1914 AD - 2 / July to December
July 21st: George V, the German Saxe - Coburg British King, summoned all parties who were to be involved in the "artificial partition" of Ireland, to a Conference held in London at Buckingham Palace, under the chairmanship of the Speaker of the British House of Commons, to decide whether the whole of the Ulster Province, or a part of it, would be excluded from Irish Home Rule and John Redmond and John Dillon, desperate to finally resolve the issue, and representing the Irish Parliamentary Party, agreed personally to allow any County in Ulster, who independently voted to do so, to remain outside of Irish Home Rule, for an indefinite period. On the other hand, Edward Carson and James Craig, the Ascendancy Unionists, wanted 5 Counties to be artificially partitioned at this time from Ulster, namely Co. Antrim, Co. Derry, Co, Down, Co. Fermanagh and Co. Tyrone to be permanently excluded.
July 24th:
The meeting on the fate of the "artificial partition"
of the
Ulster Province, ended without
any real final agreement, as the
Irish Home Rule
Bill loomed on the horizon, coming into British Law within a few weeks.
July 26th:
The Irish
National Volunteers, following on from the gun running exercise
previously carried
out in the
Ulster Province by the
Ascendancy Unionist Volunteers,
decided they would try to do the same for their members, and
Eammon
Ceannt /
Kent and
Michael O Rahilly / The Reilly, secured
1,500 rifles and
50,000 rounds of ammunition, which
arrived at the
Howth
Pier
9 mile north of
Dublin, on board
the yacht the
Asgard, on the north side of
Dublin Bay that belonged to
Robert Erskine
- Childers the
Englishman, who
was a cousin of
Robert Childers - Barton,
and he was assisted in these endeavours by
Mary Spring - Rice, and
Gordon Shepherd an
English officer, to carry out this
particular
covert
operation. Mrs.
Childers herself, wore a
red pullover onto the deck of the yacht, to let all know everything was ready to
go, and 800
members of the
Irish National
Volunteers
marched out of
Dublin down to the wharf to pick up the rifles
only, without any ammunition, but the Dublin Castle's
R.I.C. police chief in
Dublin had been tipped off,
and arranged for
200 British Imperial Government Military forces, which included their
R.I.C police, and
100
of the British Imperial Government's
King's Own Scottish Borderers, to intercept the
Irish
Volunteers exercise. By the time
the word was out, they were on their way back
only with the rifles, when the
British Imperial Military forces demanded that they
hand them over and during the scuffle that ensued, only
19 rifles were seized, while
some of the
Irish R.I.C. police, refused to obey
the command of their superiors, for which 2 of them were to be eventually dismissed
from the R.I.C. police force. (Despite
this setback the
Irish National
Volunteers were to gain much prestige
from this engagement in the eyes of those who were looking on that day.) Later on during
the same day,
on the River Liffey
quayside, 2
Irish men and an Irish woman were killed and
32
others were wounded among a crowd there, who were harassing the
British Imperial Military forces with stones, when
they were fired on with live ammunition used by the
Kings Own Scottish Borderers, under the
command of
Major
Haig, and the killing of these
Irish civilians, once more, did nothing to endear the
British Imperial Military forces to the population of
Ireland, and the only result was that the
R.I.C. Chief of Police was
dismissed from his position, even though he wasn't
there during the conflict. By now
John Redmond,
the leader of the
Irish Parliamentary Party's
alliance with Herbert
Asquith, the British Liberal Prime Minister, and his Government
wasn't going too good, and his position was such that he could no longer afford
to lose any more ground during his dealings with them.
August 4th:
On this
day the outbreak of the 1st World War
occurred, between the British Imperial Government and
William 11 the Hohenzollern Emperor of
Germany,
which was in reality really all about the domination of shipping on the high seas, and this
also brought
to the fore further anti - Imperialist
feelings and
Augustine Birrell, the British Liberal Government's Chief Secretary in Ireland, who was set up in the Dublin Castle, was well aware of the activities of the many Irish National groups in Dublin at this time, but considered them to be too weak and splintered to be any danger to the British Imperial Government's overall authority in Ireland and 25% of the Irish population at this time, who lived in Dublin under his administration, carried out on behalf of the British Imperial Government, were still forced to live in one room only in each house, where there were 4 or more people in occupation. 16,000 Irish families altogether in Dublin, were now living below the poverty line, and there was no water or sanitation laid on for them, and they suffered the worst urban death rate in all of the British Isles, and also had the fifth highest death rate in the World.
The
Irish
Republican Brotherhood / I.R.B., were now
1,000
strong, and with the assistance of the
Clann na Gael
/ The Organization
the Irish -
American association's financial support, were now prepared to take every
opportunity
to gain
Irish
Independence / Freedom for
Ireland from the British
Imperial Empire.
August 26th: A Provisional Government had previously been instigated in the north - east of the Ulster Province, by the Ascendancy Unionists under their leader, Edward Carson, to illegally take over the Ulster Province, should Irish Home Rule be bought in and Sir Henry Wilson, the British Director of Military Operations from the British War Office who was from Ulster was opposed to the Irish Nationalists, and to this end he intrigued with Andrew Bonar - Law the leader of the British Conservative Opposition, and also had discussions with the leaders of the Ascendancy Volunteer Force in Ulster.
September:
John Redmond,
the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party,
who was by now really desperate to secure immediate
Irish
Home Rule from
Herbert
Asquith
the British Liberal Prime Minister, made a recruiting speech on behalf of the
British Imperial Government, while
inspecting the
Irish National
Volunteer's parade at
Woodenbridge in
Co. Wicklow in the south -
east of Southern Leinster and on
his own volition he personally committed the
Irish National Volunteers
to service in the British
Imperial Military forces, which upset many of the
Irish National Volunteers who were present.
Arthur Griffith, one
of the founders of the
Gaelic League and
the "political" Sinn Fein
Party (We Ourselves) stated that he would rather see
them defending the
shores of Ireland under the
Irish
Flag, and
their own
Irish
officers as it was
the British Imperial Government in England that was at
War with
Germany,
not Ireland, and
besides that, those in authority in England would
not even give
Ireland
it's own
Home Rule, and
expected the
Irish
population
to continue to foster the
British Empire's oppression
of Ireland.
At this time,
180,000
Irish
National Volunteers were
under the control of
John Redmond and his 25
M.P.
appointees, but because of his speech they were to now split off into
2
separate groups with
13,000
men pulling out and following
Eoin Mac Neill, as the
Irish Volunteer's
Chief of Staff, and
Bulmer Hobson as their Secretary,
under what became the "Provisional
Committee of the
Irish Volunteers," while the rest
of the Irish Volunteers who were to follow John Redmond became known as the
"Redmonites," who would
then form the
"National
Volunteers," with over
80,000
Irish
men
joining the
British Imperial Military forces.
Eoin Mac Neill and
Bulmer Hobson, committed the
Irish Volunteers,
who were now
under the command of the "Provisional Committee,"
to a defensive policy only, with
no aggressive action to be taken, while they were awaiting the
end of the War between the British
Imperial Empire and
Germany, unless the
British Imperial Government tried to bring
in "Conscription."
Herbert Asquith, the British Liberal Prime Minister, made a deal with the Opposition Conservatives not to block the 3rd Irish Home Rule Bill in the unelected Conservative controlled House of Lords, and if they did this he would "artificially exclude" 6 of the Counties from the actual 9 in the Ulster Province in Ireland, to suite the ongoing continuation of the Ascendancy in Ulster, namely Co. Antrim, Co. Armagh, Co. Derry, Co. Down, Co. Fermanagh and Co. Tyrone.
September 18th: The
3rd
Irish Home Rule
Bill,
which was
previously passed two years before in
1912 AD, and "vetoed
twice" by the Ascendancy Conservative dominated unelected
House of Lords,
had by now passed the
2
year
previously
imposed
waiting
period, which was now allowed under British Law
but it had
also since been "altered," by the British
Liberal Government, to "exclude" the
6
of the Counties,
Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Down, Fermanagh
and Tyrone from the 9
Counties that made up the
Ulster Province of Ireland,
purely to continue on with the Ascendancy's "sectarian and ethnic oppression,"
against the general Irish population there. It was passed into British Law,
and placed on their Statute Books,
subject to the so called amendments,
to give an impression of a united front and
Ireland,
under British Imperial Law, had now been "officially" and
geographically "artificially
partitioned"
for the appeasement of the
continuation of the Ascendancy to
persist with their sectarian bigotry,
gerrymandering, vote rigging, instability, murder and mayhem, which was to
continue to still occur
under their jurisdiction, for at least another
70 Years.
Nevertheless, this particular change still did not suite the
Conservative Ascendancy at this time,
and Edward Carson the
Unionist leader, and
the Conservatives, still
walked
out of the Westminster
Parliament in
England and to appease them further, and take the pressure off
of themselves, the
British Liberal Government in a monumental
Imperial blunder made
use of the outbreak of the War with
Germany,
as an excuse, and
"suspended"
Irish Home Rule
for another
12 months or the duration of the
War).
The Irish
population had learnt
over the many Centuries, to have no trust in the
promises
of those in authority in England, and the
Irish Nationalists
now wanted no further excuses bound down by
Constitutional apparatus, that was
always loaded against them anyway, all they
wanted was
Irish Independence / Freedom for the majority of
the Irish population in their own Country and if they now had
to take revolutionary action to achieve this aim,
they were now more then willing to see it through.
The more militant
Irish Nationalists, at this time were still
in their own individual small groups, but as a whole they
viewed
John Redmond's co -
operation with
Herbert Asquith the British
Liberal Prime Minister, as a sell
out of their aspirations, and came out strongly against any British Imperial
Government military recruitment
in Ireland
while
James Connolly,
the socialist leader, who was also the acting -
secretary of
the
Irish
Transport & General Workers Union, now committed the
Irish
Labour movement also against the
recent actions of the British Imperial Government.
September 28th: Eammon de Valera, who was previously a mathematics school teacher, and the commandant of a Dublin Irish Volunteer Division, addressed his men at Donnybrook, where the majority then followed him out of the hall, due to John Redmond's action in committing them to the cause of the British Imperial Government and at this time, they were still committed to the Irish Volunteer intention of having "no political ties" either way, but even so, soon after this, they too began to leave his Irish Volunteer group also, but despite this setback, new recruits with a different outlook then came forward and his particular Dublin Irish Volunteer Division was to grow in strength again.
Terence Mac Swiney, who was to become the Mayor of Cork, (who would later die while in this office, in horrific circumstances in an English prison), at this time began the publishing of the "Fianna Fail" newspaper.
Edmund Duggan / Eamonn O Dubhagain, a solicitor from Co. Meath in the south - east of Northern Leinster, who would be one of those who later on was to be involved in Irish peace negotiations with the British Imperial Government, and also be among those who would sign the Anglo - Irish Treaty, after the Anglo - Irish War, in 1922 AD now also joined the Gaelic League as did Ernest Blythe, from Co. Antrim in the north - east of the Ulster Province, who was also an Irish Volunteer organiser
Joseph Plunkett, went off to America, to advise the leaders of the Clann Na Gael / The Organization the Irish - American Association there, of the situation that was now prevailing in Ireland, in which he was to personally play a large part during the forthcoming 1916 Easter Rising for which he too would be executed in cold blood by the British Imperial Government.
Sean Russell from Dublin,
who in the future would
become an anti - Treaty
I.R.A
leader, also joined the
Irish
Volunteers.
October:
The
"Irish
Neutrality League," was formed this month, by
James Connolly the socialist leader, as their
President while other members were
Arthur Griffith the founder of the "politica"
Sinn Fein
Party
(We Ourselves.)
William O Brien the old
Irish Labour stalwart from
Co. Cork,
Major
John Mac Bride who was totally
committed to
Irish Independence,
Sean Milroy,
and Countess
Constance
Markievicz who was to go close to paying the ultimate price also
for her commitment while trying to bring about Irish
Freedom, although she was originally from the
Ascendancy non - Catholic
family of
Gore - Booth,
who lived near
Drumcliff at Lissadell
in Co. Sligo
in the north - west of the Connacht Province.
(She was descended from
Sir
Francis Gore, who
under
Elizabeth 1st, had a castle at
Ard Termon, which is now in ruins.)
Another member of their group was
Francis Sheehy - Skeffington,
the well known "pacifist,"
who had supported the
3rd Irish
Home Rule Bill,
and
was previously also a member of the
Irish
Citizen Army,
which he had originally joined as a
Labour group to
support the workers, but had since resigned from their
ranks, as he was against any form of violence and even though he was well known as a pacifist in
Ireland, later on he was still
to be imprisoned by the British
Imperial
Government for
just campaigning against the
British Military
recruitment in Ireland,
and would be eventually brutally murdered by a British Imperial Army officer, while
he was assisting
someone in trouble in Dublin,
during the coming conflict in the 1916 Easter
Rising.
October: The British Liberal Government, had previously let down their allies in the Irish Parliamentary Party, by suspending the 3rd Irish Home Rule Bill although it had been passed by the Westminster Parliament, and were also willing to "artificially partition" Ireland to suite the continuance of the sectarian Ascendancy in Ireland and this really upset many of the members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood / I.R.B, who were now more then ever convinced, that an Irish Uprising was going to be the only way to ever achieve any real Irish Independence for the majority of the population in Ireland. From this time on until 1916 AD the Clann na Gael / The Organization the Irish - American Association in America, who were still under the auspices of John Devoy, was to send over 20,000 pounds to further foster the cause of Irish Independence, from what was now 750 years of ethnic and religious oppression by those in authority in England and to assist them to achieve their goal, Sir Roger Casement another Englishman, who was also sympathetic to Ireland's plight, had travelled from New York over to Berlin, where he too tried to secure arms to be used in Ireland by the members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood / I.R.B. for the sole purpose of achieving Irish Independence from British Imperialism. Bulmer Hobson, the non - Catholic Irish Nationalist from Belfast in Co. Antrim in the north - east of the Ulster Province, who had previously organized the Howth gun running episode for the Irish Volunteers, resigned from the I.R.B Supreme Council, as he only wanted them to carry out defensive actions against the British Imperial Military forces.
Thomas Ashe
/ Aghas
who was a school principal in
Co. Kerry in the south - west of the
Munster Province,
and a very reserved person, also joined
the Gaelic
League and the
Irish Volunteers, where he became their leader
in Co. Meath
in the south - east of Northern Leinster
and he too was to die in very unfortunate circumstances at the hands of
the British Imperial Government after
receiving further ill - treatment in one of their prisons.
October 14th:
The
Clann
na Gael / The Organization the Irish - American Association
in
America,
gave their consent to
Sir
Roger Casement to form an
Irish Brigade
from the prisoners -
of - war being held in
Germany, who were already interred there, as this would
release them from their imprisonment, and they could be ready to fight for
Ireland,
if revolutionary
Irish Independence
was ever to occur.
December 4th:
The
British
Imperial Government's Metropolitan Police who operated
from
the Dublin Castle in Ireland,
destroyed the
printing machinery of the
Irish
"Iron Worker"
newspaper, where
James Connolly the socialist leader, was the
acting - Editor, and
as a result the "political"
Sinn Fein Party
newspaper,
"Eire,"
under
Arthur Griffith,
as the editor,
and the
Irish Republican Brotherhood's / I.R.B 's
newspaper
"Irish Freedom"
then
refused to
print their papers also, in protest at the suppression
of the Irish press.
Eventually the
Irish Freedom,
the political
Sinn Fein
Party and
the
Irish
Volunteer newspapers, were all
to be
closed down
also by the
British
Imperial Government,
so they then printed their paper in
Belfast in Co. Antrim in the north - east of the Ulster Province, with an
"Orange" firm
as the
British Imperial Government were
not game to touch them there, and
Arthur Griffith was to still continue to produce the newspaper
"Nationality" there also, until the coming of the
1916 Irish Easter Rising.
December 27th: An Irish Brigade was being gathered together by Sir Roger Casement in Germany who were to be made up of the captured allied prisoners there, in anticipation of their return to Ireland if an Irish Uprising should occur in Ireland, but he could only get 52 out of the 2,500 Irish prisoners there to join in with him.
Meanwhile in
England,
Michael Collins, who would be the future
catalyst to begin to push the
British Imperial Government out
of Ireland, was now promoted to
Treasurer of the
South of
England
London Branch
of the
I.R.B
/ Irish Republican Brotherhood,
and he had also joined the "political"
Sinn Fein Party,
the
Gaelic League and the
Gaelic
Athletic Association and at this time, he was employed in London at the
Guarantee Trust of New York,
where
he gained further monetary experience, and he had also held the
Irish Volunteers
there together, during the previous
split
Fitz Gerald, the 7th Duke of Leinster, lost his family's seat of Carton, not far from Dublin, because of a bet.