Apr 22

Sean O’Casey and the 1916 Rising : Saint Barnabas Church , Snipers , and Soldiers.

Categories:

Easter Week Rising 1916, History, Irish Citizen Army, Sean O'Casey, Sean O'Casey autobiography, St Barnabas Church

by EWALL4ALL

“I thought that no man liveth and dieth to himself, so I put behind what I thought and what I did , the panorama of the world I lived in- the things that made me.” Sean O’Casey (1948)

St . Barnabas Church , from O’Casey’s house

Between 1939 and 1955 Sean O’Casey published six volumes of Autobiography. The first three in particular contain much about his life as a North Dock resident. Throughout this anniversary year, marking 50 years since his death , we intend to present short extracts from these works , concentrating on sections which are most relevant to the area . Over three days we are featuring sections on events during the Easter Rising 1916. O’Casey was a non combatant in the Rising , and his account is very much from a civilians perspective , and is a unique record of events locally , not recorded elsewhere. We move onto the events of Tuesday , the second day of the insurrection , as things become dangerous on Abercorn Road and St. Barnabas Church is commandeered by British Troops.

“Sean was behind his mother when she gawked out of the window in the back room, seeking to see something of what was happening.

-There’s some soldiers in th’ church tower, she said, the last word blending with a cracking roar, while the two of them staggered about the room, choked and blinded from a cloud of powered mortar thick as white thundercloud.

-I’m shot, Jack she whimpered; but feeling her all over, he found she wasn’t; and he hurried her into the other room where she lay down, panting, on the old horsehair sofa. He gave her a drink of water, then coaxed her down to a neighbour below who set about making a cup of tea for her. As he was going back to see what had happened, a number of soldiers, in charge of an officer and sergeant, came in and went upstairs with him, leaving two men to guard the outside door. The officer stood beside Sean, a revolver in his hand, while the sergeant searched the back room. After some time, the sergeant came out and whispered to the officer.

-Come downstairs with me, said the officer to Sean.

They placed him stiff against the wall of the house, outside, while the sergeant searched him, taking off his old boots to have a look inside, a soldier kneeling on one knee before him, butt of rifle to the knee, the bayonet but a foot away from Sean’s chest. They were searching for an automatic, they told him, and he wondered how one could fit into either of his boots. A violent explosion in the wasteland beyond the wall bordering the railway sent a storm of stones, tufts of grass, and bunches of poppies sky-high, showers of them falling around Sean and his searchers. Another, and then, a second later, a vicious ping on the wall beside him, sent Sean word that some sniper was having a shot at the soldiers around him. The officer slid down the street into a shop, and the soldiers, bending low, followed him, leaving Sean stretched out against the wall, alone, watched by neighbours who were peeping from their doorways in the houses lower down the street. He took his outstretched arms from the wall, turned in, and mounted the stairs to his home. While by the wall, he had felt that his end was near, and had had a stiff time trying to hold on to his pride and dignity. Now he was shaking, and tense with fright. Either the badly-aimed shells fired from the gunboat Helga or the sniper’s bullet may have saved his life. For a long time he had tried to keep out of danger, and as often had found himself in the thick of it. Three times, at work, he had had narrow escapes: once when a bucket had been whipped from a swinging hand by a train passing by at fifty miles an hour; once when a scaffold had collapsed, and he had come down with it, escaping with a bad shock and many sore bruises; and once on a high roof, cleaning glass, a fellow worker, in a hurry to show the foreman how alert he was, stepped on a plank, leading over the glass, before him; the plank had snapped, the glass had given way, and the poor devil had fallen forty or fifty feet, to be smashed to pieces on a concrete floor below. And today, he and his mother had had a stream of machine-gun bullets sweeping between their two heads, making a hash of the wall behind them. How often during the riots of drunken policemen had he escaped a batoning? More often than he wished to remember. He didn’t like this sort of thing at all. As he grew in grace and wisdom, he was growing less and less of a hero. Like the fine and upright Alderman Tom Kelly, he wanted to die in bed surrounded by medicine bottles.

Good God! Looka th’ mess the back room was in! The one old palliasse they had had been ripped open with a bayonet, and the dirty feathers had been scattered about. Their one mattress, too, had been torn the same way, and the straw, mixed with the feathers, littered the floor. And all this on top of his aching, trembling legs, and oozing neck. Had he been made of less sterner stuff, he’d have sat on the edge of the ruined bed to weep. But he must sway his thought away from an inclination to tears to hard resistance, and an icy acceptance of what was beyond his power to avoid.

He lighted some sticks, put some water into a small saucepan, and made himself a cup of tea. In the old dresser he found a small lump of loaf, and cut himself a slice; no more, for the neighbours might send back his mother any minute and she’s need her share. But he ate all the bread there. For he wanted all he could get to modify with new strength the energy lost through his oozing neck, his aching legs, and troubled mind. He was sipping the tea, when in came a sergeant and two Tommies, and his heart sank again.

-Ere, you, said the sergeant, motioning towards the Tommies, go with ‘em; the church; ‘urry! Why? Never mind the why. They ‘as their orders – that’s enough for you.

-Whose orders – the Lord Lieutant’s?

- Naw! Company officer’s. ‘Urry!

Sean sighed, and slipped a volume of Keats into a pocket, put on his cap, and went with them to the church. In the porch a young officer sat by a small table, a notebook before him, a pencil in hand. Name? Address? Age? Occupation? Sean saw the officer bend a searching look at him when he said, Unemployed. Another search. What’s this, eh? Oh, a book! Poetry – harmless enough. Why don’t you join the Army? No interest in armies – not even the Salvation Army. Civil answers, my man, will serve you better. Into the church with him.

Soldiers were asleep, asprawl, in the bapistry; others snored lying on the tiles of the chancel; and an armed sentry stood at the east end and west end of the church. Piles of haversacks, belts, boots, and rifles were heaped on, and around, the Communion Table. But two other prisoners were there, each widely separated from the other. It was strange to be this way in a church where he had so often sat as a worshipper, in which he found his first genuine, educated friend – the Rector. How angry he would be if he knew the soldiers were making themselves at home in the House of God! Do This in Remembrance of Me were words forming a semicircle above the Holy Table.

That whole evening, and throughout the night, he sat wearily on the hard bench, finding out that things even of beauty weren’t joys for ever.”

Extracts from “Drums under the windows” (1945)

All six volumes of Sean O’Casey Autobiographies, republished by Faber and Faber , are currently available in both print and kindle editions.

If you have a favourite Sean O’Casey extract please bring it to our attention .

Contact us at eastwallforall@gmail.com

Tags: East Wall, east wall history, history, Sean O'casey, St Barnabas Church

Apr 21

Sean O’Casey and the 1916 Rising : O’Connell street , Spencer Dock and Abercorn Road

Categories:

Easter Week Rising 1916, History, Irish Citizen Army, Sean O'Casey autobiography

by EWALL4ALL

“I thought that no man liveth and dieth to himself, so I put behind what I thought and what I did , the panorama of the world I lived in- the things that made me.”

Sean O’Casey (1948)

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Sean O’Casey in 1964 . O’Casey spent many years of his life living locally , first at 25 Hawthorn Terrace and afterwards at 18 Abercorn Road. These were important years which helped shape O’Casey as a man, and would provide him with the inspiration ( the characters , language and attitudes) that would reappear in his writing throughout his life.

Between 1939 and 1955 he published six volumes of Autobiography. The first three in particular contain much about his life as a North Dock resident. Throughout this anniversary year , we intend to present short extracts from these works , concentrating on sections which are most relevant to the area . Over the next three days we will feature sections on events during the Easter Rising 1916. O’Casey was a non combatant in the Rising , and his account is very much from a civilians perspective , and is a unique record of events locally , not recorded elsewhere. We start on the Monday afternoon, as a quiet Dublin City suddenly changes -

“Down the centre of O’Connell Street, silent but for the tramp of their feet, came hundreds of armed Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army, led by Pearse, Connolly and Tom Clarke, to halt, wheel and face the General Post Office.

There go the go-boys! Muttered an old man, half to himself and half to an elderly, thin lady beside him who had stopped to help him stare at the volunteers. Well, Mac Neill put a stop to their gallop! What th’ hell are th’ up to now? They seem to be bent on disturbin’ th’ whoremony of the sacred day. Goin’ in, eh? Wha’ for, I wondher? Can’t be wantin’ postage stamps. Can’t be to get th’ right time, for there’s a clock in th’ window. What’r they doin, ma’am? I dunno. Somethin’ brewin’? Ma’am, there’s always somethin’ brewin’. I’m seventy, an’ I’ve never known an hour that I didn’t hear tell of somethin’ brewin’. Be God, they’re takin’ th’ clock outa th’ window! That’s odd, now. Looka, they’re smashin’ out th’ windows with their rifles! There’s a shower o’ glass – right over th’ passers-by! That’s goin’ beyond th’ beyond. Tha’s, tha’s just hooliganism. We betther be gettin’ outa here – th’ police’ll be here any minute! Didn’ I tell you before, ma’am, I dunno! They’re shovin’ out the Post Office workers; pointin’ their guns at them. We betther be getting’ outa here while we’re safe. Houl’ on a second – here’s someone out to read a paper. What’s he sayin’? I dunno. How th’ hell can you expect a fella to hear from here? Oh! Pushin’ th’ people off th’ streets, now. Eh? G’ on home, is it? An’ who are you t’ ordher me about? Takin’ over th’ city? D’ye tell me that? Well, you’re not goin’ to take over me! I’m a peaceful man out on a peaceful sthroll on a peace-ful day, an’ I stand be me constitutional rights. Gun-fire here soon? Arrah, from where? From where, ma’am? I dunno, I’m tellin’ you! He says he’s speakin’ in th’ name of th’ Irish Republic, so now you’re as wise as I am meself. Th’ police’ll soon explain matthers. Don’t be talkin’, looka what’s comin’ up O’Connell Street! A company o’ throttin’ lancers – full regalia with carbines, lances, an’ all! Comin’ to clear th’ Post Office. Don’t be pushin’ me ribs in, ma’am! Hear th’ jingle of them! This looks like busi-ness. Here we see, ma’am, the Irish Republic endin’ quicker’n it began. Jasus, Mary, an’ Joseph! th’ fools are firin’ on them! Here get outa th’ way, ma’am, an’ let a man move! Near knocked you down? Why th’ hell are you clingin’ on me tail for, then? Didn’ I tell you hours ago that it was dangerous dawdlin’ here? D’ye hear that volley! Looka th’ police runnin’ for their lives! Here, let’s get outa this; we’ve dilly-dallied too long where we’ve no real business to be! “

Throttin’ lancers

“When the shooting seemed to have got less, Sean slid cautiously out of his shelter and, keeping close to the walls of the shop and house, made his way home. Darkness had fallen, and his near-sighted eyes could see but a few feet in front of them. Coming to the bridge across the canal at Spencer Dock, his semi-consciousness heard a calm, tired voice say somewhere, Halt! Who goes there? A few steps farther, and the voice, tired no longer, terse and threatening, said again, Who goes there? In the hesitating shock of seeing nothing, he managed to say, Friend, and a moment after, passed by the dim form of a soldier with the rifle at the ready, who passed him by with the advice of, Answer quicker, next time friend. A narrow squeak, that! A few seconds more of hesitation and he’d have been high among the stars. Watch your steps, Sean. A little farther on, his breast almost touched a bayonet as another voice said, Who goes there? Murmuring, Friend, the bayonet was lowered, and a soldier’s voice said, Pass on, friend. They were dotted along the road up to the corner of the street that held his home. Pouring in by the North Wall, and no one here to stop them. Poor ould Ireland!

He halted at the doorway thrust through with the knowledge that it was dangerous for him to be abroad at night. His eyes were blank in the darkness. He thought of the things that had happened, and wondered how it would all end. It was a deserted city now, but for those who fought each other. The pubs had emptied, the trams has jingled back to their sheds, the shops were shut. Lansdowne Road, Rathmines, and Rathgar gathered up their fine clothes and ran home; the janitors of the Bank of Ireland came rushing out to slam-to the great iron gates with a clang, turning the thick lips of the lock with hurried hands, and the sentries rushed into the guardroom; those coming home from Fairyhouse had been stopped by British barricades, and choruses of How th’ hell am I goin’ to get home ascended to God and His blessed saints. And Sean, standing in the doorway of his house, gazed back towards the centre of the city and saw a great plume of flame rising high into the sky: the first passion flower had blossomed.”

Troops below Spencer Dock Bridge 1911 Rail Strike

Extracts from “Drums under the windows” (1945)

All six volumes of Sean O’Casey Autobiographies, republished by Faber and Faber , are currently available in both print and kindle editions.

If you have a favourite Sean O’Casey extract please bring it to our attention .

Contact us at eastwallforall@gmail.com

Tags: 1916 rising, Abercorn Road, Sean O'casey

Apr 16

The “Blackguard” Tom Daly , the 1916 Rising and the Frongoch Rat catcher !

Categories:

1913 Lockout, DOCKERS, East Wall, Easter Week Rising 1916, History, Irish Citizen Army

by EWALL4ALL

“A tough Dock Labourer, pugnacious and voluble…”

On the 16th April 1916 an Irish Republican flag was flown for the first time over Liberty Hall. It was a hugely symbolic ceremony , a message of defiance and a signal of intent by the Irish Citizen Army. Amongst those caught up in the excitement and emotion of the day was Tom Daly. In the second instalment of a two part feature, Hugo McGuinness continues the story of “Blackguard” Tom Daly. ( See part one here -http://eastwallforall.ie/?p=2261 ) A North Dock resident, ITGWU member and Citizen Army volunteer, Daly was acquitted of murdering a blackleg during the Lockout , but jailed for assaulting two scabs. We continue his story in 1915 after he had been released from jail, and was working at Croydon Park, Marino, which was rented by the union.

Tom Daly , Court Sketch

A poachers luck

Tom immediately threw himself back into the activities of the Citizen Army. Fellow ICA man James O’Shea recalled how Daly would go on poaching expeditions to Saint Margaret’s in Finglas accompanied by members of the ICA. On one of these in 1915 Daly’s group, which included Richard Corbally ( a carter from the North Dock) discovered a Royal Irish Constabulary explosives store in an underground bunker. According to O’Shea, the men “were poaching in a field away from the roads when they came upon a peculiar small building. It had two iron gates. Its roof seemed grass-grown and very little above the level of the field. After looking and examining it for some time a herd came along and told them to make themselves scarce as it was full of explosives belonging to R.I.C. The lads pretended to be scared and cleared out of the field but watched the herd until he went away. They then came back and had a good look and when they arrived in the city they told James Connolly.” This information led James Connolly dispatching a squad (under Mick Kelly) to raid the store. The building was made of concrete and reinforced steel, and despite their best efforts they were unable to relieve it of its contents. According to O’Shea , there was “a great sensation a week after when the R.I.C. discovered that their pet dump had been attacked”.

Mick Kelly

“A hell of a time from the grim Jim Connolly”

By March 1916 everyone knew Rebellion was in the air. For a number of months William Partridge had suggested the idea of raising an uncrowned harped flag over Liberty Hall. James Connolly was unsure but was eventually persuaded of the symbolism of such a flag flying over one of the most public buildings in Dublin , which Irishmen in the British Army Soldiers would pass as they marched to the docks to embark for the war in France. The pages of the Workers Republic announced that on Sunday the 16th April “the green flag of Ireland will be solemnly hoisted over Liberty Hall as the symbol of our faith in freedom, and as a token to all the world that the working class of Dublin stands for the cause of Ireland, and the cause of Ireland is the cause of a separate and distinct nationality”. Molly O‘Reilly, a young member of the Women’s Workers Union was chosen to raise the flag which Connolly called “the sacred emblem of Ireland’s unconquered soul.” A full mobilisation of the Citizen Army was undertaken at Beresford Place and a huge crowd gathered. According to the account in The Workers Republic:

“All Beresford Square was packed, Butt Bridge and Tara Street were as a sea of upturned faces. All the north-side of the Quays up to O’Connell Bridge itself was impassable owing to the vast multitude of eager, sympathetic onlookers.

Amid the massed ranks of the men, women, and boys of the Citizen Army, Molly entered Liberty Hall, reappearing on the roof and “with a quick graceful movement of her hand, unloosed the lanyard and THE FLAG OF IRELAND fluttered out upon the breeze.” The reaction, according to the report was astonishing. “Over the Square, across Butt Bridge, in all the adjoining streets, along the quays, amid the dense mass upon O’Connell Bridge, Westmoreland Street and D’Olier Street corners, everywhere the people burst out in one joyous delirious shout of welcome and triumph, hats and handkerchiefs fiercely waved, tears of emotion coursed freely down the cheeks of strong rough men and women became hysterical with excitement.”

James O’Shea, among the rank of the assembled soldiers of the Citizen Army recalled “men, old and middle aged, and a lot of women were crying. I knew then that it was not in vain as they all knew what was meant by the hoisting of the flag.” The Citizen Army then paraded to the Railway side of Beresford Place, and then, amid the ecstatic response of the crowd as they were being dismissed, a shot rang out. Tom Daly, overcome by the emotion of the ceremony, had in his enthusiasm, “let fly.” Connolly was livid and instigated the first ever Court Martial within the Citizen Army. In his closing remarks o the Army he had told them “this is your barracks and you will not leave it until you are called to defend the flag hoisted today. “ He was furious at such a lack of discipline. According to O’Shea, Daly got “a hell of a time from the grim Jim Connolly.”

“We hereby proclaim the Irish Republic…”

Towards the end of 1915 the Citizen Army was reorganized into sections for mobilisation purposes. Tom Daly was assigned No. 68 and placed in the Gloucester Street, No. 5 Section. The roles of the various units of the Citizen Army in the Rebellion of 1916 had been designated in the run up to Easter Week. Tom Kain, Chief Mobilisation Officer, was to lead a small team, largely composed of the Gloucester Street Section, to take the City Treasurer’s Offices of the Municipal Buildings (now the Rates Office of Dublin City Council). However, on the morning of the 24th April 1916 it was obvious that many ICA members had either not got the call or had failed to respond. The man expected to lead the attack on Dublin Castle failed to show and plans quickly changed. Tom Kain was ordered to attack the Main Guardroom, just inside the gates, and go no further. As the Citizen Army lead by Captain Sean Connolly reached the Castle Street entrance they were confronted by a policeman at the gates who was promptly shot. This sudden violence seemed to cause great confusion, with many of the Citizen Army men opening fire. Kain, urged on by Connolly, then rushed his through the gate and towards the Main Guard. This group included Tom Daly , along with a team of James Seery (No. 188), Philip O’Leary (No. 105), Christy Brady (No. 65) and George Connolly. Seery was in the North Wall Section of the ICA. Christy Brady , from Foley Street, would die from T.B the following year. George Connolly was in the ICA Boys Corps(under Walter Carpenter) and had spent the morning delivering dispatches. Unable to find his section at Liberty Hall he had fallen in with his older brother Sean and marched towards the Castle. The others were all from the Gloucester Street Section.

: Christy Brady

A homemade hand grenade was thrown through the window of the Main Guard room but it failed to explode. However it caused enough confusion to make the sentry on guard panic and run for cover rather than return fire. George Connolly rushed into the building after him and found the occupants lying at ease, some smoking, some on their beds, unaware of what was about to happen. According to Kain, who followed Connolly into the building, they found 5 men with their hands over their heads who had been “scared into throwing down their arms and giving us the signal of surrender.” They then set to digging in and creating a defensive position. Their prisoners, who turned out to be Irishmen in Irish Regiments in the British Service, were tied up, and the small group began barricading the windows with bedding and furniture. One of their prisoners was kept free and tasked with getting the kettle on for some tea – a task he attacked with some relish. Tom Daly and the others then set too to try and dig a defensible position within the building against a possible machine gun attack by breaking up the floor. They had assumed it would be wood but it turned out to be solid concrete. Armed with just bayonets and axes they made little progress. They soon realised the limitations of their position. There was a single loophole from which they could see outside or try and defend themselves from attack. All around them they could hear the sound of machineguns attacking the City Hall. They were unaware that their group had been forgotten after Sean Connolly and his second in command John Reilly had been killed in the first hours of the fighting. By now large numbers of British troops had arrived and the ICA garrison was heavily outnumbered.

Tom Kain (from a lost self-portrait)

No tea or biscuits – Captured !

By evening Kain began to assess the situation. They could hear soldiers and fighting all around them with no idea whether they were friend or foe. Earlier they had secured an exit through a door in a backroom and once they were informed by their tea making prisoner that their water supply had run out they knew their position was hopeless. Shortly afterwards ,the sound of battering rams at the door of the Main Guard could be heard. Kain took the decision to evacuate. James Seery was sent for supplies but was unable to return, while George Connolly was sent out to scout around and find out what was happening. Tom Daly, along with Kain, Christy Brady and Philip O’Leary made their way to a tenement at No. 12 Castle Street. They entered the cellar and immediately set to digging their way through the adjacent buildings, hoping to reach the top of the street where they could exit and join the Jacobs Garrison. It was difficult and dangerous work, as they could hear troops in the rooms above them.

Kain then realised that the mobilisation books of the Citizen Army were in his pocket , and quickly hid them within a pipe in the cellar (Kain and Frank Robbins retrieved them a number of years later, sometime in the late 1920′s). The tunnelling attempt continued until troops above became alerted to their presence ,dug up the floorboards and arrested the four men.

Gaining the “Blackguard” nickname

After some time at Richmond Barracks Daly was deported to Lewes Prison in England on the 20th May 1916. Some weeks later he took up residence at Frongoch internment camp in Wales as prisoner No. 100 in the Southern Camp. Joe Lawless (an Irish Volunteer , who had fought at Ashbourne) knew Daly at Frongoch ,describing him as “a tough Dock Labourer, pugnacious and voluble.” For Thomas Doyle, an IRB organizer from Enniscorthy, Daly was “a hard top.” He recalled how no matter how cold the weather was Daly could be found walking about with nothing on him but his shirt and trousers held up by a belt. Daly seems to have done his best to lift the spirits in the Southern Camp. He had a good sense of humour and Joe Lawless recalled an incident involving one of the prisoners who was an artist in the camp. Several inmates had set up a painting studio and it was common for prisoners to wander in to have a look at their paintings. One day Daly dropped in on his way back from the mess hall after dinner and stood in the doorway “in open-mouthed wonder” at the artist’s skill. Conscious of Daly’s presence the Artist asked him for his opinion, whereupon Daly handed him his enamel dinner plate and said “here, would you paint me a bloody steak on that?” It seems to have been from this period that he got the nickname “The Blackguard Daly”, although according to Joe Good it was a term always used with affection.

Chief RAT CATCHER for a prison camp

It was a constant source of irony to the inmates that the Welsh name Frongoch was pronounced the same as the Gaelic Francach meaning a rat and the old brewery which contained the Southern Camp was full of them. Daly soon (became the unofficial rat-catcher of Frongoch. On occasions he would take one under his shirt when he went for a stroll around the yard and on seeing the Camp commander’s dog, call it over, and give it the rat. The Guards found it disgusting and tended to leave Daly alone so it may have been a ruse to pass on messages or carry contraband. Usually he would place the rats in an old sack and then gas them using sulphur candles and cremate them in the boiler-room. However he developed a bizarre form of entertainment which was known as Daly’s Circus in which his freshly caught rats were the stars. It seems when he caught large rats they were held back and then he would form a circle of benches in the mess hall to make an auditorium and with the assistance of one of the inmates place the rat in an old sock and tie it’s tail to a piece of string. The rat was then let loose under Daly’s shirt and after some time he would pull the rat out and reveal it’s bite-marks on his chest. He had razor sharp teeth described as “Dracula-like” and on releasing the rat from the sock he would bite it’s head off and let the blood drip down his chin.

“No work today! We are Trade Unionists… “

Many of the Trade Union leaders in Dublin had been arrested after the Rising including William O’Brian who was interned for a time at Frongoch. A policy of non-compliance by the prisoners was instigated in the camp in relation to any work outside of cleaning out their own quarters. Because of its isolated position there were no proper roads into the camp, and it was decided to use the inmates to build one. The Prisoner Executive decided to protest but a new law had come in which meant prisoners could receive an extra 10 years on their sentence if they refused duty. O’Brien was approached to see if he could persuade the Citizen Army men to refuse to work on the road as the Volunteers were afraid of the consequences. Noticing Daly in the yard, O’Brien remembered him from the Thomas Harten Trial and decided he was the right man. The following morning when the road building team was called for Daly and 5 other ICA men stepped forward. Then Daly announced “No work today! We are Trade Unionists and we demand Trade Union wages in future.” Frongoch was now officially on strike. Daly and his team were given 4 days in the guardhouse on bread and water but the road-building scheme was dropped.

“Whatever you say, say nothing”

Many of the prisoners in Frongoch were part of the Kimmage Garrison – second generation Irishmen born in London, Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow. Because these men would have come under the conscription act and been liable to serve in the British Army it was decided that nobody would answer to their name and identify themselves in order to protect them. This was known as the “No name no numbers Strike.” This was to have heartbreaking consequences for Daly . His wife, Rosanna died on the 17th November 1916. Tom was one of those involved in the strike and had not been answering to his name when called, so cruelly a notice was simply pinned to the notice board of the camp. Under normal circumstances, a prisoner would be permitted to send a telegram to his family, and Daly would have been liable for parole to attend the funeral. A Telegram signed Daly was presented by one of the men with instructions for Dalys brother to make the funeral arrangements and take care of the children. The Camp commandant refused to send it as Daly did not hand it in personally and identify himself. Joe Good, a london born member of the Kimmage Garrison, recalled Daly’s “extraordinary loyalty.” Despite encouragement by Michael Collins to “assert his identity and take the privilege of returning to Dublin” he remained steadfast in his refusal. He told Good he feared it might “weaken us in any way so he would not do it.” Volunteers such as Patrick Colgan would recall being impressed and inspired by Daly’s ”character” during the episode. Irish MPs Alfie Byrne and Laurence Ginnell took up the case asking questions in the British House of Parliament which were to lead into an investigation by the Home Secretary Sir George Cave. On the 24th December Daly was released from Frongoch and finally returned to Dublin as part of the general release of prisoners. His stoic refusal to give his name having made some contribution towards their release.

Return to East Wall

On his release from Frongoch, Daly returned to his brother’s house at Church Road, East Wall. Patrick, known as “Cocker” Daly was a legendary three time All Ireland winning Gaelic Footballer, and had taken his brother’s children in after the death of their mother. On the 16^th April 1917 Tom re- married a widow, Margaret Moore, and returned to working on the Docks. He never rejoined the Citizen’s Army, however his brother “Cocker”, who also worked on the Docks, was involved in the procurement of arms in raids on British Naval Ships, with Tom Leahy recalling him as “very daring in that line” and that many rifles “were brought that way into Phil Shanahan’s shop in Foley Street.” Tom Daly may have assisted him. Tom Daly lived a quiet life, occasionally going for a pint in the Wharf Tavern, where in a throwback to his Frongoch days, local residents recall him pulling a pet mouse out of his pocket and dropping it into his pint to discourage it’s theft any time he left the bar counter. He died in 1941 and unlike his brother, whose funeral is still remembered as the largest ever seen in East Wall, Tom’s was modest, his role in the revolutionary period having faded by that time.

‘Cocker’ Daly can be seen at the centre of this 1903 team photo.

Since the original publication of this article we have received clarification on the death of Tom Daly which has now been been included.We would particularly like to thank Dario Reggazzi for information on his Great Grand-Uncle and the history of other members of the Daly Family.

For clarifications , corrections , further information or other comments please contact eastwallhistory@gmail.com

Photo credits – The majority of images were sourced by Hugo McGuinness . ( Guardroom photo from material donated to East Wall History Group by the family of Irish Volunteer Richard Roe , Jacobs Garrison 1916 ).

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Apr 13

Sean O’Casey , Abercorn Road, and the ‘Battle of Clontarf’

Categories:

East Wall, History, Sean O'Casey, Sean O'Casey autobiography, St Barnabas Church

by EWALL4ALL

“I thought that no man liveth and dieth to himself, so I put behind what I thought and what I did , the panorama of the world I lived in- the things that made me.” Sean O’Casey (1948)

Abercorn Road

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Sean O’Casey in 1964 . O’Casey spent many years of his life living locally , first at 25 Hawthorn Terrace and afterwards at 18 Abercorn Road. These were important years which helped shape O’Casey as a man, and would provide him with the inspiration ( the characters , language and attitudes) that would reappear in his writing throughout his life.

Between 1939 and 1955 he published six volumes of Autobiography. The first three in particular contain much about his life as a North Dock resident. Throughout this anniversary year , we intend to present short extracts from these works , concentrating on sections which are most relevant to the area . These are written in the third person-’ Johnny Cassidy’ is O’Casey – and the names of people and places are often spelt slightly askew! We start with a short piece , in which’ Johnny ‘ , at home in Abercorn Road gets bored with study and lets his mind drift , considering the surrounding landscape and the historic ‘Battle of Clontarf’ which occurred nine centuries earlier .

“It was a wintry night. The room was bitterly cold, and dismally dark, too, save where a yellowish trickle of timorous light crept through the window from a gas-lamp on the edge of the pavement outside, so long a swing-swong for the children that it had now bent forward over the street, looking like an old man who had lighted a light in the hope of finding a lost piece of silver. On the little old table , now the colour of dull ebony , Johnny had been silently and insistently learning more of grammar , geography and of history , by the smoky ray of a tiny oil-lamp, flickering every other second, making the words dance before his eyes, as if they were alive and wanted to escape from his boring stare. “

Rail-lines, with Laurence O’Toole’s in distance

“He paused at the window, and looked out at the naked night. A thin, sour, sharp-faced sickle of a moon tried to peer out of a cloudy wind-tossed sky, looking like a maid peeved with a wind that sullied her neatness. Over beyond the canal toward the ugly bloated spire of the catholic church, a tapering finger on a fat hand beckoning to the ships that came sailing into the Bay of Dublin. The saint after whom the church was called had gone out alone to meet the clanging Normans when they came trotting on to take Dublin back to their hairy bosoms; the saint asking when his nose got the smell of the steel in the line of their glances, Is it peace, my dear Christian brothers, is it peace ? And they had answered sweetly, saying, It’s bloody wars unless you and your cross-brained viking Tooles give way , give wisely, give all. And the saint had bowed, saying , All that we have is thine. Then the iron- skinned warriors stroked their beards , murmuring, It is well. So in the midst of their lances, shields , and battle-axes, the saint rode back in triumph , the people cheering because of his valour in bringing peace and poverty to them.

Nearer than the thick-bellied steeple gleamed the rosy red lights of the railway signals, looking like fiery red buttons on the dark-blue coat of our lady of the night , with the sickle moon a dull gold curb in her night-blown hair.

Every other moment from the shunting yard came the clanging crash of heavy goods wagons striking each other as the shunters harried them from line to line; or , sometimes, a succession of clangs was heard when a running rake of wagons came into sharp collision with another rake so that the two might be made into one.

All round where Johnny was looking, ah, many ,many years ago , the Danes and the Irish grappled together in their last fierce fight ; the last long fight between darkness and light. Here the black-browed Thor went down before the gentle, gold-headed Jesus. Here the white and pearly dove pecked out the eyes and clawed out the guts of the vengeful and vindictive raven. Here the sign of the Hammer shrivelled up in the sign of the cross ; and the darkness and fury fled before sweetness and light . Here the skirl of the Christian war-pipe shrilled at the bellowing of the heathen horns, helped by the lapping drone of the sea as his waves came curling in from Dublin Bay. The Danish Dubliners watched from their Woden walls the armies hacking and slashing and slaying and thrusting each other through till the number of heads floating on the waters and lying on the land seemed like a bloody fall of hailstones. “

“Battle of Clontarf” re-enactment , 1914.

“He must stop his dusky dreaming , and go back to the glow of his work. But he still lingered at the window , looking out at a world of a few dark shapes, the pompous steeple , the red lights of the railway, the yellow pool of light given by the gas-lamp on the edge of the sidewalk , and the slender , ogling slip of a moon , peering slantwise from the gloomy clouds , like a sly wanton eyeing a timid man from behind a curtain.”

Extracts from “Pictures in the Hallway” (1942)

All six volumes of Sean O’Casey Autobiographies, republished by Faber and Faber , are currently available in both print and kindle editions.

If you have a favourite Sean O’Casey extract please bring it to our attention .

Contact us at eastwallforall@gmail.com

Tags: Abercorn Road, Battle of Clontarf., Sean O'casey

Apr 07

The “Blackguard” Daly, the Lockout and the killing of “Harten the Blackleg”

Categories:

1913 Lockout, East Wall, Easter Week Rising 1916, History, Irish Citizen Army

by EWALL4ALL

North Dock resident “not guilty “of 1914 murder

One hundred years ago , on the 7th April 1914 , a headline grabbing court case ended , with North Dock resident Tom Daly found not guilty of ‘wilful murder’ , but jailed for two assaults that occurred on the same evening. In a fascinating two part feature , Hugo McGuinness tells the story of the ‘blackguard’ Tom Daly , a dock worker , trade unionist and Irish Citizen Army volunteer. Part one tells his story up to the close of 1915 , and the concluding section will follow next week, on the 16th of April.

The 7th April 2014 sees the centenary of the verdict in a particularly vicious murder case which brought the Great Lockout to a close. The accused was Tom Daly , who lived his entire life in the North Dock and Inner City area. The victim, a 33 year old strike breaker or “Scab” from County Meath, had been brutally beaten to death on the 17th January 1914. The case was so shocking that it was widely reported throughout Ireland and Britain and filled up numerous column inches for months. One hundred years on and the non-compromising directness of the term Scab still hits home. In the black and white world of the 1913 Lockout there was no room for grey areas. James Larkin had caused outrage as editor of The Irish Worker after it declared – “When a man deserts from our ranks in time of war (for a strike is war between capital and labour) he on the same principle forfeits his life to us. If England is justified in shooting those who desert to the enemy, we are also justified in killing a scab”. Yet grey areas existed, and one such example was the victim, Thomas Harten from Carlinstown, who was working for Tedcastle McCormick Coal Factors in the Docklands area of Dublin.

Williamstown house, Co Meath, now abandoned.

Harten’s background was recently traced by Meath Historian Danny Cusack. He was the eldest of 8 children born to Thomas and Mary Harten who made a subsistence living as herders and small scale tenant farmers. Census evidence suggests that like their city contemporaries, the Harten’s were rarely more than a missed rent-payment away from eviction. Cusack uncovered that Harten and his brother John were members of the Kilbeg branch of the United Irish League and had been part of a large meeting in Carlanstown in February 1912 which called for the break-up of the nearby Emlagh and Spandau estates and the land redistributed to tenant farmers. By 1913 his family were living and working at the Williamstown House Estate of Henry Mortimer Dyas, a noted horse-trainer, who was related by marriage to the McCormick’s of the Dublin coal company. During the great Lockout , the bitter struggle between employers and workers to break the Transport Union, large numbers of non-union or Free Labourers were imported from County Meath to fill the places of striking workers. Dyas conscripted local workmen to fill the ranks of the Dublin coal yards of his relatives. Tradition in the Harten family relates that Thomas’s parents were reluctant for him to go but fearing another eviction he felt he had no choice. It was to prove fatal. ( Letter below details the company raising prices of coal deliveries , and image is free labourers transporting coal under police protection).

By the 16th January 1914 the great strike was on the verge of Collapse. Negotiations were underway in the Docklands which would see 5-600 strikers return to work at the shipping companies of the City of Dublin, the Silloth and Isle of Man, the Duke Company, and Messers Palgrave and Murphy. The carters at Pickford and Wallis would also return with 150 workers from the Port and Docks joining them. The British and Irish Shipping Company remained on strike as did Tedcastles, buoyed up with a plentiful supply of ‘Free Labour’ from County Meath . Tensions came to a head when a full scale riot broke out in Townsend Street on the morning of the 21st January when strikers clashed with up to 80 Scabs going to work at Tedcastles and shots were fired on the street. (Many free labourers were allowed carry guns , and often used them recklessly. Most notoriously , 16 year old Alice Brady was shot and later died , while the vice chairman of the Port and Docks Board was wounded). Seizing on the momentum of the previous months, the Labour Party, backed by the Trade Unions were putting forward candidates for the municipal elections to Dublin Corporation largely drawn from the ITGWU or the Dublin Trades Council. Meanwhile the Parliamentary Inquiry into the “Dublin Riots” which saw a number of people killed by the police was about to resume.

The injured George Maguire , court sketch

This was the background to the fatal Saturday when Thomas Harten and his friend George Maguire ( of Newrath, County Meath) left their accommodation at number 2 Beresford Place. This was “The Barracks” ,provided by the Employer’s Federation for strike breakers(which surprisingly was located directly across from Liberty Hall, headquarters of the striking workers). They walked across the city to the Tivoli Theatre, stopping briefly at Slevin’s, a gunsmith on Essex Quay, where they purchased revolvers and a dozen rounds of ammunition. About 9.00pm as they passed the Halfpenny Bridge they were attacked on Wellington Quay. Maguire was knocked unconscious but Harten managed to escape. His movements after that are unclear but around 10.30pm, while making his way back to “The Barracks”, he was accosted on Eden Quay by a group of men. He was knocked to the ground with a heavy weapon, repeatedly beaten, and one of the assailants delivered a fatal kick to his head,( which according to the doctor at the inquest it was “crushed like an eggshell”). He was left unconscious , with his clothes and the pavement covered in blood. The next time Maguire would see his friend was on a mortuary table in Jervis Street Hospital. They had been in Dublin 6 weeks. Within hours a man named Thomas Daly was arrested and charged with Wilful Murder. Shortly afterwards two others, James Morrissey and John Doyle, were also arrested and charged as accessories.

Court sketch showing Morrissey , Doyle and Daly.

Over the following months at the Inquest and at his subsequent Court appearances Daly maintained a dignified presence and was firm in maintaining his innocence. He had freely admitted involvement in two other assaults on Scabs that evening. Most damningly, he was in possession of a revolver, which he claimed to have found in Tara Street and was believed to have been the one purchased by Harten earlier that day. It had all the appearances of an open and shut case. The Authorities wanted blood and were certain of the real culprit. Cork’s Southern Star Newspaper claimed it had all the hallmarks of “The Red Hand of Larkinism.” The Employers Federation offered a £100 reward for witnesses, while The Toiler, a pseudo labour Newspaper subsidized by William Martin Murphy, announced it was starting a subscription to raise funds for the Harten Family. They don’t appear to have met much success. The Employer’s Federation saw Larkinism as the cause of all their ills and Thomas Daly was to be their sacrificial lamb as they demanded their pound of flesh. Surprisingly little information was forthcoming about Thomas Daly in the newspapers which might have helped to explain why he was singled out by the authorities.

Thomas Daly was born at No. 47 Spring Garden Street in the North Strand on 15^th January 1869. His Father Patrick was from County Meath and as a 25 year old was arrested for stealing cattle. According to family tradition he was sentenced to transportation but for some reason never reached Australia. Records show a Patrick Daly receiving 10 years transportation in 1851 but for some reason was released 4 years later having served his time in Ireland. Having married Elizabeth O’Shea they moved to Dublin where Patrick set up as a pork butcher at Spring Garden Street and it was here that Thomas and all his known siblings were born. Thomas married Rosanna Donnelly on the 8^th July 1894 having returned from serving with the British Army in India and spent most of the rest of his working life in the North Docks or North Inner City area in slightly better quality houses than most of his contemporaries. Not surprisingly the 5 children recorded as being born to the Daly’s in the 1911 Census were all still living.

Tom Daly , Court Sketch

He had joined the Royal Artillery as a Gunner, serving for some years in the Indian subcontinent He later transferred to the Reserve, Dublin City Company, in which he served up to 1911. At the same time he was working for the shipping company of Michael Murphy, earning a good living of between 30-35 shillings a week. His army reserve status would bring in another 6-7 shillings a week, which, in comparison with his contemporaries made him relatively well off. Laurence Healy, a Stevedore at Murphy’s, stated during Daly’s trial that in the 30 years he had known him he was “a steady, sober, hardworking man,” who rarely drank and whose only absence from work was due to call ups to the Artillery Reserve for training.

By 1901 Daly and his family were living at No. 20 Coady’s Cottages , later moving to a two room house at No.2 Toole’s Cottages off Newfoundland Street. Daly was on the 1908 electoral rolls for the area,( possibly a product of a general politicising of the North Dock by the socialists Walter Carpenter and Edwin Halpin at the beginning of the century). In 1911, the year he retired from the Artillery Reserve, he joined the Irish Transport and General Workers Union(I.T.G.W.U.) on 11th January. He subsequently moved to the Dublin Steamship Company where he was employed as a Coal Labourer when the 1913 Strike broke out. That year he also became a member of the recently formed Citizen Army. Daly had probably acted as one of the Union’s Dockland Enforcers during the strike, and possibly worked as part of the electoral team of P.T. Daly, a candidate in the North Docks Ward in the municipal election held in January 1914.

P.T. Daly was powerful organizer with the ITGWU, a leading member of the Dublin Trades Council, and for some years a councillor on Dublin Corporation.

P.T. instructed Smyths, the Transport Union’s solicitors, to take up Thomas Daly’s defence. (This was the legal firm which had acted for the Union representing the Merchants Road families evicted in December 1913).

By the 7th February the Crown had found a key witness in Patrick Doyle, a 21 year old deaf-mute, who picked out Daly from a number of line-ups. On investigation Smyths discovered that not only could Doyle speak, but he had several aliases such as Arthur Thoms, Arthur Baxendale, and Arthur Cunningham. Under the latter name they found he had been dishonourably discharge from the army for being of “bad character.” When confronted with this at the hearing at the Police Courts he broke down and admitted he was a Londoner and had come to Dublin to Scab. He claimed he posed as a deaf-mute to disguise his accent which would have exposed him as a Free Labourer to the strikers. The case then turned to farce, when, following Daly’s Hearing, Doyle( alias Baxendale alias Cunningham) was immediately tried, in the same court, for the theft of a handbag containing 10 shillings and sentenced to 2 months in Mountjoy. Smyths had uncovered a history of at least 4 previous convictions Doyle had received for larceny. It appears Doyle (alias Baxendale alias Cunningham) had been made aware of the £100 reward and facing a jail sentence for theft was persuaded to lie about Thomas Daly. Desperately he even claimed that Harten had died with his face towards Liberty Hall and his feet pointing towards the Liffey as if providing a clue to his assailants. Smyths had also written to the Prison Board for character references on 13 other witnesses the Crown intended to bring against Daly. They request was refused as “there was no precedent.” But the point was made. The Transport Union would use all their resources to defend one of their members.

Tom Daly was finally brought forward for trial by the City Commission at Green Street Court House at the end of March. James K. O’Connor, the Barrister instructed by Smyths, pointed out that despite the great loss of blood by Harten, none was found on Daly’s Clothes. Several witnesses who saw the fatal assault on Eden Quay failed to identify him in Court, giving descriptions which totally contradicted Tom Daly’s appearance. George Maguire also failed to identify any of his assailants in the earlier attack and it came out that the assaults on the two Scabs by Daly occurred about 10 minutes after the fatal blow was delivered to Thomas Harten on Eden Quay. O’Connor pointed out that the instinctive thing to do in such a case would be to dispose of the revolver – not pick it up and put it in your pocket. In his summing up on the 7th April 1914, the Judge, Justice Molony, virtually instructed the jury to find Daly innocent. Tom Daly was found not guilty ,but he was immediately brought forward on the other two assaults , found guilty, and sentenced to 2 years hard labour. The case against Doyle and Morrissey was dropped.

Arthur Henderson

The Daily Herald (a London published socialist newspaper) gave a good summary of the case.

“Having failed to establish their case against Thomas Daly, a Dublin worker, for the murder of Harten the Blackleg, the Crown wisely dropped the prosecution against the two other men whom they had arrested on this charge, against whom the evidence was even flimsier than that against Daly. But, in the characteristic fashion of the law, revenge was nevertheless wreaked on Thomas Daly for the police’s inability to hang him. In addition to the murder charge he was charged with assaults on two other blacklegs, and to these minor charges he pleaded guilty. For those two assaults Judge Molony inflicted on him the monstrous sentence of two years hard labour, saying, at the same time, that he feared he was not doing his duty in not sending him to penal servitude!”

The Herald went on to point out that “the scab who shot Alice Brady got no punishment and that the policeman identified by two witnesses as having murdered Nolan have never even been put on trial“. On the 21st April, Arthur Henderson, Chief Whip and future Leader of the Labour Party in Britain, asked in parliament, whether, “in view of Daly’s admission of guilt and the ordeal he had been through for the previous four months a remission of his sentence might not be possible?” Augustine Birrell, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, replied “the exercise of the prerogative of mercy is a matter entirely for the Lord Lieutenant, who I am sure will consider carefully any representations made to him on behalf of the prisoner.”

PT Daly

P.T. Daly instructed Smyths to petition the Lord Lieutenant on the 11th June. The reply came back that “justice must take it’s course.” He then had a resolution passed by the Dublin Trades Council to the effect that

“the Judge sentenced him (Thomas Daly), not on the charge he was guilty of, but on the one he was acquitted of, and that such conduct is likely to bring the administration of the law into contempt, more especially when we consider the sentence in this case with the punishment in other more serious ones.”

Queried on this P.T. Daly explained that a previous case involving the rape of a 7 year old girl by a Free Labourer named Madden alias Maddox had been dropped by the Crown and Maddox freed, according to the Court’s Recorder, on the basis that no real harm had been done to the child. The fact that she had contracted “a loathsome disease” from Madden/Maddox was not taken into account. Daly went on “comparison of the treatment of the Free Labourer and the Trade Unionist justifies the resolution in my mind.”

Momentum was maintained in Labour circles with the Daily Herald reporting on the 8th August “Thomas Daly is still in Mountjoy undergoing the monstrous sentence of two years hard labour for assaulting a non-Unionist. He must be set free at once.” Charles Duncan, Labour MP for Barrow-in-Furnace, and Secretary of the Workers Union founded by Thomas Mann in 1898, helped to maintain the pressure arguing that Thomas Daly had never been in trouble before and was known to be a good father and husband. He pointed out that “in view of the feelings of the time a sentence of two years does not appear to be tempered with mercy.“

Unfortunately the records showing Tom Daly’s release date no longer survive. What is certain is that the campaign must have had an effect as he was out of prison and working on the staff of the Transport Union towards the end of 1915.

Demolition of Croydon House 1930′s

Virtually unemployable due to the high profile nature of the murder trial, Daly was found a position as an agricultural worker at Croydon Park, the workers pleasure grounds founded by James Larkin. Although best known for it’s sporting events, concerts, and as the location of the Citizen Army’s training manoeuvres and displays, Croydon Park, during the tenure of Captain James Stavely in the 1880s, had developed an international reputation for the quality of it’s agricultural produce, and this was still an important revenue stream during the ownership of the Transport Union.

Tom immediately threw himself back into the activities of the Citizen Army.

And it is here we end part one of our story of ‘Blackguard ‘ Daly. In the second section, to be published on 16th April , we will cover his eventful career in the Irish Citizen Army ( where he was the subject of its first Court Martial under James Connolly and fought in the City Hall Garrison during the 1916 Rising) , his internment in Frongoch (where he led a strike against forced labour and also endured a heart breaking family tragedy) and we will reveal the origin of the ‘Blackguard’ nick-name .

Since the original publication of this feature we have updated some sections. We would particularly like to thank Dario Reggazzi for information on his Great Grand-Uncle and the history of other members of the Daly Family.

For clarifications , corrections , further information or other comments please contact eastwallhistory@gmail.com

Photo credits – The majority of images were sourced by Hugo McGuinness . The Coal company letter courtesy East Wall History Group , Coadys Cottages courtesy the Paddy Curtis Collection, Quays courtesy Dublin Dockworkers Preservation Society.

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Apr 05

“Bookworms” , a new comedy at the Sean O’Casey Theatre , April 16th to 19th

Categories:

East Wall, FAMILY EVENTS, THEATRE

by EWALL4ALL

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Mar 31

East Wall Seniors Art on display at Five Lamps Art Festival

Categories:

East Wall, FAMILY EVENTS, Writing/Arts/Poetry/Theatre

by EWALL4ALL

As part of the Five Lamps Art Festival new work by East Wall seniors is on display all this week , at the Marino College of Further Education , Connolly House , North Strand . The exhibition is open from 9am -5pm until 6th April.

Well worth seeing , the work represents another ‘first of its kind’ that East Wall locals are involved in. The National Gallery of Ireland was given a philanthropic donation to work with older people in the community. Their first project was in East Wall , working with Nascadh CDP .

The project coincided with the National Gallery opening up a new education space. As a result , the Seniors from our community got to be the first to exhibit in this new space, and also got the meet the Director of the National Gallery. The group were very fortunate to work with the incredibly talented Elaine Leader an up and coming artist, who works from the Black Church Print Studios in Temple Bar.

The works in this exhibition were described as creative and showing enormous talent. In eight short weeks the locals involved showed that they can contend with the best.

Another triumph for East Wall.

Part of the Five Lamps Arts Festival , see link to all the great events taking place :

http://www.fivelampsarts.ie/new/all-events/

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Mar 27

Remembering The Dyflin

Categories:

canals/boating/canoeing, East Wall, History

by EWALL4ALL

Follow link to Dyflin photo selection on the East Wall History Group facebook page :

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.632140326855181.1073741831.580261572043057&type=1

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Mar 23

World War One fatalities from Saint Barnabas Parish

Categories:

East Wall, History, World War One

by EWALL4ALL

On this date, 23rd March, 1918 an East Wall man, Robert Henderson was to die in Flanders. (He lived at Ryan Avenue, which was later named Hillside Terrace and is now incorporated into Church Rd, opposite Johnny Cullen’s Hill). A private in the Royal Army Medical Corps, he is one of twelve men whose deaths during World War One were recorded on a War memorial in St. Barnabas Church, once situated at the bottom of Johnny Cullen’s Hill. The memorial was unveiled in August 1919. When the church was demolished in 1969 the memorial was moved to the North Strand, where it can still be viewed.

The above World War One memorial was unveiled at St Barnabas Church on 25th August 1919. It recalls twelve members of the parish who lost their lives between 1914 and 1918. The church was to close its doors in 1965, and was demolished in 1969. The memorial can now be seen in North Strand Church. Here are further details of those named on the memorial, based on initial research by the East Wall History Group. In some instances we could not confirm certain information and this is noted. This represents our first steps on this project- If you have further information, clarification or correction please contact us.

JOSEPH M. BURKE, SEPTEMBER 9 1916.

No details or address confirmed though possibly born in Clifden Co Galway.

A private in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, died at Ginchy during the Battle of the Somme, buried at Longueval Road Cemetery, France.

WILLIAM GREER, OCTOBER 16. 1916.

Corporal in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, died age 29, buried in Belgium. Appears in the 1901 and 1911 census at number 20 Old Mayor Street. His occupation in 1911 is listed as a carter. His father Richard Greer was a yardman (while in 1901 was listed a packet porter).

War Graves in Belgium

JAMES HAMILTON, OCTOBER 6. 1915.

A member of the Irish Guards. Died at Loos, France, aged approximately 22 years. (This was the first engagement where British troops used poison gas as a weapon, with weather conditions causing injury to their own troops). Appears in 1911 Census with his family at 5 Myrtle Terrace. In 1901 they were living in number 1.2 Rutland Street Upper. His occupation is listed as clerk in wine Merchant. His father Thomas is listed as an insurance inspector.

ROBERT HENDERSON, MARCH 23. 1918.

A private in the Royal Army Medical corps. Died in Flanders, aged 25 years, buried in France. Appears in 1911 census at number 4 Ryan Avenue. Robert is listed as boot -maker, while his father William, and Uncle James are listed as boot and shoe makers (as is Catholic boarder John Kavanagh). Address at time of death is recorded as 4 Hillside Terrace , Church Road. In 1901 the family had been living at 19 Irvine Crescent, when William was a signalman.

WILLIAM J. H. HUNTER, OCTOBER 29. 1917.

A private in the Royal Army Military Corps. Died in Egypt.

While we are unable to confirm, we believe this may possibly be J Hunter listed in the 1911 census at number 12 Lower Oriel street age 21, a Civil service clerk. In 1911, his father is listed as a railway goods checker, while in 1901 he was a railway porter.

WILLIAM JOHNSTON, JULY 1. 1916.

Died at the Somme, possibly a Sergeant in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.

While we are so far unable to confirm, we believe this very likely to be William Johnston, listed in 1911 census aged 30, living as boarder at 3 Coburg Place. (He is one of four boarders listed at this address as Railway servants, two from Fermanagh, one from Down and one from Armagh). The owner is James Townby, whose occupation is listed as a bookmaker.

(Other information suggests William Johnston was originally from Gateshead in Durham).

JOHN KENNEDY, JULY 29. 1916.

A sapper in the Royal Engineers, previously in Royal Army Medical Corps. Died in Flanders aged 27 years. Buried at Mametz, France. His address listed as 8 Summer Street, North Circular Road. The 1911 census records his occupation as a plumber (with his younger sister and brother listed as domestic servant and apprentice brass finisher). In 1901 the family had been living at 53 Seville Place Cottages, 4th Avenue (where father Christopher was plumber).

DONALD KELLY, APRIL 9. 1917.

A member of the Royal Army Medical Corps, died in Flanders aged 25, buried at Beaurains, France. Address listed as 37 St. Mary’s Road, Church Rd, Fairview. In 1911 Donald was listed as Wine Merchant Clerk. According to census all the family were Scottish born. His father Angus, who had passed away before his son’s death, was a plumber and brother John was an apprentice plumber. In 1901 the family was living at Room 6 in 17 Lower Gardiner street.

JAMES NIMMO, AUGUST 3. 1915.

A private in the Connaught Rangers , killed in action in Flanders, age 23, buried in France. Had lived at least two addresses in East Wall. In 1911, and at time of death listed at 44 Caledon Road, East Road. In 1911 father James listed as Fireman in manure works, and brother Thomas (who also served in the War) as labourer in iron works. In 1901 they had lived at room 1 – 25 St Mary’s Road, a two room tenement. His place of birth listed as Possilpark, Glasgow.

Carnoy Military Cemetery, France

THOMAS REGAN, OCTOBER 13. 1916.

Died at Ypres . A private in the Royal Irish Fusiliers, died aged 26 . Buried in Carnoy Military Cemetery, France. In 1911 census a Thomas Regan listed as nephew of Glazier family , living at Number 1 , North Dock Street. His uncle Thomas Glazier listed as Railway Head Porter. Thomas was listed as railway-man. Born in cork (see below).

WILLIAM REGAN, AUGUST 23. 1914.

A private in the Royal Irish Fusiliers, died aged 22, the brother of Thomas Regan. William does not appear on the 1911 census. In 1901 Census Thomas and William listed as 11 and 9 years respectively at 17 Broad Street , Co. Cork).

No exact details of death found. He is the earliest fatality listed for the parish, his death occurring less than three weeks after Britain declared war on Germany. (On this date the Royal Irish lost 350 men at Le Mons. Mobilised at such an early stage indicates he was not a recent recruit).

Scottish and Irish troops at Le Mons, August 22nd.

JOSEPH REYNER , FEBRUARY 3. 1917

No exact details of death found. A private in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, aged 29/30 at date of death. Buried in France. Joseph Reyner of 22 Leland Place is listed in 1911 Census as Railway Porter (aged 23). Place of birth listed as Nenagh, Co. Tipperary.

Demolition begins on Barnabas Church , 1969.

The East Wall History Group , in conjunction with the North Docks Peoples Voice Project, is committed to researching and presenting the story of our community during World War One . We will be covering all aspects – those who fought (whatever motivated them), those who opposed the war, and the residents who were affected in many ways. All contributions welcome, contact us at

eastwallhistory@gmail.com

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EAST WALL FOR ALL

A site for all things to do with East Wall in Dublin

“I thought that no man liveth and dieth to himself, so I put behind what I thought and what I did , the panorama of the world I lived in- the things that made me.” Sean O’Casey (1948)

“Sean was behind his mother when she gawked out of the window in the back room, seeking to see something of what was happening.

-There’s some soldiers in th’ church tower, she said, the last word blending with a cracking roar, while the two of them staggered about the room, choked and blinded from a cloud of powered mortar thick as white thundercloud.

-Come downstairs with me, said the officer to Sean.

-Ere, you, said the sergeant, motioning towards the Tommies, go with ‘em; the church; ‘urry! Why? Never mind the why. They ‘as their orders – that’s enough for you.

-Whose orders – the Lord Lieutant’s?

- Naw! Company officer’s. ‘Urry!

That whole evening, and throughout the night, he sat wearily on the hard bench, finding out that things even of beauty weren’t joys for ever.”

“I thought that no man liveth and dieth to himself, so I put behind what I thought and what I did , the panorama of the world I lived in- the things that made me.”

Sean O’Casey (1948)

“Down the centre of O’Connell Street, silent but for the tramp of their feet, came hundreds of armed Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army, led by Pearse, Connolly and Tom Clarke, to halt, wheel and face the General Post Office.

“A tough Dock Labourer, pugnacious and voluble…”

A poachers luck

“A hell of a time from the grim Jim Connolly”

“All Beresford Square was packed, Butt Bridge and Tara Street were as a sea of upturned faces. All the north-side of the Quays up to O’Connell Bridge itself was impassable owing to the vast multitude of eager, sympathetic onlookers.

“We hereby proclaim the Irish Republic…”

No tea or biscuits – Captured !

Gaining the “Blackguard” nickname

Chief RAT CATCHER for a prison camp

“No work today! We are Trade Unionists… “

“Whatever you say, say nothing”

Return to East Wall

“I thought that no man liveth and dieth to himself, so I put behind what I thought and what I did , the panorama of the world I lived in- the things that made me.” Sean O’Casey (1948)

Nearer than the thick-bellied steeple gleamed the rosy red lights of the railway signals, looking like fiery red buttons on the dark-blue coat of our lady of the night , with the sickle moon a dull gold curb in her night-blown hair.

North Dock resident “not guilty “of 1914 murder

P.T. Daly was powerful organizer with the ITGWU, a leading member of the Dublin Trades Council, and for some years a councillor on Dublin Corporation.

P.T. instructed Smyths, the Transport Union’s solicitors, to take up Thomas Daly’s defence. (This was the legal firm which had acted for the Union representing the Merchants Road families evicted in December 1913).

The Daily Herald (a London published socialist newspaper) gave a good summary of the case.

P.T. Daly instructed Smyths to petition the Lord Lieutenant on the 11th June. The reply came back that “justice must take it’s course.” He then had a resolution passed by the Dublin Trades Council to the effect that

Unfortunately the records showing Tom Daly’s release date no longer survive. What is certain is that the campaign must have had an effect as he was out of prison and working on the staff of the Transport Union towards the end of 1915.

Tom immediately threw himself back into the activities of the Citizen Army.

Tá súil againn go mbainfidh go léir taitneamh as an méid atá déanta againn!

All welcome to the official album launch next Friday evening , and check out further details of the project, and detailed notes on all the songs at

http://thebattleofclontarf.com/

See link to U.K. radio interview with Paul Dolan where he explains the background and significance of the project -

.com/photo.php?v=495230397255368

As part of the Five Lamps Art Festival new work by East Wall seniors is on display all this week , at the Marino College of Further Education , Connolly House , North Strand . The exhibition is open from 9am -5pm until 6th April.

Well worth seeing , the work represents another ‘first of its kind’ that East Wall locals are involved in. The National Gallery of Ireland was given a philanthropic donation to work with older people in the community. Their first project was in East Wall , working with Nascadh CDP .

The works in this exhibition were described as creative and showing enormous talent. In eight short weeks the locals involved showed that they can contend with the best.

JOSEPH M. BURKE, SEPTEMBER 9 1916.

No details or address confirmed though possibly born in Clifden Co Galway.

A private in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, died at Ginchy during the Battle of the Somme, buried at Longueval Road Cemetery, France.

WILLIAM GREER, OCTOBER 16. 1916.

Corporal in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, died age 29, buried in Belgium. Appears in the 1901 and 1911 census at number 20 Old Mayor Street. His occupation in 1911 is listed as a carter. His father Richard Greer was a yardman (while in 1901 was listed a packet porter).

JAMES HAMILTON, OCTOBER 6. 1915.

ROBERT HENDERSON, MARCH 23. 1918.

WILLIAM J. H. HUNTER, OCTOBER 29. 1917.

A private in the Royal Army Military Corps. Died in Egypt.

While we are unable to confirm, we believe this may possibly be J Hunter listed in the 1911 census at number 12 Lower Oriel street age 21, a Civil service clerk. In 1911, his father is listed as a railway goods checker, while in 1901 he was a railway porter.

WILLIAM JOHNSTON, JULY 1. 1916.

Died at the Somme, possibly a Sergeant in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.

(Other information suggests William Johnston was originally from Gateshead in Durham).

JOHN KENNEDY, JULY 29. 1916.

DONALD KELLY, APRIL 9. 1917.

JAMES NIMMO, AUGUST 3. 1915.

THOMAS REGAN, OCTOBER 13. 1916.

WILLIAM REGAN, AUGUST 23. 1914.