An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 33 map Top left: ushers Quay/ bridge Street. On Friday 28th April a section of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers had occupied buildings on the corner of Bridge Street and Ushers Quay. Their vantage point gave them a view into the Four Courts and rifle fire from their position presented a threat to the Four Courts garrison. Two members of the garrison, Lieutenant Peader Clancy and Volunteer Tom Smart (the son of a Dublin fireman and later to join the Dublin Fire Brigade himself in 1920) decided to burn them out. They crossed Church Street Bridge under fire, while carrying cans of petrol, and ran to the front of the building occupied by the soldiers. They broke the windows, poured the petrol in and set it alight before returning to the Four Courts, again un- der intense fire. The fire took hold in the building and forced a withdrawal by the British troops. This fire spread to include a number of premises at Bridge Street and Ushers Quay. map Top right: linenhall barracks. On Thursday 27th April the fire brigade received a call to the Linenhall Barracks but they couldn't attend due to the condi- tions in that area of the city. Volunteers had captured the bar- racks and in order to deny its use to the military had been ordered to burn it. The fire spread rapidly and extended to the oil and drug stores of Hugh Moore and Alexander, a wholesale chemist. This fire would burn unhindered for two days and nights. map bottom right: mount Street bridge area/clanwilliam House. At 8.40pm on Wednesday 26th April the brigade were called to a fire at numbers 1 and 2 Clanwilliam Place. The official entry in the annual report says that they 'did not attend as the houses were being shelled by military'. Clanwilliam House was an out- post manned by seven Volunteers. Along with their small band of comrades posted in 25 Northumberland Road and the Parochial Hall, they had inflicted massive casualties on the 2/7th and 2/8th Sherwood Foresters. The men had been posted in the area to ambush British rein- forcements heading into Dublin by the direct route from Kings- town (Dun Laoghaire). In the course of a long afternoon they had inflicted over 200 casualties on the British troops. One by one their positions had fallen in the face of overwhelming odds and at last Clanwilliam House itself was taken by troops using machine guns and throwing grenades. The sheer volume of fire directed into the house had ignited some curtains and soft furnishings, and fire soon took hold and started to spread. As the troops gained entry to the house they cleared it room by room by throw- ing grenades and again the volume of fire increased. The house was soon blazing and was reduced to a burned-out shell, cremating the mortal remains of those who had fallen within it. map bottom left: Stephen's green area - Harcourt Street. At 5.07am on the morning of 27th April the fire brigade extin- guished a fire 'in a shop of four storied building by two jets from hydrants: stairs and part roof destroyed'. This bare report refers to a fire at Harcourt Street that arose through an attempt by the Citizen Army garrison at the College of Surgeons to burn out British troops of the Royal Irish Regiment from their positions at the Russell Hotel and St Stephen's Green south. A squad of Irish Citizen Army members under the command of William Partridge and Margaret Skinnider were sent from the College of Surgeons to start a fire and burn out the buildings on Harcourt Street and St Stephen's Green that were being used to consolidate British strength in the area. When they arrived at the building Partridge smashed the glass door to gain entry. The sound alerted British sentries who opened fire, killing 17-year-old Fred Ryan and seriously injuring Skinnider. The rebels withdrew, bringing the wounded Skinnider with them but having to leave Ryan behind. Captain Purcell's notes for the DFB report states that on arrival at the fire they found 'a rifle, a bag of ammunition and two revolvers. A dead Volunteer lay outside at the corner'. Thus the bare bones of a Dublin Fire Brigade report hide deep and poignant human stories. Each of these four fires pinpointed on Captain Purcell's maps have a story of the Rising behind them and are also a reminder of the often forgotten part played by the Dublin Fire Brigade in the events of the Rising. about the author: Las Fallon, a firefighter with Dublin Fire Brigade since 1985 is the author of Dublin Fire Brigade and the Irish Revolution (2012) and The Firemen's Tale: the burning of the Custom House 1921 (2015) ISBN: 978-1-908056- 11-5, priced €5 and published by Kilmainham Tales http://kilmainhamtales.ie. Las is a former volunteer curator of the DFB Museum (2008-2011), and an avid collector and researcher of Irish fire service history and memorabilia. Captain Purcell's map of affected areas of O'Connell Street 1916. Photo: Las Fallon/Thomas Purcell/ South Dublin Libraries Captain Purcell's map of the destruction, Easter week 1916. Photo: Las Fallon/ Thomas Purcell/South Dublin Libraries

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