the
origins of my brother Cathal's Republican or Separatist outlook as springing
from the family political background which was nationalistic.
His
time at Belvedere was short, however, as his father’s business failed in 1890
and Charles started work as a clerk in Hayes & Finch, a church supplies
firm.
In Thomas King Moylan’s diary, he recorded the
following about Charles:
Burgess was low-sized, rather foxy-looking, lithe and,
I believe, rather muscular. He knew nothing of fear and had little sympathy for
anyone who did.
Charles was certainly a strong and wiry young man and
excelled at boxing, cricket, cycling, gymnastics, rugby and swimming. He had an
austere manner and did not drink, smoke or swear. He joined the Keating branch
of the Gaelic League in 1899, studied the Irish language—soon becoming
fluent—and concentrated his energies and interest on Irish culture and sports.
He began to use a name that he had created for himself, a Gaelicised version of
Charles Burgess—Cathal Brugha.
In 1908, Brugha was elected President of the Keating
branch, which was a hotbed of separatism. Alfred Burgess said that the Gaelic
League would also have subsequently influenced the development of Cathal’s
nationalistic outlook.
In 1909, Brugha, along with Anthony and Vincent Lalor,
founded Lalor Ltd., a candle-making firm. The
Belvederian of 1911 was happy to announce the creation of the firm and the
fact that Old Belvederians were involved in the ‘Irish industrial revival’.
We
refer to the work of Messrs. Charles Burgess and V. Lalor. After years of
working for others they have now struck out for themselves, and have
established the firm of Lalor & Co. for the manufacture of all that is
wanted for the illumination of our altars.
In Lalor Ltd., Brugha became a director and travelling
salesman.
Having joined the IRB in 1908, he then joined the
Irish Volunteers upon its foundation. He was elected first lieutenant of C
Company, 4th Battalion, November, 1913, and was battalion adjutant
by early 1914. Brugha and The O’Rahilly set up a rifle range at Harold’s Cross;
on 31 August, 1913, Cathal won a prize for best shot of the day. Brugha was in
charge of the advance party of twenty Irish Volunteers at Howth, 26 July, 1914,
to secure the safe reception of the Asgard
and its cargo of arms and ammunition.
On Whit Sunday, 23 May, 1915, a major Irish Volunteer parade was held in Limerick
City. It was a show of strength but the Irish Volunteers were given a very hostile
reception. John J. Styles recalled
that all kinds of missiles were thrown at us…a woman
rushed at us and struck one of the men I was with with a gallon can which
contained porter. We had to take him to Barrington’s Hospital to have the wound
in his head stitched.
Styles continued, telling of Brugha’s response to the
crowds:
The next thing I remember was Cathal Brugha taking a
number of us out of the ranks and making us into a section to act as rear guard
under his command…and then gave the order 'fix bayonets'. By this time I could
see people were getting very excited…Just before we moved off a priest hurried
up to Cathal Brugha and appealed to him to give the order to unfix our
bayonets. He agreed to this after the priest had parleyed with him for some
time. Then he ordered us to grip our rifles by the barrels, to use the butts to
keep off any attack from the mob.
Although Brugha was not on the Irish Republican
Brother Supreme Council, he took a leading part in the Easter rising. Áine
Ceannt late recounted that Eoin MacNeill, after issuing the countermanding
orders for Easter Sunday, went to see Brugha. ‘I understand,’ she told the BMH,
‘that Cathal interviewed MacNeill and was very angry with him. He, Cathal, then
made his way to Eamonn's [Ceannt] house and told him what had occurred.’
During the rising, Brugha was Vice-Commandant of the 4th
Battalion Irish Volunteers, under Commandant Éamonn Ceannt, at the South Dublin
Union. Only one hundred and twenty of the seven-hundred-strong 4th
Battalion turned out to fight on Easter Monday. The South Dublin Union was
occupied by the main body of the battalion and outposts were taken at
Marrowbone Lane, Ardee Street and James’ Street. The night nurses’ home in the
complex was chosen as the headquarters The fighting was almost immediate on the
Monday as troops entered Dublin city from Richmond Barracks, Inchicore.
Throughout the week, it is said that Brugha insisted on the Rosary being said
each night.
On the Thursday of the rising, the British Army
launched an attack on Ceannt’s headquarters. In this assault, Brugha was
severely wounded, but, in a retreat, he managed to pull himself into a small
kitchen in the Union complex. He faced a barricade and prepared himself for a
solo final stand. Despite his twenty-five wounds, his voice could soon be heard
singing ‘God Save Ireland’. He had held back the advance of a large number of
troops at his barricade singlehandedly and the newly-inspired Irish Volunteers
were ordered back to their defensive posts. By Friday, Brugha was close to
death and was moved to the Union hospital and then received treatment at Dublin
Castle and George V hospital. Áine Ceannt
recalled that when she visited her husband, Éamonn, in Kilmainham Gaol, he gave
her ‘Cathal Brugha’s watch to give Mrs. Brugha’. He had not foreseen surviving
his stand at the South Dublin Union.
During his time in Dublin Castle hospital, Brugha
wrote to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. (Capuchin) at Church Street. The note is
dated 14 June, 1916, and reads:
I should
be obliged if you dropped in here any time tomorrow or Friday to hear my
confession. As there has been a new regulation made here with regard to the
admission of the clergy it might be as well if you brought this card with you.
Brugha was discharged August, 1916, as incurable. He
made a partial recovery but suffered great pain form his wounds and mobility
was difficult. Nicholas Laffan told the BMH that there was a meeting ‘about June,
1916’ in Cathal Brugha’s house in Rathmines. Brugha was very ill at the time
but presided at the meeting. He had begun his efforts to revive the Irish
Volunteers, serving as their Chief-of-Staff from October 1917 through to April
1919. During the conscription crisis, Brugha was suspicious of Sinn Féin’s
co-operations with the Irish Parliamentary Party. He handpicked a team of IRA
assassins and sent them to London to execute the British cabinet if
conscription was introduced. Michael Rock recounted
the following to the BMH:
Cathal
Brugha, who was then Chief of our General Staff at this time, put forward a
plan to send a number of men over to London, their purpose being to shoot Lloyd
George, the British Prime Minister, and the members of the British Cabinet in
the House of Commons when it was announced that the King had signed the
Conscription Act for Ireland. Cathal insisted on going over there himself and
taking charge of this operation and this was agreed to by G.H.Q. or the Army
Council, but with much misgivings. I volunteered to go on this expedition, but
I would not be allowed to go. However, two men from our area were accepted as
volunteers and they proceeded to London with Cathal Brugha. Happily, the
occasion for shooting never arose, as the King never gave his consent to the
Conscription Act. Our men returned from London all right, but they had aged
considerably. They had undergone an awful ordeal - sitting in the Public
Gallery of the House of Commons night after night, with revolvers in their pockets,
waiting for the pronouncement to be made by Lloyd George, and with a very, very
remote chance of getting away should the shooting have come off. They were well
aware of this fact when they volunteered for the job. (Jack Gaynor and William
Corcoran of Balbriggan were the two men).
Brugha
was elected TD, December, 1918, and in the absence of Éamon deValera, was
elected President of the first Dáil Éireann, 22 January, 1919. The Belvederian of 1919 congratulated
Brugha on his place ‘at the very forefront of Irish affairs’. When deValera
escaped from Lincoln prison, Brugha took up the post of Minister for Defence,
where he tried to impose stricter discipline, Dáil-accountability and
centralisation upon the IRA. Brugha was suspicious and resentful of the power
that Michael Collins had over defence matters and an antagonism existed between
the two men. Brugha strongly declined membership of the delegation sent to
London to negotiate with the British government, September, 1921. He rejected
the Anglo-Irish Treaty and spoke passionately against it in the Dáil. He
launched a personal tirade against Michael Collins and this lost him much
support.
Alfred
Burgess remembered his brother, Cathal Brugha, talking to him about matters of
the Anglo-Irish Treaty:
On
one occasion, he said, ‘I learned more of the rottenness of human nature during
the debate on the Treaty than I ever learned during the forty-six years of my
life!’
Brugha
worked hard to maintain unity with the IRA in the months leading up to the
outbreak of the Civil War. In March, 1922, he was Vice-President of the
anti-treaty Cumann na Poblachta. He joined the anti-treaty forces at the Hammam
Hotel in Upper O’Connell Street, Dublin. Their position was aflame and under
heavy fire from the pro-treaty army, 5 July, and as the rest of the garrison
surrendered, Brugha fought on, in another last stand. He charged out of the
hotel, firing his pistol and was shot in the thigh and seriously wounded.
Cathal Brugha, died 7 July, 1922, in the Mater Hospital and was buried in
Glasnevin. John J. Styles words are appropriate:
Of Cathal Brugha—he was a very
determined man who did not know what fear was.
In 1924, Portobello
Barracks was renamed Cathal Brugha Barracks in his honour—he lived in the
vicinity for a time. The street off O’Connell Street where he finally fell was
named after him too. 