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"RAINBOW FARMS" HARNESS HORSES - STANDARDBREDS - PACERS - TROTTERS The Hunter Valley - New South Wales - Australia.
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Irish Heritage Standardbred Yearlings 2003 - 2012 Minis Sweetwaters "Egyptian Kings Smokey (Imp) Shazzally Shazam (Aust) *Mini Weanlings |
1919 - 1 - January - March
1919
January: Dr. Patrick Mac Cartan
the founder of the
Dungannon Club in the Ulster
Province to try and bring about
Irish independence was to now be the envoy in America for
the Provisional Irish Government and he was to
eventually notify those in authority in Washington that Ireland had
severed
political relations with the British Government
and the Sinn Fein
Party
was now at War with the British Army of Occupation. -
Meanwhile, the Irish
prisoners still being held
by the British Government in
the Belfast Jail in
Co. Antrim in the the north -
east of the
Ulster Province were now also put in
irons
to add to their suffering and were to be confined permanently in their cells
there for another
5
months. January 10th:
Michael Collins
personally along with
Gerald Boland had arrived
in Manchester in
England where they were endeavouring to
try and organize for
Eammon de Valera to
carry out his planned escape from Lincoln Jail there to gain
further publicity, for the
cause of Irish Independence and also increased prestige for the
Sinn Fein Party and to this end they
arranged for
Fintan Murphy to turn up at
the jail with a key, which was hidden in a cake, but it would not fit the lock.
The
elected
Irish Republicans who were still free decided
that they
would now form
the
1st
Dail Eireann
- Irish Assembly - for the
Government of Ireland by the
Irish themselves from the elected
representatives of the Irish
people at the Mansion House
in
Dublin, which
was
against the realities of the continuing
British
Government suppression
on all things Irish. (Together with the rest of the
Irish population they would have to endure more of the same and once again
physically fight against the
Military might of the British Imperial Government in Ireland for a further
3 years to
eventually obtain this
right.) The
105 Irish M.P's
elected for the whole of Ireland
were invited to participate in the
1st
Dail Eireann but the
Unionists from their stronghold in the north
- east of the
Ulster Province and the
dying embers of the ailing
Irish
Parliamentary Party failed to show.
George Gavin Duffy an
M.P. and solicitor from the
Sinn Fein Party
(Son of Gavin Charles Duffy)
had drafted the
Irish
Constitution and they went
ahead and formed
the 1st Dail Eireann - Irish Assembly - although
36 out of the
73
Sinn Fein Party members who
had been elected for Ireland were
still being held in British
prisons in England, while
4
members were out
of the country and
5
were physically unable to attend. Also
Michael Collins and
Harry Boland
were still at this time in England trying
to arrange for
Eammon de Valera to escape
from the
Lincoln Prison there.
January
21st:
The elected members of the
1st Dail Eireann
the 1st
Irish Parliament of
the Irish Republic
met after
being formed from the
27 Irish
representatives - M.P.s physically able to attend with
Cathal Brugha - Charles Burgess - acting as their
Chairman while
Eammon de Valera and 35
of the other elected Irish M.P.s
were still safely locked away in the
British prisons in England where they had been imprisoned
initially by the British
Government to stop them from electioneering in
Ireland.
The members
of the the
1st Dail Eireann
and their respective
Irish seats were;
On
the day that the
1st
Dail
- Irish Assembly was being formed
Dan Breen
- Ua Braoin and
Sean Treacy
- Ua Treasaigh from the
Irish Volunteers decided to move things
along in
preparation for what was to come and on their
own initiative endeavoured to obtain a quantity of gelignite from
a quarry in Co. Tipperary
in the north - east of the Munster Province and
without realising it began the
Irish War of Independence
as it was guarded by the Royal Irish
Constabulary - R.I.C. During their escapade
two of the
R.I.C were shot and killed and
the result of this was that
10,000 pounds reward was offered
for the capture of
Dan
Breen alone by the
British
Government.
January 22nd:
Eammon De
Valera
was elected the President
of the 1st
Dail Eireann - Irish Parliament
- until 1921 although he
was still imprisoned in
Lincoln Jail
in England and
Cathal Brugha was
elected the acting - President
until he could be available to take up this position,
Sean O
Kelly became the
Speaker and they
were to set up the various Irish Departments under the
Big Fellow,
Michael Collins as
Minister of
Home Affairs, while
Eoin
Mac
Neill
took up
Finance, Count
Plunkett -
Foreign Affairs, Richard Mulcahy
- Minister for Defence,
Countess
Constance Markievicz
- Labour and
Brian O
Higgins was also elected to the Cabinet. It was also decided to put forward
Eammon de Valera, Arthur Griffith and
Count
Plunkett as the
Irish delegates of an
oppressed Small Nation to the
Peace Conference to be held in
Paris to seek legitimate
democratic
Irish Independence.
They also declared their own
Irish Independence and ratified the
Irish Republic proclaimed
in the 1916 Easter Rising and
that the British Government had no jurisdiction over Ireland and
that the British Government
should evacuate their troops and their oppressive administration from Ireland
altogether.
Eventually
Michael Collins,
Richard Mulcahy
and Cathal
Brugha representing the I.R.A. were to be the
only ones who were really to be in charge of it all.
On this same day
4
Irish prisoners were
able to escape from the Usk
Jail in
England, which was a further great
cause for celebration in Ireland
and this also assisted in focusing attention and publicity on the continuing
British Government's
policies in
Ireland.
January 24th: Frank Kelly also arrived at the Lincoln Jail in England to push on with Eammon de Valera's plan to escape and he brought with him another cake that also contained another key but it too was not suitable so Gerald Boland had to return once again with a set of blank keys and files so they could manufacture their own but they also were unsuitable. Kathleen Talty an Irish school teacher then brought a blank key so that a master key could be manufactured on site.
January 31st:
Cathal Brugha as the acting - President
of the 1st Dail Eireann - Irish Assembly - declared that, "A
State of War
existed until the
British
Military invaders
evacuate our Country," and he further stated that the
"Irish Volunteers were now the Army of
the Irish people and should resist any violence carried out by the British
Government forces."
The
Anglo - Irish War was now begun in
earnest as the British
Imperial
Government had no intention of releasing their
750 year hold over
Ireland and
Liam
Lynch
from Co. Limerick reorganised
the
Co. Cork
Irish Volunteers
in the
Munster Province.
Michael Collins as
Minister for Home Affairs, who was still only 27 years of age,
was to
organize the running of the
1st Dail Eireann with a reward of
10,000
pounds also placed on his head by the
British
Government. Despite this he would
still be able to continue to walk
and ride about the streets of
Dublin on a bicycle and
develop a secret Intelligence
Network, second to none, until
1921, which reached right into
England as their spies,
informers and investigators were his main prey as he was to organize a
hit and run guerrilla war against the
British Government forces in
Ireland. He was to be so successful that
the British
Military and their
British Army Auxiliaries were to run a
jackpot for the man who could
get
Michael Collins and they were to put their best
Detectives from the
"G" Division
on the case to
try and track him down.
February: The 3rd Irish Convention of America was held in Philadelphia attended by 5,000 representatives there and they appointed 3 Special Delegates to see Woodrow Wilson the American President in regard to Irish Independence from the continuing oppression of the British Government where they only requested that Ireland should receive representation at the Peace Conference in Paris as per his wartime call for "Self - Determination for the Small Nations." They also created an Irish Victory Fund, which bought forward a greater membership for Irish Independence and the 1,000,000 dollars pledged began to create internal problems there as many wanted to use it solely for Irish propaganda in America to assist to bring it about. (Naturally they were not aware of the growing administration costs in Ireland to set up and run the 1st Dail Eireann there.)
February 3rd:
Michael Collins,
Harry Boland
and
Frank Kelly began to
instigate their plan to not only free
Eammon de Valera,
but also
Sean Mac Garry
and
Sean Milroy from the British
Government's
Lincoln Prison in England and
with the original blank key now manufactured
to act as a master key, that had been hidden in the cake bought in by
Kathleen Talty, they managed to escape
from the jail. The 3 escaping Irish
prisoners then headed for
Workshop, which was 25 mile away, while
Michael Collins and those
who had assisted him to ensure their
release returned to London.
Fintan Murphy
then took Eamonn de Valera and
Sean Mac Garry
and
Sean Milroy onto
Manchester were everything went as
previously planned by
Michael Collins.
February 4th: The freeing of the
3 Irish prisoners from Lincoln Prison in England
especially the escape of
Eammon de Valera
the elected President of the Sinn Fein
Party and the
1st Dail Eireann - Irish Assembly was
reported in the Dublin
newspapers where the reaction to it was tremendous on the part of the
Irish people but not so in
Britain and the continuing publicity received
World - Wide attention and the general speculation as to
Eammon de Valera's whereabouts was further impetus for the overall cause of
Irish Independence. In
anticipation of a hearing at the Peace Conference, Sean
T. O Kelly
and
George Gavin Duffy
were sent to
Paris
were they opened up an
Irish
Embassy to represent the
1st
Dail Eireann while
Dr.
Patrick Mac Cartan, the founder of the
Dungannon Clubs,
had also established an
Irish Embassy in
Washington where he was to advise the
American Government that
Ireland had severed
all political relations with the
British Government in
England and that the
Irish Republic was at
War with their
Occupational
Forces.
February 20th:
Eammon de Valera
the President of the Sinn Fein
Party & 1st Dail Eireann who
was now free
from British Government control landed in
Dublin and
went to
Dr.
Farhan's in
Merrion Square were he was
interviewed by an
American Journalist
to whom he expressed the opinion that the
American
President
Woodrow Wilson was the
Great White
Hope for Ireland to gain entry
into the coming
Peace Conference
in Paris where they could
receive Irish Independence politically and
democratically without the need of any further physical and mental suffering on both sides. From
there he went on to
Archbishop
Walsh's residence, who
personally had
no idea he was in the vicinity, as he was now actually under the protection and care of
Father
Curran,
the Archbishop's secretary, who
placed him out of sight in the ground house.
Sean T O Kelly
had since reported back from
Paris
that the British
Government 's
delegation had done it's job well and
Ireland was not to get a hearing
as the "Victorious Nations" had
decided that their policy applied only to those nations
who had been held in bondage by those
whom they had defeated and
President Woodrow
Wilson was
not going to interfere in
Domestic Issues especially those of the British Government who he wanted to
support his League of Nations.
March 4th:
The American
House of Representatives
now voted
216
to 45
that the Peace Conference
to be held
in Paris
should consider
Ireland`s claim for Self
-
Determination and
Diarmuid O Hegarty who was
later to become the Secretary
of the Irish Free State drew up a
"Statement of the Irish Case."
March 6th:
Pierce Mac Cann
from Co. Tipperary
in north - east of the Munster Province who was being held prisoner
by the British Government in
Gloucester Jail in
England, died, and was bought back
to Dualla and all the
bad
publicity the British Government
received from this event also seemed to have an effect on their
previous stand.
March 8th: Arthur Griffith and the rest of the Sinn Fein Party prisoners who were still being held without cause in prisons in England on the basis of the British Government's so called German Plot were released and Lord Haldane arrived from England secretly for a settlement and stated that if the Irish would drop their extreme claims and stop their violent methods they would release the rest of the Irish prisoners held in the jails in England but nothing come of it. The Irish Volunteers in preparation for what was to come now decided to raid Collinstown Aerodrome were they secured 75 rifles and 5,000 rounds of ammunition without a shot being fired.
March 29th:
Michael Collins
also
set up an escape plan to release a further
20 of the Irish
prisoners who also been locked away
by the British Government
in
Mountjoy Jail in
Dublin,
including
Pierce Beaslaoi -
Beasley and
Patrick Fleming with
Richard Mac Kee
and
Rory O Connor put in
charge of the rescue operation.
The
Sinn Fein
Party members began to spread the word that
Eamonn de Valera would be
returning to Ireland
to a reception
by the Dublin
Lord Mayor who
would present him with the keys to the City of
Dublin so Ian
Mac Pherson
who was
now the British
Government's Chief Secretary in Ireland quickly issued a
Proclamation against it. Despite this the
elected members of the 1st Dail
Eireann - Irish Parliament
still wanted to proceed but
Eamonn de Valera would not
go along with the plan as he considered the lives of the
Irish people were not worth
risking for such an occasion and instead he returned
to Ireland inconspicuously.
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Situated on the western bank of the Hunter River, midway between Muswellbrook and Denman the doorway to the Heart of Australia's "Horse Capital" in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales., Australia. John & Sue Markham RAINBOW FARMS 603 Roxburgh Road., Muswellbrook., 2333. 02 65 479 100 - Fax: 02 65 479 102 E - Mail: www.rainbowfarms@bigpond.com |