January to March, 1916 AD - 1

January: James Connolly, the socialist Labour leader, who was against Capitalism in any form, was originally from the Ulster Province, but he had spent 20 years of his early life in Scotland, where he had witnessed the harsh living conditions there under the British Imperial Empire, and had also spent another 7 years in America, where he could see that life could be so much better in a Free and Independent society an he had since returned to Ireland, to form the Irish Socialist Republican Party, to try and bring this about, and by this date he was more keen then ever to implement an Irish Uprising against the continued repression of the British Imperial Government. At this time, it was under a British Coalition Cabinet led by Herbert Asquith, and they were still involved in their War with Germany, and James Connolly saw it as a good time for the population in Ireland to finally begin to throw off the chains of the oppressive authority of British Imperialism and as he had around 200 members in his Irish Labour group, who were known as the Irish Citizen Army, he was by now well and truly chaffing on the bit to take on the might of the British Imperialists and bring  about Irish Independence / Freedom. Those who were in charge of the I.R.B. / Irish Republican Brotherhood, had been made aware of his intentions and they wanted to stop him from going it alone with only his members from the Irish Citizen Army, so the I.R.B. Military Council decided to physically constrain him for 2 days, during which time they were able to convince him to join their committee towards the same ends and together with Joseph Plunkett, a member of the I.R.B. Council, who was in charge of their military operations, he worked on a joint plan for their intended Irish Easter Uprising, which was originally to be set down for Sunday, April 23rd.

     Among all of the disaffected groups there were 4 main Irish Freedom groups, who were all directly involved in trying to bring about Irish Independence, and among these were the Irish Republican Brotherhood / I.R.B., the "political" Sinn Fein Party, the Irish Volunteers, and the Irish Citizen Army, who had now managed to combine their efforts to try and bring Self Determination to Ireland from the ongoing repression and authority of British Imperialism and also due to the never - ending repression on the Irish population by the previous English and British Governments, there were another 13 smaller independent Irish Freedom groups, who also wanted the repressive authority of the British Imperial Government gone out of Ireland, who were all operating separately, while working towards the same goal. Among these were the Hibernian Rifles, who were an Irish - American Association, and the Erin Hibernians, who both were more then ready to assist the fully committed Irish Republicans, if they were needed. Patrick Pearse, who was now their overall leader was in reality a schoolteacher, a poet and an idealist, who ran the Gaelic Irish language school of St. Enda's at Rathfarnham in the south of Dublin named after St. Enda who had been the first monk to set up on the Aran Islands to spread the Gospels there. (This school is now a museum to the memory of Patrick Pearse, and his brother, Willy who would be also executed with him, just for being his brother by the British Imperial Coalition Government. Patrick Pearse was not only the head of the I.R.B., but also the Director of Operations for the Irish Volunteers, while Thomas Mac Donagh (1878 - 1916) another Irish poet, who was also an I.R.B. member, was the overall commandant of the 4 Irish Volunteer's Dublin Brigades. Both of these men were on the I.R.B. Military Council, and as they were also involved with the Irish Volunteers, they alone had the numbers to try and bring about the intended Easter Uprising while on the other hand, Eoin Mac Neill, who was the Chief - of - Staff of the Irish Volunteers, and Bulmer Hobson their Secretary, had their own personal policy of no violence against the British Imperial Coalition Government forces, unless the Irish Volunteers were forced to defend themselves. The I.R.B. / Irish Republican Brotherhood, had previously made use of the well known outlook of both of these two men in holding down these positions in the Irish Volunteers, as their individual personal attitudes of "non - violence" were also known to the British Imperial Government Intelligence services in the Dublin Castle (The Devil's 1/2 acre). (This had assisted to allay any threat to their building up the number of the Irish Volunteers to 10,000 members.)

January 14th: Michael Collins, who was now 25 years of age, resigned his position with the Guaranty Trust Company in London, and returned to Ireland the next day, in the full knowledge that John Mac Dermot / Sean Mac Diarmada and the I.R.B. were finally getting ready to make their stand against the repressive authority of the British Imperial Coalition Government over Ireland, and on his arrival, he too worked in with Joseph Plunkett on the overall plan for the coming Easter Rising, who would be one of the signatories to the Irish Republican Proclamation, for which he too would pay the ultimate price, when he would be executed by a firing squad under the direction of the British Coalition Government, while his two brothers would be imprisoned, and their father, Count Plunkett and their mother also, would be arrested and severely castigated and humiliated. Michael Collins had also joined the Keating branch of the Gaelic League, which was now under the control of Cathal Brugha / Charles Burgess as their President, while he too waited for the coming action to occur, as did many of the other Irish men who were by now in the know, who had returned from Britain with the same objective in mind.

February: Eoin Mac Neill, the Chief of Staff of the Irish Volunteers, let it be known, that any military action on the part of the Irish Volunteers, that might be taken against the British Imperial Coalition Government, would in his opinion be morally wrong, while on the other hand the militant Irish Nationalist groups of which the I.R.B. / Irish Republican Brotherhood was the strongest under the leadership of the idealist, Patrick Pearse, were not to let this once in a lifetime opportunity pass by as all they knew by now was that they wanted to make a strike for Irish Independence / Freedom from the ongoing authority of the British Imperial Government, before their present War with Germany was to come to an end. James Connolly, the socialist Labour leader along with his Irish Citizen's Army compatriots, were more then ready to give it a go, and make their own "ultimate sacrifice," as they believed in their hearts, that the whole Country would be motivated to folow suite.

March 4th: Meanwhile in America, an Irish Convention was organized on this day by the Clann na Gael / The Organization there, where they also founded "The Friends of Irish Freedom" to assist the population in Ireland in any way they could to finally obtain Irish Independence / Self - Determination.

March 17th: All of the Irish Volunteer Brigades in Ireland came out in force for the St. Patrick's Day parade, and a little of what was to lay ahead for Ireland under the strong personality of the dour Eamonn de Valera, who was their commandant at this time, occurred, when during the march he not only clashed with Sean Fitz Gerald his Vice - Commandant, but also with Michael O Rahilly / The O Rahilly, who were both later to be transferred out of his battalion. 

March 19th: The general Irish population were also becoming more restless, as numerous demonstrations began occurring, first at the hurling match being conducted in aid of the founder of the Irish Republican movement, Theobold Wolfe - Tone at the Wolfe Tone Memorial, and another at the "political" Sinn Fein Party hall, were shots were fired at the British Imperial Coalition Government's Dublin Castle R.I.C. police, and Sergeant Ahearn from the R.I.C. police there was wounded.

March 20th: Further demonstrations then occurred also at Tullamore in Co. Offaly in the north - west of Southern Leinster.

March 24th: Augustine Birrell, the British Imperial Coalition Government's Chief Secretary in Ireland, finally began to realise that things were getting to be a little bit more serious with the general Irish population, but he was still convinced that with his strong British Military force in Ireland he had the Irish well under his control, and to further secure his position, he had Liam Mellowes and Ernest Blythe arrested and transported to be imprisoned in England, but despite their incarceration, Liam Mellowes was to be physically able to escape, and made his way over to America and later on, during the Easter Uprising, he was to return to command the Irish National Volunteers in the west of Ireland.

                  Home Page                                                                                  Return to Celtic Heritage                                                                            On to 1916 AD - 2 / April