William Francis Roantree (1828-1918)

Fenian, Soldier of Fortune, Fenian Organizer, Political Prisoner and Clan na Gael Member

 

William Francis Roantree was an unrepentant Fenian who worked tirelessly for an Irish Republic throughout his lifetime. His involvement in the Republican movement spanned six decades. He was one of the movement's best organizers and steadfast leaders.  His beliefs and those of his comrades in arms were grounded in the ideals so eloquently articulated and immortalized by Wolfe Tone's assertion that England's evil rule was the root cause of Ireland's woes (1).

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Early Years in Ireland

William Francis Roantree was born into a large family in Leixlip, Co. Kildare in August of 1828 to James Roantree and Annie Roantree (nee O'Brien). William's father was an auctioneer and proprietor of a butcher shop. He was also the lessee of land in a townland adjacent to Leixlip. His various sources of income afforded his family a middle-class standard of living that provided a buffer against bad harvests and economic disruptions.

During William's early years, the situation in Ireland was one of restlessness, resentment and rebellion, fueled by food riots crippling food shortages and high food prices. To add to the consternation caused by the food situation, the militancy of the anti--Act of Union Ribbonmen and the agrarian-based Whiteboys were constant reminders to the British and their enablers that the Irish were in a constant state of rebellion, unwilling to submit to their brutal imperialist rule.

Despite James's ability to adequately provide for his family, the obstacles he faced as an Irish Catholic businessman competing in an economic system skewed to favor the Protestant ruling elite and their adherents were onerous and restrictive. In addition to the imbedded institutional constraints he had to deal with on a daily basis, remnants of the Penal Laws were still at play, including the payment of tithe taxes to support the Anglican Church, restrictive voting rights impacting 90% of the Catholic population, and Catholics being disbarred from land ownership and from most government appointments.

It's assumed that William and his siblings received their primary education at a local national school. The National School System was established in 1831 as an outcome of the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1829.  It provided free primary education to all children in what evolved into a school system segregated along religious lines. Such a system was preferred by the religious denominations as it gave them complete control over their students. All subjects were taught in English in conformity with the British government’s anglicization of Ireland policy, a destructive scheme akin to cultural genocide, nonetheless, embraced and promoted by the Roman Catholic Church.

After William finished his schooling, he became a butcher apprentice in the family butchering business. All the brothers, except for one, joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood (aka Fenians) after its founding in 1858. When William was arrested in 1865, his brother Thomas was also arrested. After spending some months in prison, Thomas was released on bail and eventually freed.  After his release he emigrated to the United States and took up residence in Massachusetts.

William's younger brother James S. Roantree, who emigrated to the United States at the same time as William, enlisted in the Marine Corps in Brooklyn in January of 1858. He was assigned to the Marine Detachment aboard the USS Oneida (1861) when it was sent to fight in the American Civil War.  James was awarded the Medal of Honor(2) for his heroism during the Battle of Mobile Bay in August of 1864.

 

In the United States

Possessed with the unease and curiosity of a wandering soul, Roantree emigrated to the United States in 1853 in search of adventure and a new life outside the confines of Ireland under British rule.  On arriving in the United States, he enlisted in either the U.S Navy or the U.S Merchant Navy.  From what can be gleamed from a chanty he penned during his seafaring years, ‘A sea going Rubaiyat’’, it seemed as if he was aboard a merchant ship plying the shipping lanes in the waters around the Indonesian islands. John Devoy, who knew Roantree well, stated in his memoirs that Roantree had visited most of the world’s major ports.

On the other hand, it’s also feasible that Roantree was aboard a U.S Navy ship when he penned the chanty, as the United States maintained a sizable naval presence in the East Indies during the 1850s.   

After Roantree completing his maritime service, he signed up as a mercenary with William Walker, an American filibuster who organized several private military expeditions into Mexico and Central America from 1853 through 1860 to establish English-speaking colonies to advance the doctrine of Manifest Destiny i.e., American imperialism. It's not known when exactly Roantree became a mercenary in Walkers army, or for how long he served. As best as can be determined, he was with Walker's in Nicaragua sometime after Walker first foray into the Mexican territories of Baja California and Sonora State in 1853 had ended in failure. Walker's ill-fated expedition to Nicaragua, which eventually cost him his life, was at the behest of multimillionaire Cornelius Vanderbilt who wanted to secure control of the overland section of the shipping route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. After succeeded in capturing Nicaraguan territory, Walker declared himself president and took over control of Nicaragua including Vanderbilt assets. After that development Vanderbilt became his enemy and a central figure in his downfall by an alliance of Central American forces in 1857.  After that fiasco, Roantree took his leave of Walker and returned to New York.

According to an enlistment document held in the National Museum in Ireland, Roantree joined the Marine Corps in Brooklyn, New York in January of 1858 at the time his brother James joined. Where he served is unknown. Unlike his brother James, William took his leave of the Corps in 1860.  There is no evidence to suggest that he went AWOL as he continued openly to go about his business. After he left the Corps, he returned to New York where he met many of the leaders of the Fenian Brotherhood (FB), the sister organization to the IRB in Ireland. One of the leaders Roantree met was John O'Mahony, a founding member of the organization who may have recruited Roantree into the FB. 

After the onset of the American Civil War in April of 1861, Roantree spent some time in Virginia selling provisions to the soldiers before returning to Ireland in the latter months of 1861. 

 

Back in Ireland

Back in Ireland Roantree settled in his hometown of Leixlip.  Shortly afterwards he married a local woman, Isabel Casey.  They parented two daughters, Kathleen who was born in 1862 and Isabella, born in 1864. According to some accounts he spent a considerable amount of time in Dublin that may have been work related.  At that time, Leixlip was a stop on the railway line from the west of Ireland to Dublin, a convenience that would provide Roantree easy access to Dublin on a daily basis. 

Roantree also joined the IRB which at that time was experiencing rapid growth owing to a concerted recruitment drive by Thomas Clarke Luby, Joseph Denieffe and other IRB leaders. According to Denieffe, Roantree was an enthusiastic recruit, full of energy and hope, attributes that propelled him to became one of the IRB’s best organizers.

As a result of his organizational skills, Roantree was appointed head of the Leixlip Circle that incorporated most of north Kildare and adjacent areas of Meath and Dublin. At its peak, the Circle included in its ranks as many as 2,000 recruits even though the potential recruitment pool was fluid owing to the continuous migration of young men to England and North America.  It was during that time that Roantree met John Devoy, another Kildare man considered by many to be the greatest of the Fenians, a dubious honor considering the sacrifices endured by other equally patriotic men and women down through the centuries.

In November of 1861, Roantree and the Leixlip Circle were involved in arranging for the burial of Terence Bellow McManus, a veteran of the 1848 Young Ireland uprising who had died in California the previous January.  The funeral was one of the largest political funerals ever held in Ireland and played a large part in boosting the popularity of the Fenians and their agenda, i.e., a sovereign Irish Republic.

By 1863 Roantree was working in Dublin as a publican. After being denied a license renewal to operate a wine shop in Dublin due to his political leanings, he visited the United States for unknown reasons. During his stay in the U.S. he met with General Michael Corcoran, the founder of Corcoran’s Irish Legion and one of the first Fenian recruits in the United States. After spending some months there, he returned to Ireland, purportedly carrying a considerable sum of money he turned over to James Stephens, the head of the IRB.

In 1864 after Patrick "Pagan" O'Leary was arrested for heading up the recruitment of Irish-born British soldiers into the IRB, James Stephens appointed Roantree to take O'Leary's place. Roantree expanded the recruitment effort considerably, reaching out to contacts and sympathizers in British Army garrisons throughout the country.  In mid-1865, he met with Colonel Thomas Kelly, an emissary of the Fenian Brotherhood in the U.S. sent to Ireland by the FB to assess the prospects for a Rising. 

In September of 1865, as plans for the planned Rising intensified, British intelligence services with the help of informers arrested most of the IRB leadership, including Roantree. Roantree's work of recruiting Irish-born British soldiers for the IRB was a highly dangerous job with severe consequences if he was exposed and captured. The probability of capture was high owing to the network of British informers listening in on conversations in bars and other places where soldiers were generally recruited. After his arrest Roantree was held in Richmond Jail before been transferred to Kilmainham Jail where he remained incarcerated until his trial in January of 1866.

 

Trial and Prison

On January 23, 1866, Roantree was brought to the Green Street courthouse to stand trial for treason-felony under the Special Commission convened to try Fenian prisoners.  William N. Keogh, the presiding judge, was an Irish Nationalist who changed sides to curry favor with his British overlords. True to his reputation as an over-zealous servant of the crown, Keogh sentenced Roantree to 10 years penal servitude. Click for Roantree's speech from the dock.

After sentencing, Roantree was held in Mountjoy Jail for several weeks before been transported to England. Most of the leading Fenians were sent to prisons in England to forestall escapes or rescue attempts. He was first lodged in Pentonville Prison in London before being moved on to Portland Prison in Dorset to work the stone quarries. The combination of inhumane working conditions, cold and damp cells, solitary confinement, and poor nutrition caused a serious decline in his health to such an extent that he could no longer work. As Portland was reserved for 'hard labor' prisoners, the incapacitated Roantree was transferred to the Woking Invalid Convict Prison in Surrey where he remained for the duration of his imprisonment.

Meanwhile, his wife Isabel was left with two young daughters to raise on her own.  Not one to despair, she set up a shop in Dublin selling newspapers, periodicals, stationery, and tobacco-related products. In the latter months of 1868, she moved to London to be closer to her husband. Still responsible for the welfare of the children, Isabel opened a shop in London that catered to the needs of Irish immigrants. Roantree was apprehensive about her move to London where she was alone and without a family nearby to help if the need arose. He eventually prevailed upon her to move back to Dublin which she did in mid-1869. Back in Dublin she started over again setting up shop, selling newspapers and other miscellanea. 

Consequent to the Fenian Amnesty Campaign of 1869 that rallied the Irish people, foreign governments, international news organizations and human rights advocates to the cause of the ill-treated and, in many instances, tortured Fenian prisoners, the British government relented to the pressure and started to release some of the Fenian foot soldiers in 1869. It took another year of increasing pressure before the British released the men who held leadership positions in the IRB.  In January of 1871, the last of the Fenians were released in two groups. The first group of five prisoners (the Cuba Five) was released and exiled to the United States. A week later, the second group of nine prisoners, which included Roantree, was released and also exiled to the Unites States. At a stopover in Cobh in Cork, Isabel and their two daughters joined Roantree enroute to their new life in the United States.

 

Back in America

On arrival in New York, the released prisoners were greeted by large crowds and fawned over by the feuding factions of the Fenian Brotherhood. On February 22, the released Fenians were invited to the White House for a reception by President Grant. 

The feuding amongst the various Fenians factions was disconcerting to the released prisoners considering what they and so many other Fenians had endured in British prisons. In order to unite the feuding factions, the released Fenians founded the Irish Confederation to facilitate reconciliation and provide a framework to accommodate the broad-based aspirations of the Irish Diaspora. After that initiative failed to gain traction, Roantree, Devoy and O'Donovan Rossa  joined Clan na Gael.  The Clan was founded in June of 1867 in New York by Jerome J. Collins. Originally named the Napper Tandy Club, the name was changed to Clan na Gael in 1870 by Sam Cavanagh.  Roantree remained a faithful member of the organization for the rest of his life.

With money Roantree received from the Irish community in recognition for his sacrifice and suffering for Ireland, he purchased a licensed premises in Atlantic City, N.J.   After disposing of the business in Atlantic City, he relocated to Philadelphia where he worked as a bookkeeper and salesman for a liquor distributer. He subsequently owned or operated several licensed premises and small hotels in Philadelphia until 1900 when he returned to Ireland.

After settling in Philadelphia, he became active in Clan na Gael recruiting and setting up new branches in the coal regions of Scranton and Wilkes Barrie. In 1874, John Devoy agreed to a rescue attempt to free the six Irish-born British soldiers turned Fenians from the Fremantle Prison in Australia. Roantree was tasked with coordinating the ensuing fundraising effort in Philadelphia, one of the major Irish Diaspora fundraising centers in America. In April of 1876, the six prisoners were rescued from Freemantle Prison in what is regarded as one of the greatest prison escapes in modern history. For their story see the Catalpa Rescue.

In 1877, Roantree represented Philadelphia on the official six-man delegation chosen to accompany the remains of John O’Mahony back to Ireland. The cortege was met in Cork by huge crowds and a torchlight procession. In order to disrupt the obsequies in Dublin, the pro-British Cardinal Cullen refused to let O'Mahony's remains into the Pro-Cathedral.  Despite Cullen's actions, the huge funeral procession from the Mechanics Institute to Glasnevin Cemetery was a significant propaganda coup for the Republican movement. Roantree led the procession mounted on a white horse outfitted in splendid regalia. He was there to bury his old leader in style.

When Michael Davitt visited the United States in 1878, his first stopover was Philadelphia where his mother and sister lived. During his stopover, Roantree and Dr. William Carroll, another prominent Clan na Gael figure, arranged Davitt's lecture tour of Philadelphia and its environs.

By 1880, fissures were developing within Clan na Gael.  Seen by many as too moderate, Devoy and Dr. Carroll lost their seats on the Executive Committee at the 1881 convention in Chicago, because of delegate stacking by Alexander Sullivan, Michael Boland and Denis Feeley, collectively known as the ‘Triangle’.  For the next eight years the organization was in turmoil with at least three factions engaging in independent operations that included the Dynamite Campaign in England and the bombing of the Welland Canal in Canada.  To make matters worse, Sullivan brought the British spy, Thomas Beach, aka Henri Le Caron, into Clan na Gael.  Le Caron, who had access to the Clan's plans, was able to keep the British informed on the Fenians' plans regarding the Canada raids, the Dynamite Campaign and the bombing of the Welland Canal.  Also, in a desperate attempt to cover up the misappropriation of the Clan's funds in Chicago, Sullivan had Dr. Henry Cronin murdered. The ensuing publicity surrounding the trial of Cronin's killers exposed the inner workings of the Clan na Gael.

There is no evidence that Roantree was directly involved in any of these shenanigans.  

 

 Journey's End, in Ireland

In 1900 Roantree returned to Ireland, to satisfy a lifelong desire to spend his last years there and be buried in his native soil. Although some reports stated that he did so after the death of his wife Isabel, the real story is that his wife, who had no desire to return to Ireland, opted to live with their married daughter. Both his daughters were well off which allowed him to return to Ireland with regrets but, presumably, with a guilt-free conscience. Although in his seventies he found employment with the Dublin Corporation where a number of Fenians including John McBride and James Egan worked.  He pensioned off in 1916 shortly after the Easter Rising.

According to historian Professor T.P O’Neill, Roantree managed to make his way down Sackville Street (now O’Connell Street) from his lodgings in Gardiner Street to the front of the General Post Office (GPO), ground zero for the Easter Rising. The GPO was the headquarters garrison for the Irish Volunteers and the Citizen Army. On reaching the GPO Roantree offered advice and good wishes to the occupying men and women inside.

He lived to see the beginning of the last chapter of Britain's occupation of Ireland and vindication for the role he and his comrades had played in the story of Ireland.

William Francis Roantree died on February 20, 1918 at his residence in Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin. His funeral in Glasnevin was attended by the Lord Mayor, Larry O’Neill and numerous old Fenians. Also present were Count Plunkett, Joe McGuinness, and Darrel Figgis of Sinn Féin. His grave remained unnamed and unmarked until 2009 when the National Graves Association unveiled a fitting memorial to a colorful and uncompromising Fenian. 

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Footnotes.

1) "To subvert the tyranny of our execrable government, to break the connection with England, the never-failing source of all our political evils, and to assert the independence of my country—these were my objects. To unite the whole people of Ireland, to abolish the memory of all past dissensions, and to substitute the common name of Irishman in place of the denominations of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter—these were my means". - Wolfe Tone

Tone's words and beliefs were rooted in Age of Enlightenment treatises attributable to philosophers and scientists including John Locke and Francis Bacon. Many such treatises placed individual liberty and religious tolerance paramount in good governance as opposed to the prevailing alliance of political imperialism and religious dogma rooted in absolutism. Tone, whose words and deeds were inspirational, gave generations of Irish men and women the intellectual justification to fight with the sword and pen for a sovereign and secular all-Ireland Republic.

2) James S. Roantree's Medal of Honor citation. --- On board the USS Oneida during action against rebel forts and gunboats and with the ram Tennessee in Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864. Despite damage to his ship and the loss of several men onboard as enemy fire raked her decks and penetrated her boilers, Sgt. Roantree performed his duties with skill and courage throughout the furious battle which resulted in the surrender of the rebel ram Tennessee and in the damaging and destruction of batteries at Fort Morgan.

James S. Roantree died on February 24, 1873, and is buried at New Calvary Cemetery in Mattapan, MA.

For James's biography refer to Michael Kenny's Brothers in Arms.

 

Contributed by Tomás Ó Coısdealbha

cemetery AND grave location

Name:        Glasnevin Cemetery                                    

ADDRESS:   Finglas Road, Glasnevin, Dublin 11, Ireland

HEADSTONE and INSCRIPTION