By the late 19th century, the Irish-born and their children formed about one third of Manchester's population. Without the contribution of Irish labour, Manchester could never have become the world's first industrial city - which Disraeli considered to be "as great a human exploit as Athens".

Yet for the most part during those years, the Irish were never fully accepted into their adopted city. They formed their own separate community and, as American academic Gary Messinger points out in his history of the city, they "made Manchester into an enclave of Irish political separation second only to London in importance".

'GOD SAVE IRELAND'
Manchester's most significant 19th century Irish nationalist occurrence was, of course, the execution of the Manchester Martyrs in 1867. They became a cause celebre for Irish people throughout the world and the journalist, MP and future Lord Mayor of Dublin, T D Sullivan, wrote the ballad 'God Save Ireland' in their honour. For the next 50 years it was Ireland's unofficial national anthem. It is important to put the Manchester Martyrs and what they were about in the context of the history of the Irish in Manchester.

 

FENIANS
The Fenians were founded by John O'Mahoney in New York on March 17, 1859. That organisation blended with the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) founded in Dublin on the same day by James Stephens, who was funded by O'Mahoney. Although the two organisations were separate, they tended to be known jointly as the Fenians and they planned a rising in Ireland in 1867.

 

 

The American Civil War of 1861-1865 provided the Fenians with their finest soldiers - drawn from both sides (see Peter Berresford Ellis' best seller The Rising of the Moon, which, while a novel, is based on the true story of the Fenian army which marched into Canada).

PARIS COMMUNE
So it was, that the Fenians with the most military experience were Irish Americans. They included Civil War veterans with the highest ranks. Indeed, not all were Irish or even of Irish descent. Among the most senior officers sent to Britain was General Fariola, a Franco-Italian, and General Cluseret, who afterwards was a leader of the Paris Commune.

While in London, and using false papers, Cluseret was allowed to inspect Woolwich Arsenal and Aldershot. But he disagreed on military tactics with the Fenian leadership and went home to France. Membership of the Fenians numbered about 80,000 - of whom some thousands were Irishmen in the British army stationed in Ireland and in Britain.

MICHAEL DAVITT
There is no reliable figure as to how many Fenians there were in Britain, but they certainly numbered many thousands, as witnessed by the fact that about 1,500 armed men, among them Michael Davitt, were assembled for the raid on Chester Castle. The Chester venture was led by Capt. John McCafferty, a rather dashing figure, who was born in America and had fought with the South in the Civil War.

Chester and much else in Britain was 'blown' by one John Joseph Corydon. He was born in Liverpool of somewhat vague Irish connection, went to America, participated in the Civil War, joined the Fenians and came back to Britain in that guise - while all of the time being a British agent.

The entire Fenian movement was similarly burdened with spies.

LIVERPOOL
Liverpool was the prime Fenian base in Britain. Its accessibility from America and Ireland saw to that. Glasgow ranked second. Knowing this, the British authorities stationed a regiment in each of those cities for the purpose solely of dealing with Fenian troubles.

Manchester ranked third. Birmingham, though it had quite a small Irish community in those days, was a prime source of Fenian arms. A very considerable amount of weapons and ammunition were shipped from Britain to Ireland.

TREACHERY
The insurrection planned for Ireland early in 1867 disintegrated - "strangled in its early birth by the treachery of Corydon", John Denvir wrote. But it was seen only as a temporary setback. The Fenians in Britain and in America were still largely undisturbed. Among the leaders based in Manchester was Col. Thomas Kelly, who was born in Galway in 1833 and who emigrated to the US - distinguishing himself with the Ohio Regiment during the Civil War. Afterwards, he joined the Fenians and was sent to Ireland. He was largely responsible for the rescue of James Stephens from Richmond Jail, Dublin, on November 24, 1865. Kelly was head of the Fenians in England, and, on September 11, 1867, was arrested in Manchester with Capt. Tim Deasy.

 

The latter was from Clonakilty, Co Cork, and had acquired his rank with the entirely Irish 9th Massachusetts Regiment in the Civil War. Deasy was a member of the Supreme council of the IRB. Following Stephens' escape, Deasy had accompanied him to France and from there to the US. Deasy returned to Ireland and from there crossed to Britain. He was probably the second highest-ranking Fenian in Britain when he and Kelly were arrested in Manchester's Oak Street. Two others who were with them made their escape.

IRISH - AMERICAN
Kelly gave the name of Martin Williams and said he was a bookbinder. Deasy said his name was John Whyte and that he was a hatter. But when searched, revolvers were found on them and this, with their Irish-American accents, pointed to them being Fenians.

CHARLES BRETT
Soon their true identities were established and the authorities took considerable precautions in assuring their safe custody. The horse-drawn prison van used to transport them from the court to the prison had several compartments with a passage up the middle. Kelly and Deasy were handcuffed and the compartments in which they were placed were individually locked. There were three women and a boy, all of them prisoners but of no Fenian connection, also in the van. Inside too was Sergeant Charles Brett. He sat on a seat in the passage near the door. He was armed with a cutlass.

The door having been locked, the keys were handed into Brett through a grating. Twelve armed policemen guarded the van. Four sat in
front with the driver, two stood on the rear steps, while the remainder followed in a cab.

The rank held by the two prisoners meant that the Manchester Fenians had no alternative but to attempt their rescue. It took place a week after their arrest. They were en route to Belle Vue Prison having again been remanded by the court. They passed through some of Manchester's principal streets until, after a journey of two miles, they approached the point where the railway bridge (since rebuilt) obliquely crosses Hyde Road. Houses were thinly scattered and the grounds mostly devoted to brickfields.

POLICE FLED
Just as they passed under the railway arch, two men, armed with revolvers, barred the way. The driver sought to press on, but a bullet was fired over his head and he soon stopped. Then, from behind the nearby walls, there emerged a considerable body of men, dressed, said the British press of the day, "better than ordinary workmen". They were armed for the most part with revolvers. The police fled in panic.

One section of the rescuers formed an extended circle and, with revolvers in hand, kept at bay any who would approach. The rest set about opening the van.

MICHAEL LARKIN
The most active of the latter was William Philip Allen, who, being a carpenter, was allocated the mechanical work of breaking open the van. Another was Michael Larkin, who was later accused of having fired shots with a revolver. In fact, Larkin had never handled a gun in his life.

Others were on the roof of the van with crowbars, hammers and hatchets seeking to smash through. Sergeant Brett, a brave man, had a look out through the grating but refused to hand over the keys.

According to one of the women prisoners, Emma Halliday, Brett proclaimed: "Oh my God, it's those Fenians".

HE'S KILLED
The van was sturdy and, with time running out, somebody fired a shot through the keyhole in a bid to open the door. Immediately a female voice was heard from inside exclaiming: "He's killed". The bullet intended to force the lock had, unintentionally, killed Sergeant Brett.

At that point, another of the women prisoners, Ellen Cooper, took the keys from the dying Brett and handed them out. So it was that Kelly and Deasy were rescued.

What happened to them? Kelly made it back to America and little more was heard of him.

MASSACHUSETTS
Deasy was nearly re-arrested. Still manacled, soldiers almost found him in a farmyard near Manchester where he had been hiding. But he too eventually made it back to America where he became the landlord of a saloon in Lawrence, Massachusetts. In due course, he was elected councillor and later had two terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He died in 1880 and his grave in Lawrence is marked as that of a Union officer of the Civil War.

But meanwhile, it was tough for the Irish in Manchester. Across the city areas of Irish settlement were raided.
 

More than 60 Irishmen were arrested and a huge reward was offered for Kelly and Deasy.

Hundreds of Irish in Manchester must have known where Kelly was for he remained in hiding locally for several months. But none gave him away and eventually he travelled by road to Liverpool and was smuggled aboard a steamer to America.

TWENTY-SIX MEN ON TRIAL
The other big search in Manchester was for witnesses who would give evidence against those who had been arrested. A Special Commission was appointed to hear the evidence.
The Commission opened its hearings on Monday, October 28 before Judges Blackburn and Mellor. Twenty-six men were put on trial. They were William Gould (30), William Allen (19), Edward Shore (27), Michael Larkin (30), Charles Moorhouse (23), Patrick Kelly (35), Michael Maguire (22), John Martin (34), John Bannon (40), John Francis Nugent (22), William Martin (35), John Carroll (24), Michael Joseph Boylan (37), Michael Kennedy (28), Thomas Maguire (31), Henry Wilson (27), John Bacon (40), Patrick Coffey (27), Thomas Ryan (30), William Murphy (25), Thomas Johnson (30), Daniel Reddan (25), James O'Brannon Chambers (29), William Brophy (26), Thomas Scally (22) and Timothy Featherstone (30).

FICTITIOUS
The grand jury, of which Sir Robert Gerard, an English Catholic, was foreman, returned a bill of murder (meaning sent them for trial on a murder charge) against Allen, Larkin, Gould, Thomas Maguire and Shore.

Some of the names given to the police were fictitious - for instance, William Gould and Edward Shore were, in reality, Irish-Americans Michael O'Brien and Edward O'Meagher Condon respectively.

 

Lawyers for the prisoners argued that they could not have a fair trial in Lancashire and asked that the case be heard at the Central Criminal Court. This request was refused.

The trial then went ahead without delay. The rest we know. It was Condon, the last to speak after being sentenced to death, who said: "I have nothing to regret, or to retract. I can only say God Save Ireland."

SALFORD JAIL
As it turned out, he was reprieved because he was an American citizen. Maguire, who was a member of the Royal Marines, was later seen to be innocent and pardoned.

The other three were hanged on Saturday November 23, 1867, at Salford Jail.

What tends to be overlooked is that seven other men, who were not indicted for murder, were sentenced to five years' penal servitude. They were John Carroll, Charles Moorhouse, Daniel Reddan, Thomas Scally, William Murphy, John Brannon and Timothy Featherhouse.

William Murphy, following his release, talked with John Denvir who later recorded that Murphy told him that he was not present at the rescue but that it would have been his proudest boast if he could have said that he was.

REVOLVERS
Overlooked too is that Daniel Darragh, William Hogan and Michael Breslin were arrested in Birmingham on December 5, 1867 and charged with having purchased the revolvers used in the attack on the prison van in Manchester. Breslin, who was arrested under the name of Jones, was an Irish-American Fenian and managed to bluff himself out of trouble.

Hogan and Darragh stood trial in Manchester. Hogan was acquitted. Darragh was found guilty of wilful murder and was sentenced to death. This was commuted to penal servitude for life. He died in Portland Prison on June 28, 1870. Hogan saw to it that Darragh's remains were returned to his family in Ballycastle, Co Antrim. So it might well be argued that there were, in fact, four Manchester Martyrs. William Hogan subsequently died in Liverpool and is buried in Ford Cemetery.

NEEDS
None of the foregoing is to suggest that in the nineteenth century all of the Irish in Manchester were consumed by a passion for Irish freedom and committed to militant republicanism. The most pressing needs of the Irish settlements in Irish Town and Little Ireland had to do with the basics of survival.

MONUMENT
But the hanging of the Manchester Martyrs was the greatest single occurrence in the story of the Irish in Manchester in the 19th century.
Nor was it something that happened and gradually faded from memory. On the contrary, a generation after the hangings, the Manchester Martyrs Memorial committee was given permission to raise a monument to the three in St Joseph's Catholic Cemetery, Moston. Each year, a commemoration was held - on the Sunday closest to November 23, the date of the executions. The tradition was that at 10.00am a parade would leave Bexley Square, Salford – the site of the New Bailey Prison where the martyrs were hanged. It proceeded to St Patrick's Church in Livesey Street, where an anniversary Mass would be celebrated at 11.30am.
Afterwards, the parade, led by an Irish pipe band and the standard of the Republic, would make its way to the cemetery where the standard would be dipped at the Martyrs' monument, the Last Post sounded and the Rosary recited in Irish.

DIGNIFIED
Down the years, that commemoration was a most dignified and fitting event in the calendar of the Manchester Irish. Many still remember the great occasion in 1949, when Eamon de Valera, then in opposition, attended the commemoration. He also addressed a special rally that evening in the King's Hall, Belle Vue. Those were, of course, the days when the Anti-Partition of Ireland League (APIL) was in full flower in Britain. Among those who shared the platform with Dev that evening were Labour MP Hugh Delargy; local teacher and APIL activist, Alf Havekin; and a Manchester Protestant cleric, the Rev Amphlett Micklewright, who was most sympathetic to the cause of Ireland. The Terence MacSwiney Pipe Band played appropriate Irish tunes, including God Save Ireland and A Nation Once Again.

TOTALITARIAN
As I write, I have in front of me a souvenir programme from that occasion of more than 55 years ago. It stated: "The position in northern Ireland must not be allowed to continue. Let us show the world, and especially the English-speaking world, what an evil thing it is we are fighting: the abrogation of common law, imprisonment without charge, without redress; democracy flouted, elections gerrymandered, and all the other repression that goes to make a totalitarian state. This puppet state is under the British flag and supported by British finance, and it would seem that England is prepared to support any corruption, and graft, and any persecution to hold on to the North of Ireland."
The Manchester Martyrs commemoration continued until the early 1970s when, with the outbreak of the conflict in the Six Counties, it became a target for violent attack from right-wing extremists. The Manchester Martyrs monument itself has also been vandalised. Some would like to see it restored; others think that, in its vandalised state, it provides a more potent symbol. In latter years, the march was revived.

In pointing out how the memory of the Manchester Martyrs has remained alive, we have, momentarily, jumped some generations in the story of the Irish in Manchester.

DANIEL McCABE
Let's then briefly return to the situation in the latter half of the nineteenth century.

The Irish provided much of the raw labour needed to make Manchester the world's first industrial city. By then, many of the Irish were second-generation. Despite the difficulties of acceptance they encountered, they began, gradually, to take their place at the forefront of the 'modern' Manchester. Nobody symbolised this more than Daniel McCabe, who was born in Irish Town in 1852. Both his parents had come over from Ireland and experienced the worst of the degradation. In November 1913, he became Manchester's first Catholic Lord Mayor. He served the city so well that the council took the unusual step of asking him to remain in office for a further year. His sister, Mrs O'Neill, was Lady Mayoress.

Daniel McCabe is not written large in Irish history, as are the Manchester Martyrs. But for ordinary Irish folk in Manchester he represented day-to-day life - the practicalities and the social advancement which any who had experienced Little Ireland or Irish Town desperately desired for their children. Daniel McCabe, who died on September 29, 1918, and who is buried in St Joseph's Cemetery, Moston, was the other side of the Irish in Manchester. He was also the first in a long line of distinguished Lord Mayors of this city who were either Irish or of Irish descent.

 

The next instalment of Manchester's Irish Story will be published on Wednesday 10th January.