In 1914 John Redmond manages to usurp control of the National Volunteers and famously commits them to the British Army upon the outbreak of war. As the Volunteers are a volunteer paramilitary, of course each man would have to volunteer to join the army himself, and I would imagine that to join the BA would be a quite larger commitment than membership of the Volunteers, political sensitivities aside. Therefore my question is how many of them answered Redmonds call in 1914. And how did they compare with the Ulster Volunteers turnout?
Thanks in Advance!
As you mention Redmond gained a majority on the Irish Volunteer Executive in 1914. After the outbreak of the World War he made his famous "Woodenbridge Speech" in which he called on the Volunteers to go "wherever the firing line extends", meaning to join the British Army and serve in the war. Up until this point he had suggested that the Irish Volunteers could serve to defend Ireland, freeing up British soldiers based there to fight in Europe.
The speech was unpopular with republicans in the Irish Volunteers and caused a split. Exact numbers are unknown but the most commonly excepted number for membership of the Irish Volunteers at its peak is 150,000. Of these about 140,000 followed John Redmond and renamed themselves the National Volunteers. Around 9,000 followed the original Executive, under Eoin MacNeill, and continued to call themselves the Irish Volunteers. They would later take part in the 1916 Rising and would change their name to the Irish Republican Army during the War of Independence.
Supporting Redmond is one thing, actually going to war is another. Of the 140,000 or so members of the new National Volunteers only about 24,000 served in the First World War. The remainder faded away. At Easter 1915 they held a rally with 20,000 in attendance but by the eve of the 1916 Rising the Royal Irish Constabulary considered the organisation to be defunct. Their best trained and most dedicated members had volunteered early leaving no one behind to continue drilling or organizing. Even before the 1916 Rising the war had became unpopular in Ireland which discouraged others from going. Irish units suffered heavily at Gallipoli and the Catholic Church condemned the war in 1915. Redmond had declared that Irish service would secure Home Rule but this was constantly delayed as the war went on and became increasingly unpopular. In early 1916 Ireland was exempted from the conscription act passed for fear of unrest and following the 1916 Easter Rising and the Battle of the Somme recruitment levels from Ireland fell heavily, leading in part to the 1918 Conscription Crisis.