Read Online The Irish Revolution, 1916-1923 by Marie Coleman - Free Book Online
Authors: Marie Coleman
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incendiarism, might endanger rebel-held posts. Many families in the city also had male relatives fighting with the British Army in France, and this accounts for the particular bitterness that the rebels encountered from so-called separation women (wives who received a separation allowance while their husbands were at war) (McGarry, 2010: 142–8).
The rebels also encountered significant hostility from Dublin's commercial and propertied elite, aghast at the destruction wrought by the uprising on the commercial centre of the city. Recent research has also highlighted the role of class distinctions in underlying this antipathy, as many of the rebels, especially those in the ICA, came from working-class backgrounds and the hostility of the city's employers to trade unionism, especially during the lockout, was still fresh in their minds. Religion might also have played some part in such attitudes, as the rebels were overwhelmingly Catholic, whereas a significant part of Dublin's commercial elite was Protestant and held unionist political sympathies. Class, as well as contemporary mores, partly explains the extent of the hostility displayed towards female rebels, much of which was directed at Markievicz (McGarry, 2005: 139, 160, 164–5). However, within a short space of time, Dublin's hostility, and the general lack of public support for the political aims of the rebels, was to be transformed.
Immediately after the Rising over 3,500 people were arrested, more than 1,800 of whom were interned in prisons in Britain, although 1,200 werereleased within a few weeks (Foy and Barton, 1999: 347). Many of these had little or no involvement in the Rising and were rounded-up because of suspected Sinn Féin sympathies. The experience turned many into ardent republicans on their return to Ireland. Inexplicable decisions, such as the arrest of 27 people in Roscommon town, which had played no role in the Rising, illustrated the mistakes made by the authorities in Ireland that helped to galvanise support for the rebels in the aftermath of the Rising (McGarry, 2010: 265).
One hundred and eighty-seven of the most senior rebels were courtmartialled in secret, under the provisions of martial law imposed during the Rising, including Markievicz, the only woman tried at the highest level. Only 11 were acquitted and 88 were initially sentenced to death by firing squad, although most of these were subsequently commuted to periods of penal servitude. The 15 subsequently executed were charged with taking ‘part in an armed rebellion and in the waging of war against his Majesty, the King’. With the exception of Patrick Pearse's younger brother, Willie, all the accused pleaded not guilty. The prosecution and subsequent execution of Willie Pearse, in spite of his limited role in the Rising, has been seen as a reaction to his brother's rather than his own involvement. The courts martial relied heavily on the evidence of soldiers involved in the fighting or captured by the rebels, much of which was ‘entirely circumstantial, misleading and inaccurate’. Although the proclamation was not relied upon heavily during the trials, it was a significant factor in the decision of Sir John Maxwell, effectively the military governor of Ireland, to confirm the death sentences of the seven men who had signed it (Barton, 2002: 28–40).
The executions took place in Kilmainham Jail between 3 and 12 May. In addition to the seven signatories of the proclamation and Willie Pearse, the Dublin commanders executed included Michael Mallin of the ICA, and from the Volunteers Edward Daly, Michael O’Hanrahan, John MacBride, Seán Heuston and Con Colbert. One execution took place outside Dublin, that of Thomas Kent, a Cork Volunteer who was charged with the ‘wilful murder’ of a policeman following a stand-off with the police at the Kents’ farm in Castlelyons, near Fermoy, the week after the surrender during which Kent's brother, Richard, was also killed (Townshend, 2005:
The rebels also encountered significant hostility from Dublin's commercial and propertied elite, aghast at the destruction wrought by the uprising on the commercial centre of the city. Recent research has also highlighted the role of class distinctions in underlying this antipathy, as many of the rebels, especially those in the ICA, came from working-class backgrounds and the hostility of the city's employers to trade unionism, especially during the lockout, was still fresh in their minds. Religion might also have played some part in such attitudes, as the rebels were overwhelmingly Catholic, whereas a significant part of Dublin's commercial elite was Protestant and held unionist political sympathies. Class, as well as contemporary mores, partly explains the extent of the hostility displayed towards female rebels, much of which was directed at Markievicz (McGarry, 2005: 139, 160, 164–5). However, within a short space of time, Dublin's hostility, and the general lack of public support for the political aims of the rebels, was to be transformed.
Immediately after the Rising over 3,500 people were arrested, more than 1,800 of whom were interned in prisons in Britain, although 1,200 werereleased within a few weeks (Foy and Barton, 1999: 347). Many of these had little or no involvement in the Rising and were rounded-up because of suspected Sinn Féin sympathies. The experience turned many into ardent republicans on their return to Ireland. Inexplicable decisions, such as the arrest of 27 people in Roscommon town, which had played no role in the Rising, illustrated the mistakes made by the authorities in Ireland that helped to galvanise support for the rebels in the aftermath of the Rising (McGarry, 2010: 265).
One hundred and eighty-seven of the most senior rebels were courtmartialled in secret, under the provisions of martial law imposed during the Rising, including Markievicz, the only woman tried at the highest level. Only 11 were acquitted and 88 were initially sentenced to death by firing squad, although most of these were subsequently commuted to periods of penal servitude. The 15 subsequently executed were charged with taking ‘part in an armed rebellion and in the waging of war against his Majesty, the King’. With the exception of Patrick Pearse's younger brother, Willie, all the accused pleaded not guilty. The prosecution and subsequent execution of Willie Pearse, in spite of his limited role in the Rising, has been seen as a reaction to his brother's rather than his own involvement. The courts martial relied heavily on the evidence of soldiers involved in the fighting or captured by the rebels, much of which was ‘entirely circumstantial, misleading and inaccurate’. Although the proclamation was not relied upon heavily during the trials, it was a significant factor in the decision of Sir John Maxwell, effectively the military governor of Ireland, to confirm the death sentences of the seven men who had signed it (Barton, 2002: 28–40).
The executions took place in Kilmainham Jail between 3 and 12 May. In addition to the seven signatories of the proclamation and Willie Pearse, the Dublin commanders executed included Michael Mallin of the ICA, and from the Volunteers Edward Daly, Michael O’Hanrahan, John MacBride, Seán Heuston and Con Colbert. One execution took place outside Dublin, that of Thomas Kent, a Cork Volunteer who was charged with the ‘wilful murder’ of a policeman following a stand-off with the police at the Kents’ farm in Castlelyons, near Fermoy, the week after the surrender during which Kent's brother, Richard, was also killed (Townshend, 2005:
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