1913 AD

January: The 3rd Irish Home Rule Bill with it's limited powers was again opposed by Edward Carson the Conservative "Official Unionist" leader during the third reading and he also put forward an Amendment to exclude all of the Ulster Province, as he knew that John Redmond and the Irish Parliamentary Party would not wear that, and by doing so he was hoping to bring the 3rd Irish Home Rule Bill down altogether, nut despite this his cohort, James Craig, the Ascendancy Conservative Ulster Unionist whiskey millionaire, thinking he was serious, was worried, as there were too many Irish Catholics in the whole of the 9 Counties that made up the Ulster Province to ensure that they would have total Ascendancy control there. Although the 3rd Irish Home Bill was then passed in the Westminster Parliament by the British House of Commons, it was then twice "rejected" once again by the Ascendancy Conservative controlled unelected British House of Lords, by a margin of 10 to 1  and even with the final removal of the "eternal veto" previously held by them over the House of Commons in England, it could still not become legal under British Law until the Summer of 1914 AD.

 Summer: The Ulster Unionist Volunteer Force / U.V.F appointed Sir George Richardson, an Englishman who was a retired British Imperial Army General who had settled in Ireland, and who was previously selected for them by Field - Marshall Roberts, to take over command of their "military" recruits who they had organized to take on the British Liberal Government who were still under the leadership of Herbert Asquith, against any chance of Irish Home Rule being brought in, in Ireland.

September 23rd: Edward Carson now accepted the Chairmanship of a "Provisional Ulster Unionist Government" of 77 members with a Commission of 5 to be set up in the Ulster Province if Irish Home Rule should come into being.

September 28^th: 471,414 Unionist Covenanters in Ulster declared loyalty to George V the German Saxe - Coburg British King, while at the same time also total resistance to the British Liberal Government under Herbert Asquith, while at the same time the Irish Nationalists were now very close to having a Civil War with the violently anti - Irish Home Rulers / The Ulster Unionist Council now under the leadership of Edward Carson, who let it be known that, "He refused to be governed by the "majority" Irish Catholics in Ireland under Irish Home Rule" and all up the Ascendancy Ulster Unionist Council was to enlist 100,000 into the Ulster Volunteer Force. The Ulster Unionist Council had now become an "illegal" Provisional Government in the Ulster Province in opposition to Herbert Asquith the British Prime Minister and the Liberal Government and with Edward Carson as their chairman, the Ulster Unionists were now ready to forcibly take over administration in Ulster, as soon as the Irish Home Rule Bill became "legal" under British Law, and they also set up a Unionist Military Committee to achieve this end.  A 1,000,000 pound fund had also been established by the Unionists, with preparations made to evacuate the women and children to England, as Edward Carson now openly challenged the British Liberal Government to arrest him, but Herbert Asquith the British Prime Minister, decided to leave him alone instead, and was encouraged to do so by John Redmond the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party and by the end of September,56,651 Unionist Covenanters were carrying out military style drilling under license from their JP’s in readiness to oppose Irish Home Rule.

October: By now the Irish strikers in the Dublin area in the north - east of Southern Leinster, who were campaigning for better working conditions, were also being aggressively and brutally treated by the R.I.C. police there, who were acting under the control of the British Liberal Government's Dublin Castle authorities in the Devil's 1/2 acre and because of the incessant brutality used against them there they were now forced to set up their own "Defenders," who became known as the "Irish Citizen's Army," under the direction of Captain Jack. R. White an Ulster Province non - Catholic and James Connolly the socialist leader who were also both fervent Irish Nationalists. The Irish Citizens Army was based on revolutionary socialism believing the ownership of Ireland, moral and material, was vested by normal common rights in the people of Ireland themselves, and they wanted political Irish Independence as the first step towards a worker's Irish Republic and they also did much to stimulate militarist activity throughout the Irish National movement by their example. while the "Orangemen" in the Ulster Volunteer Force / U.V.F were now armed, the Irish Republicans were not, so the Irish Republicans also decided to set up a similar movement, to counteract any aggression that might be carried out against them in the future.

November: Eoin Mac Neill from the Gaelic League, who was a Professor of early Irish History at the University College in Dublin, wrote an article in "An Claidheamh Solais" the Gaelic League paper, where he mentioned the possibility of an Irish Volunteer armed force being put together to protect Ireland, that would be known as the "Irish National Volunteers" that eould be formed on similar lines to the Ulster Volunteers of Dungannon, which was the organization previously formed by the Ulster Unionists, and he little realised at this time that this movement would be used in the future for Irish revolutionary purposes.

November 11th: A meeting was held to discuss the possibility of setting up the suggested Irish National Volunteers, following on from the lead that had already been given by Edward Carson in the Ulster Province, and also defy the authority of the British Imperial Liberal Government in Ireland just as he had also already done. 

November 25th: At the Rotunda Hall in Dublin the "Irish National Volunteers" were founded with Bulmer Hobson, a non - Catholic Irish Nationalist from the Ulster Province as their secretary and Sir Roger Casement a non - Catholic also, who had been born in the Glens of Co. Antrim in the north - east of Ulster also, became their Treasurer, while Joseph Devlin and John Mac Dermott / Sean Mac Diarmada joined their Provisional Irish Volunteer Committee and Joseph Plunkett, who was a poet, and the editor of the "Irish Review" newspaper in Dublin, became the Irish Volunteer's Director of Operations and he also joined the I.R.B. / Irish Republican Brotherhood. Michael O Rahilly / The O Reilly and Thomas Mac Donagh were other co - founders, together with Liam Mellowes, who would eventually be deported to England by the British Imperial Government and Eammon Ceannt / Kent and Arthur Griffith were other founding members who had joined the I.R.B, / Irish Republican Brotherhood also, together with Terence Mac Swiney who was to become the Mayor of Cork who would also co - found the Co. Cork Irish Volunteers. (He was to unfortunately die a tragic death in the future during incarceration also at the hands of the British Imperial Government).

     Eamonn de Valera, the mathematics teacher, who was born of an Irish mother and a Spanish father in America, had been bought to Ireland when he was 5 year old after his father had died in America, and he too joined the Irish Volunteers and was to become a major player in future Irish History, as well as the future Taoiseach (leader) Prime Minister and President of Ireland. Cathal Brugha / Charles Burgess who was a branch President of the Gaelic League together with William Thomas Cosgrove, Frank Aiken from Co. Armagh in the Ulster Province, Richard Mulcahy / Risdeag Ua Maol Chathaigh from Co. Waterford in the Munster Province and Ned Daly also joined, while Austin Stack was to become a founder member of the Co. Kerry Irish Volunteers. The Irish Volunteers was to be at first set up without any specific role, under the leadership of Eoin Mac Neill, which suited the I.R.B. / Irish Republican Brotherhood who knew the British Liberal Government would see no harm in him as the President also of the Gaelic League. (At this stage it was certainly not set up to take on the Ulster Volunteers or to support Irish Home Rule, but future events would change this). Despite initially having no specific role the members of the I.R.B. ensured that they held many of the key positions in it, and many Irish recruits rushed to join up, including many members of the Gaelic Athletic Association. Patrick / Patraic Henry Pearse, a poet and a schoolmaster, who would play a very important role in the scheme of things, was another who joined the Irish Volunteers, who was also a member of the Gaelic League, which he firmly believed could be used to rekindle the Irish Spirit in Ireland. His father, James Pearse / Pierce was originally from Devonshire in England, while his mother was Irish, and he too had been reared in Ireland, and although he was originally a barrister, he was to make a great success of his School of St. Enda, were he put all his efforts into promoting the Irish Gaelic language. He too was also to pay the ultimate price, when he was to eventually become the actual early leader of the fight for Irish Independence in the coming 1916 Easter Rising, and would also be executed by the British Imperial Government, along with his brother, Willie Pearse who was to be also executed by the British Imperial Government in cold blood, for no other reason then he was his brother. Patrick Pearse also joined the I.R.B and spoke at the Theobold Wolfe - Tone Annual Commemoration were he stated that the connection with England must be broken, as it seemed that England had always sent the same message, that for the Irish people to obtain any chance of justice in Ireland that "Blood must flow."

      John Redmond the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party was now embarrassed by the formation of the Irish National Volunteer movement, and he saw their independence was a menace to his own authority, and so he just tried to ignore them and as the Ulster Volunteers in the Ulster Province had already been armed, the British Liberal Government prohibited any further arms from being imported into Ireland thereby denying any arms to the Irish National Volunteers.

   James Larkin the leader of the Irish Transport & General Workers Union had organized a strike in the Dublin area for all the poorly paid workers within it's confines and the surrounding areas, and this particular strike was then followed by a lockout, which was to drag on for 5 months, and was to create many clashes between the Irish workers and the R.I.C. / Royal Irish Constabulary police, acting under the authority of the Dublin Castle authorities, until it was to be eventually broken.

   James Connolly the committed socialist leader had co - founded the left - wing, Irish Citizen Army with Captain Jack White an ex - British Army Officer, as had been initially suggested by James Larkin to defend the workers during the lockout, and it was to be eventually comprised of over 200 members, who dealt with any of the street fighting during the conflicts and Sean O Casey became their Secretary, and he was to guide them in the futur, while Countess Constance Markievicz nee Gore - Booth led the women's support group, and she had also previously founded the "Fianna Boys" who were to be used as message carriers, during the coming 1916 Easter Rising.

   Ireland at this time was still kept well and truly under control by the British Imperial Military forces and their 10,000 members of the Dublin Castle Government's R.I.C. police force.

   The British Imperial Liberal Government's intended Military Service Bill / Conscription was also to bring on a further strike in Dublin and a general lockout, which was to lead to their leader James Larkin also being imprisoned by them and when he was to be released later on he was to go to America and James Connolly the committed "socialist" and leader of the workers' defenders, the Irish Citizen's Army, was to also take over his role as the leader of the Irish Workers.  

   Francis Sheehy - Skeffington who was a well known "pacifist" now joined the "Peace Committee," as he firmly believed in non - violence, but despite this he would be violently murdered in 1916 by a British Imperial Army officer in cold blood for no reason at all, while he was assisting others among the Irish population during the conflict. At this time 16 members on the British Liberal Government's Dublin Corporation in the Devil's 1/2 acre owned 89 of the tenements and second class houses in Dublin, which by now had the record for the "worst slums in Europe."

     Canon Patrick Sheehan (1852 - 1913) who had been the parish priest at Doneraile in Co. Cork in Southern Munster since 1895 up until now, was a well known Irish author who died this year, and a bronze statue of him was to be erected outside of the Catholic Church in Doneraile and his last novel "The Graves of Kilmorna" was to be released in 1915 was to describe the Fenian National Movement of 1867 AD, with the 1916 Easter Rising following soon after.

                 Home Page                                                                                     Return to Celtic Heritage                                                                      On to January - June; 1914 - 1