Irish stew in the name of the law
Not the whole truth
Of the 26 cases, the legal papers showed that presiding officers failed to consider medical evidence in almost half of them. Four cases involved significant extenuating circumstances. The report says:
'In a number of cases there is clear evidence of ignoring medical conditions and personal circumstances that may have accounted for the actions of the accused and could have been interpreted as mitigating factors.'
A trooper of the Royal Irish Fusiliers taunts a Turkish sniper
Imperial War Museum (Q13447)
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Private Joseph Carey, from Dublin, served with the Royal Irish Fusiliers (who fought at the Somme) until his execution in September 1916. He was charged with desertion after going missing for a day. Clemency was recommended on the grounds of defective intelligence. It was drawn to the attention of the court that he had mental health issues in the wake of his father's and brother's suicides. The report singles this out as 'a particularly shocking case' as Private Carey had been on the receiving end of an extremely heavy bombardment that had added shellshock to his burden of mental illness. The clemency recommendation was ignored and he was shot, evidently as a disciplinary example.
Private George Hanna served in the same regiment as Carey but hailed from Belfast. He was executed in November 1917. At his court martial for desertion it came to light that he had not been home on leave for three years. During that time he had lost three brothers in the war. He was trying to get back to Belfast after having received news of his sister's illness. The report concludes grimly that there was nothing to indicate that the military authorities 'thought twice about taking a fourth son from the family'.
The report also highlighted a distinct class bias which it saw as 'incompatible with an impartial system of justice'.
The fighting Irish
The upshot of the report is a call for full pardons for the men, to 'grant them the dignity in death they were denied in life'. There is no demand for compensation payment attached to this call.
'We continue to press the British government to restore the good names of these men,' said Dermot Ahern, the Irish Foreign Minister. 'Nothing less will do the Irish government and their families.' He summed up the report as 'very tragic reading' and confirmed 'no-one could not be moved by the simple stories of brave, often poorly educated young men who were shot after perfunctory courts martial. The Irish government believes this was wrong. These Irish people died needlessly.'
The tragic experiences of Irish soldiers in the British army during the First World War have been brought to the attention of the British public recently by the short-listing of Sebastian Barry's moving novel, A Long Long Way, for the 2005 Man Booker Prize. It tells the story of a Dubliner who volunteers but finds himself, as the war goes on, in an increasingly incomprehensible position, ultimately belonging nowhere. At one point, just weeks before the Somme, he finds himself in his British uniform firing on his fellow Dubliners as the Easter Rising erupts and the Republic of Ireland is born.
A campaign for the pardons – the Shot at Dawn Campaign – was launched in 2002 in Dublin, co-ordinated by Peter Mulvany. The petition, which was closed on 11 November 2004, attracted support from various TDs (Teachta Dála – members of the Irish parliament, Dáil Éireann), MPs and politicians across the spectrum – from Rev. Ian Paisley to John Hume – as well as church leaders – both Catholic and Protestant. You can find out more about the campaign at the Shot at Dawn Campaign Irl website.
In memory
To add a name to the Irish Virtual Memorial click here. You can record anyone – family or otherwise – who served or died in the First World War and should have been commemorated in Britain or Ireland, but whose name does not appear on any of the memorials included in the Lost Generation database on this website.