1.
Newry
–
Newry is a city in Northern Ireland,34 miles from Belfast and 67 miles from Dublin. It had a population of 29,946 in 2011, Newry straddles counties Armagh and Down. Newry was founded in 1144 alongside a Cistercian monastery, although there are references to settlements in the area. It is one of Irelands oldest towns, the city is an entry to the Gap of the North, close to the border with the Republic of Ireland. It grew as a town and a garrison and became a port in 1742 when it was linked to Lough Neagh by the first summit-level canal built in Ireland or Great Britain. In 2002, as part of Queen Elizabeths Golden Jubilee celebrations, the name Newry is an anglicization of An Iúraigh, an oblique form of An Iúrach, which means the grove of yew trees. The modern Irish name for Newry is An tIúr, which means the yew tree, an tIúr is an shortening of Iúr Cinn Trá, yew tree at the head of the strand, which was formerly the most common Irish name for Newry. This relates to a story that Saint Patrick planted a yew tree there in the 5th century. The Irish name Cathair an Iúir appears on some signs around the city. In 820, the Danes made one of their earliest irruptions at Newry abbey, from whence they proceeded to Armagh, taking it by storm, todd James Henthorn tells us more in his 1867 Volume, where he tells us the abbey was attacked in 824. A small medieval town was in situ to the North and South of the abbey which was refounded in 1142 by King O Carroll of the Oriel on the request of Saint Malachi. The landing stage of the abbey was situated to the North of the college in Killmorey street, from early times it was the main pier. It stayed as such until the construction of the new canal took place, the abbey was later converted to a collegiate church in 1543, before being surrendered to the crown in 1548. The abbey is seen to be giving its earnings to the crown almost 200 years before this date and it is described as being one of the richest and largest in Ireland. The Vikings attacked the Abbey many time, slaughtering its occupants, the town was granted its first charter between 1157 by High King of Ireland Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn. In 1162 the monastery was attacked and burned to some degree, there is no evidence however as to how much of the abbey was burned in this attack stones dont burn so it was not completely destroyed as may be assumed. De Courcys lordship ensured a safe spell for the abbey after he had several castles in and around Newry. In 1539 an English mercenary, Nicholas Bagenal, fled to Ireland after murdering a man in Leek, Staffordshire, after some time in the employment of the O Neill he reached a high status, was granted a pardon in 1543, and became Marshal of the army
2.
County Down
–
County Down is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the northeast of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the southeast shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 2,448 km² and has a population of about 531,665 and it is also one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland and is within the province of Ulster. The county was archaically called Downshire and it borders County Antrim to the north, the Irish Sea to the east and south, County Armagh to the west, and County Louth across Carlingford Lough to the southwest. In the east of the county is Strangford Lough and the Ards Peninsula, the largest town is Bangor, on the northeast coast. Three other large towns and cities are on its border, Newry lies on the border with County Armagh, while Lisburn. Down contains both the southernmost point of Northern Ireland and the easternmost point of Ireland and it is currently one of only two counties of Ireland to have a majority of the population from a Protestant background, according to the 2001 census. The other is County Antrim to the north, during the Williamite War in Ireland the county was a centre of Protestant rebellion against the rule of the Catholic James II. After forming a force the Protestants were defeated by the Irish Army at the Break of Dromore and forced to retreat. Later the same year Marshal Schombergs large Williamite expedition arrived in Belfast Lough, after laying siege to Carrickfergus Schomberg marched south to Dundalk Camp, clearing County Down and much of the rest of East Ulster of Jacobite troops. Down contains two significant peninsulas, Ards Peninsula and Lecale peninsula, the county has a coastline along Belfast Lough to the north and Carlingford Lough to the south. Strangford Lough lies between the Ards Peninsula and the mainland, down also contains part of the shore of Lough Neagh. Smaller loughs include Lough Island Reavy, the River Lagan forms most of the border with County Antrim. The River Bann also flows through the areas of the county. Other rivers include the Clanrye and Quoile, there are several islands off the Down coast, Mew Island, Light House Island and the Copeland Islands, all of which lie to the north of the Ards Peninsula. Gunn Island lies off the Lecale coast, in addition there are a large number of small islands in Strangford Lough. County Down is where, in the words of the song by Percy French, The mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea. Slieve Donard, at 849 m, is the highest peak in the Mournes, in Northern Ireland, another important peak is Slieve Croob, at 534 m, the source of the River Lagan. An area of County Down is known as the Brontë Homeland, after Patrick Brontë, father of Anne, Charlotte, Emily, Patrick Brontë was born in this region
3.
Belfast
–
Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, the second largest on the island of Ireland, and the heart of the tenth largest Primary Urban Area in the United Kingdom. On the River Lagan, it had a population of 286,000 at the 2011 census and 333,871 after the 2015 council reform, Belfast was granted city status in 1888. Belfast played a key role in the Industrial Revolution, and was an industrial centre until the latter half of the 20th century. It has sustained a major aerospace and missiles industry since the mid 1930s, industrialisation and the inward migration it brought made Belfast Irelands biggest city at the beginning of the 20th century. Today, Belfast remains a centre for industry, as well as the arts, higher education, business, and law, additionally, Belfast city centre has undergone considerable expansion and regeneration in recent years, notably around Victoria Square. Belfast is served by two airports, George Best Belfast City Airport in the city, and Belfast International Airport 15 miles west of the city. Although the county borough of Belfast was created when it was granted city status by Queen Victoria in 1888, the site of Belfast has been occupied since the Bronze Age. The Giants Ring, a 5, 000-year-old henge, is located near the city, Belfast remained a small settlement of little importance during the Middle Ages. The ONeill clan had a presence in the area, in the 14th century, Cloinne Aodha Buidhe, descendants of Aodh Buidhe ONeill built Grey Castle at Castlereagh, now in the east of the city. Conn ONeill of the Clannaboy ONeills owned vast lands in the area and was the last inhabitant of Grey Castle, evidence of this period of Belfasts growth can still be seen in the oldest areas of the city, known as the Entries. Belfast blossomed as a commercial and industrial centre in the 18th and 19th centuries, industries thrived, including linen, rope-making, tobacco, heavy engineering and shipbuilding, and at the end of the 19th century, Belfast briefly overtook Dublin as the largest city in Ireland. The Harland and Wolff shipyards became one of the largest shipbuilders in the world, in 1886 the city suffered intense riots over the issue of home rule, which had divided the city. In 1920–22, Belfast became the capital of the new entity of Northern Ireland as the island of Ireland was partitioned, the accompanying conflict cost up to 500 lives in Belfast, the bloodiest sectarian strife in the city until the Troubles of the late 1960s onwards. Belfast was heavily bombed during World War II, in one raid, in 1941, German bombers killed around one thousand people and left tens of thousands homeless. Apart from London, this was the greatest loss of life in a raid during the Blitz. Belfast has been the capital of Northern Ireland since its establishment in 1921 following the Government of Ireland Act 1920 and it had been the scene of various episodes of sectarian conflict between its Catholic and Protestant populations. These opposing groups in conflict are now often termed republican and loyalist respectively. The most recent example of conflict was known as the Troubles – a civil conflict that raged from around 1969 to 1998
4.
County Antrim
–
County Antrim ) is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland and one of the nine counties of the province of Ulster, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 3,046 square kilometres and has a population of about 618,000, County Antrim has a population density of 203 people per square kilometer /526 people per square mile. The majority of Belfast, the city of Northern Ireland, is in County Antrim. It is currently one of two counties of Ireland to have a majority of the population from a Protestant background, according to the 2001 census. The other is County Down to the south, a large portion of Antrim is hilly, especially in the east, where the highest elevations are attained. The range runs north and south, and, following this direction, the most remarkable cliffs are those formed of perpendicular basaltic columns, extending for many miles, and most strikingly displayed in Fair Head and the celebrated Giants Causeway. From the eastern coast the hills rise instantly but less abruptly, all are somewhat exposed to the easterly winds prevalent in spring. It is partially arable, and supports a small population, islandmagee is a peninsula separating Larne Lough from the North Channel. The valleys of the Bann and Lagan, with the shores of Lough Neagh. These two rivers, both rising in County Down, are the ones of importance. The latter flows to Belfast Lough, the former drains Lough Neagh, the fisheries of the Bann and of Lough Neagh are of value both commercially and to sportsmen, the small town of Toome, at the outflow of the river, being the centre. Immediately below this point lies Lough Beg, the Small Lake, County Antrim has a number of air, rail and sea links. Northern Irelands main airport, Belfast International Airport, at Aldergrove is in County Antrim, Belfast International shares its runways with the Royal Air Force base RAF Aldergrove, which otherwise has its own facilities. It is the fifth-largest regional air cargo centre in the UK, there are regular services to Great Britain, Europe and North America. The region is served by George Best Belfast City Airport, a mile east of Belfast city centre on the County Down side of the city. Two of Northern Irelands main ports are in County Antrim, Larne, ferries sail from Larne Harbour to destinations including Cairnryan and Troon in Scotland, and Fleetwood in England. The Port of Belfast is Northern Irelands principal maritime gateway, serving the Northern Ireland economy and it is a major centre of industry and commerce and has become established as the focus of logistics activity for Northern Ireland. Around two-thirds of Northern Irelands seaborne trade, and a quarter of that for Ireland as a whole, is handled at the port, the population of County Antrim was 615,384 according to recent census information, making it the most populous county in Northern Ireland
5.
Ulster loyalism
–
Ulster loyalism is a political ideology found primarily among working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland, whose status as a part of the United Kingdom has remained controversial. Most Ulster Protestants are descendants of settlers from Great Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries, like unionists, loyalists are attached to the British monarchy, support the continued existence of Northern Ireland, and oppose a united Ireland. Ulster loyalism has been described as a kind of ethnic nationalism and it is strongly associated with paramilitarism. Ulster loyalism emerged in the late 19th century, as a response to the Irish Home Rule movement, although most of Ireland was Catholic, in the province of Ulster, Protestants were the majority. Ulster was also more industrialized than other parts of Ireland and was dependent on trade with Britain. Loyalism began as a movement among Ulster Protestants who did not want to become part of an autonomous Ireland. While some Irish Catholics were also unionist, loyalism emphasized a Protestant, loyalists often use Ulster as an alternative name for Northern Ireland. Since partition, most loyalists have supported upholding Northern Irelands status as a part of the United Kingdom, i. e. unionism. Historically, the terms unionist and loyalist were often used interchangeably, however, since the resurgence of loyalist paramilitarism in the 1960s, a distinction between the two is made more often. The term loyalist is now used to describe working class unionists who are willing to use, or tacitly support. Loyalists are also described as being loyal primarily to the Protestant British monarchy rather than to the British government, garret FitzGerald argued that loyalists are loyal primarily to Ulster rather than to the Union. A small minority of loyalists have called for an independent Ulster Protestant state, in Northern Ireland there is a long tradition of militaristic loyalist Protestant marching bands. There are hundreds of bands who hold numerous parades each year. The yearly Eleventh Night bonfires and The Twelfth parades are strongly associated with loyalism, the term loyalist was first used in Irish politics in the 1790s to refer to Protestants who opposed Catholic Emancipation and Irish independence from Great Britain. Upon the partition of Ireland in 1921, six of the nine counties in the province of Ulster didnt join the new independent Irish Free State and remained a part of the United Kingdom. Academically cited records from 1926 indicate that at that stage 33. 5% of the Northern Ireland population was Roman Catholic, tensions between Northern Irelands Catholic population and its Protestant population led to a long-running bloody conflict known as the Troubles from the late 1960s to the late 1990s. This includes the British National Front, the British Peoples Party, bigger and more moderate right-wing unionist parties like the Ulster Unionists or Democratic Unionists usually seek to distance themselves from loyalist paramilitary activity. Loyalist paramilitary and vigilante groups have been active since the early 20th century, in 1912, the Ulster Volunteers were formed to stop the British Government granting self-rule to Ireland, or to exclude Ulster from it
6.
Irish War of Independence
–
The Irish War of Independence or Anglo-Irish War or the Tan War was a guerrilla war fought from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army and the British security forces in Ireland. It was an escalation of the Irish revolutionary period into armed conflict, in the December 1918 election, the Irish republican party Sinn Féin won a landslide victory in Ireland. On 21 January 1919 they formed a government and declared independence from Britain. Later that day, two members of the British-organized armed police force, the Royal Irish Constabulary, were dead in County Tipperary by IRA members acting on their own initiative. This is often seen as the beginning of the conflict, for much of 1919, IRA activity primarily involved capturing weapons and freeing republican prisoners. In September that year the British government outlawed the Dáil and Sinn Féin, the IRA began ambushing RIC and British Army patrols, attacking their barracks and forcing isolated barracks to be abandoned. The British government bolstered the RIC with recruits from Britain—the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries—who became notorious for ill-discipline, the conflict as a result is often referred to as the Black and Tan War or simply the Tan War. While around 300 people had killed in the conflict up to late 1920. A week later, seventeen Auxiliaries were killed by the IRA in an ambush at Kilmichael in County Cork, the British government declared martial law in much of southern Ireland. The centre of Cork City was burnt out by British forces in December 1920, violence continued to escalate over the next seven months, when 1,000 people were killed and 4,500 republicans were interned. The fighting was concentrated in Munster, Dublin and Belfast. These three locations saw over 75% of the conflicts fatalities, violence in Ulster, especially Belfast, was notable for its sectarian character and its high number of Catholic civilian victims. Both sides agreed to a truce on 11 July 1921, the post-ceasefire talks led to the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921. However, six counties remained within the United Kingdom. After the ceasefire, political and sectarian violence between republicans and loyalists continued in Northern Ireland for many months, in June 1922, disagreement among republicans over the Anglo-Irish Treaty led to an eleven-month civil war. The Irish Free State awarded 62,868 medals for service during the War of Independence, since the 1880s, Irish nationalists in the Irish Parliamentary Party had been demanding Home Rule, or self-government, from Britain. Fringe organisations, such as Arthur Griffiths Sinn Féin instead argued for some form of Irish independence, in turn, nationalists formed their own paramilitary organisation, the Irish Volunteers. But a significant minority of the Irish Volunteers opposed Irelands involvement in the war, the Volunteer movement split, a majority leaving to form the National Volunteers under Redmond
7.
Irish Civil War
–
The civil war was waged between two opposing groups, Irish republicans and Irish nationalists, over the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The forces of the Provisional Government supported the Treaty, while the Republican opposition saw it as a betrayal of the Irish Republic, many of those who fought on both sides in the conflict had been members of the Irish Republican Army during the War of Independence. The Civil War was won by the Free State forces, which were armed with weapons provided by the British Government. The conflict may have claimed more lives than the War of Independence that preceded it, today, two of the main political parties in the Republic of Ireland, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, are direct descendants of the opposing sides of the war. The Anglo-Irish Treaty was agreed to end the 1919–1921 Irish War of Independence between the Irish Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the treaty provided for a self-governing Irish state, having its own army and police. The Treaty also allowed Northern Ireland to opt out of the new state, the British suggested this dominion in secret correspondence even before treaty negotiations began, but Sinn Féin leader Éamon de Valera rejected the dominion. The treaty also stipulated that members of the new Irish Oireachtas would have to take the following Oath of Allegiance I and this oath was highly objectionable to many Irish Republicans. Furthermore, the partition of Ireland, which had already decided by the Westminster parliament in the Government of Ireland Act 1920, was effectively confirmed in the Anglo-Irish treaty. All these issues were the cause of a split in the IRA, however, anti-treaty militants in 1922 believed that the treaty would never deliver full Irish independence. The split over the treaty was deeply personal, many of the leaders on both sides had been close friends and comrades during the War of Independence. This made their disagreement over the treaty all the more bitter and he said that he felt deeply betrayed when de Valera refused to stand by the agreement that the plenipotentiaries had negotiated with David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill. De Valera, for his part, was furious that Collins, Dáil Éireann narrowly passed the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64 votes to 57 on 7 January 1922. Following the Treatys ratification, in accordance with article 17 of the Treaty and its authority under the Treaty was to provide a provisional arrangement for the administration of Southern Ireland during the interval before the establishment of the Irish Free State. In accordance with the Treaty, the British Government transferred the powers, before the British Government transferred such powers, the members of the Provisional Government each signified in writing acceptance of. Upon the Treatys ratification, de Valera resigned as President of the Republic and he challenged the right of the Dáil to approve the treaty, saying that its members were breaking their oath to the Irish Republic. De Valera continued to promote a compromise whereby the new Irish Free State would be in association with the British Commonwealth rather than be a member of it. In early March, he formed the Cumann na Poblachta party while remaining a member of Sinn Féin and commenced a speaking tour of the more republican province of Munster on 17 March 1922. In a letter to the Irish Independent on 23 March, de Valera accepted the accuracy of their report of his comment about wading through blood, but deplored that the newspaper had published it
8.
County Armagh
–
County Armagh is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland and one of the 32 traditional counties of Ireland, situated in the northeast of the island. Adjoined to the shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 1,326 km² and has a population of about 174,792. It is within the province of Ulster. County Armagh is known as the Orchard County because of its apple orchards. The name Armagh derives from the Irish word Ard meaning height and Macha, together meaning height, the River Blackwater marks the border with County Tyrone and Lough Neagh otherwise marks out the Countys northern boundary. There are also a number of uninhabited islands in the section of Lough Neagh, Coney Island Flat, Croaghan Flat, Padian, Phil Roes Flat. Despite lying in the east of Ireland, Armagh enjoys a climate strongly influenced by the Gulf Stream with damp mild winters. Overall temperatures rarely drop below freezing during daylight hours, though frost is not infrequent in the months November to February, snow rarely lies for longer than a few hours even in the elevated south-east of the County. Summers are mild and wet and although with sunshine often interspersed with showers, ancient Armagh was the territory of the Ulaid before the fourth century AD. It was ruled by the Red Branch, whose capital was Emain Macha near Armagh, the site, and subsequently the city, were named after the goddess Macha. The Red Branch play an important role in the Ulster Cycle, however, they were eventually driven out of the area by the Three Collas, who invaded in the 4th century and held power until the 12th. The Clan Colla ruled the known as Airghialla or Oriel for these 800 years. The chief Irish septs of the county were descendants of the Collas, the OHanlons and MacCanns, and the Uí Néill, Oneilland East was the territory of the OGarveys, who were also displaced by the MacCanns. Oneilland West, like Oneilland East, was once ONeill territory, until it was held by the MacCanns. Upper and Lower Orior were OHanlon territory, miscellaneous tracts of land were ruled by OKelaghan. The area around the base of Slieve Guillion near Newry also became home to a number of the McGuinness clan as they were dispossessed of hereditary lands held in the County Down. Armagh was the seat of St. Patrick, and the Catholic Church continues to be his see, County Armagh is presently one of four counties of Northern Ireland to have a majority of the population from a Catholic background, according to the 2011 census. South Armagh is predominantly nationalist, with most of the population being opposed to any form of British presence, see Provisional IRA South Armagh Brigade for further information
9.
County Louth
–
County Louth is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Border Region and it is named after the village of Louth. Louth County Council is the authority for the county. The population of the county is 122,897 according to the 2016 census, County Louth is colloquially known as the Wee County as it is Irelands smallest county by area (826 km2. It is the 18th-largest in terms of population and it is the smallest of Leinster’s 12 counties by size and the sixth-largest by population. Despite its fairly average total population, Louth is the second most densely populated county in Ireland behind Dublin, County Louth is named after the village of Louth, which in turn is named after Lugh, a god of the ancient Irish. Historically, the placename has had various spellings, Lugmad, Lughmhaigh, lú is the modern simplified spelling. The county is steeped in myth, legend and history, and is a setting in the Táin Bó Cúailnge, later it saw the influence of the Vikings as seen in the name of Carlingford Lough. They also established a longphort at Annagassan in the ninth century, at this time Louth consisted of three sub-kingdoms each subject to separate over-kingdoms, Conaille, Fir Rois, and, the Fir Arda Ciannachta. The whole area became part of the OCarroll Kingdom of Airgialla early in the 12th century, a number of historic sites are in the county, including religious sites at Monasterboice, Mellifont Abbey and the St Mary Magdalene Dominican Friary. The Normans occupied the Louth area in the 1180s, and it known as English Oriel. The latter became the McMahon lordship of Oriel of Monaghan, in the early 14th century, the Scottish army of Edward Bruce was repulsed from Drogheda. Edward was finally defeated, losing his claim to the High Kingship of Ireland along with his life, in the Battle of Faughart near Dundalk, by a chiefly local force led by John de Bermingham. In 1189 AD, a charter was granted to Dundalk after a Norman nobleman named Bertram de Verdun erected a manor house at Castletown Mount. Later in 1412, a charter was granted to Drogheda. This charter unified the towns of Drogheda-in-Meath and Drogheda-in-Uriel as a County in its own right, oliver Cromwell attacked Drogheda in 1649 slaughtering the Royalist garrison and hundreds of the towns citizens. Drogheda held for James II under Lord Iveagh, but surrendered to King William of Orange the day after the battle of the Boyne. They were betrayed by informers, notably a Dr. Conlan, who came from Dundalk, the priest and scientist Nicholas Callan was from Darver
10.
Northern Ireland
–
Northern Ireland is a constituent unit of the United Kingdom in the north-east of Ireland. It is variously described as a country, province, region, or part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the total population. Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by an act of the British parliament, Northern Ireland has historically been the most industrialised region of Ireland. After declining as a result of the political and social turmoil of the Troubles, its economy has grown significantly since the late 1990s. Unemployment in Northern Ireland peaked at 17. 2% in 1986, dropping to 6. 1% for June–August 2014,58. 2% of those unemployed had been unemployed for over a year. Prominent artists and sports persons from Northern Ireland include Van Morrison, Rory McIlroy, Joey Dunlop, Wayne McCullough, some people from Northern Ireland prefer to identify as Irish while others prefer to identify as British. Cultural links between Northern Ireland, the rest of Ireland, and the rest of the UK are complex, in many sports, the island of Ireland fields a single team, a notable exception being association football. Northern Ireland competes separately at the Commonwealth Games, and people from Northern Ireland may compete for either Great Britain or Ireland at the Olympic Games. The region that is now Northern Ireland was the bedrock of the Irish war of resistance against English programmes of colonialism in the late 16th century, the English-controlled Kingdom of Ireland had been declared by the English king Henry VIII in 1542, but Irish resistance made English control fragmentary. Victories by English forces in war and further Protestant victories in the Williamite War in Ireland toward the close of the 17th century solidified Anglican rule in Ireland. In Northern Ireland, the victories of the Siege of Derry and their intention was to materially disadvantage the Catholic community and, to a lesser extent, the Presbyterian community. In the context of open institutional discrimination, the 18th century saw secret, militant societies develop in communities in the region and act on sectarian tensions in violent attacks. Following this, in an attempt to quell sectarianism and force the removal of discriminatory laws, the new state, formed in 1801, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was governed from a single government and parliament based in London. Between 1717 and 1775 some 250,000 people from Ulster emigrated to the British North American colonies and it is estimated that there are more than 27 million Scotch-Irish Americans now living in the US. By the close of the century, autonomy for Ireland within the United Kingdom, in 1912, after decades of obstruction from the House of Lords, Home Rule became a near-certainty. A clash between the House of Commons and House of Lords over a controversial budget produced the Parliament Act 1911, which enabled the veto of the Lords to be overturned. The House of Lords veto had been the unionists main guarantee that Home Rule would not be enacted, in 1914, they smuggled thousands of rifles and rounds of ammunition from Imperial Germany for use by the Ulster Volunteers, a paramilitary organisation opposed to the implementation of Home Rule
11.
Cumann na mBan
–
Although it was otherwise an independent organisation, its executive was subordinate to that of the Volunteers. A meeting chaired by Agnes OFarrelly on 2 April 1914 marked the foundation of Cumann na mBan, branches, which pledged to the Constitution of the organisation, were formed throughout the country and were directed by the Provisional Committee. The first branch was named the Ard Chraobh, which held their meetings in Brunswick Street before, the constitution of Cumann na mBan contained explicit references to the use of force by arms if necessary. At the time the Government of Ireland Bill 1914 was being debated, in addition to their local subscriptions, members of Cumann na mBan were expected to support the Defence of Ireland Fund, through subscription or otherwise. Its recruits were from diverse backgrounds, mainly workers and professional women. In September 1914, the Irish Volunteers split over John Redmonds appeal for its members to enlist in the British Army. The majority of Cumann na mBan members supported the rump of between 10,000 and 14,000 volunteers who rejected this call and who retained the original name, patrick Pearse was appointed overall Commandant-General and James Connolly Commandant-General of the Dublin Division. By nightfall, women insurgents were established in all the rebel strongholds throughout the city – except two, Bolands Mill and the South Dublin Union held by Éamon de Valera and Eamonn Ceannt. The majority of the women worked as Red Cross workers, were couriers, members also gathered intelligence on scouting expeditions, carried despatches and transferred arms from dumps across the city to insurgent strongholds. Some members of Cumann na mBan were also members of the Citizen Army, Constance Markievicz is said to have shot and killed a policeman at St Stephens Green during the opening phase of the hostilities. Helena Molony was among the Citizen Army company which attacked Dublin Castle and subsequently occupied the adjacent City Hall, at the Four Courts the women of Cumann na mBan helped to organise the evacuation of buildings at the time of surrender and to destroy incriminating papers. This was exceptional, more typical was the General Post Office, the building was then coming under sustained shell and machine-gun fire, and heavy casualties were anticipated. The following day the leaders at the GPO decided to negotiate surrender, Pearse asked Cumann na mBan member Elizabeth OFarrell to act as a go-between. Under British military supervision she brought Pearses surrender order to the units still fighting in Dublin. Jailed at the time, she became the Minister for Labour of the Irish Republic from 1919 to 1922, during the Anglo-Irish War, its members were active. They hid arms and provided safe houses for volunteers, helped run the Dáil Courts and local authorities, in the Irish elections of May 1921, Markievicz was joined by fellow Cumann na mBan members Mary MacSwiney, Dr. Ada English and Kathleen Clarke as Teachtaí Dála. On 7 January 1922 the Anglo-Irish Treaty was approved by the Second Dáil by a vote of 64–57. On 5 February a convention was held to discuss this, and 419 Cumann na mBan members voted against as opposed to 63 in favour, in the ensuing Civil War, its members largely supported the anti-Treaty Republican forces
