The Bachelor's Walk massacre occurred in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, on 26 July 1914, when a column of troops of the

King's Own Scottish Borderers The King's Own Scottish Borderers (KOSBs) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Scottish Division. On 28 March 2006 the regiment was amalgamated with the Royal Scots, the Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Margaret's O ...

were accosted by a crowd on Bachelor's Walk following the

Howth gun-running The Howth gun-running ( ) involved the delivery of 1,500 Mauser rifles to the Irish Volunteers at Howth harbour in Ireland on 26 July 1914. The unloading of guns from a private yacht during daylight hours attracted a crowd, and the authorities or ...

operation. After some verbal baiting,Connolly, J.S.; ''Oxford Companion to Irish History'', page 263-4. Oxford University Press, 2007. the troops attacked “hostile but unarmed” protesters with rifle fire and bayonets - resulting in the deaths of four civilians and injuries to in excess of 30 more. One of those shot was Luke Kelly, the father of folk singer

Luke Kelly Luke Kelly (17 November 1940 – 30 January 1984) was an Irish singer, folk musician and actor from Dublin, Ireland. Born into a working-class household in Dublin city, Kelly moved to England in his late teens and by his early 20s had become i ...

. The events followed the landing of 1,500 rifles and ammunition, purchased for the

Irish Volunteers The Irish Volunteers ( ga, Óglaigh na hÉireann), sometimes called the Irish Volunteer Force or Irish Volunteer Army, was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists and republicans. It was ostensibly formed in respon ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

in May 1914. In a counter operation to the Unionists running guns into Northern Ireland, Erskine Childers landed the cargo in

Howth Howth ( ; ; non, Hǫfuð) is an affluent peninsular village and outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland. The district as a whole occupies the greater part of the peninsula of Howth Head, which forms the northern boundary of Dublin Bay, and includes ...

and a thousand rifle-carrying Irish Volunteers marched into Dublin. The quantity was negligible when compared to the far greater numbers of weapons landed and distributed by the

Ulster Volunteers The Ulster Volunteers was an Irish unionist, loyalist paramilitary organisation founded in 1912 to block domestic self-government ("Home Rule") for Ireland, which was then part of the United Kingdom. The Ulster Volunteers were based in the ...

, completely without hindrance, but the reaction this time was severe from the British ruling authorities. The incident proved a moment of political opportunity for Irish nationalists as it sharply brought out the different treatment for the Unionists and for unarmed Dublin civilians.

Patrick Pearse Patrick Henry Pearse (also known as Pádraig or Pádraic Pearse; ga, Pádraig Anraí Mac Piarais; 10 November 1879 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist, republican political activist and revolutionary who ...

declared 'The army is an object of odium, and the Volunteers are the heroes of the hour. The whole movement, the whole country, has been re-baptised by bloodshed for Ireland.'

References

1910s in Dublin (city) 1914 in Ireland July 1914 events 20th-century history of the British Army 1914 crimes in Ireland {{Ireland-hist-stub