Back to Top

 Skip navigation

Edward Daly

Open in Excel:

Edward (Ned) John Daly

Photo Edward Daly

Photo: Edward (Ned) Daly

Born: 25 February 1891

Died: 4 May 1916

Aged 10 at the time of the 1901 Census

Address: No 21, Lower William Street, Limerick1

At the time of the 1901 Census, Edward (Ned) was living in Limerick. The head of the household was his uncle John Daly (55). Edward was also living with his grandmother Margaret (90),  his mother Catherine (44), his aunt Ellen Daly (57), and eight siblings, including his sister Kathleen whose husband Thomas Clarke was later executed. In the 1901 Census Daly was aged just 10 and according to the census he was able to read and write and spoke both English and Irish.  There is no Census return for Daly in 1911 and he may have been in Glasgow working for a bakery at this time.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Limerick/Limerick_No__7/Lower_William_St_/1500998/

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000998890/

Edward (or Ned) Daly was born in Limerick, the only son out of ten children born to Edward Daly and Catherine O'Mara. Daly’s father, who died at the age of 41, was a Fenian, as was his uncle John Daly.

John Daly was very involved with the Irish Republication Brotherhood. Daly went to Glasgow to serve as an apprentice at a bakery but moved back to Limerick. He was in Limerick only a short while as there was very limited employment opportunities. He moved to Dublin to stay with his sister Kathleen and her husband Thomas Clarke. Clarke spent time in prison in England with Ned’s uncle John Daly and was also a member of the IRB.

With such a political family history, it is not surprising that Daly joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913. He was attained the rank of Captain and was involved in the landing of arms for the Irish Volunteers from Erskine Childers yacht, the Asgard. In 1915 he was promoted to the rank of Commandant of the 1st Battalion.

During the Rising, Daly was in command of a large area of strategic importance.

The original intention was to hold a line running from the Four Courts to Cabra and to link up with the 5th Battn. under Comdt. Tom Ashe in North County Dublin2”.  His main duty during Easter week was touring his command area, which was under heavy fire, and inspecting each position held by the rebels.

One of his greatest achievements was the taking of the Linen Hall Barracks which overlooked the Volunteer outposts. As only a fraction of the Volunteers turned out due to MacNeill’s notice cancelling the Volunteer manoeuvers, Daly did not have enough men to defend the building and so it was set alight.

On the Monday morning , “Comdt. Daly got a barrel of sand placed in the centre of the crossing at King St. and Church St., fixed a pole in it and placed a tricolour flag about 6 ft. by 3 ft. in it2”. There were a number of exchanges between the rebels and the British forces.

That day also we took a postman prisoner, seized the mails he had collected and sent them to the G.P.O., Cormt. Daly remarking that it was the first delivery of mails under the Irish Republic2”.

On the Tuesday, “During the day we captured a "G" man who was going round our posts dressed in woman's clothes, spying out our position and getting information as to the strength and actual positions of our forces. We sent him under escort to the Birdwell where he was detained2”.

The Thursday and Friday saw heavy attacks by the British forces. The position held by Daly and his men was close to the G.P.O but was a warren of small little streets which housed a lot of tenements. The British forces were finding it very difficult to proceed and on the Friday 28th April one of the worst atrocities of the Rebellion took place. Starting on the Thursday morning, the British tried to avoid direct fire by tunnelling through the walls of the slum houses. Major Sheppard then ordered a frontal attack which saw the British forces sustain heavy losses. “The British forces were now well up in North King Street, had to bore through seven or eight houses to get to North Brunswick Street3. The rebels were moving from house to house with the British forces unable to ascertain where the shooting was coming from and they became increasingly frustrated and infuriated. The troops shot or bayonetted 13 civilians at North King Street and one civilian at the adjoining Little Britain Street while 3 others were killed at Coleraine Street.  Two of the civilians killed, William Hickey and his son Tommy, are recalled in the Witness Statement of Michael O’Donoghue, who states that their killing and those of other civilians changed the attitudes of his family and others towards the rebellion.” The stark tragedy of the massacre of the two Hickeys in their own Dublin home, the mother alone surviving to mourn her awful loss. This brutal atrocity filled me with a sort of personal loss and aroused in me a fierce hate for English soldiery4.

On the Saturday, Elizabeth O’Farrell brought news of Pearse’s surrender. Daly was court-martialled at Richmond Barracks. Daly pleaded not guilty as he had not had any dealings with the Germans, nor had he any knowledge of the Rising until it began. He was found guilty due to his rank as Commandant and was sentenced to death. He was brought to Kilmainham Gaol to visit Thomas Clarke who wished to see him before he was executed, but when he got there Clarke was already dead.

Ned Daly was executed at Kilmainham Gaol on 4th May 1916. He was 25 and was single.

Edward was the youngest of those who were executed being two or three weeks younger than Seán Houston5”. In fact he was just 4 days younger.

Sentence of death on Pearse, O'Hanrahan, Plunkett, Daly

Photo: British Army notice on the executions of William Pearse, Michael O'Hanrahan, Joseph Plunkett and Edward Daly on 4 May 1916

Sources:

  1. National Archives of Ireland
  2. Bureau of Military History Witness Report: Mr. Nicholas Laffan, pgs. 5 and 6
  3. Bureau of Military History Witness Report: Mr. Charles Shelley pg. 5
  4. Bureau of Military History Witness Statement: Mr. Michael V O’Donoghue pg. 18
  5. Bureau of Military History: Witness Report Miss Madge Daly, pg. 4

 

Reference:

National Library of Ireland

Go to John MacBride