深夜亚洲福利久久

The Story of 脡amon de Valera's Surrender

29 Apr 2016

'On hearing the shelling stop, the Long Fellow waved the white flag', writes Ryle Dwyer

During the golden jubilee celebrations of the Easter Rebellion in 1966, there was a story circulating in Dublin that 脡amon de Valera had essentially abandoned his men at Boland鈥檚 Mills and surrendered separately in 1916.

Dick Walsh, who was covering 脕ras an Uachtar谩in for The Irish Times, was told the story, but the newspaper did not publish it. Indeed, Ronan Fanning also overlooked it in his recent biography of de Valera.

Realising that the situation was hopeless on the fifth day of the Rebellion, P谩draig Pearse sent nurse Elizabeth O鈥橣arrell of Cumann na mBan to seek terms from the British commander, Brigadier General William Lowe, who demanded an immediate unconditional surrender. Pearse duly agreed after consulting with his available colleagues.

O鈥橣arrell was then asked to deliver the surrender order to the other commandants in the city. There was still some sporadic shooting the next day, around midday, when she delivered the order to de Valera in the Grand Canal St dispensary near Boland鈥檚 Mills.

鈥淚 think he considered the thing a ruse,鈥� she noted, 鈥渂ut by the time some of my volunteer friends came in, he realised I was to be trusted.鈥�

鈥淚 will not take any orders except from my immediate superior officer, Commandant MacDonagh,鈥� de Valera told her. She was therefore asked to get Thomas MacDonagh to countersign the surrender document.

MacDonagh insisted on talking to both General Lowe and 脡amonn Ceannt before endorsing the document. By then, O鈥橣arrell learned that de Valera had already surrendered.

After she had left, he realised the shelling had stopped and the shooting had almost died out. He and vice-commandant Joseph O鈥機onnor therefore concluded the surrender message was genuine.

Having heard stories of surrendering soldiers being shot at the battlefront in France, de Valera decided to approach the British personally. While O鈥機onnor was getting the men ready to march to the surrender point, de Valera decided to tell the British that he 鈥渉ad been ordered to surrender鈥�.

He asked Se谩n Byrne, a first-aid worker in the dispensary, to organise a stick with a white flag. George F Mackay, an 18-year-old British Army cadet from Mitchelstown, Co Cork, was given the choice of staying in the dispensary or accompanying de Valera and Byrne.

MacKay 鈥� who had been taken prisoner in uniform on Tuesday when the train on which he was travelling was stopped on the nearby tracks 鈥� feared he might be considered a traitor by the British if he remained in the dispensary. He therefore agreed to accompany them. De Valera handed over his Browning automatic pistol and asked MacKay to give it to his eldest son, Vivion.

With Byrne waving the white flag, they left the dispensary and crossed the road to Sir Patrick Dun鈥檚 Hospital. Captain Edo Hitzen of the Lincolnshire Regiment was notified at 96 Mount St.

鈥淚 went over and, seeing the man, covered him with my revolver,鈥� Hitzen noted. 鈥淚 asked him if his men were prepared to surrender, and he said he鈥檇 come for that purpose.鈥�

De Valera was 鈥済aunt, unshaven, curt but courteous鈥�, recalled Hitzen 50 years later. 鈥淗is first words to me were: 鈥楧o what you will with me but treat my men as prisoners of war.鈥� 鈥�

Byrne was sent back to have the men in Boland鈥檚 Mills march out into Grattan St. The men were already assembled in the bakery.

鈥淲e all marched out into Grattan St where we halted,鈥� Byrne said. 鈥淚 was still carrying the white flag. At a signal the men were ordered to ground arms.鈥�

At that point, de Valera rejoined his men.

In his book, De Valera: England鈥檚 Greatest Spy, John Turi contended that there was no evidence de Valera was ever actually tried. But Hitzen was quite definite that he gave evidence at de Valera鈥檚 trial on May 8, 1916.

The Long Fellow was one of 90 people sentenced to death, but he was also one of the 75 whose sentence was commuted. Did his gesture in handing over Cadet Mackay actually influence the commutation?

David T Dwane鈥檚 related the story in The Early Life of 脡amon de Valera, published in Dublin by the Talbot Press in 1922. The Irish Press actually published the story in 1966 in a purported extract from the official biography being prepared by Lord Longford and Thomas O鈥橬eill, but when that book was published four years later in 1970, all mention of his surrender at the hospital had been excised. Why?

Was de Valera afraid that some people might think he did not wish to die for Ireland, leaving his pregnant wife and three young children behind?

If he actually thought that, surely it would have said more about his estimation of Irish people than anything else.

This article was first published in the  on 29 April 2016