An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir March 2016 www.dfmagazine.ie 34 | There is a simple plaque on the wall of the Stone- breakers' Yard in Kilmainham Gaol that lists the names of 14 men and the dates of their deaths between May 3rd and May 12th 1916 – from nine to 18 days after the Easter Rising. A total of 97 men and women had been sen- tenced to death by field general courts martial for their parts in that rising; their sentences being confirmed by General Maxwell, CIC British Forces in Ireland. While the executions of those named on the plaque were carried out, the remaining sentences were commuted to prison terms. Brigadier General JR Young issued detailed instructions for the executions. His first memo, on May 2, noted: "The attached memo was prepared in case there should be a large number of executions tomorrow morning but, owing to delay in Court pro- ceedings, it is not likely that there will be more than four." This suggests he expected the prisoners to be sentenced to death following their trials. In the end, there were 'only' three execu- tions that first day – Patrick Pearse, Tom Clarke and Thomas MacDonagh. All were refused the assistance of the Capuchins as they walked to their deaths, something the priests complained vociferously about. Following their representations, the Capu- chins were allowed attend all subsequent executions. Rumours of executions had been rife in Kilmainham Gaol. Some suggested all pris- oners would be shot; others that General Maxwell had ordered a pit big enough to hold 100 bodies to be dug in the exercise yard of Arbour Hill prison. There was an ele- Stonebreakers' by MíCHEÁL Ó DOIBHILíN Yard ment of truth in these rumours as following their trials, 97 men and women were sentenced to death. Most were not told their sentence at their trials, but given the information later in their cells, only to be subsequently told that their sentences had been commuted to prison terms. But for 14 there was to be no reprieve. On May 3rd, 4th, 5th, 8th and 12th, rifles spat fire in the Stonebreakers' Yard as they were executed; their bodies buried in a pit dug in Arbour Hill prison and covered thickly with quicklime. The public was not told of these executions in advance, only learning of each one after the fact. It was this drip-feeding of information and the secrecy of the executions, that gave them the appearance of revenge rather than justice. Initial public and media reaction to the rebellion had been abhorrence. Newspapers and parliamentarians called for swift and severe punish- ment. But as the executions dragged on it became obvious that the public had no sustained appetite for this and opinions were changing. When, on May 9th, Thomas Kent was executed in Cork City, this increased public resentment outside of Dublin. Calls were made in the British parliament for the executions to stop and, eventually, Prime Minister Asquith instructed Maxwell to cease. The last to be executed in Kilmainham were Seán MacDiarmada and James Connolly. (Sir Roger Casement was to be hanged in August in Pentonville, London.) With Connolly's death Maxwell had succeeded in executing all seven signatories of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic that Patrick Pearse had read outside the GPO at the beginning of the Rising. But Connolly was a sick man, already on his death bed from wounds received in the fight- ing. He had to be brought from the field hospital in Dublin Castle to Kilmainham Gaol on a stretcher and was executed tied to a chair there, unable to support himself. News of this execution in particular caused public revulsion and, instead of suppressing nationalism for the next 100 years as General Maxwell had intended, the executions served to fan its flames, and inspire those who were to take part in the War of Independence that shortly followed. Tom Clarke, first signatory of the proclamation, told his wife Kathleen when she visited him in his prison cell the night before his execution: "I and my fellow signatories believe we have struck the first successful blow for Freedom. The next blow, which we have no doubt Ireland will strike, will win through. In this belief we die happy." Arguably, General Maxwell's actions facilitated this as by their deaths, these men fanned the flames of Irish nationalism to new life. 1916 Plaque in Stonebreakers' Yard, Kilmainham Gaol. Photo by Author Full view of the Stonebreakers' Yard. Photo by Paul O'Brien

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