British Reaction

British move quickly to suppress the Easter Rising

British spies had infiltrated many of the organisations taking part in the Easter Rising of 1916 and the authorities knew that something was being planned.

Nevertheless, they weren’t expecting the Rising to start when it did on Easter Monday.

The rebels had seized several key buildings throughout Dublin before the British authorities, based in Dublin Castle, knew what was happening.

However, the British were quick to make up for lost time and regain the initiative.

By Tuesday afternoon, the commander of the British forces in Dublin, General Lowe, had amassed 5,000 troops.

British forces vastly outnumbered the rebels

Eamon de Valera

This vastly outnumbered the rebels who had barely 1,600 troops at their different locations throughout the city. Even more importantly, the British forces had far superior weaponry.

General Lowe began to cordon off the areas around the rebel positions. Heavy artillery was moved into place and began shelling the rebel strongholds.

The patrol ship, the Helga, sailed up the River Liffey and began shelling Liberty Hall, the rebel HQ. It then attacked Boland’s Mills where rebel commander was Eamonn de Valera, who would later become President of Ireland.

The long range guns on the Helga made the work easy for the British and there was nothing the rebels could do to defend themselves. Having dealt with Liberty Hall and Boland’s Mills, the Helga then turned to the GPO.

The GPO itself was not badly damaged but several other buildings on Sackville Street and nearby were reduced to rubble.

British troops begin to surround the rebel strongholds

On Wednesday, only two days after being caught out by the start of Rising, the British were able to land yet more reinforcements at the port of Kingstown (later renamed Dun Laoghaire).

They marched on Dublin and ran into rebel forces on Mount Street Bridge. The British suffered 100 casualties before finally breaking through.

They were also making headway at the other key positions. By Thursday, they were moving in on the GPO building. The rebels, led tirelessly by Connolly, continued to resist but the odds were overwhelmingly against them.

Connolly wounded by ricochet bullet

Connolly was then wounded in the leg by ricocheting bullet and lost a lot of blood. He continued to lead the operation but he had been severely weakened.

On Friday, still under heavy fire, the roof of the GPO caught fire and the rebels were forced to flee the building. Pearse and Connolly insisted on staying until everyone else had got out safely.

On Saturday, Pearse and the rest of the IRB Military Council, who had organised the Easter Rising, were forced to take stock and consider their options. They had managed to retreat far enough to set up a temporary headquarters at a shop on Moore Street.

However, they were surrounded by British troops and effectively trapped. They couldn’t fight on or retreat without risking an unacceptable level of civilian casualties.

Rebels had no choice but to surrender

In reality, they had no real choice at all and so the Military Council took the inevitable decision to surrender.

A nurse named Elizabeth Farrell was asked to convey the message. She walked up Moore Street carrying a white flag and wearing the insignia of the Red Cross. General Lowe agreed to see her and told her to tell Pearse and the rebels that they must agree to an unconditional surrender.

Farrell conveyed the message and returned less than an hour later with Pearse who agreed to the general’s terms. Pearse took his sword from his side and handed it to Lowe as a formal gesture that the rebels were laying down their arms.

Pearse was then taken to see General Maxwell, the Commander-in-Chief of British forces in Ireland, so a formal surrender document could be drafted. Maxwell had been sent to oversee the operation to crush the rising. He was a ruthless man with an arrogant streak.

Leaders of Easter Rising sentenced to death

Maxwell was a triumphalist when dealing with Pearse but his brutality would later backfire on him and he would soon become known as the man who lost Ireland.

After crushing the rising, Maxwell had all the rebels rounded up and put in Kilmainham Jail on the outskirts of the city.

Within a few weeks, the leaders, including Pearse and Connolly were sentenced to death and shot. This turned out to be a huge mistake on the part of Maxwell and the British because it turned public opinion in Ireland against them.

The rebels, who were vilified by many Irish people at first, came to be seen as heroes and martyrs for the cause of independence.

It meant that the Rising, although a failure in itself, became a catalyst that eventually led to self-government for Ireland.