AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BUREAU OF MIliTARY HISTORY 1913 - 1921 by j ENNIPIlR D OYLE F RAl\'CES CUI RKE EfBHUS COi\'j\'iiUGHTOl\' OR;\'A SOMERVIllE Military Archives Cathal Brugha Barracks Rathm.ines Dublin 6 COller: Burial <if TholllosAshc) GlnsllflJill ) 30 Scprcl/IIJcr 1917. (C D 227/35/ 3) Copyright © Military Archives, 2002 All fights reserved. No part of this publicarioll lllay be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system , or transmitted in any fo rlll or by any means, electronic. mechanical , photocopying, recording or otherwise "'''Iehom prior permission from the pllblishers. An Introduction to The Bureau of Military History 1913 - 1921 FOREWORD The origins of rhL' collecti on of archi val material described as the Bureau of Military History 19'13- J 921 are expbined in SO Il'lt:! d l.:., taii in the first chaptL' r of this publica tion. As the ride implies. this bookkt has bc~n produced to act as an inrroduction to the coll ec tion. Hopefull y it will SL'n-c as such and will assist ;lIld encourage student'i of this period of our hi story. As a result of vario lls initiatives the Governlllent decided to re lease the coll ection to the Miliwry Archivt's. After all , rh e impcms fo r the project came frOI11 within the D efence Forces in rhe forties and Illllch m:uaial of a complementary 1lJ.n1re such as 'The Collins papers' and Deparnnenral files art' in the keeping of Mili tary Archives. This bookJet is intended to give readers a fla vour of dl C material donated ro the Bureau by associates :l11d members of various political, social :md cultural groups and other individuals im·olvt'd in dll' ('vems of the timt'. An assortment of themes repn.'semed within the coll ection has been sel ected. touching on a broad ra nge of topics including the 1916 R.ising. imprisonment and hunger strikes and women's participation in th e N:ltionalist 111 0Vt:l11 CJlt. Sincere thanks are due to many p eo p l~ who haw· assisted and f.l cilitated the release of this coll ection to the public. An Taoiseach. Mr Bertie Ahern. TO. and Senator Martin Ma11Sergh, a former Special Ad visor to An Taoiseach ha v\;.' shown a personal interest and contribution. Mr Michae l Smith. TO., Minister fo r Defence; Lt Gen Colm Manga n, C hi ef of Stair and Mr Davi d O'Call aghan, Secretary General Deparnnent of D efence have given valuable support. The Natio nal Museum of Ireland. the Office of Public Works and th e C r:l\V{ord Municipal Art Ga ll ery have contributed generously lipa n request. Much credit is due to the interve ntion of the National Archives Adv·isory Counci l, under the chaif of Professor Margaret MacCurtain. The Director of the National Archives, Dr David C raig and s[atT :lfe thanked for all their ass istance. A spL'c ial word of dunks is due to Ms Catrio nJ. Crowe, Senior Arc hivist National Archives an d Liaison Offi cer to the Milirarv Archives fo r her tireless work on our behalf. The many voluntL'c rers who have ass i s r ~ d the Military Archives dO\vTl the years deserve spedal thanks. A particular lll emioll for their work with this project goes to Jim Dukes, Jim Stout and Leo Doyle. T hanks to the team of civilian archivists - Mirjan:l Cupek­ Hamill. Orn ~1 Summefvill e. Eibhlis C onnaughton and Frances Clarkt' - who processed the coll ection fo r rel ease un der [h e co-ordinati on of Jennifer Doyle. to the staff of the Defence Forces Priming Press and of the Air Corps Photographic Secti on. This booklet is dedicated to the memory of our colleague and fri end, Comdr Peter Young (b.16 Jun 1950 - d.2l Oct 1999). late Officer in C harge Milimry Archives. Vieror Laing Comdt O IC Milita ry Archives An Introduction to The Bureau of Military History 1913 - 1921 CONTENTS List of Illustrations ......... .. ...................................... ........................ .. .......................................... V II List of Abbreviations ..... ................ .. .......................................... ............................................... IX The East Limerick Active Service Squad ............................... .. ....................................... x The Bureau of Military History .......... .......... ...................................................................... The Bureau of Military H istory - A Resource for Historians ................................. 6 [rish Brigade in Gernlany .......................................................................................... .. .......... 7 19 16 Risillg ................................................................................................................................ 9 [rish Volunteers ~ Training, General Activities, Active Service Units ..................... 15 Internment and Hunger Strikes .... .. .................................................................................... 22 International Links .. ... ............................. ....... .. .............., .. ........................... ............................ 28 Intelligence Gathering ......................................................................... ,........ ............ ... .......... 30 Cultural Narionalisnl ................................................................... .. .......................................... 34 Women and Nationalism ....................................................................................................... 40 Alternate vie\vs of conflict ..... ,.. ............. .............................................................................. 46 'An IR..A COlUl1111 ' by Sean Keating .................................................................................. 49 l3ibliography ............................................................................................................................... 53 An Introduction to The Bureau of Military History 1913 - 1921 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS I) Group of Fi :lIl1lJ Eire:lI 111 members at Belcamp Park, Raheny. Co. Dublin (CD Y I 14) 2) Bol:l.Ilds Mills an d Cuinness Stores, Dubl.in (P 32 / 4) 3) Shd bourne H otel. Set'phe-n's Green. Dublin (P 36 / 6) 4) Idcntity Card, Irish Urigade, Germany, 6 December 19 15 bearing the nam\;' " Irlan der Fddwebel Kehoe" (CD 6/ 2/ 19) 5) Pays heet of the Irish Brigade. Germany, April 191 6 (CD 612/ 28) 6) Lettt'[ from Eoin MacNeill to Fr. Eugene Nevin. buer Sunday 1916 (CD 28~ / 4 ) 7) Phorost3r of a group of Irish Volume-ers and one mcmber of the Irish Citizen Army G.P.a., Dublin, Easter. 1916 (PR) 8) Photograph of the Irish Citizen Army groups. Liberty Hall. D ublin. 19 17 (CD 119 / 3/ 5) 9) Sketch ofJ oseph Mary Plunkett by Grace Gifford (CD 511 12) 10) Photostat of Sinn Fe ill election group. Vi ctoria Hotel , Kilkenny, 1917 (P II) I I) Phocostat ofW illiam T. Cosgrave making a speech from the Courthouse Balcony. a[[er his election in rh e Kilkenny by-election. 191 7 (P 11) 12) Phocograph of Tom C ullen in uniform (CD I SH/2/ t ) 13) Photostat of th e Cyclist Company '" Battalion on parade. Sallins. Co. Ki ldare, 23 Jun e 1918 (P9) 14) Phocostar ofTralee Battalion, Kerry Brigade, Irish Volunteers (PI 8) 15) Photograph of the Wesc Mayo Brigade Flying Column. I.R .A .. c. 1921 (P40) \6) Photograph of che Noreh Longford Flying Column, I. R.A., e roct Mountain. I May 1921 (1' 1-1) 17) Photostat ofa group of oiliccrs. Longford Brigade. I.R.A .. Ju l1 e '1921 (PI ) 18) Map indicating the day to day routes followed by the East Limeri ck Flying Column and where the unit was billeted (WS 883) 19) PhotOgraph of a group of prisoners, Stafrord Jail. En gland. 1916.(P-I I) 20) Ph ocograph of a group of l.R.A. pnsoncrs, on board a British Admiralty Tender, Portland Harbour. prior CO thei r transfer to Portland Prison. c. 192 1 (P29) Vll An Introduction to The Bureau of Military History 1913 - 1921 21) Great Western railway ticket from Frongoch to Kilrush, Co. Clare, 22 July 1916 (CD 26 1/ 1/ 1) 22) Photograph of George Gavan Duffy and Sean T. O·Ccallaigh. envoys of the Government of tht! Irish Repub\k and Mrs Gavan Duffy in Paris, May 1919. (CD 93/6/6) 23) Photograph of Irish republican internees, Darlinghurst Gaol, Sydney, c.1918-1919. (CD 25912) 24) Selection of photographs included in scrapbook of press cuttings and photographs. compiled by I.R.A. Intelligence, 1919-1921. (CD 227/35) 25) Piece of blotting paper used by Eamon Bray to pass on information that some Volunteers had escaped from Usk Prison, January 1919 (WS 539, P 5) 26) Photograph of Head Constable Igoe, mcluded in scrapbook of press cuttings and photographs, compiled by LR.A. Intelligence. 1919-1921 (CD 227/35) 27) Photograph of Frank Thornton, taken in Intelligence Headquarters, Antient Concert Rooms, Dublin. 11 July 1921 (CD 188/ 1/2) 28) Poster advertising an Irish Concert in aid of dle Clondalkin branch of the Gaelic League (CD 58/10) 29) Programme for the Harlem Gaelic Society's annual cntcrtaimnent, 11 April 1920 (CD 323/9/1) 30) Photograph of a raid by British military forces on Sinn Fein Headquarters, Harcourt St., Dublin, 12 September 1919 (P l1 ) 3 I} Photograph of Auxiliary raid on Liberty Hall. Dublin, on 22 November 1920 (P 37) 32) Cumann na mBan First Aid Certificate issued to Brighid Ni Dhiscin (COl 182) 33) Photograph of _Eilis Ni Riain, in Cumann na mBan uniform, before the Easter Rising 1916 (CD 202/1) 34) Cumann na mBan brooch 35) Ballinamuck RIC Barracks, County Longford (P 2) 36) 'An IRA Column' 1921 , by Sean Keating. 37) Unfinished painting by Sean Keating. VII] An Introduction to The Bureau of Military History 1913 - 1921 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ADC Aide-dc-Camp ASEW Acti