Police estimate Irish Volunteers now have 132,000 members

Large number of British soldiers and ex-soldiers said to have joined Irish Volunteers

Augustine Birrell, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, said today that the most recent estimates are that there are now 132,000 members of the Irish National Volunteers.

Mr. Birrell also said that there were an estimated 85,000 members of the Ulster Volunteers.

The revelation of police estimates of the growing strength of both organisations came as Mr. Birrell was answering questions in the House of Commons.

A copy of a resolution passed by the Limerick County Borough Council calling for the withdrawal of the Proclamation which bans the importation of arms into Ireland. Click to enlarge. (Image: National Archives of Ireland, CSORP 1914 12735)

Asked how many soldiers and ex-soldiers belonged to both Volunteer organisations, Mr. Birrell responded: ‘I cannot give the exact figures, but there are a considerable number of reservists in both forces - I believe more in the National Volunteers than in the Ulster Volunteers.’

It was then put to Mr. Birrell: ‘Are there 28,000 soldiers and ex-soldiers in the Irish National Volunteers?'

Mr. Birrell declined to answer the question directly, but did not dispute the figure.

Augustine Birrell addressing the House of Commons (Image: Illustrated London News [London, England, 12 April 1906)

The announcements came as recruiting for the Irish National Volunteers showed no signs of abating. The formation of new corps, including mounted detachments, has been reported in every province. 

The Volunteers have mobilised in various locations as a show of strength, with thousands of men presenting for review. At one such mobilisation in Co. Antrim, Eoin MacNeill, said that the Irish Volunteers now had the opportunity of a lifetime before them: ‘When freedom became a fact, without the partition of the smallest part of the country then it would be their duty to see that no enemy dared interfere with that liberty.’