1919 - 1 / January - March
1919 January: Dr. Patrick Mac Cartan the previous founder of the Dungannon Clubs in the Ulster Province in an attempt to try and bring about Irish independence / Freedom was the envoy in America for the Provisional Irish Government, and he would eventually notify those in authority in Washington that Ireland had severed political relations with the British Imperial Government, and that the "political" Sinn Fein Party their elected representatives were now at War with the British Military forces of Occupation in Ireland.
The Irish political prisoners still being held by the British Imperial Government in the Belfast Jail in Co. Antrim in the the north - east of the Ulster Province were now also put into irons to add to their suffering and misery and were also to be confined permanently in their cells there for another 5 months.
January 10th: Michael Collins and Gerald Boland had gone over to Manchester in England to try and organize for Eammon de Valera the President of the "political" Sinn Fein Party to carry out his planned escape from Lincoln Jail there, to gain further publicity for the cause of Irish Independence and to also increase the prestige of the "political" Sinn Fein Party and to try and bring this about they arranged for Fintan Murphy to turn up at the jail with a copied key concealed in a cake, but it would not fit the lock.
The
politically elected
Irish Republicans who were still free in
Ireland, decided
that they
would now form
the
1st
Dail Eireann /
Irish Assembly for the
Provisional
Government of Ireland by the
Irish people themselves from those
previously elected
representatives of the Irish
people at the Mansion House
in
Dublin, which
was
against the realities of the continuing
British
Imperial Government suppression
on all things Irish and together with the rest of the
Irish population they would have to endure more of the same, and
although elected once again
have to physically fight against the
Military might of the British Imperial Government in Ireland for a further
3 years to
eventually obtain this normal
right. The
105 Irish M.P's
who had been
elected for the whole of Ireland
were invited to participate in the
1st
Dail Eireann, but the
Unionists from their stronghold in the north
- east of the
Ulster Province, and the
dying embers of the ailing
Irish
Parliamentary Party failed to show.
George Gavin Duffy an
M.P. and solicitor from the
"political"
Sinn Fein Party
(the son of Gavin Charles Duffy)
had already drafted the
Irish
Constitution, so they went
ahead and formed
the 1st Dail Eireann / Irish Assembly although
36 out of the
73
Sinn Fein Party members who
had been elected for Ireland were
still being held in British
prisons in England, while another
4
members who had
been elected were out
of the Country, and
5
others who had also been elected were physically unable to attend.
Michael Collins
and
Harry Boland
were also still at this time in England trying
to arrange for
Eammon de Valera to escape
from his incarceration in the
Lincoln Prison there.
January
21st:
The elected members of the
1st Dail Eireann
the 1st
Irish Parliament of
the Irish Republic
met after
being formed from the
27 Irish
representatives / M.P.s who were now physically able to attend with
Cathal Brugha / Charles Burgess acting as their
Chairman, while
Eammon de Valera and
35
of the other elected
Irish M.P.s
were still safely locked away in the
British Imperial Government prisons in England where they had been
incarcerated
initially by the British
Coalition to stop them from electioneering in
Ireland.
The members
of the the
1st Dail Eireann
and their respective elected
Irish seats were Robert Barton
/ West Wicklow,
Piaras Beaslaoi
/
East Kerry,
Earnan de Blaghd / North Monaghan,
Harry Boland / South Roscommon,
Joseph Mac Bride / West Mayo,
Cathal Brugha
/ Co. Waterford,
Domhnall O Buachalla
/ Kildare, Seamus Burke
/ Mid Tipperary, Alec Mac Cabe
/ South Sligo,
Pierce Mac Cann
/ East Tipperary,
Padraig O Caoimh
/ North Cork, Dr.
Patrick
Mac Cartan
/ Co. Offaly,
Sean T. O Ceallaigh
/ College Green, Dublin,
J.J. Clancy
/ North Sligo,
M. P. Colivet / Limerick City,
Con Collins /
West Limerick,
Michael Collins / Cork
and Armagh,
Art O Connor / South Kildare,
*Liam T. Cosgrave
/ North
Kilkenny, Dr. Crowley
/ North
Mayo, James Crowley
/
North
Kerry,*Dr.
B. Cusack / North Galway,
Joseph O Dougherty / North Donegal,
*James Dolan
/ Leitrim,*
Joseph Mac Donagh / North Tipperary,
George Gavin Duffy
/
South Co. Dublin, Eamonn Duggan
/ South
Meath,*Sean Etchingham
/ East Wicklow, *Sean Mac Entee
/ South Monaghan,*Frank Fahey
/ South Galway,*Desmond Fitz
Gerald / Pembroke, Dublin,
*Paul Galligan / West Cavan,
*Laurence Ginnell
/ Westmeath,*Joseph
Mac Grath / St. James, Dublin,
*Arthur Griffith
/ North West Tyrone
and East Cavan,*Joseph Mac
Guinness / Longford, *Dr.
Richard Hayes
/ East
Limerick, Sean Hayes
/ Cork,
Kevin O Higgins
/ Laois / Leix,*T.
Hunter / North East Cork,
J.J. O Kelly / Louth, *Tom
Kelly / St. Stephens Green,
Dublin,
D. Kent
/ East Cork,
*Frank Lawless
/ North Co.
Dublin,*J. Lennon
/
Carlow,
Diarmuid Lynch
/ South East
Cork, *Fionan Lynch
/ South
Kerry,*Sean O Mahony
/ South
Fermanagh,
Padraic O Maille
/ Connemara, James O Mara
/ South Kilkenny,*Countess
Constance Markievicz / St. Patricks, Dublin, Liam Mellowes
/ North
Meath and East Galway, P. J. Moloney
/ South Tipperary, Richard
Mulcahy /
Clontarf, Dublin,
Eoin Mac Neill / Derry City
and the
National University, Count
Plunkett / North Roscommon,
Liam de Roistre
/
Cork City, Dr.
J. Ryan
/
South Wexford,*Liam Sears / South Mayo,
Phillip Shanahan
/
Harbour, Dublin,*Austin
Stack / West Kerry, Michael
Staines / St. Michans, Dublin,
Joseph Sweeney /
West Donegal, *Roger
Sweetman / North Wexford,*Terrence
Mac Swiney / Mid Cork,
*Brian
O hUigin / West Co. Clare,*Eamonn
de Valera / East Clare
and
East Mayo,
J. J. Walsh /
Cork City,
P. J. Ward /
South Donegal,
While the
1st
Dail
/ Irish Assembly was being formed
Dan Breen / Ua Braoin and
Sean Treacy / Ua Treasaigh from the
Irish Volunteers decided to move things
along in
preparation for what was to come, and on their own initiative they endeavoured to obtain a quantity of gelignite from
a quarry in Co. Tipperary
in the north - east of the Munster Province without realising the full consequences of their
individual action that now began the
Irish War of Independence,
as it was guarded by the Royal Irish
Constabulary / R.I.C. and during their escapade
two of the
R.I.C were shot and killed and
the result of this was that
10,000 pounds reward was
then offered
for the capture of
Dan
Breen alone by the
British
Coalition Government.
January 22nd:
On this day, Eammon De
Valera
was ""officially" elected the President
of the 1st
Dail Eireann / Irish Parliament
until 1921,
although he
was still imprisoned in
Lincoln Jail
in England, and
Cathal Brugha
was
elected the Acting - President
until Eamonn de Valera could be physically available to take up his position.
Sean O
Kelly became their
Speaker,
and they
were to set up the various Irish Departments under the
"Big Fellow,"
Michael Collins
as
the Minister of
Home Affairs, while
Eoin
Mac
Neill
took up
Finance, Count
Plunkett
/
Foreign Affairs, Richard Mulcahy
/ Minister for Defence,
Countess
Constance Markievicz / Labour and
Brian O
Higgins was also elected to the Cabinet. It was decided to put forward
Eammon de Valera, Arthur Griffith and
Count
Plunkett
as the
Irish
delegates of an
oppressed "Small Nation" to the
Peace Conference
to be held in
Paris to seek legitimate
democratic
Irish Independence and they also declared
Irish Independence and ratified the
Irish Republic proclaimed
in the 1916 Easter Rising, and
that the British Imperial Government had no jurisdiction over
Ireland and
that they should therefore evacuate their British Military troops and their oppressive administration
in the Dublin Castle from out of
Ireland altogether.
Eventually
Michael Collins,
Richard Mulcahy
and Cathal
Brugha representing the I.R.A. / Irish Republican
Army were to be the
only ones who were really to be in charge of it all.
On this same day
4
Irish political prisoners were
able to escape from the Usk
Jail in
England, which was a further great
cause for celebration in
Ireland,
and this also assisted in focusing further attention and publicity on the continuing
British Imperial Government's
oppressive
policies in
Ireland.
January 24th: Frank Kelly now arrived at the Lincoln Jail in England to endeavour to push on with Eammon de Valera's plan to escape from there, and he brought with him another cake that also contained another copied key, but it too was not suitable, so Gerald Boland had to return once again with a set of blank keys and files so they could manufacture their own, but they too were unsuitable until Kathleen Talty an Irish school teacher then brought a blank key so that a final master key could be manufactured on site.
January 31st:
Cathal Brugha as the
Acting - President
of the 1st Dail Eireann / Irish Assembly declared that, "A
State of War
existed until the
British
Imperial Military invaders
evacuate our Country," and he further stated that the
Irish Volunteers were now the
"official" Army of
the Irish people and they should resist any violence carried out by the British
Imperial Government's forces and the
Anglo - Irish War was now begun in
earnest, as the
British
Imperial
Government had no intention of releasing their
750 year
hold over
Ireland, and
Liam
Lynch
from Co. Limerick reorganised
the
Co. Cork
Irish Volunteers
in the
Munster Province
in preparation.
Michael Collins
as the
Minister for Home Affairs,
who was still only
27 years of age,
was to
organize the running of the
1st Dail Eireann, with a reward of
10,000
pounds also placed on his head by the
British
Coalition
Government, but
despite this he would
still be able to continue to walk
and ride about the streets of
Dublin
in the future on a bicycle, and
also
develop a secret Intelligence
Network, second to none, until
1921, which reached right into
England, as their spies,
informers and investigators were his main prey. From now on he was to conduct a
hit and run guerrilla war against the
British Imperial Government forces
in
Ireland
at which he was to be so successful
that
the British
Military forces and their
British Army Auxiliaries were to even run a jackpot for the man who could
get
Michael Collins, and they were to put their best
Detectives from the
"G" Division
on the case to
try and track him down.
February: The 3rd Irish Convention of America was held in Philadelphia attended by 5,000 representatives, and they appointed 3 Special Delegates to meet with Woodrow Wilson, the American President, in regard to Irish Independence from the continuing oppression of the British Imperial Government and their only request at this time was that the Irish should receive representation at the forthcoming Peace Conference to be held in Paris as per his previous wartime call for "Self - Determination for the Small Nations." They also created an "Irish Victory Fund," which also brought forward a greater membership for Irish Independence, and the 1,000,000 dollars that was to be pledged began to create internal problems there, as many among them wanted to use it solely for Irish propaganda in America itself, to assist to bring it about as at this time they were not aware of the growing administration costs in Ireland to set up and run the 1st Dail Eireann.
February 3rd:
Michael Collins,
Harry Boland
and
Frank Kelly
began to
instigate their plan to not only free
Eammon de Valera,
but also
Sean Mac Garry
and
Sean Milroy from the British Coalition
Government's
Lincoln Prison in England, and
with the blank key now fully manufactured
to act as a master key, that had been hidden in the cake bought in by
Kathleen Talty, they managed to escape
from the jail and headed for
Workshop, which was 25 mile
away, while
Michael Collins
and those
who had assisted him to ensure their
release returned to London and
Fintan Murphy
then took Eamonn de Valera,
Sean Mac Garry
and
Sean Milroy onto
Manchester were everything went as
had been previously planned by
Michael Collins.
February 4th: The freeing of the
3 Irish political prisoners from Lincoln Prison in England,
especially the escape of
Eammon de Valera
the elected political President of the Sinn Fein Party and the
1st Dail Eireann / Irish Assembly was
reported in the Dublin
newspapers where the reaction to it was tremendous on the part of the
Irish population, but not so in
Britain, but the continuing publicity
over their escape received World - Wide attention, and the ongoing general speculation as to
Eammon de Valera's whereabouts was a further impetus for the overall cause of
Irish Independence. In
anticipation of a hearing at the Peace Conference, Sean
T. O Kelly
and
George Gavin Duffy
were sent to
Paris
personally where they opened up an
Irish
Embassy
to represent the
1st
Dail Eireann / Irish Assembly
while Dr.
Patrick Mac Cartan,
the founder of the
Dungannon Clubs,
had also established an
Irish Dail Eireann Embassy
in
Washington, where he was to advise the
American Government
that the "elected" representatives in
Ireland
had severed
all political relations
with the
British Imperial Government in
England, and that the
Irish Republic
was now at
War with the
British Imperial Government Occupational
forces.
February 11th: Eammon de Valera left Father O Mahony's house where he was staying in England, as he had come under surveillance there, and in disguise he walked many miles with Kathleen Talty to Fallowfield were he stayed for another week.
February 20th:
Eammon de Valera
the political President of the Sinn Fein
Party
and the 1st Dail Eireann, who
was now free
from British Coalition Government control landed in
Dublin and then
went to
Dr.
Farhan's
home in
Merrion Square were he was
interviewed by an
American Journalist
to whom he expressed the opinion that the
American
President
Woodrow Wilson
was the
Great White
Hope for Ireland
to gain entry
into the coming
Peace Conference
in Paris
and if this was to occur the Irish people could then expect that they could
receive Irish Independence
by "political and
democrat" means without the need of any further physical and mental suffering on both sides. From
there he went on to
Archbishop
Walsh's residence, who
personally had
no idea he was in the vicinity, as he was now actually under the protection and care of
Father
Curran, the Archbishop's secretary, who
placed him out of sight in the ground house, which
allowed Eammon de Valera
as their President to
personally be able to attend the next meeting of
the
1st Dail Eireann / Irish Assembly
that was to be held in the
Dublin Whiskey Distillery
building. On this occasion,
Michael Collins
was
re - appointed the Minister for
Finance, and
Arthur Griffiths
the
Minister for Home Affairs,
William Cosgrave became the
Minister for
Local Government, and Kevin O Higgins
the assistant -
Minister for
Local Government,
and
they
were
then also able to set up the Dail
Eireann
"Law Courts and
Departments."
Sean T. O Kelly
had since reported back from
Paris
that the British
Coalition
Government 's
delegation had done it's job well and
Ireland
was not to get a hearing,
as the
"Victorious Nations"
had
decided that their policy applied only to those Nations
who had been held in bondage by those
Countries who they had defeated and the American
President Woodrow
Wilson was
not going to interfere in
domestic issues, especially those of the British Imperial
Empire who he wanted to
personally support his idea of a "League of Nations."
March 4th:
The
American
House of Representatives
in America
now voted
216
to 45
that the Peace Conference
to be held
in Paris
should consider
Ireland's claim for
Self
-
Determination, and
Diarmuid O Hegarty,
who was
later to become the Secretary
of the Irish Free State in
the future, drew up a
"Statement of the Irish Case."
March 6th:
Pierce Mac Cann
from Co. Tipperary
in the north - east of the Munster Province who was being held prisoner
by the British Coalition Government in
Gloucester Jail in
England, died, and was bought back
to Dualla,
and with all of the bad
publicity that his death created for the British
Coalition Government it seemed to have an effect on their
previous stand.
March 8th: Arthur Griffith and the rest of the "political" Sinn Fein Party prisoners who were still being held without cause in prisons in England on the basis of the British Coalition Government's so called "German Plot" were released, and Lord Haldane arrived from England secretly for a settlement, and he stated that if the Irish would drop their extreme claims and their violent methods they would release the rest of the Irish political prisoners held in the jails in England, but nothing came of it and the Irish Volunteers / Irish Republican Army in preparation for what was to come, now decided to raid Collinstown Aerodrome were they secured 75 rifles and 5,000 rounds of ammunition without a single shot being fired.
March 29th:
Michael Collins
also
set up an escape plan to release a further
20 of the Irish
political
prisoners who had been locked away
by the British Coalition Government
in
Mountjoy Jail in
Dublin,
including
Pierce Beaslaoi
/
Beasley and
Patrick Fleming, and
Richard Mac Kee
and
Rory O Connor
were put in
charge of the rescue operation.
The
"political"
Sinn Fein
Party members began to spread the word that
Eamonn de Valera would be
returning to
Ireland
to a reception
by the Dublin
Lord Mayor, who
would present him with the keys to the City of
Dublin, so Ian
Mac Pherson
who was
now the British
Coalition Government's appointed Chief Secretary in Ireland
quickly issued a
Proclamation against it but despite this the
elected members of the 1st Dail
Eireann / Irish Parliament
still wanted to proceed with the occasion, and
Eamonn de Valera would not
go along with the plan as he considered the lives of the
Irish people were not worth
risking, and instead he returned
to Ireland inconspicuously.