On demobilisation in April 1919, Dalton returned to Ireland. In 1918 Dalton was re-deployed again to France, and in July promoted to captain, serving as an instructor. Afterwards he was transferred to the 6th Battalion, Leinster Regiment, and sent to Salonika then Palestine, where he commanded a company and then supervised a sniper school in El Arish. Dalton was awarded the Military Cross for his conduct in the battle. Among the casualties was Tom Kettle, a former nationalist Member of Parliament and personal friend of Dalton's father and of Emmet. By 1916, he was attached to the 9th Battalion, RDF, 16th (Irish) Division under Major-General William Hickie, which contained many Irish nationalist recruits.ĭuring the Battle of the Somme in September 1916, Dalton was involved in bloody fighting during the Battle of Ginchy, in which over 4,000 Irishmen were killed or wounded.

Emmet Dalton initially joined the 7th Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers (RDF) as a temporary 2nd Lieutenant. Dalton's father, however, disagreed with his son's decision. His decision was not that unusual among Irish Volunteers, as over 20,000 of the National Volunteers joined the British New Army on the urgings of Nationalist leader John Redmond. Military career First World War ĭalton joined the British Army in 1915 for the duration of the Great War. He joined the nationalist militia, the Irish Volunteers in 1913 and the following year, though only fifteen, was involved in the smuggling of arms into Ireland. He was educated by the Christian Brothers at O'Connell School in North Richmond Street. He grew up in a middle-class Catholic background in Drumcondra in North Dublin and lived at No. The family moved back to Ireland when he was two.

Dalton later founded a film production company in London and founded Ardmore Studios in Wicklow together with Louis Elliman in 1958, producing a number of notable pictures in the 1950s and 1960s.ĭalton was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, to Irish-American parents James F. During the Irish Civil War, he held one of the highest ranks, as major general, in the pro-Treaty National Army but resigned his command following the death of Collins. He was military liaison officer for the treaty talks. He was a close associate of Michael Collins and travelled with Collins to London separately from the Irish treaty negotiating team. However, on his return to Ireland he became one of the senior figures in the Dublin Brigade of the guerrilla Irish Republican Army which fought against British rule in Ireland.

He served in the British Army in the First World War, reaching the rank of captain. James Emmet Dalton MC (4 March 1898 – 4 March 1978) was an Irish soldier and film producer.

Emmet Dalton by Sean Boyne