MORE GUNS TODAY

In 2007 a survey revealed that there were an estimated 150,000 illegally held firearms in Ireland. In 2010 Gardai estimated the gangland criminals in Dublin had excess to in excess of 10,000 firearms both figures significantly higher than the numbers in possession of the rebels in 1916. In the past three years more bullets have been fired in gang related crime than fired by the rebels in 1916.

WHEN SHOULD WE COMMEMORATE THE EASTER RISING?

When should we commemorate the Easter Rising? There are many commemorations and events across the country and abroad to mark the outbreak of the Rising on Easter Monday 1916 but I believe we should be using the dates April 24th - 30th to remember the events if that momentous week. It is just a lethargic attitude to use Easter weekend instead of the actual dates. It is almost farcical and insulting that in 2013 we commemorate the sacrifice of the rebels at Easter when Easter falls in March 2013 not April. April 24th should be declared a public holiday as our Independence Day removing this movable Easter date. We should not be dependent on a religious festival to mark the Easter Rising 1916.

ON THIS DAY - APRIL 2nd

Cumann na mBan was a women's paramilitary organisation formed in Dublin on 2 April 1914 as an auxiliary of the Irish Volunteers. Although it was otherwise an independent organisation, its executive was subordinate to that of the Volunteers.
Foundation

In 1913, a number of women decided to hold a meeting in Wynn's Hotel, Dublin, for the purpose of discussing the possibility of forming an organisation for women who would work in conjunction with the recently formed Irish Volunteers. A meeting led by Kathleen Lane-O'Kelley (née Shannahan) in Wynne's Hotel, Dublin on 2 April 1914 marked the foundation of Cumann na mBan. Branches,which pledged to the Constitution of the organization, were formed throughout the country and were directed by the Provisional Committee. The first branch was named the Ard Chraobh, which held their meetings in Brunswick Street, before and after the 1916 Easter Rising.

The constitution of Cumann na mBan contained explicit references to the use of force by arms if necessary. At the time the Government of Ireland Bill 1914 was being debated, and might have had to be enforced in Ulster. The primary aims of the organization as stated in its constitution were to "advance the cause of Irish liberty and to organize Irishwomen in the furtherance of this object", to "assist in arming and equipping a body of Irish men for the defence of Ireland" and to "form a fund for these purposes, to be called 'The Defence of Ireland Fund'".
In addition to their local subscriptions (i.e. involvement in other nationalist associations or organizations), members of Cunamm na mBan were expected to support the Defence of Ireland Fund, through subscription or otherwise. Its recruits were from diverse backgrounds, mainly white-collar workers and professional women, but with a significant proportion also from the working class. In September 1914, the Irish Volunteers split over John Redmond’s appeal for its members to enlist in the British Army. The majority of Cumann na mBan members supported the rump of 2-3,000 volunteers who rejected this call and who retained the original name, the Irish Volunteers.

On 23 April 1916, when the Military Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood finalised arrangements for the Easter Rising, it integrated Cumann na mBan, along with the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army, into the ‘Army of the Irish Republic’. Patrick Pearse was appointed overall Commandant-General and James Connolly Commandant-General of the Dublin Division. On the day of the Rising, Cumann na mBan members, including Winifred Carney, who arrived armed with both a Webley revolver and a typewriter, entered the General Post Office on O'Connell Street in Dublin with their male counterparts. By nightfall, women insurgents were established in all of the major rebel strongholds throughout the city - bar one. Éamon de Valera steadfastly refused, in defiance of the orders of Pearse and Connolly, to allow women fighters into the Boland's Mill garrison.
The majority of the women worked as Red Cross workers, were couriers, or procured rations for the men. Members also gathered intelligence on scouting expeditions, carried despatches and transferred arms from dumps across the city to insurgent strongholds.

Constance Markievicz for example - armed with a pistol - during the opening phase of the hostilities shot a policeman in the head near St Stephen's Green. Later, Markievicz along with other female fighters- after a day of carrying out sniper attacks on British troops in the city centre - demanded that they be allowed to bomb the Shelbourne Hotel. Helena Moloney was among the soldiers who attacked Dublin Castle, where she worked with the wounded.
A number of Cumann na mBan members died in the Rising, including volunteer Margaretta Keogh who was shot dead outside the South Dublin Union.
At the Four Courts they helped to organise the evacuation of buildings at the time of surrender and to destroy incriminating papers. This was exceptional; more typical was the General Post Office (GPO), where Pearse insisted that most of them (excluding Carney, who refused to leave the injured James Connolly) leave at noon on Friday, 28 April. The building was then coming under sustained shell and machine-gun fire, and heavy casualties were anticipated. The following day the leaders at the GPO decided to negotiate surrender. Pearse asked Cumann na mBan member Elizabeth O'Farrell (a mid-wife at the National Maternity Hospital) to act as a go-between. Under British military supervision she brought Pearse’s surrender order to the rebel units still fighting in Dublin. Over 70 women, including many of the leading figures in Cumann na mBan, were arrested after the insurrection, and many of the women who had been captured fighting were imprisoned in Kilmainham; all but 12 had been released by 8 May 1916.

1916 & The Academy Awards

The Academy Award nominated 1959 movie 'On The Beach' was adapted from a novel by Nevil Shute. The movie starred Eva Gardner and Gregory Peck. Shute had been born in Ealing, London in 1899 and as a young man followed his father Arthur Hamilton Norway to Ireland when Hamilton Norway as appointed head of the Irish Post Office. Norway was in the GPO in O'Connell Street at Midday on Easter Monday 1916 when the rebels attacked, seized the building and declared a Republic. Norway being a diligent public servant, had letters to write, even though it was a bank holiday. While his wife sat sewing in the Royal Hibernian Hotel on Dawson Street, where the family lived, and their son Nevil went for a ride on his motorbike, he dropped in to his office at the GPO to collect some papers. He was just sitting down at his desk when the phone rang and Sir Matthew Nathan, Under-Secretary of the Irish administration, asked him to go immediately to Dublin Castle.
Nevil was commented in military dispatches after the Rising for his actions as a stretcher bearer under fire from the enemy. He later moved to Australia where he became a successful novelist and aeronautical engineer.

Con Colbert

The night before his execution Con Colbert sent for Mrs. Ó Murchadha who was also being held prisoner. He told her he was "proud to die for such a cause. I will be passing away at the dawning of the day." Holding his bible, he told her he was leaving it to his sister. He handed her three buttons from his volunteer uniform, telling her "They left me nothing else," before asking her when she heard the volleys of shots in the morning for Eamonn Ceannt, Michael Mallin and himself would she say a Hail Mary for the souls of the departed. The soldier who was guarding the prisoner began crying according to Mrs. Ó Murchadha, and recorded him saying "If only we could die such deaths."
Colbert was shot by firing squad the next morning on 8 May 1916 in the breakers yard of Kilmainham Jail. .

The Last of Moments of the Republic

On Friday afternoon, Commandant The O’Rahilly, a man who was initially opposed to the rebellion but once the fighting started wanted to serve along side his friends and comrades, ordered Blimey and Michael McGrath to make their way to the telegraph room and the roof to fight the fires that were now taking hold of the building. O’Connor came across his old pal and fellow Londoner Good and as they attempted to fight the uncontrollable fires, Blimey relived the story of the radio station success for Good. As they attempted to fight the fires with the most basic of equipment they were joined in the fruitless task by Michael Collins who trousers at one stage caught fire. The fires were out of hand and the floors began to collapse down on each other making the building dangerous and untenable. The order was given to evacuate the building. The left onto Henry Street and down towards Moore Street. Blimey O’Connor and others were carrying James Connolly on a stretcher after he had been wounded on Thursday. A British barricade at the end of Moore Street forced the men to shelter in an empty building. The O’Rahilly decided to charge the barricade but he was cut down and killed with Liam Daly badly wounded. Another attempt was planned but the men realised that the British army’s grip on the city was now almost complete.
Sean McDermott addressed the men in Moore Street,
‘Men you have fought gallantly for your country and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy but in order to stop the slaughter of the innocent Irish men, women and children and the complete destruction of our beautiful city, our leaders have decided to surrender. There is no need to hang your heads in shame, we are proud Irishmen who will go down in history as having lit the fire for freedom. In my opinion, I and the members of the Provisional Government will be executed but for most of you prison awaits and it’s therefore up to you to maintain the fight which has so nobly begun.’

The statement from the heart was greeted with silence and a general feeling that they should fight till the very last man but McDermott persuaded them that the fight was over but that the battle would continue. O’Connor watched as Joseph Plunkett stood in the middle of Moore Street with a white handkerchief attached to the top of his bayonet. Joe Good was sent to the barricade to ask for clarification as to the treatment of the wounded on the street. He saluted the British commander who saluted back at least he was being treated like a soldier not a criminal. The commander said that the men would be taken care of by the Red Cross and Army medical personnel. At three forty five p.m. on Saturday April 29th 1916, the President of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic Padraig Pearse signed the unconditional surrender of the rebel army. The surrender was accepted by General Lowe.

The men were marched back into O’Connell Street and lined up in front of the Gresham Hotel. Their names and addresses were taken and ring leaders singled out. They were marched to the grounds of the Rotunda Hospital was kept there over night under heavy guard. The following day they were taken to the Richmond Army Barracks and then transported by cattle boat to be interned in England and Wales.

John ‘Blimey’ O’Connor, the man who helped tell the world of the Easter Rebellion with the radio broadcasts, following his arrest was taken to Dublin port, put on board a cattle ship and was first taken Strafford Jail in England where he served one month in solitary confinement and during the summer he was transferred as many of the rebels were to Frongach Camp in Wales. When he was arrested and questioned at Richmond Barracks he gave his address as 77 Parnell Street, the hotel where they first stayed when they arrived in Dublin and 13 White Lion Street, London, his parents address. By Christmas 1916 all of the rebels and suspected rebels had been released and returned to Ireland to continue the fight that they had so nobly begun on Easter Monday. John would later fight on the Republican/De Valera side during the Civil War of 1922.

‘Many years have rolled by since the Irish Rebellion,
When the guns of Britannia they loudly did speak,
And the bold IRA they stood shoulder to shoulder,
And the blood of their bodies flowed down Sackville Street.’

A Question of History

Question: On what date did Ireland eventually free themselves from British rule after 800 years?

SURVEY RESULTS

We recently posed the question ‘who do you believe should be classed as the first leader of Ireland?’ The options given were as follows;

Padraig Pearse who led the 1916 Rising and was executed as the President of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic

Denis McCullough who as the first shots of the Easter Rising were being fired was President of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and therefore by the organisations constitution was President of the Irish Republic

Cathal Brugha who was elected Priomh Aire (Prime Minister)by the First Dail of the declared Irish Republic on January 21st 1919

Eamon deValera who became President of Dail Eireann in April 1919 after his release from a British prison.

Michael Collins who became Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State following the completion of Treaty negotiations in the aftermath of the War of Independence

Arthur Griffiths who was proclaimed as President of the Irish Republic following DeValera's withdrawn from parliament after the treaty signing

W T Cosgrave who assumed the role of President of the Provisional Government following the assassination of Collins and was the first leader to face the electorate in a General Election.

Douglas Hyde who became the first President of Ireland in 1937.

The result was as follows
80% Michael Collins
10% Eamon DeValera
6% Padraig Pearse
4% Others including Harry Boland & James Connolly

Collins despite only holding the titled position of Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State only from January to August 1922 he is credited as being this nation’s first leader.

SURVEY RESULTS

The results of our recent survey will be released next week and it contains some surprising results.

FIRST EASTER RISING P.O.W.'S

The first British POWs of the 1916 Easter Rising were not Irishmen or women but 22 German naval personnel who were captured by the British as The Aud attempted to land weapons from Germany off the Kerry Coast on Holy Thursday. Captured by British naval vessels, Captain Karl Spindler, two officers and 19 crew were taken from Cork to Dublin and onto Internment camps on the British mainland. Spindler was last man off the Aud and he scuttled the vessel in the mouth of Cork harbour.

(An extract from the log of HMS Hood)