Derry Rising 1916

21/09/2016

19/09/2016

06/08/2016

1916 was a seminal year in Irish history. It saw Republicans mount a rebellion against British Rule in Dublin which sowed the seeds for the War of Independence and the partition of Ireland. It also…

06/08/2016

Click full-screen and change quality to HD - Construction time lapse of the world's largest Titanic visitor attraction - Titanic Belfast® - recorded between ...

22/07/2016

1916 was a seminal year in Irish history. It saw Republicans mount a rebellion against British Rule in Dublin which sowed the seeds for the War of Independence and the partition of Ireland. It also saw thousands of Irishmen, both Unionist and Nationalist, enlist with the British Army to fight at the Battle of the Somme in France.

This Facebook site (funded by HLF, the Housing Executive and the Peacewalls project) focuses on the connections between Derry and the events of 1916, with a particular focus on the links between the Bishop Street/Bogside and Fountain areas to the events surrounding the Rising and the Somme.

The site includes a chronology of events in the city in the decade before and after the Easter Rising and features biographies of a number of local residents who were active during the period. It also features a chronology of events which led to the Battle of the Somme and also features an extensive list of those who fell at the Somme from both the Bishop St/Bogside and Fountain areas.

In addition there are links to photographic galleries covering both events and also a links page to other websites which cover the Rising and the Somme.

The site will later include interviews with a number of residents of the city who tell the story of relatives who were involved in both events to allow users to hear the personal story behind the names that appear in both chronologies.

We hope you enjoy the site!

29/04/2016

Margaret McAnaney:

Margaret McAnaney was the daughter of city councillor Robert McAnaney. She died on May 31st 1922 at Burnfoot in an incident involving the accidental discharge of a weapon. According to the account given at the official inquest by her friend Maggie Canning, Margaret called to her house in Derry at 9.30am in the morning from where they left with five other girls to travel to Inch Island for a picnic. On the way the girls took a lift on a Fergusons Motor Lorry as it drove through Bridgend. The lorry was then stopped at an IRA checkpoint at Burnfoot near the Manse.
As they waited for the lorry to be given permission to move off again, Maggie and Margaret chatted to the IRA sentry who they knew well. According to Maggie, the sentry put the butt of his rifle to the ground as he chatted to the girls before the lorry driver told everyone to sit down again as they were about to continue their journey.
As they did so a shot rang out and Margaret fell to the floor, fatally injured by a bullet accidentally discharged from the sentry’s weapon. The IRA officer at the inquest offered sympathy and made the offer that the sentry could be produced for questioning if required. The inquest chair deemed this unnecessary and a verdict of accidental death was recorded. It was undoubtedly
one of the most tragic cases of the War of Independence/Civil War period.

26/04/2016

The following section features the names and biographies of just a small selection of republicans from the city who were involved in the War of Independence and Republican Activities during the post Treaty period

22/04/2016

1925:
When the Boundary Commission published its report in November 1925 and refused any opt-out for Derry and the other areas hoping for exclusion, northern nationalists began to realise that partition was now a reality. Indeed McNeill resigned his ministerial post in protest at the findings although he later voted in favour of the proposals on 10th December when they were ratified by the Dail. It was the culmination of over a decade of political developments in Derry and across the north which had been most keenly influenced by the events that took place in Dublin and elsewhere during Easter 1916.

22/04/2016

1924:
In 1924 the Boundary Commission was finally established. Its three members included former Derry MP and TD Eoin McNeill who was now Minister for Education in the Free State Government. The last remaining hope for nationalists in Derry, south Down, Tyrone and South Armagh was that the Commission, established to decide on the location of the new border, would exclude their areas from the new northern state. In nationalist eyes, the exclusion of these areas would mean the northern state would be too small to survive, leading to eventual reunification.

22/04/2016

1922:
In April 1922 the new Ulster Unionist government quickly introduced the new Special Powers Act which gave it a number of draconian powers which it used to assert its authority within the new northern state.
In May 1922 there were hopes that the Free State government would smuggle weapons into the north to assist republicans in defensive operations and to destabilise the new northern state in its infancy. The plans were later called off although there was activity in county Antrim when the countermand order was not received in time.
May 1922 also saw the introduction of internment which saw the imprisonment without trial of large numbers of republicans, the majority of them on the Argenta prison ship. Of the 700 held on board, 27 were from Derry City.
The fears of northern nationalists was compounded in October 1922 when the new northern government abolished PR in local elections and permitted a second gerrymander of the local government boundaries in Derry and the loss of Corporation control by the nationalist majority in the city.
As 1922 wore on anti-Treaty Republicans continued with their activities throughout the country, including Derry and Donegal. On 2nd November 1922 members of an IRA unit were captured by pro-Treaty Free State Forces at Dunlewey in north Donegal. The group included Dan Coyle, Frank Ward, Jim Lane, Sean Larkin, Charlie Daly, Dan Enright, Tim O’Sullivan and Derryman James Donaghey. Initially believing their sentences would be for the possession of weapons, the death of a Free State Officer at Creeslough Barracks which was blamed by the Free State on anti-Treaty Republicans saw four of the eight (Daly, Enright, O’Sullivan and Larkin) sentenced to death as a reprisal. They were executed in the grounds of Drumboe castle on 14th March 1923.

22/04/2016

1921:
By the start of 1921 key buildings in the city such as the courthouse, St Columbs Hall and St Patrick’s Hall in the Waterside were being occupied by the British Army. There were also machine gun posts at Blighs Lane, Letterenny Road, Strand Road and both sides of the Carlisle Bridge.
1st April 1921 saw a large number of IRA operations take place across the city, During these incidents RIC Sergeant Higgins was killed by Volunteer Seamus McCann in Great James Street and four other police and troops injured in separate incidents. Two civilians were also injured and a Private J. Wright accidentally killed when another soldier shot him in the back.
The Government of Ireland Act also officially came into force in April 1921. Consequently, the new northern parliament met for the first time in Belfast City Hall on 7th June minus the northern nationalist representatives.
In July a truce between the IRA and British forces led to negotiations between the British government and republicans beginning in London. This led to nationalists from Derry sending delegations to the Dail to seek guarantees that Derry would not be included in any new separate northern state that may emerge from the negotiations. Following the Truce Patrick Shiels was appointed as Liaison Officer for Derry.
When the Treaty was signed on 6th December 1921 TD Eoin McNeill suggested that northern nationalists should refuse to recognise the proposed new northern state on the assumption that the new arrangement would not last. Others, including mayor H.C. O’Doherty argued that the Treaty settlement would be permanent and that northern nationalists would suffer under the new system.
December also saw an attempted mass-break out by republicans from Derry gaol. On 2nd December twelve prisoners broke out but were all eventually recaptured. Three of the prisoners (Patrick Leonard, Thomas McShea and Patrick Johnston) were sentenced to death for the deaths of Constable Michael Gorman and Special Constable William Lyttle who died from the effects of chloroform. Although the escaping prisoners had only intended
to subdue the officers with the chloroform, the dosage used was so potent that the officers died. The death sentences were later commuted. Other prisoners, including Paddy Reilly, were transported to Peterhead prison in Scotland where he and two others died of TB.

22/04/2016

In September 1920 the new Ulster Special Constabulary was formed to assist police and military forces during the War of Independence. Three sections are formed, the full-time A-Specials, part time B-Specials and casual C-Specials.
November 8th 1920 became known as the ‘Night of Terror’ in Republican circles. It began with a confrontation between some Volunteers and RIC members on the Strand Road where a number of shots were fired by both sides leading to the injury of five RIC men. In reprisals later that night by the military virtually all the buildings on William Street were burnt out and republican businesses raided or burned across the city. Ironically there were also a number of casualties caused by an RIC and British military unit firing on each other. During the events large crowds sought refuge in St Eugenes cathedral (below) until the chaos subsided.
By Christmas 1920 the city was under martial law due to republican activities. This was something that was encouraged by the Republican leadership who wanted to take military pressure off the south of the country by forcing the government to put military resources into the north. It is estimated that around 5,000 troops were based in the city which had a population of 50,000 at the time.

22/04/2016

1920:
The local government elections of January 1920 saw nationalists take control of the local Corporation. Ironically, this was made possible due to the introduction of PR elections by the British government which was aimed at increasing Unionist representation in Irish local government structures. The granting of the vote to females over the age of 28 also increased the nationalist electorate in the city. The 21-19 majority secured by the nationalists saw H.C. O’Doherty elected as the city’s first catholic mayor since the siege.
James Gallagher was a fellow member of the Corporation at the time.
James Gallagher was born on 5th November 1886 in the Brandywell area of Derry and became involved in republican activities as a young man with his friend, the famous Donegal Republican Peadar O’Donnell. Elected onto the nationalist controlled Derry Corporation in January 1920, he subsequently became the Catholic Registration Agent for Derry in June 1922. This was a key position given the fact that gerrymandering
and first past the post elections had been reintroduced by the north’s new Unionist government, meaning nationalists had to ensure every single voter was listed on the register to mitigate the effects of discrimination in local government elections.
Like many other nationalists, he was interned in January 1924 by the new northern government. On his release from Derry Gaol he continued his work as a registration agent, a role he maintained until 1956. James died on11th October 1969,
just as the modern conflict was taking hold in Derry. Indeed his home was one of the first to be raided in Derry by the British Army after their arrival in August of that year. A number of James grandsons became involved with the Republican Movement in the years that followed. Like him, two were interned in the 1970’s and one, Raymond McCartney, took part in the first H-Block Hunger Strike in 1980.
Another fellow member of the first nationalist majority Corporation was Robert McAnaney. Robert had a number of relatives who fought in the First World War including a brother who was injured. His daughter Maggie died in 1922 in an incident at Burt involving the accidental discharge of an IRA weapon (see later section on War of Independence Volunteers).

The combination of the local government election results and the ongoing War of Independence saw increased tensions between unionists and republicans in the city. Specific protests were also held by unionists in protest at the decision by the mayor to ban the flying of all flags, including the Union Jack, from the Guildhall to give the Corporation a sense of neutrality. These protests culminated in serious riots and shootings between April and June leading to the deaths of four unionists and fifteen nationalists. Amongst those killed was 12 year old George Caldwell, who died in May 1920 when a bullet entered his cubicle in Nazareth House on lower Bishop Street. During the same events St Columb’s College was occupied by republican volunteers including Michael Sheer, Dominic Doherty (below), Paddy Shields and others volunteers and Cumann na mBan members to prevent it being taken over by UVF forces. They were eventually forced to withdraw when the building was shot up by the Dorchester Regiment which had been sent to the city by the British government.
The Long Tower Street/Upper Fountain Street areas were particularly affected by the incidents that summer. On June 19th Patrick Mallett was shot dead at Long Tower Street whilst Thomas Farren was killed in the same street two nights later. The next day James Doherty was shot dead in the exact same location as he left Thomas Farren’s wake. Other victims included a labourer by the name of Dobbins, a Mrs Eliza Moore, Peter Campbell (from Dungiven he was shot crossing the river Foyle on a boat), Thomas McLoughlin, Mrs McLaughlin, Edward Price (an ex-World War One soldier who was staying in the Diamond Hotel), ex-soldier Bernard Doherty, James Doherty from Tyrconnell Street, James McVeigh (killed by Unionists but who ironically had three sons who had served in the First World War including one who died in France), the Head of
the RIC Special Branch in Derry, a Margaret Mills from Bishop Street and Howard McKay (son of the Governor of the Apprentice Boys). The situation only calmed when a curfew was imposed on 24th June. One of those present in the city during this period, Charles ‘Nomad’ McGuinness (below), describes the situation vividly:
‘In July, 1920, the city was like a town on the Western Front. Business was suspended and the shops barricaded against looting. Bodies lay in the streets for days because no man dared to risk a dash into the line of fire to drag them away’.
As the Dorchester Regiment continued to impose the curfew the numbers of civilian casualties mounted. This, combined with RIC and British Army attacks on commercial premises and homes saw further recruitment to the IRA. Such was the upheaval that Donegal OC Peadar ODonnell brought his own men into the city to assist local republicans, commanded by Patrick Shields, in defensive operations. Others involved included Alfie and Pat McCallion, Seamus McCann, William Cullen and Frank Shiels. Interestingly, the main supplier of arms to republicans in the city at that time was a Norwegian called Oscar Norby.
Another victim of the riots was 18 year old John Gallagher. His brother Hugh would subsequently reject the Treaty and align himself with the anti- Treaty IRA. He was shot by Free State Forces when trying to escape from Drumboe castle (used as
a holding centre by the Free State government) in December 1922. Additionally James Gallagher, the father of John and Hugh, was interned on 7th January 1924 by the new northern government.

22/04/2016

1919:
In January 1919 27 Sinn Fein MP’s (the rest being in prison or on the run) entered the Mansion House in Dublin to establish the first Dail Eireann as an alternative structure to British Rule in Ireland. The Dail appointed its own ministers, established a court system and funded itself through the establishment of the Dail loan.
The IRA War of Independence began on the same day. Locally Seamus Cavanagh took command of the Volunteers who gradually adopted the name of the Irish Republican Army. Initially the IRA’s official policy in Derry was to minimise offensive operations to allow on the run republicans from other areas
to shelter in the city with reduced fear of arrest. However there were a number of raids on buildings where weaponry could be obtained.
These raids included houses belonging to the landed gentry including the Beech Hill Estate and Craig’s Foundry on the Strand Road where 5000 Mills grenades were secured on 20th January. During this raid local volunteer and TFP member Dan McGandy ended up in a tussle with two British soldiers and drowned in the river Foyle. He was the first republican to die during the War of Independence in Derry (see Dans biography in a different banner).
As republican activity intensified Charles Mawhinney, a Protestant engineering lecture at Magee College became the O.C. of the Engineering unit which specialised in destroying bridges and other infrastructure. The IRA also formed its own policing structure across the country. Patrick Hegarty also became the key figure in smuggling weapons into the city from Donegal and other areas. Much of these weapons and ammunition came from British Army forts at Leenan and Dunree.
1919 also saw a General Strike in Ireland caused by the post-war slump. Increased trade union activity in the city was compromised by a nationalist/unionist split within the Irish Transport and General Workers Union, organised by Donegal republican Peadar O’Donnell (on right), over whether to support the nationalist cause.
By the summer of 1919 the increasing confidence of Derry nationalists saw an attempt to march on Derry’s walls during the annual 15th August processions, leading to a riot between the marchers, local unionists and
the military in the vicinity of Bridge Street and Fountain Street. Local republican Patrick Shields (on right) was one of those arrested as a result of these confrontations.
The publication of the Government of Ireland Act in December 1919 saw partition now being formally proposed by the British Government as the solution to the Irish problem. Nevertheless the IRA continued their campaign for an all-Ireland republic.

22/04/2016

As well as a number of Derry men being involved in the Rising on the republican side, there were also locals involved in the British Army who fought on the streets of Dublin. Amongst them was William McGahey from the Fountain. An active member of the UVF, he was also a Company Sergeant Major with the 12th Inniskilling Fusiliers and fought in a number of gun battles against republican forces. He later became a Unionist member of the old Corporation and was also instrumental in founding Derry City Football Club. He famously saved a nationalist family from being burned out of their home at the Fountain/Bishop Street interface in 1920 during the War of Independence and also had a number of relatives
who fought in Europe during World War I including his son and brother Jamie who died in 1916. Respected by both sides of the community William McGahey’s funeral (pictured below passing the old city gaol on Bishop Street) was well attended by local residents of the Fountain and Bishop Street areas.
The Deputy Adjutant General of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in Dublin during the Rising was Derry man J.A. Byrne. Private F.W.W. Knox, aged 37, from Prehen, was killed accidentally on Thursday 27th and is buried in Breandrum Cemetery, Enniskillen Another casualty was 2nd Lieutenant Private Charles Love Crockett who was shot on the Thursday by a British military sentry at Fitzwilliam Street as he made his way to the HQ of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. It appears the sentry, who could not see his uniform in the darkness, had challenged him to stop and shot him when he failed to do so. He is buried in the City Cemetery.

22/04/2016

1918: On January 4th 1918 Mrs Pearse, mother of Patrick and Willie, stopped in Derry with her daughter on her return to Dublin from holidays in Donegal. During her visit she addressed the Patrick Pearse Cumann at their headquarters in Richmond Street.
On Sunday 10th February Eamonn De Valera and Sean McEntee visited, during which De Valera addressed a large crowd in St Columbs Hall. Soon after a new Thomas Ashe Sinn Fein cumann was formed in the Bishop Street area with Robert McAnaney as chairman and James Gallagher as secretary.
When the British government announced plans to introduce conscription in Ireland in April 1918, the outcry it provoked saw the British reverse their plans. Nevertheless, the mere mention of the proposal saw further increases in Sinn Fein support.
In December 1918, Sinn Fein wins a landslide 73 seats in the Westminster election. In Derry, where the Redmondite nationalists still had a strong support base, an electoral pact saw Eoin McNeill, the man who had countermanded the order for the Easter Rising to begin, elected as Sinn Fein MP.
In the same month a Sinn Fein cumann and Volunteer company was formed in the Waterside by Dan Kelly who had moved to Derry after being involved with republican activities in Glasgow and Donegal. St Patricks Hall on Spencer Road was used regularly for meetings and social gatherings by the cumann. December also saw several republican hunger strikers moved to the Workhouse from Derry Gaol due to deterioration in their condition. The strike ended without any deaths.

Image: Carlisle Bridge, the scene of frequent altercations between Republicans and military personnel

22/04/2016

1917: During 1917 Ernie O’Malley made a visit to the city as a representative of the IRA GHQ staff. Shortly afterwards Gabriel McGrath took over from Seamus Cavanagh as local commander. McGrath enlisted a selected group of volunteers into a new company which was much more secretive and highly trained than other units. It became known as the Ten Foot Pikers or ‘TFP’s’. All of its members were also members of the IRB and its main purpose was to gain control of all republican organisations in the city to ensure much tighter central control by the IRB. Locally the TFP’s were under the command of Joseph O’Doherty, a doctor in Clarendon Street, who took the TFP members on a number of operations around Derry and Donegal. Incidentally both McGrath and O’Doherty were former pupils of Patrick Pearse at St Endas.
The end of 1917 saw the local Volunteers, with the assistance of nationalist civilians, become involved in regular punch ups with members of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers around the Carlisle Bridge/Carlisle Road area. During these confrontations anybody beaten into submission would end up in the river Foyle with several dying as a result.

22/04/2016

The years 1917-21 would prove momentous for Derry and the entire country. The release of republican prisoners gave increased resources to Sinn Fein with further support created by events such as the death of Thomas Ashe caused by force feeding whilst on hunger strike.

22/04/2016

Thousands of Irish men and women crowded the streets of Dublin to welcome back the released Republican prisoners

22/04/2016

Aftermath:
In the immediate aftermath of the Rising, the British government negotiated separately with John Redmond and Edward Carson with partition now
firmly on the table. Whilst the British government assured Redmond that any partition arrangement for the north would be temporary, at the same time they told Carson that it would be permanent. For republicans neither option was palatable. The confusion and anger created by the partition proposals would see further splits within moderate nationalism which further fuelled the electoral growth of Sinn Fein.
A key schism was between nationalists in the eastern part of Ulster, including Belfast, who believed that if partition was going to be a reality then the new northern state should be as large as possible to maximise nationalist numbers and influence within the new structures. On the other hand, nationalists in the west were resistant to any proposals that would see largely nationalist areas in the west subsumed into a new British controlled state.
These divisions were further increased when British Prime Minister David Lloyd George finally admitted to Redmond
that partition was indeed seen by the British as a permanent solution. Redmond’s warning that nationalist faith in constitutional methods had been shattered would prove to be prophetic. In the internment camps of Frongoch and elsewhere, republican prisoners were already preparing for a new campaign. On their release in December 1916, there were homecoming ceilidhes for the Derry prisoners and Sinn Fein cumann’s began to appear across the city. When the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis was held in the Mansion House, Eamonn McDermott represented the Derry City area.

Image: Prime Minister David Lloyd George.

22/04/2016

As mentioned by Liam Brady, a number of local republicans were arrested as the Rising was ongoing in Dublin. They included:

21/04/2016

A City in Ashes
To supress the Rising – British artillery and canon fire from battleships bombarded the streets and buildings in Dublin city centre. When the smoke cleared some of the city’s most historic edifices were badly destroyed. Some of the images here, highlight the scale of destruction which dubliners awoke to when the gunfire abated. Those rebels who were captured were taken to prison camps throughout Ireland and further afield to England. Many of the risings leaders were taken to kilmainham gaol, with 16 of them subsequently executed by firing squad.

21/04/2016

The Rising
The Rising had not begun until Easter Monday (April 24th) due to Eoin McNeill (who would later become Sinn Fein TD for Derry in the first Dail) countermanding the order for the rebellion to proceed once he had discovered that Roger Casement had been captured with an arms shipment on board The Auld at Banna Strand in county Kerry. Despite the order reducing the numbers of those taking part, Pearse and the other leaders decided to proceed. During the next week 116 British troops and policemen and 318 republican activists and civilians are believed to have been killed. Even today the exact figure is difficult to identify as some bodies were buried in mass graves and never claimed by relatives. The British subsequently executed sixteen men who they accused of leading the Rising, including the seven signatories of the Proclamation, Roger Casement and Thomas Ceannt who had been arrested for his involvement in the death of a policeman following a raid on his house in county Cork the week after the Rising.

21/04/2016

On Easter Thursday night, a Ms Roisin O’Doherty brought a dispatch from Dublin to Seamus Cavanagh, the local O.C. of the Volunteers ordering a mobilisation for Easter Sunday. Liam Brady, a member of the Fianna at the time, recounts the events of the next few days:
‘That night Seamus Cavanagh notified a select number of the Volunteers to meet at John Doherty’s shed at the top of William Street (which was an outer portion of Watt’s Distillery) not later than 11.30 that night. Each man was to bring the heaviest top coat he had, his rifle, revolver and ammunition, with all the other equipment and enough rations to last for two days. Cavanagh told me to call off all Fianna parades for the next week and not to let any of the boys near the John Mitchell Hall.
At 11.15 every Volunteer that was mobilised, after making their way through the back streets and near cuts, and camouflaged as best they could, so that no one would detect their mission, landed safely and in good time at the place as arranged. In Doherty’s shed Cavanagh checked his men who numbered 17. Their equipment consisted of
5 Lea-Enfield rifles, 5 Mausers, 2 Howth and 5 Martin Henrys (Short Carbines) about 100 rounds of ammunition per man and 22 hand-made bombs. Other supplies had been sent to Tyrone earlier with John Doherty (Corney) and William McAuley. In Doherty’s Shed the Volunteers settled themselves as best they could ...The place inside was in darkness. No one was allowed to smoke or to light a match.
After waiting until.5.30 the next morning the Volunteers through Denis McCullough of Belfast received McNeill’s countermanding orders, calling off the mobilisation with instructions to wait for further orders. The men were told to go home and to keep themselves in readiness as they might be called out at any time.
On Monday night the Ceilidhe Mor was held and was proving a great success but the whispering went round that a rising had taken place in Dublin and that the Volunteers had taken charge of that City. Such was the excitement that the Ceilidhe broke up at 11 o’clock. We were told that all English soldiers were to report at their Barracks at once and notices to this effect were thrown on the screen of every Picture House in the city.
Cavanagh called a parade for Tuesday night in the John Mitchell Hall where he instructed the Volunteers in first aid... Another parade was called for Wednesday night where further instructions were given. St. John’s Ambulance books were distributed, along with some bandages. I supplied strips of white cloth that night. Tom McLaughlin and Edward J. Duffy, who had brought the books and bandages had also a large first aid chart of the human body...
That night Duffy took the first aid chart home and as the Hall was constantly under the eyes of the detectives they followed him believing that he was carrying some important plans or documents. He was arrested at 12 o’clock, being the first Volunteer arrested in the city.
At midday next day Seamus Cavanagh, Joseph O’Doherty, Vincent O’Doherty, Paddy Hegarty, John Fox, Patrick Shiels and Eamonn McDermott were arrested. Raids were carried out throughout the City but in spite of all, not one rifle or
one round of ammunition was found. The John Mitchell Hall came in for a great wrecking, the ceiling and walls were tore and the floor boards pulled up in a vain search for arms and documents. The days following were dull, without hope, and the future so dimmed, that it looked as if it was the end of another chapter in Irish History but instead, it was only the beginning.

Image: Scenes from Ebrigton Barracks parade ground a gymnastic performance.