IRISH VOLUNTEERS

3,000 Irish National Volunteers enlisted at the inaugural meeting on November 25, 1913. Peaking in September 1914, membership reached 191,000. Not all were extremists, but key positions were occupied by twelve Irish Republican Brotherhood members, unknown to the Volunteers' president, Professor Eoin Mac Neill. Like the UVF, the Irish Volunteers organized on a local basis, drilling being directed by army veterans.

An uneasy alliance with the Irish Parliamentary Party was made in 1914. At a conference at Buckingham Palace in July, Prime Minister Asquith, Carson and Redmond could not agree about excluding Ulster from Home Rule and the prospect of partition galvanized many nationalists.

Tom Kettle travelled to Belgium to negotiate the purchase of German arms. (Seeing the Germans occupy Belgium influenced his joining the British Army.) Erskine Childers captained The Asgard, from which about 900 rifles and 29,000 rounds of ammunition were landed at Howth in late July. Some of the King's Own Scottish Borderers was ordered to intercept the landings, but were stoned by civilians. They opened fire, killing three.

In the House of Commons, John Redmond denounced the killings:

"Let the house clearly understand that four fifths of the Irish people will not submit any longer to be bullied, or punished, or shot, for conduct which is permitted to go scot-free in the open light of day in every county in Ulster by other sections of their fellow countrymen."


About a week later, another 600 rifles were landed in Wicklow. Following John Redmond's speech at Woodenbridge, Co. Wicklow, the Volunteer movement split. Those supporting Redmond's call to join up for the war were the National Volunteers. 13,500 led by MacNeil, called themselves the Irish Volunteers. Irish troops departing for the war, were cheered by crowds of well-wishers, except for the King's Own Scottish Borderers.

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IRISH ECONOMY

Most of the industrial development in Ireland was in Ulster - the seat of resistance to Home Rule. Elsewhere, the economy was poorly developed and depended greatly on agriculture.

Dublin had some of the worst slums in Europe with over 21,000 families living in single rooms in tenement buildings, the highest death rate at birth (27.6 per 1,000) and the highest death rate of densely populated centres in the UK. According to a 1914 Government report, 14% of Dublin's population lived in houses declared unfit for human habitation and said that many others, 'scarcely deserve the name house and could be more aptly described as shelters.'

This situation was intensified in 1913 when 400 employers, organized by William Martin Murphy, locked out workers who were members of the Irish Transport & General Workers' Union, led by Jim Larkin and James Connolly. 24,000 workers were not able to earn their wage and many more depended on that money. Dublin witnessed massive rallies, baton charges and riots.

Dublin proved a fertile recruiting area - double the national average and outstripping even Belfast. Many people emigrated to work in munitions factories and shipyards. A regular wage was very attractive and everyone believed that the war would be over by Christmas.

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