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Health & Fitness

Ninety Seven Years Ago The Irish Rising Began in Dublin and Cork

The Rising Begins with the Proclamation of the Irish Republic

Early on Monday morning, April 24, 1916, roughly 1,200 Volunteers and Citizen Army members took over strongpoints in Dublin city center. A joint force of about 400 Volunteers and Citizen Army gathered at Liberty Hall under the command of Commandant James Connolly.

The rebel headquarters was located at the General Post Office (GPO) where James Connolly, overall military commander and four other members of the Military Council:  Patrick Pearse, Tom Clarke, Seán Mac Dermott and Joseph Plunkett were located. After occupying the Post Office, the Volunteers hoisted two republican flags and Pearse read a Proclamation of the Republic.

Elsewhere, rebel forces took up positions at the Four Courts, the center of the Irish legal establishment, at Jacobs Biscuit Factory and Boland's Mill and at the hospital complex at South Dublin Union and the adjoining Distillery at Marrowbone Lane.  Another contingent, under Michal Mallin, dug in on St. Stephen's Green.

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However, although it was lightly guarded, Volunteer and Citizen Army forces under Seán Connolly failed to take Dublin Castle, the center of British rule in Ireland, shooting dead a police sentry and overpowering the soldiers in the guardroom, but failing to press home the attack.  The Under-secretary, Sir Matthew Nathan, was alerted by the shots and helped close the castle gates. 

The rebels occupied the Dublin City Hall and adjacent buildings.  They also failed to take Trinity College, which was located in the heart of the city center and which was defended by only a handful of armed, unionist students.   At midday a small team of Volunteers and Fianna members attacked the Magazine Fort in the Phoenix Park and disarmed the guards, with the intent to seize weapons and blow up the building as a signal that the rising had begun.  They set explosives but failed to obtain any arms. 

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In at least two incidents, at Jacobs Biscuit Factory and Stephens Green, the Volunteers and Citizen Army shot dead civilians who were trying to attack them or dismantle their barricades.  Elsewhere, they hit civilians with their rifle butts to drive them off.

The British military were caught totally unprepared by the rebellion and their response of the first day was generally un-coordinated.  Two troops of British cavalry, one at the Four Courts, the other on O'Connell Street, sent out to investigate what was happening, took fire and casualties from rebel forces.  On Mount Street, a group of reserve volunteer soldiers, stumbled upon the rebel position and four were killed before they reached Beggars Bush barracks.

The only substantial combat of the first day of the Rising took place at the South Dublin Union where a piquet from the Royal Irish Regiment, encountered an outpost of Éamonn Ceannt's force at the north-western corner of the South Dublin Union.  The British troops, after taking some casualties, managed to regroup and launch several assaults on the position before they forced their way inside and the small rebel force in the tin huts at the eastern end of the Union surrendered. 

However, the Union complex as a whole remained in rebel hands. Three of the unarmed Dublin Metropolitan Police were shot dead on the first day of the Rising and their Commissioner pulled them off the streets. Partly as result of the withdrawal of the police, a wave of looting broke out in the city center, especially in the O'Connell Street area.

A total of 425 people were arrested after the Rising for looting. The only violence in Cork occurred when the Kent brothers resisted arrest by the RIC, shooting one.  One brother was killed in the shootout and another later executed.

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