Robert Monteith – landed at Banna Strand with Casement

ROBERT MONTEITH, who assisted Roger Casement in organising the Irish Brigade and later helped to secure German aid for the 1916 Rising, was born at Newtownmountkennedy, County Wicklow, in 1880.

In 1896, he enlisted in the British Army and served in India for a time and later fought in the Boer War in South Africa. Disillusioned by his overseas experiences, he returned to Ireland and worked in the Ordnance Survey Office in Dublin.

In spite of his loyalist background, Monteith (right) joined the Irish Volunteers soon after their formation in 1913, whereupon he was dismissed from his job. His military experience made him a valuable asset and he was appointed an instructor in the Volunteers.

Thomas Clarke delegated him to go to Germany to assist Casement in organising an Irish Brigade.

On arrival in Germany in 1915, he found Casement in poor health and he took charge of the Irish Brigade. In January 1916, he became the direct link between John Devoy and the Irish Republican Brotherhood and the German Government.

By March, Devoy, through Monteith, had arranged that the German Government would send a consignment of arms and ammunition to Ireland for the proposed rising.

On 9 April, the Libau – disguised as a Norwegian trawler, the Aud – carrying arms and ammunition, set sail for Tralee Bay. Six days later, Casement, Monteith and a member of the Irish Brigade named Bailey set out on the same journey by submarine, the U-19.

On Good Friday, 21 April 1916, (the same day the Aud was scuttled off the Kerry coast), they landed on Banna Strand. Casement was too ill to travel and Monteith and Bailey pressed on to Tralee. Some hours later, Casement was found by the RIC sheltering on the site of an ancient fort and he was arrested. He was later taken to England, charged with treason and hanged the following August.

In Tralee, Bailey was captured and Monteith, now suffering from a bout of malaria, made his way to Cork, where he was nursed by Capuchin monks. He eventually worked his passage to New York.

During the Tan War he was active in Clan na nGael and, in 1920, during his tour of the United States, de Valera appointed him organiser of the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic.

Robert Monteith later settled in Detroit, where he died in 1956.

Monteith landed on Banna Strand with Roger Casement on 21 April 1916 – 99 years ago today.