Sixteen British soldiers were in the GPO during the Easter Rising, writes Wesley Boyd. They were taken prisoner in the vicinity at various stages of the siege.
The first man seized was Second Lieut A.D. Chalmers of the 14th Royal Fusiliers, who was in Dublin on sick leave. He was going into the post office at noon on Easter Monday to buy stamps when he saw a party of rebels, led by James Connolly and Patrick Pearse, coming up Sackville Street (now O'Connell Street).
"Just look at that awful crowd," he remarked to a friend. "They must be on a route march." Three minutes later he heard a voice outside the Post Office shout "Charge!" and the rebels rushed in. One of them pointed a bayonet at his chest and another prodded him in the back with a pike - a weapon favoured by many of the rebels, he said. He was searched for arms - he had none - and bound with wire and imprisoned in a telephone box facing the Nelson Pillar. He was to witness some strange sights, according to contemporary reports reproduced in the Sinn Féin Rebellion Handbook, compiled by the Weekly Irish Times (a companion to the daily title) and published in 1917.
The customers were ushered out and the Post Office staff escorted from the building with their hands above their heads. The new occupants smashed the windows with the butt-ends of their rifles and pikes. It was not long before a troop of lancers, which had been escorting wagons of munitions from the North Wall to the magazine in the Phoenix Park, got word of the trouble. They charged down O'Connell Street to be met with a volley of shots from rebels who had taken up position on the roof of the GPO. Four lancers were killed and the horse of one of them fell dead on the street. Some of the bullets passed through the telephone box and Lieut Chalmers had his first narrow escape from death.
Three hours later he was released from the telephone box and taken inside the Post Office. He was received by The O'Rahilly, a captain, who told his troops: "I want this officer to watch the safe to see that nothing is touched. You will see that no harm comes to him."
The first casualty that Chalmers witnessed was a rebel soldier who was trying to fix a crude bomb in position. He leaned over a counter and the bomb exploded prematurely, blowing his head off.
Chalmers was in the dining-room on Easter Monday when banknotes, postal orders and other securities were handed over to Thomas Clarke, the first signatory of the Proclamation and a member of the Provisional Government, to be distributed among the families of the insurgents who had been killed. One of the rebels proffered a postal order to Chalmers with the quip, "Here's your pay." He was unable to accept as his hands were still bound. The lieutenant observed that the girls serving in the dining-room were dressed in the finest clothes and carried knives and pistols in their belts.
British soldiers were taken prisoner as occasion offered until there were 16 in all. One of these, Lieut Mahony, had medical knowledge and Chalmers claims he was often called upon to dress James Connolly's leg wounds. As the fighting continued during the week the conditions of imprisonment deteriorated. On Friday morning the roof of the Post Office was shelled and caught fire. Bullets were coming into the cellar where the prisoners were held. They crouched under a table as the roof started to collapse. Boxes of gelignite and bombs with fuses were placed around the cellar by the rebels. The prisoners called for help and eventually an officer responded. "It's all right, boys," he said and led them through the burning building to a yard at the rear of the Post Office.
They were left in the charge of a woman "in male attire who flourished a big loaded revolver". The chaotic retreat from the GPO was taking place. The prisoners were marched to a laneway and it some became clear that they were to be used as a diversionary shield to facilitate the escape of the rebels. Chalmers and an unnamed private of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers were placed at the front of the column. Holding a Mauser pistol to the lieutenant's head, one of the rebels instructed him to run or he would fire. About 150 yards away British troops with a machine-gun were firing down the lane. Chalmers and his fellow prisoners started to run but had hardly got 10 yards when the lieutenant was shot in the thigh and the Dublin Fusilier in the head.
Chalmers and some of the prisoners darted down an alleyway only to find themselves facing another British machine-gun post. Bullets spattered around them but they managed to escape by jumping over a three-foot parapet into a court yard. Chalmers collapsed with exhaustion and loss of blood and a sergeant of the Royal Irish Rifles carried him on his back into the cellar of a burned-out building. They and three privates spent the night in the cellar. When dawn broke next morning, the fighting resumed. Through the cellar grating they could see a sniper on the roof of a building opposite them. Inside the building a man was grinding bayonets, work which he kept at all day. The fighting continued throughout the day and they often heard heavy machine-gun fire.
Around 6.30 in the evening they heard an English voice calling on any remaining rebels to surrender. The sergeant ventured out and was confronted by a corporal and two soldiers with fixed bayonets. Relief had arrived for Chalmers and his comrades.