1916

Abstract

This chapter details the deaths of the people who died in Ireland in 1916. These include the deaths of wireless operator Cornelius Keating, mechanic Charles Monaghan, and bookkeeper Daniel Sheehan, who planned to set up a radio transmitter at Ballyard, Tralee, using equipment stolen from the Atlantic College. The intention apparently was to contact the German arms ship Aud, although in fact it did not have a radio. Alternatively, the plan may have been to radio the German submarine U-19. Keating, Monaghan, and Sheehan drowned when their car drove straight off the Ballykissane Pier, overturning in the water. Another death is that of Constable James O'Brien; unarmed, he was on duty at the Cork Hill entrance to the upper yard of Dublin Castle. On April 24, 1916, the castle was attacked by the Irish Citizen Army, under the command of Seán Connolly. Hit in the head, O'Brien was the first fatality shot in the 1916 Rising.