An apparently forgotten hero of the 1916 Rising is Major Sir Francis Vane (1861-1934) a Dublin-born British officer, who had previously fought in the Second Boer War, where his humanity and moral courage had incurred the wrath of his military superiors.
You may see a summary of his life on Wikepedia.
In 1916 he also incurred the wrath of the top military and political brass, by exposing the murderous behaviour of Captain Bowen-Colthurst and other British soldiers, including the Guard at Portobello Barracks, who meekly obeyed Colthurst’s unlawful order to form a firing squad and to shoot dead unarmed prisoners including Ireland’s best known pacifist and feminist, Francis Sheehy Skeffington. Skeffington was a journalist, as were two of Colthurst’s other victims. Those victims were buried secretly and their fate would have remained buried, were it not for Sir Francis Vane.
If, a century later, there is not a prominent public monument to Sir Francis in Dublin, it is about time there was one. It would be a gracious gesture if a member of the British royal family were invited to unveil it, and a thrice-gracious gesture if the invitation was accepted.
What would Arlene do?
Bowen-Colthurst, the man who “broke down” during the Great War and was subsequently moved to Ireland. Court-martialed for his indiscriminate actions – found guilty and deemed insane – question that still resonates – was he really mad or was this the excuse of the embarrassed British military?
During the Rising 17-year-old JJ Coade, had his jaw broken with a rifle butt after Bowen-Colthurst ordered a soldier to “bash him” and then he himself drew his pistol and shot the boy dead where he lay. He also was engaged in throwing hand grenades on a tobacco shop owned by the unionist Alderman Kelly.
Bowen-Colthurst also ordered the executions of two pro-British magazine editors, Thomas Dickson and Patrick MacIntyre, as well as Francis Sheehy Skeffinton.
Uniquely, shipped off to Canada, as the IRA were hot on his tail seeking revenge, to spend the remainder of his days, dying in 1966, the 50th Anniversary of the Rising
The circumstances of Coade’s were slightly different. Coade was walking away when Colthurst shot him, at a range of about a dozen yards. Also, Colthurst died 11 December 1965. The details are in the Kindle ebook “A Terrible Duty: the Madness of Captain Bowen-Colthurst.”
Special thanks to Jimmy Taylor who shared his research with me out here in the West of Canada about when Colthurst stood in the provincial election of 1937, as a candidate of the Social Credit League of British Columbia in Prince Rupert. Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, in the intervening years since the murder of her husband, had joined Sinn Féin and been elected to the executive of the party. She was kept appraised of the situation by R.B. Matier, Victoria, using the letterhead of the Liquor Control Board, on 28 April:
Colthurst is running as a Social Credit candidate in the coming Provincial General Election and as it is coming off on the 1 June those pamphlets will require to be mailed at once. He is running against the Premier of the Province and has not a chance, but I want to spoil any small chance he may have.
Colthurst used to live in Terrace near the Yukon boundary, but is now close to Victoria. He is an Oxford Grouper and is in my opinion cracked, no matter what he might have done in 1916. From the Irish Times Handbook I compiled a sketch of his doings and every time he is in the papers I send one to whoever he is connected with. He writes letters to the papers but no one takes him on.
A handbill for a political rally at Moose Hall, Prince Rupert, on 20 May outlined Colthurst’s political views:
Come and hear about the political situation in the Province of British Columbia, and the truth about Social Credit. Social Credit demands in this Machine-Age that Money should Equate Production. Social Credit holds that no Individual, Province or Nation can borrow their way to prosperity. A vote for Bowen-Colthurst is a vote for B.C.
A Republican contact at 29 Holmdale Road, London NW6, wrote to Hanna on 30 May:
We have just had word that Colthurst has been nominated as a candidate of the Social Credit Party, which will shortly contest a State election in Canada. The London Irish Republican Unity Committee is in touch with various sections of the electorate in Canada that this monstrous outrage must be exposed … It will come perhaps as some surprise to the devotees of Social Credit in Dublin to hear of this nomination. But to us who have always pointed out the fallacy of this economic Reformation among the bankrupt middle classes it comes as no surprise that a decadent like Colthurst espouses their cause and aspires to leadership in the Party ranks.
It could be argued that their campaign was partially the reason that Colthurst received just 14 out of the 2,918 local votes cast.