Uncommon Valour

by Paul O'Brien

  In England, Major General A.E. Sandbach, CB, DSO, received orders to mobilise the 59th North Midland Division and move immediately to Ireland. This division consisted of three brigades: the 176th (2/5th, 2/6th, South Staffordshire Regiment, 2/5th, 2/6th North Staffordshire Regiment); 177th (2/4th, 2/5th Lincolnshire Regiment, 2/4th, 2/5th Leicestershire Regiment); and 178th (2/5th, 2/6th, 2/7th and 2/8th battalions of the Sherwood Forester Regiment). The first components of the North Midland Division would begin to arrive in Ireland by Tuesday evening.22

  At 5.30 a.m. on Tuesday a barrage of rifle fire lasting ten minutes was opened up on the Volunteers’ positions in the Union. Section Commander of ‘C’ Company, Frank (Gobbon) Burke moved through the Nurses’ Home as Volunteers stood to their posts. He took up position beside Volunteer Fogarty who had just lit his pipe. As Burke leaned over to light his cigarette from Fogarty’s match, a shot rang out. A bullet came through the front window of the building, hitting Burke in the throat. Only moments before, Burke had warned his section to keep their heads down. As he slowly expired, his colleagues knelt and prayed by his side. Lieutenant Alfie Byrne entered the room and berated Fogarty stating, ‘You are responsible for that man’s death.’ Fogarty was so guilt-ridden by the accusation that he lost his mind and had to be disarmed and put under the care of another Volunteer. Fogarty remained in this deranged state for many weeks.23

  Frank Burke was the brother of Joan Burke, the Irish contralto, and also the stepbrother of Lieutenant Cosgrave, who had got him involved in the Volunteers. Devastated at the loss, Cosgrave described Burke as, ‘one of the best Volunteers in the battalion, energetic, untiring and devoted to his comrades with whom he was most popular’. Cosgrave carried the guilt of involving his stepbrother in the Irish Volunteers for the rest of his life.24

  From an upper window of the Nurses’ Home Volunteer James Foran hoisted an improvised flag, an emerald harp, painted on a window blind. As the flag was raised the Volunteers stood to attention and sang ‘A Nation Once Again’. From their hard-won positions, the British crown forces could clearly see the flag flapping in the breeze. British positions opened fire. Fusillade after fusillade was directed at the flagpole. The fire was so intense that a number of stray shots killed some civilians. Mrs Heffernan, who lived in a large tenement building on James’s Street called the Crimea House (so named because this is where shirts were produced for soldiers heading to fight at Balaclava in the 1850s), was killed in her room, and a visitor from Belfast, Mr Halliday, was shot dead as he walked along the South Circular Road. Yet still the British military failed to bring down the flag.

  Inside the Union, the Volunteers worked tirelessly while their flag was being fired on. Brugha ordered that everything capable of holding water was to be filled in case the supply should be cut off and to safeguard against fire. Moreover, all foodstuffs were collected and handed over to Volunteer quartermaster, Peadar Doyle. The Volunteers located in the boardroom over the main entrance of the Union (14), completed their task of tunnelling through the walls, thus linking the main entrance structure with that of the rear yard of the Nurses’ Home.

  At headquarters, Commandant Ceannt directed that the front door of the Nurses’ Home be reinforced. Once the main door was secure, boards were nailed across the porch doors. Two barricades were then erected to form a second line of defence a couple of yards behind the front entrance. The barricades were about five and seven feet high, one towering over the other, the hoardings of planks about a foot apart, and the space in between packed tightly with clay and rubble. Clothing belonging to the nurses was filled with clay and used to reinforce the windows. The building had become a fortress.

  Local priests, Father Dillon and Father Gerhard, OCC, spent an hour visiting the Volunteers, hearing their confessions. Morale among the Volunteers remained high as supporters threw food parcels and personal messages over the wall. The Volunteers also had assistance from an unusual source: three officials of the Union, William Murphy, Patrick Smyth and Laurence Tallon were sympathisers of the republican cause and assisted the Volunteers during the week. Two of the men provided Ceannt with information and delivered messages, while William Murphy, a storekeeper clerk, took food supplies by horse and cart to the various departments. Accompanied by a young lady, Murphy used a white flag tied to a broom handle in order to distinguish himself from the warring factions. Ceannt asked for supplies of corned beef or bacon, but Murphy could only offer items such as tea, sugar and condensed milk, which were gratefully received by the Volunteers.25 The crown forces also demanded food, which the storekeeper supplied. The bakeries within the Union were manned throughout the week, supplying not only those within the Union but also the people in the local area with loaves of bread. Local priests braved the gunfire to bring assistance to their parishioners.

  Returning from a day trip to Belfast on Monday, Assistant Matron of the South Dublin Union Annie Mannion found she could not gain entry to the complex. Although the main entrance was barricaded, she finally managed to gain access through the Rialto gate early on Tuesday morning. The Union was under constant fire as the matron made her way to her residence beside the mortuary (17). Donning her uniform she proceeded to the food stores, planning to give provisions to the mental patients in the wards nearby. Being careful not to be caught in the crossfire, she and a few others loaded supplies onto a horse and cart and, under a Red Cross flag, began deliveries around the Union. According to Miss Mannion, British crown forces had not taken up any permanent positions within the Union and continued to move from building to building. Casualties of the fighting were cared for in the hospital and Miss Mannion stated that those patients who died during the week were buried in temporary graves in the grounds until the hostilities ceased. British casualties were removed by ambulance.26

  By Tuesday evening, British military forces had withdrawn from their positions within the South Dublin Union. Having almost taken the complex, the Royal Irish Regiment was unhappy with the order to withdraw. Their regimental history states:

  The battalion, under orders from headquarters, re-mained in occupation of the Union for the night (Monday) and on the following morning, for some extraordinary reason, it was directed to evacuate the Union and concentrate at Kingsbridge Station. This was done under protest.27

  The majority of the regiment moved to Kingsbridge Station to await further orders.

  Colonel Portal’s troops from the Curragh mobile column had established a line of posts from Kingsbridge Station to Trinity College via Dublin Castle by noon on Tuesday 25 April. This manoeuvre divided the Volunteer forces in two, giving a safe line of advance for British troops who now began to extend operations to the north and south.

  In order to secure the area near Ceannt’s position, crown forces occupied Number 98 James’s Street, a building owned by the Guinness Brewery. From this post they were able to survey the local area. British soldiers positioned at the Royal Hospital and surrounding areas continued to keep up a steady rate of machine-gun and sniper fire into the Union grounds. Cathal Brugha and a couple of Volunteers continued to answer the sniper fire from the Royal Hospital and towards evening the British ceased fire.

  At 8 p.m. on Tuesday evening, Ceannt and Brugha sent Volunteers Seán Murphy and Liam O’Flaherty to try to make contact with Captain Tom McCarthy’s section at the outpost established at Roe’s Distillery. Under the cover of darkness, the two men left the Union through a small wicket gate near the rear of the Nurses’ Home and dashed out onto James’s Street. Avoiding military patrols, they travelled up and down Mount Brown and Cromwell’s Quarters, trying to locate Captain McCarthy’s men. To their surprise they discovered that the post had been vacated leaving the flank of the Union exposed. The caretaker of the distillery stated that the Volunteers had vacated the position because they had no provisions and were unable to hold the building.28 Captain McCarthy had made the fatal error of withdrawing from his position instead of reinforcing the garrison in the Union.

  Another of Ceannt
’s outposts was stationed at Watkins’ Brewery at Ardee Street under the command of Con Colbert, who regarded this position as somewhat ineffective. Unable to make contact with Ceannt, Colbert sent for instructions to Major John MacBride who was stationed at Jacob’s biscuit factory on Aungier Street. The Major directed him to reinforce the Volunteer garrison at the outpost in the Marrowbone Lane Distillery. At 6 p.m. on Wednesday evening, Colbert moved his force under the cover of darkness to support those at Marrowbone Lane. With the addition of Colbert’s section, the garrison increased to over 100 Volunteers, with forty women of Cumann na mBan among its ranks. That afternoon at the Marrowbone Lane Distillery there had been a serious battle between Volunteers and British crown forces. Robert Holland and his colleagues within the distillery stopped a British attempt to storm the building. The crown forces suffered serious losses; their dead and wounded were strewn along the canal bank and the surrounds of the building.

  Throughout the afternoon, however, British sniper fire increased in intensity and accuracy and Volunteer Mick Liston received a serious wound to the head. The continuous fire from the British positions surrounding the distillery forced Holland to evacuate his firing position temporarily. Later he resumed his post and attempted to counteract the British sniper fire. On the previous day Holland had noticed what he thought was a woman leaning from a window at a nearby house, an act he thought reckless due to the gunfire in the area. Holland remarked:

  She had a hat, blouse and apron on her and I got suspicious. I told Mick Callaghan that I was going to have a shot at her. He said, ‘No.’ I said it was a queer place for a woman to be and that it was queer she should have a hat on her, as she must have seen the bullets flying around but took no notice of them. I made up my mind. She was only thirty-five or forty yards away from me and I fired at her. She sagged halfway out of the window. The hat and small little shawl fell off her and I saw what I took to be a woman was a man in shirt sleeves.29

  Throughout Wednesday, British sniper fire continued as Volunteers Holland and a bandaged Mick Liston returned fire from their concealed positions in the distillery. Liston fired at a British soldier sitting on the branch of a tree 200 yards from his position. The figure of the British soldier jerked as he was hit – his lifeless body slumped forward and hung from the tree for the remainder of the day. The Volunteers noticed that a group of enemy soldiers had taken up firing positions behind a number of tree stumps. Having fired a volley at the distillery, one soldier left cover and was promptly shot dead by Liston. The others, numbering about a dozen, broke cover and retreated along the canal bank. The Volunteers fired rapidly into the ranks of the retreating soldiers hitting all of them. Some collapsed and others staggered back towards the bridge at Rialto.

  By 5.30 a.m. on Wednesday, British troops of the 59th North Midland Division disembarked at Kingstown harbour (Dún Laoghaire). While some of the division remained in reserve, the 178th Infantry Brigade (comprising the 2/7th and 2/8th battalions of the Sherwood Forester Regiment) under the command of Brigadier Colonel Maconchy followed the coast road through Ballsbridge towards Trinity College.

  During Easter week there were a number of Irish Volunteers who attempted to link up with their respective units. Although Eoin MacNeill’s countermanding order of the previous Sunday had caused many men not to turn out initially, as the week progressed a number of Volunteers came out of their own accord. Due to the cordon of British troops around the city, these Volunteers were unable to join their units. However, they were undeterred and began harassing crown forces by taking up sniping positions, injuring many and delaying the British advance into the city.

  By nightfall, both battalions of the Sherwood Foresters had suffered heavy casualties having engaged Irish Volunteer forces on Northumberland Road and at Mount Street Bridge. Relieved by the South Staffordshire Regiment, the remnants of the Sherwood Foresters made their way to the Royal Dublin Society where they billeted overnight.

  On Wednesday evening, as the battle raged throughout Dublin city, the Volunteers in the South Dublin Union could move freely around the inner courtyard since the British military had ceased firing and had withdrawn their forces from within the complex. However, although the Volunteers did not know it, this was just the calm before the storm.

  Chapter 6

  Thursday, 27 April 1916

  Morning

  During the night of 26–27 April, the Sherwood Forester Regiment received orders from Brigadier General Lowe to concentrate their forces in the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham.30 They were detailed to escort a consignment of ammunition to the headquarters’ building. Lieutenant Colonel Oates would lead the advance guard that consisted of the 2/8th Sherwood Foresters, who would then be followed by the main body of the regiment comprising the 2/7th Sherwood Foresters, Brigade Headquarters, the Royal Engineers and the Army Service Corps. The 2/7th Sherwood Foresters would also throw out a small rearguard.

  The convoy was to follow a route that crossed Leeson Street Bridge, went past Wellington barracks (now Griffith College), and continued along the South Circular Road, across Rialto Bridge and on to the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham. Lieutenant Colonel Oates was familiar with the route, as he had been stationed at Wellington barracks for two years when he had served with the Munster Fusiliers.

  On the previous day, Wednesday 26 April, the 2/5th and 2/6th Sherwood Foresters had crossed the Rialto Bridge without incident. British crown forces expected little or no opposition on the journey. Ammunition was issued to the men while the Army Service Corps loaded the wagons. Accompanying Lieutenant Colonel Oates were two veterans of the First World War, Captain ‘Mickey’ Martyn and Lieutenant Colonel Oates’ son, Captain John S. Oates, the officer commanding ‘D’ company. Captain Martyn had fought on the Western Front in actions at ‘Plug Street’ and Neuve Chapelle. Both of these officers had missed the action at Mount Street Bridge, as ‘D’ company of the 2/8th Sherwood Foresters had been held up in Liverpool. They now joined the somewhat depleted ranks of the other companies of the Sherwood Foresters and prepared to move out.

  Thursday morning broke as a calm and beautiful spring morning. From their vantage points within the Union complex, the Volunteers could see people moving freely through the surrounding streets, stopping to chat and going about their daily business. Having procured razors many men took the opportunity to wash and shave. The atmosphere was relaxed as the Volunteers stretched their legs in the small garden to the rear of the Nurses’ Home. Brugha, seated on the floor of that building, dismantled and cleaned his automatic pistol. He carefully reloaded his empty clips. Commandant Ceannt arrived and the two officers assessed the situation. Their entire force now consisted of only forty-one officers and men, as eight of the Volunteers had been killed in action and another twelve were either wounded or taken prisoner. They held the boardroom and the offices over the main entrance as well as the Nurses’ Home (10). Their positions covered James’s Street on the outside and from the inside, the main courtyard as well as the fields between the Rialto entrance and the main gate. They had lost all contact with their outlying posts.

  A dispatch had been received from Volunteer headquarters at the General Post Office that morning. The news was positive, but the messenger reported that he had great difficulty in breaking through the British lines in order to deliver the communiqué. Commandant Ceannt decided not to send a written reply but relayed verbally the events of the previous days to the messenger. The Volunteers watched him leave and wondered if the message would make it to Patrick Pearse and the headquarter staff.

  By this stage the hospital staff had transferred many of the patients in the wards adjoining Ceannt’s positions to the Rialto end of the complex for their safety. Ceannt was anticipating an all out attack on the Union in the near future and instructed his men to make ready. Ammunition was distributed to each section of Volunteers and Ceannt and Brugha toured the defences encouraging their men. Both Volunteer officers were confident of their position in the Union. They claimed that though
setbacks were possible, the Volunteers would not be defeated. The sentiment among the Volunteers was that this was a fight of the spirit, for the spirit is never conquered. In the hours that were to follow, this belief would be put to the test.

  Chapter 7

  Thursday, 27 April 1916

  Early Afternoon

  In the early afternoon, the British column heading for the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, accompanied by Brigadier General Maconchy, set off from the Ballsbridge Showgrounds. As they approached Rialto Street at 2.15 p.m., a fusillade was opened on the column causing a number of horses to stampede. The advance guard of the column led by Lieutenant Colonel Oates took cover on the approach to Rialto Bridge. Irish Volunteers had opened fire in an attempt to delay the column’s advance.

  Lieutenant Colonel Oates ordered Captain Martyn to take a section from the leading company and clear the buildings in Rialto, and also those in the vicinity of the bridge, of rogue snipers. As Captain Martyn moved to counteract the sniping, a number of shots came from a nearby rhubarb field, south-west of Rialto Bridge. Soldiers scattered as more shots also came from the buildings of the South Dublin Union. The military were forced to take cover as single shots snapped through the nearby trees that ran parallel to the road.

  Brigadier General Maconchy took the decision to risk sending one wagon across the bridge. The army service driver approached the bridge at a gallop and a volley of shots rang out, many of them hitting the wooded slats of the wagon. Although the vehicle cleared the bridge, Brigadier Maconchy realised he would suffer severe casualties if he attempted to get the rest of the transport across. The approach to Rialto Bridge was a steep and narrow defile that would slow the column and make it an easy target for Irish snipers. The column was halted and Lieutenant Colonel Oates realised that he had to thoroughly clear the way ahead and protect the column’s flanks in order to proceed safely. Captain Dimock, leading ‘A’ company, was ordered to clear the rhubarb field, then cross the bridge and clear out the enemy snipers ahead of the main advance. ‘C’ company were brought up to secure the line of advance along the South Circular Road. Lieutenant Colonel Oates sent an urgent message to Portobello barracks requesting reinforcements.