Emmet Dalton

Somme Soldier, Irish General, Film Pioneer

Sean Boyne

• Publisher: Merrion Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9781785370748
• eBook ISBN:
  9781908928696
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

This is the first-ever biography of Emmet Dalton, an American-born Dubliner, Home Ruler and later Republican, whose extraordinary military career as a British officer, IRA leader and General in the Free State army brought him from Flanders to Beal na Bláth. A decorated hero of the Battle of the Somme, he returned from the war with the rank of Captain and transferred his military expertise to the now rampant IRA, serving as Director of Training, and greatly impressing Michael Collins with his extraordinary daring and nerve.

Soon befriending Collins and becoming his close confidante, he accompanied him to the Treaty talks in London in 1921, and in the Civil War that followed Dalton oversaw the bombardment of the Four Courts, personally manning an 18-pounder artillery gun. He then masterminded and led the audacious seaborne landings and successful recapture of Cork City and Munster Republic from Anti-Treaty forces, but was ultimately traumatised when Collins died in his arms at Beal na Bláith.

In his expansive biography, Sean Boyne vividly portrays Dalton's experiences and the vital role he played in the politics and wars that created the independent Irish state. Dalton was the first Senate Clerk and he became a pioneer of the Irish film world, founding Ardmore film studios and establishing the Irish Film industry. An attractive and high-achieving figure in Irish life in war and peace, Dalton's heroism allowed him to live his many lives to the full, and this compelling biography does justice to a figure who will captivate all those interested in modern Irish history and the birth of the state.

CHAPTER ONE

Early Days

Emmet Dalton was born in the United States on 4 March 1898 to Irish-American parents who lived in Fall River, Massachusetts, a relatively prosperous mill town. Emmet’s father, James Francis Dalton, was feisty and personable, and enthusiastically threw himself into work, business and politics. There were strong Irish connections in the family. James Francis’s own father, James senior, was born in Galmoy, County Kilkenny in 1839, just a few years before the Great Famine that forced many Irish to seek refuge in America. James senior took the emigrant ship also, marrying another Irish immigrant, Laois-born Elizabeth Walsh, after settling in Rhode Island. Possibly influenced by the folk memory of the Famine, James F. was a fervent Irish nationalist, convinced that the Irish had suffered many wrongs inflicted by their English overlords. He was an enthusiastic supporter of Irish causes and would become immersed in the campaign for Home Rule.

Like other men of Irish background in the state of Massachusetts, James F. became active in the Democratic Party, and in the 1890s was a state committee man.1 One of his contemporaries in the party was a man of similar background, John Francis Fitzgerald, known as ‘Honey Fitz’, whose parents were also Irish-born. Both men loved sport, especially baseball, and James F. was a director of the Fall River Baseball Association. Fitzgerald would go on to become the Mayor of Boston and an extremely powerful figure in Boston politics – his grandson, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, would become President of the United States. With his energy, drive and affability, James F. might also have carved out a career for himself in Massachusetts politics but he was destined to take a different path in life.

When he was in his late twenties, James F. decided on a great adventure – he would leave America, and return with his family to the land of his ancestors. By now, James F. had been married twice, and had two sons. His first wife was Bridget Heffernon, and they had a son, Martin Joseph. After Bridget died, apparently in childbirth, James F. at age 28, married again, this time his bride being Katherine Lee Riley (20), who was born in Somerset, Massachusetts where her family were farmers. The marriage register lists James F. as a manager by profession, while his bride is described as a stenographer.2 Katherine was also of Irish-American background: her mother’s maiden name was Margaret Cronin; her father’s name was Charley Riley. Both parents had been born in Ireland.

The couple were married in Somerset on 2 June 1897 by a Catholic priest, and their son James Emmet Dalton, was born the following year.3 According to the city birth register, the family then lived in Fall River. The boy was called after the Irish patriot, Robert Emmet, who had the same birthday, 4 March. Robert Emmet, born in 1778, was executed in Dublin in 1803 after an abortive rebellion against British rule. By coincidence, there happened to be an infamous individual with a similar name who was in the news during the 1890s. This was Emmett Dalton, an outlaw in the American Old West who became notorious as an armed robber and member of the Dalton Gang. However, there is little doubt that the baby was called after the patriot rather than the bandit, even though the entry in the Fall River birth register is rendered as ‘James E. Dalton’, thus giving less emphasis to the ‘Emmet’ element in the name. The father’s occupation is given as ‘salesman’.

James F. moved to Dublin, Ireland around 1900, where he went into business. It is unclear if he tried to seek out relations in County Kilkenny. When he had settled in, he sent for his wife Katherine, who set off for Ireland with their infant son Emmet and James’s son Martin J. from his first marriage.4 Arriving in Dublin, they soon moved into the new house that James F. Dalton had acquired for his family. It was in a new housing estate at Drumcondra, with green fields nearby, in an area that was then on the edge of the city. It was a time when Dublin was in the throes of preparations for a visit by Queen Victoria to the city, in April 1900. Young Emmet was most impressed by the colourful uniforms of the soldiers, and this would form one of his earliest memories.

Over the years James F. Dalton would pursue various business projects. He ran a fashionable laundry for a period, the Central Laundry at 60 South William Street, in a genteel area of the south city. He later went into the insurance business, and became an importer and manufacturer’s agent, with an office at 15 Wicklow Street. After settling in Dublin, the family quickly expanded. The 1911 census returns show that the family resided at 8 St Columba’s Road Upper, Drumcondra. The redbrick two-storey terraced house, with a small front garden, on a quiet residential street, just off Iona Road, is still there. James F. Dalton (42) is described as ‘Head of Family’, and the manager of a laundry company. His wife is listed as Katherine L. Dalton (34). The census returns record they were both born in the United States and married for 14 years. The family’s religion is given as ‘Roman Catholic’. Details are provided of four sons and a daughter. The eldest son, Martin J. Dalton, is described as a student at the National University. He is listed as being able to speak Irish and English, the result, no doubt, of an Irish education. Also listed as having been born in the United States, and able to speak Irish and English, is J. Emmet Dalton (13). The remaining children were born in Dublin city. Charles Francis, eight years old at the time, was born in 1903, and no doubt named after his mother’s father Charles Riley. Eileen, aged six, was born in 1906 – she would pass away at age nine. The baby in the family at the time of the census was Brendan Ignatius, aged one.

The family was prosperous enough to have a live-in servant, as many of the better-off middle-class Dublin families had in that era – she is listed in the census returns as Mary A. Coughlan (21), a native of Dublin. The couple went on to have other children: Nuala was born in 1913 and became a nun; Deirdre was born in 1916 and Dermot Patrick arrived in 1919. The parents had an obvious preference for traditional Irish names. In all, James F. Dalton fathered eight children, the most famous being Emmet. With his natural air of authority, James was given a nickname within the family – he was known as ‘The Sir’.

Drumcondra, like its neighbouring area Glasnevin, enjoyed the seclusion and amenities of a genteel suburb on the edge of Dublin, but was close to the city centre, with its theatres and other amusements. The trams ran along nearby Drumcondra Road, where the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin ruled from an imposing palace behind high walls. There were fields nearby earmarked for housing, and the open countryside was within walking distance. At Finglas Bridge, on the edge of the cemetery lands, boys could swim during the summer in the shallow waters of the Tolka. Dublin’s notorious slums and infamous ‘Monto’ red light district did not impinge on the tranquility of life in Drumcondra.

For a boy interested in sport, the Dalton home was ideally located. In one direction, a few minutes’ walk away, there was Croke Park, premier stadium of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), and scene of the All-Ireland senior football and hurling finals every year. In another direction, again within walking distance of the Dalton home, there was located in Phibsboro the stadium known as Dalymount Park, home of Bohemians soccer club, popularly known as ‘Bohs’. In that era, on a quiet evening when a match was in progress, locals living within a few miles radius of the stadium could hear the ‘Dalymount Roar’ as the assembled Dubs cheered a goal or a save. Emmet Dalton would become a regular at Dalymount, both as a player and later as a spectator.

As a devoutly Catholic family, the Daltons would have appreciated the reassuring proximity of the Church of Saint Columba, a grey, granite edifice in Romanesque style, completed in 1905. The church would cater for the spiritual needs of the residents of the new suburbs of Drumcondra and Glasnevin. For the Daltons, daily Mass and Communion, and the nightly Rosary, formed part of their routine. Not too far away from their home, on the other side of the Royal Canal, was the grim outline of the Victorian-era Mountjoy Prison, behind grey, stone walls. From some of the cell windows facing east, one could see St. Columba’s church. The prison would also figure in the story of Emmet Dalton.

The family men who lived in this middle-class Drumcondra/Glasnevin suburb of redbrick houses included businessmen, civil servants and clerical workers. Living almost around the corner, at 7 Iona Drive, were the Malleys. They lived in a grander house than the Daltons. Luke Malley was a civil servant, a clerk in the Law Department of the Congested Districts Board (later known as the Land Commission). He and his wife Marion had a large family. One of their sons, Ernie, aged 13 at the time of the census, just like his neighbour Emmet Dalton, would later take the more Gaelic, more romantic version of the surname, O’Malley.5 He would also figure prominently in the story of Emmet Dalton.

O’Connell School

Emmet was first sent for schooling to the Holy Faith nuns at Glasnevin. Then he went on to O’Connell School (also known as Scoil Uí Chonaill), located on North Richmond Street, just off the North Circular Road. Emmet’s brother Charlie would also be educated there, as would Ernie O’Malley, starting in 1907. O’Malley described O’Connell’s as ‘a fairly good school where we rubbed shoulders with all classes and conditions’.6 O’Connell School was the most historic of the Christian Brother establishments in Dublin. The foundation stone of the school was laid in June 1828 by Daniel O’Connell, the charismatic leader of the movement for Catholic Emancipation. Apart from inculcating a strong Catholic religious faith, the Brothers were also noted for promoting Irish nationalism and culture, with a particular emphasis on the Irish language.

It has been estimated that about 125 past pupils of O’Connell’s took part in the 1916 Easter Rising. One of them, Seán T. O’Kelly, later became President of Ireland. Three of the executed leaders of the Rising were former students of the school – Sean Heuston, Eamonn Ceannt and Con Colbert. Former O’Connell School boys fought in the War of Independence and they were to be found on opposite sides in the Irish Civil War which followed. The writer and theatre critic Gabriel Fallon has recorded that among his ‘close companions’ at O’Connell’s were Emmet Dalton, Noel Lemass and Ernie O’Malley.7 They were all around the same age. Noel’s brother Sean, later to become Taoiseach, was also at O’Connell’s around this time, and Emmet knew the Lemass brothers well. O’Malley was close enough to Emmet’s younger brother Charlie to entrust him with his books when, in March 1918, he took a break from his medical studies to leave home and organize for the Irish Volunteers in the 1918 election.8 One of the teachers at O’Connell’s who knew Dalton well was Brother William Allen, who would later be noted for his unique collection of rare historical documents, books and artifacts, including arms from Ireland’s revolutionary period donated by former pupils.

James F. Dalton, Activist and Organizer

After setting up home in Dublin, Emmet’s father, James F. Dalton, threw himself into the political and business life of his adopted city. He became active in nationalist organizations such as the United Irish League and the Ancient Order of Hibernians. He demonstrated his devotion to Irish history by picking shamrock from the tomb of Daniel O’Connell in Glasnevin Cemetery and sending it back to his home town of Fall River. Close on a half century later shamrock based on that original plant was still being grown in Fall River, in a munici-pal greenhouse.9 Politically, James was a constitutional nationalist, supporting the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) led by John Redmond, which was campaigning for Home Rule and which had made some progress towards that goal through its activities in the parliament at Westminster. Yet it was still under the cloud of its spectacular split in 1890–91 following the marriage of party leader Charles Stewart Parnell to a divorcee. But party unity was re-established in 1900 under John Redmond, who came from a noted County Wexford family of Catholic gentry.

James F. Dalton kept a large picture of party leader John Redmond over the mantelpiece in the sitting room of his Drumcondra home. As an extremely hardworking activist for the IPP, James F. made a considerable impact in nationalist circles in Dublin. Perhaps because of his experiences with the Democratic Party in America, he took an active part in committees and fund-raising work linked to the nationalist cause. He proved an extremely good events organizer. Likeable and energetic, he had the ability to win friends. He became friendly with luminaries of the party such as the Belfast-born MP Joe Devlin, a noted orator and skilled political organizer; Willie Redmond MP, a brother of the party leader; and Tom Kettle, poet, journalist, barrister and academic, who had served as an MP up to 1910. Devlin and Kettle would visit the Dalton home to socialize and sometimes play cards. While still a schoolboy, Emmet came to know some of the prominent people in the Home Rule movement.

James F. Dalton was held in such high esteem by those involved in the Home Rule movement that he was the guest of honour at a banquet given for him at the Gresham Hotel on 21 December 1911. The dinner sold out, and senior figures in the IPP were present, including Willie Redmond and Tom Kettle. Though Joe Devlin was unwell, he still made sure to turn up at the Gresham to pay tribute to his friend. Dalton was presented with an illuminated address by an Irish Party activist, Lawrence Wickham, a member of Blackrock Urban Council, in recognition of his work for the ‘National Cause’. The address referred to the ‘sacrifices’ made by Dalton, his ‘unselfish patriotism’ and the ‘great personal regard in which he is held’. The address also referred to his ‘almost unique faculty of attracting universal friendship’.

During his address, Tom Kettle said that the most brilliant student that he knew in their Dublin College was a son – Martin J. Dalton – of their guest that night. Joe Devlin said of James F. Dalton, that ‘no more loyal friend, no more affectionate comrade’ had ever appeared in Ireland. Touched by the occasion, James F. warmly thanked the attendees. ‘It has often been told to you by our leaders and others who have visited this great Republic of the West, of the love that is borne not only by the exiles, but also by the children of the exiles, for Ireland. I am proud to say, as the son of an exile, that I intensely love this dear old land…’

It was not surprising that Martin Dalton had come to the notice of Tom Kettle. Apart from being...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations
• List of Plates
• Maps
• Introduction
• 1 Early Days
• 2 The Great War
• 3 IRA Activities
• 4 Treaty Talks
• 5 Liaising with the British
• 6 Evacuation of Crown Forces
• 7 Battle of the Four Courts
• 8 Fighting Spreads
• 9 The Landings
• 10 Death at Bealnablath
• 11 The War Continues
• 12 Leaving the Army
• 13 Senate Clerk
• 14 Moving to England
• 15 Making Films
• 16 Life After Films
• Notes
• Select Bibliography
• Index
• Plate Section