The National Volunteers was the name taken by the majority of the Irish Volunteers that sided with Irish Parliamentary Party leader John Redmond after the movement split in the wake of the question of the Volunteers' role in World War I.
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Origins
The National Volunteers were the product of the Irish political crisis over the implementation of Home Rule in 1912-1914. The Home Rule Act 1914, was proposed in 1912 and passed by the British Liberal government in 1914, after a campaign by John Redmond and the Irish Parliamentary Party. However its implementation was help up by mass resistance by Irish Unionists. This began with the introduction of the bill in 1912, when thousands of unionists signed the "Ulster Covenant", pledging to resist Home Rule. In 1913 they formed the Ulster Volunteers, an armed wing of Ulster Unionism and organised locally by the Orange Order who stated that they would resist Home Rule by force. [1].
In response, Nationalists formed their own paramilitary group, the Irish Volunteers, to ensure the implementation of Home Rule. It looked for several months in 1914 as if civil war was imminent between the two armed factions. While Redmond took no role in the creation of the Irish Volunteers, when he saw how influential they had become he realized an independent body of such magnitude was a threat to his authority as leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, and therefore sought control of the organization.
Eoin MacNeill, along with Sir Roger Casement and other leaders of the Irish Volunteers, had indeed sought Redmond's approval of and input in the organization, but did not want to hand control over to him. In June, 1914 the Volunteer leadership reluctantly agreed, in the interest of harmony to permit to let Redmond to nominate half the membership of Volunteer Executive [2] (as some of the standing members were already Redmond supporters this would have given him control). The motion was bitterly opposed by the radical members of the committee (mostly members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood), notably Patrick Pearse, Sean MacDermott, and Eamonn Ceannt, but was carried nevertheless in order to prevent a split. With the support of the Irish Party the Volunteer organization grew dramatically.
Great War split
Following the outbreak of World War I in August, and the successful placement of the Home Rule Act on the statute books, Redmond made a momentous speech in Woodenbridge, County Wicklow on September 20, in which he called for members of the Volunteers to enlist in an intended Irish Army Corps of Kitchener's New British Army divisions. He pledged his support to the Allied cause saying in his address:[3]
The interest of Ireland – of the whole of Ireland – are at stake in this war. This war is undertaken in the defence of the highest principles of religion and morality and right, and it would be a disgrace for ever to our country and a reproach to her manhood and a denial of the lessons of her history if young Ireland confined their efforts to remaining at home to defend the shores of Ireland from an unlikely invasion, and to shrinking from the duty of proving on the field of battle that gallantry and courage which has distinguished our race all through its history. I say to you, therefore, your duty is twofold. I am glad to see such magnificent material for soldiers around me, and I say to you: “Go on drilling and make yourself efficient for the Work, and then account yourselves as men, not only for Ireland itself, but wherever the fighting line extends, in defence of right, of freedom, and religion in this war. [3]
His motives were twofold. Firstly, he felt it was in the future interest of an All-Ireland Home Rule settlement to support the Allied war cause, joining together with the Ulster Volunteers who offered immediate support enlisting in their 36th (Ulster) Division. Secondly, he hoped that the Volunteers, armed and trained by the British, would become the nucleus of an Irish Army after Home Rule was implemented. [4] He reminded the Irish Volunteers that when they returned after an expected short war at the end of 1915, they would be an armed army capable of confronting the outcome of the partition bill. This Bill, had been forced through by Sir Edward Carson, leader of the Ulster Unionists, as an amendment to the Home Rule Act.
Nearly all of the original leaders of the Volunteers utterly rejected Redmond's support for the War, and dismissed his appointees. Militant nationalists reacted angrily but the great majority of the Volunteers supported Redmond and became known as the National Volunteers. [3]
Recruitment for World War I
The vast majority of the Volunteer membership remained loyal to Redmond, bringing some 142,000 members to the National Volunteers, leaving the Irish Volunteers with an estimated 9,700 [5]. Many other Irish nationalists and parliamentary leaders, such as William O'Brien MP., Thomas O’Donnell MP., Joseph Devlin MP. and The O'Mahony sided with Redmond's decision and recruited to support the British and Allied war effort. Five other MPs, J. L. Esmonde, Stephen Gwynn, Willie Redmond, William Redmond and D. D. Sheehan as well as former MP Tom Kettle, actually joined Kitchener's New Service Army during the war.
Partly as a result, though also out of economic factors, many Irishmen enlisted voluntarily in Irish regiments of the New British Army, the 10th (Irish) Division and 16th (Irish) Division, to serve in the Great War. Out of a National Volunteer membership of about 150,000, roughly 24,000 (about 24 battalions) were to join those divisions for the duration of the war. Another 7,500 joined reserve battalions in Ireland [6] The National Volunteers were therefore a minority among the 206,000 Irishmen who served voluntarily in the war and in no sense constituted a nascent Irish Army as Redmond had hoped.[7]. Recruiting among the National Volunteers, after an initial burst of enthusiasm, proved rather sluggish. According to historian Fergus campbell, "most of the members of the National Volunteers were farmer's sons, and members of this social group were reluctant to join the colours" [8] A police report of late 1914 commented, "Though the large majority of the nominal National Volunteers approve of Mr. Redmond's pronouncement, only very few will enlist" [9]. A contemporary writer felt that, "at the back of it was a vague feeling that to fight for the British Empire was a form of disloyalty to Ireland [10].
Moreover, Redmond's hopes for an Irish Army Corp were overtaken. Instead a New Army 16th (Irish) Division was created, which was largley officered by Englishmen, a not at all popular decision. An exception was Irish General William Hickie. This was in part due to the lack of trained Irish officers. The few trained officers had been sent to the 10th Division and those still available Carson had drafted into his 36th (Ulster) Division. In addition, Redmond's earlier statement that the Irish New Army units would return armed and capable of enforcing Home Rule, aroused War Office suspicions[11].
National Volunteers after 1914
The war's popularity in Ireland and the popularity of John Redmond and the Irish Parliamentary Party were badly dented by the severe losses subsequently suffered by the Irish divisions. In addition, the postponment of the implementation of Home Rule damaged both the IPP and the National Volunteers.
The majority of the National Volunteers (over 120,000 or 80%) did not enlist in the British Army. They were intended by John Redmond to form an offical home defence force for Ireland during the War. However, the British War Office baulked at arming and training the Irish nationalist movement [12]. Military historian Timothy Bowman put it clearly; 'While Kitchener saw the UVF as an efficient military force and was prepared to offer concessions to secure the services of UVF personnel in the British army his view of the INV was very different. The INV were, even in comparison to the UVF, an inefficient military force in 1914, lacked trained officers, finances and equipment. Kitchener was certainly not inclined to, as he saw it, waste valuable officers and equipment on a force which, at best, would relieve Territorial units from garrison duties and, at worst, would provide Irish Nationalists with the ability to enforce Home Rule on their own terms. [13]
In fact, the National Volunteers fell into decline as the war went on. Their strength fell to around 100,000 by February 1916 [14] and moreover their companies tended to fall into inactivity. In many cases, this was put down to a fear of conscription should they drill too openly. [15]. For this reason, by early 1916, British sources reported that the National Volunteers, as a movement was "practically dead" or "non-existent" [16]
Their other problem was lack of leadership, as many of its most committed and militarily experienced members had enlisted in Irish Regiments for the War. As a result the RIC (police) report on them concluded, "It is a strong force on paper, but without officers and untrained, it is little better than a large mob" [17]. They staged a very large rally, of over 20,000 men, on Easter Sunday 1915 in Dublin's Phoenix Park, but their Inspector General, Maurice Moore saw no military future for the organisation, "They cannot be trained, disciplined or armed, moreover, the enthusiasm has gone and they cannot be kept going...it will be of no practical use against any army, Orange or German" [18]
By contrast, the smaller but more militant Irish Volunteers increased in size and activity as the War went on. The numerical increase was modest, up from 9,700 in 1914 to 12,215 in February 1916, but they trained regularly and had kept most of the Volunteer weaponry [19]. By March 1916, the RIC was reporting that the Irish Volunteers, "are foremost among [nationalist] political societies, not by reason of their numerical strength but on account of their greater activity" [20]. In April 1916, the Irish Volunteers launched the Easter Rising, an armed insurrection in Dublin aimed at the ending of British rule in Ireland. During the Rising, one unit of the National Volunteers, in Craughwell county Galway, offered its services to the local RIC to help suppress the rebellion in that area. [21]
The rebellion was put down within a week by the British (including Irish units such as the Dublin Fusiliers) but in its aftermath and after the Conscription Crisis of 1918 in which the British Cabinet tried but failed to impose conscription on Ireland, the National Volunteers were eclipsed by the Irish Volunteers, whose membership shot up to over 100,000 by the end of 1918 [22]. John Redmond's Irish Parliamentary Party was similarly overtaken by the separatist Sinn Fein party in the general elections in December 1918.
After the Armistice in November 1918 around 100,000 Irishmen, including the surviving members of the National volunteers who had enlisted were demobilised from the British forces [23].
The rise of Irish Republicanism displacing constitutional nationalism as represented by the Irish Parliamentary Party, would, over the next five years, see the outbreak of armed conflict in the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921), the Partition of Ireland (1921) and the Irish Civil War (1922-1923).
Notes
- ^ Townsend, Charles: 1916, The Easter Rising, pp.33-34
- ^ Irish Volunteer Soldier 1913-23, p.8, ISBN 1-84176-685-2
- ^ a b c O’Riordan, Tomás: UCC Multitext Project in Irish History John Redmond
- ^ Townshend, p73
- ^ Cambell, Fergus: Land and Revolution, Nationalist Politics in West of Ireland, 1891-1921, p.196
- ^ Fitzpatrick, David: in Thomas Bartlet (ed), A Military History of Ireland, p.386
- ^ Campbell p.196
- ^ Campell p.197
- ^ Townshend p.75
- ^ Townsend p.75
- ^ Bowman, Timothy: Irish Regiments in the Great War, Ch. 3: Raising the Service battalions, p. 62, Manchester University Press (2003) ISBN 0 7190 6285 3
- ^ Townshend p.62
- ^ Bowman, Timothy: Irish Regiments in the Great War "Raising the Service battalions" p.67, Manchester Uni. Press (2003) ISBN 0-7190-6285-3
- ^ Campbell, p.197
- ^ Campbell, p.197
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ Townsend p.70
- ^ Townshend, p.71
- ^ Campbell p.197
- ^ Campbell p.197
- ^ Campbell, p.215
- ^ Collins, M. E.: Ireland 1868-1966 p.242
- ^ Fitzpatrick, Bartley, p.397
Reading References
- Thomas P. Dooley: Irishmen or English Soldiers: ?
the Times of a Southern Catholic Irish Man (1876-1916).
Liverpool Press (1995). - Terence Denman: Ireland's unknown Soldiers
the 16th (Irish) Division in the Great War.
Irish Academic Press (1992), (2003) ISBN 0-7165-2495-3. - Desmond & Jean Bowen: Heroic Option: The Irish in the British Army
Pen & Sword BooKs (2005), ISBN 1-84415-152-2.
Great War Memorials
Those who died in the Great War are commemorated at the:
- Irish National War Memorial Gardens Dublin.
- Island of Ireland Peace Park Messines, Belgium.
- Menin Gate Memorial Ypres, Belgium.
External links
- Department of the Taoiseach: Irish Soldiers in the First World War
- Read: A Tribute and a Claim to the Volunteers of both World Wars
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