Everything about National Volunteers totally explained
The National Volunteers was the name taken by the majority of the
Irish Volunteers that sided with
Irish Parliamentary Party leader
John Redmond after the group split in the wake of the question of the Volunteers' role in
World War I.
Origins
While Redmond took no role in the creation of the
Irish Volunteers, when he saw how popular they'd become he realized an independent body of such magnitude was a threat to his authority as leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, and therefore sought control of the organization.
Eoin MacNeill, along with
Sir Roger Casement and other leaders of the Irish Volunteers, had indeed sought Redmond's approval of and input in the organization, but didn't want to hand control over to him. In June,
1914 the Volunteer leadership reluctantly agreed, in the interest of harmony to permit to let Redmond to nominate half the membership of Volunteer Executive (as some of the standing members were already Redmond supporters this would have given him control). The motion was bitterly opposed by the radical members of the committee (mostly members of the
Irish Republican Brotherhood), notably
Patrick Pearse,
Sean MacDermott, and
Eamonn Ceannt, but was carried nevertheless in order to prevent a split. With the support of the Irish Party the Volunteer organization grew dramatically.
Great War split
Following the outbreak of
World War I in August, and the successful placement of the Third
Home Rule Act 1914 on the statute books, Redmond made a momentous speech in
Woodenbridge,
County Wicklow on
September 20, in which he called for members of the Volunteers to enlist in an intended Irish Army Corps of the
New British Army's divisions, his motives twofold. Firstly, he felt it was in the future interest of an All-Ireland
Home Rule settlement to support the
Allied war cause, joining together with the
Ulster Volunteers who offered immediate support enlisting in their
36th (Ulster) Division. Secondly, he reminded the Irish Volunteers that when they returned after an expected short war at the end of 1915, they'd be an armed army capable of confronting the outcome of the
partition bill forced through by Sir
Edward Carson, leader of the
Ulster Unionists, as an amendment to the Home Rule Act. Nearly all of the original leaders of the Volunteers utterly rejected this notion, and dismissed Redmond's appointees, who then formed the National Volunteers.
Irish divisions
The vast majority of the membership remained loyal to Redmond, keeping some 175,000 members, leaving the
Irish Volunteers with an estimated 13,500. Most members of the National Volunteers as well as many other Irishmen following the call of their parliamentary leaders, such as
William O'Brien MP and
Joseph Devlin MP. Five other MPs,
J. L. Esmonde,
Stephen Gwynn,
Willie Redmond,
William Redmond and
D. D. Sheehan as well as former MP
Tom Kettle enlisted in
Irish regiments of the
10th (Irish) Division and
16th (Irish) Division, as part of the
British Expeditionary Force.
Redmond's hopes were however overtaken by events to follow, the denied Irish Army Corps replaced by the New Army 16th (Irish) Division, with the disadvantage that most experienced Irish officers had already been posted to the 10th (Irish) Division. The few trained officers still available Carson had drafted into his
36th (Ulster) Division. As Irish recruits with potential to becoming officers had no previous military experience, the
War Office had no option but to have the 16th Division led at first by
English officers, a not at all popular decision, with the exception of Irish General
William Hickie. In addition, Redmond's earlier statement that the Irish New Army units would return armed and capable of enforcing Home Rule, aroused War Office suspicions.
Severe losses
In the end any of Redmond's remaining expectations were dashed by the severe losses suffered by the numerous battalions of these Irish divisions, the
Royal Dublin Fusiliers, the
Royal Munster Fusiliers, the
Connaught Rangers, the
Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and the
Royal Irish Regiment, during the failed
Battle of Gallipoli and the V beach
Landing at Cape Helles, the unexpectedly prolonged war on the
Western Front, as well as after the
Easter Rebellion and the unnecessary
Conscription Crisis of 1918 which finally culminated in the results of the
general elections in December 1918.
After the
Armistice in November 1918 the five Irish regiments with their remaining members of the National Volunteers who joined at the outbreak of the war were disbanded in 1922 under the terms of the
Anglo-Irish Treaty, many re-enlistng in the newly formed
Irish Free State Army Defence Force .
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