Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-5nwft Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-28T19:55:51.161Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘Exercising a close vigilance over their daughters’: Cork women, American sailors, and Catholic vigilantes, 1917–18

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2015

John Borgonovo
John Borgonovo*
Affiliation:
School of History, University College Cork
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

During the First World War, Irish society experienced power struggles between civil authority, military governance, the constitutional nationalist establishment, and the emerging Republican movement. In the unstable wartime environment, political and social variables sparked intense controversies that mirrored competition for control over the Irish public. Inspired by the Easter Rising and emboldened by growing public disillusionment with the war, Republicans harnessed these eruptions to help fuel their attempt to overthrow Dublin Castle.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 38 , Issue 149 , May 2012 , pp. 89 - 107
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Taussig, Joseph, The Queenstown patrol, 1917: the diary of Commander Joseph Knefler Taussig, U.S. Navy (Newport, 1996), pp 18–22;Google ScholarHalpern, Paul, A naval history of World War One (London, 1994), p. 359;Google ScholarChatterton, E.K., Danger zone: the story of the Queenstown command (London, 1936), p. 329;Google ScholarNolan, Liam and Nolan, John, Secret victory: Ireland and the war at sea 1914–1918 (Cork, 2009);Google Scholar Cork Harbour Commission meeting minutes (hereafter C.H.C.M.M.), 6 June 1917 (Port of Cork Authority Archives, Cork (P.C.A.)).

2 Bayly, Sir Lewis, Pull together! The memoirs of Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly (London, 1939), p. 220;Google ScholarMorison, Elting, Admiral Sims and the modern American navy (New York, 1968), p. 382;Google ScholarDinan, John to American Red Cross Commission, 9 July 1918 (Hoover Institute Library, Stanford University, American National Red Cross Papers, Box 54).Google Scholar

3 Bayly, Pull together, p. 233;Google Scholar chief secretary for Ireland memorandum to War Cabinet, ‘Attitude of civil population towards men of United States naval forces at Cork and Queenstown’, 23 Sept. 1917 (T.N.A., CAB 24/27).

4 Chatterton, , Danger zone, pp 255–6.Google Scholar

5 Statement of Michael O‘Donoghue, (N.A.I., Bureau of Military History witness statement (BMH WS) 1741); see also statement of Seamus Fitzgerald (N.A.I., BMH WS 1737).

6 Sims, William S., The victory at sea (London, 1920), p. 70.Google Scholar

7 For an example, see the Cork Examiner (hereafter C.E.), 30 Nov. 1918.

8 Cork Constitution (hereafter C.C.), 11 Mar. 1916.

9 Luddy, Maria, Prostitution and Irish society, 1800–1940 (Cambridge, 2007), pp 25–6, 138–40, 156–62, 209;Google ScholarFerriter, Diarmuid, Occasions of sin: sex and society in modern Ireland (London, 2007), pp 27–9, 59–60.Google Scholar

10 Luddy, , Prostitution and Irish society, pp 22, 24, 32, 37, 51, 57, 112–3.Google Scholar See also O’Mahony, Colman, In the shadows: life in Cork 1750–1930 (Cork, 1997), pp 245–54.Google Scholar The military bases were Victoria Barracks, Ballincollig Barracks, and Queenstown Naval Station.

11 Luddy, Maria, ‘Women and the Contagious Disease Acts 1864-–1886’ in History Ireland, 6, no. 1 (spring 1993), pp 32–4Google Scholar; Ferriter, , Occasions of sin, pp 27–9.Google Scholar

12 Luddy, , Prostitution and Irish society, pp. 112–13, 145;Google ScholarFinnegan, Frances, Do penance or perish: a study of Magdalen asylums in Ireland (Piltown, County Kilkenny, 2001), pp 159–65, 168, 202.Google Scholar

13 Luddy, , Prostitution and Irish society, p. 180.Google Scholar See also The Irish Citizen, 15 May 1915 (reference courtesy of Sarah-Anne Buckley); CE,, 21 May 1915; C.C., 21 May 1915.

14 C.C., 21 May 1915.

15 C.C., 4 Nov. 1916.

16 C.C., 11 Mar. 1916.

17 C.E., 21 Aug. 1916.

18 C.C., 9 June 1917.

19 Cork Corporation meeting minutes, 8 June 1917 (Cork City and County Archives (C.C.C.A.), CP/C/M/12).

20 C.C., 14 June 1917.

21 Letter from ‘Corkonian’, Irish Independent, 15 Sept. 1917.

22 C.C., 10 June 1917.

23 See C.H.C.M.M., 30 May 1917, 4 July 1917, and 17 July 1917 (P.C.A.).

24 Arthur Julian to Cork Harbour Commission, C.H.C.M.M., 25 July 1917 (P.C.A.).

25 C.C., 26 July 1917.

26 R.I.C. 1917 intelligence notes (T.N.A., PRO 903/19).

27 Luddy, , Prostitution and Irish society, pp 162–3, 165, 172–6, 179;Google ScholarIrish Independent, 2 July 1912, 14 Dec. 1914, 5 Apr. 1919; Anglo-Celt, 18 Oct. 1919.

28 Southern Star, 16 Nov.1911, 6 Jan. 1912; Irish Independent, 5 Dec. 1911, 6 Dec. 1911, 1 Jan.1912, 2 July 1912; Sunday Independent, 7 July 1912.

29 Cork Corporation Law and Finance Committee meeting minutes, 20 Dec. 1916, 17 Apr. 1917, 9 May 1917, 13 June 1917 (C.C.C.A., CP/C/CM/F/A14).

30 Bland, Lucy, ‘In the name of protection: the policing of women in the First World War,’ in Brophy, Julia and Smart, Carol (eds), Women-in-law: explorations in law, family, and sexuality (London, 1985), pp 23–49;Google ScholarLevine, Philippa, ‘“Walking the streets in a way no decent woman should”: women police in World War One’ in Journal of Modern History, 66, no. 1 (Mar. 1994), pp 34–78.Google Scholar For further discussions of British ‘moral panic’ see Pederson, Susan, ‘Gender, welfare, and citizenship in Britain during the Great War’ in American Historical Review, 95, no. 4 (Oct. 1990), pp 983–1006;Google ScholarLomas, Janis, ‘“Delicate duties”: issues of class and respectability in government policy towards the wives and widows of British soldiers in the Great War’ in Women’s History Review, 9 (2000), pp 123–7Google Scholar; Wollacott, Angela, ‘“Khaki fever” and its control: gender, class, age, and sexual morality on the British home front in the First World War’ in Journal of Contemporary History, 5, no. 2 (Apr. 1994), pp 325–47.Google Scholar

31 Luddy, , Prostitution and Irish society, pp 39–10, 153–1, 174–7;Google ScholarIrish Citizen, 23 Oct. 1915, Jan. 1917; Irish Times, 2 Jan. 1915, 14 Jan.1915, 15 Apr. 1915, 26 Jan.1916, 18 Jan.1916, 19 Jan. 1918.

32 Admiralty memorandum for the War Cabinet, ‘Attitudes of civil population towards men of the United States naval forces at Queenstown,’ 19 Sept. 1917 (T.N.A., CAB 24/26).

33 Monthly report of Irish Command Military District intelligence officers, Southern District military intelligence report, Sept. 1917 (T.N.A., CO 904/157). All T.N.A., CO material has been drawn from the microfilm British in Ireland series as held by the library of University College Cork.

34 R.I.C. county inspector’s monthly report for Cork City and East Riding (henceforth cited as C.I. report) Sept. 1917 (T.N.A., CO 904/104).

35 Borgonovo, John, ‘Evolution of a revolution: Cork city 1916–1918’, (Ph.D. thesis, University College Cork, 2010),Google Scholar chapters three and five; idem, The dynamics of war and revolution: Cork city, 1916–1918 (forthcoming, Cork, 2013).

36 C.I. report, Sept. 1917, (T.N.A., CO 904/104); Southern District military intelligence report, Sept. 1917 (T.N.A., CO 904/157).

37 C.C., 3 Sept. 1917.

38 C.C., 3 Sept. 1917.

39 C.C., 4, 22 Sept. 1917.

40 C.C., 4 Sept. 1917.

41 C.C., 25 June, 4 & 28 Sept. 1917.

42 C.E., 4 Sept. 1917.

43 New York Times, 23 June 1921.

44 Taussig, Queenstown patrol, p. 113.

45 Diary of Lt. Lucien Byron Green, 26 September 1917, and 27 October, 1917 (courtesy of Rollie Green, Carrigaline, County Cork).

46 C.C., 5 Sept. 1917, 6 Oct. 1917; Southern District military intelligence report, Sept. 1917 (T.N.A., CO 904/157); Vice-Admiral Lewis Bayly to Vice-Admiral William Sims, 23 Oct., 1917 (T.N.A., CAB 24/30); Green diary, 4 Sept., 26 Sept., 27 Oct. 1917.

47 Sims, , Victory at sea, p. 72;Google ScholarBayly, , Pull together, p. 233; Chatterton, , Danger zone, pp 255–6.Google Scholar

48 Green diary, 26 Sept. 1917.

49 C.C., 6 Oct.1917.

50 Letter from ‘Uncle Bob’, C.E., 25 Sept. 1917.

51 Letter from M. J. Crimmins, C.E., 28 Nov. 1917.

52 C.E., 24 June 1918, 1 & 11 July 1918.

53 C.C, 22 Sept. 1917.

54 C.I. report for Sept. 1917 (T.N.A.., CO 904/104); C.C., 6 Oct. 1917.

55 Cork delegates ‘appointed at an influential meeting of citizens’ to Vice-Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, 22 Oct. 1917 (T.N.A., CAB 24/30).

56 Bayly to Sims, 23 Oct. 1917 (T.N.A., CAB 24/30).

57 Admiral Bayly to Admiral Sims, ‘Questions asked by the Lord Mayor of Cork in the presence of Captain Pringle, USA, and the deputation’, 23 Oct. 1917 (T.N.A., CAB 24/30).

58 Ibid.

59 Chatterton, , Danger zone, p. 257;Google ScholarBarry, J.M., Old Glory at Queenstown: the US maritime presence at Queenstown, 1840–1920 (Cork, 1999);Google ScholarSims, , Victory at sea, pp 71–2.Google Scholar

60 Borgonovo, John, ‘Throwing discretion to the wind: the 1918 general election in Cork city’ in Dháibhéid, Caoimhe Nic and Reid, Colin (eds), From Parnell to Paisley: constitutional and revolutionary politics in modern Ireland (Dublin, 2010), pp 78–96.Google Scholar

61 See Borgonovo, ‘Evolution of a revolution’, chapter five.

62 Admiralty memorandum for the War Cabinet, 19 Sept. 1917 (T.N.A., CAB 24/26).

63 C.I. report for Dec. 1917 (T.N.A., CO 904/104); R.I.C. Inspector General’s report for January 1918 (T.N.A., CO 904/105); Bishop Cohalan to Liam de Róiste, 7 Dec. 1917 (C.C.C.A., De Róiste papers, C48).

64 Sims, , Victory at sea, pp 71–2.Google Scholar

65 C.C., 21 Mar. 1918.

66 C.H.C.M.M., 10 July 1918 (P.C.A.).

67 Irish Independent, 6 Oct. 1917.

68 Luddy, , Prostitution and Irish Society, pp 190–1Google Scholar; Novick, Ben, Conceiving revolution: nationalist propaganda during the First World War (Dublin, 2001), pp 154–7.Google Scholar

69 Bland, Lucy, ‘“Purifying the public world”: feminist vigilantes in late Victorian England’ in Women’s History Review, 1 (1992), pp 397–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

70 C.E., 8 Sept. 1917; Irish Independent, 12 Sept. 1917; Anglo-Celt, 15 Sept. 1917.

71 C.E., 8 Sept. 1917.

72 C.C., 12 Sept., 6 Oct. 1917; Irish Independent, 12 Sept. 1917; Case notes, Parente vs the Crown (National Archives I, Washington DC, secretary of the navy general correspondence, 1916-1926 (hereafter S.N.G.C.), Box 2492, RG 80, 28, 979-100-9).

73 Ibid.

74 Southern District Military Intelligence report for Oct. 1917 (T.N.A., CO 904/157).

75 Ryan, Ensign Dennis, U.S.S. Conyngham, to senior officer present, 9 Sept. 1917 (National Archives I, Washington D.C., Records collection of the Office of Naval Records and Library, P Bases - Queenstown, General Correspondence, Folder 1, Box 452, RG 45); Admiralty memorandum for the War Cabinet, 19 Sept.1917 (T.N.A., CAB 24/26);Google ScholarSims, , Victory at sea, p. 71.Google Scholar

76 Irish Independent, 12 Sept. 1917

77 Memorandum of Associated Press of America correspondent to U.S. Consulate, Cork, 14 Sept. 1917 (National Archives II, College Park, Maryland, U.S. Consular Records, Cork, Ireland, RG 84, vol. 113).

78 Copy of notes in the case of Parente vs the Crown (National Archives I, Washington D.C., secretary of the navy general correspondence, 1916–1926, Box 2492, RG 80, 28,979-100-9).

79 Captain J. R. P. Pringle, senior officer present, US Naval Forces Europe, to US Consul, Queenstown, 4 Oct. 1917; Pringle to R.I.C. District Inspector, Queenstown, 27 Sept. 1917 (National Archives II, College Park, Maryland, U.S. Consular Records, Cork, Ireland, RG 84, vol. 113).

80 Attorney General to R.I.C. Cork county inspector, 20 Sept. 1917 (T.N.A., C.S.O.R.P. 1917/23,039).

81 Assistant secretary of the U.S. Navy, Gordon Woodbury, to Francis Healy, Queenstown, 3 Mar. 1921, (S.N.G.C., RG 80, Box 1941, 26, 524-451).

82 Letter and attachments of acting secretary of the navy to chief of bureau of navigation, 8 June 1920, (ibid., Box 2492, 28478-100-9). See also U.S. Consul Charles Hathaway’s undated notes, (National Archives II, College Park, Maryland, U.S. Consular Records, Cork, Ireland, RG 84, vol. 113).

83 C.E., 29 Sept. 1917; Irish Times, 13 October 1917; Irish Independent, 15 Dec. 1917.

84 Queenstown Urban District Council to secretary of the navy Josephus Daniels, 20 Feb. 1920, (S.N.G.C., 28478-100-9); Sims, , Victory at sea, p. 71.Google Scholar

85 See White, Gerry and O’Shea, Brendan, A great sacrifice: Cork servicemen who died in the Great War (Cork, 2010).Google Scholar

86 For examples, see C.C., 9, 21 July 1920.

87 C.C., 17, 26 July 1917.

88 Luddy, , Prostitution and Irish society, pp 36–7.Google Scholar

89 Southern District Military Intelligence Report for Oct. 1917 (T.N.A., CO 904/157).

90 New York Times, 3 Nov. 1919.

91 Chief secretary to War Cabinet, 23 Sept. 1916 (T.N.A., CAB 24/27).

92 J. L. Fawsitt to Liam de Róiste, 12 Feb. 1919 (T.C.D. MS 10539/449); Phelan to Charles Hathaway, U.S. consul at Queenstown, 20 Jan. 1919, and Hathaway to Phelan, 11 July 1919 (National Archives II, College Park, Maryland, U.S. Consular Records, Cork, Ireland, RG 84, vol. 113); Liam de Róiste diary, 14 July 1919 (C.C.C.A., U271A/27). Phelan’s letter refers to a ‘marine’ rather than a ‘naval rating’.

93 Letter from J. P. O’B., C.C., 9 Dec. 1918; letter from ‘Doughboy’, C.C., 24 Dec. 1918; letters from ‘A sailor who has been there’ and ‘Common sense’, New York Times, 6 July 1919; letter from Irwin, Wallace, McCutcheon, George Barr, and Street, Julian, New York Times, 14 June 1921;Google Scholar letters from ‘An ex-serviceman’ and Taylor, Frank M., New York Tribune, 1 Dec. 1920.Google Scholar

94 Memorandum of Associated Press of America correspondent, 14 Sept. 1917 (National Archives II, College Park, Maryland, U.S. Consular Records, Cork, Ireland, RG 84, vol. 113); Bayly to Sims, ‘Questions asked by the Lord Mayor of Cork’, 23 Oct. 1917 (T.N.A.,CAB 24/30).

95 Borgonovo, , ‘Evolution of a revolution’, pp 79–80.Google Scholar

96 Borgonovo, John, ‘“Thoughtless young people” and “The battle of Patrick Street”: the Cork city riots of June 1917’ in Cork Hist. Soc. Jn., cxiv (2008), pp 10–20.Google Scholar

97 C.C., 21 June 1917.

98 Taussig, , Queenstown patrol, p. 21.Google Scholar

99 Sims, , Victory at sea, p. 69.Google Scholar

100 Letter from Lt. (J. G.) Kenneth B. Keyes and Lt (J. G.) King Whitney, New York Times, 8 Nov.1919. See also letters from Sheahan, Henry Beston and Rowland, J.T., New York Times, 5 Nov. 1919;Google Scholar letter from J. P. O’B, C.C., 9 Dec.1918; letter from ‘Doughboy’, C.C., 24 Dec. 1918.

101 McMahon, Paul, British spies and Irish rebels: British intelligence and Ireland, 1916–1945 (Woodbridge, 2008), pp 23–5;Google ScholarBayly, , Pull together, p. 195;Google ScholarSims, , Victory at sea, p. 72.Google Scholar

102 Bayly, , Pull together, p. 195.Google Scholar

103 R.I.C. Cork county inspector to district inspector, Queenstown, 3 Mar. 1920; Bayly to Secretary of the Admiralty, 29 June 1918; W. F. Nicholson, secretary of the Admiralty, to under-secretary, Dublin Castle, 6 Aug.1918 (T.N.A., CO 904/123).

104 Captain R. C. Russell, American Red Cross Queenstown, to American Red Cross Committee, London, 5 Aug. 1918, Queenstown Office, Ireland, 1919 (Hoover Institute Library, Stanford University, American National Red Cross Papers, Box 55).

105 Luddy, , Prostitution and Irish society, pp 172–8Google Scholar; Novick, , Conceiving revolution, pp 150–7.Google Scholar

106 Luddy, , Prostitution and Irish society, pp 170–2.Google Scholar

107 Ó hÓgartaigh, Margaret, Kathleen Lynn: Irishwoman, patriot, doctor (Dublin, 2006), pp 38–9.Google Scholar

108 C.E., 19 Sept.1917.

109 Ferriter, , Occasions of sin, pp 59–60.Google Scholar

110 Cork Corporation Public Health Committee meeting minutes, 13 & 27 Nov.1917, 8 Jan. 1918 (C.C.C.A., CP/C/CM/PH/A27); Cork Poor Law Guardians meeting minutes (P.L.G.), 17 Jan. 1918 (C.C.C.A.).

111 Cork Corporation Public Health Committee meeting minutes, 15 Feb.1918 (C.C.C.A., CP/C/CM/PH/A27); Cork P.L.G. meeting minutes, 21 Feb. 1918 (C.C.C.A.).

112 Cork Corporation Public Health Committee meeting minutes, 12 Mar. 1918 (C.C.C.A., CP/C/CM/PH/A27); Cork P.L.G. meeting minutes, 6 Dec. 1917, 17 Jan. 1918, 18 July 1918 (C.C.C.A.). See also Luddy, , Prostitution and Irish society, pp 187–91.Google Scholar

113 Ó hÓgartaigh, , Kathleen Lynn, p. 39.Google Scholar

114 Levine, , ‘Walking the streets’, pp 52–7;Google ScholarLuddy, , Prostitution and Irish society, pp 192–3;Google ScholarFerriter, , Occasions of sin, pp 59–60.Google Scholar

115 Hansard 5 (Commons), ciii, 1096–7 (25 Feb. 1918); civ, 783 (19 Mar. 1918).

116 C.E., 15 Mar. 1918.

117 C.C., 21 Mar. 1918.

118 C.C., 19 Apr. 1918.

119 Cork P.L.G. meeting minutes, 21 Mar. 1918 (C.C.C.A.).

120 C.I. report for Mar. 1918 (T.N.A., CO 904/105).

121 Sims, , Victory at sea, p. 72.Google Scholar

122 C.E., 19 Mar.1918.

123 C.C., 19 Mar. 1918.

124 C.I. report for Mar. 1918 (T.N.A., CO 904/105).

125 C.C., 19 Mar. 1918.

126 C.C., 20 Mar. 1918.

127 C.E., 26 Mar. 1918.

128 O’Callaghan, John, Revolutionary Limerick: the republican campaign for independence in Limerick, 1913–1921 (Dublin, 2010), pp 73–4.Google Scholar

129 See the secretary’s and caretaker’s reports, C.H.C.M.M., 10 July 1918 (P.C.A.). ‘Revolting acts’ comes from the 17 July 1918 meeting.

130 C.H.C.M.M., 17 July 1918 (P.C.A.).

131 C.E., 5 July 1918.

132 Cork Corporation meeting minutes, 27 Sept. 1918 (C.C.C.A., CP/C/M/12).

133 Cork Corporation meeting minutes, 20 Dec. 1918, and 10 Jan. 1919 (C.C.C.A., CP/C/M/12).

134 Letters from ‘Doughboy’ and ‘Curious’, C.C., 24 Dec. 1918.

135 C.C., 7 Nov. 1918.

136 Morison, , Admiral Sims, pp 276–84.Google Scholar

137 Sims, , Victory at sea, pp 69–72.Google Scholar

138 New York Times, 3 & 17 Nov. 1919.

139 ‘Sims-Daniels controversy’ (Hoover Institute, George Barr Baker papers, newspaper clipping collection, Box 13); Sims draft statements and assorted preparation material in connection with his testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee of Investigation into the Naval Conduct of the War, c.1919–1920 (Hoover Institute, Tracy B. Kittridge Papers, Box 11).

140 New York Times, 16, 26 Jan.1921. See also Ward, Alan, Ireland and Anglo-American relations, 1899–1921 (London, 1969), pp 246–7.Google Scholar

141 Morison, , Admiral Sims, p. 482;Google ScholarNew York Times, 23 June 1921. See also the US Navy file on the episode (S.N.G.C., RG 80, Box 2493, 28,478–210).

142 Morison, , Admiral Sims, pp 482–6;Google ScholarNew York Times, 11, 22, 23 June 1921.

143 For a fascinating discussion of similar tensions in Northern Ireland see McCormick, Leane, ‘“One Yank and they’re off’: interactions between US troops and Northern Irish women, 1942-–1945’ in Journal of the history of sexuality, 15, no. 2 (May 2006), pp 228–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

144 M. O’Leary to Con O’Donovan, 8 Jan. 1919, ‘First and Second Report on the Correspondence of 97 Irish Internees’, Postal Censorship Reports (T.N.A., CO 904/164). See also a report of a Sinn Féin election meeting, C.C., 23 Nov. 1918.

145 C.E., 1, 3 Apr. 1919.

146 C.E., 3 Apr. 1919.