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| Maie Corry, Waterford c. 1916 |
At the beginning of April, 1916 my maternal grandmother,
Maie Corry, left Waterford, where she had been working as an assistant at
Gorman’s Medical Halls, and moved to Dublin to study for the final exams that
would enable her to qualify for membership of the Pharmaceutical Society of
Ireland, licensed to practise as a dispensing chemist in her own right. She
signed up to attend lectures in the Pharmaceutical School in Lower Mount
Street, living a few hundred yards away in the Girls’ Friendly Society Hostel on
the north side of Merrion Square.
Maie was an intensely sociable character who made friends
easily. She was invited to spend Easter weekend with a Mr and Mrs Barkley, who
seem to have been connections made through the Presbyterian church communities in
Maie’s native Donegal or Londonderry, in Clareville Road, in Dublin’s southern
suburbs. From her arrival on Saturday 22 April ‘everything passed quietly as
usual,’ she recorded in her diary, ‘until Monday evening at about eight
o’clock.
‘Just as I was thinking of getting ready to come back to
town, an old gentleman next door called to see Mr Barkley with the news that
there was a rising of the Sinn Feiners during the day, that they had seized the
General Post Office, and taken possession of Stephen’s Green, and were prepared
to hold it against siege.
Of course after that I couldn’t think of going out …’
On Easter Tuesday after breakfast Maie left Clareville Road,
escorted by her hostess Mrs Barkley, and set off for Merrion Square. ‘We didn’t
know how much was true of what we had heard, but as soon as we came to the
corner of Kenilworth Park we saw there were no trams running and at every
corner were groups of men standing talking, and sometimes women, all with
eager, excited and sometimes frightened faces.
‘We met a quite a number of business men and girls walking
back out of town, Mr Barkley among the number. He came back with us, and told
us … that all the shops in town were closed, and that a good many of those in
Sackville Street had been broken into and looted by the mob. Switzer’s and all
the shops in Grafton Street were quite safe at that time.
‘As we came to Portobello Bridge we saw a public house –
Davy’s – which had evidently been the centre of a fight some time the previous
afternoon or night. The big plate glass windows were smashed to atoms, and most
of the windows upstairs were either completely broken or riddled with bullet
holes. The walls of the house were also thickly dotted with bullet marks.
Soldiers were on guard inside the house and outside. I afterwards learned that
the Sinn Feiners had taken possession of this house on the Monday afternoon,
and that the bullet marks were the signs of the work done by the military in
trying to rout them.’
Now known as the Portobello Bar, Davy’s features in Visit
Dublin’s tourist tours of the city; guides explain how it was taken
over by rebels led by a man by the name of James Joyce – not the author of
Ulysses, but a frustrated bottle washer at the pub who took matters into his
own hands in dramatic fashion. Angered at the disruption, his boss Mr. Davy
issued Joyce a week’s notice to finish up work. To this, young Joyce allegedly
retorted, ‘Well, I’m giving you five minutes’ notice!’, following it with a
gentle warning shot from his rifle. There’s a picture here: http://www.visitdublin.com/historical-dublin-pubs-of-1916/
Maie’s route to the GFS Hostel lay across Stephen’s Green,
the beautiful, leafy park at the south end of Grafton Street, Dublin’s smartest
shopping street, but as she approached with Mr and Mrs Barkley they could hear shots
‘firing more and more distinctly’, so they took a detour and approached Merrion
Square from the far side. ‘From the distance we could see a tram standing, I
suppose just where it was when the rising first broke out at the Green. We all
three arrived at Merrion Square without mishap, and there my friends left me. I
didn’t go out all the rest of that day, but in the afternoon the firing became
worse and worse in Stephen’s Green direction, and we soon got quite accustomed
to the unusual sounds.’
At the time of the census taken five years previously, the GFS Hostel had 30 residents including the Superintendent, a 27-year-old widow called Annie Irene Ffrench, and her five-year-old daughter. Mrs Ffrench and most of the boarders were Church of Ireland; some were domestics servants, several were nurses, typists, shop assistants or 'scholars'. There was a medical student from Queen's University Belfast and a 'telegraphist'; one 'householder' and one who described her occupation as 'lady'. They came from all over Ireland and ranged in age from teens to mid-50s. This was typical for a GFS Lodge. The Society had been established in 1875 by Mary Elizabeth Townsend, an Irish clergyman's daughter married to the wealthy Frederick Townsend, to offer affordable, safe accommodation for working-class country girls who left home to take up urban employment. Over Easter weekend in 1916 it's likely that many of the long-term residents would have gone home for the weekend, so the hostel may have been less full than on the census night.
No doubt the residents of 28 Merrion Square were as surprised as everyone else in Dublin that the quasi-military demonstrations by various nationalist and socialist groups over the past few years had culminated in an actual uprising against British rule. Certainly they weren't aware of the progress of events. On Easter Monday the General Post Office in Sackville Street had been occupied by rebel forces of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and their leader Padraig Pearse had read the Proclamation of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic on its steps. Several other buildings in the Sackville Street area had also been occupied, together with the Four Courts, the College of Surgeons on Stephen's Green, the City Hall and neighbouring buildings overlooking Dublin Castle - the seat of British government - and key locations on the outskirts of the city centre, including Jacob's biscuit factory and Boland's bakery, not far from Merrion Square. By Tuesday City Hall had been retaken and soldiers of the Irish Citizen Army who had started digging trenches in Stephen's Green had been driven out by government forces firing on them from the windows and roof of the Shelbourne Hotel. British army reinforcements were beginning to arrive and martial law was proclaimed.
On the morning of Wednesday 26 April Maie Corry with 'Miss Duke and Miss Prendergast', two fellow residents of the hostel, 'went out for a little "dander".
'Everywhere there was that general air of excitement. We ventured as far as the top of Grafton Street, where we spent some time watching a crowd of boys and girls, yes, and grown-up women too, looting Noblett's toffee shop. We had heard that morning that the Sinn Feiners had all been put out of the Green - in other words, probably killed - and that the military were in possession. I do not think this can have been quite true. At any rate the gates were then closed, and we could hear the sound of firing there at intervals. We turned down Grafton Street, and thought we might get as far as Sackville Street, but opposite Trinity College a man walked across and very politely requested us to go to the other side of the street as the soldiers guarding the College were firing from the roof and it wasn't safe where we were.
'We obediently crossed and proceeded in the direction of O'Connell Bridge. From there we could see the "Green Flag" of the Irish Republic floating over the GPO, and hear shots in the distance. The majority of the crowd seemed to be unanxious to go past the Bridge, and as we were in sympathy with the crowd on that point we, too, stood and waited - for what we hardly knew, but it soon came! Suddenly, quite close to us there was a succession of deafening reports, much too close to be comfortable, and the crowd scattered in all directions, anywhere to be out of reach of those terrible shots. Somewhat subdued, I must confess, we decided that for once discretion might be the better part of valour, and we returned to Merrion Square without further adventure.
'That afternoon firing was very heavy, and sounded much nearer us. From our upper windows we could see a crowd at the other end of Mount Street, and before very long there were the nurses in their white aprons, evidently carrying in the wounded. We were too far away to see all that was going on, but we could occasionally catch the flash of the rifle shots, and the awful sound of the shooting, which went on from about one o'clock until between eight or none at night without ceasing for a single instant, sounded very near indeed.'
Maie and her companions in the GFS Lodge were listening to one of the most significant incidents of Easter Week: the 'Battle of Mount Street Bridge'. Three small garrisons of volunteers had established themselves in houses overlooking a bridge over the Grand Canal on one of the main roads from the port, Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire), where British troops would arrive from England. The 59th North Midland division - three brigades of the South Staffordshire, North Staffordshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Sherwood Forester regiments had been mobilised on Monday night and were on their way. Many had only been in training for a few weeks since volunteering, as they thought, to fight in the First World War. They were greeted warmly in Kingstown and set off on foot for Dublin city centre, only to be ambushed at the junction of Northumberland Road and Percy Place. A detailed account of the incident by military historian Paul O'Brien can be found HERE. Ultimately the rebel garrisons were defeated and their leaders killed, but the losses on the British side were far greater; urged by their commanding officers to press on down the direct route to Trinity College regardless of sniper fire from 25 Northumberland Road on the south side of the canal and Clanwilliam House on the north, they were picked off one after another. Four officers were killed and 14 wounded, and 216 'other ranks' killed or wounded. Civilians also lost their lives at Mount Street Bridge, including Mrs Elizabeth Kane who was killed and her daughter seriously wounded when their house came under fire; a local grocer who was killed as he tried to cross the line of fire; and a dentist, Mr C Hanchette Hyland, who had gone out to give assistance to the wounded - as did many local residents - but on his return was shot by a stray bullet as he stood in the doorway of his house in Percy Place.
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| 28 Merrion Square in 2015 |
At the time of the census taken five years previously, the GFS Hostel had 30 residents including the Superintendent, a 27-year-old widow called Annie Irene Ffrench, and her five-year-old daughter. Mrs Ffrench and most of the boarders were Church of Ireland; some were domestics servants, several were nurses, typists, shop assistants or 'scholars'. There was a medical student from Queen's University Belfast and a 'telegraphist'; one 'householder' and one who described her occupation as 'lady'. They came from all over Ireland and ranged in age from teens to mid-50s. This was typical for a GFS Lodge. The Society had been established in 1875 by Mary Elizabeth Townsend, an Irish clergyman's daughter married to the wealthy Frederick Townsend, to offer affordable, safe accommodation for working-class country girls who left home to take up urban employment. Over Easter weekend in 1916 it's likely that many of the long-term residents would have gone home for the weekend, so the hostel may have been less full than on the census night.
No doubt the residents of 28 Merrion Square were as surprised as everyone else in Dublin that the quasi-military demonstrations by various nationalist and socialist groups over the past few years had culminated in an actual uprising against British rule. Certainly they weren't aware of the progress of events. On Easter Monday the General Post Office in Sackville Street had been occupied by rebel forces of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and their leader Padraig Pearse had read the Proclamation of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic on its steps. Several other buildings in the Sackville Street area had also been occupied, together with the Four Courts, the College of Surgeons on Stephen's Green, the City Hall and neighbouring buildings overlooking Dublin Castle - the seat of British government - and key locations on the outskirts of the city centre, including Jacob's biscuit factory and Boland's bakery, not far from Merrion Square. By Tuesday City Hall had been retaken and soldiers of the Irish Citizen Army who had started digging trenches in Stephen's Green had been driven out by government forces firing on them from the windows and roof of the Shelbourne Hotel. British army reinforcements were beginning to arrive and martial law was proclaimed.
On the morning of Wednesday 26 April Maie Corry with 'Miss Duke and Miss Prendergast', two fellow residents of the hostel, 'went out for a little "dander".
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| North end of Grafton Street, Trinity College on right |
'We obediently crossed and proceeded in the direction of O'Connell Bridge. From there we could see the "Green Flag" of the Irish Republic floating over the GPO, and hear shots in the distance. The majority of the crowd seemed to be unanxious to go past the Bridge, and as we were in sympathy with the crowd on that point we, too, stood and waited - for what we hardly knew, but it soon came! Suddenly, quite close to us there was a succession of deafening reports, much too close to be comfortable, and the crowd scattered in all directions, anywhere to be out of reach of those terrible shots. Somewhat subdued, I must confess, we decided that for once discretion might be the better part of valour, and we returned to Merrion Square without further adventure.
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| Mount St from Merrion Square 2015 |
'That afternoon firing was very heavy, and sounded much nearer us. From our upper windows we could see a crowd at the other end of Mount Street, and before very long there were the nurses in their white aprons, evidently carrying in the wounded. We were too far away to see all that was going on, but we could occasionally catch the flash of the rifle shots, and the awful sound of the shooting, which went on from about one o'clock until between eight or none at night without ceasing for a single instant, sounded very near indeed.'
Maie and her companions in the GFS Lodge were listening to one of the most significant incidents of Easter Week: the 'Battle of Mount Street Bridge'. Three small garrisons of volunteers had established themselves in houses overlooking a bridge over the Grand Canal on one of the main roads from the port, Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire), where British troops would arrive from England. The 59th North Midland division - three brigades of the South Staffordshire, North Staffordshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Sherwood Forester regiments had been mobilised on Monday night and were on their way. Many had only been in training for a few weeks since volunteering, as they thought, to fight in the First World War. They were greeted warmly in Kingstown and set off on foot for Dublin city centre, only to be ambushed at the junction of Northumberland Road and Percy Place. A detailed account of the incident by military historian Paul O'Brien can be found HERE. Ultimately the rebel garrisons were defeated and their leaders killed, but the losses on the British side were far greater; urged by their commanding officers to press on down the direct route to Trinity College regardless of sniper fire from 25 Northumberland Road on the south side of the canal and Clanwilliam House on the north, they were picked off one after another. Four officers were killed and 14 wounded, and 216 'other ranks' killed or wounded. Civilians also lost their lives at Mount Street Bridge, including Mrs Elizabeth Kane who was killed and her daughter seriously wounded when their house came under fire; a local grocer who was killed as he tried to cross the line of fire; and a dentist, Mr C Hanchette Hyland, who had gone out to give assistance to the wounded - as did many local residents - but on his return was shot by a stray bullet as he stood in the doorway of his house in Percy Place.
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| Mount Street Memorial |
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| Grand Canal from Mount Street Bridge |
