Ireland: From 1916 to the War of Independence

[KatieMorag]

Now that we're up to date with events (give or take a century) it's time for a re-cap of the main events between the Easter Rising and the Spring of 1918, so I'll be doing that later. Then we can have a more in-depth look at events between the Conscription Crisis and the General Election of December 1918.

[KatieMorag]

Summary of Events up to Spring 1918

29th April - 12th May 1916:
There is Martial Law throughout Ireland.
Following the surrender, there are thousands of arrests. Many of those arrested are soon released, but several thousand are sent to prisons and internment camps in England and Wales. After a series of Courts-Martial, 15 men are executed, including the 7 signatories of the Proclamation.
May-July 1916: Lloyd George meets with the IPP and Ulster Unionists in an attempt to resolve the Home Rule issue. The negotiations end in failure over the issue of Ulster exclusion.
July 1916 Henry Duke appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland.
3rd August 1916: Roger Casement hanged for treason in London.
24th December 1916: the remaining untried prisoners, including Michael Collins, are released.

[KatieMorag]

3rd February 1917: Count Plunkett, backed by various nationalist groups, wins Roscommon North by-election.
19th April 1917: Plunkett's Mansion House conference. Plunkett forms his new party, the Liberty League.
10th May 1917: Sinn Fein candidate Joseph McGuinness wins South Longford by-election.
Early June 1917: Plunkett's party merges with Arthur Griffith's Sinn Fein. A new Sinn Fein council is formed.
19th June 1917: The final prisoners, including de Valera, are released and return to a heroes' welcome.
10th July 1917: de Valera wins East Clare.
25th July 1917: Irish Convention begins. This is a last-ditch attempt by the British Government to find a workable solution to the "Irish Question". Sinn Fein refuses to attend.
August 1917: Cosgrave wins Kilkenny.
25th September 1917: Thomas Ashe dies during a hunger strike. His funeral becomes a show of strength for the Republican cause.
25th-26th October 1917: Sinn Fein Ard Feis. De Valera is appointed, an Executive is formed and a new Constitution agreed.
27th October 1917: Volunteers Convention held. De Valera is appointed President and a National Executive is formed.

[KatieMorag]

Events Continued

2nd February 1918: Irish Parliamentary Party wins Armagh South by-election.
9th March 1918: Death of John Redmond.
29th March 1918: William Redmond wins his late father's seat in the Waterford City by-election; his previous seat, East Tyrone, is also retained by the IPP.
April 1918: The Irish Convention reports to the Government; though the Nationalists and Southern Unionists have reached an agreement on an all-Ireland parliament, this has been rejected by the Ulster Unionists.
April 1918: Lloyd George announces his "dual policy": Home Rule for the whole of Ireland - with safeguards for Ulster - is to be enacted immediately, and at the same time Conscription implemented in Ireland.
18th -19th April 1918: An Anti-Conscription committee, made up of representatives of Sinn Fein, constitutional nationalists and the labour movement, meets at the Mansion House. At the same time, the Catholic Bishops meet and pledge their support for the Anti-Conscription cause.
23rd April 1918: General strike held throughout Ireland.
June 1918: "Dual Policy" of Home Rule and Conscription is dropped by the Government.

[KatieMorag]

wow .....such impressive cutting and pasting skills ......Murdoch will be straining at the leash to hire you lassie

No cutting and pasting Nick, all my own work.

[KatieMorag]

Just ordered "The Resurrection of Ireland" by Michael Laffan from Amazon. It's a history of Sinn Fein and I'm hoping it will help to illuminate this in-between period for me.......has anyone read it?

[cosmo]

vote sinn fein 1918.

police vans ? no date maybe prior to 1916 soldiers still in soft caps? no location looks like railway bridge ahead.

[KatieMorag]

"The Resurrection of Ireland" has arrived......looks like just the thing I've been looking for. Love the title!

[Éireann_Ascendant]

Just ordered "The Resurrection of Ireland" by Michael Laffan from Amazon. It's a history of Sinn Fein and I'm hoping it will help to illuminate this in-between period for me.......has anyone read it?

Yup, a great read! One of my personal favourites on the period.

[KatieMorag]

Yup, a great read! One of my personal favourites on the period.

Thanks EA, good to know!

[cosmo]

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%...yxfKyDvdGkFbsE


witness statement relating eamon o dwyer?.. a man I put up on the 1916 thread.

[KatieMorag]

The Resurrection of Ireland is good.......to back-track a little, it seems that although Arthur Griffith is known for being the founder of the original Sinn Fein party, this wasn't actually the case. Sinn Fein was the name he gave to his political ideology, which he articulated in the series of papers entitled "The Resurrection of Hungary", and also, later on, the name of one of a succession of newspapers. But the phrase "Sinn Fein"-or "We Ourselves" - had been around for many years, and was more of a philosophy than a party until the nationalist organisations Cumann na Gaedheal and the Dungannon clubs merged under the name "The Sinn Fein League" in April 1907. It seems that at this stage Arthur Griffith's party, The National Council, was somewhat reluctant to merge with the other groups,and this didn't happen until the Autumn of 1907.

[Ed O'Gorman]

I suppose we should start with the immediate aftermath, with the internments, before we get on to them being released, as their time in prison was very important.......been watching a documentary about Frongoch on youtube, some of the "acting" is a bit suspect but it's a good place to start I guess......

Katie; I have just finished viewing your video on Frongoch,and it was a total revelation to me. I was amazed the way these men stood together against the might of England. Great stuff.

[KatieMorag]

Katie; I have just finished viewing your video on Frongoch,and it was a total revelation to me. I was amazed the way these men stood together against the might of England. Great stuff.

thanks Ed. I think it's really important to see the development between the Easter Rising and the War of Independence.........the 1916-19 period has been neglected, imo.

[KatieMorag]

Interesting snippet gleaned from the Sinn Fein book. I never knew this before but apparently Ireland had its own time zone and was 25 minutes behind GMT until a few months after the Easter Rising when it was brought in line with the rest of the UK.......at such a sensitive time you'd think the British were deliberately trying to wind-up the Irish (all puns intended!) with what could have been seen as a symbolic act of subjugation.