The 1916 Easter Rising: Edward Daly Executed, Dublin Ireland

The story of Edward Daly who was executed for his part in the 1916 Easter Rising. Edward Daly was shot by firing squad in the Yard at Kilmainhamn Jail.

His body was thrown into a mass grave with other executed leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising. He is remembered in Irish history at Arbour Hill Memorial Park in Dublin.

The Easter Rising began at noon on Easter Monday 24 April 1916.

There were three Irish organisations that came together to fight in the Rising in Dublin that week. They were the men of The Irish Volunteers which had schoolteacher and barrister Patrick Pearse as the leader.

The men and women of The Irish Citizen Army which had Trades unionist James Connolly as the leader and the women of the Cumann na mBan, the female wing of The Irish Volunteers.

The General Post Office on Sackville Street, now O’Connell Street became the Headquarters during the 1916 Easter Rising. James Connolly and Patrick Pearse were stationed at the GPO.

Proclamation of the Irish Republic

Once the GPO was secured the British flag was removed and two Irish flags were hoisted onto the roof of the GPO. Patrick Pearse and James Connolly then stepped outside the building and declared that Ireland was now free from British Rule and was declared a Republic.

Patrick Pearse read out the Proclamation of the Irish Republic to the people. There were other outposts around Dublin that had been captured by the Irish soldiers at the same time as the GPO that day.

Edward Daly was Commander of the Four Courts Garrison.

This covered a wide area including North Circular Road, Church Street, North King Street and Linenhall Street.

The headquarters was set up in Father Mathew Hall, Church Street.

The barricades in N.C.R. came under heavy fire on Tuesday evening from artillery guns.

The British soldiers had taken over Bourke's undertakers in Queen Street.

The men could not defend the barricade in the NCR so they retreated to headquarters.

Edward Daly sent some to the Four Courts and some to other outposts.

A group of forty Irish soldiers captured the Bridewell police station.

The Linenhall Barracks was also captured. They did not have enough men to defend the barracks so James Connolly sent an order to have it burnt down, rather than the British troops capturing it.

Linenhall Barracks in Dublin

By Thursday the fire at the Linenhall Barracks was getting out of control. Edward Daly was afraid the surrounding houses would burn down.

Daly's men went to put out the fire; they were under constant danger of being killed by the machine guns on the roof of the Jervis Street hospital and the Broadstone.

Eventually they managed to get the fire under control.

Edward Daly was born in February 1891 in Limerick.

He was the only son, with nine older sisters. His father died six months before he was born.

One of his sisters was Kathleen Clarke, the wife of Tom Clarke who was also fighting in the 1916 Easter Rising.

Tom Clarke was in The GPO. Edward was living with them in a house in Dublin when the Easter Rising started.

There were Volunteers on the roofs of the houses in Smithfield and Beresford Street and barricades in Church Street, Beresford Street, Coleraine Street, Smithfield and North King Street.

They also had men on the Jameson Chimney in Smithfield. The British troops were pined down from all sides. Battles were going on in all the surrounding streets.

George's Hill School and Convent was in the middle of these fierce battles.

Bullets from both sides went astray and walls and windows were shattered. The Presentation nuns prayed that the convent and school would not be destroyed. The fires were also getting closer to the building.

Two pictures in the convent, one of Our Lady and another of St Teresa were badly damaged by the bullets.

The nuns made plans to evacuate the convent but they realised they would be safer inside rather than try to cross Green Street where the bullets were flying all around them.

North King Street Massacre during the 1916 Easter Rising.

The South Staffordshire Regiment was ordered to get through Capel Street and link up with the other Brigade in Queen Street. Commander Taylor of the British Army had stopped at the end of North King Street and Capel Street.

He took over the Bolton Street Technical School with his men deployed on the roof of the building. When an armoured car arrived it went slowly up North King Street, firing all the time. The British troops were sheltering behind it and were able to enter the houses.

Reilly's pub, now ' The Tap ', was on the corner of Church Street and North King Street. It took up a large area and was held by the Volunteers.

Thirty British troops went into the houses of North King Street and committed murder.

They went into number 170 North King Street and shot dead three men, then into number 172 North King Street and shot dead two men, in number 174 two more were shot dead, In 27 North King Street four men were shot dead.

After the Rising these murders were disclaimed as a rumour.

The authorities maintained that the civilians were killed in the crossfire, even though the women in the houses were witnesses to the atrocities.

It was only when the bodies of two more men in number 177 North King Street were found buried in the cellar, that General Maxwell, the Commander in Chief of Ireland, admitted that the British troops were responsible.

There was an inquiry but no one was ever punished for the crime. Thirteen men in total were shot dead in their houses. It became known as the North King Street Massacre.

By Friday night Edward Daly transferred his Headquarters to the Four Courts.

The Father Mathew Hall had also been used as a hospital with the Cumann na mBan and nurses from the Richmond hospital looking after the men and there were many wounded.

Edward Daly could not defend it much longer, so he decided it would be safer for them to withdraw. That way he hoped the injured would be left alone by the British Army.

Reilly's pub was nicknamed Reilly's Fort

The British troops attempted to drop grenades from the roofs of the houses they occupied onto the barricades. The men in Reilly's pub were able to stop them.

During the week this pub was nicknamed Reilly's Fort. By 9.00am on Saturday morning their ammunition was just out so the men decided they had better retreat the few yards to the Father Mathew Hall.

They ran across the road as the British guns fired on them, crawling the last few yards on their hands and knees, surprisingly no one was killed. But the British troops had only managed to advance two hundred yards from Bolton Street by Saturday morning.

Edward Daly received the order to surrender from Patrick Pearse and James Connolly.

Edward Daly was at the Church Street barricade when he received the order to surrender on Saturday evening.

He obeyed the order and surrender. They marched to the green across the road from the Rotunda with the rest of the Volunteers.

Meanwhile some of the men who were still out in smaller outposts would not believe the surrender order was genuine.

A Capuchin priest went out and persuaded them to stop fighting until the order could be confirmed. They gave up their arms once this was established.

Father Mathew Hall in Church Street Dublin and the wounded.

Those in the Father Mathew Hall who were not badly wounded were able to escape. The nurses from the Richmond were allowed to take the badly wounded to the hospital.

Some of the Cumann na mBan nurses were hidden in a back room of the church by Father Augustine, the Capuchin priest. At mass next morning they mingled with the crowds and went home.

Edward Daly obeys the order to surrender.

Edward Daly was marched to Richmond Barracks. He was tried by Court Martial and then transferred to Kilmainham Jail. He received the sentence of death.

He saw Father Aloysius before he died and asked to be remembered to the Sisters of Charity in Brunswick Street.

He was shot dead in Kilmainham Jail yard at dawn on 4^th May 1916. His body was dumped in the pit at Arbour Hill and covered in quick lime.

There are thirteen other Irish soldiers in this mass grave at Arbour Hill Memorial Park in Stoneybatter Dublin 7 Ireland.

The men and women who took part in the 1916 Easter Rising failed to free Ireland from British Rule that week.

What they did do, through their courage and sacrifice was ignite the desire for Irish freedom once again in the heart and soul of the Irish people.

This led to the Irish War of Independence in 1919 and finally freedom from British Rule in January 1923 when Ireland became a Free State.

Edward Daly was one of the men executed for his part in the 1916 Easter Rising.

He and the other thirteen men who lay buried at ArbourHillMemorial Park are remembered for their part in Irish history.

They are: James Connolly, Tom Clarke, Joseph Plunkett, Con Colbert, Sean Heuston, Sean McDermott, Thomas MacDonagh, Michael O'Hanrahan, John McBride, Eamonn Ceannt, Michael Mallin, William Pearse and Patrick Pearse.

© Copyright 2010. L.M.Reid