April
1919
|
Apr-1 to 4-19/1 |
Second Session of the First Dáil 52 TDs attended. De
Valera elected President of Council of Ministers or Príomh-Aire and appoints a cabinet. (With
52 TDs attending, this is the largest of any of the Dáil sessions which took
place between 21st January 1919 and 10th May 1921.) The Dáil
met over three days. The proceedings of this Dáil
session can be found at the following links: April 1st: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1919-04-01/ April 2nd: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1919-04-02/ April 4th: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1919-04-04/ See Apr-10 to 12-19/1 for Third Session of the
First Dáil. |
Curran J M (1980), pg25; MacEoin in The Kerryman (1955), pg 14; Macardle (1999), pg 284; Gallagher (1953), pgs 66-67; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pgs 83-84; Mitchell (1995), pgs 32-36 & 57-60; O’Sullivan Greene (2020), pg 4; Coogan (1990), pg 98 |
|
Apr-01-19/1 |
An t-Óglach states that “The [Irish] Volunteers are the right arm of the Irish Republic, the men who can be trusted to carry out the will of the Irish Government with the readiness and effectiveness of disciplined men.” Mitchell points out
that this assertion did not mean that the “Volunteers would be controlled and
directed by the Dáil government”. |
Mitchell (1995), pg
66 |
|
Apr-06-19/1 |
Irish Volunteers attempt to free a prisoner (Robert
Byrne or Byrnes) in the Limerick Union Hospital results in the death of one
RIC man (Constable Martin O'Brien) and the prisoner. On the 9th April, Limerick was declared a Special Military Area and this led directly to the Limerick Trades Council calling a general strike on the 13th April which lasted almost two weeks. This became known as the Limerick Soviet. |
Hopkinson (2002), pg 106; Abbott (2002), pgs 33-35; Brennan (1980), pg 37; O’Farrell (1997), pgs 12 &103; O’Callaghan (2018), pgs 55-57; Corbett (2008), pgs 46-49; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 110; Mitchell (1995), pgs 179-180; Macardle (1999), pg 292; Mac Conmara (2021), pg 60 |
|
Apr-07-19/1 |
Late this evening, Detective Ned Broy of the DMP allows Michael Collins and Sean Nunan
into the office of Inspector Ned McFeely of the G
Division of the DMP in 1 Great Brunswick St. The G Division of the DMP was the section responsible for investigating political crime. After spending most of night in the secure room, Collins got a deep insight into the modus operandi of the G Division. (He also takes with him the record of people who have phoned the DMP with Volunteer positions during the 1916 Rising.) See Apr-09-19/1. |
Abbott (2000), pgs
40-41; Coogan (1990), pg 107; Price (2017), pg 76 Doyle (2008), pg 33;
Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pgs 87-89 |
|
Apr-8 to 9-19/1 |
Sinn Féin Ard Fheis held in Dublin. De
Valera re-elected President. Harry Boland defeats Darrel Figges for the post of Honorary Secretary. (Figgis
claims that the vote was marshalled by IRB and Irish Volunteers within Sinn
Féin). Bean Siobhan Paora is acting Treasurer
along with Eamonn Duggan. (Boland is
replaced as Honorary Secretary by Hanna Sheehy Skeffington when Boland went
to the United States in mid-May.) |
Figgis (1927), pg 247; O’Farrell (1997), pg 86; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pg 93; Mitchell (1995), pgs 37 & 113 |
|
Apr-09-19/1 |
After Collins sees the files held on the Irish
Volunteers (see Apr-07-19/1) by the G Division of the DMP in the Brunswick St
DMP Station, he issues warnings to selected 'G' men (members of the G
division of the DMP). In the following days, a number of G men were accosted
and threatened. See also Jul-30-19/1. |
Abbott (2000), pgs 40-41; Coogan (1990), pg 107; Price (2017), pg 76; Doyle (2008), pg 34; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pgs 89-90 |
|
Apr-09-19/2 |
The Irish Volunteers raid the small British
army station at Ned’s Point in Inishowen in Co.
Donegal and remove all guns and ammunition.
Most of the soldiers stationed at Ned’s Point were at a local dance. |
Ó Duibhir (2009), pg 106 |
|
Apr-10-19/1 |
Writing to Churchill, French says that “We are
suffering terribly in Ireland for the want of a proper Criminal Investigation
Department. There used to be quite an
effective one, but Mr. Birrell [former Chief
Secretary for Ireland] for reasons best known to himself broke it up
entirely.” |
Sheehan (2017), pg 74 |
|
Apr-10-19/2 |
Counties Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Roscommon and
Tipperary proclaimed as being in a state of disturbance. |
Abbott (2000), pg 67 |
|
Apr-10 to 12- 19/1 |
Business
carried out on issues such as the Dáil Loan, ostracising of the RIC and the
establishment of embassies. (The roll call of TDs lists 50 names but
the oft-reproduced photograph of the TDs attending has 41 in the
photograph. It was taken April 10th.) The
Dáil meets over two days. The proceedings of the Dáil on these two dates
can be found at: April 10th: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1919-04-10/ April 11th: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1919-04-11/ See May-09-19/1 for Fourth Session of First Dáil |
Curran J M (1980), pg25; Macardle (1999), pg 288; Valiulis (1985), pg 16; Townshend (2014), pg 90; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pgs 90-92; Mitchell (1995), pgs 36-37 & 69; O’Sullivan Greene (2020), pg 4 |
|
Apr-12-19/1 |
The Irish Weekly reports that Louis J Walsh (from Ballycastle, Co. Antrim) had told the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis that attention should be given to Ulster as the “organisation had not sufficiently grappled with that question”. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 65 |
|
Apr-13-19/1 |
In Amritsar in the Punjab, India, soldiers
under the command of Brigadier General Reginald Dyer – without warning - open
fire on a large crowd of peaceful, unarmed civilians in the Jallianwalla Bagh (a large public walled garden) killing
officially 379 people and wounding approximately 2000. (Some sources put the number of fatalities
and casualties much higher.) This act
of mass killing became known as the Amritsar
Massacre. |
Tharoor (2019), pgs
23-25; Morgan (1979), pg 123; Satia (2020), pg 139 |
|
Apr-15-19/1 |
BA soldier, Philip Fay, dies in George V
Hospital in Dublin. He had committed
suicide. |
O’Halpin
and Ó Corráin (2020), pg
549 |
|
Apr-17-19/1 |
Three-man Irish-American delegation meets
President Wilson in Paris. Wilson says
that he can only apply pressure on Lloyd George privately. (Hopkinson's
reference for showing that this private pressure was applied was one of the
Irish-American delegation - Frank P Walsh). Under pressure from Wilson, Llyod George
agreed to meet the Irish-American delegation but twice cancelled these
meetings. Under further pressure from
Wilson, Llyod George agrees that the ‘three accursed Americans’ can travel to
Ireland to ‘to study the situation on the spot’. See May-03-19/1. |
Hopkinson (2002), pg 167; Fanning (2013), pg 198; Mitchell (1995), pgs 39-40 |
|
Apr-20-19/1 |
There is a raid on Araglin
RIC barracks by the Fermoy Battalion of the Irish Volunteers led by Michael
Fitzgerald (O/C Fermoy Battalion) and Con Leddy (O/C Araglin
Company). They take away six carbines and a
revolver. Fermoy Battalion belongs to
Cork No. 2 Brigade. |
O'Donnoghue (1986), pg46 |
|
Apr-20-19/2 |
BA soldier, Harold Wayne, drowns in Fermoy,
Co. Cork. |
O’Halpin
and Ó Corráin (2020), pg
549 |
|
Apr-23-19/1 |
Asked for a more explicit definition of what
was meant by the ostracism of the RIC approved by the Dáil (see Apr-10 to
12-19/1), the secretary to the Dáil, Diarmaid O’Hegarty, wrote that the RIC and DMP should be treated
as “persons who, having been adjudged guilty of treason to their country, are
regarded as unworthy to enjoy any of the privileges or comforts which arise
from cordial relations with the public”. He continued
“the Police forces … must receive no social recognition from the
people; that no … intercourse is permitted with them; they should not saluted
or spoken to in the streets not their salutes returned; that they should not
be invited to nor received in private houses as friends or guests; that they
should be debarred from participation in games, sports, dances and all social
functions conducted by the people … that, in a word, the police shd be treated as persons who [have] been adjudged guilty
of treason to the country”. Hughes notes that “The message disseminated
slowly and the shunning of the police grew sporadically”. |
Hughes (2016), pg
25; Mitchell (1995), pg 69 |
|
Apr-26-19/1 |
A proclamation is issued by Cumman na mBan
HQ asking the public not to acknowledge RIC or sit beside them in church. Traders were asked not to sell them
goods. |
Hughes (2016), pg 25 |
|
Apr-29-19/1 |
Michael Walsh, an Irish Volunteer from Ring,
Co. Waterford, approaches Ballinagoul RIC barracks
to seek help with a fracas in a local pub between republicans and the crew of
a British Navy vessel. However, the
RIC man on duty (Constable McCarthy) thought he was under attack and shot
through the door, fatally wounding Walsh.
Constable McCarthy was dismissed from the RIC. McCarthy says that the shooting happened on
the April 29th but O’Halpin and Ó Corráin say that the fracas happened on April 25th
(and that Walsh dies on May 11th.) |
McCarthy (2015), pg
63; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin
(2020), pg 110 |
|
Apr-29-19/2 |
A BA soldier, Charles Kirk, is accidently shot
dead in Hollywood, Co. Down. |
O’Halpin
and Ó Corráin (2020), pg
110 |
|
Apr-29-19/3 |
The Waterford Standard reports that following a brawl between Sinn Féin and Redmondite supporters in Waterford City, William Grant (a Redmondite) was killed. |
McCarthy (2015), pg
65; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin
(2020), pg 110 |
|
Apr-1919/1 |
The Irish Self-Determination League (ISDL) of
Great Britain formed in London. (Macardle
says April and Boyce says March.) Art O’Brien is elected President and Sean McGrath
as Treasurer. It grows to have some
300 branches by the summer of 1921.
Its membership is never large but it does a lot of publicity work in
Britain for the Irish cause. |
Macardle (1999), pg 285; Boyce (1972), pg 86 |
|
Apr-1919/2 |
Hopkinson says that a failed attempt to disarm
two RIC policemen at Aughnacliffe, Co. Longford
results in the wounding of two Volunteers. However, Macardle
says that Michael Walsh and two other men are shot dead by police in Longford
in the last week of April. Coleman says that the two volunteers (Michael
McNally and Matt Brady) were wounded when trying to disarm two RIC men at Aughnacliffe (with Brady being badly wounded). Coleman
says that this incident led to a ‘hostile spirit’ towards the RIC in
Longford. (Coleman makes no mention of
anyone being killed by the RIC in this period and nor do O’Halpin
and Ó Corráin.) |
Hopkinson (2002), pg 142; Macardle (1999), pg 292; Coleman (2003), pg 116 |
|
Apr-1919/3 |
Writing privately, Collins says “At the
present moment things are remarkably high-pitched. It is most interesting to watch from day to
day the downfall of the stern Government regime. Not indeed that it is ended
… but the impotence of the military governors is gradually taking them into a
position which is almost chaotic. Certain it is that we are fast reaching the
breaking point, and then…”. |
Pakenham (1967), pg 39 |