An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir March 2016 www.dfmagazine.ie 30 | S eán Forde was an active participant in the 1916 Rising, being one of those who raided the Magazine Fort in the Phoenix Park and afterwards fought in the North King Street/Church Street area. Interned in Stafford and Frongoch prisons, he was later active throughout the War of Independence before taking the anti-Treaty side in the Civil War, during which he was again interned until in 1924. He joined the Civil Service in 1933, serving with distinction until 1960. He died on 15th December 1971. John (Séan) Christopher Forde, the fourth of 15 children, of whom five died in child- hood, of Luke and Mary (née Nolan) Forde of Tuam, Co Galway, was born on 23rd December 1895. For periods of time, due to economic pressures, some of the children were cared for by others, usually close relatives. However, records show Seán and his younger sister, Angela, as residents of Tuam Workhouse on the night of the 1911 Census. Perhaps inspired by the Galway republican activist brothers Liam and Barney Mel- lows, he joined Fianna Éireann in 1912, after moving to Dubin, and enrolled in the Irish Volunteers in 1914. In July of that year he was one of those who helped bring the Asgard-smuggled guns into Dublin from Howth, and he attended the funeral of O'Donovan Rossa in Glasnevin in August 2015, at which Padraig Pearse delivered his famous eulogy. A member of 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade, of the Volunteers, Seán was one of a group chosen to attack the Magazine Fort in the Phoenix Park on Easter Monday, with the aim of blowing up the munitions store. He was cycling towards the city centre when his wheel got caught in a tram track and he was sent flying one way and his knapsack another. Little did the RIC officer who helped him up and returned the knapsack to him realise that its contents were the very explosives to be used in the attack! Although they succeeded in capturing what he was later to describe as "twelve fine Lee- Enfield rifles", Seán and his comrades failed in their primary objective of blowing up the munitions dump. The Volunteers made their way to North King Street, where they linked up with members of Comdt Daly's Four Courts garrison to set up an outpost aimed at stop- ping the British from sending reinforcements from the Broadstone railway depot to retake the Four Courts. Fierce fighting took place throughout the week, with many casualties on both sides, before the insurgents surrendered on Sunday morning. Marched to the Rotunda Hospital for identification and registration, Seán overheard a British officer tell future Taoiseach, Seán Lemass, to go home because he was too young. (Lemass had pretended to be older but was actually just 16.) Seán and most of the other insurgents where marched under military escort to the North Wall, from where they were shipped to various places of confinement in England. During the journey to the docks, they were insulted by local women whose men were serving at the Front. However, something that left a lasting impression on him was that the British officer in charge of the escort reprimanded the women for their abuse, on the grounds that the Volunteers "had fought bravely". Forde was sent to Stafford prison, where his fellow inmates included Michael Collins and Dr James Ryan (who many years later, as Minister for Health, would appoint Forde as his Private Secretary). He was then transferred to Frongoch internment camp in Wales, and sent to Wormwood Scrubs prison briefly for interrogation, before being released in August 1916. Shortly afterwards he resumed his activities with the Volunteers, eventually switching to B Company, 2nd Battalion, where he was appointed 1st lieutenant and was involved in drilling, training, re-arming and re-organisational matters. Irish Volunteer 1916 by DERMOT FORDE, (SON OF SEÁN FORDE) Seán Forde 1916 Volunteer Seán Forde's medals

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