Clare and the Great War

by Joe Power

  Meanwhile, the Irish Volunteers, also known as the Sinn Féin Volunteers, were busy organising throughout the county. One of the most audacious acts of the Irish Volunteers was to hold an illegal meeting of their county executive in the boardroom of the Ennis Union Workhouse in Ennis. A group of about thirty men from various parts of the county marched into the building in the afternoon of 29 January and took over the building for about an hour. Among those who occupied the building was Fr Charles Culligan, CC of Carrigaholt, who chaired the meeting.

  In January the Inch branch of the Irish Volunteers decided to make a house-to-house collection to raise funds for equipment for the corps. The activities of the Irish Volunteers in trying to expand their membership caused tension between themselves and those supporting the National Volunteers. For instance, the members of the Manus National Volunteers sent a letter to the Saturday Record to state publicly that they had no connection whatsoever with the attempt made to form a branch of the Irish Volunteers in the Clare Castle district. And they strongly ‘condemned the actions of two parties, who once belonged to the corps for trying to hold a meeting, and cause dissension in this peaceable district’.

  In East Clare, the Irish Volunteers were drilling and playing their own war games in preparation for a different conflict, perhaps as a prelude to the Easter Rising. Three Brennan brothers and other farmers’ sons from the Meelick district were arrested in January by a party of RIC from Killaloe. They were bound to the peace for twelve months on sureties of £20 each. This did not deter them as three months later ‘Capt.’ Michael Brennan was arrested under DORA for drilling illegally and shooting on Glenomra Mountain. Michael Brennan was not shooting grouse on the hills of Clare – he was training for war! He was sentenced to three months’ hard labour. As Mr Justice Sharman stated at the trial, ‘It was a very serious thing to have armed men marching around the country roads of Clare’.13

  County Inspector Gelston, who had been twenty-six years in the RIC and three years in Clare, while giving testimony to the Inquiry into the 1916 Easter Rising, described the rise of Sinn Féin in the county since 1914. He stated that the first branch of the National Volunteers was formed in March 1914.

  There were four branches with a membership of about 400. When the split occurred in September 1914, the majority of about 300 seceded from Mr Redmond’s party and became the Sinn Féin party.

  A Sinn Féin branch was organised in the county by Thomas O’Loughlin of Carron, but nothing was done until May 1915, when a paid organiser, Mr Ernest Blythe, came to the county and made himself very active. He went on creating branches until July 1915, when he came to be looked upon as a danger and a deportation order was served upon him … When Blythe left the county the movement stood still until a man named O’Hurley, a Gaelic teacher and organiser, became very active, with the result that by the beginning of this year [1916] there were ten branches with a membership of over 400 in the county. They drilled and some of them wore uniforms and practised shooting with miniature rifles … In the whole county they had about 35 rifles. They were not well armed, but they had plenty of shotguns and miniature rifles. These branches became more or less aggressive in some parts of the county and people got afraid of them.

  One Volunteer leader in East Clare, Michael Brennan, publicly told the Irish Volunteers before a route march at Meelick on St Patrick’s Day to arm themselves. He said that ‘it was a matter of self-defence for Irishmen’. He said that ‘if an attempt was made to seize their arms then they should use them, shoot anybody who attempted to seize their arms, it was self-defence and not murder … If their weapons were taken, then he said that the next thing would be conscription.’ Mr Brennan was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment with hard labour for this seditious speech. At his trial, Michael Brennan refused to recant; instead he defiantly repeated the statement in court before Mr McElroy, RM.

  Mr Gelston said that some of the younger priests had Sinn Féin tendencies, but the older men, as a rule, did not, and parish priests had spoken against the movement in some areas. There were quite a number of seditious sermons or remarks from priests. One young priest told the people in January ‘to arm themselves and if they could not get rifles then to get shotguns, which were very useful in the hands of Irishmen. If they couldn’t get shotguns, he told them to get revolvers. If they failed to get revolvers then they should arm themselves with pikes that the blacksmiths could make them. If pikes were not available then they should get a hatchet or a slasher’.14

  Commandant Michael Brennan, East Clare Brigade IRA. (Courtesy of NLI)

  This sermon was not reported to headquarters. Neither was the priest arrested for this seditious speech. The RIC probably thought it prudent not to arrest a Catholic priest at this time. It would have been highly publicised and controversial and might have had a very negative impact upon recruitment by giving ‘fuel’ to the Irish Volunteers.

  Easter Rising 1916

  The Easter Rising occurred in Dublin at the end of April but County Clare was relatively quiet during the week. The editor of the Clare Journal wrote:

  It is highly satisfactory to state … that County Clare has not witnessed a solitary outbreak or disturbance of any kind. Today, practically normal conditions prevail, but it was very evident that during last week there was a considerable atmosphere of unrest and suppressed excitement, which found however, no actual vent; and the news of the surrender of the leaders of the Dublin rebellion on Saturday, which spread like wildfire, had a powerful effect of bringing home to possibly disaffected circles, limited and without influence as they may be, an idea and appreciation of the realities of the situation.

  Our Kilrush correspondent writes, ‘up to the time of writing, I am glad to say that things remain in the usual state of peace in West Clare; a young man named Art O’Donnell from the Tullycrine district, an ex-teacher, was arrested in Kilrush’. He had, according to the western correspondent of the Clare Journal, ‘turned up in Kilrush on Saturday, dressed in a Volunteer uniform, with a revolver and ammunition and was arrested’.15

  The resident magistrate in Clare, Mr George McElroy, RM, spoke of the admirable conduct of the people of Clare during the Dublin crisis. He said that there were no disturbances of any kind in Clare and they should thank the National Volunteers of Ennis, Kildysart and other places for helping to keep law and order. In June Mr T. Lynch, Capt. of O’Callaghan’s Mills National Volunteers, had a letter from Gen. Leland, HQ, Irish command, commending the patriotic activities of the O’Callaghan’s Mills National Volunteers in offering their services to the military authorities during the recent disturbances in the county. Sir Richard Neville Chamberlain, Inspector General of the RIC, also sent a letter in appreciation of the prompt manner in which the Volunteers took over guard duty at O’Callaghan’s Mills. However, about a week after this notice in the paper, Mr Dan Minogue of O’Callaghan’s Mills denied that he offered his services to the authorities at Kilkishen during the Easter crisis.16

  County Inspector Gelston testified at the inquiry into the Easter Rising. He stated, ‘at the time of the rising there was considerable activity. Organisers were moving about and the Sinn Féiners were evidently anticipating something. On Easter Monday many of the Sinn Féiners met along the banks of the Shannon, evidently anticipating the landing of arms from the Kerry side of the river.’ (Inspector Gelston’s testimony was corroborated by Michael Brennan’s memoir in which he describes how he mobilised about a hundred men from Meelick and Oatfield, Cratloe and Newmarket-on-Fergus. They marched to Bunratty and waited all day in the rain for orders to join the rebellion, but the orders never came.) Inspector Gelston attributed the fact that there was no rising in Clare to the failure to land arms in Kerry.

  The Sinn Féin movement was very small, but it grew rapidly at the end of 1915 and the beginning of 1916. We had a record of over 400 Sinn Féiners in the county, but of course there were a great many sympathisers, who did not openly join, but showed themselves in sympathy with the Sinn Féin movem
ent. My own opinion is that if they had had a rising in Clare we would have had a great many more than 400 – we would have probably had three times that number.

  The older clergy, as a rule, the parish priests in a number of cases have spoken against the Sinn Féin movement. They assisted to the extent of denouncing the rising from the pulpit. In one case a parish priest addressed the Sinn Féiners and asked them to give up their rifles to us. That was the only case in which rifles were given up to us.17

  Early in May, Lord Inchiquin of Dromoland sent a letter to his son in England, the Hon. Donough O’Brien, giving his opinion on the Rising. He described the county as being ‘very quiet’:

  County Clare has been very quiet all through, the reason being that the Sinn Féiners in this county are very much scattered about, and consequently couldn’t organise themselves, and so have been very quiet, though three or four of them have been arrested … we haven’t had an Irish Times for 10 days, and the Clare Journal, though it arrives, says very little more than the official telegrams. Private motorcars have been stopped, and all petrol has been commandeered, so we had to drive to church last Sunday in the Victoria.

  A notice has just come from the police saying that certain ports are open to traffic to England, but all passengers must have identity certificates, and must state their business for crossing. All this is like the government! ‘Shutting the door after the horse is out of the stable’, as all the trouble is over now. They seem to have had a hot time in Dublin, from the little we know of it, but I fancy it is very nearly cleared up now. The whole of the rest of Ireland has been very quiet, only one or two small outbreaks here and there, that were easily suppressed’.

  Lord Inchiquin’s observations on the state of Clare during the rising were corroborated by Judge Bodkin at the Ennis Quarter Sessions on Wednesday 1 June. Judge Bodkin QC was presented with white gloves, as there were no indictable cases before the court. During the recent troubles he noted that ‘County Clare remained perfectly peaceable, with not a single disturbance. Clare was’, he said, ‘an example to the rest of Ireland’.18

  The Clare Champion editor of 5 May also gave his opinion on the Easter Rising. The newspaper was still loyal to John Redmond’s policy and tactics: ‘It is not for us as journalists to pass judgement … we appeal to the authorities to be merciful to the misguided masses drawn into this conflict. We congratulate our own county on its magnificent and unanimous loyalty to Mr Redmond. Clare men, the bravest of them all, kept the peace, they have had their reward. Home Rule has not been destroyed, and the Irish leader assures us that it is indestructible’.

  However, Ennis Urban Council, largely Redmondite in its composition, unanimously passed a resolution condemning the Easter Rising:

  That we, the members of Ennis Urban Council, while sympathising with the families of those who have fallen on both sides in the combat in the metropolis of Ireland, deeply deplore this awful bloodshed, and on behalf of those whom we have the honour to represent, we disassociate ourselves and deeply detest the actions of those on whose shoulders lies the responsibility for so many innocent victims being cut down in the prime of manhood … We repose full confidence in John Redmond, the wise and noble leader of the Home Rule party.

  The members of Kilrush Urban Council also adopted a resolution on 1 May condemning ‘the recent deplorable outrages in Dublin as detrimental to the real political and industrial interests and calling on nationalist Irishmen to support John Redmond’s constitutional policy.’

  ‘A Sea Change’

  Within a week or two of the Easter Rising, the mood of the country began to change as the leaders of the Rising were court-martialled and sentenced to death. The ‘blood sacrifice’ idea, promoted by men such as Pearse and Connolly, began to take root and sprout.

  About a week later, after some of the leaders of the Easter Rising had been court-martialled, sentenced to death and shot, the members of Ennis Rural District Council met and passed a resolution ‘condemning the actions of the British government in shooting our brave and patriotic Irishmen, who took part in the recent Irish rebellion’.

  Also, a meeting of the Ennis District of the AOH passed a resolution ‘deeply regretting that the government found it necessary to shoot our countrymen after they had surrendered and we strongly appeal to them not to shoot any more prisoners and to deal leniently with our fellow countrymen who participated in the recent rebellion.’ A sea-change in the political mood of the county was occurring as the condemned leaders were becoming martyrs.

  At the end of May, Clare County Council passed a resolution, which included the following: ‘… We hereby place on record our abhorrence of the drastic punishment meted out to the patriotic, but misguided leaders of the late attempt to set up an Irish Republic.’19

  Bishop Fogarty, speaking at Quin about two weeks after the Rising, refused to denounce the ‘unhappy young men who were responsible for that awful tragedy’. He bewailed and lamented their ‘mad adventure’, but, he said:

  Whatever their faults or responsibility may be – and let God be their merciful judge – this much must be said to their credit, that they died bravely and unselfishly for what they believed – foolishly indeed – was the cause of Ireland. Let their spirits rest in peace for the present in the silence of eternity.

  Fortunately – and we should thank God for it – our diocese has been spared from any part in these unhappy troubles. I caution the people to exercise patience and self-control in a crisis, which is very provoking to Irish feeling.

  The government, I am sure, did not mean to be cruel or provocative, but from the beginning of this lamentable occurrence, every step they have taken is calculated to exacerbate Irish sentiment most bitterly.

  Sir Edward Carson has been the root cause of the trouble. He it was who schooled our unfortunate country into ideas and practices of rebellion. He has been allowed to go free; he has been honoured with a seat in cabinet, while the young Irishmen, who were goaded into the madness of insurrection by insulting taunts, have been treated unmercifully. The shooting of surrendered prisoners must be stopped. Blood enough has been spilt to satisfy the most bloodthirsty passion for vengeance.

  The wholesale arrest and deportation of young Irishmen is causing great disquiet and must be stopped. Decent young men in this neighbourhood have been arrested and carried away, who, as far as we can make out, had never thought of or had sympathy for rebellion.

  About a month later, Bishop Fogarty, speaking at Ruan, said: ‘If the actions of these brave but misguided youths, who gave their lives for what they believed to be was the cause of Ireland, had the effect of stirring up of the national spirit and stemming the tide of saxonism, then their blood was not shed in vain’.19

  Meanwhile, in private letters to Bishop O’Dwyer, Dr Fogarty expressed his horror at the executions and said that the public were outraged by them. He also attacked the hypocrisy of the British and the slavish mentality of the Home Rule, MPs, and local councillors:

  Most people don’t want rebellion, but the brutal shooting and deportation of these young irregulars after surrender has filled the country with indignation and raised such an anti-English feeling as I never saw before … What brazen hypocrites the English are, and what slaves our so called Members.’

  (31 July 1916)

  Poor Casement, may God grant him eternal rest. I do not think that Ireland understood his real worth. His cruel death is neither an honour nor a blessing to the ‘mother of small nationalities’…

  (7 September 1916)

  Whatever your own views may be about the merits or unwisdom of the Dublin rebellion, you are not going to cast stones on the dead bodies of Irish patriots to placate the English parliament …

  (10 September 1916)

  I could not say a harsh word about these poor Dublin fellows. I admire them, for their motives were the highest and their bravery unprecedented … It would, I fear, be a very risky thing for a bishop to openly approve of the rebellion …

  (12
September 1916)

  I feel that it is a great privilege to stand with the dead bodies of Maxwell’s victims and vindicate their memory … One of the most disgusting things in our recent public life is the way our public bodies, co. councils, urban councils etc., have all rushed up with sickening resolutions undermining the rebels. The national door of Ireland is ‘half-closed’… You have your critics among the sober birds, but the great body of the people, especially the young, male and female, are in boundless admiration of you …

  (17 September 1916)20

  Naturally, the pro-war newspapers in Clare, denounced the rebellion. The Saturday Record editor showed little sympathy for the rebels in Dublin, describing their surrender as being ‘like rats caught in a trap’. The Clare Journal referred to the rebels as ‘misguided fools and dupes of a dangerous pro-German element, which had sought to disrupt our country in this great crisis.’ The Saturday Record stated that:

  the insurrection, whether it was premature or otherwise, was deeply involved with German intrigue, ‘the gallant allies’. What ‘allies’ for the brave but misguided young Irish dupes and tools – the wreckers of poor Belgium, the violators of her nuns, the murderers of her priests, and the burners of her cathedrals and churches!

  … Already, three of the signatories of the republican proclamation have paid with their lives for their acts of amazing madness …The forces who rallied to the green flag of the republic, fought with splendid bravery and reckless enthusiasm, and we feel they should be acquitted of individual blame for the acts of murder and robbery, which will forever make Irish men blush with shame at an ill-fated effort at achieving separation from Britain.