1917 AD - 2 / July to December

July: The Irish Convention previously set up by David Lloyd - George, when he was the British Imperial Coalition Government's Home Minister, under the chairmanship of Sir Horace Plunkett was held, but the "political" Sinn Fein Party and the Ascendancy Unionists refused to participate in it, which meant that the only two political parties in Ireland, whonow actually represented the people in Ireland, did not attend, while those who did attend, what was in reality only Lloyd - George's Convention, were now out of touch with the majority of the general mind set of the population in Ireland, and really did not represent the actual views of the people of Ireland at this time.

August: William Thomas Cosgrave, the Treasurer of the "political" Sinn Fein Party, had previously been sentenced to death by the British Imperial Court Marshall, and was then given a reprieve and although he also was still being held in a prison in England, he was elected in another bye - election also, on behalf of the "political" Sinn Fein Party, as the Irish M.P. for Co. Kilkenny in the south - west of Southern Leinster where he had 772 votes, in opposition to another Magennis from the Irish Parliamentary Party, who only polled 392, William Thomas Cosgrave, was to eventually go on to become the first Taoiseach / leader of the Irish Free State (26 Counties of the 32 Counties of Ireland) from 1922 - 1932 while the proscribed policy of the "political" Sinn Fein Party, of non - attendance at the British Westminster Parliament, was to also be carried out by Laurence Ginnell the outspoken Irish Parliamentary Party member, who had previously personally reacted positively to the 1916 Easter Rising executions like no other person in his Party. Eoin O Duffy, who was an engineer from Co. Monaghan in Southern Ulster, also now joined the new revamped I.R.B. / Irish Republican Brotherhood, and he was to later on become the head of the Garda / Irish Civil Police in 1922, when the Irish Free State, which would only consist of the other 26 Counties of Ireland was to come into "legal" existence under the British Imperial Government. Never one to give in to actual reality, the British Imperial Coalition Government then made a further move on the Irish Republicans, arresting all up another 84  members of the Irish population, including Austin Stack, Fionan Lynch and Thomas Ashe, who they also put before their British Court Martials on a charge of "Seditious Speech," which was in reality expresing and bringing forward the Irish Republican arguments for Irish Independence / Freedom. Amongst the other Irish Nationalists also arrested, were the officers from the Irish Volunteers for drilling their menout in the open, and they too were imprisoned with 40 other Irish men, who were then all interned together in Mountjoy Jail in Dublin, where Austin Stack became their leader, until in the future they too were to be released from the prison. 

September 20th: The Irish Republican prisoners, being held in Mountjoy Jail in Dublin, including Thomas Ashe went on a hunger strike, as they wanted to be treated by the British Imperial Government as what they truly were, "Irish political prisoners," not common criminals,

September 25th: Thomas Ashe / Tomas Aghas who was from Co. Kerry in the south - west of the Munster Province, was a teacher, a poet, a balladeer, and a Gaelic language speaker, the campaign organizer for Co. Clare, and a strong supporter of the I.R.B. / Irish Republican Brotherhood, while the staid Eamonn de Valera was not and he had previously been second in command to Eamonn de Valera, while they were previousl;y being held in Lewes Jail in England, as he had commanded a group during the 1916 Irish Easter Rising at Ashbourne, for which he had been sentenced to life imprisonment by a British Court Martial. He now was to die instead, within 5 days at the Mater Hospital, after being force fed by the British Coalition Government authorities in the Mountjoy Jail, where during that time 30,000 Irish people had visited the hospital to pay him homage for his continuing commitment to Irish Independence / Freedom and the Coroner, was to lay the blame for his untimely demise on the British Imperial Coalition Government's Dublin Castle, (The Devil's 1/2 acre) authorities, as he had also been left to lie on the cold floor for 50 hours straight with no bed, no bedding and no boots. Michael Collins, was to ensure that his funeral was to become a great Irish National demonstration, with 9,000 Irish National Volunteers and 30,000 mourners in Ireland, followed the procession of his remains through the streets of Dublin and then the rest of the Irish Republican prisoners were then removed from Mountjoy Jail in Dublin, by the British Dublin Castle authorities to a prison further north at Dundalk in the north - east of Northern Leinster. The prisoners who were still on the hunger strike were to be released, being brought on by the pressure of World opinion on the continuing negative actions of the British Imperial Coalition Government, and among those who were released were Arthur Griffith, Austin Stack and Richard Mulcahy.

     George Gavan Duffy, the son of the Charles Gavan Duffy the previous Young Irelander who had become the Premier of Victoria in Australia, and possibly the Father of Federation there, had by now become a solicitor, and was another of the Irish negotiators, and he would be among those who were to also sign an Anglo - Irish Treaty in England in 1922.  

    Tomas Derrig, now also joined the "political" Sinn Fein Party, and was to be eventually deported from Ireland by the British Imperial Government for doing so, while Frank Aiken, who was to eventually lead the anti - Treaty I.R.A. at the end of the Civil War in Ireland, over the Anglo - Irish Treaty in 1922, at this time became the "political" Sinn Fein Party organizer for South Armagh in the Ulster Province.  -

   Cathal Brugha / Charles Burgess, had by now become the leader of the Irish Volunteers, which placed him in theory, in one instance over Michael Collins in that particular organization, which was to lead to disharmony from his own personal point of view, which was always also a very staid and stubborn one, which may have been why he was to be so drawn towards the staid Eamonn de Valera.   

September 25th: David Lloyd - George as the British Home Minister, had previously set up his own Irish Convention to impress the Irish Americans in the U.S.A., who had entered the War a month before, and he had also invited Arthur Griffith the founder and leader of the "political" Sinn Fein Party to try and silence any criticism, but it became a farce when it was strongly boycotted and his hand picked members were to eventually meet at there various centres where the discussions were basically on Irish Home Rule where the Ascendancy Unionists were to be just as intractable as they were in 1914, while John Redmond, the surviving Irish Parliamentary Party leader, was still willing to compromise.

    Eamonn de Valera, the previous staid Irish Volunteer Dublin Brigade commander, who had by now been also elected on behalf of the "political" Sinn Fein Party for East Co. Clare, was now becoming more militant in his speeches for Irish Independence, and he also now became a member of the "political" Sinn Fein Party National Council and the Provisional Executive of the Irish Volunteers.

October 25th: The "political" Sinn Fein Party, held their 10th Ard Fheis / Irish National Convention over 2 days, at the Mansion House in Dublin, where 1200 Sinn Fein Clubs were represented by 1700 delegates, with the 1,200 Sinn Fein Clubs, in reality well in the controlling hands of the Irish Republicans, with a total membership of 250,000 and Arthur Griffith, in prior discussion with the staid Eamonn de Valera, had declined his own nomination to become the President of the Sinn Fein Party, and stood aside in deference to the staid Eamonn de Valera in the interests of continuing his dedicated goal of Irish Unity. Also on his proposal, Eamonn de Valera was then elected the President of the Sinn Fein Party for an Independent Irish Republic, and was to receive 500 pounds as an annual allotment, and would continue now to hold this position until 1926 as Count Plunkett, too had also withdrawn his own nomination for the President's position in deference to Eamonn de Valera, in the interests of Irish Unity. Arthur Griffith, then stood for Vice - President receiving 1197 votes out of the total 1200, while 24 others were elected to the executive positions, including the young Michael Collins and his friend Harry Boland. William. T. Cosgrave and Laurence Ginnell, were elected as their Treasurers, while Austin Stack and Darrell Figgis / le Fykeis were elected as their Secretaries. Countess Constance Markievicz, was to find it necessary to make a personal attack on Eoin Mac Neill's role during the 1916 Easter Uprising, over him countermanding Patrick Pearse's orders, but both Arthur Griffith and Eamonn de Valera defended his position in that instance, and he too was also elected to the Executive of the "political" Sinn Fein Party.

       The "Dail Eireann" / Irish Assembly, was put forward to be the official name of the new Irish Parliament, to be set up by the elected representatives of the Irish people themselves, with any persons receiving a pension from the British Imperial Armed forces or holding positions that involved the Oath of Allegiance to the British Crown to be excluded from the membership of the "political" Sinn Fein Party as their  2 basic aims were to be: 1. Secure International recognition of Ireland as an Independent Irish Republic.  2. That the Irish population may then freely choose their own form of Government. (As these two aims were the basic requirements of all those at the Ard Fheis / Irish National Convention this then gave them a United front.

October 27th: The first meeting of the new Irish National Volunteers, was held at the Gaelic Athletic Association grounds, for which Michael Collins had drafted their Constitution, and Cathal Brugha / Charles Burgess stood down as their leader, and offered the position to the staid Eamonn de Valera, who was then elected in his place, and he was to hold onto this position also until 1922, which meant that both the Irish Nationalist political and the Irish Nationalist military movements, were now under the control of the same man, the staid Eamonn de Valera. (He was to deny any pro - German sympathy, and also that he would discourage any violence during the conduct of the present War.) Cathal Brugha, was then elected as the Chief of Staff of the Irish Volunteers, and Michael Collins their full time Director of Organization, and power was also given to their Executive to also declare War against the British Imperial Coalition Government if they still intended to bring "Conscription" into Ireland and they also repeated their aims, to secure and maintain the right and liberties common to all the people of Ireland, to train and equip the Irish Volunteer forces, and to unite all Irish men and women regardless of their creed, their party or their class.

     The remaining Irish prisoners, that had previously been shifted to the Dundalk Jail in the north - east of Northern Leinster, by the British Imperial Coalition Government after the unfortunate death of Thomas Ashe, were now released, and General French the British Military Viceroy was then appointed by the British Imperial Coalition Government to take over control of Ireland for them and he immediately went about arresting all of the "political" Sinn Fein Party leaders, but Fate intervened once again as Michael Collins was one of those that he missed. He also proclaimed the Irish meetings that had been set down for Newbridge and Waterford  to be illega and altogether 84 Irish Republicans all up were to be arrested after the elections in Co. Clare, in a show of political force and unity the "political" Sinn Fein Party, the Irish Parliamentary Party and the Irish Labour Party came together to declare War on any kind of British Conscription in Ireland and between them they now created an Irish National Defence Fund and the British Imperial Coalition Government then forbade the publication of any mention of it.

December 14th: The General Elections were held for the British Westminster Parliament in England, for the first time, where the vote was given to "women" over 30 and men over 21, and David Lloyd - George the Welshman the leader of a British Coalition Government became their new Prime Minister for 4 years, with the assistance of the 67 Labour members and the 32 Independent Liberals there as the British Liberal Party in it's own right had by now disintegrated completely over Irish Home Rule, to become more commonly known now as the Liberal Unionists. The "political" Irish Sinn Fein Party won 3/4 of all the seats in Ireland, while many of their elected representatives were still being held in various prisons in England by the British Coalition Government but despite this out of a total of 105 seats in Ireland, they had won 73 seats, and refused to take up the actual seats in the British Westminster Parliament and swear the Oath of Allegiance to the British Crown. The Irish Parliamentary Party still under the leadership of John Redmond, were now down to only 6 seats and from now on were basically out of play in any "political" sense.

    Michael Collins, personally won 2 seats in both West Co. Cork in Southern Munster, and Co. Armagh in the south - east of the Ulster Province, while Arthur Griffiths also won 2 seats in both East Co. Cavan in Southern Ulster and Co. Tyrone - Co. Fermanagh also in Southern Ulster, while the staid Eamonn de Valera took out another 2 seats in East Co. Clare in the north - west of Munster, and Co. Down in the south - east of Ulster and Countess Constance Markievicz, was now also the Sinn Fein Party M.P. for St. Patrick's in Dublin, and would go down in British History as the "first woman" ever elected to the British House of Commons, and would remain their representative until 1922. The Ascendancy Unionists had won 25 seats, with 2 of these being "guaranteed appointments" for Trinity College, and another also in Dublin, while an extra seat went to an Independent Unionist. 

     The Irish Republican Brotherhood / I.R.B. was to send Dr. Patrick Mac Cartan / Padraig Mac Artain to America, to act as their envoy there to the Clann na Gael / The Organization and to their Irish - American interests.

    Francis Ledwich / Ledwidge who was an Anglo - Irish poet, who had been born in 1897 AD opposite Rosnaree at Janesville near Slane in Co. Meath in Northern Leinster, died this year, whose original family members had come into the east of Co. Meath in 1200 AD and eventually settled into Co. Westmeath in Northern Leinster.and he had also been an Irish Nationalist compatriot of Thomas Mac Donagh and Patrick Pearse, who like him were also poets, who had been heavily involved in the 1919 Easter Rising and he had written the "Lament for Thomas Mac Donagh," a week after his execution in 1916 AD by the British Imperial Coalition Government.

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