20 April 1946: Johanna Mary "Hanna" Sheehy Skeffington Suffragette, Republican and political activist died on this day. She was born in 1877 in Kanturk Co Cork, the daughter of the future Nationalist MP David Sheehy &. Elizabeth "Bessie" McCoy. From an early age she was imbued with the spirit of political activity to free Ireland from British Rule and to improve the lot of women in Irish Society. Whilst still very young her family moved to Dublin.

When Hanna was a teenager, the Sheehys held an open house on the second Sunday night of each month. They encouraged young people to visit them and their six children. The Sheehys were fond of singing and playing games, and would ask their guests to sing. Hanna was sent to Germany for a short period when she was 18 years old to get treatment for tuberculosis. After graduating from the Royal University of Ireland, she moved to Paris to work as an Au Pair and returned to Ireland in 1902. She sat for examinations at Royal University of Ireland and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1899, and a Master of Arts Degree with first-class honours in 1902. This led to a career as a teacher in Eccles Street and an examiner in the Intermediate Certificate examination.

Hanna married Francis Skeffington on June 3, 1903 at University Chapel in St. Stephen's Green, Dublin. The couple wore their graduation gowns as a substitute for a traditional wedding gown and suit. Both husband and wife took the surname Sheehy Skeffington as a symbol of their honour for one another.

It was this point on that her political activity really took off as her husband was as a committed activist as she was. In 1908 she was a founder member of The Irish Women's Franchise League dedicated to ensuring Votes for Women in Parliamentary elections. On 13 June 1912, she, along with seven other women, were arrested for smashing the glass windows of Dublin Castle. They served a month long sentence in Mountjoy Prison alongside another month after they refused to pay a fine. They were granted the privileges of political prisoners. Sheehy Skeffington was fired in 1913 from her job as a teacher at Rathmines School of Commerce for her continued involvement in feminist militancy.

When the Great War broke out in 1914 she became involved in the anti-recruiting campaign and was prevented by the British government from attending a conference held in The Hague in April 1915 on Women’s Rights. The watershed in her life came during the Easter Rising 1916 when her husband Francis was brutally murdered by a deranged British Officer. She did not find out about his death until two days had passed.

She joined Sinn Fein in the aftermath of the Rising. In December 1916 she went to the US to raise awareness of Ireland’s Cause and she attended some 250 meetings there across America. She was later imprisoned by the British in Holloway Prison London for actively opposing the War. In 1920 she joined Dublin corporation as a councillor. She resumed work on The Irish Citizen and in 1919 became organising secretary of Sinn Fein.

She opposed the Treaty in 1921 and again toured the USA in 1922 to raise funds to help Republican prisoners. In 1926 she joined Fianna Fáil as an executive, however she only kept this position for one year. She was disillusioned with the new Irish Free State and felt that women had not yet achieved their rightful place in Society especially in the new Irish Constitution of 1937. She stood for election to the Dáil in 1943 but was not returned.

 

18 April 1949:The Republic of Ireland Act 1948 came into operation on this day. It separated the 26 County State [The Irish Free State] from the British Commonwealth and made her an Independent Republic in her own right. This momentous decision was taken some months earlier by the Coalition Government of An Taoiseach John A Costello.  During his presence at a Conference in Ottawa, Canada he was miffed at his reception where he felt he had been deliberately embarrassed by the host the Governor General of Canada -Earl Alexander - himself of Ulster descent and one of Britain’s foremost Military Commanders of WWII.

However the move had been under consideration for years [indeed the Government Parties had campaigned on this issue at the previous general election] and it became more plausible following the Declarations of the newly independent India, Pakistan and Ceylon as Republics in 1947. While they chose to remain within the Commonwealth the broad consensus at home was to get out. De Valera had stripped the ties between the State and the British Crown down to the bare minimum back in 1936 but he was reluctant to press any further ahead than that. In a way only a non FF led Government could have been sure to have carried the People with them across the board to see it through - after all De Valera could hardly object!

In Dublin, tricolours flew from buildings – private and public – while papal flags adorned houses in the suburbs. The GPO was decked out in a green, white and orange plastic material.

“As the time for the firing approached, a solid mass of people jammed the thoroughfare from O’Connell Bridge to the GPO Every possible vantage point was made use of,” reads the report.

From the city, blazing tar barrels could be seen on the Dublin hills. At 11.45pm, O’Connell Street “became a blaze of light from searchlight batteries ringing the city.” A few minutes after midnight the salute from the guns began, with 10-second intervals between the rounds.

...later in the morning, following a military parade, the president Sean T O’Kelly addressed the media at the GPO. “We now stand alone, as a nation on our own,” he said, adding: “We are making a big noise in the world, and we will make a bigger noise still. We can be of great assistance if we can only get rid of partition, the one and last worry we have.”

Irish Times 18 April 2019

Thus it came about that on the strike of midnight on 17/18 April 1949 the State was legally a Republic at last - though minus the Six Counties of the North which robbed it in some eyes of full legitimacy. However the status of the State as an Independent Republic has now survived 70 years even if greatly modified in its powers and remit through membership of the EEC/European Union since 1973.

 

18 April 1939: Ishbel Maria Gordon, Lady Aberdeen (1857-1939) died in Scotland on this day. Her husband Lord Aberdeen held the Viceroyalty of Ireland in 1886 and again from 1906 to 1915. Born Ishbel (Gaelic for Isabel) Maria Marjoribanks, she was the third daughter of the 1st Baron Tweedmouth and Isabella Weir-Hogg (daughter of Sir James Weir Hogg). On 7 November 1877 she married the Liberal politician the 7th Earl of Aberdeen (later the 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair), in St. George's Church, St. George Street, Hanover Square, London.

Both were fervent Home Rulers, and they were aware of the imbalance between urban poverty and the new rural prosperity. Lady Aberdeen founded the Women's National Health Association which established playgrounds in the Dublin slums and a depot to supply milk to the city's sick children. The Association, also opened sanatoriums and organised exhibitions, which travelled round Ireland as part of an intensive campaign against tuberculosis.

The Aberdeens were keen to see the revitalisation of Dublin's inner city and they twice brought a Town Planning Exhibition to Dublin and organised a civic exhibition attended by all municipal and local authorities. Although well intentioned, the new town plan was never implemented. Lady Aberdeen, later wrote:

'If we could have persuaded some of the Cabinet Ministers to come across to see things for themselves, the result might have been different ... To turn from rural to the urban districts of Ireland would have surely convinced [them] that the housing conditions of the cities and towns of Ireland remained a blot and a menace, culminating in Dublin ... '

A keen feminist, she did not endear herself to the social establishment by her efforts to promote women's rights, democratic attitudes, and religious and ethnic tolerance. She caused a social scandal while in Canada when she joined her servants to take high tea. The Aberdeens were given a huge farewell on their departure from Ireland in 1915.

Lady Aberdeen was president of the International Council of Women for thirty-six years (1893–1936) and the National Council of Women of Canada for six years (1893–1899). When her husband was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, she took up the fight against tuberculosis, starting the Woman's National Health Association.

The Earl and Countess of Aberdeen had a greater impact on Dublin society than any Vice Regal couple since the Clarendons - but for very different reasons. They inspired some affection and a great deal of ridicule in the nine years that they spent in Vice-Regal Lodge.

There was something faintly ridiculous about their appearance, described by Leon O'Broin as:

"he bearded and small and polite, she disproportionately large, matronly and masterful."

Lady Aberdeen had a genius for getting things a little wrong, for meddling in matters that had nothing whatsoever to do with her and for an apparent inability to recognise rebuff....However all recognised that she had a heart of Gold and a strong dislike of Injustice in this World. If she had faults they were far outweighed by her qualities of organising and basically cajoling the powers that be to improve the lot of the ordinary people.

While very well meaning the good Lady was not the most tactful of people in all situations, the story goes that back in 1886 at the time of Gladstone's first Home Rule Bill she was dining in Dublin Castle when she remarked to Lord Chief Justice Morris:

"I suppose everyone but yourself is a Home Ruler here tonight."

"Not at all, Your Excellency", he replied frostily. "Barring yourself and the waiters there's not a Home Ruler in the room."

Multitext - Welcome to the Cork Multitext Project

Áras an Uachtaráin

 

17‭ April 1876: The whaling vessel Catalpa rescued six Irish prisoners from British Captivity on this day. The ship under Captain George S. Anthony carried out one of the most daring and long distance rescues in history when she was used to spirit away the six Fenian prisoners from Freemantle, Australia. Even though the British quickly realised the men had fled and gave chase the ship could not be boarded as she flew the American flag. The rescued men (Thomas Darragh, Martin Hogan, Michael Harrington, Thomas Hassett, Robert Cranston and James Wilson) were brought safely to New York City. The Fenians John Devoy and John J. Breslin planned the rescue operation from America and Breslin was dispatched to Australia to co-ordinate the rescue.

In July‭ 1874 the Clan na Gael Organisation in the USA had decided to rescue the six prisoners who were excluded from a conditional pardon for all civilian Fenian prisoners. These men had been members of the British Army and thus considered outright ‘Traitors’ by the British. John Devoy was assigned to co-ordinate this rescue. He saw that funds were raised and a Captain George S. Anthony was ‘head hunted’ to undertake the dangerous mission. When it was put to him he was willing to take the risk. It was then decided that the voyage must look like a whaling voyage, thus Captain Anthony went looking for a suitable ship. In the port of Boston he found one that suited his needs and purchased the Catalpa, a three-master whaler, for $5,200.

The ship set out from New Bedford,‭ Massachusetts, USA, in April 1875. The Voyage was undertaken with the deliberate intention engaging in a daring a yearlong mission of international rescue. On 28 March 1876 the Catalpa arrived off Bunbury Harbour, Western Australia and a meeting was set up between Captain Anthony and John Breslin. At this meeting they agreed the rescue date should be on 6 April. However due to the presence of a British gunboat at the Harbour and the information that another gunboat was due to arrive they rescheduled the rescue for 17 April.

With the help of the prison chaplain,‭ the six men escaped to the coast where Captain Anthony was waiting with a small whaleboat that would take them to the Catalpa. The resistance they overcame, both from armed British vessels and a furious sea storm, made their escape the stuff of legend. The British attempted to capture the Catalpa but Captain Anthony had the Flag of the United States raised and warned the prospective boarders that such a move would be viewed as an Act of War. They thought the better of it and the Catalpa made good her escape.

The Catalpa landed the‭ ‘Freemantle Six’ in New York Harbour on 19 August 1876. Though Captain Anthony would never again put to sea in open waters for fear of arrest by the British, his rescue voyage, made mostly without the use of a functioning chronometer, is one of the greatest feats of seamanship ever recorded in nautical annals.

 

16 April 1958: Margaret Burke Sheridan the famous Irish Soprano died on this day. At the height of her fame she was ranked amongst most famous Prima Donnas’ of the World of Opera. She came from a modest but respectable background in the town of Castlebar Co Mayo where her father was the Postmaster. 

However tragedy struck her early in life and by the time she was 11 she was an orphan. To further her education she was packed off to Dublin and placed in the care of the Dominican nuns at Eccles Street, Dublin. It was there that she received her first singing lessons from Mother Clement who was a noted music teacher. Margaret won a gold medal at the Feis Ceoil [Festival of Music] in 1908 and showed so much musical promise that a benefit concert was given in the old Theatre Royal in Dublin to help fund her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

It was there that her career really took off as was given leading roles in some of the leading Operas of the day. She quickly became known as ‘La Sheridan’ as her fame spread. It was there that the great inventor Marconi heard her sing and proclaimed “yours is the voice I’ve been waiting to hear all my life”. He decided that she must go to Italy to further her career.

She became a singing sensation in Italy as audiences were captivated by her rich and lyric soprano voice. The conductor Toscanini dubbed her “the Empress of Ireland” and she was chosen to sing at the wedding of the Italian Crown Prince, Umberto. Margaret made numerous recordings including the first ever complete recording of Madame Butterfly in 1930. In the 1920’s People said there were only three people known outside of Ireland, Eamon De Valera, John McCormack and Margaret Burke Sheridan.

But Margaret’s time at the pinnacle was to be a short one. In 1936 she developed throat problems that stymied her career. She had an operation but it was limited in its success. In an Art where perfection is paramount she realised that her time was up and chose retirement over ridicule. 

She returned to Dublin and while she kept away from the Limelight she did continue to sometimes sing, notably her interpretations of Moore’s Melodies and her rendition of Balfe’s “I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls”. She sang in public on and off but basically she just socialized around the town where she was known as quite a character. She kept a small flat near Fitzwilliam St and was a ‘regular’ in the exclusive Shelbourne Hotel. She also spent some time with a wealthy patron in New York. Her end came in April 1958 when she died of cancer in the Pembroke Nursing Home on Leeson Street. She is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery Dublin.

 

16 April 1172: The King of England Henry II departed from Ireland on this day. He had landed in Waterford in October 1171 with a powerful force of well-equipped knights, archers and foot soldiers. He subsequently received the allegiance of many of the provincial kings of Munster and Leinster. However the High King of Ireland Rory O’Connor/Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair kept his distance and the chief Ulster kings ignored Henry’s visit alltogether. 

King Henry though was the most powerful man in Western Europe and his name alone carried tremendous weight. He ensured by his presence at the Irish Church’s Council of Cashel that the type of Church Reform in favour in England was adopted in Ireland. While his Ecclesiastical Mission was the purported reason for his Expedition into Ireland he also had designs to bring the whole of the Country under his sway. He brought to heel his Anglo-Norman mercenaries and adventurers and tried to ensure that they recognised that anything they had taken in Ireland was his to grant and not theirs by right of conquest.

He arrived in Dublin in mid November and wintered over there. He stayed outside the walls and in a Palace made of wattles that was specially built by local craftsmen. There he celebrated Christmas in some style, entertaining his guests lavishly. This rustic Court served as his Royal seat of power for the duration of his stay.

His most compelling reason for coming to Ireland  was his implication in the Murder of St Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral and the wrath that came down upon him from the Papacy as a result. So Ireland was a politic place for him to be until the furore died down and he judged it safe to return. Though Henry probably meant to spend a few more months in Ireland events abroad meant that he had to cut short his stay here and return forthwith. The winter was a bad one and few ships reached Ireland that carried any news of worth. Sensing that somewhere in his patchwork quilt ‘Angevin Empire’ would require his attention before too long Henry left Dublin in the month of March for the port of Wexford. It was there he received news that the Papal Legates awaited him in Normandy to demand explanations for his conduct. He thus departed from our shores on the Easter Sunday of 1172– never to return.

 The king of the Saxons (namely, Henry, son of the Empress) went from Ireland on Easter Sunday [April 16th] after celebration of Mass.

The Annals of Ulster

 

15/16 April 1941: The Luftwaffe Bombed Belfast on this night. The city’s first major attack of War was on Easter Tuesday night, 15-16 April. An estimated 180 aircraft participated in the assault, which lasted for five and a half hours (11:30 pm–4:55 am). Bombs fell on average at a rate of two per minute. There was virtually no resistance from the ground. Due to blast damage to the city’s telephone exchange the anti-aircraft guns fell silent from 1:45 am onwards. By the time of the “all clear” it had to be rung by hand-bells because of a power failure.

Belfast was only lightly defended by AA guns as both Stormont and Westminster did not believe that the Luftwaffe would take much interest in Belfast as it was too far away from German Air bases and there were more lucrative targets in Britain for them to bomb.

In the time between the start of the war in September 1939 to the first bombing in April 1941, Belfast had experienced 22 air raid siren alerts – each one a false alert. This cultivated an atmosphere of carelessness among many and this extended to things such as blackouts – strictly enforced on the mainland. “People were careless about their light.” (Jimmy Wilton, Belfast ARP).

https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/

However the city was a major shipbuilding centre and a significant port and that attracted attention with probing raids that should have shook both politicians, the populace and the Military  out of their  complacency. When this major raid did go ahead it stunned everyone in its intensity and the death and destruction it brought down on the City.

An Observer from Dublin, Major Sean O’Sullivan noted that:

In the Antrim Road [North Belfast] and vicinity the attack was of a particularly concentrated character and in many instances bombs from successive waves of bombers fell within 15-20 yards of one another … In this general area, scores of houses were completely wrecked, either by explosion, fire or blast, while hundreds were damaged so badly as to be uninhabitable … In suburban areas, many were allowed to burn themselves out and during the day wooden beams were still burning … During the night of 16-17, many of these smouldering fires broke out afresh and fire appliances could be heard passing throughout the night…

Belfast bore the brunt of the indiscriminate enemy air attacks carried out against Northern Ireland during the night. Shortly after the alert had been sounded, high explosive and incendiary bombs were dropped at random over the city. A considerable number fell in residential and shopping areas, causing numerous casualties, many of which, it is feared, are fatal.

Other bombs caused damage to industrial and commercial premises. Whilst the enemy were being met by a spirited defence from the A.A. guns, the various A.R.P., A.F.S., and other Civil Defence units were carrying out their duties with courage and devotion under conditions of difficulty and danger. In other areas in Northern Ireland, the intensity of the attack was not so severe, and the casualties were on a correspondingly smaller scale.

Ministry of Public Security, Northern Ireland, and the Headquarters of the Royal Air Force, Northern Ireland | Belfast Telegraph on 16th April 1941

The Belfast Blitz: Aftermath of the Easter Raid - Belfast Blitz: Bombs on Belfast 1941

The Air Raid killed some 745 people, injured 1,500 and destroyed about 1,600 houses with many more damaged to a greater or lesser extent. It was the bloodiest day of violence in Modern Irish History.

 

14 April 1794 General Arthur Dillon, a French soldier of Irish descent, was guillotined in Paris on this day. The Dillon family were amongst the most famous of the ‘Wild Geese’ who served in the armies of France in the 17th and 18th Centuries. He was born in 1750 and had a distinguished military career, seeing action in the West Indies and in the American Revolutionary War.

In 1778, he sailed with his regiment to the Caribbean to campaign against Britain. In 1779 he and his regiment fought at the Capture of Grenada against British forces under George Macartney. They landed on 2 July, and stormed the Hospital Hill which the British had chosen as the centre of their resistance. Arthur personally led one of the storm parties, his brother Henry led another. He served also served at the siege Savannah, Georgia (where he was promoted to brigadier); and elsewhere. 

After the Treaty of Paris, he became governor of Tobago. His first wife having died, he married a wealthy French Creole widow from Martinique, Laure de Girardin de Montgérald, the Comtesse de la Touche, by whom he had six children. His daughter Fanny married General Bertrand and was with Napoleon in his exiles on Elba and St Helena and present at his deathbed. 

He was briefly Governor of the Caribbean island of St Kitts  & when he visited London after the peace of 1783 he was complimented by the lord chancellor on his administration of that island. He was the representative of the island of Martinique in the National Assembly where he spoke on colonial affairs.

In June 1792 he received command of the Army of the North but fell into political disfavour with the Jacobins and was reduced to a subordinate position under  General Dumouriez where he distinguished himself in the Argonne passes. However he compromised his security by offering  the landgrave of Hesse an unmolested retreat so as to be able to withdraw unhindered. For this he was arrested and imprisoned. 

He was eventually accused of being involved in a plot behind bars called the ‘Luxembourg Prison Plot’. After eight months in prison he was executed with 20 others including his intimate friend Lucile Desmoulines whose own husband was guillotined just days before.  In his final moments he mounted the scaffold shouting, "Vive le roi! (Long live the king)".

 

10 April 1998: The Good Friday Agreement was signed on this day. The agreement was entered into by various political parties in the North backed by the British and Irish Governments who simultaneously signed up to a new Treaty between the UK and Ireland to replace the Anglo- Irish Treaty of 1921. The agreement was made up of two inter-related documents, both agreed in Belfast on Good Friday, 10 April 1998:

1. a multi-party agreement by most of Northern Ireland's political parties (the Multi-Party Agreement);

2. an international agreement between the British and Irish governments (the British-Irish Agreement).

It had taken years of tough and interminable negotiations to get to this stage, first to get a Ceasefire by Republicans and Loyalists in place and getting it to stick and then having Governments in place in Dublin & London with the ability and willingness to strike a Deal. There had also been a marked refusal and then a grudging reluctance by the Unionist side to engage in talks with Sinn Fein in particular. However nearly all Parties in Ireland and Britain accepted it when done with the notable exception of the DUP led by Rev. Dr. Ian Paisley.

The essential elements were the establishment of a Power sharing executive at Stormont that would include both Unionist and Nationalist Cabinet Ministers and the setting up of North- South bodies that would enable an active cross border element of co operation.  In addition the Dublin Government agreed to drop articles  2 & 3 of the Irish Constitution that stated that Ireland consisted of all the 32 Counties, a claim that to many Unionists a sense of entitlement to rule over the North without their consent.

The Agreement then accepted that:

“it is for the people of Ireland alone, by agreement between the two parts respectively and without external impediment, to exercise their right of self-determination on the basis of consent, freely and concurrently given, North and South, to bring about a United Ireland, accepting that this right must be achieved and exercised with and subject to the agreement and consent of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland”. The Agreement put in place a framework to establish a number of political institutions. This framework is made up of three strands, together representing the relationships that exist within and between the islands of Britain and Ireland.

Strand One: The Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive were set up so that the elected political parties could share power. The Assembly is located at Stormont, just outside Belfast.

Strand Two: The North South Ministerial Council was set up to develop co-operation between both parts of Ireland.

Strand Three: The British-Irish Council was set up to promote the relationship between Ireland and Britain.

https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/northern-ireland/the-good-friday-agreement-and-today/

There were two separate endorsements of the Agreement in both parts of Ireland held on 22 May 1998. In the North some 71% of voters accepted it and in the Republic it was passed by 94% of the Electorate.

 

10‭ April 1923: The Death of Liam Lynch on this day. This legendary IRA Chief of Staff was killed as a result of an encounter with Free State forces in the Knockmealdown Mountains on the border of counties Tipperary and Waterford. Realising that Free State columns were closing in on their position Lynch and a number of other Republican Officers decided to escape across the exposed slopes of the Knockmealdown Mountains. It was while attempting to avoid capture that a Column of opposing forces fired upon this small band and Lynch was hit. Realising that his wound was fatal he ordered his comrades to proceed without him and was captured.

A Lieutenant Clancy of the Free State Army soon reached the spot where Lynch was lying and he asked him to identify himself. Lynch gave his name and rank,‭ ‘‬Chief of Staff Irish Republican Army’. The soldiers then dressed his wound and placed him on a stretcher made from rifles and coats and carried him down the mountain. A priest, Fr Hallinan, arrived on the scene and administrated last rites to the dying Leader. He was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Clonmel and died there about 8.45pm that evening.

Liam Lynch was a veteran of the War for Independence and had carried out numerous attacks on the British Army.‭ He had kidnapped the British General Lucas and had captured Mallow Barracks and set it alight. While he initially welcomed the Truce he rejected the Treaty. When the Civil War came he was in Dublin and captured but was allowed to walk free. He reorganised the IRA in Munster and did his best to slow the advance of the Free State Forces into that Province. But as they were pushed back the calls from both without and within the IRA were for a Ceasefire or a negotiated settlement. Liam Lynch rejected both and was determined to fight on. His death marked a watershed in the Civil War as without his influence demoralisation within the IRA increased and all hope of Victory in the War dissipated.  Frank Aiken became Chief of Staff and on the 3 April he ordered a Ceasefire. On the 24 May he issued the order to ‘Dump Arms’.  The Civil War was over.

 

9 April 1916: The Voyage of the Aud*  began on this day. The ship was originally a British merchant ship the SS Castro that had been seized by the Germans on the outbreak of the War in 1914. She was renamed Libau but remained inactive until 1916, when she was designated as the vessel to carry a cargo of arms to Ireland under the nom de guerre of Aud. 

* Tons 1228; Length 250.2 feet; Beam 35.2 feet

It was decided to fit her out as a Norwegian vessel as Norway was a neutral country and would attract less suspicion as she made her way to the coast of Ireland. The Aud was a pre-existing Norwegian ship in their Merchant Navy but the Germans reckoned that this would help their doppleganger to escape detection. 

She left the port of Lubeck on 9 April under the command of Captain Karl Spindler with a crew of 4 officers and 21 men. She had on board some 20,000 rifles, 1,000,000 rounds of ammunition, 10 machine guns, and explosives under a camouflage of a timber cargo. The rifles and much of the ammunition originated in Russia. They were captured as a result of the rout of Russian forces at the battle of Tannenburg in 1914. To avoid the British Naval Blockade Spindler sailed along the coast of Norway into Artic waters before turning south again for Ireland. Despite some close shaves Spindler sailed through the British patrol lines unscathed.

Making the coast of Kerry on the 20 April Captain Spindler awaited the signal from the Irish coast that would indicate that the Irish were ready to come out and unload the cargo. However after 24 hours of holding his position it became clear that the plan had mislaid. As Spindler had no radio aboard he was unaware that the initial date for the rendezvous had been changed and he had arrived too early. To make matters worse the men who were sent to meet the ship had suffered a tragic accident on the coast road and one of their motor cars had gone over the cliffs and into the sea below. Three of them were drowned. 

Not knowing what was happening on land the Captain decided to hove to off the coast and await developments. But staying in the same location could only attract attention and the Royal Navy was sent to investigate. The Aud was stopped on the evening of 21 April and told to proceed to the port of Queenstown (Cobh) under escort by HMS Bluebell where she was to be searched.

Captain Spindler gave the order to scuttle the Aud and abandon ship in the early hours of the morning of 22 April as she made her way towards Cork harbour. The men made it ashore safely but were quickly captured by British shore parties. They spent the rest of the War in captivity but Spindler was exchanged in April 1918. Thus ended the most serious attempt to import arms into Ireland in the Great War in order to overthrow British rule.

 

8‭ April 1886: British Prime Minister William Gladstone introduced the 1st Home Rule Bill in the House of Commons on this day. He did so with the intent of giving Ireland a limited control of her own internal affairs. He was under severe pressure from Charles Stewart Parnell, the Leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, to bring in legislation to alleviate Irish demands on this issue.

His intention was to prove to the House that since the Act of Union in 1800 all efforts to govern Ireland through the Parliament at Westminster had failed, and to propose for that reason a system of governing her through a legislative body sitting in Dublin. In a long and winding speech he outlined the historical background to Ireland’s grievances and the attempts by the Crown to suppress Discontent.‭ All concessions had failed to satisfy the Irish and the reason was that they wished to govern their own affairs. He proposed a limited form of self Government or ‘Home Rule’ to resolve the issue.

Law is discredited in Ireland,‭ and discredited in Ireland upon this ground especially—that it comes to the people of that country with a foreign accent, and in a foreign garb….These Coercion Bills of ours…are stiffly resisted by the Members who represent Ireland in Parliament.

‭The case of Ireland, though she is represented here not less fully than England and Scotland, is not the same as that of England and Scotland….The consequence is that the mainspring of law in England is felt by the people to be English; the mainspring of law in Scotland is felt by the people to be Scotch; but the mainspring of law in Ireland is not felt by the people to be Irish.

Gladstone however was determined that any devolution of political power to an Irish Legislature would be limited:

Everything that relates to the Crown—Succession, Prerogatives, and the mode of administering powers during incapacity, Regency, and, in fact, all that belongs to the Crown. The next would be all that belongs to defence--the Army, the Navy, the entire organisations of armed force. I do not say the Police Force, which I will touch upon by-and-by, but everything belonging to defence. And the third would be the entire subject of Foreign and Colonial relations. Those are the subjects most properly Imperial, and I will say belonging, as a principle, to the Legislature established under the Act of Union and sitting at Westminster.

While he ruled out a separate Parliament for the North he stated that:

We propose to provide that the Legislative Body should not be competent to pass a law for the establishment or the endowment of any particular religion.

He concluded with the lofty words:

The best and surest foundation we can find to build upon is the foundation afforded by the affections,‭ the convictions, and the will of the nation; and it is thus, by the decree of the Almighty, that we may be enabled to secure at once the social peace, the fame, the power, and the permanence of the Empire.

However his attempts to placate Parnell had the effect of splitting his own Liberal Party in two. In response a unionist wing of the Liberals broke off to found the Liberal Unionist Party, which entered into an alliance with the Conservatives in an effort to block any attempt to implement Home Rule. A fresh General Election was called and the end result was that Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury of the Conservatives became Prime Minister on a strongly Unionist ticket.

 

7 April: 1973 - John Charles McQuaid, the old Archbishop of Dublin, died on this day . He was head of the Dublin Diocese from 1940 to 1972 and a man who ruled his fiefdom with an firm Hand.

He was born in Cootehill, Co. Cavan, on 28 July 1895, to Dr. Eugene McQuaid and Jennie Corry. His mother died a week later and his father, a doctor, signed her death certificate. A little over a year later he married a woman named Agnes, who raised John and his sister Helen as her own. In his teens John learned that Agnes was not his real mother. Further children were born to Eugene and Agnes McQuaid.

Educated at Blackrock College and Clongowes, two of the top private Catholic schools in the Country, he went on to complete his University Education at UCD where he mastered on the Life of the Roman pagan philosopher Seneca. He then took up his studies for the priesthood and was ordained at Kimmage in Dublin in 1924. After a brief stay in Rome he returned to Ireland and was appointed to the staff of Blackrock College in 1925. He served as Dean of Studies from 1925–1931 and President of the College from 1931–1939. In this time he ran the school with a strict hand and encouraged the boys in Sport, Rugby in particular and also in classical studies.

However it was in his role as advisor to the President Eamon De Valera that he is best known for ensuring that a strong Catholic ethos was written into the new Irish Constitution of 1937, where the ‘Special Position’ of the Church was specifically recognised. Though recent commentators have pointed out that this had no actual legal meaning as such. It was removed from the Constitution in 1972 in a Referendum.

In 1940 McQuaid was appointed Archbishop of Dublin and from the start he had some overriding concerns. He wanted to ensure that the Church remained dominant in Irish Society and that a Catholic education was given to the children of the Diocese He also had great concerns about the widespread poverty in the city and encouraged acts of Charity towards the poor.

He was basically a typical Irish Archbishop in religiosity but with a lot more intelligence, drive and determination than most. His most controversial moment came in 1951 when he became embroiled in the legislation for a Bill that was before the Irish Parliament (An Dáil) that was known as the Mother & Child Scheme. McQuaid opposed it as giving more power to the State as against the Church. He was not the only one and the Irish Medical Organisation also rowed in against it for reasons of their own. The popular Minister of Health, Noel Browne, was forced to resign. But it proved a Pyrrhic Victory for the Church and for McQuaid in particular as public opinion slowly moved away from accepting the Church as the primary source of moral authority.

Further controversy dogged him in 1955 when he voiced opposition to the visit of the Communist soccer team from Yugoslavia (where in fairness Catholics were given a hard time) to Dublin yet over 20,000 people turned up to see them! But Ireland was changing and even more so after 1960 when increased social prosperity brought into being new ways of thinking. The arrival of Television and foreign travel meant that people had a broader view of the World and its many and varied ways than heretofore.

It was though the opening of the Second Vatican Council in Rome in 1962 that put the cat amongst the pidgins as many of the Faithful saw hope for fundamental change in the strict and outdated modes of operation of the Church. McQuaid was deeply suspicious of change and made it pretty clear where he stood on the issue. He will always be remembered for his attempt to reassure his flock at the end of the Council that "No change will worry the tranquillity of your Christian lives". His eminent position in the decision making process of the Irish State became an increasing anachronism as the 1960's wore on. Politicians offering him public deference became a source of embarrassment and indeed anger to many voters, particularly in the upwardly mobile classes in South Dublin, where McQuaid lived himself.

He was a shy and reserved man who lived frugally and alone. He visited the sick in hospitals nearly every night and ensured that the Church’s works of Charity continued unabated. But these are now almost forgotten and his perceived errors of judgement remembered. Dr. McQuaid formally relinquished the government of the Archdiocese of Dublin when his successor was ordained Archbishop in February 1972. 

‘On Saturday 7 April 1973 McQuaid was too ill to get up at his usual time of 6.30am to say Mass at his private residence in Killiney Co. Dublin. He was taken to Loughlinstown Hospital where he died within an hour. Shortly before his death he asked nurse Margaret O'Dowd if he had any chance of reaching heaven. She told him that if he as Archbishop could not get to heaven, few would. This answer appeared to satisfy him and he lay back on the pillow to await death. He died at about 11am. He is buried in St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral in Dublin, the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese.’

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Charles_McQuaid#Death

 

6 April 1917: The United States of America declared War on Imperial Germany. In a move long anticipated by both sides in the Great War the USA finally came in on the side of the Allies and changed the outcome of the War and of modern world history.

The Declaration began:

WHEREAS, The Imperial German Government has committed repeated acts of war against the people of the United States of America; therefore, be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the state of war between the United States and the Imperial German Government, which has thus been thrust upon the United States, is hereby formally declared....

The seeds of America’s intervention went right back to the opening months of the War. The overwhelming opinion of the American people was on the side of the Allies. However amongst the considerable German and Irish populations the feeling was far different. The Germans were naturally sympathetic to the Fatherland and acted accordingly.

The Irish in the USA were not pro German but they were very much anti British rule in Ireland – feelings heightened by recent events at home where prior to the outbreak of War it looked like Civil War would break out over the ‘Home Rule Crisis’. The Irish in America were well organised especially in the cities and ‘ran’ many of them i.e. Tammany Hall in New York City. The Ancient Order of Hibernians had a huge but open membership while behind the scenes there was the clandestine Clan na Gael dedicated to overthrowing British Rule by force of arms. Clearly it was in the interests of Irish America to keep their adopted Country out of the War.

However the reports of German atrocities in Belgium and more importantly the opening of unrestricted U boat attacks on Neutral shipping in the waters around Britain and Ireland caused huge resentment in the USA. This climaxed when in May 1915 the Cunard liner Lusitania was sunk off the coast of Kinsale Co Cork. Over a thousand men women and children were drowned incl. over 100 US citizens. Outrage on a massive scale followed. While the Germans called off their attacks on neutrals the damage was done and the general opinion on all sides was that it was a case not if but when the USA would enter the War against Germany.

The Easter 1916 Rising at home certainly put Ireland’s Cause briefly into the spotlight but it could not be sustained. Britain needed to trade with the USA to supply it with armaments and raw material to sustain the War. This in turn generated vast profits for American Corporations. Without this Trade then Britain would have to sue for terms from Germany and would have defaulted on its debts to the US. By early 1917 with Russia effectively stymied by the ‘February Revolution’ and France on her last legs militarily the German High Command took the risk of re activating their unrestricted U Boat campaign to bring Britain to her knees before America could intervene. However this backfired as it only angered America even more and pushed her over the edge. Events moved swiftly and on 6 April the USA declared War.  It was a watershed in the History of Europe as for the first time ever the fate of a war between European Powers was decided by decisions made on by another Power on another Continent.

For Ireland it meant that any pressure that could be exerted on Britain by the USA was severely weakened as President Woodrow Wilson put support for Britain at the top of his priorities. In his War Message to Congress, Wilson declared that the United States' objective was “to vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the life of the world.” He wished to see the European peoples be free from outside occupation i.e. an Independent Poland - but there was no mention of Ireland!

On the other hand the British had to be careful not to antagonise US public opinion into thinking that she was the oppressor of the Irish people now that the Empire was so reliant on Uncle Sam to finish the War. So America’s entry was a mixed blessing for Ireland - on the one hand we could not rely on the US Government to do much for the cause of Irish Nationalism and on the other the British Cabinet had to be careful not to trigger another revolt while they were so heavily committed abroad and so reliant on America to turn the tide against Germany.

In less than a month US destroyers had crossed the Atlantic [above] and made their 1st port of call at Queenstown [Cobh] Cork, Ireland to begin active operations.

Above Painting: Oil on canvas by Bernard F. Gribble, circa 1918, depicting the arrival off Queenstown, Ireland, of the first U.S. Navy destroyers to reach the European war zone for World War I service. The ships were under the command of Commander Joseph K. Taussig, USN. USS Wadsworth (DD-60) leads the line of destroyers, followed by USS Porter (DD-59), USS Davis (DD-65) and three others.

https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nara-series/kn-series/KN-00001/KN-215.html

 

5‭ April 1895:  Oscar Wilde was arrested at the Cadogan Hotel, London, for homosexual offences with Lord Alfred Douglas, son of the 8th Marquis of Queensbury. In Room 118 he was arrested after spending time with his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, affectionately known as 'Bosie'. Lord Alfred's father, the Marquess of Queensberry, had suspected Wilde and his own son to be in an illicit relationship, and he challenged Wilde with a scribbled accusation of 'Somdomy' (sic). Oscar Wilde knew that the arrest was coming, and ignored friends' pleas for him to flee the country.

The Poet Laureate John Betjeman took up the tragic tale in his poem‭ "The Arrest of Oscar Wilde at The Cadogan Hotel": 

'A thump,‭ and a murmur of voices

(Oh,‭ why must they make such a din?)

As the door of the bedroom swung open

And TWO PLAINCLOTHES POLICEMEN came in:

"Mr.‭ Woilde, we 'ave come for tew take yewnsurgent

Where felons and criminals dwell:

We must ask yew tew leave with us quietly

For this is the Cadogan Hotel.'

The Hotel is still a going concern and is situated‭ on Sloane Street, the famous Belgravia thoroughfare connecting the well-heeled districts of Chelsea and Knightsbridge in the City of London.

Wilde was convicted of Gross Indecency with Men (Homosexuality) and sentenced to two years Hard Labour. Wilde entered prison on 25 May 1895. He served his sentence in Newgate, Pentonville and Wandsworth jails before being moved to Reading Jail to complete his term of imprisonment.

While incarcerated he completed a self analysis of his Life - De Profundis - and started a long poem on the prison experience The Ballad of Reading Jail , which rank amongst his finest works. 

 

4 April‭  1774: Oliver Goldsmith ,  novelist, playwright and poet, died in London on this day. He was born in the Irish Midlands in about 1730 the son of an Anglican clergyman. At the age of eight he had a severe attack of smallpox which disfigured him for life. He studied Theology and Law at Trinity College in Dublin during the 1740s and eventually graduated from there as a Bachelor of Arts in 1749. 

While a student he picked up a taste for the good life of drinking, singing and playing cards. He spent some time studying Medicine in Edinburgh and in Leiden in the Austrian Netherlands but gave it up. He then drifted about and wandered on foot across Flanders, France, Switzerland and Northern Italy. He survived on his wits and ‘busked’ for a living when he could.

He settled in London in‭ 1756 and started to earn an income by the pen. Necessity being the mother of invention he produced much low grade material but some gems too as he honed his art. His fortunate inclusion in ‘the Club’ of Samuel Johnson gave him an introduction to many of the City’s literati. Though Boswell [Johnson’s biographer] depicted him as a ridiculous, blundering, but a tender hearted and generous creature.

His most famous works are his novel‭ The Vicar of Wakefield (1766) a  humorous melodrama and his short and ironic poem An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog of the same year ; his poem The Deserted Village (1770) a lament on a fictional Irish village in the Midlands and his play She Stoops to Conquer (1773) a comedy of manners, all made his name. He also turned out many works of lesser importance including Histories and works on Philosophy which helped give him a lucrative income.

He was known as a very generous man but with extravagant tastes and when he died he owed‭ £2,000 – a small fortune in those days. He had a close relationship with Mary Horneck, with whom he fell in love in 1769 but they never married. He died after a short illness in 1774 and was buried in the Church of St Mary or ‘The Temple’ in the City of London.

‭His Latin Epitaph  in Westminster Abbey by Johnson was praise indeed:

To the memory of Oliver Goldsmith, poet, philosopher and historian, by whom scarcely any style of writing was left untouched and no one touched unadorned, whether to move to laughter or tears; a powerful, yet lenient master of the affections, in genius sublime, vivid, and versatile, in expression, noble, brilliant, and delicate, is cherished in this monument by the love of his companions, the fidelity of his friends, and the admiration of his readers. Born in the parish of Fernes, in Longford, a county of Ireland, at a place named Pallas, on the 29th November 1731. He was educated at Dublin and died in London on 4th April 1774.

 

3‭ April 1925: The amalgamation of the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) with An Garda Síochána  took place on this day.

The Capital’s own Police Force had been established under an Act of the British Parliament in‭ 1836 and the force had become operational in January 1838. It was closely modelled on the London Metropolitan Police founded by Sir John Peel. While never a greatly popular force with Dubliners the DMP had nevertheless proved to be a magnet to men (mostly countrymen) in search of secure employment in the city with a guaranteed pension at the end of their service. Its members were unarmed unless on specific duties and the individual members relied on their formidable physical strength to settle affairs on the street when necessary. Among the generally undersized citizenry of Dublin they certainly stood out as men not to be trifled with.

Things started to turn sour for the DMP in‭ 1913 when there was serious labour unrest in Dublin. In a fight for Trade Union recognition the employers resorted to locking out the workers till they dropped their demand for the right to belong to one. The DMP as a result found itself involved in upholding the interests of the employers at the expense of the workers rights. Vicious street battles developed with the police involved in sometimes fatal baton charges, which lost them a lot of credibility and respect with the public. Of course the DMP men suffered too! Then the events of 1914, when the DMP and the British Army tried unsuccessfully to block the distribution of the weapons landed at Howth, further weakened their morale and general standing. Indeed as a result of this incident the Assistant Commissioner had to resign.

The outbreak of the Great War saw a considerable number of the men volunteer for war service from which,‭ no doubt, a high proportion never returned. The Easter Rising of 1916 was yet another shock to its morale. By the time the War of Independence started in 1919 the force was at a low ebb, which the events of the next two and a half years did nothing to alleviate. By and large they escaped the deadly fate of so many of their counterparts in the RIC simply because of their unarmed status. So long as they turned a blind eye to the activities of the IRA then they were allowed to proceed with the enforcement of the civil law. Not so the men of the ‘ G ’ Division. They were armed and were tasked by the British with hunting down Republicans in the city. Michael Collins had his own answer to them: the men of  ‘ the Squad ‘, a select group of gunmen who were given the job of eliminating especially dangerous opponents of the Republic in Dublin. In this they succeeded brilliantly, and effectively put a stop to the flow of intelligence to the British administration in Dublin Castle.

By the Summer of‭ 1921 Irish recruitment to the DMP was at a standstill and the ranks had to be filled by taking on men from across the water, many of them British ex-servicemen. With the Truce of July 1921 the DMP was left hanging in the air, not knowing whether they would be kept on or swept aside in the impending change of government. When the new Government took over they decided to retain the DMP at least temporarily as the only fully trained Police Force in the State. In Irish the Force was known as Políní Áth Cliath and cap badges were issued to reflect this.

In‭ 1923 Major General W.R.E. Murphy DSO, MC [above] was appointed to command as Chief Commissioner and he was able to instil a sense of purpose back into the Force. He had numerous difficulties to contend with both internal and external. Many of the men wished to retire and Jim Larkin had returned from America and organised a series of Strikes across the City. On the other hand Murphy was instrumental in ensuring that Frank Duff’s efforts to shut down the notorious Red Light district known as the Monto succeeded. In sport the DMP continued to enjoy great success their crowning glory being winning the World Tug of War Championship in London in 1924.

However Kevin O’Higgins had decided that two police forces in one State was one too many and in‭ 1925 the DMP was amalgamated into An Garda Síochána. Murphy became a Deputy Commissioner of the Garda under General O’Duffy with whom he had served in the Irish Civil war. Thus after a run of 87 years Dublin’s own distinctive Police Force with its formidable Constables [above] came to be seen no more on the streets of the Fair City as a separate Force.

 

2‭ April 1878: The assassination of Lord Leitrim on this day. William Sydney Clements, 3rd Earl of Leitrim was born in Dublin 1806. He had a successful career as an Officer in the British Army.  On his father's death in 1854, Clements succeeded him as 3rd Earl  and he retired from the Military in 1855.  Over the next two decades, his overbearing behaviour as a landlord brought him much hatred from his tenants. He personally took on many of the legal cases of Eviction against his tenants and was a very hard taskmaster. His oppression of his tenants and his rumoured seduction of some of the local girls made him a marked man in the eyes of many of the local people. He had already survived a number of attempts on his life before his luck ran out.

He was finally shot dead in an ambush at Cratlagh Wood while making his way to Manorhamilton,‭ County Leitrim. His clerk and driver were killed along with him so there would be no witnesses. ‬It was reported that there was:

an open encounter,‭ in which the assassins closed with their victims and deliberately put them to death. That there was a struggle the appearance of the ground seems to establish. Besides, Lord Leitrim's head has been shockingly battered, both his arms are broken, and the shattered stock of a gun was found close to his body. We are also told that one of his two attendants was shot through the mouth.

Manchester Guardian,‭ April 4 1878‬

His assassins,‭ Michael Hegarty, Michael McElwee and Neil Shields all escaped detection by the British. The Earl’s remains were conveyed to Dublin for burial in the family vault of St Michan’s Church where they can be viewed to this day [above]. ‬Leitrim’s death was a prelude to the Land war, which broke out one year later. 

 

1‭ April 1129 AD: The death of Cellach mac Aeda [aka Celsus] on this day. This famed and holy man was the bishop and abbot of Armagh. He was a member of the Clann Sínaig family, which had held the abbacy of Armagh since c.965. His status as head of the Irish Church had been recognised at the Synod of Rathbressail/Ráth Breasail  in the year 1111. It marked an important step in the transition of the Irish Church from a monastic to a diocesan and parish based church. Many Irish present day dioceses trace their boundaries to decisions made at the synod. Cellach was born in the year 1080 and was an advocate of reform in the Irish Church to put it on a more formal footing and along set lines that matched similar moves on the Continent.

In 1106 Cellach was consecrated as ‘noble bishop’ (uasal epscop) in Munster ‘by command of the men of Ireland’, following formal circuits of Tir nÉogain [in Ulster] and Munster as coarb (successor) of Patrick he received his ‘full due’ of tribute. He subsequently revisited Munster in 1120. He also visited Connacht (1108, 1116) and Meath (1110). The implication is that his appointment as bishop of Armagh gave him a position of pre-eminence in the Irish church, before the actual establishment of a diocesan hierarchy in 1111 at Rathbressail.

Apart from his normal administrative duties, Cellach, as coarb of Patrick, played a peace-keeping role on a number of occasions (1107, 1109, and 1113) in the incessant dynastic wars between the southern claimant to the high-kingship, Muirchertach Ua Briain , and his northern opponent, Domnall Ua Lochlainn , and between other warring kings on subsequent occasions. 

Dib.ie

While on a visit to Munster‭ (Mumu) he took ill and died at the religious settlement of Ard Patrick near Limerick. He was buried at his own request at Lismore /‬Lios Mór Co Waterford‭. Shortly before he died he designated the future Saint Malachy as his successor. However his protégé was to be frustrated in his attempts to secure the see of Armagh by Muirchertach mac Domnall who installed himself at Armagh before Malachy could get there. The situation was only resolved in 1134 after much political and ecclesiastical power politics had been played out. ‬We see in his ‘Obituary’ in the Annals of Ulster an eulogy that sets out the kind of person a great ecclesiastic was expected to be:

Cellach,‭ successor of Patrick, a virgin and the chief bishop of western Europe, and the only head whom Irish and foreigners, lay and clergy, obeyed, having ordained bishops and priests and all kinds of cleric also, and having consecrated many churches and churchyards, having bestowed goods and valuables, having exhorted all, both laity and clergy, to uprightness and good conduct, after a life of saying the hours, saying mass, fasting, prayer, after being anointed and having made excellent repentance, sent forth his soul to the bosom of angels and archangels in Ard Pátraic in Mumu on Monday, the Kalends 1st of April, the twenty-fourth year of his abbacy and the fiftieth year of his age.

His body was brought on the third of the Nones‭  [3rd of April]  to Lis Mór of Mo-Chutu in accordance with his own testament, and was waked with psalms and hymns and canticles, and buried with honour in the burial-ground of the bishops, on the day before the nones 4th of April, that is, Thursday. Muirchertach son of Domnall was appointed to the successorship of Patrick on the fifth of Nones [5th of April.]

Annals of Ulster 

 

31 March 1966: The Insurgent Flag that flew over the General Post Office in Dublin in 1916 was handed back by the British Government of Harold Wilson on this day. It was made by Mary Shannon at the headquarters of the Irish Citizen Army in Liberty Hall and brought from there to the GPO where it was proudly hoisted above. It was inscribed with the words ‘Irish Republic’ in gold lettering on a Green background. At the end of the Rising it was seized by members of the Royal Irish Regiment who took it as a war trophy. 

When the building fell to the British it was taken by British Officers who displayed it upside down at the foot of the Parnell Monument in Upper O’Connell Street, Dublin. This was the traditional way to display flags taken from enemy forces. Eventually it passed into the hands of the British museum authorities.

On the 50th Anniversary of the Rising in a gesture of conciliation the British Government under Prime Minister Harold Wilson decided to return the first flag of the Irish Republic to the Irish Government of the day under An Taoiseach Sean Lemass - himself a veteran of the Rising. It is now on display in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin. The flag was put together by Mrs Mary Shannon, a shirt maker in the nationalist cooperative at Liberty Hall.

In a short letter written by the then Taoiseach, Mr Sean Lemass, to the British prime minister, Mr Harold Wilson, in 1966, the "gratitude and deep appreciation of the Irish Government and people" were expressed for the return to Ireland of the flag which flew over the GPO during Easter Week in 1916.

Mr Lemass, noting the support for its return from the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations, Mr Arthur Bottomley, and the members of the museum board, welcomed the British initiative, coming as it did shortly before the Rising's 50th anniversary.

He wrote from Government Buildings: "The return of the flag, can be welcomed as yet another step towards the building of goodwill and the most friendly relations between our two countries."

He thanked Mr Wilson for the "speed and the generosity with which your government responded favourably to our representations" for the return of the flag.

IRISH TIMES Jan 2, 1997

 

30 March  [O.S.] 1603 - The Treaty of Mellifont on this day. Aodh Uí Néill the Earl of Tyrone, submitted to Lord Mountjoy the Lord Deputy of Ireland  thus bringing to an end  almost a decade of constant warfare on the island of Ireland.  

O’Neill had wanted to submit on terms since the previous December but Queen Elizabeth of England was adamant that this ‘viper’ would get nothing for his efforts to subvert her rule in her Realm of Ireland. However certain factors were working in O’Neills favour for him to escape the axeman’s blade if he came in without any terms. The Queen was old and was dying and it was only a matter of time before she went the way of all flesh, but she could not rest easy in her bed with O’Neill still at large in the woods & bogs of Ireland.  

Of more pressing  concern to her and her Ministers was the huge drain on England’s coffers of the continuing War in Ireland & the need of maintaining a very large military force for that time of perhaps circa 20,000 men in the field to suppress any attempt by O’Neill to rouse the Country once again. In effect though her Ministers were deciding what was to be done to bring the War to a close & the Queen’s chief advisor Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury in particular was prepared to bend Royal policy towards a deal.

Also working in O’Neill’s favour was his uncanny ability to move from place to place without being betrayed by any of his People meant that catching him was like chasing a ‘will of the wisp’. Indeed many of local chiefs gave him succour and turned a blind eye to his perambulations as he changed his base almost nightly. The English knew that it would only be by chance rather than design that they could take him alive. But he too was old and tired, his support base had collapsed  and he was a hunted man without a roof to call his own. He knew it was only a matter of time till his enemies cornered him and then it was all over.

Charles Blount Lord Mountjoy got the go ahead from London to settle it by suggesting terms that would see an end of the matter once and for all and bring O’Neill in under the protection of the Crown  - once he was prepared to submit to the Monarch! The agents employed by the Lord Deputy in the negotiations were Sir William Godolphin and Sir Garrett Moore. The latter was a personal friend of O Neill, and found him in early March at his retreat near Lough Neagh. He persuaded him that he should negotiate peace terms, and that he would travel to meet Mountjoy under a safe conduct. Negotiations were then conducted at Mellifont, the site of an old abbey near Drogheda in County Louth. This was Sir Garret's seat, which had been sold to his family following the dissolution of the great Cistercian Abbey there at the time of the Reformation.

On 30 March, Tyrone submitted to the Crown and accepted the terms offered. The pardon and the terms were considered to be very generous at the time especially by those who wanted to see O’Neill executed as a Traitor to the Crown. In return for renouncing the Gaelic title, Uí Néill (in English: The O'Neill), the attainder that had stripped him of the title of Earl of Tyrone was reversed, allowing him a seat in the Irish House of Lords.

He retained his traditional core territory, apart from any Church lands, which were to be held in freehold title under English property law.

The Earl of Tyrone swore to be loyal to the Crown and not to seek further assistance from a foreign power. In return, he received a pardon.

There were restrictions placed on his power and influence over the inhabitants of his own lands that he must have found frustrating:

Brehon law was to be replaced in his lands with English law.

The earls were no longer permitted to support the Gaelic bards.

English would be the official language.

Catholic colleges could not be built on his property.

However these were much better terms than O’Neill believed he would ever get and he did not have much trouble in readily accepting them. He had to make a rather abject submission but he managed to retain his head on his shoulders & regain title to his core lands.  However there was a sting in the tail - he learnt afterwards when he reached Dublin that the English Queen had died in London six days before he submitted [24 March 1603] and King James VI of Scotland was expected to succeed her as the new King of these islands. If O’Neill had held out he might have done better than he did - but that is problematical as James was no friend of the Catholics of Ireland as subsequent events were to prove.

In the event Mountjoy and O’Neill hit it off at a personal level and made their way to London to meet the new King of England, Scotland and Ireland - James I. While Mountjoy was in Power here things remained calm but on the accession of Lord Chichester to the Lord Deputyship a new dispensation came about and the pressure on O’Neill became unbearable. He could feel his Power slipping away... 

Eventually he was summoned to Dublin for examination but rather than risk what would be almost certain incarceration and more than likely the executioners block if he entered Dublin Castle alone he fled Ireland in September 1607 with about 100 of his closest followers, eventually seeking sanctuary in the City of Rome. He never saw Ireland again and died in the Holy City in the year 1616 AD.