Joseph Patrick Dowling comes ashore from U Boat #2

Joseph Patrick Dowling
By Peter Hovenden-Jones

Just before daybreak on the morning of Friday, April 12th, 1918, a German submarine surfaced near an island off the coast of Co. Clare . Out clambered my great-uncle, Joe Dowling, and proceeded to maneuver his small rubber boat onto the beach of Crab Island.

As dawn broke he realised that he was not on the mainland and while he was wondering what to do next he saw a fishing boat putting out from the mainland, some half a mile away. He waved at the crew and soon after they came and picked him up and took him back to the pier at Doolin Point.

His presence on Crab Island had been noted by a Coast Watcher through his binoculars and when he landed he was challenged. He told the Coast Watcher that his name was James O'Brien and that he had been shipwrecked and was subsequently conducted to the Coastguard Station. There he was interviewed by the Petty Officer in Charge of the station who told him that he would have to go to Galway to see the Senior Naval Officer. He was also told, quite remarkably, that he would have to make his own way to Ennistymon railway station and pay his own fare to Galway!

So Joe Dowling set off on his long walk to Ennistymon and was pleasantly surprised when a horse and cart stopped and picked him up. He reached the town without incident and decided to buy some shoes and socks and change some coins up for notes. Soon after, as he was walking along through the town, a Police Sergeant approached him and asked him who he was and where he was from. Not being satisfied with his answers, the Sergeant took him to the barracks for further questioning. Joe stuck to his story that he had been shipwrecked and said he had a note from the coastguard at Doolin Point to proceed to Galway and see the Senior Naval Officer.

The next day he was duly escorted to Galway to be interviewed by that officer, Commander Francis Hanan. Commander Hanan had already been notified of the unusual arrival of Joe Dowling and had, as a result, dispatched a trawler to the area to search for wreckage and survivors but had found nothing. Joe again trotted out his story about being shipwrecked when the ship he was traveling from America to Ireland in had been torpedoed and sunk. The Commander was suspicious and detained Joe and 'fled the Admiralty. That evening Joe was taken to London and handed over to the authorities at Cromwall Gardens Detention Centre. Here he was detained until the evening of 16th April when he was passed on to the Metropolitan Police. It was at this stage that he dropped his original story and admitted to being Joe Dowling who had landed in Ireland by German submarine.

Various conversations and interrogations were conducted at New Scotland Yard prior to the 22nd April, 1918, with Basil Thomson, the Director of Naval Intelligence, Colonel Hall and Curtis Bennett. At one of these meetings, the Director of Naval Intelligence told Joe that if he cooperated and told the truth his life would be spared.

On the 22nd April, Joe was transferred to the Tower of London pending his Court Martial. The events leading up to Joe's unorthodox entry into Ireland earlier that month were these. Joseph Patrick Dowling was born in Maryborough, the son of John Dowling and Catherine Reddin. He was one of thirteen children of the marriage. He was attested for service with the Leinster Regiment on 18th July, 1904, at Maryborough, transferred to the Connaught Rangers on the 16th of August that year and was put on the Reserve on the 17th July, 1907.

On the outbreak of the First World War he was called up and posted as Lance Corporal to the 2nd Battalion of the Connaught Rangers on the 5th August, 1914. Joe will tell the next part in his own words:-

...I Joseph Dowling, landed in France in the 14th of August 1914, with a unit of His Majestey's expeditionary force, we then proceeded to the north of Franc(e), and thence to Mons where we landed on the 23rd of August. On the 27th of August after some heavy fighting 1 got separated from my regiment, the same evening 1 was attached to the 306 French Regiment and remained with them until the 3rd of September on which date 1 was captured ... 1 was taken to Sennelager (Germany) where 1 remained until the 22nd of December, on which date all men belonging to Irish Regiments, were collected together and taken to Limburg A.D. Lahn (a prisoner of war camp) where I remained until July 1915.

On the 27th of March 1915. 1 became a member of an organization known as the Irish Brigade. In July we the 54 men(?) Brigade, were taken to a prison camp in Zossen bie Berlin. (the prisoners of this camp were French and coloured troops) We remained there until November, we were then removed to Weinburg Camp, where there was a large number of Russian prisoners of war, here we remained until July 1916, we were then taken to a prison camp (Wanzig Froyl) where there was 40,000 Russian prisoners of war, there I remained until April 1st 1918, I was then conducted to Hamburg and thence to Wilhelm's Haven where I embarked for Ireland.

I make this statement to show that 1 have been a prisoner of war for 3 years and 7 months. 1 was charged with voluntary joining an Irish Brigade. One cannot call an unarmed body of men a Brigade, also when one is deprived of his freedom he cannot voluntarily do anything, only through weakness, uneducation or perhaps force.

1 was charged with voluntary serving the Enemy. Well, 1 was a prisoner of war for 3 years and 7 months, an opportunity came my way to get home to Ireland, and to get there 1 was forced to accept whatever means they supplied me with, and that means was a submarine, not 1 think any man circumstanced as 1 was would not be serving voluntary.

- PRO, KEW, W0.141/65.

Now in June 1918, back in London, the prosecution proceeded to take statements from the various witnesses who had seen Joe after he had landed in Ireland and from others who could comment on the rubber boat which he had used to land on Crab Island and which had not been recovered. Witness statements were also taken from fellow prisoners of war as to his activities in Germany.

The Court Martial duly went ahead on the 8th and 9th of July, 1918, Joe remarked afterwards:- "On the last day of my trial I was asked by the president of the court (Lord Chalesmore) if I would make a statement I refused, because on all other occasions when I was asked anything, I was told, I don't believe you. The Crown Counsel in his speech, commented very strongly on my not having done so, he said, had I stated that my intentions were to get home it would have been different. Well, I had no hesitation what ever at anytime of making this statement, my intentions were to get home." *PRO, KEW, WO 141/65

He was found guilty and sentenced to be shot but because of the involvement of the Director of Naval Intelligence, this was commuted to penal servitude for life.

Joe Dowling settled down in prison and his relatives and friends in Ireland and England began to write letters and petition politicians for clemency and a transfer to an Irish prison so that his parents could visit him more easily. On the 8th May, 1919, Joe sent a petition from Maidstone Prison - it was rejected. Another petition, sent on the 7th June, 1920, was likewise dismissed.

Unbeknown to Joe, on the 6th of May, 1922, a secret letter was sent to Sir Herbert Creedy at the War Office by Lionel Curtis, secretary to the Provisional Government of Ireland Committee of the Cabinet, stating that “... Mr. Churchill attaches great importance to his release, and will indeed be in a very difficult position if it is refused ... the Government having released everyone else whose crime was political ... it is almost impossible to frame intelligible reasons why this man should not be amnestied." *PRO, KEW, WO 141/67

This was a sure sign that various people in Ireland were applying pressure to the leaders of the new Irish Free State, not least among them John T. Dowling, Joe's brother, who worked unceasingly to make -sure his brother's plight was not forgotten. The War Office dug its heels in and declared that Joe Dowling was guilty of a military offence and not a political one. That is when they eventually replied after two reminders in June and August. Later that year the Secretary of State for the Colonies asked the War Office for a précis of Joe Dowling's case and this was duly forwarded.

On the 1st of January 1923, an interesting Secret and Personal telegram was sent to the Colonial Office in London by a Mr. Loughnane in Dublin. The writer said that he had been in discussion with President Cosgrove regarding the Connaught Ranger mutineers and Joe Dowling. The discussion was about a deal between the Irish Free State and the British Government in connection with the Indemnity Bill. (A Bill proposing to pardon the British Government for any actions it took under Martial Law in Ireland).

London intimated that they were prepared to release the mutineers in order to facilitate the Bill's progress through the Irish Parliament but not to release Joe Dowling. Mr. Loughnane said:- "As illustrating the potential mischief involved in differentiating the treatment of D's (Dowling's) case from that of the C.R. (Connaught Rangers) ... if the agitation around D. gathered force a likely move would be to run him as a candidate against a certain Minister to whose constituency he belongs. This would be very awkward for the Minister who is accused of being largely responsible for the drastic measures which the Irish Free State government have been compelled to adopt and has incurred considerable odium with the Republicans on that account. Even against this Minister, D's present position would make him a very formidable opponent and in several other constituencies he would have a very good chance of success. President Cosgrove pressed very strongly for a favourable decision in Joe Dowling's case. He pointed out that one of his government's greatest assets has been their ability in meeting Treaty difficulties to say that the British government have carried out all their undertakings in the spirit and the letter of the treaty and he is very anxious to use this argument with effect in handling the Indemnity Bill."

Mr. Loughnane went on to say:- “...that this government have adopted this attitude to meet British political necessities in the case of Lt. Genochio which on investigation they regard as the shooting of a robber who was attempting to escape from custody. (Mr. Cosgrove) expects to meet with much criticism for paying compensation in this case as if it were one of deliberate murder but feels that proper consideration is due to the difficulties in which the British government have been placed by British public opinion as it is hopeless to attempt to convert British public opinion to a different view of the case by presenting what he now believes to be the true facts." PRO, KEW,W0141/68.

London were not very happy with this statement and sent a reply, Secret and Personal, dated the 2nd January, 1923, which stated that they could agree to release the Connaught Rangers but not Joe Dowling. Added to this was a Private and Personal addendum saying:- "The passage in your telegram about Lieutenant Genochio is disquieting ... if it is persisted in, His Majesty's government may well have to revert to the original request ... that a full and searching enquiry should be undertaken ... into the circumstances surrounding the death of this British offices" PRO, KEW, W0141/68.

The Irish government reluctantly agreed to the British release of the Connaught Rangers but not Joe Dowling.

Mr Loughnane said:- "…but there is no disguising the fact that they remain quite unconvinced of the necessity based on grounds of British or Imperial policy of holding on to D." PRO, KEW, WO 141/68.

On the 12th January, 1923, my great-aunt, Henrietta Hovenden, wrote to the War Office pressing for the release of her second cousin, Joe Dowling, in consequence of the release of the Connaught Ranger mutineers. Having received a negative reply she wrote again on the 23rd January asking for clemency. On the 26th April, Henrietta's M.P., Mr Saklatvala, petitioned Walter Guiness at the War Office… it is unfair to him to be now locked up as an enemy either of Britain or of Ireland”. PRO, KEW, WO 141/69. In reply given on the 2nd May, the War Office again refused clemency.

On the 24th May, 1923, Joe Dowling requested a copy of his Court Martial proceedings for which he had to pay £5.17s. 8d.

There was more pressure in June from Bryan Cooper, Sir Bryan Mahon and Colonel Maurice Moore to Lord Derby who appeared disinterested.

Mr Loughnane of Vice Regal Lodge, Dublin, wrote to Mark Sturgis at the Colonel Office on the 5th June: -

"With reference to our conversation of yesterday regarding the prisoner Dowling. 1 shall be glad if you will let me know by the end of this week if possible whether there is any prospect of the British government reviewing their decision in regard to this man's release. Mr Cosgrave and his colleagues are greatly apprehensive of the agitation which is now being started in the Dublin press, the general tenor of which you will gather from the enclosed cuttings from the Irish Independent and the enclosed cartoon from yesterday's Evening Herald. They fully expect that the agitation will be taken up with enthusiasm by the Larkinites as well as by the Republicans, and they are in the difficult position of having no convinced following of their own on this question. Their supporters in the Dail have been restrained with difficulty up to the present from putting questions to ascertain what the Free State government are doing in regard to Dowling, and it is not likely that in the near future the matter will be raised in debate, and they will be asked to state definitely whether they have sent a formal protest to the British government and if not, to explain their reason for acquiescing in his non-release. It will be impossible for Free State ministers to take the line that they concur in the British government's decision on the merits of the case, and it will damage their prestige very considerably if they have to admit that their urgent representations to the British government have met with no success. If this is the view government supporters in the Dail are already beginning to take in the matter it will be realised that the damage to the government's position in the eyes of the general public will be much greater, and it is no exaggeration to say that the Dowling agitation may determine a number of results in the forthcoming General Elections. Mr Duggan urged this upon me very strongly this man living, shares to the full the anxiety which his Ministers are feeling. It would be hopeless for the Free State government to attempt to arrest this agitation by counter-propaganda. In the first place the propaganda has a good start and in the second place the public, to which it is addressed, were predisposed in its favour. The picture of the last Irish prisoner languishing in a British gaol while the Irish government either cannot, or will not, effect his release cannot fail to make a powerful appeal to Irish national sentiment." PRO, KEW, WO 141/71.

On the 3rd July, 1923, the Colonial Office wrote to the War Office inferring that gratitude should be shown to the Irish government, by way of releasing Joe Dowling, for its Indemnity Act. In a reply to the Colonial Office given on the 7th July, the War Office once more refused.

General Mulcahy, the Minister of Defence for the Irish Free State, wrote to the Earl of Derby at the War Office on 13th November:-

"I have been anxiously looking out for a note from you as to what is to happen in the case of Dowling. I would very earnestly urge again that all concerned would see their way to consenting to his release, before you all get involved in any General Election work." PRO, KEW, W0141/75. It is clear from correspondence between Lord Derby and his personal secretary that the reply to General Mulcahy was suitably vague and designed to avoid an answer at that time.

In a Secret Cabinet Paper of the 15th December, 1923, the Secretary of State for War again refused to countenance any talk of releasing Joe Dowling, but within a month the War Office did a complete about turn which is clear from a Secret Précis for the Army Council submitted by H J Creedy in January, 1924. The reason for this sudden change of heart was a combination of unrelenting pressure from Ireland and the politically more important need of the Colonial Office to secure agreement with the Irish government concerning the control of Wireless Stations in time of war.

This Secret Précis included the words:-

"I am able to add, on information afforded to me personally by my predecessor, the Duke of Devonshire, that not only he himself but also Mr Bonar Law when Prime Minister were in favour of Dowling's release on grounds of general policy - grounds, the force of which is now greatly increased by the imperative need of an agreement of imperial defence which was not foreseen at the time."

PRO, KEW, WO 141/75.

On the 29th January, 1924, a Confidential letter from H J Creedy at the War Office to J Masterton-Smith at the Colonial Office, confirmed that the Army Council had decided to end their resistance to Joe Dowling's release. It included the following sentences:-

"The effect of this is, of course, that when the Secretary of State for the Colonies thinks the moment has come for the release of Dowling, no difficulties will be raised on military grounds. You were good enough to say that you would try to arrange for the release to be effected with as little publicity as possible, at any rate on this side of the Irish Channel." PRO, KEW, W0 141/75.

The Prime Minister was in agreement by the 30th January, 1924. Finally, on the 2nd February, 1924, King George V signed the document remitting the remainder of the sentence of penal servitude for life passed on Joe Dowling.

Joe Dowling was released from Liverpool Prison and escorted home by an official of the Irish Free State. From Maryborough he wrote to the War Office asking for any monies due to him to be "sent on as soon as possible, as 1 need it very much." PRO, KEW, W0 141/75.

Little is known of his life from February 1924, until his marriage to Henrietta Hovenden, his second cousin, on the 23rd October, 1926 at the Church of Our Lady of the Hals in St. Pancras, London. He was 40, she 61. In our family he was known for his skills as a carpenter, having fashioned some cribs for Henrietta's nieces and nephews. They lived in Hampstead, North London, until his death on the 1st August 1932, at the Fulham Cancer Hospital.

"The Irish Press"

Monday, August 8th, 1952,

carried the following article:-

The Holyhead mail boat, which arrived early on Saturday morning had on board the remains of the late Mr. Joseph Dowling, a noted member of Sir Roger Casement's Irish Brigade, who died recently in London.

His remains were accompanied by his window, Mrs. H. Dowling, Frederick and Robert Hovenden (brothers-in-law), and others.

On arrival of the mail boat at Dun Laoghaire, they were met by Messrs. J. Groome, P. Morrissey, T.E. Ryan, representing Fianna Fail organisation; Frank Ryan (Editor "An Phoblacht"); Miss E. Coyle, Miss S. McInerney (Cumann na mBan Executive), and a large number of members of the Dublin Brigade, I.R.A., and of the Cumann na mBan organisation.

The coffin, draped in the tricolour, was transferred to a train in waiting, and on arrival at Westland Row Church was received by Rev. Fr. Rafter, C.C. Crowds flocked to St. Andrew's Church to attend the Requiem Mass, which was celebrated by the Rev. Michael Boylan, C.C.

The tricolour was wrapped round the coffin, on which lay the cap worn by Mr. Dowling during his association with the Irish Brigade. A number of wreaths were also laid on the coffin.

Prominent among those who attended the service and the funeral were four members of a German company of Boy Scouts who are at present on holiday in the Free State. Among those who attended the Requiem Mass were: The deceased's widow and mother, Sergt.-Major Michael Patrick Keogh, Sergt. Michael O'Toole, Sergt. Sean Casement; Miss Aoife Taafe, Mr. Paddy Morrissey, County Dublin Fianna Fail; Mr. Liam Tobin and Mr. Frank Thornton, representing Clann na nGaedheal; Mrs. White, Miss White, Miss Dongan, Mr. and Mrs. Desmond, B. Murphy, Mr. John P. Moy, Chairman of Port

Laoighise Town Council, and Michael Price, I.R.A. Executive; County Councillor David O'Connor, Port Laoighise; Mr. P. Boland, T.D. Mr. Sean Gibbons, T.D.; Senator Ryan, Mr. R. Brennan, General Manager, Irish Press Ltd.; the Rev. MI. O'Flanagan, Mrs. Dunne, of the Prisoners' Defence League; Mr. Thomas Dunne, Port Laoighise; Mr. James Fitzpatrick, Port Laoighise; Mr. E. Gowing, Mr. James O'Callaghan, Leix; Mr. and Mrs. John Nicholson, Mr. John Greer, Irish Brigade Volunteers; Mr.

Sean O'Sullivan, Miss Arm Murray, Mr. and Mrs. T. Dunne, Mr. J.F. Thunder, Mr. Frank Keamey,

Connaught Rangers Mutineers; Mr. Sean Derrington, Mr. John J. Corner, Mrs. E. M. Lawless, Mr. Sean O'Hegarty, Mrs. Collins, Mrs. E. Gray, Mr. L. Traynor, Miss Margaret M. Pearse, Mr. M.L. O'Beirne, Frankfort-on-Maine; Mrs. E. D'Arcy, and Mr Frank Ryan, Editor "An Phoblacht."

Workers and businessmen bared their heads as the hearse passed bearing the coffin. Close on a thousand people attended.

A guard of honour accompanied the hearse, which was followed by the chief mourners in three mourning carriages, a large group of members of the Fianna Fail organisation, including a number of T.Ds; Fianna Eireann, Clann na Gael Girl Scouts, and Cumann na mBan contingents.

A section of the Dublin Brigade I.R.A. marched under the leadership of their officers. On arrival at the cemetery, the remains were received by Rev. Father Maher, C.C., Dalymount, who recited the prayers at the graveside.

The "Last Post" was sounded by a troop of the Fianna Eireann Scouts, after which Senator Mrs. Clarke delivered an oration, in the course of which she said that Joseph Dowling, whose remains were now placed amongst many of his comrades who had offered the extreme sacrifice for the freedom of Ireland, was one of the bravest men Ireland had produced.

Joseph Dowling, with the courage and spirit of a true Irishman, joined Casement's Brigade in Germany and came over to land arms on the Irish coast to assist his fellow-countrymen in the struggle against the oppression of foreign rulers.

His last wish was to be laid to rest with the men of 1916, with whom he had hoped to fight and strike a blow for the freedom of Ireland.

Among those at the graveside were: Sean Brett, J.J Keating, W.J Redmond, Thomas Keating, Philip Ryan, W.D Reilly, Mrs E Collins, and Mrs. D. Collins, representing the Santry Fianna Fail Cumann; Mr. Robert Brennan, John F O'Sullivan (Kenmare), R. O'Shea, P. Smith, T.D. (Cavan), M. Sheridan, T.D. (Cavan); L. Brady (representing Offaly I.R.A.), D. O'Donoghue, M. Price, E Ryan and J. Donnelly (representing I.R.A. Executive), T.J. Fay, James Stritch, Chairman, National Graves Committee; P. Darcy, B.C. (Dalkey), etc. etc. The Kevin Barry F.F. Cumann (Stillorgan) was represented by Mr. Harry Leonard, Mr. Owen Sheridan, Comagh, Abbeylara, represented the County Longford Fianna Fail organisation.'

Reproduced here with the kind permission of Peter Hovenden-Jones (29 July 2000).

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