IT IS THE third day of the Easter Rising and things are going badly for the rebels.
Yesterday they had to retreat from City Hall, Fumbally Lane and Charleville Road. However, they continue to hold the GPO, the Four Courts and Boland’s Mill along the Liffey, among others.
To mark the centenary of 1916, TheJournal.ie is documenting the events of the Rising as they happened. Each day this week, you can follow what happened during one of the defining events of Ireland’s history, from the moment the rebels started assembling outside Liberty Hall on Easter Monday to the surrender on Moore Street the following Saturday. You can catch up on what happened yesterday here and you can see all our sources here.
As ever, we want to hear from you. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, tweet us @thejournal_ie, send a mail to news@thejournal.ie or send a telegram to The Journal, Golden Lane, Dublin 8.
Good morning everyone, and thanks for sticking with us as we cover what’s happening around Dublin and parts of the country. It’s Catherine Devine here on liveblog duty.
Here are some developments since our last post last night.
British troops seized the Mail and Express building opposite City Hall after intense fighting – but 23 soldiers were killed in the process.
Rebels then moved to the Exchange Hotel nearby but they were later forced to retreat all the way back to the rebel position on Sackville Street.
A British gunboat, the HMS Helga, sailed down the River Liffey and fired at Boland’s Mill and Bakery.
Rebels retreated from their position along the River Tolka.
The Imperial Hotel and the Metropole Hotel on Sackville Street have been occupied by rebels.
British reinforcements arrived aboard the SS Tynwald and the SS Patriotic into Kingstown.
The Linenhall barracks off Bolton Street were emptied and set alight by the rebels.
Volunteers attacked the Broadstone Railway station where British troops are based.
At Carnmore in Galway, two policemen were killed by rebels.
Martial law has been declared across Dublin city and county by Major-General Lovick Friend, the head of the British forces in Ireland. Civilians are no longer allowed on the streets between 7.30pm and 5.30am.
The order warns that anyone who is seen carrying arms is “liable to be fired upon by the military without warning”.
Daily life across Dublin has ground to a halt as a result of the fighting. Businesses are closed, transport has shut down, and looting has become a common occurrence on some streets. Basic supplies of food are becoming scarce as no food has been brought into the city since Saturday.
Fighting this morning has begun with the British soldiers using machine guns to shoot at Jacob’s factory on Bishop Street, beside Aungier Street. There appear to have been a number of civilian casualties caused by stray bullets – Dubliners are out in the streets to get food and to check on friends and relatives.
According to reports, Éamon De Valera tricked the HMS Helga gunboat into shooting at an empty distillery near Boland’s bakery by hanging a tricolour above it to make the British troops think that it was the building being occupied by the rebels.
Liberty Hall is coming under heavy shelling from the HMS Helga now, which has anchored in the Liffey.
Rebels and soldiers have both been killed in a continuing sniper battle on Sackville Street. Gunshots can be heard around the city.
The Lord Lieutenant – the British monarch’s official representative in Ireland and the figurehead of British rule in the country – has issued this statement, saying that the situation is “well in hand”.
He says that 10,000 troops have arrived in Dublin from England overnight. Many of them were soldiers who had been expecting to be dispatched to the Western Front but instead are being diverted to Ireland.
BREAKING: Francis Sheehy Skeffington and journalists Thomas Dickson and Patrick MacIntyre have been shot dead by a firing squad in a yard at Portobello Barracks.
Sheehy-Skeffington was arrested yesterday as he tried to organise a group to stop the looting.
The order to shoot them appears to have been given by Captain JC Bowen-Colthurst, an Irish Rifles officer.
Colthurst says that he had spent the night scrutinising Skeffington’s anti-looting leaflets and other documents which had been seized from a nearby shop, and had come to the conclusion that the three men were “all very dangerous characters” and it was “the right thing to do” to have them shot.
Immediately afterwards, Colthurst reported what he had done to his superiors and said that he could possibly be hanged for what he had done. Witnesses described him as ‘half cracked’.
The Nottingham and Derby Regiments, also known as the Sherwood Foresters, have arrived at Kingstown and begun their march into the city. Some are marching along the coast road approaching Northumberland Road.
Their arrival appears to have buoyed army spirits. Some Dubliners have lined the streets to welcome them.
Apparently the caretaker of Stephen’s Green has risked his life, walking calmly into the middle of a gun fight, in order to feed the park’s huge duck population. Luckily both sides stopped firing when they saw what was happening and a temporary ceasefire is in place.
Sackville Street is being riddled with bullets shot from the two gunboats in the Liffey. Further, the incendiary bullets are ensuring that no shop which escapes the fire which began burning yesterday is left untouched. The fire appears to have spread from Hoyts to Clerys and the Imperial Hotel. There is shattered glass everywhere on Sackville Street.
Liberty Hall has been all but destroyed after being shelled by a gunboat for several hours.
The interior of Liberty Hall has been extensively damaged – possibly even more badly than the exterior – as some of the shells exploded inside the building.
At the Mendicity Institute on Dublin’s south quays, one of Dublin’s oldest charities which has been taken by the rebels, the Dublin Fusiliers have started throwing hand grenades – but the rebels have been picking them up and throwing them right back at them, in what one bystander described as an act of ‘suicidal bravery’. As a result the army have called off the attack for now.
An army company which was returning to Beggars Bush Barracks has walked straight into an ambush on Northumberland Road, at the junction with Haddington Road. At least ten soldiers have been shot dead.
The small number of Volunteers had taken up several positions in the area on Monday to prevent British reinforcements from entering Dublin city centre.
The rebels are in at least five locations in the area near the Mount Street Bridge, including a house at 25 Northumberland Road, the nearby parochial hall, the schoolhouse, and Clanwilliam House.
The British have sent reinforcements to Northumberland Road but they have been driven back by rapid fire coming from the upper floors of the corner house, 25 Northumberland Road.
The Mount Street Bridge is wide and flat, with nowhere to duck for cover.
At least two British platoons tried to outflank the corner house but many more soldiers were injured in the manoeuvre.
Troops have also come under fire from rebels holding the nearby Clanwilliam House.
The Sherwood Foresters have arrived on the scene and have succeeded in outflanking 25 Northumberland Road but most soldiers are seeking cover from the gunfire on garden steps.
Nearly 60 soldiers attacked the Schoolhouse Building on Northumberland Road but were shot down in what appears to have been a trap. Approximately a dozen survived.
Six weeks of training for trench warfare has not prepared the soldiers for fighting in the leafy Dublin streets under close-range fire.
BREAKING: The rebels at the Mendicity Institute on the south quays have surrendered are being taken prisoner by the British.
As they were leaving the building, one of the Volunteers was shot dead. It is unclear what happened.
The Rising has been making headlines around the world, but given how messy the situation is, not all the reporting has been accurate. This New York newspaper mistakenly says that the GPO has been recaptured by the British.
With the Mendicity Institute out of rebel control, more soldiers are moving along the quays and they have begun attacking the Four Courts in earnest. The British soldiers put an 18 pounder in place, disguised by an ambulance. The rebels realised what was going on, but not in time to stop the building being shelled.
Reports are coming in of a number of civilian casualties out in Northumberland Road and Beggar’s Bush as the intense fighting continues.
The British troops now have a cordon around the rebel positions across the city and have begun shelling the main strongholds.
British troops have been mown down as they attempted to rush 25 Northumberland Road with gunfire coming from the building and also Clanwilliam House. The Sherwood Foresters have been killed and injured in huge numbers.
Rebels in the Four Courts have set nearby buildings alight in order to smoke out British riflemen who were holed up in there.
We are receiving reports that rebels in Ashbourne have taken over the post office, smashing telegraphs. They are occupying houses opposite the RIC barracks and they have commandeered a van full of bread.
Another group of rebels have attempted to cut the rail lanes in Donabate. There was a fight and one policeman was killed, another was wounded.
A ceasefire has been called on Northumberland Road as doctors and nurses from the nearby Sir Patrick Dun’s Hospital tend to the wounded soldiers in the area.
The ceasefire did not last long at Northumberland Road as the British attempted a sneak attack on the rebels. Reports say that both sides have been trying to make sure they don’t hit any medical personnel in the fight.
The bomb unit has arrived to help the army and the tide is now turning against the rebels in 25 Northumberland Road and Clanwilliam House.
A soldier has died after he threw a grenade too hard at Clanwilliam House, and it bounced back and exploded beside his head.
Roddy Connolly, the 15-year-old son of James Connolly, has been ordered to leave the GPO by his father.
Roddy had been acting as an aide-de-camp to his father and Pádraig Pearse.
Witnesses say James Connolly was extremely upset as he said goodbye to his son, but made the decision because he was deeply concerned for his son’s safety.
After five hours of fighting and significant casualties, the British troops have managed to make their way into 25 Northumberland Road, where two rebels managed to hold hundreds of soldiers off. One of the rebels was killed but the other is believed to have escaped.
British troops now turn their attention to the nearby schoolhouse and Clanwilliam House, where rebels are still holding out.
In total, five rebels have died, four have been arrested and five have escaped at the scene. Out of 1,500 British troops, around 234 have been seriously wounded or killed.
Today has been the worst day for casualties so far during the Rising.
Here are the number of people who were killed today. Northumberland Road was the single biggest scene of fatalities.
British armed forces: 30
Rebel forces: 13
Civilians: 28
Police: 2
Martial law will come into effect at 7.30pm. No civilians are allowed on the streets between now and 5.30am.
We would advise all readers to stay indoors unless absolutely necessary.
As night begins to fall and bullet fire continues around Dublin city centre, we are going to take this opportunity to try to get home. We will resume this liveblog in the morning and will keep you up to date on all the happenings of this long-awaited but still unexpected Rebellion.
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