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| The British Army's route from Kingstown into Dublin (Hughes et al. 2017). |
Approximately 1,750 Sherwood Foresters from the 2/7th and the 2/8th battalions disembarked in Kingstown on the morning of 26 April 1916. By 11am, they began the almost seven mile march towards Trinity College in Dublin’s city centre. The 2/7th and 2/8th moved in column down the coast road, with the 2/7th acting as the leading battalion. This advance position meant they would be the first to encounter serious resistance.
There was no general hostility to the British soldier’s arrival. On their march through the Dublin suburbs, soldiers were “pressed with refreshments” by Unionists. They also received maps, information, and even a pair of field glasses, or binoculars. By noon, they had received warning that Northumberland Road along their route would be particularly dangerous.
(Maconchy, 1920; “The Robin Hoods”, 1921)