Francis Joseph Christopher Skeffington (later Sheehy Skeffington; 23 December 1878 – 26 April 1916) was an Irish writer and radical activist, known also by the nickname "Skeffy".
[Dara Redmond]
"Officer who exposed pacifist's murder"
, ''The Irish Times'', 26 August 2006 (accessed 29–31 March 2016). He was a friend and schoolmate of
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
(and the real-life model for a character in Joyce's novel ''
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'' is the first novel of Irish writer James Joyce. A ''Künstlerroman'' written in a modernist style, it traces the religious and intellectual awakening of young Stephen Dedalus, Joyce's fictional alter ...
''),
Oliver St. John Gogarty
Oliver Joseph St. John Gogarty (17 August 1878 – 22 September 1957) was an Irish poet, author, otolaryngologist, athlete, politician, and well-known conversationalist. He served as the inspiration for Buck Mulligan in James Joyce's novel ...
,
Tom Kettle
Thomas Michael Kettle (9 February 1880 – 9 September 1916) was an Ireland, Irish economist, journalist, barrister, writer, war poet, soldier and Irish Home Rule Bill, Home Rule politician. As a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party, he was ...
, and Frank O'Brien (the father of
Conor Cruise O'Brien
Donal Conor David Dermot Donat Cruise O'Brien (3 November 1917 – 18 December 2008), often nicknamed "The Cruiser", was an Irish diplomat, politician, writer, historian and academic, who served as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs from 1973 ...
). When he married
Hanna Sheehy in 1903, he adopted her surname as part of his own, resulting in the name "Sheehy Skeffington". They always spelled their joined names unhyphenated, although many sources add the hyphen.
Early life
Francis Skeffington was descended from
Sir William Skeffington
Sir William Skeffington (c. 146531 December 1535) was an English knight who served as Lord Deputy of Ireland.
Early life
William Skeffington was born in Skeffington Hall, Leicestershire, the eldest son of Thomas Skeffington by his wife, Mary. ...
(1465-1535), who ruled Ireland in the early 16th century as
Lord Deputy
The Lord Deputy was the representative of the monarch and head of the Irish executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and then the Kingdom of Ireland. He deputised prior to 1523 for the Viceroy of Ireland. The plural form is ''L ...
of
king Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disag ...
. Francis was born in
Bailieborough
Bailieborough or Bailieboro (; ) is a town in County Cavan, Ireland. , its population was 2,683, up from 1,529 as of the 1996 census. Bailieborough's proximity to the N3 road (Ireland), N3 National Road has made it a commuter town.
History P ...
,
County Cavan
County Cavan ( ; gle, Contae an Chabháin) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of the Border Region. It is named after the town of Cavan and is base ...
, and was raised in
Downpatrick
Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Its cathedral is said to be the bu ...
,
County Down
County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...
, the only son of Dr. Joseph Bartholomew Skeffington (c.1850-1919), an inspector of National Schools, and his wife Rose, née Magorrian (c.1834-1909). Joseph and Rose were married in 1869 at the Roman Catholic Chapel at
Ballykinlar, County Down.
Francis (known in childhood as "Frank") was educated initially at home by his father, and later at the
Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
school in
St Stephen's Green
St Stephen's Green () is a garden square and public park located in the city centre of Dublin, Ireland. The current landscape of the park was designed by William Sheppard. It was officially re-opened to the public on Tuesday, 27 July 1880 by L ...
, Dublin. He manifested an early sympathy for radical politics, as attested by his enthusiasm for the constructed language
Esperanto
Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...
. In 1893, at the age of 15, he wrote a letter to his local newspaper in
County Down
County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...
stating that "
Gaelic
Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...
" was irretrievably dead and "the study of Esperanto would be more useful to the youth of Ireland". Later in life he became fluent in the language, and had a number of Esperanto books in his library when he died. This enthusiasm was not unusual at the time in leftist circles, and several prominent leaders of the
1916 Easter rising
The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the a ...
, including
James Connolly
James Connolly ( ga, Séamas Ó Conghaile; 5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. Born to Irish parents in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, Connolly left school for working life at the a ...
, were also Esperantists.
Student years
In 1896 (aged 17), he enrolled in
University College
In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies ...
, then run by the Jesuits and located on
St Stephen's Green
St Stephen's Green () is a garden square and public park located in the city centre of Dublin, Ireland. The current landscape of the park was designed by William Sheppard. It was officially re-opened to the public on Tuesday, 27 July 1880 by L ...
in the centre of
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
. He stayed at the college long enough to earn a master's degree. Skeffington was a well-known figure at the college, individualistic and unconventional in temperament. He was active in student politics and debating societies, including the
Literary and Historical Society, which he revived in 1897.
His closest companions in his student days were
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
and
Thomas Kettle
Thomas Michael Kettle (9 February 1880 – 9 September 1916) was an Irish economist, journalist, barrister, writer, war poet, soldier and Home Rule politician. As a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for ...
(the latter later became his brother-in-law). In protest against uniformity of dress, Skeffington refused to shave, and wore
knickerbockers with long socks, which earned him the nickname "Knickerbockers". He was an ardent proponent of women's rights, and wore a ''Votes for Women'' badge. He was an equally ardent advocate of pacifism and vegetarianism, and he denounced smoking, drinking, and vivisection. He was a vegetarian and a teetotaller. But he did permit himself chocolate, and apparently he was often seen with a bar of milk chocolate in his pocket.
Joyce enrolled at University College in 1898; he was four years Skeffington's junior but only two classes below him. A number of Joyce's early writings known as "epiphanies", composed in 1901-02, are set in Hanna Sheehy's house and one includes Skeffington among those present. Joyce left a fictional portrait of Skeffington in his novel ''
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'' is the first novel of Irish writer James Joyce. A ''Künstlerroman'' written in a modernist style, it traces the religious and intellectual awakening of young Stephen Dedalus, Joyce's fictional alter ...
'', under the guise of "MacCann", a fellow-student whom Joyce's alter-ego Stephen Dedalus describes as "a squat figure in a shooting jacket and breeches," with a "bluntfeatured face" and "a strawcolored goatee which hung from his blunt chin." Stephen remembers him saying: "Dedalus, you're an anti-social being, wrapped up in yourself. I'm not. I'm a democrat: and I'll work and act for social liberty and equality among all classes and sexes in the United States of the Europe of the future." Later, "MacCann" is seen standing in a lobby after class, canvassing signatures on a petition for universal peace, under a picture of
the Czar of Russia, who was a proponent of disarmament. (In the spring term of that year Skeffington would attend the
international peace conference
The International Peace Conference was an anti-war conference held on December 10, 2005. It was organised by the Stop the War Coalition (StWC), and included speakers from Iraq, the United States, and Italy.
The conference sold out a week before ...
called by the Czar.) "MacCann began to speak with fluent energy of the Czar's rescript, of Stead, of general disarmament, arbitration in cases of international disputes, of the signs of the times, of the new humanity and the new gospel of life which would make it the business of the community to secure as cheaply as possible the greatest possible happiness of the greatest possible number." – Stephen Dedalus expresses indifference to these goals and gestures at the picture of the Czar: "If we must have a Jesus, let us have a legitimate Jesus." To which MacCann replies: "Dedalus, I believe you're a good fellow, but you have yet to learn the dignity of altruism and the responsibility of the human individual."
Writing to his brother Stanislaus about the above passages, Joyce referred to Skeffington as "Hairy Jaysus", a comic expression which is both
sardonic
To be sardonic is to be disdainfully or cynically humorous, or scornfully mocking.
A form of wit or humour, being sardonic often involves expressing an uncomfortable truth in a clever and not necessarily malicious way, often with a degree of sk ...
and affectionate.
In the autumn of 1901 Skeffington wrote an essay advocating equal status for women in the University, commissioned by ''St Stephen's'', the new literary magazine of the college.
The essay was refused publication by the Censor, and, at Joyce's suggestion, Skeffington then published the essay as a pamphlet, along with another essay by Joyce himself, which had been similarly censored ("The Day of the Rabblement", a critique of the
Irish Literary Theatre
W. B. Yeats, Lady Gregory and Edward Martyn published a "Manifesto for Irish Literary Theatre" in 1897, in which they proclaimed their intention of establishing a national theatre for Ireland.
The Irish Literary Theatre was founded by Yeats, Lady ...
). Although Joyce and Skeffington disagreed with each other's politics, they both resented censorship, and agreed to co-finance the print run of 85 copies and distribute the pamphlet to newspapers and prominent Dubliners.
Marriage and political career
After graduating from University College, Skeffington worked as a freelance journalist, contributing to socialist and pacifist publications in Ireland, England, France and North America. In 1901-02 he taught in
St Kieran's College
St Kieran's College (Coláiste Chiaráin) is a Roman Catholic secondary school, located on College Road, Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, Ireland.
History
St Kieran's College was founded in Kilkenny, in the diocese of Ossory in 1782, after the pass ...
in
Kilkenny
Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512.
Kilken ...
, where he was a colleague and friend of the school's English, French and history master
Thomas MacDonagh
Thomas Stanislaus MacDonagh ( ga, Tomás Anéislis Mac Donnchadha; 1 February 1878 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish political activist, poet, playwright, educationalist and revolutionary leader. He was one of the seven leaders of the Easter Rising o ...
; the two also lodged in the same house in Kilkenny City. He then took a job as the Registrar of University College.
On 26 June 1903 he married
Hanna Sheehy, a teacher at the Rathmines College of Commerce (a forerunner of
Dublin Institute of Technology
Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT, ga, Institiúid Teicneolaíochta Bhaile Átha Cliath) was a major third-level institution in Dublin, Ireland. On 1 January 2019 DIT was dissolved and its functions were transferred to the Technological Un ...
). They jointly adopted the surname "Sheehy Skeffington". Hanna's family were a prosperous farming and milling family in
County Cork
County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...
. Her father had been a Nationalist MP, and had been imprisoned no less than six times for revolutionary activities.
[Thomas O'Riordan]
"Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington"
, Multitext Project in Irish History, University College Cork, accessed 30 March 2016.
The couple joined the
Irish Women's Suffrage and Local Government Association, and the
Young Ireland
Young Ireland ( ga, Éire Óg, ) was a political movement, political and cultural movement, cultural movement in the 1840s committed to an all-Ireland struggle for independence and democratic reform. Grouped around the Dublin weekly ''The Nati ...
Branch of the
United Irish League
The United Irish League (UIL) was a nationalist political party in Ireland, launched 23 January 1898 with the motto ''"The Land for the People"''. Its objective to be achieved through agrarian agitation and land reform, compelling larger grazi ...
(the constituency element of the
Irish Parliamentary Party
The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish national ...
). They also supported the
Women's Social and Political Union
The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and ...
, which lobbied for women's rights in Britain. Shortly after they married, Francis organised a petition to lobby for women to be admitted to University College on the same basis as men. When the university refused to take that step, Francis resigned from his job as registrar in protest, relying on Hanna to support him for a time. He was President of the
Socialist Party of Ireland
The Socialist Party is a political party in Ireland, active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Internationally, it is affiliated to the Trotskyist International Socialist Alternative.
The party has been involved in various ...
.
In 1907, Francis wrote a novel, ''In Dark and Evil Days'', which was published posthumously in 1916, the year of his death.
In 1908, he published a biography of the Irish nationalist and
Land League
The Irish National Land League (Irish: ''Conradh na Talún'') was an Irish political organisation of the late 19th century which sought to help poor tenant farmers. Its primary aim was to abolish landlordism in Ireland and enable tenant farmer ...
agitator
Michael Davitt
Michael Davitt (25 March 184630 May 1906) was an Irish republican activist for a variety of causes, especially Home Rule and land reform. Following an eviction when he was four years old, Davitt's family migrated to England. He began his caree ...
.
In 1912, he and Hanna co-founded the
Irish Women's Franchise League
The Irish Women's Franchise League was an organisation for women's suffrage which was set up in Dublin in November 1908. Its founder members included Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington, Margaret Cousins, Francis Sheehy-Skeffington and James H. Cousins. Tho ...
. He was made co-editor of the League's newspaper, ''
The Irish Citizen
''The Irish Citizen'' was founded in 1912 as the newspaper by the Irish Women's Franchise League. Its first editors were Francis Sheehy-Skeffington the writer, pacifist and suffragist, and James Cousins, James H. Cousins'The "Irish Citizen", 1912 ...
''. The Irish Women's Franchise League agitated for votes for women; members included his brother-in-law Tom Kettle and his friend Thomas MacDonagh, as well as all of the non-nationalist suffrage activists of the day. (Nationalist women tended to avoid it, on the basis that the IWFL was seeking to get into the British Parliament, while nationalists were trying to get out).
In 1909 Francis and Hanna had a son,
Owen
Owen may refer to:
Origin: The name Owen is of Irish and Welsh origin.
Its meanings range from noble, youthful, and well-born.
Gender: Owen is historically the masculine form of the name. Popular feminine variations include Eowyn and Owena. ...
. They were much criticised for refusing to have him baptised.
In April 1911, Francis took part in an amusing protest at a meeting of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce. The chamber was holding a public meeting to organise a welcoming ceremony for King
George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936.
Born duri ...
on his visit to Dublin later that year. To open the meeting, the president of the chamber proposed that "a Citizens' Committee be formed for the purpose of arranging a suitable welcome and preparing and presenting a loyal address to the Most Gracious Majesties the King and Queen, on their approaching visit to Dublin". Francis counter-proposed that the word "not" be inserted after the words "be formed", and argued that ignoring the visit was the best compromise to satisfy both supporters and objectors to the visit. "Sean Milroy – a future minister in the Irish Free State – stood to second Sheehy Skeffington's motion, while the chairman, the Earl of Mayo, attempted to maintain order over cries of 'Hear hear!' and 'Put him out!' In an effort to silence the dissenters, Mayo called a vote on Sheehy Skeffington's amendment; 36 supported it while 'some hundreds' voted against." After this,
Countess Markievicz
Constance Georgine Markievicz ( pl, Markiewicz ; ' Gore-Booth; 4 February 1868 – 15 July 1927), also known as Countess Markievicz and Madame Markievicz, was an Irish politician, revolutionary, nationalist, suffragist, socialist, and the firs ...
proposed another counter-resolution which led to further uproar.
Francis was on friendly terms with
Countess Markievicz
Constance Georgine Markievicz ( pl, Markiewicz ; ' Gore-Booth; 4 February 1868 – 15 July 1927), also known as Countess Markievicz and Madame Markievicz, was an Irish politician, revolutionary, nationalist, suffragist, socialist, and the firs ...
: for instance he once escorted her to a police court after she had kicked a police officer during a Socialist Party meeting, which Francis had also attended.
During the 1913
Dublin Lock-out
The Dublin lock-out was a major industrial dispute between approximately 20,000 workers and 300 employers that took place in Ireland's capital and largest city, Dublin. The dispute, lasting from 26 August 1913 to 18 January 1914, is often vie ...
, he became involved in the Citizens' Peace Committee, a group formed by various people including Tom Kettle and Thomas MacDonagh, with
Joseph Plunkett
Joseph Mary Plunkett (Irish: ''Seosamh Máire Pluincéid''; 21 November 1887 – 4 May 1916) was an Irish nationalist, republican, poet, journalist, revolutionary and a leader of the 1916 Easter Rising. Joseph Mary Plunkett married Grace Giffo ...
as secretary, whose goal was to reconcile the employers and workers. The workers were willing to negotiate, but not the employers.
Francis Sheehy Skeffington joined and then became a vice-chairman of the
Irish Citizen Army
The Irish Citizen Army (), or ICA, was a small paramilitary group of trained trade union volunteers from the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU) established in Dublin for the defence of workers' demonstrations from the Dublin M ...
when it was established in response to the lockout. But he lent his support on the understanding that the ICA would have a strictly defensive role; he resigned when it became a military entity.
Sheehy Skeffington testified before a tribunal in 1913 as a witness to the arrest of the leading trade unionist
Jim Larkin
James Larkin (28 January 1874 – 30 January 1947), sometimes known as Jim Larkin or Big Jim, was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. He was one of the founders of the Irish Labour Party along with James Connolly and Willia ...
on
O'Connell Street
O'Connell Street () is a street in the centre of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, running north from the River Liffey. It connects the O'Connell Bridge to the south with Parnell Street to the north and is roughly split into two sections ...
, and the subsequent police assault against a peaceful crowd, which had occurred on the last weekend of August 1913. His testimony stated that he was in the street with a group of women caring for a person who had already been assaulted by the police when a member of the
Dublin Metropolitan Police
The Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) was the police force of Dublin, Ireland, from 1836 to 1925, when it was amalgamated into the new Garda Síochána.
History
19th century
The Dublin city police had been subject to major reforms in 1786 and ...
charged towards this group with his baton raised. He reports that it was only because he called out the policeman's number that the man was dissuaded from the violence he had so clearly intended. He said that he was later abused by a gang of policemen showing clear signs of intoxication in the yard of the police station at College Green where he went to make his complaint, and that their officers had no control over their behaviour.
In 1914, on the outbreak of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Sheehy Skeffington campaigned against recruitment and was jailed for six months.
He supported the
peace crusade of the American car manufacturer
Henry Ford
Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that mi ...
; and when Countess Markievicz advocated armed uprising by Irish nationalists, he challenged her to a debate on the subject. She accepted the challenge in an open letter published in
James Connolly
James Connolly ( ga, Séamas Ó Conghaile; 5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. Born to Irish parents in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, Connolly left school for working life at the a ...
's newspaper, ''The Workers' Republic''.
Easter Rising
Francis Sheehy Skeffington is often considered one of the martyrs of Ireland's
1916 Easter Rising
The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the a ...
.
[Michael Barry, Courage Boys, We Are Winning, Dublin:Andulus Press, 2015,p.86-89] In his biography of James Joyce, Richard Ellmann wrote that Sheehy Skeffington "died at the hands of the British ... when he quixotically tried to dissuade the Dublin poor from looting". But Sheehy Skeffington's death can be more accurately explained as a consequence of
Dublin Castle
Dublin Castle ( ga, Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a former Motte-and-bailey castle and current Irish government complex and conference centre. It was chosen for its position at the highest point of central Dublin.
Until 1922 it was the se ...
's suspicion that he was a Sinn Fein conspirator and Captain John Bowen-Colthurst's violent hostility towards any and all suspected rebel sympathisers.
Political background
Francis Sheehy Skeffington had always supported
Home Rule
Home rule is government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governance wit ...
for Ireland. After 1913 he had also supported his friend Thomas MacDonagh's more separatist
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 respons ...
; however he grew increasingly critical of the Volunteers' growing militarism, and in an open letter to MacDonagh published in 1915 in his own paper ''
The Irish Citizen
''The Irish Citizen'' was founded in 1912 as the newspaper by the Irish Women's Franchise League. Its first editors were Francis Sheehy-Skeffington the writer, pacifist and suffragist, and James Cousins, James H. Cousins'The "Irish Citizen", 1912 ...
'', Sheehy Skeffington wrote: "As you know, I am personally in full sympathy with the fundamental objects of the Irish Volunteers ...
owever,as your infant movement grows, towards the stature of a full-grown militarism, its essence – preparation to kill – grows more repellent to me."
At the outset of the Easter Rising, Sheehy Skeffington opposed the violent methods of the insurgents, advocating a nonviolent form of civil disobedience, while his wife Hanna actively sympathised with the insurgents and joined the group of women who brought food to those stationed at the
General Post Office
The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Before the Acts of Union 1707, it was the postal system of the Kingdom of England, established by Charles II in 1660. ...
and the
Royal College of Surgeons
The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations a ...
. In contrast, on the first day of the rising (Monday 24 April 1916) Francis risked crossfire to go to the aid of an English soldier outside
Dublin Castle
Dublin Castle ( ga, Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a former Motte-and-bailey castle and current Irish government complex and conference centre. It was chosen for its position at the highest point of central Dublin.
Until 1922 it was the se ...
. As Hanna recalled the incident six years later: "When the outbreak began on Easter Monday my husband was near Dublin Castle. He learned that a British officer had been gravely wounded and was bleeding to death on the cobblestones outside the Castle gate. My husband persuaded a bystander to go with him to the rescue. Together they ran across the square under a hail of fire. Before they reached the spot, however, some British troops rushed out and dragged the wounded man to cover inside the gate."
[Hayden Talbot]
Michael Collins' own story, as told to Hayden Talbot
London : Hutchinson & Co., 1923, ch. 11 (accessed 30 December 2016).
Attempts to prevent looting
Shortly after that incident Sheehy Skeffington was seen climbing up onto the steps of
Nelson's Pillar
Nelson's Pillar (also known as the Nelson Pillar or simply the Pillar) was a large granite column capped by a statue of Horatio Nelson, built in the centre of what was then Sackville Street (later renamed O'Connell Street) in Dublin, Ireland. ...
on
Sackville Street, and haranguing a crowd of inner-city paupers to stop looting shops. He was hooted and jeered, and his next move was then to cross the street, enter the
GPO GPO may refer to:
Government and politics
* General Post Office, Dublin
* General Post Office, in Britain
* Social Security Government Pension Offset, a provision reducing benefits
* Government Pharmaceutical Organization, a Thai state enterpris ...
, and demand to speak to
James Connolly
James Connolly ( ga, Séamas Ó Conghaile; 5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. Born to Irish parents in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, Connolly left school for working life at the a ...
, one of the principal leaders of the insurrection, who was also a labour leader and sympathetic to Sheehy Skeffington's socialism. Connolly sent out some armed men to quell the looting. The men climbed an overturned tramcar to berate the looters, and even fired shots over the looters' heads.
[Max Caulfield, ''The Easter Rebellion: The outstanding narrative history of the 1916 Rising'', Kindle edition, at location 2427 of 6699 (accessed 10 April 2016).]
The next morning, 25 April, Sheehy Skeffington went back into the city centre and, again according to Hanna, "actively interested himself in preventing looting".
He returned to the GPO, emerging around one o'clock, and began to walk around the area pasting up a typewritten flyer.
[Max Caulfield, ''The Easter Rebellion: The outstanding narrative history of the 1916 Rising'', Kindle edition, at location 3111 of 6699 (accessed 10 April 2016).] The flyer read:
When there are no regular police in the streets, it becomes the duty of citizens to police the streets themselves and to prevent such spasmodic looting as has been taking place in a few streets. Civilians (men and women) who are willing to co-operate to this end are asked to attend at Westmoreland Chambers (over Eden Bros.) at five o'clock this (Tues.) afternoon.
Sheehy Skeffington then busied himself visiting various people, including priests, to enlist their help in guarding specific shops. That afternoon he had tea with his wife Hanna in one of the tea shops which, astonishingly, were still open in the city centre. Hanna then returned home to mind their child Owen, and Francis went to his meeting.
[Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, " British Militarism As I Have Known It", in: F. Sheehy Skeffington, ''A Forgotten Small Nationality: Ireland and the War'', pamphlet, New York: Donnelly Press, n.d. (circa 1917), p. 17-32.] Unfortunately the meeting was poorly attended, and no one volunteered to help Francis stop the looting.
Arrest
On his way home from the dispiriting meeting, Francis was followed by a crowd of hecklers who were shouting out his nickname, "Skeffy!"
This crowd of hecklers turned out to be a crucial cog in the machinery of fate which was to bring on his death. Undoubtedly they were the very inner city poor whom he had been exhorting to refrain from looting – and who would have been familiar with him from his many impromptu speeches on the steps of the
Custom House
A custom house or customs house was traditionally a building housing the offices for a jurisdictional government whose officials oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country, such as collecting c ...
, where he exhorted the passers-by on feminist or socialist subjects.
He lived at that time at 11 (now 21) Grosvenor Place in
Rathmines
Rathmines () is an affluent inner suburb on the Southside of Dublin in Ireland. It lies three kilometres south of the city centre. It begins at the southern side of the Grand Canal and stretches along the Rathmines Road as far as Rathgar to t ...
, and as he and his hecklers approached the
Portobello Bridge, around 7:30 p.m., they were intercepted by soldiers of the 11th
East Surrey Regiment
The East Surrey Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1959. The regiment was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 31st (Huntingdonshire) Regiment of Foot, the 70th ...
. The officer in charge was under orders to keep the road and bridge clear, and felt apprehensive about the disorderly crowd. He detained Sheehy Skeffington, who said that he was "not a Sinn Féiner", but admitted to sympathy for the insurgents' cause, though he was opposed to violence. He was then arrested and taken back to the
Portobello Barracks in Rathmines (since renamed the
Cathal Brugha
Cathal Brugha (; born Charles William St John Burgess; 18 July 1874 – 7 July 1922) was an Irish republican politician who served as Minister for Defence from 1919 to 1922, Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann in January 1919, the first presiden ...
Barracks).
Captain John Colthurst Bowen-Colthurst (1880-1965) was an officer of the reserve 3rd Battalion of
Royal Irish Rifles
The Royal Irish Rifles (became the Royal Ulster Rifles from 1 January 1921) was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army, first created in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 83rd (County of Dublin) Regiment of Foot and the 86th (Royal County ...
and he belonged to an old
Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...
and
Protestant Ascendancy
The ''Protestant Ascendancy'', known simply as the ''Ascendancy'', was the political, economic, and social domination of Ireland between the 17th century and the early 20th century by a minority of landowners, Protestant clergy, and members of th ...
family with an extensive estate in
County Cork
County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...
. His military career began in the
Second Anglo-Boer War
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...
. Later, during an eight-year posting in India, he served with distinction as the head of a machine-gun unit with the 1904 Younghusband Tibet Expedition. About 1905, Bowen-Colthurst became a Christian fundamentalist. At the start of World War I, he spent five weeks with the
British Expeditionary Force on the
Western Front (14 August-19 September, 1914), from which he had been sent home wounded and possibly shell-shocked. Bowen-Colthurst had had a brief mental breakdown during the Retreat from Mons and he had initiated a disastrous, premature attack at the Battle of Aisnes. Aside from his wounds, this behaviour perhaps ensured he was sent home from the front permanently.
After a period of convalescence and light duties, Bowen-Colthurst had been assigned in July 1915 to the Royal Irish Rifles at Portobello Barracks, where his primary duties were training and recruitment.
About 10:30 in the evening of April 25, Captain Bowen-Colthurst took Sheehy Skeffington back out of the barracks, as a hostage in a raiding party. The raid was aimed at the tobacconist shop of
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...
James Kelly, a moderate "home rule" nationalist, whom Bowen-Colthurst had mistaken for a separatist of the same name, Alderman
Tom Kelly.
[Brenda Malone]
"16 Days of Internment; Alderman James J. Kelly, 1916"
, in www.thecricketbatthatdiedforireland.com, 7 Sept. 2013 (accessed 31 March 2016).
The raiding party consisted of an officer and 40 men led by Bowen-Colthurst, along with Sheehy Skeffington who had his hands tied behind his back. Before leaving the barracks, Bowen-Colthurst ordered Sheehy Skeffington to say his last prayers in case he might become a casualty, and when Sheehy Skefffington refused, Bowen-Colthurst said prayers on his behalf. The troops left the barracks and headed towards Rathmines Road, where they encountered three young men loitering opposite the Church of Mary Immaculate, Refuge of Sinners. On the pretext of the lateness of the hour and that martial law had been proclaimed, Bowen-Colthurst detained and interrogated them. He then impetuously shot one of them: a 19-year-old mechanic named James Coade. Coade was initially left in the road but later that evening, picked up and taken to Portobello Barracks infirmary, where he died early the next morning without regaining consciousness.
Sheehy Skeffington witnessed the shooting but the only first hand account we have of his reaction indicated that he did not say anything.
The party continued down the Lower Rathmines Road, and the soldiers stopped at the Portobello Bridge, where half of the men were left at a guardhouse along with Sheehy Skeffington. Bowen-Colthurst gave orders that the soldiers at the guardhouse were to monitor the further progress of the raiding party, and shoot Sheehy Skeffington if either his or their party came under attack from snipers.
The soldiers made their way three hundred yards along the road to Alderman James Kelly's shop (and home), which they stormed and destroyed with grenades.
![Kellys-tobacconist](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Kellys-tobacconist.jpg)
They also captured two men who had taken refuge in the shop, Thomas Dickson and Patrick McIntyre, both journalists.
The two new captives and Sheehy Skeffington were then escorted back to Portobello Barracks where they were lodged in prison cells for the night. Captain Bowen-Colthurst went to bed at three o'clock in the morning but stayed up till four, reading his Bible, focusing in particular on the verse from St Luke (19:27): "But these my enemies which will not have me reign over them, bring them forth and slay them."
Summary execution
Just after ten on the morning of April 26, Bowen-Colthurst came to the guardroom and ordered the two journalists and Sheehy Skeffington taken out to a yard in the barracks, where he intended to have them shot. He told the subordinate officer in charge of the guardroom that he thought it was "the right thing to do". In the yard he assembled a squad of seven men and ordered them to fire immediately at the three prisoners, who until that moment were not aware they were about to die. After killing the three men, the firing squad immediately left the yard, but when movement was detected in Sheehy Skeffington's leg, Bowen-Colthurst ordered Lieutenant Dobbin to gather another group of four soldiers to fire another volley into him. About half an hour later, after informing the orderly room of his actions, Bowen-Colthurst reported what he had done to his superior, Major Rosborough. He said he took responsibility for the shooting and, aware that shooting prisoners was a capital offence, he also said that he "possibly might be hanged for it".
Rosborough asked him for a written report, and later on, issued instructions that Bowen-Colthurst be limited to duties within the barracks.
Two hours later, while conducting a raid on a rebel hideout on Camden Street, Bowen-Colthurst shot two other men. One of them was
Richard O'Carroll
Richard O'Carroll (29 February 1876 – 5 May 1916) was an Irish trade union leader, military officer, politician and founding member of the Irish Labour Party (Ireland), Labour Party. He was also an early critic of child labour, particularly in ...
, a brick layer, trade union officer, Labour Party Councillor, and the Quartermaster of C Company of the Irish Volunteers. O'Carroll was delivering ammunition to the garrison outpost at Northumberland Road when he was pulled from his motorcycle and shot through the lungs. He died of his wounds nine days later. The other man was one Patrick Nolan, shot by Bowen-Colthurst outside Delahunt's Grocery shop on Camden Street. He was brought to the hospital at Dublin Castle and survived.
After the Portobello shootings, according to a letter from a 'Father Scannell' to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington many years later, Bowen-Colthurst made "frantic efforts to wipe out all the traces of his crime". Father Scannell alleged that Bowen-Colthurst detained several bricklayers from a nearby building site, and ordered them to repair the broken and bullet-impacted bricks in the wall behind where the executed men had stood. The terrified bricklayers had been surrounded by soldiers with fixed bayonets pointed at them.
Bowen-Colthurst's reports
Months later, when Countess Markievicz – then in
Mountjoy Prison
Mountjoy Prison ( ga, Príosún Mhuinseo), founded as Mountjoy Gaol and nicknamed ''The Joy'', is a medium security men's prison located in Phibsborough in the centre of Dublin, Ireland.
The current prison Governor is Edward Mullins.
History
...
— first heard of the executions of the leaders of the
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the a ...
, she expressed surprise at only one thing: "Why on earth did they shoot Skeffy?" she is reported to have said. "He didn't believe in fighting." Bowen-Colthurst himself provided an answer to this question in his report of April 26, the day of the shootings. Part of his military operations report was as follows:
This morning at about 9 a.m. I proceeded to the Guard Room to examine these two men and I sent for them and for a man called Skeffongton icwho was also detained. I had been busy on the previous evening up to about 3 a.m. examining documents found on these men and I recognised from these documents that the three men were all very dangerous characters. I therefore sent for an armed guard of six men and ordered them to load their Rifles and keep their eyes on the prisoners. The Guard Room was full of men and was not a suitable place in my opinion in which to examine the prisoners. I ordered therefore the three prisoners to go into the small court yard of the Guard Room. I regret that I did not have these men hand cuffed and surrounded as the yard was a place from which they might have escaped. When I ordered these three men into the yard I did not however know this. The Guard was some little distance from the prisoners and as I considered that there was a reasonable chance of the prisoners making their escape and knowing the three prisoners (from correspondence captured on them the previous evening ) to be dangerous characters, I called upon the Guard to fire upon them which they did with effect, the three men being killed. The documents found on these three men have been forwarded to the orderly room.
On May 9, Bowen-Colthurst provided an account with a more anxious tone. This was three days after his arrest and just before his arraignment on murder/manslaughter charges. The May 9 report in part read as follows:
On Tuesday and up to Wednesday morning rumours of massacres of police and soldiers from all parts of Dublin were being constantly sent to me from different sources. Among others the rumour reached me that 600 German prisoners at Oldcastle had been released and armed and were marching on Dublin. I also heard that the rebels in the city had opened up depots for the supply and issue of arms, and that a large force of rebels intended to attack Portobello Barracks, which was held only by a few troops ... We had also in the barracks a considerable number of officers and men who had been wounded by the rebels. ... Rumours of risings all over Ireland and of a large German-American and Irish-American landing in Galway were prevalent. ... I knew of the sedition which had been preached in Ireland for years past and of the popular sympathy with rebellion. I knew also that men on leave home from the trenches, although unarmed, had been shot like dogs in the streets of their own city, simply because they were in khaki, and I had also heard that wounded soldiers home for convalescence had been shot down also. On the Wednesday morning 26 April all this was in my mind. I was very much exhausted and unstrung after practically a sleepless night, and I took the gloomiest view of the situation and felt that only desperate measures would save the situation. When I saw the position described in my previous report I felt I must act quickly, and believing I had the power under martial law, I felt, under the circumstances, that it was clearly my duty to have the ring-leaders shot. It was a terrible ordeal for me, but I nerved myself to carry out what for me at the time a terrible duty.
There was another possible explanation for Colthurst's actions, mentioned in passing in the report of the subsequent Royal Commission
n the Arrest ... Sheehy Skeffington...Dickson...McIntyre This was the suggestion that "a shooting incident"
oade's murderat which "Sheehy Skeffington was present ... might have had some bearing upon his subsequent treatment."
Burial and coverup
When Bowen-Colthurst had informed him of the shootings, Rosborough asked the barracks adjutant to telephone both the Garrison Adjutant at Dublin Castle and HQ Irish Command. Shortly after, Dublin Castle sent instructions to wrap the men in sheets (coffins were in short supply) and bury them within the barracks. This was hastily done after Father O'Loughlin, the military chaplain, had performed the religious rites.
In an interview with the playwright Hayden Talbot six years after the killing, Hanna Sheehy Skeffington said her husband's body "had been put in a sack and buried in the barracks' yard. The remains were later given to his father on condition that the funeral would be at early morn and that I be not notified. My husband's father consented unwillingly to do this on the assurance of General Maxwell that obedience would result in the trial and punishment of the murderer." The bodies were reinterred at
Glasnevin Cemetery
Glasnevin Cemetery ( ga, Reilig Ghlas Naíon) is a large cemetery in Glasnevin, Dublin, Ireland which opened in 1832. It holds the graves and memorials of several notable figures, and has a museum.
Location
The cemetery is located in Glasne ...
on 8 May 1916.
![Grave of Francis & Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Grave_of_Francis_%26_Hanna_Sheehy-Skeffington.jpg)
Hanna Sheehy Skeffington was not told about her husband's detention or his death. She went around Dublin seeking to find where her husband was, and heard rumours of his fate. Her two sisters then offered to visit Portobello Barracks on Friday and make inquiries. Upon revealing their business, the two sisters were threatened with arrest as "Sinn Féiners", and questioned by Captain Bowen-Colthurst. Bowen-Colthurst denied any knowledge as to the fate of Francis Sheehy Skeffington, and had them escorted out of the barracks. Later on Friday Hanna learned the dreadful news from the father of James Coade, and the news was confirmed to her by the chaplain who had performed the funerary rites, and who also worked in the neighborhood.
On that same Friday evening, Bowen-Colthurst and a group of soldiers forced entry into the Sheehy Skeffingtons' home, hoping to find evidence to incriminate Francis as an enemy sympathiser. Hanna, Owen (then seven), and a "young maid-servant" were in the house, where Owen was just being put to bed. The soldiers announced their presence by firing a volley of bullets through the front windows. The soldiers then burst in through the front door, wielding rifles with fixed bayonets, and ordered the three residents to stand under guard while they searched the premises.
According to an official report, "All the rooms in the house were thoroughly ransacked and a considerable quantity of books and papers were wrapped up in the household linen, placed in a passing motor car, and taken away. ... A large part of the material removed seems to have consisted of text-books both in German and other languages, as well as political papers and pamphlets belonging to Mr. Sheehy Skeffington."
The maid-servant, terrified by the experience, subsequently quit her job. She was replaced by another maid who was subsequently arrested and detained for four days after another raid by the Portobello garrison (this time not ordered by Bowen-Colthurst). However, upon examination several months later by a government commission, none of the material was found to be seditious.
Sir Francis Vane
Major
Francis Vane
Sir Francis Patrick Fletcher-Vane, 5th Baronet (16 October 1861 – 10 June 1934) was an Irish-born British military officer and aristocrat. Francis became the 5th Baronet of Hutton on the death of his first cousin, Sir Henry Ralph Fletcher-V ...
was in charge of Portobello Baracks defences at the outbreak of the Easter Rebellion. At the time of the Portobello shootings, he had been setting up an observation post at the top of Rathmines Town Hall. He returned to the barracks in the evening and was horrified to learn what had happened. He stressed to Rosborough the critical importance of confining Bowen-Colthurst's activities to the barracks, and he delivered a stern lecture on martial law and its limitations to the barracks officers.
But Vane was an irritant to his military superiors. When Colonel McCammond, the Portobello Barracks commander, returned from sick leave on May 1, he removed responsibility for Portobello's defences from Vane and appointed Bowen-Colthurst in his stead. Vane objected and then tried to arrange a meeting with General Maxwell at his HQ but had to content himself with talking to the Chief Intelligence Officer, Major Price. Vane told Price about the events at Portobello but he was not happy with Price's response.
Court martial of Bowen-Colthurst
Vane then travelled to London and on 3 May he met the Secretary of State for War,
Lord Kitchener, in
Downing Street
Downing Street is a street in Westminster in London that houses the official residences and offices of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Situated off Whitehall, it is long, and a few minutes' walk ...
. A telegram was then sent to
Sir John Maxwell, commander-in-chief of British forces in Ireland, ordering the arrest of Bowen-Colthurst. Bowen-Colthurst was preparing to conduct a 55-man detachment to Newry Barracks when the order came through (May 6) that he be placed under 'open' arrest. On May 11 he was placed under "close arrest". Bowen-Colthurst was charged with murder, but to be tried by
court-martial
A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...
, despite the Army Act's stipulation that any soldier charged with murder committed in the United Kingdom could be tried only in a civilian, not a military, court.
Over a hundred spectators attended the court martial held June 6/7 at the Richmond Barracks, Dublin. Once the prosecution and defence counsel had established the uncontested facts of the case, a succession of army officers testified to Bowen-Colthurst's kindness and decency but also to his occasional eccentricity, excitability and impulsiveness. Major General Bird, Bowen-Colthurst's commander in the British Expeditionary Force, described his nervous breakdown during the Retreat from Mons.
Four expert medical witnesses agreed on Bowen-Colthurst's past (August,1914–April,1915) and current mental fragility. Dr Leeper, one of the medical witnesses, testified that he could not give an opinion on Bowen-Colthurst's April 26 mental state because he had not been there at the time. The authors of the medical report, Captain Lawless and Major Purser, said that while it was impossible to say positively what Bowen-Colthurst's mental condition was on April 26, they had no doubt that at the present time he was mentally unsound. Captain Lawless said that it was highly probable that Bowen-Colthurst's mental state on April 26 had been the same as his present condition, and he did not think that Bowen-Colthurst was responsible for his actions on that date. Major Purser concurred with this opinion.
Defence counsel argued that since the character witnesses had said that he was by nature kind and honourable, Bowen-Colthurst ''must'' have been insane when he executed the three prisoners, particularly in light of his past mental disturbances. Except to enter his 'Not guilty' pleas and to decline to comment at the end of the proceedings, Bowen-Colthurst did not speak, as was his right.
There were doubts about the impartiality of the court martial. There was no mention of Coade and no discussion of Bowen-Colthurst's April 26 report. Similarly off limits were Bowen-Colthurst's activities in the hours and days following the executions—the murder of
Richard O'Carroll
Richard O'Carroll (29 February 1876 – 5 May 1916) was an Irish trade union leader, military officer, politician and founding member of the Irish Labour Party (Ireland), Labour Party. He was also an early critic of child labour, particularly in ...
in particular. Important witnesses (Colonel McCammond, Lieutenants Tooley and Gibbon, Sergeant Claxton and others), who might have provided different views of Bowen-Colthurst's character and mental state, were not summoned to give evidence. Most importantly, the medical evidence did not ''clearly establish'' Bowen-Colthurst's insanity ''at the time of'' the shootings, the standard of proof for insanity required by the Manual of Military Law.
At the culmination of his closing address, defence counsel made statements about Bowen-Colthurst's behaviour which turned out to be false. Hostage taking was not, in fact, unknown in the British army and Bowen-Colthurst was not firing his rifle wildly in the air on the way to Kelly's shop. At the end of the trial, despite the weakness of the evidence for his insanity, Bowen-Colthurst was found 'Guilty but insane' and sentenced to indefinite incarceration in
Broadmoor Asylum for the Criminally Insane
Broadmoor Hospital is a high-security psychiatric hospital in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England. It is the oldest of the three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England, the other two being Ashworth Hospital near Liverpool and Rampton Secu ...
.
The Royal Commission
The perverse verdict of the court martial, avoiding a sentence of death or imprisonment, became a ''
cause célèbre
A cause célèbre (,''Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged'', 12th Edition, 2014. S.v. "cause célèbre". Retrieved November 30, 2018 from https://www.thefreedictionary.com/cause+c%c3%a9l%c3%a8bre ,''Random House Kernerman Webs ...
'' internationally and, along with the civilian deaths in
North King Street, provoked a political furore which culminated in the appointment of several Royal Commissions of Inquiry. The Royal Commission on the arrest and 'treatment' of Sheehy Skeffington, Dickson and McIntyre was chaired by
Sir John Simon
John Allsebrook Simon, 1st Viscount Simon, (28 February 1873 – 11 January 1954), was a British politician who held senior Cabinet posts from the beginning of the First World War to the end of the Second World War. He is one of only three peop ...
(a former
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
and
Home Secretary
The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...
), and held hearings on 23–31 August 1916 in a public courtroom at the
Four Courts
The Four Courts ( ga, Na Ceithre Cúirteanna) is Ireland's most prominent courts building, located on Inns Quay in Dublin. The Four Courts is the principal seat of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court and the Dublin Circuit ...
in Dublin. Thirty-eight witnesses were examined, including Sheehy Skeffington's wife Hanna. The report of this Commission
["Royal Commission on the Arrest and subsequent treatment of Mr. Francis Sheehy Skeffington, Mr. Thomas Dickson, and Mr. Patrick James McIntyre: Report of the Commission"](_blank)
, presented to both houses of Parliament by command of His Majesty, London: Darling & Son, 1916 (accessed 29–31 March 2016). The report of an earlier Royal Commission on the Rebellion in Ireland (which held hearings in May–June 1916) can be consulted her
.
constitutes the principal source of facts about the events leading to the death of Sheehy Skeffington. However, much of the evidence presented at the oral hearings does not appear in the final report, but fortunately, it was published in the Dublin newspapers.
The Royal Commission examined the circumstances of Dickson's, McIntyre's and Sheehy Skeffington's deaths but not why they were killed. The Commission chairman's view was that as a court martial had already determined that Bowen-Colthurst was insane, there could be no further discussion of his mental state and motives. However, the Commission report did present a plausible narrative of Bowen-Colthurst's actions.
The evidence presented to the Commission was much the same as the testimony at the court martial. But there were a number of disturbing revelations during the Commission hearings, particularly those concerning the shooting of James Coade and Bowen-Colthurst's raid on Kelly's. First of all, there was the actual murder of Coade. Timothy Healy, counsel for the Sheehy Skeffington family, established that Sheehy Skeffington had witnessed Coade's killing and had had the opportunity to talk to Dickson and McIntyre while they were being escorted back to Portobello Barracks. The Commission reported that it was unable to arrive at any conclusions about a possible link between Coade's and Sheehy Skeffington's shootings.
The crucial court martial testimony of Lieutenant Leslie Wilson, who had accompanied Bowen-Colthurst on the raid on Kelly's, was shown to have been unreliable. Wilson also told the commission panel that he thought it was quite legal to use Sheehy Skeffington as a hostage and did not consider the instruction to shoot him if Colthurst's party was fired on as 'strange'. The Commission determined that Colthurst's April 26 report, which made no mention of Coade, was 'entirely untrue'.
The Commission also examined Bowen-Colthurst's second (May 9) report – more a justification of his actions than a military operations report such as he had previously written. In his May 9 report, Bowen-Colthurst wrote of the precarious position of the undermanned Portobello Barracks, being threatened by rebel forces who might rescue the three rebel 'ringleaders' from the guard room. Bowen-Colthurst then described his own precarious mental condition at the time as 'very much exhausted and unstrung after a practically sleepless night.' He wrote that he believed he had the power under martial law to have the three prisoners shot, and he ended his report by describing the shootings as 'a terrible duty'. The Commissioners dismissed his claim that the three men might escape from the guard room, and they addressed his (and others') misunderstanding of martial law in the conclusions of their report.
The Commission's report documented the raids on Dickson's and Sheehy Skeffington's houses. Rosborough authorised the first raid, on Dickson's house early in the evening of April 26. Captain Murphy with two officers and 25 men conducted the operation. Bowen-Colthurst took part in the second raid, nominally led by Colonel Allatt, on Sheehy Skeffington's house on the evening of April 28. The Commission determined that this was the occasion Bowen-Colthurst found the allegedly incriminating document that he certified as being found on Sheehy Skeffington when he was arrested. The Commission report characterized both raids as disreputable attempts to find evidence to justify the shootings after the fact.
An issue that was not discussed by the Commission panel was the shooting of
Richard O'Carroll
Richard O'Carroll (29 February 1876 – 5 May 1916) was an Irish trade union leader, military officer, politician and founding member of the Irish Labour Party (Ireland), Labour Party. He was also an early critic of child labour, particularly in ...
two hours after the shootings at Portobello. Bowen-Colthurst described this briefly (without naming O'Carroll) in his April 26 report. Sir John Simon stopped Healy from reading the relevant part of Bowen-Colthurst's report into the record (but not before Healy had identified O'Carroll as the victim), ruling that it was outside the terms of reference of the Commission. There were several such instances, on which lines of enquiry could not be pursued because of the Commission's narrow terms of reference.
Timothy Healy attempted to have Bowen-Colthurst brought to testify at the Commission hearings. The Commissioners pointed out that he was confined in Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum and 'we have therefore felt ourselves debarred from taking his evidence'.
The Commission report concluded with three 'general observations'. In the first, the Commission absolved Irish Command of responsibility for the murders, declaring itself 'satisfied that the state of things which rendered Captain Bowen-Colthurst's conduct possible was largely caused by the unfortunate but inevitable absence through serious illness of Colonel McCammond, the only officer in the barracks whom Captain Colthurst would not have considered himself at liberty to ignore.'
In its second observation, the report singled out Colthurst's April 28 raid on Mrs Sheehy Skeffington's house as being particularly discreditable, especially in the light of his earlier treatment of Mrs Sheehy Skeffington's sisters at Portobello Barracks.
The army authorities had been understandably nervous about Bowen-Colthurst's court martial and its ramifications. The Manual of Military Law advocated the ruthless suppression of insurrection and conditionally offered an 'Act of Indemnity' to any soldier for any illegal acts committed while martial law was in effect. In its third observation, the Commissioners attempted to distance the army authorities from the apparent misapplication of martial law in Bowen-Colthurst's case. Their report ascribed the complicity of the soldiers involved in Bowen-Colthurst's misconduct to a misunderstanding of martial law. The Commission found that it was "a delusion to suppose that a proclamation of martial law confers upon an officer any right to take human life in circumstances where this would have been unjustifiable without such a proclamation, and this delusion in the present case had tragic consequences". The Commission concluded that the proclamation of martial law
does not confer on officers or soldiers any new powers, but is a warning that the Government, acting through the military, is about to take such forcible and exceptional measures as are needed to restore order. ... The measures taken can be justified only by the practical circumstances of the case. ... The shooting of unarmed and unresisting civilians without trial constitutes the offense of murder, whether martial law has been proclaimed or not. We should have deemed it superfluous to point this out were it not that the failure to realise and apply this elementary principle seems to explain the free hand which Captain Bowen-Colthurst was not restrained from exercising throughout the period of crisis.
Aftermath
![Francis_Skeffington](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Francis_Skeffington.jpg)
Major
Francis Vane, Sir Francis Vane, who had sought to have Bowen-Colthurst brought to justice, was
dishonourably discharged from the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
in late May,1916, owing to an adverse report about him filed by British high commander
Sir John Maxwell about his actions in the Skeffington murder case.
[British House of Commons]
"Disturbances in Ireland"
, hearing held on 1 August 1916 (accessed 31 March 2016). He went on to be involved with the
Boy Scouts
Boy Scouts may refer to:
* Boy Scout, a participant in the Boy Scout Movement.
* Scouting, also known as the Boy Scout Movement.
* An organisation in the Scouting Movement, although many of these organizations also have female members. There are ...
, then retired from public life in 1927 and died in 1934.
Captain Bowen-Colthurst was interned briefly at
Broadmoor Hospital
Broadmoor Hospital is a high-security psychiatric hospital in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England. It is the oldest of the three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England, the other two being Ashworth Hospital near Liverpool and Rampton Secure ...
from which he was released under medical supervision on 21 January 1918,
and provided with a military pension.
Bowen-Colthurst emigrated in April 1919 to the Canadian province of
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, where he lived for the rest of his life and died in 1965. His obituary did not mention his role in the Easter rising. His remains were buried in Lakeview Cemetery in
Penticton
Penticton ( ) is a city in the Okanagan Valley of the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, situated between Okanagan and Skaha lakes. In the 2016 Canadian Census, its population was 33,761, while its census agglomeration
The ce ...
, British Columbia.
Hanna Sheehy Skeffington was offered financial compensation by the British government in 1916, but she refused it because it came on the condition that she cease to speak and write about the murder. She became increasingly
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
-minded, and supported the
Anti-Treaty IRA
The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty ( ga , An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the ...
during the
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War ( ga, Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United ...
. She refused to send her son Owen to any school with a pro-Treaty ethos, and therefore opted to place him in the secular
Sandford Park School
Sandford Park School is an independent, non-denominational, co-educational secondary school, located in Ranelagh, Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1922.
History
The school was founded in 1922 by Alfred Le Peton, who served as its first head ...
when it was founded in 1922. Her sister's son
Conor Cruise O'Brien
Donal Conor David Dermot Donat Cruise O'Brien (3 November 1917 – 18 December 2008), often nicknamed "The Cruiser", was an Irish diplomat, politician, writer, historian and academic, who served as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs from 1973 ...
was also placed there. Hanna died in 1946.
Owen Sheehy-Skeffington
Owen Lancelot Sheehy-Skeffington (19 May 1909 – 7 June 1970) was an Irish university lecturer and senator. The son of pacifists, feminists and socialists Francis and Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington, he was politically likeminded and as a member of t ...
became a lecturer in French at
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to:
Australia
* Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales
* Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
, and, beginning in 1954, an
Irish Senator. He died in 1970.
See also
*
List of peace activists
This list of peace activists includes people who have proactively advocated diplomatic, philosophical, and non-military resolution of major territorial or ideological disputes through nonviolent means and methods. Peace activists usually work ...
Works
Books
*''A Forgotten Aspect of the University Question''. Privately printed, Dublin 1901 (published with ''The Day of the Rabblement'' by James Joyce.)
''Michael Davitt, revolutionary, agitator and labour leader'' 1908 (accessible from
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
).
*
* ''In Dark and Evil Days'', Dublin : J. Duffy, 1916.
Personal papers
The personal papers of Francis Sheehy Skeffington and his wife Hanna were donated to the
National Library of Ireland
The National Library of Ireland (NLI; ga, Leabharlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann) is the Republic of Ireland's national library located in Dublin, in a building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane. The mission of the National Library of Ireland is ...
. Details of the papers can be accessed online.
References
External links
Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheehy-Skeffington, Francis
1878 births
1916 deaths
Alumni of University College Dublin
Auditors of the Literary and Historical Society (University College Dublin)
World War I crimes by the British Empire and Commonwealth
Irish pacifists
Irish suffragists
Irish anti–World War I activists
Irish atheists
People from County Cavan
Burials at Glasnevin Cemetery
Extrajudicial killings
Male feminists
Pacifist feminists
Irish Esperantists
Irish Citizen Army members
19th-century atheists
20th-century atheists