Irish Volunteer, Dublin Fusilier, Patriot – Lieutenant Tom Kettle

By Brendan O’Shea

Lieutenant Tom Kettle, 9th Battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, was killed in action on 9 September 1916, near the village of Ginchy in Northern France at about five o’clock in the afternoon of the 71st day of the Battle of the Somme. Initially buried on the battlefield by members of the Welsh Guards, the location of his grave was subsequently lost and his remains were never found thereafter. Today his name is inscribed on the Thiepval Memorial near the town of Albert together with those of 72,000 others who lost their lives on the Somme, and equally have no known grave. 100 years later, a constant stream of people from all over the world visit Thiepval every day to pay their respects to the fallen. Some remember Tom Kettle, but most never heard of him, notwithstanding the inclusion of his name on a stone tablet in the Island of Ireland Peace Park at Messines, Belgium when it was opened in 1998. And unfortunately, this also remains true in 21st century Ireland.

The only pubic memorial in Ireland to Tom Kettle can be found in Dublin’s St. Stephen’s Green directly across from the Shelbourne Hotel. Never unveiled properly, and following several objections by the Commissioner of Public Works to the inscription, in 1927 a bust of Kettle was eventually placed where it stands today without any reference to the facts that he was an Irish Volunteer, an officer in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers or that he died during the Battle of the Somme. It is hardly any wonder then that nobody gives this memorial a second glance as the citizens of Dublin go about their daily business but on the 100th anniversary of his death it is also nothing short of a national disgrace that nobody stops, nobody looks and nobody cares. Of course there are reasons for this not least amongst which is the manner in which history has been taught to successive generations prioritising one historical narrative over another and thereby effectively reducing the contribution of Kettle and others like him to the status of an historical footnote. This is deplorable and ignores the fact that Tom Kettle was a truly great Irishman of whom we should all be immensely proud.

Thomas Michael Kettle was born in Artane, Dublin on 9 February 1880. The seventh of twelve children, in his formative years he was influenced significantly by the Home Rule politics of his father Andrew who was a leading Catholic Nationalist politician, and together with Michael Davitt a founding member of the Irish Land League.

Educated initially by the Christian Brothers at O’Connell School, Richmond Street, Dublin he proved to be an excellent student. In 1894 he moved on to Clongowes Wood College in Co. Kildare where it was immediately obvious that the young Kettle possessed more than just an average intellect. Three years later he enrolled at University College Dublin, where in 1898, he was elected auditor of the Literary and Historical Society and became vocal on the legitimacy of the Boer War in South Africa, before obtaining a Bachelor in Arts Degree in 1902. Thereafter he was admitted to the Irish Bar and qualified as a Barrister in 1905.

Throughout this period, he also indulged in political journalism and was a determined supporter of John Redmond and the Irish Parliamentary Party. He became president of the Young Ireland Branch of the United Irish League in 1904. In 1906, a vacancy arose in East Tyrone after the death of the sitting MP, Patrick Doogan. Not surprising Tom Kettle was offered and accepted the chance to stand for election to Parliament. In the by-election which followed he won the seat by 18 votes, thus becoming the youngest member of the Party and was immediately viewed by many colleagues as a future leader. In this regard his vision of where Ireland should stand in the world was critical and a fundamental component of his entire political philosophy. Together with Willie Redmond he passionately believed that an emerging independent Ireland must exist within a wider political context. For Redmond that context was colonial in a shared political jurisdiction with Canada, Australia and New Zealand. For Kettle it was Europe. In his article ‘Ireland’ he wrote: ‘My only programme for Ireland consists in equal parts of Home Rule and the Ten Commandments. My only counsel to Ireland is, that to become deeply Irish, she must become European’. Tom Kettle could see the big picture and that is precisely what set him apart from the majority of his peers.

By 1908, and still only twenty-eight years of age, he had become the new Professor of National Economics at University College Dublin, while simultaneously continuing his work as an MP. However, the burden became too great given the fragile nature of his health and prior to the general election of December 1910 he stood down and did not contest the seat. Nonetheless he retained his political connections and remained an active supporter of John Redmond welcoming the 3rd Home Rule Bill in 1912, and believing that Unionist fears could be overcome in due course.

‘So here, while the mad guns curse overhead, And tired men sigh, with mud for couch and floor, Know that we fools, now with the foolish dead, Died not for flag, nor King, nor Emperor, But for a dream, born in a herdsman’s shed, And for the secret Scripture of the poor’.
However other social and political factors were now also at play in Ireland and in 1913 Dublin became embroiled in a workers strike and subsequent lockout by management. Unlike many in the political establishment Kettle supported the locked out workers and wrote numerous articles describing the appalling poverty in which thousands of working class people were forced to live before intervening directly himself through the establishment of a peace committee in order to find a resolution.

1913 also saw the formation of the Irish Volunteers in Dublin’s Rotunda Rink on November 25th, and together with his brother Laurence, he immediately enrolled subscribing to the Volunteer Manifesto, which envisaged holding Ireland for the Empire and resisting the separatist intentions of the Ulster Volunteers formed the previous year.

Thereafter he was tasked by the Volunteer leadership with obtaining arms on the open market. In August 1914 he found himself in Belgium where he personally witnessed both the ferocity of the German invasion and the corresponding inability of the Belgian military to resist. Writing for the Daily News at this time he was unequivocal in his thoughts… ‘It is impossible not to be with Belgium in this struggle. It is impossible any longer to be passive. Germany has thrown down a well-considered challenge to all the deepest forces of our civilization. War is hell, but it is only a hell of suffering, not a hell of dishonour. And through it, over its flaming coals, Justice must walk, were it on bare feet’.

For Kettle the die was now cast and his continuing experiences in France and Belgium during September, particularly in relation to the plight of the civilian population, served only to confirm his view that this was a war of civilization against barbarians. He was also clear that Ireland had obligations to support Belgium in her hour of need… ‘In such a conflict to counsel Ireland to stand neutral in judgment, is as if one were to counsel a Christian to stand neutral in judgment between Nero and St. Peter. To counsel her to stand neutral in action would be to abandon all her old valour and decision, and to establish in their places the new cardinal virtues of comfort and cowardice. In such matters you cannot compromise. Neutrality is already a decision, a decision of adherence to the evil side’.

Not surprisingly then when Kettle returned to Ireland he had little difficulty subscribing to John Redmond’s belief that Ireland should play its part in the war effort notwithstanding that Home Rule had been suspended until hostilities ceased. True to his convictions he quickly applied for a commission but was turned down because of his fragile health. However, he persisted, and eventually obtained the rank of Lieutenant, albeit that he was confined exclusively to a recruiting role. Undeterred, he continued to apply for active service and with his health improving marginally, and a chronic need for replacement officers on the Western Front, in 1916 he received an appointment in the 9th Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers and deployed to France.

However, within a short time his health deteriorated again and at Easter he found himself at home in Dublin on sick leave. As his former colleagues in the Irish Volunteers launched their ill-conceived insurrection, Kettle watched in fury believing that his dream of a free Ireland in a free Europe had been terminally damaged. That said he was also distraught at the manner in which the leaders were subsequently dealt with and he could not be consoled when his colleague at UCD, Thomas MacDonagh, was executed. Nevertheless, when his time came to return to the front Kettle understood what his duty required of him and on 14 July, he set sail once again for France. He was 36 years old and had a mere 58 days left to live.

Readjusting to life in the trenches Kettle did not find life easy. ‘Physically I am having a heavy time,’ he wrote, ‘I am doing my best but I see better men than me dropping out day by day and wonder if I shall ever come home… the heat is bad as are the insects and rats, but the moral strain is positively terrible’. Nevertheless, he carried on bravely and his leadership was very effective in the series of successful attacks on Guillemont, which began on 3 September.
But the village of Ginchy still remained to be taken and writing to his brother the night before the main attack we get a very clear insight into his frame of mind. ‘I am calm and happy but desperately anxious to live. …the big guns are coughing and smacking their shells, which sound for all the world like overhead express trains at anything from 10 to 100 per minute on this sector; the men are grubbing and an odd one writing home. Somewhere the Choosers of the Slain are touching, as in our Norse story they used to touch, with invisible wands those who are to die’.

Tom Kettle did not want to die. He simply wanted to do his duty, survive the war, and go home. His numerous writings which survived him make this abundantly clear and any suggestions to the contrary are completely without foundation. However, the following afternoon, at about 5 o’clock, having made his way thought the stench of the dead in the forward trenches and progressed to within touching distance of his objective, which was the destroyed village of Ginchy. The Choosers of the Slain chose Tom Kettle notwithstanding that he had tried to outwit them by wearing a somewhat primitive bulletproof vest. Kettle was gone and Ireland had lost one of her most loyal and faithful servants.

In the intervening years Tom Kettle has often been criticised for supporting the war and serving in the British Army. Some commentators have even dared to suggest that if he wished to make a personal sacrifice in 1916, he should more properly have done so in the General Post Office with his former Irish Volunteer colleagues now turned insurrectionists. In fact, Kettle was acutely aware that this criticism would be made but firmly believed that: ‘the faults of a period or a man should not prevail against the cause of liberty’.

Writing a sonnet to his daughter Betty (his gift from God) on 4 September, just before the attack on Guillemont, Tom Kettle railed at the madness of his predicament and spelt out in detail why he had put country before family….

So here, while the mad guns curse overhead, And tired men sigh, with mud for couch and floor, Know that we fools, now with the foolish dead, Died not for flag, nor King, nor Emperor, But for a dream, born in a herdsman’s shed, And for the secret Scripture of the poor’.

In recent times lesser poets and lesser people have seen fit to criticize this incredible poem without having made the slightest effort to understand the physical and psychological contexts within which it was written. This is Kettle’s epitaph crafted in a world of unimaginable horror with nothing save the stench of death for company and the cold sweat of fear soaking into every fibre of his body. Kettle’s dream was of a free, united and independent Ireland in a free Europe – of that there is no doubt whatsoever – and the secret scripture of the poor is what is always is – liberty, equality, and fraternity – or in modern parlance, Human Rights.

On 1 July 2016, I went to Thiepval to remember all Irishmen who died there 100 years ago. I took with me the first edition (1917) of The Ways of War by Lieutenant Tom Kettle, 9th Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers which once upon a time was owned and treasured by Private Maurice Donovan, 1st Battalion The Durham Light Infantry. The very last words on the very last page have turned out to be quite prophetic:

‘History will write of us that we began nobly, but that our purpose corrupted. The Great War for freedom will not, indeed, have been waged in vain; that is already decided: but it will have but half kept its promises. Blood and iron will have been once more established as the veritable masters of men, and nothing will open before the world save a vista of new wars’.

Lieutenant Tom Kettle, Irish Volunteer and Dublin Fusilier, died courageously leading his men on 9 September 1916. He was, however, so much more than just another soldier who simply did his duty. He was desperately anxious to live and undoubtedly would have played a leading role in the development and evolution of our nation had he been spared. Alas, it was not to be – such are the Ways of War – and our Nation has long been the poorer as a consequence.

Bust of Thomas Kettle in St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin. (Photograph by Brendan O’Shea)

Brendan O’Shea is a retired member of the Irish Defence Forces and holds a PhD in History. He is the author of numerous books. In 2010, along with Gerry White, he edited, A Great Sacrifice – Cork Servicemen who died in the Great War.

Sources for this article include: Tom Burke, In Memory of Tom Kettle Journal of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association Vol. 9 Sept 2002; Tom & Mary Kettle, The Ways of War, Talbot Press, 1917; Desmond and Jean Bowen, Heroic Option, Pen& Sword, 2005; Gerry White & Brendan O’Shea, Baptised in Blood, Mercier Press, 2005.

March 18, 2021March 18, 2021

County Donegal 1914 – 1918 Part 1 – The Homefront and Rebellion

By Donegal County Museum

County Donegal in the second decade of the 20th century was a very different place to what it is today. The 1911 Census put the population of county at 168,537 people, with 50% living in houses of just two rooms. Through the work of local authorities and the Congested Districts Board however, the standard of living was rising. Among the improvements were the beginning of social housing, the gradual development of clean water supplies and sewerage systems, the building of roads and railways, the development of cottage industries, and efforts to spread the control of disease and improve access to education.

The introduction of the Old Age Pension in 1908 and National Unemployment Insurance were also of benefit to many of the poorer people in society. By 1916, World War I had raged for almost 18 months and many normal state services had slowed or had stopped because financial and human resources were being directed towards the war effort. Politically only Home Rule candidates had been elected as Members of Parliament in Co Donegal since 1885. In the 1911 local elections, 26 of the 32 seats were won by Home Rule candidates. Unionists across Ireland, particularly in much of Ulster resisted the Third Home Rule Bill. This opposition led to the formation of the Ulster Volunteers which in turn resulted in the formation of the nationalist Irish Volunteers in 1913. Two fishermen, Patrick McGinley and Charles Duggan from Gola Island, Co. Donegal, were involved in smuggling arms and ammunition for the Irish Volunteers into Howth, on the Asgard, in July 1914.

Curing fish at Downings, c.1900s. (Courtesy National Library of Ireland)

The Home Rule Bill passed its third reading in May 1914, but the outbreak of war in August resulted in its postponement. With nationalist opinion divided over the war, the Volunteer movement split. The majority opted to follow John Redmond’s National Volunteers and support the war in Europe, while the remainder retained the name Irish Volunteers and were committed to securing independence for Ireland.

Donegal was far from unknown to the Irish Volunteer leaders of 1916. Patrick Pearse visited Co. Donegal a number of times between 1906 and 1914, to promote the spread of the Irish language, on behalf of the Gaelic League. The Gaelic League employed him to promote and encourage the spread of Irish as a medium of instruction by teachers. It was for this purpose he came to visit Coláiste Uladh in Gortahork. He first visited in SeptemberHe was met at Creeslough railway station and went on to Marble Hill, home of Hugh Law MP. He later gave a lecture at Coláiste Uladh. On his second visit on 3 July 1907, he attended the re-opening of the college and toured the Donegal Gaeltacht.

In 1914, a number of meetings were held to increase recruitment to the Irish Volunteers. On Sunday, 1 February 1914, a meeting was held in the Parochial Hall, Dungloe. The principal speakers were Patrick Pearse and James Boyle, a former MP and solicitor from Stranorlar. In Pearse’s speech he stated that: ‘A splendid opportunity was given to Irishmen now to realise themselves as men, and they could not call themselves men if they were not able, if need be, to fight in defence of their manhood, in defence of their homes, their women and children, in defence of their rights’.

Patrick and Willie Pearse at St. Enda’s School, 1914. (Courtesy of The Pearse Museum)

Pearse’s only legal case involved a Donegal man. Pearse was a Barrister-at- Law at the King’s Inns. He represented Niall MacGiolla Bhride from Creeslough, County Donegal in McBride v McGovern in 1906. The case was an appeal to the King’s Bench Division from a Magistrates’ Court in the Donegal Gaeltacht. A prosecution was brought against MacGiolla Bhride on the grounds that his horse and trap displayed his name and address in the Irish language and in the Gaelic font which did not comply with Section 12 of the Summary Jurisdiction (Ireland) Act, 1851. Pearse contended that as the Act applied to a bi-lingual State such as Ireland and as the alleged offence happened in a Gaeltacht area Irish should suffice. MacGiolla Bhride however was convicted and fined because it was held that:

‘An Englishman . . . if knocked down by an Irish cart in any part of the country, whether Connemara or elsewhere, is entitled to have the name and address of the offender in characters that he can read, if Irish letters are used he may be
powerless to identify’.

On their father’s death Patrick and Willie Pearse took over the family business of ecclesiastical and architectural sculptors. The firm made the pulpit and altar rails of the Cathedral of Saints Eunan and Columba in Letterkenny. The pulpit has within it carvings of the four Evangelists, Isaiah the prophet, and the Four Masters. Within the altar rails are carved symbols of the Passion of Christ. Two years before the Rising, in April 1914, Thomas MacDonagh visited Inishowen, on the invitation of the Donegal Irish Volunteers. He spoke at a large rally in Cruckaughrim, Carndonagh, where he appealed to young men to join the Volunteers. He praised the Volunteers as a national movement, made up of men ‘of all creeds and classes’. He declared that, ‘it was expedient for the Irish people to have a trained body of men to support and hold the Irish claim’.

Joseph Mary Plunkett attended Coláiste Uladh to learn Irish. There he met a girl called Columba O’Carroll, the daughter of a family friend. He wrote love poems for her, which he printed on what he called The Columba Press. Roger Casement also spent time in Donegal. He was committed to the revival of the Irish language and between 1904 and 1912 he spent much of his time in Ireland including visits to Donegal. In Fanad, he visited and corresponded with John Clinton O’Boyce, a school teacher in Portsalon. In a signed letter to O’Boyce, dated April 8th, 1905, from a London address, he wrote: ‘God bless you all in green Tirconaill – I hope and pray you will all fight and strive for the old tongue and never rest till you hear it coming back to hill and field and glen – fireside and Church too. It is the children we want to get it strong’. Casement also attended
Coláiste Uladh in Gortahork. He gave £100 for the building of the college hall.

Roger Casement on Tory Island, c.1906.
(Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland)

A prominent member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) in Donegal was Daniel Kelly, from Killygordon. For some years Kelly had worked on the railways in Scotland and while there, he and others had tried to organise a branch of Sinn Féin. After he returned to Donegal in 1912, he organised Irish Volunteer Companies in both Cloughaneely and Creeslough and spent some time trying to purchase arms and ammunition. By early 1915 the majority of those he had recruited had decided to stay with Redmond’s National Volunteers. The membership and morale of the Irish Volunteers was low. News of Eoin MacNeill’s order not to mobilise on Easter Sunday reached Donegal successfully. Nevertheless, a small group of about 30 Volunteers including Daniel Kelly met at Creeslough on Easter Sunday to await instructions. When there was still no word on Easter Monday, Kelly and his brother Joe decided to travel to Portadown to take a train to Dublin. However there were no trains running, and they returned home.

During the Rising itself men from Donegal were active on both sides throughout the country. One of the first people to die on Easter Monday was a County Donegal man, Charles McGee from Inishbofin Island, who was a Constable in the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC). He was based in Castlebellingham, County Louth. On Easter Monday a group of Louth Volunteers mobilised in Dundalk and set off towards Dublin. At Castlebellingham, they captured a number of policemen including Constable Magee, along with an army officer. In an incident, a Volunteer shot and wounded the officer and killed Constable McGee. He is buried in Gortahork graveyard in County Donegal.

Constable Charles McGee, Royal Irish Constabulary. (Donegal County Museum Collection)

Among those in the GPO in Dublin during Easter week was Joseph Sweeney, from Burtonport County Donegal. Sweeney was then an 18 year-old student in University College Dublin. He had been a pupil of Pearse’s at St. Enda’s School in Rathfarnham, and still lived there in 1916 acting as a courier and explosives maker. His account of his actions during Easter Week, later written in his application for a military pension, states that he was part of E Company, 4th Battalion Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers, and that his Officers Commanding were Pearse and Liam Clarke. His short account of events that week includes his statement that he ‘served during the entire week in the GPO and Moore Street, being engaged for the most part sniping . . .’ He was one of James Connolly’s stretcher bearers from the GPO following the surrender of the rebels. In 1929, Joseph Sweeney became Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces.

Two other students, with connections to Donegal were in the GPO during Easter Week. These were Conor and Eunan McGinley, sons of Cú Uladh (Peter Toner McGinley) and cousins of Dr. J.P. McGinley, of Letterkenny. In 1916, Conor McGinley was 19 years old and a former pupil of St. Enda’s. He was studying architecture. When Pearse surrendered, Sweeney and the McGinleys were among those arrested and jailed. Conor was held in Dartmoor and Lewes prisons before being released in April 1917. Eunan was the youngest of the St. Enda’s boys, aged 16. In Richmond Barracks, after the surrender, he refused to tell the military authorities his real age, which would have meant his immediate release, because he thought his St. Enda’s comrades might possibly be shot, and he intended to share their fate. He was held in Stafford prison before being released in July 1916.

Joseph Sweeney in later life. (Courtesy of
The Irish Capuchin Provincial Archives)

By the end of Easter Week 485 men, women and children had been killed as a direct result of the fighting. Of these casualties, 184 civilians, 107 British soldiers, 58 rebels and 13 members of the police forces were killed between 24-29 April. Among the dead was Private Con Duggan from Annagry County Donegal. Con was a soldier in 3rd Battalion Royal Irish Rifles, and was killed in Dublin on 29 April.

Men from Donegal who were active during the Rising outside Dublin included Donnacha MacNiallghuis originally from Malinbeg, Gleann Cholm Cille. In 1916, MacNiallghuis lived and worked in Cork and was an active member of the Irish Volunteers. He was among a large number of the Cork City Battalion Volunteers who assembled in Macroom on Easter Sunday in anticipation of Roger Casement’s arms landing in Co. Kerry. However, the Cork Volunteers’ attempt to mobilise ended abruptly following the failure of Casement’s plan, and they were forced to return home. County Donegal was very far away from the action in Dublin during Easter Week. So much so that Wednesday’s edition (26 April) of the Derry Journal could only report that there were ‘rumours of disorder’ in Dublin. By Friday, news was still not getting through and the paper complained that the lack of telegrams was leading to ‘alarmist and exaggerated reports’ of the disturbances in Dublin.

When news of the Dublin events did eventually reach Donegal the public reaction was negative. In May, Inishowen Rural District Council passed a resolution condemning the Rebellion and loss of life. Following the Rising the British Government was determined to adopt a tough policy against the insurgents. Over the following weeks sixteen leaders of the Rising were executed, including all seven signatories of the Proclamation. In August, Roger Casement was hanged in London. A further 97 people had their death sentences reduced to imprisonment, including Éamon de Valera and Countess Markievicz. In total over 3,500 people were arrested; almost 1,900 of these were sent to internment camps and prisons in England and Wales.

A number of Donegal Volunteers were arrested as Easter Week ended. Daniel Kelly’s witness statement describes the events at his home on the Saturday after Easter Monday, when the RIC arrived to arrest him. As the police searched the house, Kelly’s wife hid a rifle in her nightdress and Kelly watched as the police searched a chest which contained not just baby clothes but 500 rounds of revolver ammunition. He also describes his lengthy journey with other prisoners, via Derry, to Wakefield and Frongoch prisons. Kelly was released from Frongoch prison camp in Wales before Christmas 1916. Joseph Sweeney and Eunan McGinley were sent to Stafford Gaol and then to Frongoch prison camp. Sweeney was released in July 1916 and returned to Donegal to reorganise the Volunteers in the county. Conor McGinley was sent to Lewes and Dartmoor prisons (along with Éamon de Valera) and was released in April 1917. The mass arrests, executions and martial law which followed the Rising, soon turned public opinion across Ireland.

In Donegal Town on 10 June, the Donegal Rural District Council protested against the continuance of martial law, ‘more particularly in this county where not a rebellious symptom was demonstrated’. Popular support for the rebels and their cause began to gather momentum. During their time in prison Donegal men had the opportunity to meet others, discuss their political ideals, educate themselves in the art of war and begin to plan the reorganisation of the IRB and the Volunteers. As men were gradually released from prison in late 1916, they were openly welcomed home. Joseph Sweeney later wrote in 1970 that:

‘I was greatly surprised and encouraged at the warmth of the reception given me on my return home following imprisonment in England and Wales’.

In September 1916 the RIC County Inspector wrote of his concerns about the growing number of young Donegal men who, unable to travel to Scotland and England to find work, were joining nationalist organisations: ‘These men and their families have become sullen and discontented… there is little doubt but that they will come together, discuss their grievances, form some societies, secret or otherwise. Extremists will hear of their discontent and will probably endeavour to utilise it for their own ends’. Sweeney, Kelly and others began reorganisation of the Volunteers in earnest in 1917. Greater numbers of young men than ever before now joined the Irish Volunteers and the struggle for Irish independence began in earnest.

Harvest time in Malin Head, c.1900s.
(Courtesy National Library of Ireland)

Donegal County Museum

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