NA FIANNA ÉIREANN:

A common wartime sentiment is that of brothers protecting one another in the fight for a cause that they ardently believe in. At the end of the nineteenth century and the onset of the twentieth century, Europe was dominated by military activity and growing nationalism. Irish military involvement is important at this time, because the turn of the century saw the formation of the Irish Republic as an entity separate from the British Empire. The creation of this new Irish Republic begs for the creation of a national foundation myth. A foundation myth of brotherhood, manliness, and militarism dominated the Irish historical narrative as these were qualities that were immensely important to the Irish in their fight for freedom against the British. The Irish emphasized the qualities that good soldiers should emulate and hoped to instill these virtues in all Irish men. By creating a historical narrative of manliness and brotherhood in war, they sought to define the Irish state by the virtues of loyalty, selflessness, and self-sacrifice for Ireland’s nationalist cause and create soldiers who were willing to lay down their lives for the freedom of the country. The Fianna Éireann scouting organization, founded in 1909, exemplifies the Irish myth of brothers in arms by embracing Irish nationalist ideals. The Fianna Éireann drew from widespread influences in the creation of the organization and a primary goal of the Fianna was to foster manliness in Irish youth through military preparedness. Adult nationalists executed this goal by educating Irish youth in cultural history, language development and other practical skills. From its creation, the Fianna Éireann emphasized both physical and mental health to foster citizenship skills in a new generation of children whom nationalists expected would grow up to run the country. Women played a role in the founding of the Fianna Éireann organization, but as the organization grew increasingly militant, women’s participation was discouraged. Furthermore, the Fianna Éireann helps to exemplify the Irish’s male-dominated foundation myth of brotherhood, militancy, and manliness, and the roles of women were often diminished from this narrative. As the brotherhood myth and military demeanor became dominant in the formation of the early Irish Republic, women tended to be erased from the national history, as they were with the Fianna Éireann because they did not fit the established narrative.

Although Ireland did not become fully independent until 1937, the Irish look back on the Easter Rising of 1916 as a founding moment in the creation of a nation, independent of British authority. War was at the forefront of Irish life, and ensuring that they had strong and well-trained military force to fight against British imperial rule was essential to Ireland. Historian Sarah Benton argues that from whatever point an individual looks at Irish history, “it is hard not to be drawn back to its ‘founding moment’ in 1916.”1 In the creation of a new national myth, the Irish saw themselves as a band of brothers standing together and willing to sacrifice everything for the well-being and freedom of their motherland. Fianna member Sean O’Neill shares his ideas on the importance of Irish independence in his witness statement of the Bureau Military History. He states, “Has not all of this loveliness stirred up desires—as it stirred up in the hearts of others, a desire to free her? Men do not fight for an evil or die for an ugly thing. They cherish that which is beautiful-and desire to possess it – or her – Ireland.”2 Irish men and boys were filled with a purpose, and believed that war was the means by which they could unshackle their beautiful country from foreign domination. Sarah Benton states, “The ideal form of relationship in war is brotherhood, both in actuality and potent myth. The mythology of brotherhood creates its own myths of women (as not being there, and men not needing them).”3 The Irish fostered this idea that manliness was essential to uniting a band of brothers with a common purpose who would be willing to work fervently for the protection of one another and to free their county.

The origin of the Fianna Éireann was influenced by various people and encompassed their diverse ideas to create a new organization. The scouting tradition itself emerged a year before the creation of the Fianna Éireann. In 1908 Robert Baden-Powell formed the Baden-Powell Scouts in Britain as a way to educate young British boys by teaching them responsibility and practical life skills. However, Baden-Powell admits that he did not create his organization in a vacuum but drew on the traditions of several other countries and past civilizations when working to organize his scouting group. He notes that he looked at the ways of the Spartan, Zulus, and other African tribes to learn effective ways to educate young men.4 The goals of the Baden-Powell Scouts were to foster responsibility in the British youth having them assist with trivial tasks so adults could focus on their work. They also hoped to condition the boys’ moral character and start to groom a new generation of men with the skills needed to enter the workforce as well as skills that would benefit Britain if it needed to utilize conscripted soliders in the future, as they had in the Boer War. The popularity of the Baden-Powell Scouts made the Irish uneasy, as they saw the training of these boys in an imperial organization as a threat to their freedom. Thus, the Fianna Éireann was formed in opposition to these scouts, using the same model, but implementing a far more militant style of training to bolster nationalism in Ireland and to teach children about the importance of their Irish heritage.

Historians credit Countess Constance Markievicz and Bulmer Hobson for the creation of the Na Fianna Éireann organization. Countess Constance Markievicz was a nationalist and a feminist activist in the early twentieth century and was concerned about the education of the Irish youth. She participated in almost every Irish nationalist organization of the time and often tried to bridge the gap between her movement for women’s equality and a free Ireland. She wrote for the nationalist women’s newspaper Bean na hÉirrean of the women’s organization, Inghinidhe na hÉirrean and encouraged the participation of women in the nationalist movement.5 Karen Steel, however, further recognizes that most dedicated female nationalists at the time believed that women’s political behavior involved raising a new generation of nationalist children, specifically their sons.6 Despite Markievicz’s move to make women more militant, she still focused much of her attention on grooming the next generation of nationalists through her work with the Fianna Éireann. The first meeting of the Fianna Éireann and numerous subsequent meetings were held in Markievicz’s Dublin home.7 Markievicz, along with other contributors of the Bean na hÉirrean started an initiative in 1909 intending to develop the minds and bodies of Irish boys. Marnie Hay states that with this idea in mind, Markievicz sought the assistance of Bulmer Hobson, the nationalist editor of the Irish Freedom newspaper, who already had experience with organizing boys’ groups. Hay notes that “[Markievicz] brought Hobson on board because he had previous experience organizing a boys’ hurling club in Belfast, also called the Na Fianna Éireann. The new incarnation of the Fianna offered boys – and later Belfast and Waterford girls – a blend of scouting, military training, and cultural activities.”8 Hobson, a printer by trade, used his nationalist newspaper, The Irish Freedom, to reach out to young Fianna boys. Gayle Baylis states that Hobson “sought to address Fianna boys through the popular press: Irish Freedom (1910-14) had a column addressed to youths, Fianna articles appeared in The Irish Volunteer (1914-16), and the boy paper Fianna (1915-16) was directed exclusively at youths.”9 Together, Hobson and Markievicz worked to establish an organization that provided Irish boys with education and practical training that would help introduce the boys to future opportunities.

The emergence of both British and Irish boy scouts resulted from a crisis of masculinity and concern over the physical health and mental capabilities of young men. The British were inspired to create an organization like the Baden-Powell Scouts because of the poor physical condition of their conscripted soldiers during the Second Boer War, which they saw as a crisis of imperial masculinity. Marnie Hay states that

The British Army’s poor performance against the force of South African farmers during the Boer War (1899-1902) provoked much concern that British men had become decadent. To arrest this perceived decline in health, countries like England and Ireland took steps to improve the health, education, and moral welfare of the coming generation.10

The sorry state of the conscripts convinced the British that they needed to improve the physical conditions of the boys who would grow up to defend the country. The goal of the boy scouts was to combat social degeneracy with manliness. Brendan Power states that “there can be no doubt that a million Boy Scouts in England means in ten years a million men able to defend her shores against invasion.”11 This movement to create men who were ready for the workforce or military action was nerve-wracking to the Irish, who saw this as a growing threat to Ireland. The Fianna Éireann emerged for similar reasons as the British scouts in that they both held nationalist ideals and strove to improve the health of young men, but the Fianna became far more militant in the execution of their goals.

The adverse effects of increased urbanization on the physical and moral development of boys living in Irish cities also concerned the Irish. The inhabitants of Irish cities often lived in squalor with disease running rampant. In addition, they believed that increased civilization caused a deterioration of health, which destroyed the physical manliness and moral character of young city boys before they reached adulthood. For these reasons, the Irish venerated the rural environment and believed that the characteristics of rural life created morally upstanding and physically fit young men. Brendan Power discusses the findings of Dr. Charles Browne who believed “that ‘the difference in physique between the men of the farming class and the working people of the towns were very striking.’”12 The physical activity required on farms kept boys physically fit and prohibited idleness or laziness. Furthermore, other goals of the boy scouts included teaching the boys self-restraint and self-reliance as well as emphasizing the importance of personal hygiene so that they would become productive citizens. Brendan Power states, “In the Boy Scouts, rurally orientated activities, primarily scouting and camping, were advanced as not solely a leisure pursuit but as a means of encouraging self-reliance, independence, and harnessing the biological impulses of adolescent boys, all potentially threatened by urban life.”13 This is an area where both the Fianna and the Baden-Powell Scouts agreed. Both organizations sought to provide a practical education to help boys grow healthier and stronger while at the same time exercising their minds and preparing them to be useful members of the workforce. The British and the Irish in their respective organizations shared a common goal to combat social degradation through military preparedness. However, the Fianna broke from Baden-Powell’s model in this respect because the Baden-Powell Scouts tended to emphasize the importance of moral character development instead of physical fighting abilities. In contrast, the Fianna propagated a new nationalist military force of underaged boys to oppose the British.

The Fianna’s distaste for the Baden-Powell scouts and their desire to break away and form a parallel organization became evident early on in the organization. The original oath of the Fianna Éireann made the boys promise that they would never join the British Army because they should not dare fight against their Irish brethren or oppose them in their fight for freedom against the British as a dominating imperial power. They fostered the idea of brotherhood by suggesting that fighting with the British was a betrayal of the boys’ Irish compatriots. The Fianna oath in the Fianna Handbook is laid out as, “I promise to work for the independence of Ireland, never to join England’s armed forces, and to obey my superior officers.”14 The Fianna Handbook drips with animosity towards the British even though the Fianna Éireann used the British structure as a skeletal model for their organization. The Fianna Handbook has an entire section on the importance of chivalry in order to teach the boys lessons in moral character. The handbook declares that the British do not understand the concept of chivalry because chivalry is not compatible with empire.15 The handbook offers examples of chivalry and proper moral conduct through the legends of the original Fianna warrior band from which the scouts derive their name. Furthermore, it emphasizes the idea that boys owe their patriotism to Ireland first and foremost, clarifying why the Fianna drew their inspiration from prominent figures in national myth. Gail Baylis states that “The mythological Fianna (the corps d’élite of Finn MacCool) were purportedly ‘young men of exceptional strength and valour, sworn to the chivalric virtues of truth, fortitude and, generosity.”16 The Fianna Éireann idolized the heroes in their national myth and the organization used these stories to give the boys purpose to uphold the traditions of their Irish culture, and fight against anyone who tried to strip them of that culture.

The Fianna Éireann emerged as part of an Irish movement to offer homegrown alternatives to imperialist British organizations. Gail Baylis states, “This ambivalence evident in drawing on imperial models for anti-imperialist ends finds expression in a number of other areas of Fianna activity.”17 The Irish combatted imperialism by creating alternatives to British events and activities in the area. Women’s groups specifically decided that they needed to make a substantial effort to educate Irish children in their nationalist history and remind them that their political loyalty to Ireland always trumped that of Britain. This overbearing British influence is what encouraged the advent of parallel nationalist events and organizations. An early example of this involved Queen Victoria’s visit to Ireland in 1900. Nationalist women’s groups organized a picnic for children to reward them for not attending the royal festivities. Approximately five-thousand children attended a free picnic in Phoenix Park in Dublin after a group of nationalist women discussed the queen’s impending visit and decided that they should “organise a counter-treat for those children who had not attended Queen Victoria’s.’”18 The creation of the Fianna Éireann was part of an Irish movement that inaugurated an array of local activities and organizations to try to take back their native culture, or more accurately, to redefine an Irish culture, that British imperialism had attempted to strip away. Marnie Hay states that “Irish nationalists were keen to generate home-grown alternatives to British popular culture, which, in their opinion, threatened the moral superiority of the Irish people.”19 It seems oxymoronic that Ireland would create an organization like the Fianna Éireann, patterned after the Baden-Powell Scouts, if their goal was to differentiate themselves from the British. However, by offering alternatives to British activities and culture, nationalist men and women attempted to separated themselves from British imperialism even if their organization resembled those of the British. In doing so, they bolstered their own nationalist identity and the nationalist identity for the generations to come. Despite the influences of other organizations such as the Baden-Powell Scouts or Bulmer Hobson’s Fianna Éireann hurling club, the Fianna Éireann as a scouting organization did develop into a distinct entity, markedly different from the organizations on which it was based.

The Fianna Éireann was an organization created to advance the nationalist education for the Irish youth. As it increasingly separated from its predecessors, Fianna Éireann became more militant in nature. The Fianna Éireann included boys from all of Ireland regardless of their class or their religion. Their intention was to promote a sense of brotherhood and comradery despite differences in the boys’ familial backgrounds. The Fianna taught the boys skills with the intention of improve their health and to educating them on the importance of knowing their Irish heritage, and upholding their traditions. From the outset, the founders knew that religion could play a divisive role in the organization. Consequently, in its original form, the Fianna was supposed to be an organization free of religious or political persuasion. Members usually came from families that had a background of supporting nationalism, and their time spent in the Fianna was reinforced by other parts of their lives like attending nationalist schools and other after-school clubs.20 According to Éamon Martin, the Director of Organization and Recruiting from 1915-1916 and Chief of Staff in the Fianna Éireann from 1917-1920, he learned about the organization while he was attending the St. Andrew’s National School. His headmaster William O’Neill asked him if he would be interested in the organization and he was later approached by Countess Markievicz who asked him to recommend the organization to fellow students.21 Children were also encouraged to join the Fianna through various forms of propaganda. Print propaganda played a significant role in the movement to bolster youth nationalism as nationalist newspapers included children’s sections to create excitement around Irish history. For example, Marnie Hay discusses the “An Grianán” column in the Bean na hÉireann, which designed competitions “to encourage entrants to explore aspects of Irish history and heritage, often by submitting 200-word essays.”22 In this way, newspapers provided Irish children with fun opportunities to research Irish heroes whom they could revere and emulate. Music, especially song, is another form of propaganda that the Irish utilized. The Easter Rising in Song and Ballad by Desmond Greaves discusses “The Fianna Song,” which encouraged children to enact lofty sacrifices for the betterment and freedom of Ireland. “The Fianna Song” sets the tone of the organization as it is uplifting and positive. It furthers the idea that Ireland is a land for the Irish and, they must do their best to protect it from outside forces. The song’s lyrics include “For Freedom, Fianna Éireann! Set we our faces to the dawning day—The day in our own land, when strength and daring shall end for evermore the Saxon way.”23 The use of the word “Saxon” as opposed to the word “English” or “British” suggests that the Irish have been in bondage for a long time. Furthermore, they hoped to inflate this sense of Irish superiority manifested in lessons of Irish history and language as a way to preserve the native traditions of the Irish. Marnie Hay states that,

The Fianna used lectures, newspaper articles, and chapters in its handbook to educate its members about Irish history (from an Irish nationalist perspective) and folklore in order to teach them about their own unique heritage, to familiarize them with the nationalist vision of Ireland’s long struggle against British rule, and to introduce them to Irish heroes worthy of emulation.24

The name of the organization, Na Fianna Éireann, itself is an ode to the Irish legends of a band of warriors who fought for the safety of Ireland. The Fianna Éireann enhances their national pride by attempting to imitate these individuals because they saw valour in their actions. The organization also heavily emphasized the notion of self-sacrifice, though generally it was not the case that adolescents in scouting organizations should be so prepared to lay down their lives and give the ultimate sacrifice in order to preserve their countries and protect their brethren.

Along with teachings in history and language, the acquisition of military knowledge was incredibly important to succeeding in the Fianna Éireann. In an attempt to separate themselves from other organizations and instill pride in their boys for being Irish, instruction in the Na Fianna Éireann included how to use and care for weapons. Éamon Martin, states in his witness statement for the Irish Bureau of Military History that knowing about their nation’s past provided members with a reason for fighting. He says that “Irish history was also a special feature and particularly the phases recording Irish battles and the many insurrections against the British occupation. In this way, boys were given a reason for military training.”25 Furthermore, Fianna Éireann senior officers, such as Éamon Martin, Con Colbert, Michael Lonergan, and Padraic O’Riain, were obliged to teach themselves military tactics and skills necessary for active military involvement so that they could train the younger members of the organization. Martin again cites that “The senior officers were obliged to and did studiously cull from, the British Army manuals, and from these manuals stenciled sheets were issue to the company and section leaders of every sluagh [troop].”26 The young men in the Fianna Éireann gained increased credibility with the Irish Volunteers through their acquisition of military knowledge, so much so that the I.R.A recruited trained Fianna boys to teach military techniques to the men who joined their organization. The Fianna took on an identity that was distinctly their own as increased militancy and devotion to the fight for Ireland’s independence drove their activities.

The Fianna’s martial tone also emphasized sporting events. Through participation in a sports team, boys improved their physical health which also had a practical application as the organization became increasingly militant. In the Irish Bureau of Military History’s Witness Statement no. 1219, Sean O’Neill describes the football club created by his Fianna Éireann sluagh in Tuam, in Northern Ireland. In one case, creating a football club allowed the boys to practice the nationalist values by buying all of their equipment from Irish manufacturers.27 They did not have access to well-manicured fields to play football as most of that land was in the hands of British landlords. Therefore, they played on rough terrain, which was a donation from a Fenian by the name of Malachy Concannon. Sean O’Neill states that “Malachy had nothing better to offer than a patch of rough ground. The rich, broad acres were in the hands of the others—the imperialist element.”28 For this reason, every time the Fianna boys played football, they were reminded that their Irish homeland was not their own but had been stolen from them by the British for imperialist means. They believed they were better off for this because it made them stronger and more agile. In this way, sports became a meaningful way to compliment the militant nature of the Fianna organization. By frequently practicing their football skills, they also conditioned themselves physically in ways that would help to combat the presumed crisis of masculinity in young Irish boys and help them later in their careers as soldiers. O’Neill recounts that they learned to play rough, and that “Having practiced so hard we were as muscular and as lively as mountain hares.”29 Other field sports also allowed the Fianna boys to raise funds for their organization and their equipment. They received support from local Irish Republican Brotherhood men who came to watch and participate in their events such as foot and cycling races. O’Neill claims that “Our very successful sports raised our prestige and brought in ample funds from which we purchased a Bell-tent, pitched camp in our playing field, and so hail, rain or snow had no terrors for us.”30 The Fianna boys in Tuam exemplified the outdoorsy qualities that laid the foundation for the scouting organization and displayed the ways in which rural activities helped to improve the boys’ physical health.

Figure 1. Na Fianna Éireann Council, 1915. Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland, Keogh Photographic Collection, KE 212

The Na Fianna Éireann utilized the art of performance to help prepare their young men for life as future soldiers of the Irish state. The organization encouraged the teaching of Irish history through the medium of theatrical productions, so boys were trained to become soldiers by playing soldiers. Brendan Power quotes Robert Baden-Powell in saying, “He argued that ‘many a boy who thinks he is only playing at Buffalo Bill is really learning geology and natural history. He is, moreover receiving a moral discipline which he would resent if administered through any other agency.”’31 The Fianna boys actively learned by doing, and through performances they could place themselves in the shoes of Irish heroes who inspired them. Gail Baylis notes that these types of performances were prevalent in both the Fianna Éireann as well as other nationalist institutions such as the schools these boys would have attended. Baylis argues, “The Fianna boys mythopoeticized the same drama as the St. Enda boys, but in contemporary fashion: costumes (uniforms), performance (military dramatics) and props (guns) were at the heart of the organization’s appeal.”32 This theatrical element of the Fianna Éireann was essential in recruiting young men to join their ranks. The Fianna costume, which embraced a combative design and the equipment used for training, made the Fianna into a superior organization. The Fianna uniforms were fashioned in the style of military uniforms. However, they were not fashioned after the British, but rather the Americans and Canadians. Sean O’Neill recounts seeing young men smartly dressed in their uniforms for the first time when he states, “His uniform was, I think, of dark green material made up in the fashion of an American or Canadian outfit. A pair of green puttees and Sam Browne belt completed his attire.”33 As with many aspects of the organization, these uniforms allowed the boys to step into the roles of soldiers, instead of just pretending. Also, the uniform itself served to diminish the differences between the boys in the organization to create one cohesive unit. Gail Baylis states that “The effect ‘is to dissolve differences into a unitary group identity.’ Uniforms, flags, and banners serve to further pronounce a militarized index.”34 Because the Fianna came from different social classes and religions, the introduction of quasi-military uniformity was implemented to help ensure that the boys worked together and stayed loyal to one another and their cause. Uniforms eradicated differences that could potentially be divisive. Lastly, the use of props played an exciting role in securing new recruits to the Fianna Éireann. Gerard Noonan, an expert on the Irish Republican Army, discusses the draw that the Fianna had on young boys, especially by recounting an anecdote about Seamus Reader. Seamus Reader was a Scotsman who dedicated his life to fighting for Irish and Scottish freedom. He became a Captain of the Fianna Éireann in 1916 and was a member of the I.R.A’s Scottish brigade. He later founded a Scottish Republican Army in the early 1930s.35 According to Gerard Noonan, “Reader joined [the] Baden-Powell’s scouts. However, when his younger brother taunted him that the scouting organization he had joined, Na Fianna Éireann was better than Seamus’ because ‘they had swords’ and attractive uniforms, Seamus switched to the Willie Nelson troop.”36 Readers’ participation in the Fianna in Scotland shows how far-reaching the organization was, and this recounting of his childhood shows how much dressing up and playing soldier attracted the young boys of Ireland to participate in the Fianna Éireann. The Fianna was effective in instilling Irish nationalism in individuals even if they were not physically in Ireland. In this way, they could propagate opposition to British Imperial rule from all over Great Britain. Furthermore, in some areas, the Fianna Éireann was more advanced and better equipped than the Irish Volunteers, considering their organization was older and better established. For example Marnie Hay notes that , “Patrick O’Daly was already a member of the Volunteers when he moved to Tuam. There he found that the local Fianna sluagh was more actively engaged in military training than the Volunteers, so he joined the youth group and remained a member when he returned to Dublin.”37 Thus, in some cases the Fianna Éireann represented a more militant organization than the organization they were training to fight with when they came of age. The Fianna boys became incredibly well equipped and knowledgeable of military techniques and boys who had risen through the ranks of the Fianna Éireann were usually responsible for training other militant organizations in combative skills. This is one aspect that defined the close relationship between the Fianna and the Irish Volunteers, as the Fianna’s highest-ranking officers usually took on the task of training the Irish Volunteers.

The Fianna Éireann became more of a military organization as it formed a strong relationship with the Irish Volunteer Army. The Fianna Éireann became a feeder organization to the Irish Volunteers because they provided a solution for what to do with Fianna members when they passed the age of eighteen. Also, the Volunteers pulled their officers and instructors from the well-trained Fianna boys. Éamon Martin notes that this was a successful relationship for both organizations. His witness statement says, “This arrangement was very successful. It gave to the Volunteers recruits who were already fully trained, and for the Fianna, it solved the problem of the young men of 18 years and over, for whom there were not sufficient officer positions.”38 Éamon Martin mentions that the Fianna Éireann began working in collaboration with the Irish Volunteers by running guns for the organization with Bulmer Hobson in charge of the Fianna during the Howth gun-running operation in 1914. Hobson decided that ammunition should be taken back to Dublin by the Fianna because they were the only group of people with the discipline for the operation that the Irish Volunteers could trust.39

The Fianna Éireann also played an active role in the Easter Rising events of 1916. The plan was for the Fianna to take charge of signaling the rising by rushing the Magazine Fort at Phoenix Park. On Easter Monday 1916, Fianna officers were given command over the operation at Magazine Fort as Joseph Reynolds recounted in his witness statement: “A party commanded by a Fianna Officer, and manned almost entirely by Fianna rushed the Magazine Fort, Phoenix Park, disarmed the guard, and made an almost successful attempt to detonate the explosives stored therein. This was to be the signal for the Rising.”40 The Fianna boys also took on dangerous work like dispatch carrying, scouting, and reconnaissance missions.41 Through these actions during the Easter Rising, the Fianna Éireann proved its loyalty to Ireland in the sense that they were willing to put themselves into danger.

The contribution of the Fianna Éireann was recognized in the Military Service Pensions Act of 1934, an expansion on the 1924 Army Pensions Act, when it awarded pensions to members of the Fianna Éireann who had served the Irish state during the fighting of Easter Week in 1916 and the Irish War for Independence (1919-1921).42 Applications for military pensions show that in some cases, members of the Fianna did sacrifice their life for the cause of Irish freedom. Pension record no. 1D352 shows that John Healy was a Fianna boy running dispatches in the Rising when he was killed in action at the age of sixteen from a gunshot wound to the head.43 Although, the 1934 Military Pensions act considered the Fianna Éireann eligible to receive pensions, they generally qualified for a D or E pension, the two lowest pension grades,44 perhaps because their work of running dispatches, gun-running, or working reconnaissance missions, were considered low on the list of active military service. Still, that the government granted those pension carried significant symbolic importance in that it proved that underaged boys were working for the freedom of the Irish state. It shows the ways the Fianna Éireann can be set apart from its predecessors because Irish boys were not just being taught qualities that would help them be future soldiers; they were actively fighting as soldiers. One of the consequences of the Fianna’s increasing military organization and activity, however, was that it tended to isolate women and discourage their role in the organization.

The role of women in the Fianna Éireann is a source of contention in the history of the organization because they do not fit in with the characteristics of manliness and military preparedness that the organization prided itself on. Women’s groups were essential in the creation of this organization; however, as the organization became increasingly militant, women’s role in the organization diminished, and female participation was discouraged. Countess Constance Markievicz, the highest-ranking female member of the Fianna Éireann, believed that women had much power over children and their education because they were the primary caregivers and parents in the home. Furthermore, Markievicz wanted to create the Fianna Éireann as a movement for the education of young boys. She believed that women’s organizations like the Inghinidhe na hÉireann (The Women of Ireland), of which she was a member, had abandoned young boys in their nationalist education because they were more challenging to manage than girls. With that being said, it was not her intention to bar young girls from the organization. Markievicz had support from the other members in her women’s organizations, and Marnie Hay states that she actively sought assistance for Bulmer Hobson to help her create the organization. However, the inspiration for the organization was initially Markievicz’s, and she contacted Hobson because he had experience organizing boys’ groups, such as his boys hurling club. Countess Markievicz, a consistent figure in numerous nationalist organizations of the day including the Cumann na mBan, the Irish Citizens Army, and the Fianna Éireann, organized events and activities for the Fianna Éireann, including opening her home for their Dublin club meetings and organizing mock battles for the boys to learn both to attack and how to defend themselves.”45 Markievicz was a proponent for women’s rights in Ireland and believed she could reconcile both her nationalist ideas with her feminism. At the time, the fight for feminism and nationalism often conflicted because nationalists believed that women’s fight for equality worked counter to the overall nationalist agenda. However, Markievicz believed that women should join men in armed insurgency as a way to seek equality between men and women as well to liberate Ireland.46 She believed that men would be more willing to treat women as their equals if they picked up arms to help fight for Ireland. As Marnie Hay notes in a newspaper column for the Bean na hÉireann, “Markievicz assured her readers that men would treat women as comrades if only women would demonstrate their leadership.”47 However, in actuality, Markievicz learned that men were not willing to stand arm in arm with females in that respect. Irish men believed that only they understood how to fight against subjugation because women were passive by nature and less affronted by what they considered atrocities at the hands of the British. Sarah Benton states that Irish men believed that “Real men, unlike slaves or women who were naturally passive, would be angry about British rule.”48 Men did not share in the sentiment that women could fight alongside men, and especially in the Na Fianna Éireann organization, men were hesitant to allow female participation both at the organizational level and from young girls.

Early in the formation of the Fianna Éireann, officials decided that the organization would be almost exclusively male. Women did not represent the Fianna on a national level.49 However, the one exception to this otherwise male organization came from the Betsy Gray Sluagh, formed in Belfast in 1911. It was the first and only female troop to exist in the Fianna Éireann organization. Prominent members of the Betsy Gray sluagh included both Ina and Nora Connolly, who were the daughters of socialist leader and signator of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic James Connolly, and Lily Kempson-McAlerney, who had seen action in the Rising and was the last survivor of the 1916 Easter Rising.50 According to Ina Connolly, the Betsy Gray sluagh was named after Betsy Gray, a heroine of Northern Ireland who fell in battle when fighting in the Irish Rebellion of 1798.51 The Betsy Gray sluagh differed from its counterparts in its organizational structure. Its structure did not reflect the same military hierarchy as the boys’ troops. Boys troops in the Fianna mimicked military ranks and structure, in part so that they could work more seamlessly with the Irish Volunteers. However, the girls’ group did not operate in this way. Nora O’Brien neé Connolly, in her witness statement for the Irish Bureau of Military History, recounts, “My sister, Ina, and I joined the Fianna – the “Betsy Gray” Sluagh of which I became chief officer. I don’t know what my title was. I don’t think we had military titles. I don’t think I was a captain. I don’t remember being referred to as being ‘Captain.’ I was in charge of the Branch anyway.”52 The girls however were proud of the work they put in with the Fianna Éireann and learned many skills with the organization that they utilized later in life.

Figure 2. Betsy Gray Sluagh by Reid’s Photography, 1914.Easter Week Collection, National Museum of Ireland, HE.EW3042

The photo above was taken in 1914, because Lily Kempson-McAlerney, seated directly in the center with Ina Connolly Heron on her right, wanted to take a photo to commemorate the day that she and the other girls pictured took an oath of allegiance to the Irish Republic.53 This photo also exhibits the militant nature of these young girls despite the differences in their structure from their male counterparts. Nora Connolly O’Brien states, “We always wore our uniform. The girls had the uniform, as well as the boys; we had green linen shirts instead of their hopsack shirts.”54 The girls’ sluagh took pride in their work and their allegiance to the Irish republic and showed this by displaying their uniforms for all to see to commemorate this exciting event. Ina Connelly Heron recounts in her witness statement that the girls “learned drilling, Irish dancing, Irish history, Irish language, and first aid.”55 These girls also worked in close collaboration with many Fianna members that became prominent in the nationalist fight for freedom, including Liam Mellows, Sean Heuston, and Con Colbert, who “later sacrificed their young lives for Ireland.”56 Nora mentions that she travelled with the Betsy Gray sluagh to Dublin annually for a meeting of the Fianna.

Figure 3. Na Fianna reaching for rifles on Howth Pier, National Museum of Ireland

However, the girls’ troop was commonly excluded from more dangerous activities in which all the other Fianna boys participated. For example, the Fianna Éireann was active in the Howth Gun-Running which occurred in 1914 when Erskine Childers, a British born Irish author, took a yacht to meet a German boat in the North Sea to procure just under one thousand guns for use by Irish Volunteers in order to defend Home Rule for Ireland.57 According to Nora’s account, most of the Fianna boys were active in this event, but the girls were not allowed to partake. She states, “I think the most interesting thing that happened during one of the conventions was when the Howth rifles were run. We were still in Dublin, and practically all the boys participated in that.”58 Later, Nora again mentions that the Fianna boys regularly worked guard duty for the Irish Volunteers’ office in Dublin. She mentions that “the boys” participated in these critical events and activities. However, it indicates that the Betsy Gray female sluagh watched from the sidelines and did not take an active role in them. Nora Connelly later went on to form a branch of the Cumann na mBan (The Women’s Council) in Belfast. By 1915 the Betsy Gray Sluagh was disbanded as most of the Betsy Gray girls like Nora Connelly joined Cumann na mBan. Cumann na mBan was a women’s paramilitary organization that had merged with Markievicz’s Inghinidhe na hÉireann organization and eventually took its place. As the girls became more involved in this women’s organization, their participation in the Fianna Éireann dwindled. However, even when Nora Connolly O’Brien moved over to the Cumann na mBan, she still interacted with the Fianna Éireann for other reasons. She learned first aid and later taught it to the Fianna Eireann and the Irish Volunteers.59

Nora’s fellow members of the Betsy Gray Sluagh, like Lily Kempson-McAlerney, also joined Cumann na mBan and the Irish Citizens Army. Lily Kempton-McAlerney worked under Countess Markievicz and Michael Mallin who was second in command to James Connolly in the I.C.A during the Easter Rising and who commanded the garrison at Stephen’s Green in Dublin.60 The garrison at St. Stephen’s Green was occupied for 18 hours from Monday at noon to Tuesday at six in the morning.61 According to Lily Kempson McAlerney’s application for military pension under the 1934 Military Pensions Act, during the Easter Rising, she mostly cooked meals for Michael Mallin and Countess Constance Markievicz.62 Under the command of Michael Mallin, Kempson ran dispatches for the Irish Citizen Army and was part of the initial group that took over the College of Surgeons in Dublin.63 In his witness statement, member of the Irish Citizens Army Frank Robbins recounts,

The College of Surgeons was occupied on Easter Monday at 3 p.m. by myself and three other members of the Republican forces, together with, for a temporary period, Madame Markievicz, Miss Lily Kempson, Missy Mary Hyland and one other woman whom I cannot now remember. We had strict instructions to hold the College of Surgeons, as it was an important part of our plans.64

According to the Bureau of Military History Military Service Pension Collection, Kempson-McAlerney was awarded a Service Medal and a 1916 Medal in May of 1950 for her work in the Easter Rising. She was also awarded a Grade E pension under the 1934 Military Pensions Act for twenty pounds and two shillings per year until her death in 1996.65 From the beginning, the Fianna Éireann had its reservations about the participation of women. However, these ideas seem officially determined in 1918 when the Fianna headquarters encouraged women to away from work in the Fianna. Marnie Hay notes that “in early 1918, Fianna headquarters in Dublin informed the girls that they should join the Clan na Gael Girl Guides instead.”66 The Clan na nGaedheal Girls guides were created by Constance Markievicz along with Liz and May Kelly in 1910. According to Joseph E.A. Connell Jr., the goal of the organization was to “politicise a generation of Irish women and prepared them for larger roles during the period.”67 Many of these girls went on to be leaders of Cumann na mBan and had participated in the Easter Rising. However, they were not trained militarily in the same ways that the Na Fianna Éireann were. By 1918, the Fianna Éireann solidified their position as an organization that did not want the membership of women.

Figure 4. "The Countess Markievicz in uniform with her gun, c. 1915", National Library of Ireland, Keogh Photographic Collection, KE 82.

Countess Markievicz held a contentious position in the Fianna Éireann as the importance of her role in its creation has often been diminished, especially in the decades after Independence. Markievicz was active in nearly every nationalist organization of the time. Nonetheless, she had a reputation as someone who was controlling, pushy, and who did not know her place despite all of her outstanding accomplishments. Karen Steel states,

Well known as a protégé of James Connolly, she achieved much on behalf of women and workers in her own right: she was the first woman elected to the British Commons (1918; and as the Minister of Labour, the only woman in the Cabinet of the First Dáil Éireann (1919-21). Despite these concrete accomplishments, Markievicz is still remembered today more for her shrill voice, her facile zeal, and her theatrical flair as a sharpshooter wearing an ostrich plume feather.68

Criticizing her voice and her devotion to Ireland attempts to strip away her accomplishments and shows how the Irish viewed women in society in general. Markievicz openly criticized women who left the fighting to the men and encouraged women to become more active in defending Ireland from the British crown. She feared that most Irish women, although they were patriots, seemed too content to stay at home.69 Markievicz sought an active role in nationalist endeavors through her participation and her contributions in the Fianna were increasingly discredited or minimized, reducing her role as a founder to a supporting one in comparison to her colleague Bulmer Hobson. Even in the 1960s, Markievicz’s role was still contested as evidenced in a debate in The Irish Times between the historian F.X. Martin and Sidney Czira, writing under her pen name John Brennan, regarding Markievicz’s founder status in the organization. The basis of F.X. Martin’s argument was that Bulmer Hobson, alone, was the founder of the Fianna Eireann. He argues that Bulmer Hobson founded the Fianna Éireann on June 26, 1902, which was seven years before the creation of the Fianna Éireann scouts in Dublin in 1909.70 He noted that anyone who considers Countess Markievicz to be the founder of the organization was misinformed. Although Bulmer Hobson did create an organization called the Fianna Éireann in 1902, this is a reference to his failed hurling club and not the Fianna Éireann that that went on to train Irish soldiers. Sidney Czira, herself a prominent figure in nationalist organizations in Ireland and America, argued an opposing view that the Countess spearheaded the organization. She cited minutes from the first conference of the Fianna that stated, “The Secretary in opening his report, referred to the great thanks due to the Countess for not only founding the organization but the untiring way she assisted it everywhere…”71 Information about the Fianna indicates that the organization came about from the influence of women over young children and that Markievicz wanted to create this group to encourage the advancement of nationalism in the next generation of Irish youth. Conversely, Desmond Greaves suggests that the organization came about as an offshoot of the Irish Repblican Brotherhood, of which Bulmer Hobson was associated. He states, “One of the first organizations established as a result of renewed I.R.B. initiative was Na Fianna Êireann, (soldiers of Ireland) a republican youth organization founded by Bulmer Hobson, the effective editor of Irish Freedom. When Hobson left Dublin for Belfast, Countess Markiewicz provided the premises and inspiration.”72 This passage includes the Countess Markievicz as almost an afterthought to Bulmer Hobson as inspiring the boys and opening her home to the organization. Greaves mentioned that Markievicz inspired the Fianna, which suggested that it was her idea that fueled the initial creation of the organization, yet credited Hobson with forming the group.

Despite the debate over the origins of the Fianna Éireann, throughout her time with the organization, Markievicz remained a symbolic figurehead but also an outsider. She held a high rank in the bureaucracy of the organization, but she did not have any real power, as proven by Éamon Martin’s recollections of the organization. In his comments Martin may offer a resolution of the debate: He noted, “It can be seen, therefore, that while, as I have already said, it was expedient to leave Madame as president, she really had no voice in shaping policy and was overruled or outvoted whenever her ideas ran counter to the decision of the group.”73 Despite her role as president, and likely founder, decisions were often made by the Fianna’s council before she was able to have a say on the matter. Furthermore, she was left in the dark regarding the activities of the boys as they began working in closer conjunction with the Irish Volunteers. Some maintain that the boys did not disrespect her, and considered her naive regarding the most important aspects of the organization. According to Karen Steele, “In 1914, Markievicz’s Fianna boys secretly picked up arms, while she and her sister leaders were not even consulted.”74 Although the members of the organization did not speak ill of her, their language does suggest that she did not understand the sacrifices required to protect Ireland from the English. The boys believed they had a better understanding of sacrifice than Markievicz from what they have learned in their training, despite the fact that she organized many of their training exercises. Sean O’Neill notes in his witness statement that, “For despite the comfort and luxury with which she was endowed, the wealth and culture stored up in the mind of that lovely woman, was not one of us and was not prepared, at a moment’s notice to sacrifice all in an effort to free Ireland!”75 For this reason, she could not be one of the Fianna because they believed she was not prepared to make the same sacrifices that they were. Countess Markiewicz was an important figure not just to the Fianna Éireann but to the nationalist movement in general, however, she is memorialized as eccentric rather than heroic. Sarah Benton states, “It is in that [foundation] myth that women are often deleted from history, and the peculiar ‘warrior’ qualities of men are elevated to heroic status […]. It is in this telling of the Irish national myth that the political authority of women has so often been expunged.”76 In this case, a woman’s major contribution to an organization has been increasingly expunged because it was an organization dominated by men in an overarching misogynistic political system.

The goal of the Fianna Éireann organization was to advance nationalism, but Markievicz faced problems with many nationalists in Ireland who believed that her feminist ideologies were not compatible with the nationalist movement. The feminist movement encompassed the fight for Irish Women’s suffrage; however, Irish suffragists were dependent on the British government to grant them the right to vote. Scholar Louise Ryan states that “Women like Mary McSwiney, an Irish nationalist and later leader of Sinn Fein, claimed that the suffragists were becoming increasingly associated with Unionism and losing support amongst nationalists.77 Nationalists saw working with British governments for women’s suffrage as a betrayal of the Irish government, however, Irish suffragists feared that they would not get the right to vote unless they utilized the British legal system. At that time, the Irish government did not have Home Rule; thus, they were not able to grant Irish women the right to vote. Dependence on the British legal system for the right to vote put them at odds with the nationalist movement, which was working to break away from British control of the government. The Irish Women’s Franchise League strongly criticized women who broke away from the suffragist movement, such as Mary McSwiney who left to join Cumann na mBan. Ryan cites the Irish Women’s Franchise League’s newspaper The Irish Citizen in saying that “Although the editorial policy of the paper was supportive of Irish self-determination, it was repeatedly pointed out that Home Rule without the enfranchisement of women meant Male Rule.”78 Suffragists thought that they would be less successful in seeking the right to vote in Ireland because they could not gain enfranchisement unless the Irish were successful in declaring independence. Markievicz worked to prove that these two ideologies did not have to fight against one another but could work together. According to Sarah Benton, Markievicz believed that “the readiness to bear arms for the state was the qualification par excellence for citizenship.”79 She believed that if women were willing to fight alongside their menfolk for the freedom of their Irish homeland, then they would be awarded the same rights as them, which would include female suffrage. However, her treatment as a second-class citizen in an organization of her creation shows that most men believed that there was no place for women in this fierce fight for freedom. The established cultural norms at the time were working against her with the ideas of brotherhood and manliness dominating the national narrative, and Sarah Benton states that “even the women with the best claim as awakeners, like Maud Gonne and Constance Markievicz, were transmuted in this myth into mere totems for the men.”80

It is incorrect to say that women in Irish history did not have a significant role in the fight for Irish freedom in the early twentieth century, simply because history would suggest that they played a less prominent role than men. However, because the Easter Rising holds such a central place in Irish History, the Irish people look back at it as a founding moment. This founding moment is shrouded in the ideals of brotherhood and manliness that drove the Fianna Éireann as nationalist adults convinced these young men that the freedom of Ireland was the paramount cause worth fighting for. The Republic of Ireland was built on a foundation myth that men breathe life into new nations and prove themselves to be brothers by spilling their blood for the wellbeing of the nation.81 The organization promoted the idea that the ultimate sacrifices must be made for the ultimate goal of freedom. However, for this reason, the contributions of women are labelled as less essential to the success of a militant state because in their opinion, men bring about military success. Sarah Benton states, “They myth of foundation is extraordinarily important for women. It is in the myth that women are often deleted from history and the peculiar ‘warrior’ qualities of men are elevated to a heroic status.”82 The manly qualities and brotherhood in this new nation were so predominant that women’s participation is rewritten in the construction of a national narrative not as warriors or auxiliaries themselves, but as bereaved mothers to soldiers lost in the fighting.83 However, in awarding pensions to women, the Irish government acknowledged that this way of thinking was inaccurate. At the time, young girls like Lily Kempson, Ina and Nora Connolly, and the other members of the Betsy Gray sluagh went on to play important roles in the Easter Rising and War of Independence just as their male counterparts did. However, the Irish government did not provide many women with the compensation they deserved. Members of the Na Fianna Éireann were eligible for a pension under the 1924 Military Pensions act; however, even though women were not explicitly barred from applying for a pension, members of Cumann na mBan were not eligible to apply for pensions.84 According to the Irish government, that left only one woman, Dr. Brigid Lyons, eligible for a military pension. Dr. Lyons was an army doctor during the war for independence from 1922 to 1924. She was also considered eligible because she was employed as an intelligence agent for the Irish Volunteers. However, even her eligibility for a pension was contested, but the Attorney General John A. Costello deemed her eligible for the award.85 Making Cumann na mBan ineligible for pensions prohibited a large percentage of women from applying despite their participation in the monumental founding event of the republic. However, the 1934 Military Pension Act did include Cumann na mBan and allowed women to apply for pensions, however, Cumann na mBan was awarded the lowest grade of military pensions.86 D and E grade pensions were awarded to women in Cumann na mBan, which were the same grade awarded to the boys of Na Fianna Éireann. This suggests that that the contributions of important women like Lily Kempson were rewarded on the same level as the underage boys who fought in the Fianna Éireann. Marie Coleman states that Frank Aiken, a founding member of the Fianna Fáil (the anti-treaty party in the Free State), “was skeptical of the chances of female applicants: ‘the same test of service will be applied to women as was applied to men and…that will result, in my opinion, in very few being granted an active service certificate.’”87 Thus, it is evident that the Irish government did not believe women had sacrificed as much for Ireland as men, a conclusion proven by the discrepancy in the pensions awarded. When applying for a military pension, the Irish government received a reference letter from Nora Martin on behalf of Ellen Carrol. Martin, a close associate of Michael Collins who had been active in the Rising and War of Independence and became President of the Cork District Council in 1922, argued to the Board,

These women whose claims are before you are perfect examples of service. From the very fact of being members of that militant organization, they were the butt for the jeers and insults of a large section of the community. They risked their jobs, their homes, and their lives by doing so, and in preparing and training themselves, they gave their time and energy…This bunch of women…appear so unpretentious…consistently prepared for, and ever ready to act, at any time and any capacity they were called on and did act.88

This demonstrates that women cared just as much for the freedom of Ireland as men and put a great deal at risk in order to fight for Irish independence from the British. The diminished credit for their contributions is not the result of sitting back and allowing the men to do the fighting. In the writing of the dominant national historiography, women’s contributions were downgraded to bolster the achievements of male soldiers and also to create a new Republic that would in the years to come keep women in a state as second-class citizen whose role was in the home.

The Na Fianna Éireann encompassed the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries ideals of manliness and militancy to instill a sense of brotherhood in young Irish men and to create a nationalist force whose members would be willing to lay down their lives for the cause of Irish freedom. The participation of Fianna Éireann’s underaged members in major military conflicts distinguished it from other scouting organizations. People who were still legally considered children were running guns and ammunition to provide their comrades with equipment to win the fight for an Irish state that was independent of British influence. Scouting organizations used the principle military preparedness to improve the health of boys to turn them into prepared soldiers and working men, yet, the Fianna Éireann turned the boys into actual soldiers. The Fianna organization came about from the desire of women’s groups and mothers to provide their children with a proper nationalist education and to instill nationalist beliefs in the next generation of leaders. However, despite their role in its creation, women were systematically excluded from the organization. The Fianna Éireann became more militant by adopting the characteristics of militancy and manliness that defined the emerging founding myth of the Irish State. For this reason, female members of the organization were excluded from vital events, or were diverted to other organizations separate from the Fianna Éireann. Countess Constance Markievicz was a prominent figure in the creation and success of the Fianna Éireann, and she and countless other Irish women were active in the fight for Irish freedom. Actions of organizations such as the Fianna helped to erase or minimize the accomplishments of their female members. The history of Fianna Éireann serves as a symbol of twentieth-century Ireland’s practice of rewriting the historical narrative and inventing a national myth. In praising these men and even the boys of the Fianna as a band of brothers, willing to face danger and death for the success of their cause, they diminish the crucial role of women in the process.

Title Photo Courtesy of National Library of Ireland, Bulmer Hobson, Photograph Collection, NPA HOB1

Sarah Benton. “Women Disarmed: The Militarization of Politics in Ireland 1913-23.” Feminist Review 50: 148–72 (1995). http://search.proquest.com/docview/1767327538/, 148.
Bureau of Military History, Witness Statement no. 1219, Sean O’Neill, 21.
Sarah Benton. “Women Disarmed: The Militarization of Politics in Ireland 1913-23,” 148.
Michael Rosenthal. The Character Factory: Baden-Powell and the Origins of the Boy Scout Movement. New York: Pantheon Books, 1986, 64.
Karen Steele. "Constance Markievicz's Allegorical Garden: Femininity, Militancy, and the Press, 1909-1915."
Women's Studies 29, no. 4 (2000), 428.
Ibid., 428.
Desmond C. Greaves. The Easter Rising in Song & Ballad. London: Kahn and Averill for the Workers Music Association, 1980, 42.
Marnie Hay. “What Did Advanced Nationalists Tell Irish children in the Early Twentieth Century?” in Ciara Ní Bhroin and Patricia Kennon (eds), What do we tell the children? Critical essay on children’s literature (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012), 5.
Gail Baylis. "Boy Culture and Ireland 1916." Early Popular Visual Culture 13, no. 3 (2015), 196.
Marnie Hay. “What Did Advanced Nationalists Tell Irish Children in the Early Twentieth Century?” 2.
Brendan Power. “The Boy Scouts in Ireland: Urbanisation, Health, Education, and Adolescence, 1908-1914.” In Construction of the Irish Child in the Independence Period, 1910-1940, edited by Ciara Gallagher and Ciara Boylan, 257–77. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018, 258.
Brendan Power. “The Boy Scouts in Ireland: Urbanisation, Health, Education, and Adolescence, 1908-1914,” 262.
Ibid., 267.
Padraic Pearse, and Roger Casement. Fianna Handbook. (Middletown, DE), 2016, 13.
Ibid., 77.
Gail Baylis. "Boy Culture and Ireland 1916," 196.
Ibid.
Marnie Hay. “What Did Advance Nationalists tell Irish Children in the Early Twentith Century?”, 1.
Ibid., 8.
Gail Baylis. "Boy Culture and Ireland 1916,” 199.
Bureau of Military History, Witness Statement no. 591, Éamon Martin, 1.
Marnie Hay. “What Did Advanced Nationalists Tell Irish Children in the Early Twentieth Century?” 6.
Desmond C. Greaves. The Easter Rising in Song & Ballad. (London: Kahn and Averill for the Workers Music Association, 1980), 42.
Marnie Hay. "Moulding the Future: Na Fianna Éireann and Its Members, 1909-1923." Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review 100, no. 400 (2011), 447.
Bureau of Military History, Witness Statement no. 591, Martin, Éamon, 6.
Ibid., 6
Bureau of Military History, Witness Statement no. 1219, Sean O’Neill, 13.
Ibid., 13.
Ibid., 14.
Bureau of Military History, Witness Statement no. 1219, Sean O’Neill, 15.
Brendan Power. “The Boy Scouts in Ireland: Urbanisation, Health, Education, and Adolescence, 1908-1914,” 269.
Gail Baylis. "Boy Culture and Ireland 1916,” 200.
Bureau of Military History, Witness Statement no. 1219, Sean O’Neill, 21.
Gail Baylis. "Boy Culture and Ireland 1916,” 197.
“Obituary to Seams Reader (1898-1969) The Irish Independent November 1, 1969.
Gerard Noonan. The IRA in Britain, 1919-1923; ‘in the Heart of Enemy Lines.’ (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2014). ProQuest Ebook Central, 65.
Marnie Hay. “Moulding the Future: Na Fianna Éireann and Its Members,” 445.
Bureau of Military History, Witness Statement no. 591, Éamon Martin, 6-7.
Ibid., 7.
Bureau of Military History, Witness Statement no. 191, Joseph Reynolds, 8.
Ibid., 9.
Coleman, Marie. “Military Service Pensions for Veterans of the Irish Revolution, 1916–1923.” War in History 20 (2): 201–21 (2013): https://doi.org/10.1177/0968344512471126., 215.
Bureau of Military History, Military Service Pension Collection no. 1D352, John Healy
Coleman, Marie. “Military Service Pension for Veterans of the Irish Revolution, 1916-1923,” 215.
Karen Steele. "Constance Markievicz's Allegorical Garden: Femininity, Militancy, and the Press, 1909-1915,” 436.
Ibid.
Ibid., 441.
Sarah Benton. “Women Disarmed: The Militarization of Politics in Ireland 1913-23,” 157.
Marnie Hay, “Moulding the Future: Na Fianna Eireann and Its Members,” 443.
“Lily (Kempson) McAlerney's Biography.” Lily Kempson McAlerney and the 1916 Easter Rising. http://lily1916.com/biography.
Bureau of Military History, Witness Statement no. 0919, Ina Connolly Heron, 74.
Bureau of Military History, Witness Statement no. 286, Nora Connolly O’Brien, 3-4.
“Lily (Kempson) McAlerney's Biography.” Lily Kempson McAlerney and the 1916 Easter Rising. http://lily1916.com/biography.
Bureau of Military History, Witness Statement no. 286, Nora Connolly O’Brien, 4.
Bureau of Military History, Witness Statement no. 0919, Ina Connolly, 74.
Ibid., 76.
Bureau of Military History, Witness Statement no. 591, Eamon Martin, 7.
Bureau of Military History, Witness Statement no. 286, Nora Connelly O’Brien, 5.
Bureau of Military History, Witness Statement no. 286, Nora Connelly O’Brien, 7.
Bureau of Military History, Military Service Pension Collection no. MSP34REF28861, Lily Kempson McAlerney.
Bureau of Military History, Witness Statement no. 585, Frank Robbins, 87.
Bureau of Military History, Military Service Pension Collection no. MSP34REF28861, Lily Kempson McAlerney.
“Lily (Kempson) McAlerney's Biography.” Lily Kempson McAlerney and the 1916 Easter Rising. http://lily1916.com/biography.
Bureau of Military History, Witness Statement no. 585, Frank Robbins, 84.
Bureau of Military History, Military Service Pension Collection no. MSP34REF28861, Lily Kempson McAlerney.
Marnie Hay. “Moulding the Future: Na Fianna Éirrean and Its Members,” 443.
Joseph E.A. Connell. “COUNTDOWN TO 2016: Inghinidhe Na hÉireann/Daughters of Ireland Clan Na NGaedheal/Girl Scouts of Ireland.” History Ireland 19, no.5 (2011): 66.
Karen Steele. "Constance Markievicz's Allegorical Garden: Femininity, Militancy, and the Press, 1909-1915,” 423-424.
Ibid., 441.
XR Martin. “Founder of the Fianna.” The Irish Times. March 22, 1966.
John Brennan. “Letter to the Editor.”The Irish Times. February 26, 1966.
Desmond C. Greaves. The Easter Rising in Song & Ballad, 42.
Bureau of Military History, Witness Statement no. 591, Martin, Éamon, 10.
Karen Steele. "Constance Markievicz's Allegorical Garden: Femininity, Militancy, and the Press, 1909-1915,” 438.
Bureau of Military History, Witness Statement no. 1219, Sean O’Neill, 19.
Sarah Benton. “Women Disarmed: The Militarization of Politics in Ireland 1913-23,” 149.
Louise Ryan. “The ‘Irish Citizen,’ 1912-1920.” Saothar 17: 105–11, 107.
Ibid., 107.
Sarah Benton. “Women Disarmed: The Militarization of Politics in Ireland 1913-23,” 155.
Ibid., 157.
Ibid., 155.
Sarah Benton. “Women Disarmed: The Militarization of Politics in Ireland 1913-23,” 149.
Ibid., 161.
Coleman, Marie “Military Service Pensions for Veterans of the Irish Revolution, 1916–1923,” 207.
Ibid.
Coleman, Marie “Military Service Pensions for Veterans of the Irish Revolution, 1916–1923,” 215.
Ibid., 215.
Bureau of Military History, Military Service Pension Collection no. MSP34REF39909, Ellen Carroll.