The first day of the revolution

It is very difficult to say with certainty who was the first casualty of the Easter Rebellion although, in all probability, it was a civilian.

There was not much activity on Easter Monday but one of the places that saw action was the Magazine Fort in the Phoenix Park. A small group hoped to capture the weapons stored there and blow up the building. They got no guns and their explosives did not do much damage.

A young man named George Playfair was shot by the Volunteers while entering a house in Islandbridge Barracks, as they believed he was attempting to raise the alarm. He was brought to hospital where he died later that night.

An earlier death occurred at the South Dublin Union site of the only major action on that Monday. The Fourth Battalion of the Volunteers were scheduled to gather at Cork Street. Eamonn Ceannt and his second-in-command, Cathal Brugha, expected 1,000 men but due to the countermanding order only about 100 turned out.

They allocated their men and at midday Ceannt and Brugha led their group into the hospital. It was a vast sprawl of buildings including staff living quarters, a hospital and churches spread over 50 acres on the site of what is now St James’ Hospital. When men had been sent to other outposts there were only 40 left in the Union.

Within two hours they were under attack by a large force from the Royal Irish Rifles and during the week they were joined by the Royal Irish Regiment and the Sherwood Foresters. Slowly but surely they were forced deeper into the Union but they succeeded in lasting out the full week. They were not overpowered but only surrendered on the Sunday when they received written orders from Pearse.

When the rebels marched into the Union the patients were still there and it was fully staffed. It is possible that there were over 3,000 people, including patients, doctors, nurses and support staff present when the rising started.

One of these was Nurse Margaret Kehoe from Carlow where she lived on the family farm in Leighlinbridge. On that fateful day she was on duty on the upper floor of one of the hospital buildings. During a lull in the firing she decided to check the safety of the patients on the lower floor.

The British had already reached that building and two soldiers were covering the doorway and corridor. As Nurse Kehoe reached the bottom of the stairs both soldiers opened fire and she was killed instantly. Even though there was nothing to suggest that she had any connection with the Volunteers Ceannt declared that she was the first martyr of the rebellion. She was buried in the grounds, later exhumed and buried in the family grave in Ballinabranna.

She was not the first member of her family to die in such circumstances. Her granduncle Captain Myles Keogh died fighting with Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn and his white horse, Comanche, was the only living thing found on the battlefield when US troops arrived some days later.

Nurse Margaret Kehoe from Carlow, probably the first non military casualty of Easter Week was shot in the South Dublin Union on April 24 1916 – 97 years ago this week.