Uncommon Valour (10 page)

Later that night Captain Rotheram was contacted by telephone at Kingsbridge Station by Lieutenant Henry Worswick to say that Mr Rice, a night watchman, had failed to return from a patrol to the Malt Store. Captain Rotheram ordered that no action be taken until daylight the following day. However, Lieutenant Worswick, who was also an officer in the 2nd King Edward's Horse, and a night watchman named Dockeray made their way towards the Malt House to investigate. They also failed to return.

The following day it was revealed that the two officers and the two employees of the brewery were shot dead in the Malt Store on the orders of Quartermaster Sergeant Robert Flood. At the subsequent trial the events of the night were revealed. The quartermaster sergeant grew suspicious of Lieutenant Lucas after he caught him attempting to open a window on the third floor. He reiterated the orders they had received but Lieutenant Lucas told the sergeant that he was in charge. Suspecting that the officer was a ‘Sinn Féiner' and was attempting to signal to the enemy, the sergeant shone his torch at the officer and ordered his colleagues to cover the officer with their rifles. At this point, Mr Rice appeared and he too found himself covered by five rifles. Both men were searched. Sergeant Flood believed that the two men were ‘Sinn Féiners' who were attempting to signal to the enemy in the South Dublin Union. He told them they were going to be shot. Lieutenant Lucas asked to say his prayers and knelt on the ground. As he rose the officer pleaded, ‘Don't fire sergeant; I am only a poor farmer's son.' He was crying and when asked why, he replied he was thinking of his wife and child. Sergeant Flood ordered the officer to remove his coat so as not to disgrace its insignia. The officer was placed against a wall and the order to fire was given by the sergeant. A volley of shots rang out in the stairwell and the officer collapsed on the floor. A second order was given to fire at Mr Rice and he too fell to the floor. He was still alive, so Private Maurice McCarthy reloaded and fired again into the body.

After half an hour the picket made their way down to the second floor where they heard footsteps approaching their position. The order to ‘Halt' was shouted out twice by Sergeant Flood but it was ignored. The sergeant turned on his electric torch and saw an officer (Lt Worswick) and civilian (Mr Dockeray) standing before them. Sergeant Flood covered the men with his rifle and called to his colleagues for assistance. They soon arrived and searched the two men. They were asked what they were doing in the building and both men refused to answer. Suddenly Lieutenant Worswick lunged at Quartermaster Sergeant Flood, knocking him to the ground. The other soldiers opened fire killing Lieutenant Worswick and Mr Dockeray. The following morning the soldiers reported the killings to their superior officers.

At the trial, the prosecution was conducted by Major E.G. Kimber, DSO, who relayed the facts of the case to the court. The defence council, Mr Henry Hanna, KC, questioned Quartermaster Sergeant Robert Flood:

‘At the time you ordered the first two to be shot, did you honestly believe it was necessary for the safety of yourself and your men?'

‘I did.'

‘Did you think it was necessary for the purpose of carrying out your military duty?'

‘I did.'
⁶²

Shortly afterwards the president of the court-martial announced that the accused, Quartermaster Sergeant Robert Flood, had been found not guilty. The court erupted into applause.

Many excused the incident as an unfortunate event brought about by inexperienced soldiers who were suffering from nervous exhaustion. On 16 June 1916 the following statement was published:

Messers Arthur Guinness, Sons and Co., Limited, are authorised by Lord Cheylesmore to state that there was nothing to justify any suggestion that either Mr Dockeray or Mr Rice was in any way connected with, or in sympathy with, the Sinn Féin rebellion. He regrets that any such idea should have arisen.

(Signed) H.W. Renny Tailyour
Managing Director
⁶³

As news of this and other civilian deaths caused by the military authorities filtered out by word of mouth and through
The Irish Times
, public opinion changed from apathy to outrage. The military were reluctant to investigate these deaths and although subsequent coroner's reports and trials were carried out to appease the public, they often ended without prosecution. A possible reason behind this failure to investigate is contained in a dispatch to the secretary of war on 26 May 1916 written by General Sir John Maxwell:

Allegations on the behaviour of the troops brought to my notice are being most carefully inquired into. I am glad to say they are few in number, and these are not borne out by direct evidence. I wish to emphasise that the responsibility for the loss of life, however it occurred, the destruction of property, and other losses, rests entirely with those who engineered this revolt, and who, at a time when the Empire is engaged in a gigantic struggle, invited the assistance and cooperation of the Germans.
⁶⁴

Almost a month after his trial Sergeant Flood was transferred to the Royal Berkshire Regiment and later attained the rank of CSM. He was killed in action at Salonika on 9 May 1917, aged thirty-three. There is no mention of his court-martial or his acquittal in his service records.

Chapter 13

Aftermath

The following general order was issued to the troops by General Sir John Grenfell Maxwell, general commander of the British forces in Ireland on 1 May 1916:

I desire to thank the troops who have been engaged in the city of Dublin for their splendid behaviour under the trying conditions of street fighting which I found it necessary to order them to undertake. Owing to the excellent direction of the officers and the tireless effort of the troops, all the surviving rebels in Dublin have now surrendered unconditionally. I especially wish to express my gratitude to those Irish regiments that have so largely helped to crush this Rising.
⁶⁵

No special list of honours was issued in relation to the services rendered by the military during the 1916 Rising. On 20 June 1916 in the Houses of Parliament, London, Sir J.D. Rees asked Under Secretary of State for War Harold Tennant what recognition was to be given to the officers and men of the Sherwood Foresters who lost their lives and received wounds in the recent street fighting in Dublin, where they acquitted themselves with the coolness of seasoned troops, as well as with gallantry, under circumstances calculated to try experienced veterans? He asked if recognition was to be given precisely on the same footing as for ordinary service? Mr Tennant replied that recognition had already been given and that he did not know if any further acknowledgment would be granted. He reiterated that the Prime Minister had expressed gratitude.

The
London Gazette
carried the names of soldiers who were mentioned in dispatches and Captain Michael (Micky) Cleeve Martyn of the Nottingham and Derbyshire Regiment received the Military Cross for his actions. Of the fifty-two honours and awards given out for the Rising, fifteen were awarded to the men of the Sherwood Forester Regiment, and of the eighteen highest awards issued, ten were awarded to the Sherwood Forester Regiment.

The exact number of crown casualties for the battle for the South Dublin Union is difficult to determine as a number of men from various regiments were engaged in the fighting during the week.

The Royal Irish Regiment lists two officers and five men killed in action and one officer and six men wounded. The regimental history of the Sherwood Foresters gives the relatively low number of three men killed in action and seven wounded during the fighting at the Union. Many of those wounded returned to England and were subsequently discharged from the army only to succumb to their wounds later. Of the total military casualties of the entire Rising, the Sherwood Foresters suffered the most – 214 officers and men killed or wounded, many of these in the engagement at Mount Street Bridge. A complete and accurate list may never be compiled as many of those killed in action are listed as being killed at home with no definite time or place of death recorded. The Rising in Dublin and its casualties was considered a comparatively minor affair to the British Army High Command. However, their attitude to warfare was to dramatically change with the onslaught of the Somme offensive of July 1916. The battle for Dublin became a distant memory to many as the Somme united British and Irish families, not through victory or defeat, but through their losses.

In the weeks and months that followed the insurrection in Dublin, the British troops who remained in Ireland were dispatched throughout the country as martial law was strictly enforced. Later, many of these regiments found themselves in action on the Western Front in Europe. Captain Micky Martyn fought with the Sherwood Foresters, receiving the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). He was later attached to the 6th Battalion of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment and was reported missing in action in August 1918. It was later discovered that he had been taken prisoner by the Germans and he was repatriated that same year. Martyn died on 13 June 1978.

Captain John Sherbrook Coape Oates was wounded twice in action on his return to France and Belgium. He was awarded the DSO and his father, Lieutenant Colonel Oates received his DSO at the same investiture at Buckingham Palace. Captain Oates continued his military service, serving with the Royal Artillery in the Second World War. He died at home on 24 February 1978.

The young lieutenant, Monk Gibbon, survived the war and became a well-known writer, recording his experiences in Dublin 1916 in a book entitled
Inglorious
Soldier
.

The executions of the leaders of the Rising had caused revulsion amongst the populace and public opinion began to swing in favour of the Irish Volunteers who had been incarcerated abroad. By December 1916, Volunteer Peadar Doyle, like many others, found himself imprisoned in Lewes jail in England. The Irish Volunteers formed a committee to fight for their recognition as prisoners of war. They lobbied the authorities and as time progressed conditions for the prisoners slowly improved.

Education and work details were organised by the prisoners. The governor of the prison was impressed with painting work that had been carried out within the jail by the prisoners. He enquired if it would be possible for the prisoners to paint his house and after thinking the matter over, the prisoners submitted an estimate and the work commenced. The governor was very pleased with the standard of workmanship and when the job was finished he brought his friends to see it. It was some time afterwards that he realised that the doors and panels had been painted green, white and orange. In another small act of rebellion a member of the work crew was selected to distract the guard while the painters wrote ‘This house has been decorated by the Irish Prisoners of War 1917' before it was covered in wallpaper.
⁶⁶

Many prisoners were released by late 1917 or early 1918 and on their return to Ireland, they found that attitudes to the Rising had shifted and that public opinion had changed dramatically from condemnation to admiration.

Major Sir Francis Fletcher Vane, the British officer who had led the attack on the South Dublin Union on the Thursday afternoon, found himself deprived of his rank and dismissed from the army by the end of May 1916. He wrote:

This combat remains in my memory for it made me acquainted with Mr William Cosgrave (now president of the Free State) who was commanding against me. This occurred during a short truce, when both sides joined to save two old men who happened to get into the line of fire. It is pleasant to remember that Cosgrave and I retain our friendship to this day and he has helped me in my efforts to lessen the troubles wrought by war. For this engagement I was commended by the Brigadier General Maconchy. Report was held back on account of my exposé of the Skeffington murders and Sir John Maxwell held back General Maconchy's report.
⁶⁷

During the Rising, a number of atrocities took place that the military authorities tried to cover up. At Portobello barracks in Dublin, Captain Bowen Colthurst executed three innocent civilians without trial. The three men, Francis Sheehy Skeffington, Patrick McIntyre and Thomas Dickson were executed on Wednesday 26 April. After the events of Easter week, Major Vane attempted to contact British High Command in Dublin to report the actions of Captain Bowen Colthurst, but he failed to reach General Maxwell. He spoke to an intelligence officer who seemed uninterested. Royal Engineers were sent from Dublin Castle to Portobello barracks in order to repair the wall where the three men had been shot. This was a deliberate attempt to cover up the murders and an admission by crown forces that they were aware of the incident. Finally, as a result of a communication to the military authorities in London made by Major Vane, Captain Bowen Colthurst was placed under ‘open' arrest on 6 May and subsequently on 11 May under ‘close' arrest. On 6 and 7 June 1916, Captain Bowen Colthurst was tried by court-martial in Dublin for the murder of Francis Sheehy Skeffington and was found guilty but insane. He served one year in prison, was released and spent the remainder of his life in Canada as a successful banker.

Though Sir Francis Fletcher Vane received the admiration of the Irish people for his honesty and integrity in relation to the events at Portobello barracks, he spent the remainder of his life campaigning for a review of his dismissal and reinstatement. His appeals to the military authorities were without success. He spent the remainder of his life living abroad.

British soldiers shot many unarmed civilians during the Rising, and later, Sir John Grenfell Maxwell admitted in a newspaper article that atrocities had taken place in Dublin during Easter Week. The files on many of these atrocities were assigned to the dusty annals of an archive until 2001, when the British government finally released the official papers into the public domain.

Though the everyday work of the South Dublin Union continued during Easter week, the minute books of the workhouse were not updated until May 1916. Within these pages there is mention of the damage to the buildings and the complex that occurred during its occupation. After the Volunteers vacated the grounds of the South Dublin Union, the gates were opened and the local populace went through the buildings seeking mementos of the week's events. Many items were taken that had no connection with the Rising, including many personal items belonging to nurses who were resident in the Nurses' Home. The nurses were later compensated for their losses. The minute books fail to mention the names of any patients who were killed or died of natural causes during that week. The poor and destitute of Dublin who entered the Union became nameless and were forgotten. The only reference to their existence and tragic deaths are in the personal recollections of those who fought on both sides during the Rising.