O'Connor probably raised more recruits by his personal appeal than any other man in England.
A great part of Redmond's correspondence in these months came from Irishmen in England who were joining as Irishmen, and who had great difficulty in making their way to our Division.

Many thousands had already enlisted elsewhere; hundreds, at least, tried to join the Sixteenth Division, and failed to get there.

But there was one instance to which attention should be directed.

In Newcastle-on-Tyne a movement was set on foot to raise Tyneside battalions, including one of Irish.
Mr.O'Connor went down, and the upshot was that four Irish battalions were raised.

They were in existence by January 1, 1915, when General Parsons was already writing that unless Irishmen could be found to fill up the Division, we must submit to the disgrace of having it made up by English recruits.