October Document of the Month

(NAI, CSO/RP/1917/10695/19)

The October Document of the Month is a file from the Chief Secretary’s Office Registered Papers relating to Henry Mrkwicka, an Austrian national living in Ireland during World War I. Following the outbreak of war, the introduction of the Aliens Restriction Act, 1914 enabled authorities to intern ‘alien enemies’ and to exclude them from ‘prohibited areas’, including Dublin. The sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 and the Easter Rising in 1916 led to increased tension and fear of a conspiracy with Germany. This resulted in widening sanctions and an increase in the rate of internment of men of military age. In Ireland, alien enemy internees were sent to Oldcastle Internment Camp in County Meath, which was first opened in 1914 in the former workhouse and was used until its closure in May 1918, when remaining prisoners were transferred to Knockaloe Camp on the Isle of Man.

Mrkwicka was married to an Irish woman, Anne Mrkwicka (née Corrigan) and had lived in Ireland for almost 20 years by the outbreak of war. He and his wife operated a ‘first-class’ boarding house at 13 Herbert Place, Dublin, and their customers included many military officers and men of social standing. Mrkwicka was exempted from internment in Oldcastle by order of the Home Secretary, dated 20 November 1915, but was ordered to hand over his residence permit and leave the ‘prohibited area’ of Dublin to reside with his sister-in-law Miss Corrigan of Monilea, Mullingar, County Westmeath (NAI, CSO/RP/1917/10695/19). Despite lobbying by a number of his boarders, including military officers, and Patrick J Brady M.P., Mrkwicka was not allowed to return to live with his wife in Dublin.

Major Ivon Price, chief of military intelligence, in a memorandum states ‘The granting of exemption from internment by no means involves allowing an alien enemy back into a prohibited area & the War Office has distinctly expressed the hope that few alien enemies should be left in prohibited areas & also has expressed satisfaction with the military action taken up with this regarding alien enemies in Ireland’ (NAI, CSO/RP/1917/10695/9). In a note, dated 20 December 1915, WE Johnstone, chief commissioner of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, states ‘I never issue residence permits to alien enemies without concurrence of Military Authorities (this was arranged at the outbreak of hostilities)’. He goes on to say that there is no objection from ‘a police point of view’ to allowing Mrkwicka live in Dublin (NAI, CSO/RP/1917/10695/10). Despite multiple character references and the fact he had left Austria to live in England at the age of 18, before moving to Ireland, no residency permit was forthcoming and Mrkwicka remained with his sister-in-law in County Westmeath.

The file contains details of investigations into Mrkwicka’s family connections and a report about his wife’s erratic behaviour sent to WE Johnstone of the DMP by Major Colley, in which he relates some information given to him by his sister-in-law who was boarding at Mrkwicka’s premises. Mrs Mrkwicka is reported to have spoken openly about ‘the conduct of the British troops during the rebellion, how the British were cowards and how it was no wonder the Irish soldiers shot their officers whenever they got the opportunity considering the way they were treated at the front’ (NAI, CSO/RP/1917/10695/5). Women married to alien nationals acquired their husband’s nationality, and although their movements were often monitored they were rarely interned.

Among those interned in Oldcastle was Aloys Fleischmann senior, choirmaster at the cathedral of St Mary and St Anne, Cork, and father of the renowned composer and Professor of Music at University College Cork, Aloys Fleischmann. A number of internees, including bakers and jewellers, submitted claims for compensation to the Property Losses (Ireland) Committee for the loss their tools in the wake of the destruction of Dublin caused by 1916 Rising. Their address for correspondence is given as Alien Internment Camp, Oldcastle. (See NAI, PLIC/1/3639, NAI, PLIC/1/5535 and NAI, PLIC/1/5536).

Following the ending of World War I, the introduction of the Aliens Restriction (Amendment) Act, 1919 reinforced many of the constraints introduced during the war, including the obligation of foreigners to register with the local police.

To view the entire file see NAI, CSO/RP/1917/10695.