A brief history of the Irish Volunteers in Cork City and County: 1913-1916
From foundation to Confusion
Gerry White on the events of 1916 and how these played out in Cork. (Published in the Evening Echo December 31, 2015.)
ON Sunday, April 9, 1916, Tomás MacCurtain, the officer commanding the Cork Brigade of Irish Volunteers, held a conference in the Volunteer Hall on Sheares Street in Cork. Attending were his second in command, Terence MacSwiney, his staff officers and battalion commanders. Among the items on the agenda that day were the strength of the unit and an inventory of arms and equipment. Also discussed was the forthcoming ‘concentration’ planned for Easter Sunday.
What MacCurtain and his men probably didn’t know then, is that what was really planned for Easter Sunday was an armed uprising to establish an independent Irish Republic.
What was originally known as the ‘Cork Corps’ of Irish Volunteers had been formed at a stormy meeting held in Cork City Hall on the night of December 14, 1913. By the summer of 1914 the unit had more than 6,000 members in almost every town and parish in the county. When the Volunteer movement split in September of that year over John Redmond’s call to take part in World War I, the overwhelming majority of these men supported him and went on to be become part of the National Volunteers. Approximately 600 of the more separatist-minded minority remained in the Irish Volunteers and were faced with the task of rebuilding their organisation.
Early in 1915, a new ‘Cork Brigade’ of Irish Volunteers was formed under the command of Tomás MacCurtain. A popular, charismatic, talented and committed officer, MacCurtain devoted all his energy to building the Cork Brigade into a well trained and efficient military unit. He was assisted in this task by his close friend and second-in-command, Terence MacSwiney.
In the summer of 1915, MacSwiney was appointed full-time organiser for the Cork Brigade. Aided by a number of key officers such as Thomas Kent of Castlelyons, he travelled all over the county organising new units. His efforts proved so successful that by April 1916 a total of 47 active companies had been formed. The rising that the Cork Brigade was expected to take part in under the cover of ‘Easter Manoeuvres’ had been planned by members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB).
In September 1914, with the British Army locked in a life and death struggle with the German army in France and Belgium, the leadership of the IRB, subscribing to the old Fenian axiom that ‘England’s difficulty was Ireland’s opportunity’ decided that the time had come to launch a armed rising to establish an independent Irish Republic.
In May 1915, a secret IRB Military Council consisting of Patrick Pearse, Joseph Plunkett and Éamonn Ceannt was established to formulate plans for the Rising.
By April 1916, the following members had been added: Thomas Clarke Sean MacDiarmada, Thomas MacDonagh and James Connolly, the leader of the Irish Citizen Army. They decided that the rising would take place on Easter Sunday 1916.
Their plan called for units of the Irish Volunteers, Irish Citizen Army and Hibernian Rifles to seize a number of key buildings in Dublin. Volunteer units in the rest of the country would also mobilise.The Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Clare Brigades would take possession of a supply of arms and ammunition that would be supplied by Germany and brought ashore on the coast of Kerry. Once armed they would then advance on Dublin.
In April 1915, Joseph Plunkett travelled to Germany prior to the rising in an effort to secure the arms and ammunition that were critical to its success.There he met Sir Roger Casement, the noted humanitarian and a founding member of the Irish Volunteers, who was in Germany trying to raise an ‘Irish Brigade’ from Irish members of the British Army who were being held as prisoners of war. Casement hoped that this unit would fight alongside the German Army but in the end he only managed to recruit 56 members. Although Plunkett and Casement looked for an expeditionary force, artillery and large quantities of small arms, the German government ultimately only agreed to supply 20,000 rifles and 1,000,000 rounds of ammunition.
Despite this setback, the Military Council decided to go ahead with the rising. However, in the week before Easter Sunday a series of events occurred that would have a major impact on the Cork Brigade and the success of the operation. As the date for the rising grew closer, it became necessary for the IRB Military Council to issue detailed orders to the various brigade commanders.
On Monday, April 17, Seán MacDermott sent Brigid Foley, a member of Cumann na mBan in Dublin, to Cork with a sealed dispatch to Tomás MacCurtain. When he read the dispatch MacCurtain felt he needed clarification and he decided to send Terence MacSwiney’s sister Eithne to Dublin on Wednesday in order to meet with Thomas Clarke, James Connolly Seán MacDermott, and to arrange a meeting between them and her brother, who was prepared to travel to Dublin. Eithne left Cork on Wednesday, April 19. The same day the IRB Military Council released what became known as the ‘Castle Document’, a forged document purporting to have been issued by Dublin Castle giving orders for the suppression and disarming of the Volunteer movement. The objective behind this piece of subterfuge was to convince the Volunteer leadership to support armed action — and initially it worked. To ensure that the rising would take place the IRB Military Council did not inform Eoin MacNeill and other Volunteer leaders such as Bulmer Hobson and Michael ‘The’ O’Rahilly of their plans.
MacNeill and the others felt that a rising at this time would be premature, counterproductive and doomed to fail. They also felt that armed resistance should only take place if the British government took action to arrest or disarm the Volunteers. When MacNeill became aware of the Castle Document, he issued an order to the Volunteers instructing them to resist if such a move was made against them.
In the meantime, Eithne MacSwiney arrived in Dublin and met with Sean MacDermott and Thomas Clarke, who told her that, because of the amount of police surveillance it would be better if her brother remained at home. When she sent a telegram to MacCurtain informing him of this he decided it would be best if Terence MacSwiney remained in Cork.
On the Holy Thursday morning, April 20, MacCurtain received MacNeill’s latest order. That night, however, things started to unravel. Bulmer Hobson learned about the plan to land the German arms in Kerry and immediately informed MacNeill. Furious at having been deceived and convinced now that a rising was planned for Easter Sunday, MacNeill, Hobson and Commandant J.J. ‘Ginger’ O’Connell, the Volunteer Chief of Inspection, went to confront Pearse at St Enda’s College. When Pearse admitted the truth MacNeill declared that he would do everything in his power to stop the rising. In the early hours of Good Friday, April 21, he ordered O’Connell to travel to Cork to take charge of the Volunteers in Munster. He also issued a ‘General Order’ to all Volunteers re-affirming his instructions to take defensive measure only. Having satisfied himself that he had regained control of the situation, MacNeill retired to bed. However, later that morning, as O’Connell was making his way to Cork, Pearse, and MacDermott called to MacNeill’s home and argued that it was now too late to stop the rising. After much debate, MacNeill agreed to countermand his previous order.
Once this was decided, MacDermott contacted Volunteer James Ryan and ordered him to take a new dispatch to Cork that evening confirming the original orders for Easter Sunday.
O’Connell met MacCurtain and Terence MacSwiney on Friday night at the latter’s home on the Victoria Road. O’Connell brought them up to date on events in Dublin and confirmed MacNeill’s order in relation to defensive measures. However, unknown to any of them the situation had taken a dramatic turn for the worse.
On April 9, the arms and ammunition being supplied by Germany left the port of Lübeck on board a captured British cargo ship that had been renamed the Aud. Three days later Roger Casement left Germany for Ireland on board the submarine U-19. He was disappointed with the quality of weapons being supplied by Germany and was actually going to try and stop the rising. The Aud arrived at Tralee Bay on Holy Thursday but the local Irish Volunteers were not expecting it until two days later and the cargo of arms was not landed. Casement came ashore at Banna Stand that same day and was arrested by the RIC.
MacCurtain was in the Volunteer Hall the following morning when he learned of Casement’s fate. He immediately decided to go to O’Connell’s hotel and inform him of this development.
However, just as he was about to leave the hall, James Ryan arrived from Dublin with MacDermott’s latest dispatch, which confirmed that the ‘manoeuvres’ would go ahead as planned. MacCurtain now felt that he had no other option but to follow standard military procedure and ‘obey the last order’ and he informed Ryan that he would mobilise his men as planned. But the situation was about to change again.
The following day, Easter Saturday, April 22, MacNeill was informed of Casement’s arrest and the interception of the Aud. Convinced that the rising was doomed to fail and would result in heavy loss of life he immediately issued orders cancelling the manoeuvres for Easter Sunday. He also drafted a notice to this effect and placed it in the Sunday newspapers.
In the meantime, James Ryan had returned to Dublin and informed MacDermott that he had completed his mission. That night, however, he was summoned to a house on Rathgar Road where he discovered the Volunteer Executive in conference. He spoke to MacNeill who asked if he had delivered a dispatch to Cork. Once he confirmed this, MacNeill ordered him to return to Cork by car so he could deliver the latest order cancelling the planned manoeuvres. Whether the Cork Brigade would mobilise as previously ordered by MacDermott, and face the possibility of an armed conflict with the British army, now depended on how soon Ryan could get back to MacCurtain. Time was critical because on Saturday afternoon the Volunteers of the Cork Brigade were already beginning to mobilise.
ON the afternoon of Saturday, April 22, 1916, the members of the Cork Brigade of Irish Volunteers were preparing for war. All over the county, Volunteers were attending confession and preparing their uniforms and equipment for the mobilisation and manoeuvres that were planned for the following morning. Across the city, all available arms, ammunition and supplies were being moved into the Volunteer Hall on Sheares Street, which was placed under armed guard.
Later that evening, 15 members of the Cobh Company commanded by Captain Michael Leahy arrived at the Volunteer Hall. They were later joined by 27 men from the Dungourney Company under the command of Captain Maurice Ahern. That night, all of them slept on the floor of the hall, lying on beds made from straw.
The previous few days had been tense and confusing for the Brigade Commandant Tomás MacCurtain. A number of conflicting orders regarding the manoeuvres planned for Easter Sunday had been sent to him from Dublin, alternatively saying that they were cancelled or were taking place as originally planned the previous month.The last order MacCurtain received had been delivered on Saturday by Volunteer James Ryan and it stated that the mobilisation was going ahead. According to standard military procedure, MacCurtain decided to obey this order. However, that night as he went to bed, he had no idea that Ryan had been detailed to return to Cork with a new order stating that the manoeuvres were cancelled.
As dawn broke on Easter Sunday, Volunteers from all over the county arose, had breakfast, said farewell to their loved ones, and set out for one of eight designated assembly points.
In the Volunteer Hall, first aid kits and other items of equipment were distributed. When all supplies had been issued, 163 Volunteers from the Cork City Battalion, together with those from Cobh and Dungourney, formed up outside their headquarters. After a final address by MacCurtain, they marched off to Capwell Railway Station where they boarded a train for Crookstown.
MacCurtain had arranged to travel to West Cork by car. However, just as he was about to leave the Volunteer Hall, James Ryan arrived and delivered the order cancelling the manoeuvres. MacCurtain was now in an impossible position. All over the county his men were marching to their concentration points as ordered and there was a distinct possibility they would encounter the British Army. The situation was now fraught with danger. However, when he weighed up his options he decided his only course of action was to permit the men to concentrate as ordered. Once that was complete he would then order them all to ‘stand down’.
Then, as heavy rain began to fall, MacCurtain set off for West Cork accompanied byTerence MacSwiney and Bob Hales. His first stop was near Crookstown where he issued orders for the column marching to Macroom to stand down upon arrival. He next moved on to Bweeng and Inchigeela and stood down the Volunteers concentrated at these locations. The officers in charge of the other concentration points had already been told to stand down if no further instructions were forthcoming. A total of 1,029 Volunteers of the Cork Brigade had mobilised. But that afternoon, they returned home confused, dismayed and soaked to the skin with green dye from their Volunteer hats running down their faces.
Having stood down his men, MacCurtain decided to go to Ballingeary to discuss the situation with Seán O’Hegarty, the senior IRB officer in the county. Unfortunately, the headlights on his car failed and MacCurtain, MacSwiney and Hales were forced to spend the night at Carrigadrohid instead. At first light on Easter Monday, they set off for Ballingeary and met with O’Hegarty, who proved no wiser than they were. Eventually, a little after 6pm they began the return journey to Cork, unaware that the Rising had started in Dublin.
Back in Cork, Seán Murphy, and Seán O’Sullivan, the Officer Commanding the Cork City Battalion, had heard a variety of unconfirmed reports from Dublin and received a note from Patrick Pearse that was delivered by Mary Perolz from the Dublin Cumman na mBan. Written on a small notebook it read: “We start at noon today.”
Unsure of what action to take, these officers decided their best course of action was to man the Volunteer Hall and post a number of scouts at strategic points around the city. MacCurtain eventually returned to Cork at around 9pm. When he arrived at the Volunteer Hall he was handed the note from Pearse. The more he thought about the situation, the more difficult it appeared. His men had dispersed, the expected German arms had not materialised and he had no communications with Dublin.
A hostile crowd had also gathered in the street outside his headquarters, and the British Army in Victoria Barracks were probably preparing to move against him. MacCurtain quickly realised he had no room for manoeuvre and decided his best course of action was to concentrate on defending the Volunteer Hall against attack. In the meantime, the Lord Mayor of Cork, Councillor T. C. Butterfield, had already commenced an initiative to prevent an outbreak of hostilities. He contacted Brigadier-General W. F. H. Stafford, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) in Cork, and suggested that before any attempt be made to capture the Volunteer Hall he should first be given an opportunity to persuade the Volunteers to hand over their weapons peacefully. Stafford agreed and appointed his aide-de-camp, Captain F. W. Dickie, to take charge of negotiations. Butterfield then called on the Assistant Bishop of Cork, Dr Daniel Cohalan, and on Monday night they met with MacCurtain, who assured them that he had no intention of initiating military action but would defend his position if attacked.
On Wednesday morning, MacCurtain received reports that the British army had deployed artillery on the hill of Gurranabraher and positioned a number of machine guns in the Malt House directly opposite the Volunteer Hall. He also received a visit from the city coroner, William Murphy, who asked that no military action be taken until Butterfield and Cohalan returned.
Throughout Wednesday and Thursday, Butterfield and Cohalan continued to negotiate with Captain Dickie. They eventually reached an agreement whereby the Volunteers would hand up their arms to the Lord Mayor the following Monday for safekeeping and in return no action would be taken against them.
On Friday, Butterfield and Cohalan returned to the Volunteer Hall where they put these terms to MacCurtain, and delivered a threat from Dickie that the Volunteer Hall would be shelled if he refused to accept them. MacCurtain agreed in principle but sought clarification on the following questions: would the matter be kept out of the newspapers; would the arms be returned to the Volunteers once the crisis was over; would the RIC cease harassing his men; and would MacCurtain and MacSwiney be permitted to visit Volunteer units in Limerick and Kerry to inform them of the situation in Cork and recommend acceptance of similar terms? These queries were transmitted to General Stafford.
Later that night, Captain Dickie met with Bishop Cohalan at his residence and informed him that, as far as the GOC was concerned, the arms would be returned once the crisis had passed. He also stated that the GOC would use his influence to curb the activities of the RIC and to ensure the terms of the agreement were kept out of the press. He would also issue the travel permits requested by MacCurtain. Butterfield and Dickie returned to the Volunteer Hall at around 2am on Saturday and passed this news to MacCurtain.
The following morning, MacCurtain and MacSwiney departed for Limerick and Kerry. However, when they came back that night they discovered that a report of the agreement had been carried in the Cork Constitution. A short time later, Captain Dickie arrived at Volunteer Hall and demanded that all arms should now be handed up by midnight on Sunday rather than on Monday as previously agreed. MacCurtain was outraged by these developments and the next morning he met with the Bishop and Lord Mayor and informed them that under the current circumstances he could not possibly ask his men to hand over their arms.
Cohalan eventually persuaded MacCurtain to put the matter before a meeting of his men at 8pm on Monday and stated that both he and the Lord Mayor would address them. Butterfield then wrote to Dickie suggesting a meeting at noon the following day. When Coholan met Captain Dickie he was informed that as far as the GOC was concerned, the Volunteers had not kept their part of the agreement and if their weapons were not handed over by 8pm the GOC would consider the Volunteers to be in rebellion against the Crown and would act accordingly.
That night, 140 Volunteers gathered in the hall to hear Butterfield and Cohalan urge them to hand up their weapons. In a ballot afterwards the majority of those present voted in favour of doing so. Once the meeting was over, some of these men immediately made their way to the Lord Mayor’s home at 68 South Mall and handed in their rifles. Those who disagreed with this decision were adamant that the British would again renege on their commitments. These Volunteers moved their arms to secret locations around the city or, in a final act of defiance, removed the firing pins to render them unserviceable.
From MacCurtain’s perspective, the crisis was now over. He was convinced he had taken the correct course of action and he genuinely expected that the British authorities would honour the terms of the agreement.
Unfortunately, the following day would prove him wrong.
ON Sunday, April 9, 1916, Tomás MacCurtain, the officer commanding the Cork Brigade of Irish Volunteers, held a conference in the Volunteer Hall on Sheares Street in Cork. Attending were his second in command, Terence MacSwiney, his staff officers and battalion commanders. Among the items on the agenda that day were the strength of the unit and an inventory of arms and equipment. Also discussed was the forthcoming ‘concentration’ planned for Easter Sunday.
What MacCurtain and his men probably didn’t know then, is that what was really planned for Easter Sunday was an armed uprising to establish an independent Irish Republic.
What was originally known as the ‘Cork Corps’ of Irish Volunteers had been formed at a stormy meeting held in Cork City Hall on the night of December 14, 1913. By the summer of 1914 the unit had more than 6,000 members in almost every town and parish in the county. When the Volunteer movement split in September of that year over John Redmond’s call to take part in World War I, the overwhelming majority of these men supported him and went on to be become part of the National Volunteers. Approximately 600 of the more separatist-minded minority remained in the Irish Volunteers and were faced with the task of rebuilding their organisation.
Early in 1915, a new ‘Cork Brigade’ of Irish Volunteers was formed under the command of Tomás MacCurtain. A popular, charismatic, talented and committed officer, MacCurtain devoted all his energy to building the Cork Brigade into a well trained and efficient military unit. He was assisted in this task by his close friend and second-in-command, Terence MacSwiney.
In the summer of 1915, MacSwiney was appointed full-time organiser for the Cork Brigade. Aided by a number of key officers such as Thomas Kent of Castlelyons, he travelled all over the county organising new units. His efforts proved so successful that by April 1916 a total of 47 active companies had been formed. The rising that the Cork Brigade was expected to take part in under the cover of ‘Easter Manoeuvres’ had been planned by members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB).
In September 1914, with the British Army locked in a life and death struggle with the German army in France and Belgium, the leadership of the IRB, subscribing to the old Fenian axiom that ‘England’s difficulty was Ireland’s opportunity’ decided that the time had come to launch a armed rising to establish an independent Irish Republic.
In May 1915, a secret IRB Military Council consisting of Patrick Pearse, Joseph Plunkett and Éamonn Ceannt was established to formulate plans for the Rising.
By April 1916, the following members had been added: Thomas Clarke Sean MacDiarmada, Thomas MacDonagh and James Connolly, the leader of the Irish Citizen Army. They decided that the rising would take place on Easter Sunday 1916.
Their plan called for units of the Irish Volunteers, Irish Citizen Army and Hibernian Rifles to seize a number of key buildings in Dublin. Volunteer units in the rest of the country would also mobilise.The Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Clare Brigades would take possession of a supply of arms and ammunition that would be supplied by Germany and brought ashore on the coast of Kerry. Once armed they would then advance on Dublin.
In April 1915, Joseph Plunkett travelled to Germany prior to the rising in an effort to secure the arms and ammunition that were critical to its success.There he met Sir Roger Casement, the noted humanitarian and a founding member of the Irish Volunteers, who was in Germany trying to raise an ‘Irish Brigade’ from Irish members of the British Army who were being held as prisoners of war. Casement hoped that this unit would fight alongside the German Army but in the end he only managed to recruit 56 members. Although Plunkett and Casement looked for an expeditionary force, artillery and large quantities of small arms, the German government ultimately only agreed to supply 20,000 rifles and 1,000,000 rounds of ammunition.
Despite this setback, the Military Council decided to go ahead with the rising. However, in the week before Easter Sunday a series of events occurred that would have a major impact on the Cork Brigade and the success of the operation. As the date for the rising grew closer, it became necessary for the IRB Military Council to issue detailed orders to the various brigade commanders.
On Monday, April 17, Seán MacDermott sent Brigid Foley, a member of Cumann na mBan in Dublin, to Cork with a sealed dispatch to Tomás MacCurtain. When he read the dispatch MacCurtain felt he needed clarification and he decided to send Terence MacSwiney’s sister Eithne to Dublin on Wednesday in order to meet with Thomas Clarke, James Connolly Seán MacDermott, and to arrange a meeting between them and her brother, who was prepared to travel to Dublin. Eithne left Cork on Wednesday, April 19. The same day the IRB Military Council released what became known as the ‘Castle Document’, a forged document purporting to have been issued by Dublin Castle giving orders for the suppression and disarming of the Volunteer movement. The objective behind this piece of subterfuge was to convince the Volunteer leadership to support armed action — and initially it worked. To ensure that the rising would take place the IRB Military Council did not inform Eoin MacNeill and other Volunteer leaders such as Bulmer Hobson and Michael ‘The’ O’Rahilly of their plans.
MacNeill and the others felt that a rising at this time would be premature, counterproductive and doomed to fail. They also felt that armed resistance should only take place if the British government took action to arrest or disarm the Volunteers. When MacNeill became aware of the Castle Document, he issued an order to the Volunteers instructing them to resist if such a move was made against them.
In the meantime, Eithne MacSwiney arrived in Dublin and met with Sean MacDermott and Thomas Clarke, who told her that, because of the amount of police surveillance it would be better if her brother remained at home. When she sent a telegram to MacCurtain informing him of this he decided it would be best if Terence MacSwiney remained in Cork.
On the Holy Thursday morning, April 20, MacCurtain received MacNeill’s latest order. That night, however, things started to unravel. Bulmer Hobson learned about the plan to land the German arms in Kerry and immediately informed MacNeill. Furious at having been deceived and convinced now that a rising was planned for Easter Sunday, MacNeill, Hobson and Commandant J.J. ‘Ginger’ O’Connell, the Volunteer Chief of Inspection, went to confront Pearse at St Enda’s College. When Pearse admitted the truth MacNeill declared that he would do everything in his power to stop the rising. In the early hours of Good Friday, April 21, he ordered O’Connell to travel to Cork to take charge of the Volunteers in Munster. He also issued a ‘General Order’ to all Volunteers re-affirming his instructions to take defensive measure only. Having satisfied himself that he had regained control of the situation, MacNeill retired to bed. However, later that morning, as O’Connell was making his way to Cork, Pearse, and MacDermott called to MacNeill’s home and argued that it was now too late to stop the rising. After much debate, MacNeill agreed to countermand his previous order.
Once this was decided, MacDermott contacted Volunteer James Ryan and ordered him to take a new dispatch to Cork that evening confirming the original orders for Easter Sunday.
O’Connell met MacCurtain and Terence MacSwiney on Friday night at the latter’s home on the Victoria Road. O’Connell brought them up to date on events in Dublin and confirmed MacNeill’s order in relation to defensive measures. However, unknown to any of them the situation had taken a dramatic turn for the worse.
On April 9, the arms and ammunition being supplied by Germany left the port of Lübeck on board a captured British cargo ship that had been renamed the Aud. Three days later Roger Casement left Germany for Ireland on board the submarine U-19. He was disappointed with the quality of weapons being supplied by Germany and was actually going to try and stop the rising. The Aud arrived at Tralee Bay on Holy Thursday but the local Irish Volunteers were not expecting it until two days later and the cargo of arms was not landed. Casement came ashore at Banna Stand that same day and was arrested by the RIC.
MacCurtain was in the Volunteer Hall the following morning when he learned of Casement’s fate. He immediately decided to go to O’Connell’s hotel and inform him of this development.
However, just as he was about to leave the hall, James Ryan arrived from Dublin with MacDermott’s latest dispatch, which confirmed that the ‘manoeuvres’ would go ahead as planned. MacCurtain now felt that he had no other option but to follow standard military procedure and ‘obey the last order’ and he informed Ryan that he would mobilise his men as planned. But the situation was about to change again.
The following day, Easter Saturday, April 22, MacNeill was informed of Casement’s arrest and the interception of the Aud. Convinced that the rising was doomed to fail and would result in heavy loss of life he immediately issued orders cancelling the manoeuvres for Easter Sunday. He also drafted a notice to this effect and placed it in the Sunday newspapers.
In the meantime, James Ryan had returned to Dublin and informed MacDermott that he had completed his mission. That night, however, he was summoned to a house on Rathgar Road where he discovered the Volunteer Executive in conference. He spoke to MacNeill who asked if he had delivered a dispatch to Cork. Once he confirmed this, MacNeill ordered him to return to Cork by car so he could deliver the latest order cancelling the planned manoeuvres. Whether the Cork Brigade would mobilise as previously ordered by MacDermott, and face the possibility of an armed conflict with the British army, now depended on how soon Ryan could get back to MacCurtain. Time was critical because on Saturday afternoon the Volunteers of the Cork Brigade were already beginning to mobilise.
ON the afternoon of Saturday, April 22, 1916, the members of the Cork Brigade of Irish Volunteers were preparing for war. All over the county, Volunteers were attending confession and preparing their uniforms and equipment for the mobilisation and manoeuvres that were planned for the following morning. Across the city, all available arms, ammunition and supplies were being moved into the Volunteer Hall on Sheares Street, which was placed under armed guard.
Later that evening, 15 members of the Cobh Company commanded by Captain Michael Leahy arrived at the Volunteer Hall. They were later joined by 27 men from the Dungourney Company under the command of Captain Maurice Ahern. That night, all of them slept on the floor of the hall, lying on beds made from straw.
The previous few days had been tense and confusing for the Brigade Commandant Tomás MacCurtain. A number of conflicting orders regarding the manoeuvres planned for Easter Sunday had been sent to him from Dublin, alternatively saying that they were cancelled or were taking place as originally planned the previous month.The last order MacCurtain received had been delivered on Saturday by Volunteer James Ryan and it stated that the mobilisation was going ahead. According to standard military procedure, MacCurtain decided to obey this order. However, that night as he went to bed, he had no idea that Ryan had been detailed to return to Cork with a new order stating that the manoeuvres were cancelled.
As dawn broke on Easter Sunday, Volunteers from all over the county arose, had breakfast, said farewell to their loved ones, and set out for one of eight designated assembly points.
In the Volunteer Hall, first aid kits and other items of equipment were distributed. When all supplies had been issued, 163 Volunteers from the Cork City Battalion, together with those from Cobh and Dungourney, formed up outside their headquarters. After a final address by MacCurtain, they marched off to Capwell Railway Station where they boarded a train for Crookstown.
MacCurtain had arranged to travel to West Cork by car. However, just as he was about to leave the Volunteer Hall, James Ryan arrived and delivered the order cancelling the manoeuvres. MacCurtain was now in an impossible position. All over the county his men were marching to their concentration points as ordered and there was a distinct possibility they would encounter the British Army. The situation was now fraught with danger. However, when he weighed up his options he decided his only course of action was to permit the men to concentrate as ordered. Once that was complete he would then order them all to ‘stand down’.
Then, as heavy rain began to fall, MacCurtain set off for West Cork accompanied byTerence MacSwiney and Bob Hales. His first stop was near Crookstown where he issued orders for the column marching to Macroom to stand down upon arrival. He next moved on to Bweeng and Inchigeela and stood down the Volunteers concentrated at these locations. The officers in charge of the other concentration points had already been told to stand down if no further instructions were forthcoming. A total of 1,029 Volunteers of the Cork Brigade had mobilised. But that afternoon, they returned home confused, dismayed and soaked to the skin with green dye from their Volunteer hats running down their faces.
Having stood down his men, MacCurtain decided to go to Ballingeary to discuss the situation with Seán O’Hegarty, the senior IRB officer in the county. Unfortunately, the headlights on his car failed and MacCurtain, MacSwiney and Hales were forced to spend the night at Carrigadrohid instead. At first light on Easter Monday, they set off for Ballingeary and met with O’Hegarty, who proved no wiser than they were. Eventually, a little after 6pm they began the return journey to Cork, unaware that the Rising had started in Dublin.
Back in Cork, Seán Murphy, and Seán O’Sullivan, the Officer Commanding the Cork City Battalion, had heard a variety of unconfirmed reports from Dublin and received a note from Patrick Pearse that was delivered by Mary Perolz from the Dublin Cumman na mBan. Written on a small notebook it read: “We start at noon today.”
Unsure of what action to take, these officers decided their best course of action was to man the Volunteer Hall and post a number of scouts at strategic points around the city. MacCurtain eventually returned to Cork at around 9pm. When he arrived at the Volunteer Hall he was handed the note from Pearse. The more he thought about the situation, the more difficult it appeared. His men had dispersed, the expected German arms had not materialised and he had no communications with Dublin.
A hostile crowd had also gathered in the street outside his headquarters, and the British Army in Victoria Barracks were probably preparing to move against him. MacCurtain quickly realised he had no room for manoeuvre and decided his best course of action was to concentrate on defending the Volunteer Hall against attack. In the meantime, the Lord Mayor of Cork, Councillor T. C. Butterfield, had already commenced an initiative to prevent an outbreak of hostilities. He contacted Brigadier-General W. F. H. Stafford, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) in Cork, and suggested that before any attempt be made to capture the Volunteer Hall he should first be given an opportunity to persuade the Volunteers to hand over their weapons peacefully. Stafford agreed and appointed his aide-de-camp, Captain F. W. Dickie, to take charge of negotiations. Butterfield then called on the Assistant Bishop of Cork, Dr Daniel Cohalan, and on Monday night they met with MacCurtain, who assured them that he had no intention of initiating military action but would defend his position if attacked.
On Wednesday morning, MacCurtain received reports that the British army had deployed artillery on the hill of Gurranabraher and positioned a number of machine guns in the Malt House directly opposite the Volunteer Hall. He also received a visit from the city coroner, William Murphy, who asked that no military action be taken until Butterfield and Cohalan returned.
Throughout Wednesday and Thursday, Butterfield and Cohalan continued to negotiate with Captain Dickie. They eventually reached an agreement whereby the Volunteers would hand up their arms to the Lord Mayor the following Monday for safekeeping and in return no action would be taken against them.
On Friday, Butterfield and Cohalan returned to the Volunteer Hall where they put these terms to MacCurtain, and delivered a threat from Dickie that the Volunteer Hall would be shelled if he refused to accept them. MacCurtain agreed in principle but sought clarification on the following questions: would the matter be kept out of the newspapers; would the arms be returned to the Volunteers once the crisis was over; would the RIC cease harassing his men; and would MacCurtain and MacSwiney be permitted to visit Volunteer units in Limerick and Kerry to inform them of the situation in Cork and recommend acceptance of similar terms? These queries were transmitted to General Stafford.
Later that night, Captain Dickie met with Bishop Cohalan at his residence and informed him that, as far as the GOC was concerned, the arms would be returned once the crisis had passed. He also stated that the GOC would use his influence to curb the activities of the RIC and to ensure the terms of the agreement were kept out of the press. He would also issue the travel permits requested by MacCurtain. Butterfield and Dickie returned to the Volunteer Hall at around 2am on Saturday and passed this news to MacCurtain.
The following morning, MacCurtain and MacSwiney departed for Limerick and Kerry. However, when they came back that night they discovered that a report of the agreement had been carried in the Cork Constitution. A short time later, Captain Dickie arrived at Volunteer Hall and demanded that all arms should now be handed up by midnight on Sunday rather than on Monday as previously agreed. MacCurtain was outraged by these developments and the next morning he met with the Bishop and Lord Mayor and informed them that under the current circumstances he could not possibly ask his men to hand over their arms.
Cohalan eventually persuaded MacCurtain to put the matter before a meeting of his men at 8pm on Monday and stated that both he and the Lord Mayor would address them. Butterfield then wrote to Dickie suggesting a meeting at noon the following day. When Coholan met Captain Dickie he was informed that as far as the GOC was concerned, the Volunteers had not kept their part of the agreement and if their weapons were not handed over by 8pm the GOC would consider the Volunteers to be in rebellion against the Crown and would act accordingly.
That night, 140 Volunteers gathered in the hall to hear Butterfield and Cohalan urge them to hand up their weapons. In a ballot afterwards the majority of those present voted in favour of doing so. Once the meeting was over, some of these men immediately made their way to the Lord Mayor’s home at 68 South Mall and handed in their rifles. Those who disagreed with this decision were adamant that the British would again renege on their commitments. These Volunteers moved their arms to secret locations around the city or, in a final act of defiance, removed the firing pins to render them unserviceable.
From MacCurtain’s perspective, the crisis was now over. He was convinced he had taken the correct course of action and he genuinely expected that the British authorities would honour the terms of the agreement.
Unfortunately, the following day would prove him wrong.