Clare and the Great War

by Joe Power

  The Irish Republican Brotherhood, taking advantage of England’s difficulties, opportunistically planned a rebellion for 1916, to strike a blow for Irish freedom. The Easter Rising of April 1916 laid the foundations for the modern Irish state and brought about a sea change in Irish politics, with the rise of Sinn Féin and the terminal decline of the old Home Rule Party. Though County Clare, like most of Ireland, was relatively quiet during Easter Week, many republicans in Clare, such as Art O’Donnell, Michael Brennan and others, were expecting a rising and did indeed turn out at Easter, expecting orders to rise up, but the orders never came.

  The death of Willie Redmond, MP in 1917, and subsequent election of Eamon de Valera showed the decline of Redmond’s Home Rule Party. The rout of the Home Rule Party was completed in the general election of 1918 when the Sinn Féin candidates in Clare were not even opposed. Significantly, the two leading bishops in the county, Dr Fogarty of Killaloe and Dr O’Dwyer of Limerick, had publicly abandoned their support for Redmond’s party and strongly endorsed Sinn Féin after 1917. Even the conservative Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora, Dr O’Dea, supported Sinn Féin after the 1918 election. The Clare Champion, the leading nationalist paper circulating in the county also abandoned Redmond’s party after the death of Willie Redmond, MP, and gave strong backing to the Sinn Féin Party.

  With the outbreak of the war in August 1914 there was an initial sense of shock in the county. The loyalist and unionist community in the county responded to the king’s call from a sense of duty and loyalty to the crown. This view was fully endorsed by the Clare Journal and the Saturday Record. The nationalist MPs for Clare, Willie Redmond and Arthur Lynch, fully supported John Redmond’s policy urging the National Volunteers to join the British war effort. This policy also received the backing of the Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Fogarty, and the Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora, Dr O’Dea, but was not supported by Dr O’Dwyer of Limerick. However, the vast majority of the National Volunteers in Clare were reluctant to join the army and they also abandoned the National Volunteers, in case they were conscripted into the British Army.

  The prosecution of the war involved much propaganda, with a great deal of emphasis on the fate of ‘poor Catholic Belgium’. This was an appeal to the instincts of the Irish Catholics. Almost all the local papers carried huge advertisements appealing to Irish men to volunteer and fight against German tyranny. They were urged to fight for the freedom of small nations, for the Catholics of Belgium, and for liberty, democracy and civilisation. Men were urged to ‘do their duty’ and fight for the ‘honour of Ireland’.

  There were also cinematic shows of the war scenes in France and Belgium that were shown at the cinema in Ennis. There were colourful campaigns in the county when the bands of the Munster Fusiliers and the Irish Guards toured the county during the summer of 1915, seeking recruits.

  Attempts were also made to put pressure on young men to volunteer by insinuating that they were cowards. The words ‘shirkers’ and ‘slackers’ were frequently used in the media during 1915 and 1916 through letters and other comments to shame young men into joining the colours.

  Perhaps the highlight of this phase of the recruitment campaign was the tour of West Clare by the Lord Lieutenent, Lord Wimborne in late August 1915. He was greeted enthusiastically and given a warm Irish welcome in the main towns such as Kilrush, Kilkee, Miltown Malbay and Ennistymon. The Lord Lieutenant hoped that a modern version of ‘Clare’s Dragoons would win glory and honour in the battlefields of France against the Germans’.

  The Catholic Church in the county was initially broadly supportive of John Redmond’s policy towards the war, as outlined at Woodenbridge, County Wicklow on 20 September 1914. However, there was no unanimity either at hierarchical level or indeed at parochial level on support for the war. Initially, it could be argued that of the three bishops with ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the county – two of them, Dr O’Dea and Dr Fogarty – were supportive of Redmond’s policy, while, Dr O’Dwyer was not enthusiastic for the war, as he took Pope Benedict’s pleas for peace seriously. It would also seem to be the case, judging by C.E. Glynn’s list for West Clare, that the vast majority of the parish priests in the county were also supportive of recruitment for the war. Only a small minority of curates, apparently four in all in the county, spoke out against the war and against recruitment in the early years of the war.

  However, over the course of the war years the support of the Catholic hierarchy was gradually undermined, firstly by political developments in Britain in 1915 and secondly by political events in Ireland during 1916. Bishop Fogarty privately lost faith in Redmond and the Home Rule party after Carson, the Unionist leader, was included in the British War Cabinet in 1915. Bishop O’Dwyer publicly turned against John Redmond’s party over Redmond’s rejection of the pope’s pleas for peace in August 1915 and over the treatment of Irish emigrants in Liverpool in 1915. Both of these bishops regarded the men of 1916 as martyrs. Bishop O’Dwyer publicly endorsed Sinn Féin after the 1916 Rising, while Bishop Fogarty came out publicly in support of Sinn Féin after the 1917 by-election caused by the death of Willie Redmond, MP, in July 1917.

  Bishop Fogarty, who had, in the early years, publicly described the war as ‘a sign of God’s anger at sinful humanity’, welcomed it as a divine purgative of Providential good, ‘its purifying waters’, he wrote, ‘would cleanse society of corruption, sensuality and socialism’. However, by 1917 he had become totally disillusioned by the war and he began to publicly oppose it. By then, it had become ‘an accursed war’, and ‘a war of plutocrats’.

  Bishop O’Dwyer, part of whose diocese was in South East Clare, was the moral and spiritual leader of the nationalist opposition to the war and he contributed significantly to the rise of Sinn Féin after 1916. Bishop Fogarty’s letters to O’Dwyer confirm that Bishop O’Dwyer’s opinions were widely circulated and hugely influential in the county. After Bishop O’Dwyer’s death in 1917, Bishop Fogarty of Killaloe became the moral voice of the opposition and the ecclesiastical champion of Sinn Féin.

  All three bishops in the county supported the anti-conscription campaign in 1918 and the policies of Sinn Féin during the November election of 1918. Besides the bishops, it can be seen, judging by the numbers of clergymen assenting to de Valera’s election in 1917 and 1918, that a majority of the younger clergymen in the county, especially the curates, were broadly sympathetic to the Sinn Féin policies, while many of the older parish priests were still loyal to the Home Rule Party, now led by John Dillon after the death of John Redmond in 1918.

  Religion played a significant role in the Great War and the outbreak of the war was used by the Catholic Church and indeed other churches as a spur to a religious revival. To Pope Benedict XV and Bishop Fogarty, the outbreak of the war was a sign of God’s anger at man’s apostasy from God and the spiritual malaise and secularisation infecting mankind at this time. Religion was used by some prominent churchmen and by politicians as a factor in motivating the Catholics of Ireland to enlist. In a fusion of propaganda and patriotism they cited the fate of Catholic Belgium and Poland, which were at the mercy of the ‘barbarous Huns’. Some clergy also mentioned the Armenian Christian massacre at the hands of the Muslim Turks as a motivating factor. The Great War became a great Christian crusade, a just war. Even Fr Moran became outraged at the behaviour of the ‘Prussian butchers’, ‘the Prussian beasts’, who, he said, were a cancer in the German army to be eradicated.

  In 1942, an American chaplain Revd T. Cummings wrote, ‘there are no atheists in a foxhole’. The evidence from many Clare correspondents testifies to the vital role of prayer and sacraments in the lives of the soldiers. The letters from the Catholic chaplains, Fr Glynn and Fr Moran testify to the importance of religion to the soldiers facing death on a daily basis. Maj. Willie Redmond in his letters to Bishop Fogarty, to P.J. Linnane and in the book Trench Letters, published posthumously, mentions the deep faith of the Catholic soldiers at the front, with religious de
votion to the Mass and the sacraments before they went ‘over the top’ and the importance of the rosary and the rosary beads to the men. Redmond stated that the revival of religion was one good consequence of the war. The letters of Pte John Power also highlight the importance of his religious duties before he went ‘over the top’.

  Besides the diligent practice of their faith in the trenches, their relatives at home in Clare must have been besieging Heaven with their prayers for the safety of their loved ones at war. There were benedictions, novenas and constant prayers for peace. The ‘white gloves’ given to the local judges between the years 1915 and 1917 testifies to a highly moral society where crime and drunkenness were virtually absent.

  Society in County Clare under the influence of war and the Catholic Church seems to have become more puritanical. By 1917 Bishop Fogarty was still justifying the war as a dreadful instrument of divine wrath, purging social evils. He denounced feminism and the suffragettes, the ‘demoralising’ cinemas, as well as pubs and clubs in the towns, which, he said, were promoting scandal. He also denounced ‘frivolity, fancy costumes and hedonism’ and even welcomed restrictions on excursions by train.

  The Catholic clergy played a major role in society and they had huge influence in politics. It was indeed ironic that Col Arthur Lynch, MP, in his book, Ireland: Vital Hour, published in 1915, wanted to reduce the power of the Catholic Church in Ireland, when in fact he had been proposed for the vacancy in West Clare in 1909 by Fr James Monahan; and the Catholic clergy of Clare probably had a strong influence in his nomination and election. With this book Col Lynch made an implacable enemy in the Catholic Church. The political power of the Catholic Church in Clare and elsewhere was seen in the role of the clergy in supporting John Redmond’s party and policies up to 1916 and in the rise of Sinn Féin after the Easter Rising. It was also displayed during the anti-conscription crisis when the Catholic churches were used as venues for signing the petition, when all public meetings were banned during Martial Law.2

  Women, of course, were also victimised by the war. Thousands of Clare women had husbands, brothers and sons serving in the British, American, Australian and Canadian forces. The women suffered psychologically, constantly worrying about and praying for their loved ones at war. They mourned the losses of their beloved sons, husbands and fathers and had to care for the wounded men after the war ended.

  The absence of conscription in Ireland and the reluctance of young Claremen to enlist reduced the need for the women of Clare to do work in jobs and professions traditionally associated with men. One Clare woman who fought and won a battle for equality at work was Ms Georgina Frost who was rejected for the post of clerk of the Petty Sessions at Sixmilebridge in 1917, though she had been assisting her father in that position for several years and had been unanimously appointed by the local magistrates. She was re-appointed to the post in 1920, after an appeal to the Supreme Court.

  The ‘separation women’, the wives of soldiers and sailors, received separation allowances, which perhaps gave them some economic freedom and financial control for the first time in their lives, while their husbands were away at the front. Though there were occasional references to ‘drunken’ women’, there was no evidence of widespread abuse in County Clare of the separation allowances through alcohol abuse. Widows were granted pensions for the rest of their lives. However, the cost of living more than doubled during the war years and the poor women and their families were very badly off.

  Clare nurses outside the County Home, Ennis.

  (Courtesy of the Peadar McNamara Collection)

  The ‘separation women’ were naturally supportive of their husbands and quite vocal in their opposition to Sinn Féin during the war years, as Michael Brennan recorded in his memoirs, referring to them as ‘viragoes’.

  Many Clare women played a vital role in the Great War. Women trained as nurses and served in the field on the western, or other fronts, or else in military hospitals in Britain and elsewhere. Indeed, two Clare nurses, Miss Nellie Galvin of Caherbanna and Miss M. O’Connnell-Bianconi, of Kildysart were awarded the MM for their services in field hospitals in France, while Nurse Cissie Moore of Kilrush was awarded a DSM for service in Salonika. Unfortunately, at least five Clare nurses, Misses Nora and Delia Davoren from Claureen, Ennis; Margaret and Brigid O’Grady from Newmarket-on-Fergus, and Miss Nellie Hogan of Ralahine, Newmarket-on-Fergus were among the nine Clare people, six of whom were women, who drowned in the sinking of the SS Leinster on 10 October 1918.

  The upper-class women of Clare, mainly Protestant, had a huge role in funraising for war charities, such as the Red Cross, wounded and disabled soldiers and sailors, prisoners of war, Belgian refugees, etc. In the early years even the women’s branch of the AOH, a Catholic nationalist body, organised a fundraising concert to assist the men at war. The female relatives of the men serving abroad also supported them privately by sending food parcels, cigarettes, woollen socks and especially letters. These supports from home were most welcome by the troops and sailors who were enduring horrific conditions far from home. However, it is notable that County Clare contributed the lowest amount of money to charity in Ireland during the war years. Lord Inchiquin summing up the charitable donations in 1919 was very grateful to the ‘few who had contributed so much’.

  Many women of Clare took a very active part in the recruitment campaigns of late 1915 and early 1916. Ms Florence Glynn, Kilrush, chaired the inaugural meeting of the West Clare Ladies Recruitment Committee, while Lady Inchiquin of Dromoland chaired the East Clare Ladies Recruitment Committee. The membership of these committees came largely from the Protestant community in Clare. The women may have been very persuasive in encouraging reluctant young men to join up.

  Of course, some women of Clare took a very different view of the war. They came from a more republican background and they opposed John Redmond’s policy of supporting the war. These women became more active after 1916, when they joined Cumann na mBan and they had a prominent role in the anti-conscription campaign of 1918.

  Clearly, the war had had a profound impact upon politics in the county, with the destruction of the Home Rule Party and the rise of Sinn Féin to prominence. In 1914, though Home Rule was on the cards, there was a strong hint of partition. The events of 1916-1918 confirmed in the minds of most Irish people that Ireland could expect little or nothing from the British Government. Home Rule would only bring nominal freedom and Ireland would be partitioned.

  Within a short time it was obvious to the military authorities that the war would not be over quickly and Kitchener appealed for a million men to join the new army. Advertising in the papers would not be sufficient to meet this demand and the military authorities decided to organise recruitment in a more professional manner. The Department of Recruitment in Ireland was set up and recruitment organisers were appointed in each county. Two recruitment organisers were appointed in County Clare, Mr M. O’Halloran of Tulla in East Clare and Mr C.E. Glynn of Kilrush in West Clare. These local recruitment committees, which involved the most significant people in each district, especially the Catholic parish priests, played a major role in encouraging voluntary recruitment. The local public bodies such as urban and county councils, as well as boards of guardians in the county also passed resolutions in support of voluntary recruitment. Because of the activities of these local recruitment committees and local organisers, recruitment peaked in 1915 and looked set to increase in 1916, but the 1916 Rising changed everything.

  It is remarkable that there were few reports of recruitment meetings in the county after 1916. It is also significant that the Glynn papers had no references to recruitment activities after the Easter Rising up to the end of the war.

  The Sinn Féin members and Irish Volunteers actively opposed recruitment in the county. Their activities became much more significant after the 1916 Rising and recruitment declined sharply.

  With the war of attrition on the Western Front and indeed on many other fronts, there was a voracious
demand for new soldiers, but the majority of eligible young men of military age in the county, mainly farmers’ sons, were reluctant to enlist. Attempts were made to shame young men into enlisting by referring to them as ‘slackers’ and ‘shirkers’; but, despite these accusations, many young men refused to enlist. Eventually, desperate for recruits, the British tried to introduce conscription in Ireland in 1918, but led by Dr Fogarty, Catholic Bishop of Killaloe, the people of Clare almost unanimously rejected conscription. The British, faced with such nationalist opposition were forced to abandon its proposal to introduce conscription. They had to rely upon voluntary recruitment and even granted the Boer War rebel, Arthur Lynch, MP, for West Clare, whom they had sentenced to death in 1903, a commission as a colonel in the army to organise an Irish Brigade in 1918.

  War news was carefully censored in the national and local press, with propagandist press releases issued by the War Office, usually highlighting Allied successes and demonising the Germans. Some more details of the war campaigns were filtered through letters published in the local papers, by combatants, especially in the army. Some perceptive letters were written by clergymen, especially Catholic chaplains, to their friends in Clare. Examples of these included letters from Fr Moran to Councillor P.J. Linnane, Ennis and Fr Gwynn SJ to Dr Garry of Trinaderry. These were published in the local papers and brought the horrors of war to the people of Clare. Some other soldiers’ accounts were written privately and not published in the papers.