by Paul O'Brien
Neither side knew exactly where the enemy was located and the battle lines were never fixed. Shots rang out in front, behind and on your flanks. British soldiers with battle experience found the network of narrow streets within the Union and the deadly guerrilla tactics of the Volunteers mentally exhausting.
Though the British military were taken by surprise by the insurrection, they reacted quickly and vigorously to the situation. The South Dublin Union garrison were one of the first Volunteer battalions to make contact with the enemy and there was no time to evacuate the staff and patients of the complex. However, provisions were made, such as moving them to safer quarters and identifying the buildings where they were quartered by draping Red Cross flags from the windows. This action by the staff of the Union, the Irish Volunteers and the British army greatly reduced the number of civilian casualties during the battle. Aware of the large number of civilians within the Union, Lowe did not deploy artillery there, instead concentrating his artillery forces nearer the centre of the city.
After their initial contact with the Irish Volunteers in the South Dublin Union on Monday 24 April, 1916, British crown forces attempted to storm the complex. Having gained entry to the Union at considerable loss, they failed to press home the attack, which resulted in the Volunteers regrouping and holding their positions. The decision to withdraw the Royal Irish Regiment at this early stage was to have a detrimental effect later in the week. Machine-gun and sniper fire from the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, enabled the British to contain the Volunteer force within the Union. The method of utilising covering fire was textbook, as it provided cover for attacking infantry and kept down flanking fire. British tactics within the Union consisted of taking and occupying a block or building, clearing and securing it, and then moving onto the next one. This often involved fighting at close quarters, resulting in a heavy consumption of ammunition and also heavy casualties.75
When Brigadier General W.H.M. Lowe ascertained that the rebels had established themselves in various centres throughout the city, the first phase of operations he conducted was to attempt to isolate each group by forming a cordon of troops around their position. Having organised reinforcements from camps throughout Ireland, Brigadier General Lowe sent to England for the 59th North Midland Division. Lowe set a number of primary tasks that included the relief of Dublin Castle and the securing of the magazine fort and the vice-regal lodge, which ensured that the military contained and effectively bypassed the South Dublin Union. He concentrated his main force of action on taking the Volunteer headquarters at the General Post Office in Sackville Street, in order to destroy the control point of the Rising. To achieve this a line of posts was established from Kingsbridge Station (Heuston Station) along Thomas Street and Dame Street to Trinity College. The latter post was to become the main headquarters for the retaking of the city. Having secured this highway, British troops were able to enter the heart of the city and crown forces were in a strong position to launch their attack on the General Post Office.
Crushing the Rising in a built-up area within one week with new recruits and poorly trained soldiers was an impressive military achievement. Brigadier General Lowe’s plans were successful and resulted in the unconditional surrender of the Irish Volunteers. However, while the general plan worked well, the British attack on the South Dublin Union on Thursday afternoon was a tactical error that had nothing to do with their overall strategy. Superior officers who failed to reconnoitre the area threw the inexperienced battalions of the Sherwood Forester Regiment into the fray. The use of fighting patrols and experienced officers and men from other regiments greatly reduced British casualties in this engagement, but there were alternative routes available which bypassed the Union and these should have been considered. The attack on the Union was a mistake that could have resulted in similar casualties as were suffered in the battle for Mount Street Bridge.
Some of the most bloody and decisive battles in recent times have been fought in towns and cities throughout the world. Today many military forces utilise the tactics and strategies that were deployed by both sides during the 1916 Rising. Many major battles were fought in the streets, houses and factories of Stalingrad in 1942, Warsaw in 1944 and Berlin in 1945. During the Korean War in 1950 there was severe fighting in Seoul. Between 1975 and 1982 Beirut became a battleground. In recent years as Yugoslavia descended into civil war, Sarajevo became a city of death as its streets came under fire from Serb forces. More recently, armies of occupation and civil power have been faced with the challenges of insurgency. This has been highlighted with the British and American involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq. Fighting in a built-up area is favoured by insurgent groups who can even the odds by drawing conventional infantry into a battlefield of high-rise buildings, sewers, houses and streets, thus reducing the disparity in combat power. The soldiers fighting in such an environment are under considerable stress and need special training for urban operations. The tactics of fighting and defence in a built-up area are still in their infancy, having only been developed in the early twentieth century. This form of warfare results in high civilian casualties and an increase in refugees. Fighting in a built-up area will continue to be a form of combat favoured by weaker forces.
EPILOGUE
All wars end; even this war will some day end, and the ruins will be rebuilt and the field full of death will grow food, and all this frontier of trouble will be forgotten. When the trenches are filled in, and the plough has gone over them, the ground will not long keep the look of war.76
Today, as the Luas light rail trundles through the grounds of the South Dublin Union, many passengers are unaware of the battles of 1916 that took place in this busy hospital complex. The memorial in the grounds of St James’s Hospital to the Easter Rising is positioned in a prominent place close to the entrance, yet many people walk by unaware of the sacrifices that were made to ensure the freedom that we all enjoy today.
However, if one looks closely, there are many other memorials in the grounds in memory of these men. Many of the original buildings are hidden away amongst the urban development that accompanies any modern hospital, but they are still there, a testament to those who fought and died that Easter Week and also a testament to those who have preserved and conserved part of our historical heritage. In recent years, the development of Dublin city has threatened our connection to the past. High-rise structures dominate the city’s skyline, casting a shadow across many historical buildings. The more famous of these buildings have been placed on the record of protected structures, brought about through a lengthy campaign by historians, conservationists and the public. Those involved should be commended for their actions, a struggle that almost mirrors our historic past.
On 14 December 1950, the Dáil debated the scheme for the rehabilitation and extension of St Kevin’s Hospital. Dr C. Lehane asked for the removal of the unsightly walls surrounding the former South Dublin Union ‘so that this anachronistic symbol of alien government may be abolished and the atmosphere which it creates dissipated’. Dr Noel Browne replied that a number of old stores and buildings had already been demolished and the demolition of the boundary walls was being considered. It was also suggested that the frontage of the hospital onto James’s Street should be radically altered and a more attractive entrance constructed. New buildings for a new Ireland. In the years that followed, much of this work was carried out, but between the modern façades there remain to this day many links to our historical past. Conservation and preservation of these buildings is a fitting memorial to those on both sides who gave their lives in the battle for the South Dublin Union in 1916. The battle to protect and preserve the buildings within the Union still continues.
The names of those Irish Volunteers who were killed in action in the battle for the South Dublin Union are remembered in the street names of the nearby Corporation housing development that was constructed on McCaffrey’s Estate, now known as Ceannt’s Fort. This housing development was championed by W.T. Cosgrave in 1917 and i
s a fitting tribute to those who gave their lives in the cause for Irish independence.
The British soldiers who were killed in action are remembered in the Great War memorials that may be found hidden in churches and public buildings throughout Dublin city. Their names once forgotten, they are only now being recognised by a new generation as attitudes and opinions change and our involvement in the Great War is at last being acknowledged.
Those who survived the events of 1916, the Irish War of Independence and the tragedy of the Civil War, had an obligation to build again; not only to reconstruct a shattered country, but to build bridges amongst old adversaries, to teach others what they knew and to try, with what was left of their lives, to find and pass on to a new generation a goodness and meaning to this life. Today, we should try to continue this legacy.
Endnotes
1 Coakley, Professor D., History of St James’s Hospital (www.stjames.ie/aboutthehospital/history)
2 Rees, R., Ireland 1905-25: Vol. 1. Text & Historiography (Colourprint Books, Newtownards, 1998)
3 MacNeill, E., Dublin Sunday Independent (23 April 1916)
4 Coughlan, J., Witness Statement W.S. 304 (Bureau of Military History 1913–1921, Dublin)
5 Cosgrave, W.T., Witness Statement File No. S.541, W.S 268 (Bureau of Military History 1913–1921, Dublin)
6 McCarthy, D., Witness Statement W.S. 1756 (Bureau of Military History 1913–1921, Dublin)
7 Doyle, P., Reminiscences of Five Years Service of an Irish Volunteer (Allen Library, Dublin)
8 Geoghegan, S., The Campaigns & History of the Royal Irish Regiment, Vol. II (William Blackwood & Sons, London, 1927)
9 Caulfield, M., The Easter Rebellion (Gill and Macmillan, Dublin, 1995)
10 Burke, J., Witness Statement W.S. 1758 (Bureau of Military History 1913–1921, Dublin)
11 Holland, R., Witness Statement, W.S. 280 (Bureau of Military History 1913–1921, Dublin)
12 Kenny J., Witness Statement W.S. 174 (Bureau of Military History 1913–1921, Dublin) History 1913–
13 Ibid.
14 McCarthy, D., Witness Statement W.S. 1756 (Bureau of Military History 1913–1921, Dublin)
15 Volunteer, A, The Capuchin Annual (1966)
16 Joyce, J.V., An t-Óglach, Conquering Blood (12 June 1926)
17 Ibid.
18 Coughlan, J., Witness Statement W.S. 304 (Bureau of Military History 1913–1921 Dublin)
19 Murphy, W., Witness Statement W.S. 352 (Bureau of Military History 1913–1921, Dublin)
20 Caulfield, M., The Easter Rebellion (Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 1995)
21 Geoghegan, S., The Campaigns & History of the Royal Irish Regiment, Vol. II (William Blackwood & Sons, London, 1927)
22 Bradbridge, E.U., 59th Division 1915–1918 (Wilfred Edmunds, Chesterfield, 1928)
23 Coughlan, J., Witness Statement W.S. 304 (Bureau of Military History 1913–1921, Dublin)
24 Cosgrave, W.T., Witness Statement File No. S.541, W.S. 268 (Bureau of Military History 1913–1921, Dublin)
25 Murphy, W., Witness Statement W.S. 352 (Bureau of Military History 1913–1921, Dublin)
26 Mannion, A., Witness Statement W.S. 297 (Bureau of Military History 1913–1921, Dublin)
27 Geoghegan, S., The Campaigns & History of the Royal Irish Regiment, Vol. II (William Blackwood & Sons, London, 1927)
28 Ó Flaithbheartaigh, L., Witness Statement W.S. 248 (Bureau of Military History 1913-1921, Dublin)
29 Holland, R., Witness Statement W.S. 280 (Bureau of Military History 1913–1921, Dublin)
30 Oates, W.C., The 2/8th Battalion, The Sherwood Foresters in the Great War series (J&H Bell Ltd, Nottingham, 1921)
31 Vane, Sir F., Agin the Government. Memories & Adventures of Sir Francis Fletcher Vane (Br Sampson Low & Marston, London, 1929)
32 Oates, W.C., The 2/8th Battalion, The Sherwood Foresters in the Great War series (J&H Bell Ltd, Nottingham 1921)
33 Vane, Sir F., Letters to his Wife, April & May 1916. (Cumbria Record Office, The Castle, Carlisle)
34 Kenny J., Witness Statement W.S. 174 (Bureau of Military History 1913–1921, Dublin)
35 Coughlan, J., Witness Statement W.S. 304 (Bureau of Military History 1913–1921, Dublin)
36 Coakley, D., Borderlands (Elo Press Ltd, Dublin, 2002)
37 Joyce, J.V., An t-Óglach, Conquering Blood (12 June 1926)
38 Caulfield, M., The Easter Rebellion (Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 1995)
39 Foran, J., Witness Statement W.S. 243 (Bureau of Military History 1913–1921, Dublin)
40 Oates, W.C., The 2/8th Battalion, The Sherwood Foresters in the Great War series (J&H Bell Ltd, Nottingham, 1921)
41 Gibbon, M., Inglorious Soldier. An Autobiography, (Hutchinson, London, 1968)
42 Smyth, P., Witness Statement W.S. 305 ( Bureau of Military History 1913–1921, Dublin)
43 McCarthy, D., Witness Statement W.S. 1756 (Bureau of Military History 1913–1921, Dublin)
44 Ibid.
45 Holland, R., Witness Statement W.S. 280 (Bureau of Military History 1913–1921, Dublin)
46 Lowe, Brig. Gen. W.H.M., Reply to Pearse’s letter of surrender (National Museum of Ireland, 1916)
47 Smyth, P., Witness Statement W.S. 305 (Bureau of Military History 1913–1921, Dublin)
48 Mac Lochlainn P.F., Last Words (Duchas, Dublin, 1990)
49 Burke, J., Witness Statement W.S. 1758 (Bureau of Military History 1913–1921, Dublin)
50 Vane, Sir F., Letters to his Wife April & May 1916. (Cumbria Record Office, The Castle, Carlisle)
51 PRO WO71/348
52 Ibid.
53 Ibid.
54 Mac Lochlainn P.F., Last Words (Duchas, Dublin, 1990)
55 Ibid.
56 Bradbridge, E.U., 59th Division 1915-1918 (Wilfred Edmunds, Chesterfield, 1928)
57 PRO WO71/348
58 PRO WO35/67/2
59 Maxwell, General Sir J.G., Memorandum, 11 May 1916, (Asquith Papers, MS43/26-33)
60 Kiberd, D., 1916 Rebellion Handbook (The Mourne River Press, Dublin, 1998)
61 GDB/C004.03/0011 Guinness Archive, Diego Ireland
62 Kiberd, D., 1916 Rebellion Handbook (The Mourne River Press, Dublin, 1998)
63 Tailyour H.W., The Irish Times, 16 June 1916
64 Maxwell, Sir J.G., Dispatch to War Office 21 July 1916
65 Maxwell, Sir J.G., General order issued to troops, 1 May 1916
66 Doyle, P., Reminiscences of Five Years Service of an Irish Volunteer (Allen Library, Dublin)
67 Vane, Sir F., Agin the Government. Memories & Adventures of Sir Francis Fletcher Vane (Br Sampson Low & Marston, London, 1929)
68 Nathan, Sir M., Royal Commission of Inquiry (London, 18 May)
69 Burke, J., Witness Statement W.S. 1758 (Bureau of Military History 1913–1921, Dublin)
70 Mannion, A., Witness Statement, W.S. 297 (Bureau of Military History 1913–1921, Dublin)
71 Hally, Col. P.J., ‘The Easter 1916 Rising in Dublin: The Military Aspects’, The Irish Sword (Dublin, 1966)
72 Holmes, R., The Oxford Companion to Military History (Oxford University press, Oxford, 2001)
73 Murphy, S., Witness Statement W.S. 1756 (Bureau of Military History 1913–1921, Dublin)
74 Martyn, Capt. M., Interview in M. Caulfield, The Easter Rebellion (Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 1995)
75 Holmes, R., The Oxford Companion to Military History, (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2001)
76 Masefield, J., The Old Front Line (Pen & Sword Books Ltd, Barnsley, 2003)
Commandant Éamonn Ceannt
Vice-Commandant Cathal Brugha (Kilmainham Gaol Archives)
Lieutenant William Cosgrave (Kilmainham Gaol Archives)
The main entrance of the South Dublin Union (Professor Coakley)
Rear of the main entrance (D119/29, Military Archives)
View of the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, from the South Dublin Union (D119/9, Military Archives)
The Nurses’ Home, 4th Battalion’s Headq
uarters in the South Dublin Union (Professor Coakley)
Volunteer Robert Holland’s position (in the tower) in Marrowbone Lane Distillery (D125/11, Military Archives)
Survivors of the South Dublin Union garrison in the 1960s (Maureen Burke)
The hall and staircase in the Nurses’ Home where Brugha held off repeated attacks by the British (D119/19, Military Archives)
Captain John Oates (Sherwood Forester Museum)
Captain ‘Micky’ Martyn (Sherwood Forester Museum)
Lewis machine-gun detachment (Sherwood Forester Museum)
Sir Francis Fletcher Vane
(Professor Coakley)
Lieutenant Colonel Oates on the right (Sherwood Forester Museum)
The grave of Constable Christopher Miller, RIC, in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham (Author’s collection)
Sergeants of the Sherwood Foresters c.1915 (Sherwood Forester Museum)
Soldiers of the 2/7th and 2/8th Sherwood Foresters resting after their engagement on Mount Street during the 1916 Easter Rising (de Valera Papers, University College Dublin)
Also available from Mercier Press:
Blood on the Streets: 1916 & The Battle for Mount Street Bridge
Paul O’Brien
ISBN: 978 1 85635 576 6
Blood on the Streets explores what really happened during the battle for Mount Street Bridge. Based around the bridge over the canal at Mount Street, three well-positioned groups of Volunteers led by Lieutenant Michael Malone held out against a far greater number of British soldiers arriving from Dún Laoghaire. This book examines this battle and other events surrounding the Rising, and features the only written account by a British army officer of the executions at Kilmainham gaol in the aftermath of the Rising.