Uncommon Valour: 1916 & The Battle for the South Dublin Union

On Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, men and women of the 4th Battalion, Irish Volunteers, under the command of Eamonn Ceannt, occupied a number of well-chosen strategic positions in and around James Street, Dublin. One of these buildings was the South Dublin Union. This building was intended to be a southside counterpart to the General Post Office on the north of the river Liffey. It was a vast workhouse, a complex of buildings that resembled a small town. It had 52 acres of lawns and almost 3,000 people living within its walls. By 2.00 p.m on Easter Monday, that small force of Irish Volunteers were under attack from a large force of the British army. This was to be the beginning of an intense, unremitting guerilla battle that would last until the 30th of April 1916. At the end of that week, it was estimated that 42 Volunteers were in direct conflict with a force of 500 British soldiers drawn from the Royal Irish Rifles, The Royal Irish Regiment and the Sherwood Foresters. Despite being vastly outnumbered, the garrison of the South Dublin Union were not overpowered but surrendered on orders issued by Patrick Pearse.