who joined the British forces would form the nucleus of a future Irish army that would secure the unity of Ireland. Militant nationalists opposed participating in the war effort, and this split the Irish Volunteer movement. The anti-Redmond element were in a minority and continued to be known as the Irish Volunteers, led by Eoin MacNeill. The vast majority, however, followed Redmond and became known as the National Volunteers. By this time the revolutionary Irish Republican Brotherhood had secretly manoeuvred itself into key controlling positions within the Irish Volunteers and was seeking to capitalize on England’s difficulty by using the Irish Volunteers in an uprising against British rule.
James F. Dalton served on the national committee of the new National Volunteers as the militia raised funds, built its organization and armed its members. At a meeting in Dublin City Hall on 30 September 1914, James seconded the motion making Willie Redmond MP (younger brother of John Redmond) one of the Honorary Treasurers.19 Willie Redmond would later die in British uniform during the Great War. Among the others on hand that night was James’s friend, Tom Kettle. Kettle had been in Belgium to procure arms for the Volunteer movement when the war broke out. Like Willie Redmond, he also died in the war. He would be comforted in his dying moments at the Somme by James’s son, Emmet.
James F. Dalton had helped supply arms to the Volunteer movement. Patrick Moylett, a businessman from County Mayo, later described how he bought rifles from James Dalton during an arms-buying trip to Dublin in 1914. The arms were to equip local Volunteers in his home town of Ballyhaunis. Probably acting on behalf of the Volunteers, Dalton provided six Mausers of the 1896 Spanish model pattern, and one 1877 Mauser for a total of £25.20 The transaction seems to have occurred after the outbreak of the Great War in August, possibly before the split in the movement, which would explain Dalton’s dealing with Moylett, who affiliated himself to the militant Irish Volunteer group.
Although only about sixteen years old, Emmet Dalton was given the task by his father of delivering the rifles across Ireland to County Mayo. Emmet later recalled the delivery of the heavy parcel, wrapped in sack cloth, to his family home.21 James Dalton saw his son off on the train at Kingsbridge station for the journey to Ballyhaunis. For a youth of such tender years, it was a challenging assignment. The police could become suspicious and, besides, Emmet could barely lift the heavy parcel. Emmet was wearing his Christian Brothers school cap and this may have helped convey an image of innocence that allayed any suspicions. Dalton senior helped his son heave the package onto the luggage rack of the train.
Moylett stated that a week after he paid for the weapons, Emmet arrived at his business premises in Ballyhaunis with the six rifles, but no ammunition. Moylett had managed to get some ammunition from Belfast from another unlikely source – an Orangeman – but it was only about 25 rounds. ‘I took Emmet Dalton and my foreman, Pat Kennedy, who was in the Volunteers, to the police rifle range and we did our practice openly.’22 Clearly, even as a schoolboy, Emmet knew how to fire a rifle – a useful accomplishment in light of his later military career. Moylett recalled that Emmet told him that he was 18 years of age [sic] and that John Redmond was getting him a commission in the British Army. ‘His statement made me sad because it cut straight across what he was doing. I tried to persuade him not to join, but I was not successful.’ Moylett became a senior figure in the Irish Republican Brotherhood during the War of Independence, though he took no part in the Civil War.
Emmet Dalton Joins the British Army
In late 1915, Emmet Dalton, aged 17, joined the British Army. He showed considerable independence of spirit and sense of adventure by doing so without consulting his parents. He was said to have been a student of ‘great ability’ at the college in Roscrea, and he reportedly gained a scholarship to the Royal College of Science but abandoned it to go into the British forces.23 He was following the call of his father’s great idol, John Redmond, who had encouraged the Volunteer movement and Irishmen generally to fight for Britain in the Great War. Dalton later reminisced that the overwhelming majority of the Irish people at this time supported the action being taken by John Redmond and his followers in the National Volunteers. He was imbued with the same feeling of patriotism that existed all around. There was also the glamour of going to war: ‘I mean, at eighteen years of age, what do you know?’24
His enlistment was assisted by his father’s friend, Joe Devlin MP. Devlin gave him a letter of introduction to a man who was in charge of recruiting and who had an office on Grafton Street, Dublin. So far as Dalton could recall, the man’s name was Macartney Filgate.25 Dalton called to the recruiting office, and applied for a temporary commission in the British Army. Dalton lied about his age, claiming to be 18 years old.26 He received a letter dated 29 December 1915 from the War Office, London appointing him a to a ‘temporary Second-Lieutenancy in the New Army (on probation)’, posted to the 7th Service Battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers. He was required to attend a class of instruction at Cork, and was to present himself, without fail, to the Commandant, School of Instruction, Garrison Office, Cork in one week. He was instructed to report in uniform, but if his uniform was not ready, to report in plain clothes. In a rather parsimonious tone, the letter added: ‘Expenses incurred in travelling to join on first appointment must be paid by yourself.’27
During the interviews for a 1978 RTÉ TV documentary, Cathal O’Shannon asked Dalton if in joining the British Army he felt he was fighting for Britain, or fighting for Ireland, or for little Belgium? Dalton replied that he was fighting for all three. The ‘Irish Brigade’ subscribed to the idea of fighting for small countries. They all felt sympathetic to Belgium. Dalton also agreed that in joining the army he was motivated partly by a sense of adventure.28
Dalton’s father was utterly dismayed when Emmet turned up at the family home in British Army uniform. As an avid supporter of John Redmond, James Dalton probably backed Redmond’s call on the Volunteers to join the British Army. At the very least, he had not distanced himself publicly from Redmond’s policy. But he was still shocked when he saw his son in the uniform of the King’s forces, and his basic Irish nationalist emotions came into play. Emmet’s mother was also upset. Emmet managed to calm them down and they came to accept their son’s decision. Emmet duly set off for Cork and underwent a course for young trainee officers for about a month at the city’s Victoria Barracks. He received further training in Kilworth camp, near Fermoy, County Cork.
Military commissions were formally announced in the British government journal London Gazette. The supplement for the edition of 8 January 1916 recorded that, on the first of the month, James Emmet Dalton, had been appointed temporary Second Lieutenant (on probation) with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers (RDF). He was one of many young men from his north Dublin neighbourhood who joined the RDF early in the Great War. One was Frank Malley, older brother of Dalton’s school contemporary, Ernie O’Malley. Frank later served with the King’s African Rifles, and died in what is now Tanzania.29
While Emmet was still undergoing training in Cork, a momentous event took place in Dublin. On Easter Monday 1916, the more militant element of the Irish Volunteers staged the Rising, which utterly transformed the Irish political situation for generations. Organized by members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the 1916 Rising was the most significant insurrection against British rule since the 1798 rebellion. The fighting was mainly confined to Dublin where the Irish Volunteers and members of the smaller socialist organization, the Irish Citizen Army seized a number of key buildings, the most iconic being the General Post Office (GPO). Fighting continued for the next six days.
As soon as he learned of the rebellion, James F. Dalton’s practical instincts came into play. He instructed his wife to lay in provisions and to buy two hundredweight (101.6 kg) of flour as nobody knew how long the trouble would last. Knowing instinctively that his 13-year-old son Charlie would want to go into town and see what was happening, James F. forbade the boy to go anywhere near the fighting. All Charlie’s sympathies were with the rebels and as he recalled later, he would have loved to help with the fight. He was disgusted to see women coming out of their homes to give jugs of tea to British soldiers.30
Many Irishmen serving in the British Army were still in Ireland when the rebellion broke out. They must have found themselves in a dilemma, as they had joined to fight for the rights of small nations – not to fight their fellow Irishmen. Many families also found themselves in an equivocal situation – having one son