Day 2 of the Easter Rising

Lord Wimborne, the Lord Lieutenant, declared martial law on Tuesday evening and handed over civil power to Brigadier-General W. H. M. Lowe.  British forces initially put their efforts into securing the approaches to Dublin Castle and isolating the rebel headquarters, which they believed was in Liberty Hall.  The British commander, Lowe, worked slowly, unsure of the size of the force he was up against, and with only 1,269 troops in the city when he arrived from the Curragh Camp in the early hours of Tuesday 25 April. 

City Hall was taken from the rebel unit that had attacked Dublin Castle on Tuesday morning. The rebels had failed to take either of Dublin's two main train stations or either of its ports, at Dublin Port and Kingstown. 

As a result, during the following week, the British were able to bring in thousands of reinforcements from England and from their garrisons at the Curragh and Belfast.  By the end of the week, British strength stood at over 16,000 men. 

Their firepower was provided by field artillery summoned from their garrison at Athlone which they positioned on the northside of the city at Phibsborough and at Trinity College, and by the patrol vessel Helga, which sailed up the Liffey, having been summoned from the port at Kingstown.