Edward Kirwan & the Struggle for Irish Independance

Edward Kirwan - C Company, 3rd Battalion, Irish Volunteers

My grandfather Edward Kirwan was seventeen years old when he took part in the Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916. He was born in 1898, the eldest son of Edward & Maria Kirwan of Duffy's Cottages, Camden Row, Dublin.

Studio portrait of Edward Kirwan in Volunteer dress

His father, also called Edward, was a British Army veteran who served with the Cheshire Regiment in British India, much of it in the North-West Frontier region in what is now Pakistan. Following discharge, he worked as a driver with Kernan & Co. Mineral Waters of Camden Street, but was injured in an accident and was unable to work. His mother, Maria, had a small shop in Old Camden Street, though this appears to have been later; she was living there by 1926. Edward Snr died in 1914 and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery. Around the time of the Rising, Edward was employed as a storekeeper.

The funeral of the Fenian veteran Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa in August 1915 became a major nationalist demonstration remembered particularly for Patrick Pearse’s graveside oration — ending with the words “Ireland unfree shall never be at peace”. Edward attended the funeral, but I am not sure whether he was present in Glasnevin or whether he saw the funeral cortege as it passed through the city.

Pádraig Pearse giving his famous oration at the grave of O'Donovan Rossa

In his own memoir, he credits a schoolteacher with awakening his interest in nationalist politics. He decided to join the Irish Volunteers after seeing them parade on St Patrick’s Day 1916. This was the minority faction that rejected John Redmond’s call to support the British war effort during the First World War. In the short period that followed, he attended all the parades and drills and was issued with a 12-bore shotgun. He was also dispatched to scout British troop movements around Portobello Barracks.

1916 Rising

On Easter Sunday, he was at mass in the Pro-Cathedral when word came out that the planned "maneuvers" had been cancelled. Confusion following Eoin MacNeill’s countermanding order on Easter Sunday drastically reduced Volunteer mobilisation throughout the country.

The following day, new orders were sent out, and he was dispatched to mobilise a squad of around 12, but due to the confusion was only able to get two. This was replicated in all units, and only a small number paraded at University College in Earlsfort Terrace and proceeded to occupy Boland's Bakery. The 3rd Battalion, commanded by Éamon de Valera, of which he was a part, numbered no more than 130 on the first day of the Rising, though this number did increase slightly through the week.

Although the rebel position is generally remembered as ‘Boland’s Mills’, it was the bakery that was the specific section of the complex occupied and used as headquarters by the Volunteers.

So he had not been a member of the Volunteers for much more than a month when on Monday, April 24th 1916, as part of C Company of the 3rd Battalion, he was taking part in an armed insurrection against British rule in Ireland. Part of 'C' Company was dispatched to take over various strong points around Mount Street Bridge to restrict access to the city centre from the port of Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire), and Edward was initially part of this group. I believe that he was initially positioned on the roof of Clanwilliam House overlooking the bridge, but after spending two days and one night in position, he, along with two other younger volunteers, was sent back to the Bakery due to their age.

The outposts around Mount Street Bridge were among the most strategically effective positions held by the rebels during Easter Week. A small force of Volunteers delayed the advance of British troops arriving from Kingstown, inflicting some of the heaviest British casualties of the Rising. His return to the bakery meant that he missed the subsequent battle at Mount Street Bridge, which was one of the bloodiest encounters of the Rising. The battle ended with Clanwilliam House in flames, so he had a lucky escape.

Back in the bakery, the officers commanding tried to boost morale with stories of risings all over the country and rumours of German landings and arms shipments. But as their outlying posts fell, their sense of encirclement grew, and tensions were high as they anticipated a British assault. The noises of gunfire and artillery must have been terrifying for these young men. At one point, de Valera abandoned the Bakery to take up a position on the adjacent railway embankment. From there, the volunteers could see Dublin in flames, which caused widespread upset as many of them feared for their families who may have been caught in the inferno. As a result, they were ordered back to their original positions in the bakery to await the inevitable assault.

But the assault never came, and on Sunday morning, following receipt of Pearse's order to surrender, de Valera led his battalion out to surrender. There is a famous photograph of this event, and though we cannot pick out Edward, he would certainly have been part of the group pictured.

The Boland's Mills garrison surrenders

They were taken to the RDS and detained in horse stalls until Tuesday, when they were moved to Richmond Barracks, where they were held until eventually deported on Saturday, 6th May. While there, the prisoners heard the volleys of the executions of the Rising leaders in nearby Kilmainham Gaol.

In his memoir, Edward recalled being deported from North Wall on a ‘cattle boat’ along with 376 others. On arrival in England, he was sent to Wakefield Prison in Yorkshire, one of several English prisons used to intern Rising prisoners after 1916. While in prison, he turned 18, and his youth may have contributed to his being among the first prisoners released between 4th and 7th June (272 in all). The releases came as Irish public opinion was shifting markedly in favour of the prisoners.

War of Independence

Edward got back involved in the reconstituted C Company, 3rd Battalion, Irish Volunteers (later generally known as the IRA). He was also inducted into the Irish Republican Brotherhood around this time.

He was then transferred to a newly created engineers' company and was involved in various activities, including the burning of the abandoned Stepaside RIC barracks.

On Sunday morning, 19th September 1920, he was part of a group that assembled in the Dublin Mountains to demonstrate a homemade explosive mixture commonly nicknamed “war flour” by Volunteers. Many were unarmed, and when they were surrounded by a party of military and police (including the Black & Tans in what was one of their first operations), they were ordered to fall in to allow some of their number, including some senior figures, to escape over the mountains. The Tans attacked them with machine guns and grenades, and Edward was among some 40 prisoners taken in the ensuing events, during which Seán Doyle — son of Alderman Peadar Doyle, who went on to be Lord Mayor of Dublin — was killed.

He was taken initially to the Bridewell in Green Street and then to Mountjoy Jail. While there, he met Ned Foley and Patrick Maher, who were later executed in connection with the Knocklong Rescue, despite Maher apparently having played no direct part in the operation, and Kevin Barry, whose execution became an international cause célèbre and was memorialised in song.

Edward was tried at Marlborough Barracks (later renamed McKee Barracks) and followed republican policy of refusing to recognise the court. As a result, he was convicted of membership of an unlawful organisation and deported to prison in England for the second time.

He initially served time in Wormwood Scrubs and subsequently in Northampton Prison.

Release & Civil War

He was released after serving his time, around the time of the Truce, which came into effect in July 1921. During the months that followed, he resumed activity with the Volunteers and took part in a three-month training camp at Pinewood near Glencullen in the Dublin Mountains.

Edward Kirwan in National Army uniform

After the Treaty, like many former Volunteers and IRB members, he accepted the settlement, joined the National Army and rose to the rank of Battalion Quartermaster Sergeant. I know little of his involvement in the ensuing Civil War, other than that at one point he was stationed in Roscrea, not far from Nenagh, where he would eventually settle.

There was a certain continuity between Edward's civilian and military careers. He had worked as a storekeeper in Dublin before the Rising, and his role as Battalion Quartermaster Sergeant involved the organisation and issue of stores and supplies. His military appointment may therefore have drawn on skills he had already acquired in civilian life, while adding considerably to that experience.

Edward was discharged from the Defence Forces on 28 March 1924 and resumed his civilian career in Nenagh, initially with the Ormond Garage and later the Irish Aluminium Company (Castle Brand).

Edward Kirwan’s story spans an extraordinary period in Irish history. Still only seventeen when he entered Boland’s Bakery in Easter 1916, he went on to experience imprisonment, deportation, the War of Independence and service in the National Army before returning to civilian life. His story is one small part of the much larger story of the revolutionary generation.