By Moira Buckley
Following the Act of Union in 1800, Ireland was a country without a parliament; it was part of the United Kingdom with executive power lying in the hands of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Chief Secretary for Ireland, who were both appointed by the British government. Elected members travelled to the House of Commons in London for debates. Nationalist aspirations rapidly progressed to the forefront of the political arena, both in Ireland and at Westminster, and nationalist politicians were constantly at work pressing a solution to the Irish question. Not all Irishmen supported the demand for self-government and many, including the Ulster Unionists, were completely opposed to it.
Photo: Ivor Guest 1st Viscount Wimbourne, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in a motor car
At the time of the Rising of 1916, the Famine of the 1840’s was still in living memory. The impact of the Famine was enormous as it permanently changed the demographic, political and cultural landscape of the country. More than a million people died and a million more emigrated, many to America. Many of those emigrants and their descendants played a part in financing nationalist movements back in Ireland.
Ireland at the turn of the 20th century became a breeding ground of new organisations. There was a revival of interest in Irish Nationalism and a growing belief that the Irish people were capable of and entitled to complete autonomy and independent self-government. The concept of a Gaelic nation with its own culture and language took momentum. The Gaelic League was founded in 1893 with Douglas Hyde as President and Eoin MacNeill as the Secretary and by 1905 it had 550 branches throughout the country. While it was non-political, the majority of its members were nationalists and included a number of the signatories of the 1916 Proclamation, who were very influential within the organisation. One measure of the success of the Gaelic League was the large number of 1911 census returns that were filled out in Irish, including those of the signatories Pádraig Pearse, Éamonn Ceannt and Seán Mac Diarmada.
In 1912, a Home Rule Bill for Ireland was introduced in the House of Commons by the British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith. Previous attempts to legislate for Home Rule in Ireland failed due to the power of veto from the House of Lords. This power of veto was taken away in1911 and there was now no obstacle to Home Rule in Ireland. There were strong objections to Home Rule by Ulster Unionists who formed the Ulster Volunteers to oppose Home Rule, by force if necessary. As a result of this the Irish Volunteers were set up in 1913 by Eoin MacNeill, to defend Home Rule. Both the Ulster and Irish Volunteer groups were involved in successful gun running in 1914 - the Ulster Volunteers landed arms at Larne while the Irish Volunteers landed guns at Howth. The outbreak of war in 1914 suspended Home Rule until after the war. There was a spilt in the Irish Volunteer force when the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, John Redmond called for men from the Volunteers to support the British war effort. The majority (over 100,000 men) supported Redmond and joined a new organisation, the National Volunteers, and many enlisted in the British Army, while less than 15,000 remained with the Irish Volunteers. The Irish Volunteers were subsequently infiltrated by a secret element, The Irish Republican Brotherhood, who organised the 1916 Rising. Another new organisation, The Irish Citizen Army, was set up in 1913 to protect workers during the 1913 Lockout by James Larkin. The force was about 300 strong and was the only military group to accept women members.
Eoin MacNeill, the Volunteer Chief of staff, believed a rebellion should only take place if there was a strong possibility of success or if there was a possibility of the Irish Volunteers being attacked. The Rising was initially scheduled for Easter Sunday. However when MacNeill learned that Roger Casement had been arrested on the Easter Saturday while attempting to smuggle guns, he issued a countermanding order in the Sunday Independent cancelling all Volunteers manoeuvers on Easter Sunday. Following a meeting of the Supreme Council of the IRB at Liberty Hall on Easter Sunday, the decision was made to proceed with the rebellion at noon on Easter Monday.
The Volunteers were organised into 4 battalions. As a result of McNeill’s countermanding order there was a far smaller turnout for the Rising.
The 1st Battalion under Commandant Edward (or Ned) Daly mustered at Blackhall Street to occupy the Four courts and areas to the northwest against attack from the west, principally from the Royal Marlborough Barracks. D Company was led by Captain Seán Heuston which occupied the Mendicity Institution across the river from the Four Courts. The 2nd Battalion under Commandant Thomas MacDonagh gathered at St. Stephen’s Green to take Jacob’s Biscuit Factory. The 3rd Battalion under Commandant Éamonn deValera were in the South East to take Boland’s Bakery which would cover Beggars Bush Barracks and the road and railway from Kingston (now Dun Laoghaire) harbour. The 4th Battallion under Éamonn Ceannt mustered at Dolphin’s Barn to occupy the workhouse known as the South Dublin Union and to defend against attacks of British Troops coming from the Curragh.
Volunteers and Citizen Army gathered at Liberty Hall under James Connolly. Some went with Michael Mallin to occupy St. Stephen’s Green. A small detachment under Captain Seán Connolly seized the area around City Hall next to Dublin Castle. The remainder were to occupy the GPO. This was the Headquarters’ Battalion and as well as Connolly it included four other members of the Military Council of the IRB - Pádraig Pearse, (President and Commander in Chief), Thomas Clarke, Seán MacDiarmada and Joseph Mary Plunkett.
Although it was militarily unsuccessful, the Rising and executions of the leaders that followed had a transformative impact. It was the first major revolt against British rule in Ireland since the United Irishmen Rebellion in 1798. The rebels succeeded in taking over large parts of Dublin for almost a week, with fewer than 2,000 poorly armed amateur soldiers, against the strength of the British Empire.
Photo: Telegram from British Prime Minister to British Army in Dublin stopping the executions, 10 May 1916
The Rising was initially unpopular as many men from Dublin’s inner city were in France fighting at the Front against the Germans and many families were dependent on the separation allowance they received from the British. The execution and arrests turned public opinion against the British.
The Rising has been claimed as the founding of a democratic Irish State. The rebels were determined that decisions affecting Ireland would be taken in Ireland not in the British Parliament. Ireland was the longest serving British Colony and was seen as a role model for other colonies. The Rising of Easter Week was planned by men and women who feared that without a dramatic gesture, the sense of national identity would flicker out leaving Ireland an integral part of the United Kingdom. These men and women were prepared to make the supreme sacrifice. After the Rising increasing numbers of people called for the recognition of the republic declared during the Rising. According to Rev. Fr. Aloysius, Chaplain to Irish Volunteer Leaders, 1916, “The executions had rallied the whole nation behind the memories of the men who died and the leadership of their comrades who survived”.
Frongoch prison camp, where nearly 2,000 Irish men were imprisoned after the Rising, is located in a tiny village in North Wales. Prisoners included young farm boys, labourers, teachers, poets, artists and authors, trade unionists and military strategists including a young Michael Collins. The prison became known as Ollscoil na Reabhloide, the University of the Revolution. Here they learned reading, writing, languages, military organisation and discipline. Frongoch was an old distillery converted in 1914 to hold German prisoners of war. The stone buildings were damp, freezing and overrun with rats. Most of the prisoners were released before Christmas 1916 and many followed Collins into years of guerrilla warfare in the fight for Irish Independence.
Many of the people involved in the Easter Rising were dead by 1923, either executed after 1916, or killed in the War of Independence and the Civil War. Ireland became the Irish Free State in 1922 (with the Irish Republic declared in 1949) while Northern Ireland remained part of Britain.
Sources:
National Library of Ireland: http://www.nli.ie/1916/
The Irish Times Book of the 1916 Rising by Shane Hegarty and Fintan O’Toole
Ireland Since the Famine F.S. Lyons Collins/Fontana
16 Dead Men: The Easter Rising Executions Anne-Marie Ryan Mercier Press 2014
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