villages were sacked and burnt. IRA intelligence officer Florence O'Donoghue wrote that the subsequent burning and looting of Cork was "not an isolated incident, but rather the large-scale application of a policy initiated and approved, implicitly or explicitly, by the [British government]". For most of the war, County Cork was where the IRA was most active. On 28 November 1920, the IRA's 3rd Cork Brigade ambushed an Auxiliary patrol at Kilmichael, killing 17 Auxiliaries. This was the biggest loss of life for the British in County Cork since the beginning of the war. On 10 December, British forces declared martial law in counties Cork (including the city), Kerry, Limerick, and Tipperary. It also imposed a military curfew on Cork city, which began at 10PM each night. IRA volunteer Seán Healy later recalled that "at least 1,000 troops would pour out of Victoria Barracks at this hour and take over complete control of the city".

Ambush at Dillon's Cross The IRA had found that an Auxiliary patrol usually left Victoria Barracks (in the north of Cork city) every night at 8PM and made its way to the city centre via Dillon's Cross. On 11 December, IRA commander Seán O'Donoghue received intelligence that two lorries of Auxiliaries would be leaving the barracks that night and travelling with them would be British intelligence officer Captain James Kelly. That evening, a unit of six IRA volunteers commanded by O'Donoghue took up position between the barracks and Dillon's Cross. Their goal was to destroy the patrol and capture or kill Captain Kelly. Five of the volunteers hid behind a stone wall while one, Michael Kenny, stood across the road dressed like an off-duty British officer. When the lorries neared he was to beckon the driver of the first lorry to slow down or stop. The neighbourhood was mainly unionist and there were many British servicemen and their relatives living there. At 8PM, two lorries carrying 13 Auxiliaries emerged from the barracks. The first lorry slowed when the driver spotted Kenny and, as it did so, the IRA unit attacked with grenades and revolvers. As the IRA unit made its escape, some of the Auxiliaries managed to fire their rifles in the direction of the volunteers while others dragged the wounded to the nearest cover: O'Sullivan's pub. The Auxiliaries charged into the pub with weapons drawn and ordered everyone to put their hands over their heads to be searched. Backup and an ambulance were sent from the nearby barracks. One witness described seeing a number of young men being rounded-up and forced to lie on the ground. The Auxiliaries dragged one of them to the middle of the crossroads, stripped him naked and forced him to sing "God Save the King" until he collapsed on the road. The official British report on the ambush said that 12 members of the Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabluary were wounded and that one, Temporary Cadet Spencer Chapman, a former Officer in the 4th Battalion London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), died from his wounds shortly after.

Burning and looting Angered by an attack so near their headquarters and still seeking retribution for the deaths of their colleagues at Kilmichael, the Auxiliaries in Victoria Barracks gathered to wreak their revenge. Charles Schulze, a member of the Auxiliaries and a former British Army Captain in the Dorsetshire Regiment during World War I, organized a group of Auxiliaries to burn the centre of Cork. At 9:30PM, lorries of Auxiliaries and British soldiers left the barracks and alighted at Dillon's Cross, where they broke into a number of houses and herded the occupants on to the street. They then set the houses on fire and stood guard as they were razed to the ground. Those who tried to intervene were fired upon and some were badly beaten. Seven buildings were set alight at the crossroads.

At about the same time, a group of armed and uniformed Auxiliaries surrounded a tram at Summerhill, smashed its windows, and forced all the passengers out. According to witnesses, a number of the passengers (including at least three women) were repeatedly kicked and hit with rifle butts, threatened, and verbally abused. Cont>

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 47

The Auxiliaries then forced the passengers to line-up against a wall and searched them, while continuing the physical and verbal abuse. Some had their money and belongings stolen. Another tram was set alight near Fr Mathew's statue.[8] Meanwhile, witnesses reported seeing a group of 14–18 Black and Tans firing wildly for upwards of 20 minutes on nearby MacCurtain Street. Not long after, witnesses reported seeing groups of armed men on St Patrick's Street, the city's main shopping street. Some were uniformed or partially uniformed members of the Auxiliaries and British Army while others wore no uniforms. They were seen firing into the air, smashing shop windows and setting buildings alight. Many reported hearing bombs exploding. A group of Auxiliaries were seen throwing a bomb into the ground floor of the Munster Arcade, which housed both shops and flats. It exploded under the residential quarters while people were inside the building. They managed to escape unharmed but were then detained by the Auxiliaries. The fire brigade was informed of the fire at Dillon's Cross shortly before 10PM and was sent to deal with it at once. However, on finding that Grant's department store on St Patrick's Street was ablaze, they decided to tackle it first. Superintendent Alfred Hutson called Victoria Barracks and asked them to tackle the fire at Dillon's Cross so that he could focus on the city centre. However, the barracks took no heed of his asking. As he did not have enough resources to deal with all the fires at once, "he would have to make choices – some fires he would fight, others he could not". Hutson went to oversee the operation on St Patrick's Street and there he met Cork Examiner reporter Alan Ellis. Hutson told Ellis "that all the fires were being deliberately started by incendiary bombs, and in several cases he had seen soldiers pouring cans of petrol into buildings and setting them alight". A number of firemen later testified that British forces hindered their attempts to tackle the blazes by intimidating them, cutting their hoses and/or driving lorries over the hoses. They also said that firemen were shot at and that at least two were wounded by gunfire. Shortly after 3AM, Alan Ellis came upon a unit of the fire brigade pinned down by gunfire near City Hall. The firemen said that they were being shot at by Black and Tans who had broken into the building. They also claimed to have seen uniformed men carrying cans of petrol into the building from nearby Union Quay barracks. At about 4AM a large explosion was heard and City Hall and the neighbouring Carnegie Library went up in flames, resulting in the loss of many of the city's public records. When more firefighters arrived, British forces fired at them and refused them access to water. The last act of arson took place at about 6AM when a group of policemen looted and burnt the Murphy Brothers' clothes shop on Washington Street. Shooting of the Delaney brothers After the ambush at Dillon's Cross, IRA commander Seán O'Donoghue and volunteer James O'Mahony had made their way to the Delaney farmhouse at Dublin Hill in the north of the city. Brothers Cornelius and Jeremiah Delaney were members of F Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Cork Brigade IRA. O'Donoghue hid a number of unused grenades on the farm and the two men went their separate ways. At about 2AM at least eight armed men entered the house and went upstairs into the brothers' bedroom. The brothers got up and stood at the bedside. They were then asked their names. When they answered, the gunmen opened fire. Both brothers were shot dead and their elderly relative, William Dunlea, was wounded by gunfire. According to Daniel Delaney, the father of the brothers, the gunmen wore long overcoats and spoke with English accents. It is thought that, while searching the site of the ambush, the Auxiliaries had found a cap belonging to one of the volunteers and had used bloodhounds to follow the scent to the Delaney

used bloodhounds to follow the scent to the Delaney home. Aftermath Over 40 business premises and 300 residential properties had been destroyed. This amounted to over five acres of the city. Over £3 million worth of damage (1920 value) had been done, although the value of property looted by British forces was not assessable. Many were left homeless and 2,000 were left jobless. The fatalities were: one auxiliary and two IRA volunteers (brothers) shot dead and one woman dead from a heart-attack (when Auxiliaries burst into her house). A number of people (including firefighters) had been assaulted or otherwise wounded. Florrie O'Donoghue described the scene in Cork on the morning of the 12th: “Many familiar landmarks were gone forever – where whole buildings had collapsed here and there a solitary wall leaned at some crazy angle from its foundation. The streets ran with sooty water, the footpaths were strewn with broken glass and debris, ruins smoked and smouldered and over everything was the all-pervasive smell of burning.” At midday mass in the North Cathedral the Bishop of Cork, Daniel Cohalan, condemned the arson but said that the burning of the city was a result of the "murderous ambush at Dillon's Cross" and vowed "I will certainly issue a decree of excommunication against anyone who, after this notice, shall take part in an ambush or a kidnapping or attempted murder or arson". A meeting of Cork Corporation was held that afternoon at the Corn Exchange. Councillor J.J. Walsh condemned the bishop for his comments, which he claimed held the Irish people up as the "evil-doers". He said that while the people of Cork had been suffering, "not a single word of protest was uttered [by the bishop], and today, after the city has been decimated, he saw no better course than to add insult to injury". Councillor Michael Ó Cuill, Alderman Tadhg Barry and the Lord Mayor agreed with Walsh's sentiments. The members resolved that the Lord Mayor should send a telegram asking for the intervention of the European governments and the USA. Three days after the fire, on 15 December, two lorry-loads of Auxiliaries were travelling from Dunmanway to Cork for the funeral of Spencer Chapman, their comrade killed at Dillon's Cross. When they met two men (an elderly priest and a farmer's son) helping a resident magistrate fix his car, an Auxiliary got out and began questioning them. He then shot them both dead. A military court of inquiry heard that he had been a friend of Chapman and had been "drinking steadily" since his death. He was found guilty of murder, but insane. Investigation Cork Corporation and other public bodies, together with nationalist politicians, called for an open and impartial inquiry. In the British House of Commons, Sir Hamar Greenwood, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, refused demands for such an inquiry. He denied that British forces had any involvement and accused the IRA of starting the fires. When asked about reports of firefighters being hampered by British forces he said "Every available policeman and soldier in Cork was turned out at once and without their assistance the fire brigade could not have gone through the crowds and did the work that they tried to do". Bonar Law said "in the present condition of Ireland, we are much more likely to get an impartial inquiry in a military court than in any other". The British military then launched its own inquiry, which became known as the "Strickland Report", but Cork Corporation instructed its employees and other corporate officials to take no part in it. The "Strickland Report" pointed the finger of blame at members of the Auxiliaries' K Company, based at Victoria Barracks. The Auxiliaries, it was claimed, set the fires in reprisal for the IRA attack at Dillon's Cross. However, the British Government refused to publish the report. The Irish Labour Party and Trades Union Congress published a pamphlet in January 1921 entitled “Who burned Cork City?”

burned Cork City?” .The work drew on evidence from hundreds of eyewitness, gathered by Seamus Fitzgerald, which suggested that the fires had been set by British forces and that British forces had prevented firefighters from tackling the blaze. The material was collated by the President of University College Cork, Alfred O'Rahilly. K Company Auxiliary Charles Schulze, a former British Army Captain who was later identified as the main organizer of the burning, wrote in a letter to his girlfriend in England that it was "sweet revenge" while in a letter to his mother he wrote: "Many who had witnessed scenes in France and Flanders say that nothing they had experienced was comparable with the punishment meted out in Cork". After the fire, K Company was moved to Dunmanway and began wearing burnt corks in their caps in reference to the burning of the city. For their part in the arson and looting, K Company was disbanded on 31 March 1921. There has been debate over whether British forces at Victoria Barracks had planned to burn the city before the ambush at Dillon's Cross, whether the British Army itself was involved, and whether those who set the fires were being commanded by superior officers. Florence ("Florrie") O'Donoghue, who was intelligence officer of the 1st Cork Brigade IRA at the time, wrote: “What appears more probable is that the ambush provided the excuse for an act which was long premeditated and for which all arrangements had been made. The rapidity with which supplies of petrol and Verey lights were brought from Cork barracks to the centre of the city, and the deliberate manner in which the work of firing the various premises was divided amongst groups under the control of officers, gives evidence of organisation and pre-arrangement. Moreover, the selection of certain premises for destruction and the attempt made by an Auxiliary officer to prevent the looting of one shop by Black and Tans: "You are in the wrong shop; that man is a Loyalist," and the reply, "We don't give a damn; this is the shop that was pointed out to us", is additional proof that the matter had been carefully planned beforehand.”

Newspaper reports and details of injury claims following the burning of Cork. December 1920.

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 48

1916 Web Site Links A selection of websites that may be of interest

(click on the picture to access)

Decade of Centenaries Ireland 2016

BMH & Military Pensions Heritage Ireland

Glasnevin Cemetery National Archives - Census

National Library 1916 National Museum

DMP Extremists Reports Punch Magazine

Wikipedia Ireland History Irish Volunteers

December 1915: Two world famous singers born

December 12, 1915: Frank Sinatra Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra born. (December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American jazz and traditional pop singer, actor, and producer, who was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide. Sinatra was born on December 12, 1915, in an upstairs tenement at 415 Monroe Street in Hoboken, New Jersey. He was the only child of Italian immigrants Natalina "Dolly" Garaventa, the daughter of a lithographer from Genoa and Antonino Martino "Marty" Sinatra, the son of grape growers from Lercara Friddi, near Palermo. The couple had eloped on Valentine's Day, 1913 and married in a civil ceremony in Jersey City.

December 19, 1915: Edith Piaf Édith Piaf (19 December 1915 – 11 October 1963; born Édith Giovanna Gassion) was a French cabaret singer, songwriter and actress who became widely regarded as France's national diva, as well as being one of France's greatest international stars. Her music was often autobiographical with her singing reflecting her life, with her specialty being of chanson and ballads, particularly of love, loss and sorrow. Among her songs are "La Vie en rose" (1946), "Non, je ne regrette rien" (1960), "Hymne à l'amour" (1949), "Milord" (1959), "La Foule" (1957), "l'Accordéoniste" (1955), and "Padam ... Padam ..." (1951). Despite numerous biographies, much of Piaf's life is shrouded in mystery. She was born Édith Giovanna Gassio in Belleville, Paris. Legend has it that she was born on the pavement of Rue de Belleville 72, but her birth certificate cites the Hôpital Tenon, on 19 December 1915, the hospital for the 20th arrondissement, of which Belleville is part. She was named Édith after the World War I British nurse Edith Cavell, who was executed for helping French soldiers escape from German captivity. Piaf – slang for "sparrow" – was a nickname she received 20 years later.

A very Happy Christmas and New Year 2016 to all family, extended family, friends and readers of the Newsletter.

Hopefully, many of us can meet up during the Centenary Commemorations in 2016.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Ruairi Newsletter editor

In your January 2016 Newsletter:

Opening of the Centenary Year

Weddings of Teddie Quinn & Joe

Clancy 1921 and Carmel Quinn &

Michael Lynch 1922 by Freddie

O’Dwyer & Ruairi Lynch

Irish Volunteer Training, Cork

Planning for a Rising

The Irish Crown Jewels theft

Michael Collins returns

Diarmuid Lynch – early years

January Shipwrecks

Tracton and the Cistercians

Available early January, 2016

email: ruairi_lynch@hotmail.com

Dublin Metropolitan Police - Movements of Dublin Extremists

Reports on Diarmuid Lynch

October - November 1915

The Chief Secretary’s Office, Crime Branch: Movement of Extremists collection was a series of daily reports by the

Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) Detective Department on the movements and associations of pro-independence suspects.

These reports were compiled by Superintendent Owen Brien and submitted to the Under Secretary for Ireland, Sir Matthew Nathan, at Dublin Castle, annotated and then read by the Chief Secretary of Ireland, Sir Augustine Birrell.

These reports describe Republican activity in Dublin during the 11 months preceding the Easter Rising and detail intelligence gathered at a number of key city centre locations, most notably the shop of Thomas J Clarke at 75 Parnell Street, the Irish Volunteers Office at 2 Dawson Street, the Irish National Foresters Hall at 41 Parnell Street and the Gaelic League Offices in 25 Parnell Street. Major events which took place in 1915 and 1916 are recorded in the reports, including the funeral of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa and the Annual Convention of Irish Volunteers.

The reports also include details of anti-recruitment and conscription rallies, meetings of the Irish Women’s Franchise League, and protests against the imprisonment of revolutionaries under the Defence of the Realm Act and the movement of suspects to locations and major events outside of Dublin.

There are over 230 individuals referred to in the reports, principally members of the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Republican Brotherhood and Sinn Féin. The primary person of interest is Thomas J Clarke, who is mentioned in almost every report, while the other most frequently mentioned individuals include Pierce Beasley, Thomas Byrne, Con Colbert, Bulmer Hobson, Seán T Ó Ceallaigh, Seán Mac Diarmada, John McGarry, Diarmuid Lynch, Joseph McGuinness, Herbert Mellows, Michael O’Hanrahan, William O’Leary Curtis, Michael Joseph O’Rahilly and James Joseph Walsh.

In total there were approximately 260 files comprising 700 documents which were conserved, listed and scanned.

To view these and other reports in full, visit the National Archives of Ireland website.

The reports included with the Newsletter relate to Diarmuid Lynch and also include details of historic and unusual events. Side notes provide contextual historical information on events and personalities (Click on items hyperlinked for further info)

Earlier DMP reports are available in previous Newsletters or online at www.diarmuidlynch.weebly.com

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 49

Sunday, 31 October 1915.

Page 1 of the DMP Report on the 2nd Annual Convention of the Irish Volunteers.

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 53

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 50

Page 2 of the DMP Report on the 2nd Annual Convention of the Irish Volunteers. Also attending were many that had as yet, not come to the attention of the DMP. See page 7 of this Newsletter for details of the Irish Volunteers Second National Convention.

Monday, 1 November 1915.

“D. Lynch, T. Barry, T.J.McSwiney, Wm Roche and J. O’Sullivan, Cork; Patrick Hughes, Dundalk, and E. O’Duffy in Volunteer Office, 2 Dawson St. together for an hour from 3pm”

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 51

Monday, 1 November 1915.

James Connolly’s The Worker’s Republic of November 6, 1915, carried a comment on Kuno Meyer & a letter from Michael Mallin:

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 52

Kuno Meyer (20 December 1858 – 11 October 1919) was a German scholar, distinguished in the field of Celtic philology and literature. His pro-German stance at the start of World War I while traveling in the United States was a source of controversy.

In 1903 Meyer founded the School of Irish Learning in Dublin, and the next year created its journal Ériu, of which he was the editor. Also in 1904 he became Todd Professor in the Celtic Languages at the Royal Irish Academy. At the outbreak of the First World War, Meyer left Europe for the United States of America, where he lectured at Columbia, Urbana University, and elsewhere. A pro-German speech he gave in December 1914 to Clan na Gael on Long Island caused outrage in Britain and Ireland, and as a result he was removed from the roll of freemen in Dublin and Cork and from his Honorary Professorship of Celtic at Liverpool, and he resigned as Director of the School of Irish Learning and editor of Ériu. Meyer remained in the United States and went on a lecture tour around the country. He was injured in a railway collision in 1915 and met 27-year-old Florence Lewis while recovering in a California hospital. They married shortly afterwards. Meyer died on 11 October 1919, in Leipzig. In 1920, he was re-granted the Freedom of the City of Cork, as follows: "Re-elected 14th May, 1920, and order of Council of the 8th January, 1915, expunging his name from the roll rescinded." The

expunging of Meyer's name from the Roll of Honorary Freemen of Dublin on 15 March 1915 by the Irish Parliamentary Party-controlled Council was rescinded on 19 April 1920, three months after Sinn Féin won control of the City Council

Wednesday, 3 November 1915.

“With Thomas J. Clarke, 75 Parnell St….Pierce Beasley (Pierce Beaslaí) and D. Lynch from 11.45am until 12 noon…” “Thomas J. Clarke and D. Lynch at 12, D’Olier Street for a quarter of an hour between 1 & 2 pm.”

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 53

Friday, 5 November 1915.

“With Thomas J. Clarke, 75 Parnell St….Thomas Byrne and D. Lynch for a quarter of an hour from 8.40 pm”

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 54

Saturday, 6 November 1915.

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 55

“With Thomas J Clarke, 75 Parnell St. Saturday…D.Lynch, C. Collins G.P.O and Patk. O’Keeffe G.P.O. together from 9.40 p.m. to 10 p.m…” “A Gaelic League Carnival was held in the Round Room, Mansion House between 8pm and 11pm. About 150 persons were present including.. D. Lynch..”

Monday, 8 November 1915.

“With Thomas J. Clarke, 75 Parnell St….John T. Kelly [Sean T. O’Kelly] and D. Lynch from 9pm to 9.15pm”

Tuesday, 9 November 1915.

“With Thomas J. Clarke, 75 Parnell St….John [Sean] McDermott and D. Lynch from 10.30 pm to 10.35 pm.”

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 56

Friday, 12 November, 1915

“With Thomas J. Clarke, 75 Parnell St…. D. Lynch, 11.15am to 11.30am….D.Lynch left Amiens St. by 3 p.m. train en route to Belfast. R.I.C. informed…”

Monday, 15 November, 1915

]

“With Thomas J. Clarke, 75 Parnell St…. D. Lynch for half an hour between 1 & 2pm…Pierce McCann, Cashel, Bulmer Hobson, H. Mellows, M. O’Hanrahan, P. Ryan, J.J. O’Connell and D. Lynch in Volunteer Office, 2 Dawson St. at 12 noon ”

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 57

Tuesday, 16 November, 1915

“With Thomas J. Clarke, 75 Parnell St…. D. Lynch and M.McGinn for half an hour between 12 & 1 p.m….D.Lynch left Kingsbridge en route to Cork, by 3 p.m. by train. R.I.C. informed…”

Michael ‘Mick’ McGinn, originally from Omagh, Co. Tyrone where he was a baker. Forced to leave the area due to his revolutionary sympathies, he moved to Dublin and was employed as the caretaker of the Clontarf Town Hall. He was part of the 1915 O’Donovan Rossa Organising Committee (where this image is sourced) and a senior IRB member. Imprisoned in Frongoch following the Rising.

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 58

G (detective) Division was a plainclothes divisional office of the Dublin Metropolitan Police concerned with detective police work. Divisions A to F of the DMP were uniformed sections responsible for particular districts of the city. The colloquial nickname amongst Dubliners for these detectives was ‘“G” Men’. One of the ‘Mosquito Press’ newspapers, ‘The Spark’ comments on the DMP Detective Division men, ‘The “G” Men in its Issue 21 November, 1915:

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 59

.

Thanks to the National Archives of Ireland for these excerpts

1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter December 2015 60