by Joe Power
In May Fogarty urged his flock to follow the king’s example and abstain from alcohol, except for medicinal purposes, but, Fogarty, a lifelong teetotaller, denounced higher liquor taxes. Later in the year Fogarty launched an appeal on behalf of Catholic Poland, which he said had also suffered at the hands of the Prussians.
However, Fogarty’s support for John Redmond’s policy was undermined by political developments in England during May 1915. When the new coalition government was formed in May, Sir Edward Carson, leader of the Unionist Party, became a minister, while John Redmond turned down the offer of a ministry. The presence of Carson in the government deeply offended Fogarty, who had been a strong supporter of the Home Rule Party and of the National Volunteers. Fogarty wrote a letter to John Redmond on 3 June denouncing the new cabinet, calling it:
… a horrible scandal and an intolerable outrage on Irish sentiment. The English have got all they wanted from Ireland … such is our reward for our profuse loyalism and recruiting … The people are full of indignation, but yet are powerless … there is nothing to choose between Carsonism and Kaiserism and of the two the latter is the lesser evil … And it almost makes me cry to think of the Irish Brigades fighting not for Ireland, but for Carson and what he stands for, Orange Ascendancy. Home Rule is dead and buried and Ireland is without a national party or a national press.
Redmond sent the letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Asquith. However, the bishop kept his opinions private for the moment.3
In his Lenten pastoral Pope Benedict XV appealed for peace and he repeated this plea earnestly to the belligerents on the first anniversary of the war. Bishop O’Dwyer of Limerick publicly requested John Redmond to listen to the Pope’s appeal and to use his influence on the British to weigh in on the side of peace. O’Dwyer also warned Redmond that Ireland faced economic ruin because of the growing burden of the war debt, which would necessitate a huge tax bill when the war ended. Redmond’s reply was published in the newspapers, including the Saturday Record of 14 August:
Dear Lord Bishop,
… to the best of my judgement, the course of action you suggest to me would not be calculated to promote the cause of peace. Nor do I think that I would be justified in endeavouring to bring pressure to bear upon the British government to enter into any negotiations for peace at a time when the German Powers, who have been the aggressors in this war, show no signs of any disposition to repair the wrongs they have inflicted upon Belgium and our other allies.
Yours, J. E. Redmond.
This reply from Redmond infuriated O’Dwyer, who became more outspoken against the immorality of the war and more opposed to recruitment. His ecclesiastical friend, Bishop Fogarty did not, however, come out publicly against the war and recruitment for some time yet.
While Bishop Fogarty and the Irish Catholic hierarchy seemed to justify the war, without directly urging young men to enlist, the local newspapers, especially the Saturday Record, published several letters from Catholic clergymen appealing for Irishmen to join the British forces. A Tipperary priest wrote that ‘it was the duty of Irishmen to fight, or else … Ireland would suffer the same fate as Belgium’. A Dublin priest urged Irishmen to enlist and ‘kill the savage Huns!’ Another priest highlighted the Turkish atrocities against the Armenians. Finally, at Christmas, Canon O’Leary, Parish Priest of Dingle, wrote that the country was in danger of ‘being overrun by Huns and Turks, intolerable savages! There was’, he said, ‘a need for men of heroic courage to defend our country and to crush the enemy.’4
The call to arms.
(Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
The main focus of the government in Ireland was the vigorous promotion of recruitment through propaganda among the Catholic, nationalist majority of Ireland. This campaign was mainly done through advertising in the national and local newspapers. These advertisements were mainly carried in the two ‘unionist’ local papers, the Clare Journal and the Saturday Record. There were fewer advertisements in the more nationalistic Clare Champion. The advertisements appealed to the patriotic duty and the fighting spirit of the Irishmen to emulate heroes such as Sgt Michael O’Leary who won a Victoria Cross; they were urged to fight for Catholic Belgium, its priests, nuns and people; it was their ‘duty’ to join the Irish Brigade; women were encouraged to persuade their ‘best boy’ to join up; clerks and shop assistants were encouraged to emulate the brave young men in khaki; and appeals were made to the pride of young men, insinuating that they would be, ‘slackers’, ‘shirkers’ and perhaps cowards if they did not join up.5
Irish First World War propaganda, original published by David Allen and Sons, Dublin,c. 1915. (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
Lt D.D. Sheehan MP, founder and former president of the Irish Land and Labour Association, which had several branches in County Clare, toured the county in April and made an appeal ‘to his friends among the workers of Limerick and Clare to join his regiment, the 9th Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers’. There was also a personal appeal from King George V, addressed ‘to my people’. Many nationalists in Clare and elsewhere took umbrage at the suggestion that they were the king’s people. Ironically, almost all the advertisements ended with the old Fenian slogan: ‘God save Ireland!’
Besides the vigorous advertising campaign, the local newspapers, especially the Saturday Record and the Clare Journal, promoted recruitment by frequently referring to the ‘bravery and gallantry’ of the soldiers, especially those from Clare who were honoured for heroic deeds at the battlefront. The bravery of officers and men was honoured by the presentation of medals, such as the MC, given to officers and the DCM, given to NCOs and soldiers. Claremen who were promoted for ‘gallantry in war’, especially the officers, were also mentioned in the press.
Early in the year there was considerable alarm and a major scare in West Clare with fears of a German invasion. The alarm was sparked off by notices delivered to all residents of coastal areas by the RIC, advising people what to do if the Germans invaded.
The advice, especially to those living in coastal areas, was to leave their homesteads and to remove all their stock, farming implements, horses, bicycles, and motorcycles, if any, to certain indicated places, where their safety would be arranged by the authorities. In West Clare, Ennis was the designated place, while in East Clare the people were told to proceed to Killaloe and Ballina.
These precautionary notices in the event of a German invasion caused considerable fright. In Kilkee the people were told to take the Kilrush Road for Ennis after first destroying all foodstuffs, burying all spades and shovels, and destroying all motorcycles and bicycles. Publicans were directed to spill all their stocks of whiskey, porter, brandy etc. on the road; and farmers along the coast were instructed to drive their horses, sheep, cattle, in fact all their stock, before them on the road to Ennis. According to the newspaper report the people, especially the elderly, were in a terrible state of excitement and fear. The local parish priest, Fr Glynn, did his best at first Mass on Sunday morning to reassure the people and calm their fears that a German invasion was not imminent and said that an invasion was as likely to happen as that ‘if the sky fell we would catch larks’. The newspaper concluded: ‘even so, some ignorant old people are in a bad way’.6
John Redmond and other members of the Home Rule Party, while encouraging voluntary enlistment, repeatedly insisted that conscription would not be imposed on Ireland.
Letters from the ‘front’ were published in the press appealing for more men. Cpl M. Murphy, an Ennis man serving with the Royal Munster Fusiliers, appealed to ‘slackers’ at home – ‘I am sure that there are some slackers in Ennis. It is about time that these fellows woke up and did their bit!’
An anonymous writer to the Saturday Record of 27 February sarcastically criticised the Sinn Féin Volunteers of Carrigaholt:
Whose pro-German mouthings have for some time past disgusted every decent Irishman in West Clare … Did you ever hear of The Yellow Dragoons raised in Carrigaholt by Lord Clare? … Do
you know that in Carrigaholt Castle lived and died the ancestors of Marshal McMahon, President of France? … Rest easy you degenerate sons of heroic sires … Rest easy in your beds my gallant warriors of the Home Defence Service with the timber guns … Your hearths and homes and farms are being saved for you by the Watch Dogs of the North Sea and the ‘gentlemen’ and the ‘corner-boys’, who are spilling their blood freely in your defence on the battlefields of Europe!
Early in the year the Saturday Record carried an article under a sub-heading, ‘ENNIS MEN FOR THE FRONT’: ‘About a score of recruits and reserves left Ennis station to join various regiments. One family in old Mill Street now has 4 sons serving with the colours, and 3 other families in the same neighbourhood had each sent 2 sons to the front.’ On 29 March the Limerick Leader reported that over 200 recruits left the town of Kilrush by train. They were seen off by an enormous crowd of wellwishers.7
The highest profile recruit in Clare at this time was Willie Redmond, MP for East Clare. Redmond was commissioned in the Royal Irish Regiment in February. He wrote to Councillor P.J. Linnane, JP, an old friend from Ennis, to tell the people of Ennis and Clare that he had enlisted and the letter was published in the Clare Journal of 27 March:
The future freedom and welfare of the Irish people depended on the part Ireland played in the war. Belgium was invaded and the Belgian people were massacred and their homes and churches destroyed. A niece of my own – a nun has been a victim – driven from her convent by shot and shell … if we do not strike a blow for Belgium then our name would be disgraced! … I believe the men of East Clare will approve of my action.
Another local politician who joined up was Dan O’Brien, a member of Ennis Rural District Council, from Clare Abbey. When Dr A.J. Hickey joined the Royal Army Medical Corps a public meeting was held in Kilmihil, chaired by the parish priest, Fr D. Hayes; a resolution was passed ‘expressing regret at his departure, while commending his pluck and sacrifice.’ The Clare Journal report noted that Dr Hickey was the second son of Dr P.C. Hickey, JP of Kilkee, to ‘take a Clareman’s part against the enemy of civilisation’.8
Emigration
While many men felt that it was their duty to join the British forces and take the ‘king’s shilling’, whatever their motives, many others were reluctant to join the colours. One headline in the Clare Journal early in June highlighted emigration, suggesting an exodus from West Clare. These headlines were accompanied by warnings to those who intended to emigrate to America that there was a high rate of unemployment there. One sub-heading stated that the motive for emigration was fear of conscription:
AN EXODUS FROM WEST CLARE
FEAR OF CONSCRIPTION
For the past week or two there has been a steady exodus of young Clare people, mostly able sturdy youths of the agricultural class, for America, and the number that have left and are still going is attracting much public comment … Queenstown having been closed to emigrants since the beginning of the war, they have to travel to Dublin … For the past week nearly 300 have left North Wall Dublin, about 50 of these from County Clare … and it was noticeable that most of them came from West Clare, and some from the most extreme part of the county … It is freely stated that the ‘rush to emigrate’ was attributed to statements made in certain quarters that a policy of conscription was about to be adopted by the present coalition government … Another batch of emigrants packed the Ennis station today.
About six months later this avenue of avoiding conscription through emigration to America was virtually closed off. In an article headed ‘THE WHITE FEATHERS’, the Clare Journal reported that twenty young men from Clare had been sent home from Liverpool. They were from the Tulla, Kilnamona and Inagh districts. These ‘would-be’ emigrants to America were made to feel unwelcome in Liverpool and were assaulted there. They received a sarcastic ‘welcome home’ to Clare from the Clare Journal! The White Star Line followed the Cunard Shipping Line’s example in refusing to book men of military age for emigration to America. Also, further restrictions were put on the issuing of passports.
The treatment of the Irish emigrants at Liverpool outraged Bishop O’Dwyer, who publicly rebuked John Redmond, who had rashly stated in an interview with the Press Association that ‘it was very cowardly of them to try and emigrate’. In a public letter O’Dwyer savaged Redmond for his remarks and failure to defend the would-be emigrants:
The treatment of the poor Irish emigrants at Liverpool is enough to make any Irishman’s blood boil with anger and indignation! They do not want to be forced into the English army and sent to fight English battles in some part of the world … these poor Connaught peasants … Not one Irish man stands up for them … Why should they die for England? … Yet the poor fellows who do not see the advantage of dying for such a cause are to be insulted as ‘shirkers’ and ‘cowards’ … and the men whom they have raised to power and influence have not one word to say on their behalf.
This letter caused a sensation as it was published in the Cork Examiner of 11 November 1915 and in the Limerick Chronicle at the same time, and copies of it were found by the RIC in seventeen counties. They were distributed at chapel gates by members of the Irish Volunteers and Sinn Féin. Bishop Fogarty wrote privately to O’Dwyer in support of his letter. He stated: ‘… it is past time that some one would tell the truth though few beside yourself have the courage to do so. By the way, the whole body of people have rallied to you and your letter to the emigrants. It has opened their eyes … John Redmond … deserves a rebuke, which you have now given him with deadly force’. Fogarty also corresponded with Fr Hagan at the Irish College in Rome and suggested that recruitment had fallen off considerably at this time: ‘Recruitment is unpopular, because no-one is to be spared for recruiting and they don’t want to die in the present cause.’
John Redmond urges recruitment.
(Courtesy of National Library of Ireland)
The Ennis Brian Boru branch of Sinn Féin also passed a resolution condemning ‘the threats meted out to brother Irishmen by a Liverpool rabble’.
Such public attacks on John Redmond by O’Dwyer must have seriously damaged the recruitment cause in the region as O’Dwyer’s letter was widely circulated in Clare. However, Dr Thomas O’Dea, Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora declined to join O’Dwyer in publicly condemning the war and recruitment at this time, preferring ecclesiastical consensus on the war.9
‘Slackers’ and ‘Shirkers’
The Irish Guards and the Royal Munster Fusiliers regiments toured County Clare during the year, urging men to enlist for king and country. This was a traditional method of encouraging men to enlist. The Irish Guards toured in April, while the Munsters toured in June, August and November. The regimental bands played many national airs, such as ‘The Wearing of the Green’, ‘God Save Ireland’, and ‘Let Erin Remember’, to give the impression that the regiments were more Irish than British. The band of the Royal Munster Fusiliers got a huge reception in June at Ennis railway station and paraded to a mass meeting in O’Connell Square, chaired by Mr P. Kennelly, JP, chairman of Ennis UDC and other local notables. Mr Kennelly said that there was a good deal of misunderstanding and a good deal of private intimidation with respect to enlistment. He did not say who was responsible for the intimidation, but hinted that it was members of the Irish Volunteers. He said those who volunteered were doing their duty and ‘played a man’s part’.
The band of the Munster Fusiliers at Ennis in 1915. (Courtesy of Sean Spellissy)
4 QUESTIONS TO CLERKS
AND AND SHOP ASSISTANTS
If you are between 19 and 38 years of age are you really satisfied with what you are doing today?
Do you feel happy as you walk along the streets and see brave Irishmen in khaki, who are going to fight for Ireland while you stay at home in comfort?
Do you realise that gallant Irish soldiers are risking everything on the continent to save you, your children and your womenfolk?
Will you tell your employer to
day that you are going to join an Irish regiment?
Ask him to keep your position open for you – tell him that you are going to fight for Ireland. He’ll do the right thing by you – all patriotic employers are helping their men to join.
TELL HIM NOW AND
JOIN AN IRISH
REGIMENT TO-DAY.
Clare Journal, 8 April 1915.
Mr Kennelly said that while many had responded to the call, there were classes around them, who were not represented as they should be. He particularly alluded to the farming class, ‘few of whose sons had gone to the front’. He also referred to the number of recruits that might be found among the young shop assistants in the county. Again, the fate of ‘gallant little Belgium’, with priests murdered, churches and convents burnt and women outraged etc. was mentioned to encourage recruitment.
Lt Dan O’Brien of the Royal Irish Regiment then spoke passionately, calling for men ‘to do their duty’ and enlist. The rural district councillor and former chairman of Ennis RDC said that he always had the greatest electoral support in the labouring crowd and in the democratic classes. But, he found that there were only two sections, the labouring classes and the aristocratic class who were fighting, and there was something lacking. They wanted something between these two classes. Capt. Larry Roche appealed ‘in the name of God, of Ireland, as a Catholic, an Irishman, and as a nationalist’ for young men to enlist and defeat the murderous Huns. He said that 100 Claremen were needed to enlist and serve under Irish officers.