Uncommon Valour Read online

  Within the grounds of the Union, the six Volunteers positioned within the inner wall at the canal entrance (7) found themselves under intense fire from the British troops positioned in the upper rooms of the Rialto buildings.

  After several attempts, and despite their losses, the British troops forced open the back gate and entered the Union grounds. At 2.30 p.m. approximately fifty British troops fanned out and moved towards the main gate to where Ceannt had established his headquarters. The advancing troops were joined by those who had stormed the Rialto entrance. However, Hospital 2–3 stood in their way (5).

  The Volunteers who held the southern wall were in danger of being outflanked. Unable to hold their position, they retreated towards Hospital 2–3. In their desperate attempt to withdraw, eighteen-year-old Brendan Donelan was hit and mortally wounded. A native of Loughrea he had been employed in the drapery trade. He lay in the open, bleeding to death. Volunteer James Quinn was also shot and killed, leaving a wife and young family. A painter by trade, he was a member of the Colmcille Hurling Club and was often heard to say that he would exchange his camán for nothing but a rifle.

  The advancing British soldiers quickly lost their way among the labyrinth of buildings and were delayed by the confusing intersecting alleyways and avenues. Passing beneath the occupied windows, the unsuspecting soldiers were fired upon by the Volunteers, who then quickly withdrew and reformed in another area to repeat this type of attack.

  From the second floor of Hospital 2–3 (5), bursts of rapid rifle fire erupted, catching the advancing British troops in open ground. The British soldiers took cover and returned fire, aiming at the puffs of black smoke emitting from the windows. Running in short rushes, some soldiers succeeded in reaching the wall of the building. Using a pass key they gained entrance to the hospital’s inner courtyard.

  On the ground floor of Hospital 2–3, Volunteers Dan McCarthy and Jim Kenny found themselves confronted by a large force of British soldiers. They opened fire and then ran, locking a door between themselves and their pursuers. The British troops returned fire, then smashed open the door and gave chase to their attackers. McCarthy and Kenny ran through dormitories and down narrow corridors in an attempt to evade their pursuers. The sound of hobnailed boots and gunshots echoed through the corridors of the hospital. The two Volunteers stopped occasionally at corners and fired their rifles to slow down their pursuers. These encounters developed into a deadly game of hide and seek. As they reached the front of the building the Volunteers threw themselves through the ground floor windows, out onto the lawn. As he staggered to regain his footing, Dan McCarthy was shot and wounded in the stomach. He shouted, ‘Run on! I’m hit.’12

  Jim Kenny lay face down on the grass momentarily, his weapon trained on the area where he expected the British to appear. The first soldier to appear beat a hasty retreat and Kenny sprinted across to the main buildings, only to find his escape route blocked by another platoon of soldiers. Kenny levelled his rifle and opened fire on the soldiers, forcing them to retreat into a nearby building. As he ran, bullets hit the brickwork behind him sending showers of masonry into the air. He ran past the convent and as he reached the Protestant infirmary he found Commandant Ceannt who was assisting a wounded Volunteer. Ceannt had been reconnoitring his positions when he found himself cut off by the rapid advance of the Royal Irish Regiment. In order to evade the British troops it was decided to leave their wounded comrade until they could find a secure means of escape. Accidentally they entered a cul de sac (13) between the Protestant Hospital and the Catholic Women’s Hospital. Both men prepared for a sudden rush of soldiers and a desperate fight to the end, but no one appeared in the alleyway. They were attempting to force open a wooden gate at the end of the alleyway when suddenly a patient appeared at a window above them and offered them a ladder to scale the wall of the Protestant Hospital. Kenny climbed up first and on reaching the top, trained his rifle on the corner of the alley in order to cover Ceannt’s assent. The commandant followed and on entering the Protestant Hospital he requested that the matron assist the Volunteer who was wounded outside. Assisted by two patients, the matron brought the wounded man indoors. Ceannt then consulted his map and planned the best route back to his headquarters. By chance a nun opened a gateway nearby, offering an escape route via the rear of the Catholic Women’s Hospital. Both Ceannt and Kenny returned safely to headquarters.13

  Having cleared the ground floor of Hospital 2–3 of Volunteers, the British troops were momentarily pinned down by rifle fire from the upper floor. The six Volunteers fired furiously into the approaching ranks. They then vacated their position and retreated towards the west wing of the building along an endless warren of intersecting corridors. As the British prepared to assault the upper floor, there was a sudden lull in the firing. Two nurses had taken cover on the second floor of Hospital 2–3 and as the noise subsided, one of them, Margaret Keogh, believing that the fighting had ceased, started down the stairs. At the foot of the stairway, a door leading to a porch opened off the long corridor. Two British soldiers had taken up position there, covering the stairway. As Nurse Keogh reached the bottom step and appeared in the doorway she was shot dead. Her friend screamed at the soldiers to stop. An officer appeared and shouted to her: ‘Are there any Sinn Féiners upstairs?’ The nurse pleaded with the soldiers to place her friend’s body on a table, which they did. Nurse Margaret Keogh came from Leighlinbridge, Carlow, and was the daughter of Patrick Blanchfield Keogh, the coroner for County Carlow.

  As this episode was unfolding, wounded Volunteer Dan McCarthy was carried into the hospital by a patient and laid beside the body of Nurse Keogh. McCarthy was bleeding profusely from his stomach wound and was removed to a medical ward in the Union by British soldiers and Union staff. He hid his revolver under his pillow. The British entered the ward and came over to his bed. They threatened to kill the wounded Volunteer by running him through with a bayonet, but an officer intervened and said: ‘Stop that.’ With that one of the other patients in the ward shouted: ‘He has just put a gun under his pillow.’ The officer then took charge of the revolver and McCarthy was removed to another ward and kept under guard.14

  At Hospital 2–3 (5) the British troops climbed the stairs to the second floor and began searching for the six Volunteers who had fired on them earlier. Using a pass key the soldiers entered the west wing and found that a partition door separated them from their quarry. They shouted to the Volunteers to surrender and, using the key to gain entry, they charged through the door in force. The area was so narrow that both sides were unable to fire and a fierce hand-to-hand struggle ensued. Despite fighting desperately, the hopelessly outnumbered Volunteers were forced to surrender and were led out of the Union complex to captivity.15

  Outside Hospital 2–3, over the wide spaces of the South Dublin Union and through the many buildings, a bloody game of hide and seek was taking place. Having advanced deep into the Union, the British troops now turned their attention to the Catholic Women’s Hospital (11). After surviving the killing fields of McCaffrey’s Estate, Volunteer Section Commander John Joyce and the surviving members of his unit were resting briefly in the corridors of the Women’s Hospital. It was just past 5 p.m. when the British military launched their attack on that building. As they broke through the locked doors, the soldiers could hear the screams and shrieks of the female patients who had not been evacuated by the Union officials. The soldiers proceeded with great caution into the maze of corridors.

  The Volunteers had heard the British troops entering and had taken up firing positions, lying prone on the floor at the intersection of wards sixteen and seventeen. Later Joyce remembered the smell of the waxed floors filling his senses. His plan was to catch the approaching enemy in a confined area and inflict heavy casualties thus forcing them to retire. It was a desperate plan. The patients had taken cover in a corner of the dormitory, protected by upturned beds and mattresses. British soldiers appeared at the doorway and Joyce was the first to open fire. The p
atients screamed as rifle fire reverberated through the ward. Joyce jumped to his feet and slammed the door of the ward shut. Smoke and the smell of cordite filled the room. He heard the British soldiers shouting, ‘Surrender in the name of the King’. Joyce and his men took cover as British troops opened fire. The Volunteers were adamant they were not going to surrender.

  The firing suddenly stopped. An educated English voice demanded, ‘I will count to five. Either surrender or we are coming in.’16

  The Volunteers listened intently to the count: ‘One, two, three ...’ They did not wait for the final numbers. Jumping to their feet they dashed through the ward and down the corridor, the end of which was barred by a locked door. Without stopping, Joyce fired and blew the lock off, kicked the door open and continued to run on into the next ward. Throwing themselves on the floor the Volunteers turned and took aim at their pursuers. Shots echoed through the ward as each side desperately tried to kill the other. Screams and smoke filled the room as a number of the British soldiers were wounded. The Volunteers fought a desperate rearguard action in their attempts to escape from the warren of corridors in the Women’s Hospital. Joyce remembered running through deserted wards and empty corridors, the noise and vibrations of the battle fading behind him. Once outside, he felt the evening air on his face and before him he saw headquarters, the Nurses’ Home (10). Joyce and his section had evaded capture.17

  Chapter 4

  Easter Monday, 24 April 1916

  Evening

  Just before dusk, Vice-Commandant Cathal Brugha called for two Volunteers for a special duty. William McDowell, a recent recruit to the Volunteer movement, and James Coughlan came forward. Their mission was to enter McCaffrey’s Estate through the door at the rear of the Nurses’ Home (10) and bring in some wounded Volunteers. It was a dangerous mission as the area of the estate and headquarters was under constant fire from British soldiers positioned in the Royal Hospital.

  Taking two Union patients with them, McDowell and Coughlan dashed through the door out into the open field. As they ran for cover, the Volunteers saw some of their number taking cover thirty yards to their right. Crossing a barbed wire entanglement they joined their comrades. Coughlan enquired as to the exact location of the enemy and was told they were directly in front of the hiding place. The British fire was so intense that bullets became embedded a few inches above ground level in the large wall behind their position. British troops who had entered via the Rialto gate had concealed themselves in hedging just fifty yards to the front of the Volunteers’ position. There was very little cover for the Volunteers except for a fold in the ground. Machine-gun fire from the Royal Hospital was also enfilading their position.

  Pinned down and unable to return fire, the Volunteers remained in this predicament for some time. Coughlan shouted to McDowell to keep his head down as bullets kicked up the earth around them. The position was hopeless and Coughlan received orders down the line that he was to return to the Nurses’ Home and cover the withdrawal of the Volunteers from McCaffrey’s Estate from that position. In full view of the enemy, Coughlan ran the gauntlet back to the wall, negotiating the barbed wire fence as gunfire cracked from the bushes. Covering the entrance with his rifle, Coughlan waited for his comrades. After what seemed like an eternity, Volunteers began to pass through the doorway. Captain Seán McGlynn appeared and ordered Coughlan to barricade the door. However, Coughlan protested, as he had not seen McDowell come through.

  In McCaffrey’s Estate, McDowell had attempted to lay down a covering fire as the Volunteers withdrew from their position. Unknown to him, a force of British soldiers had attacked and taken Hospital 2–3 (5), which overlooked the field. As McDowell withdrew from his position, he was shot and killed by a British soldier on the second floor of the hospital. William McDowell was forty-four years old and an enthusiastic member of the Gaelic League. A painter by trade, he lived at No. 10 Merchants Quay in Dublin city. He left behind a widow and four children. His brother was also a Volunteer and was in action at the Four Courts. Eventually, Coughlan reluctantly accepted Captain McGlynn’s order and barricaded the door. The dead and the wounded lay where they had fallen.18

  Commandant Ceannt sent a female hospital official from the South Dublin Union to the British military with a written message requesting a short ceasefire in order to remove the wounded and to bury the dead.

  ‘We shall give you no terms, you have killed our Major’ (meaning Ramsay) was their reply. The officer then tore up the note. When the news that a British officer was dead was reported to Ceannt, the Volunteers cheered.19 The firing continued.

  Ceannt’s men at the main gate of the Union (14) had been under continuous fire from the machine-gun position at the Royal Hospital since early afternoon. As darkness spread throughout the complex, the hours of intense fighting began to take their toll on the Volunteers. Max Caulfield describes the day of warfare:

  The fighting had deteriorated into a game of cat and mouse; a nerve-racking, heart-stopping battle of unexpected death, with rarely a let up. A sense of purpose, a flame of patriotism, still flickered strongly, but by now abstract conceptions had given way to realities and battle had been pared down to its true components. The pressure, in short, had begun to tell.20

  It is estimated that forty-eight men, twenty-five of whom were stationed at headquarters at the Nurses’ Home, were defending the area inside the front of James’s Street. The buildings dominated the inside courtyard giving the defenders maximum cover as well as a clear field of fire over the South Dublin Union. A sentry in the Nurses’ Home became convinced that the British were digging a trench in McCaffrey’s Estate that would allow them to breach the Union’s defences. He woke Lieutenant Cosgrave, who withdrew his pistol from his holster and cautiously moved out into the night. On investigation Cosgrave realised that the trench the sentry was seeing was in fact a pathway of a small house, so he returned to his post to reassure the sentry. However, the sentry then stated that he could hear digging. Cosgrave could also hear a noise, but on investigation he found a loose window blind flapping in the evening breeze. Many of the troops were suffering from nervous exhaustion and nerves were very taut.

  By nightfall, the shooting had almost ceased except for sporadic sniper fire. Brugha organised a group of Volunteers to counteract the British fire. He ordered them to return fire at the plumes of smoke from the British snipers’ positions. Firing soon ceased entirely and an uneasy silence descended on the Union. The Volunteers received their first respite of the day, a meal of corned beef and tea. Their morale remained high as Ceannt toured the positions and encouraged his men. He praised them for their actions under trying conditions and stated that a GHQ had been established in the General Post Office on Sackville Street. Later, at the Nurses’ Home, Ceannt and Brugha inspected survey maps by torchlight. Brugha detailed guards for the night and the men knelt and recited a decade of the rosary before retiring. Not many slept.

  Peadar Doyle and another Volunteer took up guard duty in a room facing the square. As they prepared their post, a cartridge jammed in one of their Howth Mauser rifles causing it to accidentally discharge with a loud bang that alarmed the camp. However, calm was soon restored.

  In the day’s fighting at the Union, both the Volunteers and the British military had suffered heavy casualties. Commandant Ceannt had also lost many of his posts within the Union, but had consolidated his position in the north of the complex.

  On the British side the regimental history of the Royal Irish Regiment states: ‘The young soldiers of the battalion behaved in a splendid manner despite the trying conditions, and although to many it was their first experience of warfare.’21 Having driven the Volunteers back from their outlying posts, the British crown forces now occupied most of the Union.

  The first British reinforcements began to reach Dublin city as the battle in the South Dublin Union raged. Colonel Portal arrived at Kingsbridge Station with the advance guard of the Curragh Mobile Column, from County Kildare. Portal’s 3rd
Reserve Cavalry Brigade consisted of 1,500 armed troops, made up of soldiers from the 8th Reserve Cavalry Regiment (16th/17th Lancers, King Edward’s Horse, Dorsetshire, Oxfordshire Yeomanry); 9th Reserve Cavalry Regiment (3rd/7th Hussars, 2nd/3rd County of London Yeomanry); and 10th Reserve Cavalry Regiment (4th/8th Hussars, Lancashire Hussars, Duke of Lancasters/Westmorland/Cumberland Yeomanry). Having assessed the situation, Portal sent a third of his force by the loop railway line to the North Wall. He then set off to Dublin Castle with the remainder of his troops. The Irish Volunteers had failed to seal off a number of access routes to Dublin Castle and Colonel Portal moved his force in without meeting any serious opposition. The khaki noose was beginning to tighten.

  Chapter 5

  Tuesday 25 and

  Wednesday 26 April 1916

  At 3.45 a.m. on Tuesday, Brigadier General W.H.M. Lowe arrived at Kingsbridge Station with the 25th Infantry Reserve Brigade from the Curragh army camp in County Kildare. Upon his arrival Lowe took personal command of British crown forces in Dublin city. A veteran soldier, Brigadier General Lowe joined the army in 1881 serving in the Egyptian campaign of 1882 and the Burma expedition of 1886. During the Boer War in 1901, Lowe was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and his offensive tactics during this conflict brought him to the attention of his superiors. By 1916 Brigadier General Lowe was the officer commanding the 3rd Reserve Cavalry Brigade, a training component located at the Curragh army camp in County Kildare. The force consisted of the 5th Battalion (extra reserve) Royal Dublin Fusiliers and the 5th Battalion (extra reserve), the Prince of Wales Leinster Regiment. The addition of Lowe’s troops brought the total of British military forces in Dublin to 4,650 men.