The Cover Of Paul O' Brien's latest work, Uncommon Valour
I’m currently looking forward to the launch of the latest 1916 work from Paul O’ Brien this Thursday at Kilmainham Jail, not least having flicked through the book today in the NUI Maynooth bookshop.
For a one week insurrection, I am constantly amazed at the amount of material published on the 1916 Rising. Hitting fever-pitch in 2006, things have continued at a steady pace since. Much more than ‘broad sweep’ accounts however, it is the particular and specific studies that are of interest to me.
Blood On The Streets became one of my favourite 1916 studies. The battle of Mount Street Bridge was, to say the least, bloody brutal. Wednesday the 26th of April was one of the most eventful days of the insurrection, with the shelling of Liberty Hall (completely empty bar one cleaner)commencing that morning. The rebels were holding up reasonably well across the city, despite a severe disadvantage with regards numbers. Sean Heuston’s efforts at the Mendicity Institute on Ushers Quay being a perfect example of a small band of rebels keeping large government forces at bay. That day however will be remembered as the day when four battalions of the Sherwood Foresters (Many of whom believed themselves to be on French soil at first) would encounter hell by Mount Street Bridge, not least from the (initial) 4 volunteers at home in 25 Northumberland Road. A far superior number of Sherwood Foresters, attempting to advance towards Trinity College, were ultimately stalled for days by a tiny band of rebels.
General Sir John Maxwell himself noted that:
“Four officers were killed and fourteen wounded and of the other ranks, 216 were killed and wounded”
Paul O’ Brien’s account of the battle is a comprehensive and long overdue one, where the reader feels they themselves are there in Clanwilliam House, or 25 Northumberland Road. Such is the effect of somebody focusing on such a key event in itself, rather than giving it a passing role in a broader study.
Eamonn Ceannt, from the National Library of Ireland online.
Hopefully, this account of the South Dublin Union garrison will be more of the same. One of the most interesting sites from during the week, not just in terms of the action that occured there- but the characters involved. Commandant Eamonn Ceannt was in charge of the 4th Batallion on the day, with Cathal Brugha and W.T Cosgrave next in line. It’s miraculous Cathal Brugha emerged from the battle here at all in truth, and it was here that Nurse Margaretta Keogh was to become the first female casualty of the week
The priceless 1916 Rebellion Handbook observed that
“The rebels took up suitable sniping positions at Dolphin’s Barn, Marrowbone lane, Watling street, Kingsbridge, Kilmainham, Rialto and Inchicore, while a party which seized Messrs Roe’s malting stores near Mount Brown also gave trouble”
The account of the assembly of the 4th Batallion, as noted in Dublins Fighting Story, provides fascinating insight into the chaos and disorganised nature of the rebellion at first. The Batallion had a roll call of about 1,000 Volunteers before the Rising. Where were they on the day?
There is an amazing tale of when Cathal Brugha -boasting twenty five wounds (Of which five were after cutting through arteries) and feared dead by many of his comrades- burst into song. Ceannt rushed to see the sight of Brugha slouched against a wall with his pistol to his shoulder still.
“The two heroes laid aside their weapons. The commandant came on bended knee the moment he saw the dreadful condition of his comrade- lying in a pool of his own blood four square feet in extent- embraced him, pressed him to his heart in a very passion of affection and tenderness. They exchanged greetings, very briefly, and the fond eyes of the commandant were flooded with tears”
In the end, the British would focus their attention on the General Post Office and the Four Courts, and the South Dublin Union garrison would ultimately not hear of the surrender until Sunday. Two miles west of the headquarters of the Provisional Government, Ceannt and his men – severely outnumbered by government forces from the nearby Richmond Barracks- would hold out for the length of the insurrection.
An individual study of such a key flashpoint of the 1916 Rising is most welcome. I look forward to obtaining my copy! If you’re there on Thursday say hello.
Available direct from publisher with free postage. 
Donal
Ciarán
Sam
I attended Paul O Brien,s book singing last night at Kilmainham Gaol a grat turnout the books sold out in minuets
i started reading it and couldn’t put it down great read.
Nice to see the legendary Máire MacSwiney Brugha in attendance, and families from both sides of the Civil War divide!
I agree completely Eamonn, the turn out was fantastic. O’ Briens comments on our vanishing history are very, very true too.
This weekend I’m going to walk around the Mount Street Bridge area and see the sights, we should all take in our living history more often!
I also attended the book signing in Kilmainham Jail and when I got home started to read it and could not put it down until I had finished it and over the Weekend I am going to read it again. I was very lucky to get a copy and actually got the last one. Very well written and describes in detail what the volunteers went through. Unfortunately I had to leave before I could get it signed. I will never think of St. James Hospital in the same light again and I am going to drop down on Sunday for a walk around the grounds. Well done Paul and thank you.
[…] Post booklaunch is a great time for a pint. Sure, you’ve a free glass of wine or three in you, but wine? When you’re standing there gazing up at the cells in Kilmainham Jail, and those names jump back at you, it’s a pint you want. Instantly. It’s so much to take in. Remarkably beautiful, one has to remember that that prison was allowed to fall into complete disarray, with people raiding the place for metal and anything not nailed to the ground, as trees grew out of the ground in a place once home to everyone from Wolfe Tone to Peadar O’ Donnell. […]
[…] I have dealt briefly with events at Mount Street Bridge in a previous piece published before the launch of the latest work from Paul O’ Brien, Uncommon Valour. In short, a small grouping of well placed Volunteers, situated in a small number of buildings strategically, managed to inflict almost half of the overall British Army casualties of the insurrection. Ultimately, Michael Malone and James Grace would hold 25 Northumberland Road alone after Malone dismissed younger Volunteers for their own safety. This ‘fortified corner house’, and Clanwilliam House on the far side of Mount Street Bridge, provided serious resistance to Sherwood Foresters wishing to advance onwards in the direction of Trinity College Dublin. […]
Hey, for those of you that have the book, can you tell me the passage regarding my ancestor, last name Coape-Arnold?
“…four battalions of the Sherwood Foresters (many of whom believed themselves to be on French soil at first) would encounter hell by Mount Street Bridge…”
I’ve seen references to British soldiers thinking they were in France in a couple of books on the Rising, but imho the idea is so preposterous that I find it impossible to believe – surely it must be an urban legend?
doojen, check this out:
https://comeheretome.wordpress.com/2010/04/08/shot-through-the-head-leading-a-rush-on-a-fortified-corner-house/
“the trains that we really did entrain into sped off not south-westward for the Plain of France, but away and away up the “North Western”, and it wasn’t until they disgorged us on Liverpool Docks that rumours could be swopped about “Sinn Fein gentry- broken bottles and shillelaghs”
The story about the young British soldiers of the Sherwood Foresters Regiment thinking they were in France is not as far fetched as it might seem. An historian I know relates the story of meeting a British Army veteran who came over on the outbreak of the troubles in 1919 (and who eventually married and settled here).
It coincided with the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War and the Archangel expedition. The young soldiers were rounded up at night, put onto closed trucks and taken to the Liverpool docks, from were they sailed in darkness. On arrival, they were put on board trucks again and driven away,all without a word about their eventual destination. After a long drive, the truck came to a halt. Someone rolled up the canvas and peered out at a roadsign. “What does it say mate?” asked someone. “Dundalk” came the reply. The men in the truck nodded their heads. “Definitely Russia”, they all agreed.
Great story!🙂
i would love to know if anyone knows words of a song mountstreet bridge my father sang it just know it went well let me tell you how mount street bridge was wbon by the vollinteers not in any song book would love to get the words tks kay