by Joe Power
John Redmond’s offer to use the Volunteers as a home defence militia was rejected by Gen. Kitchener and the British War Office. Kitchener wanted to raise an army of 100,000 under regular British Army control. The reserve unionist officers in Clare were called up to join British regiments. Furthermore, Lord Kitchener, despite allowing the Ulster Protestants to form their own exclusive 36th Ulster Division, an exclusively Protestant division, based on the organisation of the Ulster Volunteer Force refused to allow the Irish National Volunteers to form a separate Irish Division. Instead, Irish National Volunteers were split up and had to join existing Irish regiments such as the Leinster, Munster, or Connaught regiments, which were formed into the 16th Irish Division.
Furthermore, Gen. Sir Lawrence Parsons, who commanded the new 16th Irish Division, would not accept the vast majority of the leaders of National Volunteers as officers. Parsons insisted that commissions should only go to gentlemen, with officer training corps experience in public schools, universities or at the cadet college in Sandhurst. The result of Parson’s policy was that the vast majority of the officers of the 16th Irish Division were Protestants, while the vast majority of the ranks were Roman Catholics. There were a couple of notable exceptions in the early years of the war when people such as Willie Redmond, MP, and Tom Kettle, MP, joined the 16th Irish Division.11 Later, due to the loss of so many officers, more Catholics, such as Councillor Dan O’Brien from Clare Abbey, who was leader of the Clare Castle National Volunteers in 1914, were granted commissions.
Another significant factor was that the vast majority of the Protestant Ascendancy class, the landed gentry of Clare, mainly joined established British-based regiments, especially in the early stages of the war, when they were called up as reserve officers, while the majority of Irish Catholics joined the Irish regiments, such as the Connaught Rangers, The Royal Munster Fusiliers and the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. Fitzpatrick wrote ‘that virtually every county family sent all its able-bodied sons to fight, leaving a lop-sided community at home stacked with women, the very young and the very old. By late 1917, O’Callaghan had lost five cousins killed and nine cousins were wounded’. Capt. Vandeleur of Kilrush and Cahercon had joined the Life Guards; Maj. George MacNamara of Ennistymon joined the Wiltshire Regiment. The Hon. Desmond O’Brien, son of the 14th Baron Inchiquin of Dromoland, joined the Royal Air Force. His nephew, the Hon. Donough O’Brien, eldest son of the 15th Baron Inchiquin of Dromoland, was too young in 1914, but was old enough to enlist in 1916 and, after a few months training in Scotland, was sent to France in October 1916 as an officer with The Rifle Brigade. Richard Hassard Stacpoole of Eden Vale joined the Royal Artillery as a subaltern in May 1915. Two notable County Clare exceptions were Capt. Robert H. Cullinan of Bindon Street Ennis, of the 7th Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers and Capt. Poole H. Hickman of Kilmore, Knock, who served in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers.12
The Battle of Etroux
Following the ‘call up’ the British regular army was hastily mobilised and a British Expeditionary Force of about 100,000 men was sent to France to assist the French, who were under pressure from the Germans who, by then, had advanced through much of Belgium. By 20 August the bulk of the British Army was in Belgium, near the mining town of Mons. Two days later, on 23 August, the British had their first military engagement with the German Army in the First Battle of Mons. Some Irish regiments were in action soon after this date and soldiers from the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Munster Fusiliers were fighting the Germans. The British Army made a tactical retreat but the order to retreat did not reach the Munsters in time and they fought a desperate rearguard action on 27 and 28 August.
Hopelessly outnumbered by the Germans, the Munsters suffered huge losses, with at least nine officers and 118 men killed, in addition to many wounded. Outgunned, surrounded and out of ammunition, the surviving Munsters held up the German advance for nearly fourteen hours, but their position was hopeless. Eventually, the surviving four officers and 240 men, many of them wounded, surrendered in the orchard at Etreux on 28 August. They had engaged in a fierce battle against vastly superior German forces, at least six times more numerous. Tom Johnstone, in his history of the Irish regiments in the war, records that the resistance of the Munsters was so heroic that they even won the respect of the Germans. One German officer said that ‘men had never fought so bravely’. The Germans allowed the Munsters to bury their dead in a mass grave in the orchard. At least five Claremen died in this action, including Pte John Cunneen from Newmarket-on-Fergus; Christopher Spillane, Ennis; James Williams, Ennis; John O’Connor, Ennistymon; and James Halloran, from Ennis. They were killed at Etroux on their first day of battle. They were probably the first casualties of the Great War from Clare.13 Because of their heroic stand, Gen. Haig’s first army corps was able to retreat safely with few losses.
Among those who surrendered were seven soldiers from Kilrush. They would have spent the rest of their war years in German prisons, unless they were injured when they might have been exchanged for German wounded through the agency of the Red Cross.
Following the return of the prisoners of war in 1919, the War Office carried out an investigation into the conduct of the 2nd Munsters, which concluded that ‘The battalion not only held up the attack of a strong hostile force in its original position, thereby securing the unmolested withdrawal of the division, but in retiring drew upon itself the attacks of very superior numbers of the enemy.’ As a result, many of them were given military awards, including the DSO for Maj. Bayley, along with several Military Crosses (MC), Military Medals (MM) and Distinguished Conduct Medals (DCM) as a testimony of the bravery of the regiment. According to Johnstone, the survivors ‘were warmly congratulated by the Germans on the fine fight they had made at Etreux’.14
Propaganda
Soon, the local papers were carrying reports of the war issued by the British and French war offices, copied from the national Irish or British press. These reports were heavily propagandist in tone, passed by the army censors, and one must be aware of the old cliche that ‘truth is the first casualty of war’. There were sensational headlines such as ‘GERMANS RETREATING’; ‘GREAT RUSSIAN VICTORY’;’ ENORMOUS GERMAN LOSSES’; ‘FIERCE FIGHTING IN BELGIUM’; ‘BRAVE IRISH GUARDS’ etc. The newspapers differed in that the Clare Journal and the Saturday Record gave far more comprehensive reports on the war than the Clare Champion. The Clare Champion did, however, highlight the call to arms by Redmond and urged the Clare nationalists to rally to the defence of Catholic Belgium.
Within a short while, reports of casualties in the British Expeditionary Force from County Clare began to appear in the local papers. The Clare Journal and the Saturday Record highlighted the deaths or injuries suffered by prominent members of the landed gentry of Clare, who had been called up for service, such as Maj. Parker, Ballyvalley; the Hon. Lt Butler, brother of Lord Dunboyne, Knappogue; Lt Gore of Derrymore and Capt. Alexander Vandeleur of Kilrush and Cahercon. The local papers also mentioned prominent Clare individuals such as Poole Hickman BL, of Kilmore, Knock, secretary of the Munster Bar, and Dr C.J. Kelly of Trinaderry House, Barefield, who had voluntarily enlisted.
The papers were also delighted to report unusually high rates of enlistment among some poor families. For instance, a Mrs Keane of Kilrush was reported as having five ‘gallant’ sons serving in the army. Another Kilrush family, the Devers also had five sons in the colours. Mrs Margaret Molony of Newmarket-on-Fergus also had five sons who volunteered, one joined the Royal Dublin Fusiliers and four of them joined the Royal Munster Fusiliers. However, the Clare family that contributed most of their members to the war effort was probably the Halloran family of Ennistymon. Michael Halloran along with five of his sons, John, William, Michael, Jeremiah and Martin, all joined the Royal Munster Fusiliers, while another son named Patrick joined the Connaught Rangers. Unfortunately, Patrick Halloran was fatally wounded at the Second Battle of Ypres on 29 April 1915, but all of the rest of the family survived.15
Selec
ted letters from the front were published, which highlighted the conditions of war, the bravery of the soldiers and the need for recruits. One letter, from Pte Edward Toomey to his mother in Kilkee, which was printed in the Clare Champion of 26 August, was clearly propagandist and was headed ‘We stood our ground to the last’:
We have had some very hard fighting; we were in the thick of it all the time. Our regiment was posted to cover the retreat for five days and the Germans were as thick as bees around us all the time. When you are put on duty of that kind there’s no question of giving way until your task has been completed and we stood our ground till the last. That meant in some cases we had to be cut up, but we were selected because we could be relied upon to make the best possible show and delay the enemy as long as possible. Some of our detachment had a very rough time in every way, but they carried themselves with a steadiness that won the praise of everybody, and they made the Germans realise that they weren’t going to have it all their own way.
The most distinguished soldier, Lt Gen. Sir Thomas Kelly Kenny, a former commander in chief of the British Army, a Catholic native of West Clare, prophesising a long war, urged the necessity of universal conscription in a letter to The Times, of London, which was copied in the Saturday Record of 14 November 1914:
There is still a word which has not been spoken – compulsion. If the government can assure itself that our present recruiting system will enable us to bring this two, five or even ten year’s war to a successful issue it takes on itself the responsibility – not a great consolation to the king’s subjects of the empire if we see the Potsdam trained goose step up the Mall. I believe if compulsion is once settled it will clear the way for other great reforms. While I advocate and believe that our only safety is in compulsion for this war, my admiration for the army put into the field under our present recruiting conditions is unbounded. The nation will never forget this noble volunteer army, which has not waited for this measure …
One unusual letter from a prisoner of war was published in the Saturday Record in October under the subtitle of CLAREMAN’S LETTER FROM THE FRONT: Cpl T. Kelly sent a letter to his father, Mr T. Kelly, Clare Castle. Cpl Kelly mentioned that he was ‘one of the 500 or 600 Munster Fusiliers taken prisoner on August 27th’. The letter was dated 31 August 1914 and the editor of the Saturday Record suspected that it had been heavily censored by the Germans as it painted a rosy picture of the treatment of the prisoners by the Germans:
Of course, I told you I was going to the war in France. Well I left on the 13th August along with my regiment I was 14 days in France and on 27th August the Munster Fusiliers had a great battle with the Germans, where we lost a few men, but there was a lot of us captured by the Germans, about 500 men and I was lucky to be amongst them. Of course I cannot give you any information … Tell the Hynes’ in Ennis that their son is alright. A brother of Paddy Moroney’s that works at Howard’s in Ennis is alright also … We are kept as prisoners of war by the Germans till the war is over. The German soldiers are very nice people. They are giving us all the privileges they can and plenty to eat … I will be sorry to leave them …, I think, when we are leaving … but won’t I be delighted when I am on the boat for England again. Pray for my safe return soon and sound. You can imagine what it is to be a prisoner of war. I shall laugh when I am telling you by word of mouth … I have a terrible story to tell ye when I get home … I can’t give ye any address, being a prisoner. Cheer up, as I am as happy and cheerful as can be.
The letter from Cpl T. Kelly provoked a reply from Lt Col W.B. Butler, who stated, ‘Re Clare Castle man’s letter from the front in issue of 14 October, I can scarcely believe that any Clare man would feel “lucky” at being taken prisoner. I believe that not only was the German censor close by when the letter was written, but also gave it a final touch up!’16
Several other letters were published in the local press and the letters seemed to have been chosen for propaganda purposes. Indeed, they may have been fictitious! They all cited anonymous sources. One allegedly from ‘an Ennis man’ had sub-headings such as ‘a hell upon earth’ and ‘German cowards before the bayonet’.
The first was from a private in the Connaught Rangers, writing from the General Hospital, near Versailles, Paris:
‘GERMAN COWARDS BEFORE THE BAYONET’
My dear James,
I suppose you will be surprised to get this letter … but I take the opportunity as I am only a few hours from England. I suppose you read of this terrible war and an awful war it is. There were terribly hard times for us at the front, fighting days and nights without any rest whatever. We didn’t know what a blanket was for the last few weeks, and it is getting frightfully cold now. I am here badly wounded through the left side and right arm. I was lying on the open ground under shrapnel and gunfire for four hours and I thought my time had come. It was a regular hell upon earth, enough to turn you sick, men falling all round you for six long hours. The Gurkhas were on our right and we had to support them and we had Hell to cross the open under a terrible fire from the enemy’s trenches. But we drove the Germans back with frightful losses. They are cowards when it comes to the bayonet, and we have to fight them at five to one, so you know what work we have to do to keep them back. The Munsters were cut off in the retreat from Mons – 600 of them went west by a mistake in the signalling. As I write this I am waiting for an operation to remove a piece of shell from my side. I am only here a week, but I expect to be back at the front again soon. There is a lot of Germans wounded here so there is not room for many more. I am the only one from Ennis here, as far as I know, and there are only two more in the Connaughts from Ennis.
A second anonymous letter was entitled: ‘FIGHTING FOR A GOOD CAUSE’. According to the paper it was from ‘a Clare man serving in the Guards’:
Dear sister, just a line in answer to your kind and welcome letter of the 10th inst. I am sorry to hear that you are not as strong, but cheer up, things will get better when all the Germans are killed … You will feel very lonely, I am sure when you have three brothers out of your sight, but don’t fret, they are fighting for a good cause. I am longing to have a crack at the Germans anyway, my turn is drawing near, and don’t fret for me. I know I gave up a good job to come here, but I am quite satisfied. I had a letter from brother C this morning. I heard that brother W was captured, but don’t let it upset you as he will be alright. Remember me to all at home. Tell them I am doing fine and I hope the boys are answering Lord Kitchener’s call. Tell them I advise them to join and let us wipe the Germans off the map altogether as they are nothing but a lot of curs … We have a fine body of Irishmen here and we are ready for anything.
Wishing you all sorts of good luck, your ever loving brother, G
A third anonymous letter was written by ‘a young gentleman to his brother in Ennis’. The sender was with the Army Veterinary Corps at the Western Front:
‘GERMHUN KULTUR’
We are very busy in our camp, we have nearly 2,000 horses with us at present and the number keeps changing each day, some coming in from the front line and others going out cured or dead. The weather is getting very cold now, especially at night, but we are very well provided for as regards clothing and grub … I dare say you gather from the papers at home a good idea of Germhun Kultur. Here is another sample: Some prisoners were brought in here last week, and on being searched by our fellows, one was found to have in his haversack, wrapped up in a handkerchief a lady’s hand, with five rings on the fingers.’ Nuff said! I’ll have a lot to tell you when I see you again, as I am taking notes.17
One young Clare man, James Power from Quilty, who was an able seaman on board the cruiser Hermes, had a very lucky escape when the Hermes was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine in the Straits of Dover in November, 1914. The ship was about 9 miles from Calais when it was hit. Of the 367 hands aboard, about 40 were killed. James Power stated that he remembered some of the survivors in the water singing ‘It’s a long way to Tipperary’, while waiting
to be rescued.18
National Volunteers Parade
Meanwhile, at home in Clare, a large turnout of the National Volunteers was organised at the end of October. The purpose of the turnout was to re-affirm support for John Redmond’s takeover of the National Volunteers and his policies of supporting the British war effort. The commander in chief of the National Volunteers, Col Maurice Moore, accompanied by Capt. Hemphill and Willie Redmond, MP, toured the county to assess the strength of and to boost the morale of the National Volunteers. They travelled by car from Dublin and stayed overnight with Mr E.E. Lysaght, the organiser of the National Volunteers for Clare, at Raheen Manor, near Tuamgraney. The men reviewed parades of Volunteers at Tuamgraney and Killaloe, where there were huge and enthusiastic turnouts. The local Catholic clergy, such as V. Revd Canon Flannery, PP, VG of Killaloe, and Revd Fr Quin, PP of O’Callaghan’s Mills, presented Redmond with addresses of welcome, supporting the Home Rule Party, expressing full confidence in the leadership of John Redmond, MP, and support for his war policy.
The major review of Volunteers from Ennis and its environs took place in Ennis on Sunday after midday Mass. Between 600 and 700 Volunteers turned out. The weather on the day was very wet and was blamed for the relatively low turnout, but this excuse may have been used to mask the decline in enthusiasm for the National Volunteers after the war began. It seems that many feared that the National Volunteers would be conscripted into the British Army. This fear of recruitment was mentioned in the Saturday Record of 7 November 1914 as a factor in the ‘fall-off’ in National Volunteers. The activities of the Irish Volunteers in organising within the county may also have been a factor in this relatively small turnout.