April 1916
Mary contacts Pte M Courtney in Sofia who is in the same company as her son Charlie and may have been with him when he was captured. She also
writes to the O'Mahony, who holds land in Bulgaria and has offered to help. She receives a letter
from her daughter Marie who has met a Sgt. Chapman in hospital; he was with Charlie in Serbia the day he was
wounded and is sure he has not been killed. Marie is
leaving Malta where she has been nursing, and is
returning home.
Mary's son Cecil contracts German measles so her
children (who have been at boarding school) can’t come home for the school holidays.
They are sent to stay with various relatives, so the Easter weekend starts off quietly.
However, making their way home from Fairyhouse
racecourse on Monday 24 April, Mary's daughters Ethel
and Violet and their Aunt Rita find themselves caught up in the Sinn Fein Rising. Aunt Rita has to walk home
through the barricade, but her husband, Jack, drives
the two girls home, managing to reach his home near St.
Dymphna's via Finglas.
The following day (Tuesday 25 April) the siege continues and there are also reports of
risings in the cities of Cork, Limerick, Belfast and Derry. Sinn
Fein is still in possession of the G.P.O. and a troop ship has docked in Kingstown, with all approaches being guarded by the military. 26 April sees
reports of looting; Liberty Hall and the Herald Office have been levelled and the Jacobs Factory is one of the rebel strongholds.
Overnight there are reports of fires, and troops continue to arrive on 27 April. On 28
April Mary hears that T&C Martin (the family company) has been burned, as has E&J Burke's bottling plant. There are reports that
Connolly, Countess
Markievicz and Sheehy-Skeffington have been
shot. The fighting continues through to Saturday 29 April but on Sunday 30 April,
despite the gunfire and pickets continuing, Mary hears that a truce has been called.
(No Reference Available)
Private M. Courtney
Unidentified as yet. Sofia
Capital of Bulgaria, ally of Germany in World War I. Charles Martin died fighting against the Bulgarian army. Charles Andrew Martin
Born 3 June 1895, Charles Andrew was Mary Martin's son. This diary is dedicated to him. He was reported wounded and missing in December 1915 and died of his wounds on December 8 while in Bulgarian captivity, aged 20. However it wasn't until July 1 1916 that official confirmation of his death was received. ? O'Mahony
Unidentified as yet. Bulgaria
Ally of Germany during World War One and whose army Charles Martin fought against in his final campaign. Marie Helena Martin
Born 25 April 1892 and died 27 January 1975. Marie Helena was Mary Martin's daughter and worked in Malta and France as a VAD nurse during the First World War. In 1937 she founded the religious order Medical Missionaries of Mary. Sergeant Chapman
Unidentified as yet. Serbia
Serbia fell to Bulgaria and Gemany on the Macedonian Front, a campaign during which Charles Martin was wounded and reported missing in action. Malta
Mediterranean island south of Sicily and part of the British Empire. Marie Martin served there as a VAD from October 1915 to April 1916. Cecil Bernard Martin
Born 9 April 1904, Cecil Bernard was Mary Martin's son. Fairyhouse Racecourse, Ratoath, Co. Meath
Fairyhouse Racecourse in Co. Meath, home to the Irish Grand National horse race. At the beginning of the Easter Rebellion most Dubliners and many British officers and soldiers were at the races. Ethel Mary Martin
Born in 1893, Ethel Mary was Mary Martin's daughter and served as a VAD during the First World War. Violet Mary Martin
Born on 29 August 1896, Violet Mary was Mary Martin's daughter. She worked as a nurse during the First World War and later became a Dominican nun. Rita Levins Moore
Born ca. 1885. Mary Martin's sister, married John O'Conor Donelan, known as 'Jack' on 12th January 1910. Sinn Fein
Originally the part of the Irish Volunteers Association that opposed Ireland's participation in the First World War, it became the collective term used for Irish rebels in the Easter Rising in 1916. Jack O’Conor Donelan
Born in Co. Galway ca. 1867, John O’Conor Donelan, known as 'Jack' was Mary Martin's brother-in-law (husband of her sister Rita) and a medical doctor. St Dymphnas
Dublin hospital. Finglas
In 1916 a village in County Dublin, now a large suburb near the airport. Cork
Second city of Southern Ireland. Limerick
Town in Ireland. Belfast
Largest city in the North of Ireland. Derry
Second biggest city in the North of Ireland. Also known as Londonderry. Kingstown
Port town in County Dublin, close to the Martin family home and now known as Dun Laoghaire. Liberty Hall
Centre of the Dublin trade union movement and the headquarters of James Connolly's Irish Citizen Army on Eden Quay in Dublin prior to the Easter Rising. Destroyed by intense shelling from the British gunboat Helga in the mistaken belief that Irish rebels were in the building. It was empty. Herald Office
Offices of the Evening Herald newspaper in Dublin. Jacobs Factory
Jacob's Biscuit Factory on Bishop Street in Dublin, held by Irish rebels under Thomas MacDonagh and one of the last garrisons to surrender in the Easter Rising. E&J Burke's bottling Stores
Wine merchants in Dublin who also bottled stout and ale. James Connolly
(1868 - 1916) James Connolly, Scottish by birth but Irish socialist and nationalist leader by choice. Leader of the tiny Irish Citizen Army, he was one of the signatories of the Irish Proclamation of Independence. Badly wounded during the the Easter Rising, he was tied to a chair and executed by a British firing squad. Constance Markiewicz
(1868 – 1927) Countess Constance Markievicz. Her husband was a impoverished Polish count, she was an ardent nationalist and suffragette and member of the Irish Citizen Army under James Connolly. She saw some action during the Easter Rising, fighting in Stephen's Green and the College of Surgeons. Later she was the first woman elected to the British House of Commons although she refused her seat in protest. Francis Leo Sheehy-Skeffington
(1878 – 1916) Francis Sheehy-Skeffington, a well-known Irish pacifist, popularly known as 'Skeffy'. He was trying to organise unofficial parties to prevent looting during the Easter Rising when he was arrested and shot by a British officer. The officer was later found to be insane. | 
