When De Valera was returned in the Clare election of June 1917 with an overwhelming majority it was a clear indication of the mood of the people and their endorsement of the aims of the 1916 men. At the October Sinn Féin Ard Fheis 1,200 Cumann throughout the country unanimously adopted a constitution, the preamble to which declared:
Sinn Féin aims at securing the international recognition of Ireland as an Independent Irish Republic. Having achieved that status the Irish people may by referendum freely choose their own form of government.
At this Ard Fheis, Éamon de Valera was elected president and at the volunteer convention on 27 October, he was also elected president of that body. By being president of the two principal organisations it seemed as if the nation had found a leader; the way was open for the great national movement.
British proclamations of 1 August 1917 prohibited the wearing of military uniform or the carrying of hurleys. On 15 August that same year volunteers were arrested on a large scale throughout the country. This was followed by a hunger-strike. Among the hunger-strikers was Thomas Ashe, who was forcibly fed and died on 25 September 1917. This created disquiet among the volunteers, so the volunteer Executive decided to challenge the British prohibition and ordered parades in uniform to be held throughout the country on Sunday 21 October.
On that day Liam Lynch in volunteer uniform was second in command of the sixty-seven men of Fermoy company who marched out to meet the RIC. Happy with the challenge, Liam wrote to his brother of the two hours drilling: ‘We are to keep drilling until the last man is gone. We mean to break the law of illegal drilling.’ He also warned his brother who was in Thurles College that he was to write on ‘friendly matters’ only as his letters were being read in the post office. He thought that he might be arrested – judging by a letter to his brother on 1 November, he appears to have been disappointed that he was not arrested. His brother however, advised ‘that though it was honourable and good to go to gaol it would be better for the lads to stay out, work harder and give England something livelier than gaol work.’ From then on he was not anxious for imprisonment but he did warn his brother, ‘I am only doing my duty to God and my country.’
Liam O’Denn, the company captain was arrested and Liam was given his place in command of the company. Each Sunday, parades continued and generally when a company captain was arrested another was ready to take his place. Liam Lynch’s philosophy is well expressed in one of his letters:
We have declared for an Irish Republic and will not live under any other law.1
As far as he was concerned Britain could not defeat them except by interning the whole volunteer force. He told his brother in a letter on 9 November: ‘Our parade was not prevented last Sunday but we had made arrangements to carry on elsewhere if such happened. We marched to Ballyhooley with about 100 volunteers where we met Glanworth, Glenville, Rathcormac and Ballyhooley volunteers – in all about 300, and I had the honour to be at their head.’2
One of his principal aims now was to get military training. He even had the mistaken impression that prisoners in Cork jails were getting some form of military training. In a letter to his brother he wrote: ‘I would want to go there at least for a few weeks’ training.’3 He tried to lay his hands on any books that might help him to study military drilling and leadership. He even studied the guerrilla tactics of the Boars in the South African war. He was, however, aware of the surrounding problems in the heavily garrisoned town of Fermoy and he was also aware that, apart from the military parades which they held on Sundays, his group was practically unarmed; they were untrained, had no military assets except a sturdy manhood and a glowing faith in the justice of their cause.
In mid December, when Éamon de Valera came to speak at a public meeting in Fermoy, Liam, dressed in uniform, paraded at the head of the local company to welcome him.
The Fermoy battalion was the sixth of the brigade’s twenty battalions at that time.4 (Battalion commandant was Martin O’Keefe; vice commandant, Michael Fitzgerald; adjutant, Liam Lynch; quarter-master, George Power.) Being elected battalion adjutant gave Liam a wider scope for his activities. A diligent worker, by setting a standard in his own work, he showed what could be achieved. He made it his business to visit one company each week and to study their problems – he urged perfection and impressed on his comrades the importance of the acquisition of arms.
The threat of conscription to the British army hardened the temper of the people against British rule; it also meant that the volunteer movement gained more support from the population. Volunteering had become respectable. Because of the threat of conscription Liam left his place of employment in April 1918. With Michael Fitzgerald, Larry Condon and George Power he devoted himself full time to preparing for active service. By the summer of 1918 he had the first mobilisation unit in active operation.
The British authorities now invented a mythical German plot to justify large-scale arrests of volunteers and Sinn Féin leaders. Apparently, the idea was to deprive the people of leadership, which would, in turn, weaken the national morale. Arrests were made on 17 and 18 May 1918 when seventy-three people were deported to England. As Liam had already left his place of employment he escaped arrest.
He now decided that more arms should be secured for his battalion. Upon receipt of information that, on a certain date, a train, carrying arms, would travel from Mallow to Fermoy, Liam, with the aid of Liam Tobin, mobilised about fifty men between Ballyhooley and Castletownroche to ambush the train. Nothing was left to chance. Wires were cut, cars were mobilised to remove the expected arms captured and the arrangements for their safe disposal was organised. The train was held up and searched, but contained no arms. Nevertheless, as far as Liam was concerned, the effort gave the battalion valuable experience.
Following this episode, Tomás MacCurtain, lord mayor of Cork, visited the battalion and gave Liam instructions which were to be implemented in the event of any enforcement of conscription. Any local problems or any difficulties which might arise in each area were to be dealt with by the brigade and battalion officers. In the Cork brigade it was visualised that the entire force might be called out on active duty, consequently detailed instruction on discipline and on problems of billeting and feeding were issued. Liam outlined a list of activities: cyclist-dispatch riders to man a communication system were established and tested.
An editorial in An tÓglach, September 1918 read, ‘The unanimous decision of the Executive of the Irish volunteers is to resist conscription to the death with all the military force and warlike resources at our command.’5How could a group of men resist force without ammunition and without trained leaders? Headquarters were unable to help. In the absence of arms and ammunition the only immediate advice Liam could give the men was to use pitch forks or whatever was available in the face of aggression; other means could afterwards be pursued.
Liam realised what the task of feeding, clothing and finding shelter for a volunteer force would involve. He also realised that such a force could become an unruly mob, therefore it was important that morale be sustained and that communications be kept at a high level. Now, more that ever, he realised that the acquisition of arms was of paramount importance. Given arms other difficulties could be overcome.
The war in Europe ended on 11 November 1918 and with it the threat of conscription. A young volunteer army had stood together and had won a significant and bloodless victory. Since February, the carrying of arms had been prohibited, and from June onwards a series of proclamations was designed by the authorities to destroy national organisations. Arrests were numerous, creating problems for many units of the volunteers. There was continuous resistance by hunger-strikers in the jails. In addition GHQ issued a policy of resistance on 20 August 1918 ordering the volunteers, when brought to trial, to refuse to recognise the jurisdiction of the court.
Cork County had, by mid 1918, re-organised under the direction of the vigorous Tomás MacCurtain, the brigade commandant.6All GHQ could do was issue general directions and allow each area under their commanders to shape their army. Many who had joined because of the threat of conscription began to drop out and because there were more men available and willing to fight than there were weapons to arm them, morale began to drop. However, Liam continued to drill the men every Sunday and on certain weekdays. He kept impressing on the Fermoy battalion that their objective was ‘a military victory’ and that if the volunteer army did not stick together now and fight, all hope of attaining a Republic would be lost to their generation.
A turning point in Irish history came about through the results of a general election in December 1918. The result, which became available on 28 December showed that, of 105 seats in the whole country, Republicans had captured 73. This was seen as an endorsement of the 1916 men’s action and it strengthened the morale of the volunteers. The Irish people, it seemed, had declared themselves for an Irish Republic, consequently the way was opened to them for further action if the need arose. Liam Lynch, like many other officers, realised that the organisation could not be kept going indefinitely without activity and neither could they be properly trained without the use of arms.
Home Rule, which looked imminent before the Great War, had been suspended for its duration, but it was not honoured when the war ended.
At this stage GHQ decided that Cork would be divided into three brigade areas.7On 6 January 1919 a meeting of officers from the battalion forming the Cork No. 2 brigade was held in Batt Walshe’s house in Glashbee, Mallow. The brigade was formed into seven battalions with Liam unanimously elected as brigade commandant.8Once the conscription crisis ended he went back to his normal employment at Barry’s in Fermoy. Following the meeting and Liam’s election, his brother Tom visited him and found him in an extremely happy mood, but Tom, fearful of what future events might bring, anxiously asked if he realised the full extent of his responsibilities. Liam confidently replied, ‘I’ll be able for it. There is great scope.’ His life and his life’s ambition, as far as he was concerned, was only beginning.9
1 Letter to Tom, 1/11/1917 (Lynch private family papers).
2 Letter to Tom, 9/11/1917 (Lynch private family papers).
3 Ibid.
4 Fermoy Battalion – Fermoy, Kilworth, Araglin, Rathcormac, Watergrasshill, GlenviIle, Ballynoe, Bartlemy, and Castlelyons.
5 Vol. 1., No. 2., September 1918.
6 Twenty Battalions with an average of eight companies each, and a total strength of about 8,000 men made up the brigade.
7 Cork No. 1 was in the centre extending from Youghal to the Kerry border beyond Ballyvourney and including the city; Cork No. 3 was in the west of the county, and Cork No. 2 in the north of the county.
8 The brigade area extended from the Cork/Waterford border near Tallow, on the east, to the Kerry border at Rathmore in the west and from Milford in the north almost to Donoghmore in the south. Once the brigade was formed George Power, adjutant began to build up an intelligence service.
9 Lynch private family papers.