20 Jan. Count Plunkett formally expelled from the Royal Dublin Society. Joseph having being executed his other sons George and John were doing penal servitude. Vacancy in North Roscommon and the Count declared his intention to run but not necessarily on a Sinn Fein abstention ticket.
Feb. Plunkett wins election by 3,000 votes to 1,200. Defeated IPP man T.P. O' Connor correctly called it "Ireland's answer to the executions"
19 Feb. Collins becomes secretary to the National Aid Fund/Association funded by public subscription and Clan na Gael money from America under the direction of Kathleen Clarke. Salary £2 10 sh. a week.Collins also starts making trips to London (Sam Maguire), Liverpool (Neil Kerr -Frongoch), and Manchester (Patrick O' Donoghue) to set up arms supply networks.
19 April Mansion House meeting convened by Count Plunkett proposing a new organisation be set up scrapping all previous outfits. This was shouted down and a split only avoided when it was agreed that pre-existing radical groupings should maintain their identity (SF, Labour, Volunteers) and work together as a loose coalition.
9 May. Longford by-election. Lewes prisoner Joseph McGuinness put forward at the behest of Collins. De Valera recommends not contesting the election on the grounds of doctrinaire separatism as well as fears of the movement losing face if McGuinness weren't elected. During the campaign Collins stays in the Greville Arms ran by the four Kiernan sisters. Patrick McKenna, the IPP candidate was defeated but only narrowly. Alasdair McCaba, later chief of the Irish Educational Building Society said he stuck a .45 into the face of the returning officer and asked him 'to think again'. "Put him in to get him out" had the been the campaign slogan and now Lloyd George was faced with a common criminal being elected in lieu of the 'responsible' IPP candidate.
10 June Protest meeting in Beresford Place on behalf of Lewes prisoners proscribed but convened anyway. First casualty among Crown forces since the Rising when a police inspector is killed with a blow by a hurley. Cathal Brugha and Count Plunkett arrested.
15 June Bonar Law announces the unconditional release of all Irish prisoners still held in English jails in order to create a conciliatory atmosphere prior to the proposed National Convention.
10 July De Valera wins East Clare by-election from IPP. Insists that Eoin MacNeill share a platform to placate the moderates.
25 July National Convention set up by Lloyd George supposedly representative of all shades of Irish opinion.
Aug Thomas Ashe (12months), Austin Stack (18months), and Fionan Lynch (2yrs) arrested under the Defence of the Realm Act. Along with 40 other DORA victims at Mountjoy the trio mutually agreed to go on hunger strike.
20 Sept. DORA hunger strike begins in Mountjoy. Austin Stack elected leader.
25 Sept Thomas Ashe dies from force feeding. Some 30,000 visited the body as it lay in state at the Mater. Dick McKee's Dublin Brigade marshalling the crowd through the city. Three volleys fired at the graveside as Collins in Volunteer uniform; " Nothing additional remains to be said. That volley which we have just heard is the only speech which it is proper to make above the grave of a dead Fenian." Thousands of copies of "The Last Poem of Thomas Ashe" are circulated. Written in Lewes prison, "Let me carry your cross for Ireland, Lord! For Ireland weak with tears, For the aged man of the clouded brow, And the child of tender years. For the empty homes of her golden plains, For the hopes of her future too, Let me carry your cross for Ireland Lord, For the cause of Roisin Dhu".
18 Oct De Valera and Griffith meet in a Grafton café a week before the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis, the former urging the latter to step down as president to make way for himself as he had the support of both the Volunteers and the IRB.
25 Oct Mansion House SF AF; Dev elected President; Griffith VP - SF aims at establishing international recognition for Ireland as an independent Republic. SF would contest the next general election and that any Sinn Feiners elected would form themselves into a new national assembly. New Executive of SF elected with IRB backed members polling badly and Collins himself only getting in on the last count.
27 Oct Secret convention of Volunteers held at the GAA ground of Jones Park, Drumcondra. IRB dominated these proceedings securing Dev's election as President, Collin's as Director of Organisation, and two IRB Supreme Council men Diarmaid Lynch and Sean McGarry in key posts of Director of Communication and General Secretary respectively. Dublin Executive of the Volunteers also taken over by the IRB except the post of Chief of Staff, won by Cathal Brugha, who, along with Dev began at this point to loathe the IRB.
1 Nov Inquest into death of Thomas Ashe releases its verdict after 3 weeks of deliberation. Censored the Castle, the prison authority and spoke of 'inhuman punishment'. Mountjoy prisoners first awarded special category status, then transferred to Dundalk.
17 Nov After another hunger strike Dundalk prisoners released.
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Friday, June 20, 2014
Ireland and Empire before the Great War
1867 Reform Act. (Second Reform Act). Before the Act only one million of the seven million adult males in England and Wales could vote. The Act immediately doubled that number. PM Palmerston who had long opposed franchise reform died in 1865. Reformers were also emboldened by the success of the Union in the American Civil War; the English aristocracy had largely supported the South. Lord Russell attempted a bill in 1866 but the Liberals split through the incitement of Disraeli. Adullamites (Conservative Liberals) were opposed along with the Tories whereas Liberals were supported by radicals and reformers (Walter Bagehot, John Stuart Mill, Thomas Carlyle, Anthony Trollope). Conservative ministry formed under Lord Derby while the Reform League advocating universal suffrage held huge demonstrations (100,000 strong) in Manchester, Glasgow. Finally, in May 1867 a Hyde Park demonstration forced the hand of government; Spencer Walpole resigns as Home Secretary. Gladstone attacks the Tory bill and forces amendments. Disraeli predicts that the newly enfranchised electorate being grateful would re-elect the Tories but they lost the 1868 General Election.
!872 Ballot Act. Greatly reduces the cost of campaigning; introduces secret ballot for the first time, one of the six points of the Chartists.
1884 Reform Act. (Third Reform Act). All men holding land or paying a rental worth £10 were now entitled to vote. In England and Wales 2 in 3 had the vote, in Scotland 3 in 5, in Ireland only 1 in 2. All women and 40% of adult males were still without the vote.
1918 Reform Act (Fourth Reform Act). Abolished all disqualifications for men over 21 and gave the vote to all women over 30 with minimal property qualification. The size of the electorate now tripled with women representing 43% of the electorate.
Egypt
1879 - 1882 Urabi Revolt; a nationalist uprising which sought to depose the British and French backed Khedive, Tewfik Pasha. Egyptian peasantry, the fellahin were heavily taxed and middle class Egyptians were pushed out of top jobs by Europeans who had separate legal system established to try themselves.
1882 Urabi and his household by Lady Gregory supports the reformers. Originally published as letter to the Times.
British intervention in the invasion of 1882 to protect the Suez, prevent 'anarchy' and to look after the interests of British investors. See Juan Cole, Colonialism and Revolution in Egypt: the Social and Cultural Origins of the Urabi Revolt. (1993). Under Nasser the revolt would be seen as a 'glorious struggle' against foreign occupation. Urabi was captured and exiled to the British colony of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Yaqub Sanu (1839-1912), Egyptian nationalist exiled to France continued to publish satirical journalism deploring foreign occupation.
Ghana
1823-1831 First Anglo-Ashanti War
1863-1864 Second Anglo-Ashanti War
1873-1874 Third Anglo-Ashanti War. In 1871 Britain purchased the Dutch Gold Coast from Holland including Elmina which was claimed by the Ashanti. Under Garnet Wolseley British won Battle of Amoaful (31st Jan) and Battle of Ordashu (4th Feb). The capital Kumasi briefly abandoned by the Ashanti and burned by the British. Correspondents were impressed by the palace and the 'rows of books in many languages'. 50,000 ounces of gold demanded from the Ashanti king in the subsequent treaty.
1895-1896 Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War. Ashanti wished to keep German and British forces out of their territory (and its gold). War started on pretext of non-failure to honour the exploitative terms of the earlier treaty. Leadership exiled to the Seychelles.
1900 Fifth Anglo-Ashanti War (War of the Golden Stool) led by Queen Yaa Asantewaa. 1902 Ashanteland made a protectorate of the British Crown.
Sudan
1820 Muhammed Ali Pasha nominal vassal of Ottoman Turks conquered northern Sudan with the south annexed under his grandson Ismail Pasha. In 1869 the opening of the Suez canal attracted attention of the Great Powers and when Ismail Pasha ran up large debts in the 70's mainly on account of the fall in the price of cotton after the American Civil war he was displaced from the throne in 1879 by his son Tewfik Pasha at the instigation of Britain and France much to the consternation of Egyptian nationalists. Muhammed ibn Abdalla, the Mahdi or 'Guided One' took advantage of the Anglo-Egyptian war and with some support from Egyptian nationalists attempted to impose an Islamic government leading to the death of General Gordon at Khartoum in 1885. Succeeded by his son, Abdallahi ibn Muhammed. From 1885-1898 the population of Sudan collapsed from 8 million to 3 million due to famine, disease, war and persecution. After the battles of Abdara and Omdurman led by Kitchener the British forced Abbas II (Tewfik's son and successor) to accept complete British control in the Sudan. Officially Britain's role was only an advisory one in Egypt but behind the scenes they pulled all the strings.
!872 Ballot Act. Greatly reduces the cost of campaigning; introduces secret ballot for the first time, one of the six points of the Chartists.
1884 Reform Act. (Third Reform Act). All men holding land or paying a rental worth £10 were now entitled to vote. In England and Wales 2 in 3 had the vote, in Scotland 3 in 5, in Ireland only 1 in 2. All women and 40% of adult males were still without the vote.
1918 Reform Act (Fourth Reform Act). Abolished all disqualifications for men over 21 and gave the vote to all women over 30 with minimal property qualification. The size of the electorate now tripled with women representing 43% of the electorate.
Egypt
1879 - 1882 Urabi Revolt; a nationalist uprising which sought to depose the British and French backed Khedive, Tewfik Pasha. Egyptian peasantry, the fellahin were heavily taxed and middle class Egyptians were pushed out of top jobs by Europeans who had separate legal system established to try themselves.
1882 Urabi and his household by Lady Gregory supports the reformers. Originally published as letter to the Times.
British intervention in the invasion of 1882 to protect the Suez, prevent 'anarchy' and to look after the interests of British investors. See Juan Cole, Colonialism and Revolution in Egypt: the Social and Cultural Origins of the Urabi Revolt. (1993). Under Nasser the revolt would be seen as a 'glorious struggle' against foreign occupation. Urabi was captured and exiled to the British colony of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Yaqub Sanu (1839-1912), Egyptian nationalist exiled to France continued to publish satirical journalism deploring foreign occupation.
Ghana
1823-1831 First Anglo-Ashanti War
1863-1864 Second Anglo-Ashanti War
1873-1874 Third Anglo-Ashanti War. In 1871 Britain purchased the Dutch Gold Coast from Holland including Elmina which was claimed by the Ashanti. Under Garnet Wolseley British won Battle of Amoaful (31st Jan) and Battle of Ordashu (4th Feb). The capital Kumasi briefly abandoned by the Ashanti and burned by the British. Correspondents were impressed by the palace and the 'rows of books in many languages'. 50,000 ounces of gold demanded from the Ashanti king in the subsequent treaty.
1895-1896 Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War. Ashanti wished to keep German and British forces out of their territory (and its gold). War started on pretext of non-failure to honour the exploitative terms of the earlier treaty. Leadership exiled to the Seychelles.
1900 Fifth Anglo-Ashanti War (War of the Golden Stool) led by Queen Yaa Asantewaa. 1902 Ashanteland made a protectorate of the British Crown.
Sudan
1820 Muhammed Ali Pasha nominal vassal of Ottoman Turks conquered northern Sudan with the south annexed under his grandson Ismail Pasha. In 1869 the opening of the Suez canal attracted attention of the Great Powers and when Ismail Pasha ran up large debts in the 70's mainly on account of the fall in the price of cotton after the American Civil war he was displaced from the throne in 1879 by his son Tewfik Pasha at the instigation of Britain and France much to the consternation of Egyptian nationalists. Muhammed ibn Abdalla, the Mahdi or 'Guided One' took advantage of the Anglo-Egyptian war and with some support from Egyptian nationalists attempted to impose an Islamic government leading to the death of General Gordon at Khartoum in 1885. Succeeded by his son, Abdallahi ibn Muhammed. From 1885-1898 the population of Sudan collapsed from 8 million to 3 million due to famine, disease, war and persecution. After the battles of Abdara and Omdurman led by Kitchener the British forced Abbas II (Tewfik's son and successor) to accept complete British control in the Sudan. Officially Britain's role was only an advisory one in Egypt but behind the scenes they pulled all the strings.
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