Work in Progress. Last updated: 28 June 2020
1
Execution of Kevin Barry.
Six days after the death of Terence MacSwiney, Kevin Barry, an 18 year old student at the National University was hanged for his part in an ambush which killed 3 British Soldier in Dublin and wounded 4. While it was not proven he had fired the fatal shot in which Private Matthew Whitehead was killed, he was found guilty through complicity, executed at 8am and buried inside the prison walls. His last message to his comrades was: "Hold on and stick to the Republic.''
Barry's execution was the first political hanging in Ireland since Robert Emmet in 1803. The controversy created by the death sentence frustrated Collins's rescue plan. The huge crowds which gathered outside the prison protesting and praying for Barry meant an attempt to blow up the perimeter wall had to be abandoned
Dublin Castle’s Head of Propaganda, Basil Clark, reported that Barry ‘went to the drop with callous composure’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p88
Mark Sturgis recorded his thoughts in Dublin Castle “Barry hanged this morning in Mountjoy. Would have been better to have shot him as a rebel after a drumhead Court Martial at the time rather than hanging him as a murderer after a month’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P214
Lord French in a letter to the Chief Secretary complained that the Lord Chancellor had a few days earlier urged mercy for Kevin Barry on the grounds of his youth and out of fear of public reaction : ‘It is most unfortunate that a man who can take such views should be the Chief Law Officer’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p88
As historian Donal O’Donovan wrote: ‘When people have to hang young boys like that, their cause is lost, their day is over’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p88
Soon after Barry’s death, a ballad about his capture and execution was sung by both sides in the conflict and rumoured to have been sung by British and American forces during World War 2:
In Mountjoy Jail, one Monday morning,
High upon the gallows tree,
Kevin Barry gave his young life
For the cause of liberty…
Another martyr for old Ireland
Another murder for the Crown
Almost 78 years later, a proposal to exhume and rebury the remains of Kevin Barry, which lie in the grounds of Mountjoy prison, was thwarted by the objections of relatives of another executed man buried nearby.
‘The Irish government has said that despite new calls for the exhumation of Barry and eight other republicans buried beside him, it is powerless to act because of the objections of relatives of Patrick Moran, who was hanged in March 1921. Nine graves in the republican plot at Glasnevin cemetery have been reserved for the men, who were executed by the British during the war of independence. A report from prison chaplains to John O'Donoghue, the minister for justice, recommends that the remains be recovered as a mark of respect to the dead. "We ask that the bodies of all those executed in Mountjoy prison be exhumed and buried in consecrated ground. A prison is not a suitable resting place for any human being," it states. "In refusing to return the bodies of the dead to their families the state is maintaining possession of human remains it has no moral right to." The matter was raised in the dail last week by Nora Owen, the Fine Gael TD and grandniece of Barry's IRA leader, Michael Collins. She asked O'Donoghue to allow the exhumations and reburials. The minister said that when the request had originally been made in 1994 the government had agreed, but one of the families involved had not given permission. "The remains of the volunteer whose family withheld their consent were interred in the same location as five others on the same day in March 1921, and the precise location of the various remains within the plot remains uncertain. In these circumstances it is clear that no exhumation could be attempted without risking an infringement of the stated wishes of one of the families concerned," the minister said. Barry's nephew, also called Kevin Barry, from Hacketstown, Co Carlow, said they would continue to press the minister. "I don't think Mountjoy is a fit place for his remains to be," he said. "I have a map which shows exactly where everyone is buried. The map is genuine and accurate. I don't see what this Moran family have to object to; they shouldn't have a veto."
Yesterday May Moran, a niece of Patrick, said her late mother's wish was that the body should not be disturbed, and that it was a very sensitive time in Irish history. The family intended to respect her wishes, May said. “
The Sunday Times. June 14 1998.
On 14 October 2001, the remains of all the men executed and buried in the grounds were given a state funeral and moved from Mountjoy Prison to be re-interred at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.
Longford: In Ballinalee, Co. Longford, Constable Cooney (45) from Sligo was killed by Frank Davis of the Longford IRA at Breaghy between Ballinalee and Granard, Co. Longford. He was more well known in the locality for his alleged practice of cross-dressing. In response to the killing, the Black and Tans set fire to much of Granard. Next morning, material that was looted from the town littered the roads, inlcuding empty bottles of whiskey, provisions and a melodeon.
Piltown & Ardmore: IRA forces ambushed a military patrol from Youghal at Piltown, Co. Kilkenny, killing two, wounding six and capturing 30 (who were released shortly afterwards). Simultaenous attacks took place on the RIC Barracks and Marine Station at Ardmore, Co. Waterford. These actions were quickly followed by reprisals in Templemore, Co. Tipperary.
The Republican Police Force were declared a separate organisation from the I.R.A and de Valera’s lieutenant at Boland’s Mills, Simon Donnelly, was appointed national police chief. Being placed under the authority of the Home Affairs Department, lack of specific instructions and regulations and the expectation that the I.R.A would setup and pass over a fully functioning force ensured it’s failure. Collins attributed this failure to ‘the awful personnel that was attracted to its ranks’
Arthur Mitchell. ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & Mcmillan. 1995. P239
Tralee: Police burned the County hall in Tralee in revenge for the killing of two constables the previous day and fired shots at people going to Mass. Shops and businesses were forced by the RIC and Tans to remain closed until 9 November in an effort to recover the bodies of the dead RIC men. Local man John Conway was also shot dead by Police in the town.
Ulster: With an ongoing shortage of troops and regular police in the Ulster area, the British Government announced that an Ulster Special Constabulary recruitment drive was to begin for ‘A Specials’ full time temporary constables aged between 21 and 45. Applicants were to be law abiding citizens 'to assist the authorities in the maintenance of order and the prevention of crime'. Paid 10/ per day with allowances and serving he 6 Ulster counties, ‘B Specials’ part time constables serving locally, were unpaid but received £5 each six months for wear and tear on footwear etc and ‘C Specials’, emergency reserves composed mostly of men over 45, the ‘Dad’s Army’ equivalent.
Men aged between 21 and 45 who wished to assist the authorities in the maintenance of order and prevention of crime were asked to call in person or write to the nearest police station. These applications were then considered by a special committee and passed to the local RIC detective branch for final vetting and approval.
By the end of the year, 1,200 had been sworn in as A Specials and 750 as B specials.
Killartan, Co. Galway. The appalling murder of Mrs Eileen Quinn by the Black & Tans occurred on this afternoon November1, 1920. This murder of an eight months pregnant, 24 year old mother of three devastated her family & community throughout South Galway, inspired two poems by William Butler Yeats, and prompted Lady Gregory to write six campaigning articles in the London press to alert the British population to the atrocities being carried out in their name in Ireland.
Execution of Kevin Barry.
Six days after the death of Terence MacSwiney, Kevin Barry, an 18 year old student at the National University was hanged for his part in an ambush which killed 3 British Soldier in Dublin and wounded 4. While it was not proven he had fired the fatal shot in which Private Matthew Whitehead was killed, he was found guilty through complicity, executed at 8am and buried inside the prison walls. His last message to his comrades was: "Hold on and stick to the Republic.''
Barry's execution was the first political hanging in Ireland since Robert Emmet in 1803. The controversy created by the death sentence frustrated Collins's rescue plan. The huge crowds which gathered outside the prison protesting and praying for Barry meant an attempt to blow up the perimeter wall had to be abandoned
Dublin Castle’s Head of Propaganda, Basil Clark, reported that Barry ‘went to the drop with callous composure’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p88
Mark Sturgis recorded his thoughts in Dublin Castle “Barry hanged this morning in Mountjoy. Would have been better to have shot him as a rebel after a drumhead Court Martial at the time rather than hanging him as a murderer after a month’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P214
Lord French in a letter to the Chief Secretary complained that the Lord Chancellor had a few days earlier urged mercy for Kevin Barry on the grounds of his youth and out of fear of public reaction : ‘It is most unfortunate that a man who can take such views should be the Chief Law Officer’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p88
As historian Donal O’Donovan wrote: ‘When people have to hang young boys like that, their cause is lost, their day is over’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p88
Soon after Barry’s death, a ballad about his capture and execution was sung by both sides in the conflict and rumoured to have been sung by British and American forces during World War 2:
In Mountjoy Jail, one Monday morning,
High upon the gallows tree,
Kevin Barry gave his young life
For the cause of liberty…
Another martyr for old Ireland
Another murder for the Crown
Almost 78 years later, a proposal to exhume and rebury the remains of Kevin Barry, which lie in the grounds of Mountjoy prison, was thwarted by the objections of relatives of another executed man buried nearby.
‘The Irish government has said that despite new calls for the exhumation of Barry and eight other republicans buried beside him, it is powerless to act because of the objections of relatives of Patrick Moran, who was hanged in March 1921. Nine graves in the republican plot at Glasnevin cemetery have been reserved for the men, who were executed by the British during the war of independence. A report from prison chaplains to John O'Donoghue, the minister for justice, recommends that the remains be recovered as a mark of respect to the dead. "We ask that the bodies of all those executed in Mountjoy prison be exhumed and buried in consecrated ground. A prison is not a suitable resting place for any human being," it states. "In refusing to return the bodies of the dead to their families the state is maintaining possession of human remains it has no moral right to." The matter was raised in the dail last week by Nora Owen, the Fine Gael TD and grandniece of Barry's IRA leader, Michael Collins. She asked O'Donoghue to allow the exhumations and reburials. The minister said that when the request had originally been made in 1994 the government had agreed, but one of the families involved had not given permission. "The remains of the volunteer whose family withheld their consent were interred in the same location as five others on the same day in March 1921, and the precise location of the various remains within the plot remains uncertain. In these circumstances it is clear that no exhumation could be attempted without risking an infringement of the stated wishes of one of the families concerned," the minister said. Barry's nephew, also called Kevin Barry, from Hacketstown, Co Carlow, said they would continue to press the minister. "I don't think Mountjoy is a fit place for his remains to be," he said. "I have a map which shows exactly where everyone is buried. The map is genuine and accurate. I don't see what this Moran family have to object to; they shouldn't have a veto."
Yesterday May Moran, a niece of Patrick, said her late mother's wish was that the body should not be disturbed, and that it was a very sensitive time in Irish history. The family intended to respect her wishes, May said. “
The Sunday Times. June 14 1998.
On 14 October 2001, the remains of all the men executed and buried in the grounds were given a state funeral and moved from Mountjoy Prison to be re-interred at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.
Longford: In Ballinalee, Co. Longford, Constable Cooney (45) from Sligo was killed by Frank Davis of the Longford IRA at Breaghy between Ballinalee and Granard, Co. Longford. He was more well known in the locality for his alleged practice of cross-dressing. In response to the killing, the Black and Tans set fire to much of Granard. Next morning, material that was looted from the town littered the roads, inlcuding empty bottles of whiskey, provisions and a melodeon.
Piltown & Ardmore: IRA forces ambushed a military patrol from Youghal at Piltown, Co. Kilkenny, killing two, wounding six and capturing 30 (who were released shortly afterwards). Simultaenous attacks took place on the RIC Barracks and Marine Station at Ardmore, Co. Waterford. These actions were quickly followed by reprisals in Templemore, Co. Tipperary.
The Republican Police Force were declared a separate organisation from the I.R.A and de Valera’s lieutenant at Boland’s Mills, Simon Donnelly, was appointed national police chief. Being placed under the authority of the Home Affairs Department, lack of specific instructions and regulations and the expectation that the I.R.A would setup and pass over a fully functioning force ensured it’s failure. Collins attributed this failure to ‘the awful personnel that was attracted to its ranks’
Arthur Mitchell. ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & Mcmillan. 1995. P239
Tralee: Police burned the County hall in Tralee in revenge for the killing of two constables the previous day and fired shots at people going to Mass. Shops and businesses were forced by the RIC and Tans to remain closed until 9 November in an effort to recover the bodies of the dead RIC men. Local man John Conway was also shot dead by Police in the town.
Ulster: With an ongoing shortage of troops and regular police in the Ulster area, the British Government announced that an Ulster Special Constabulary recruitment drive was to begin for ‘A Specials’ full time temporary constables aged between 21 and 45. Applicants were to be law abiding citizens 'to assist the authorities in the maintenance of order and the prevention of crime'. Paid 10/ per day with allowances and serving he 6 Ulster counties, ‘B Specials’ part time constables serving locally, were unpaid but received £5 each six months for wear and tear on footwear etc and ‘C Specials’, emergency reserves composed mostly of men over 45, the ‘Dad’s Army’ equivalent.
Men aged between 21 and 45 who wished to assist the authorities in the maintenance of order and prevention of crime were asked to call in person or write to the nearest police station. These applications were then considered by a special committee and passed to the local RIC detective branch for final vetting and approval.
By the end of the year, 1,200 had been sworn in as A Specials and 750 as B specials.
Killartan, Co. Galway. The appalling murder of Mrs Eileen Quinn by the Black & Tans occurred on this afternoon November1, 1920. This murder of an eight months pregnant, 24 year old mother of three devastated her family & community throughout South Galway, inspired two poems by William Butler Yeats, and prompted Lady Gregory to write six campaigning articles in the London press to alert the British population to the atrocities being carried out in their name in Ireland.
Her husband Malachy was away at the fair in Gort and Eileen was standing with her children, Eva (4), Alfie (2) and Tessie (1), by her garden wall when the British forces in trucks passed her house on the main Gort to Galway road. From the trucks, a number of shots were fired towards her and the children, and she was hit and mortally wounded.Local women tried in vain to save both Eileen and her unborn child but both died within hours.
A verdict of “death by misadventure” was subsequently recorded but it was believed locally that Eileen was murdered in retaliation for the killing of a Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) man, Constable Horan, in the area just two days earlier. The killings continued within days when British forces took two South Galway brothers from their home, tortured them – dragging them along the road, tied to the back of a truck – before mutilating them and dumping their bodies.
The official English report on the death of Mrs. Quinn was reported by the Friends of Irish Freedom Newsltter as "an excellent example of the English point of view on warfare by ruthlessness. “The police must take precaution to protect their lives,” says the report, ‘‘and if the innocent accidentally suffer at times those who ambush and murder policemen are to blame.” Colonel Von Widdern, in his description of the tactics employed by German troops when attacked by French in the Franco-Prussian war, offers an interesting parallel. “That under such circumstances (attacks on German troops by Franc tireurs),” wrote the German General, ‘‘the Germans gave ‘short shrift” to such fellows taken red handed, will be thought only reasonable, even though it is quite possible that at times innocent men may have suffered.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.24 Dec 11,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Writing anonymously, Lady Gregory, who lived near Eileen’s home at Coole Park, penned six powerful articles in The Nation to alert people in Britain to the atrocities being carried out in Ireland. One of her articles dealt directly with Eileen’s murder.
Yeats wrote 'Reprisals' in the wake of the killing - nominally address to the son of Lady Gregory, Robert Gregory (an RFC pilot Ace who shot down nineteen enemy aircraft over the Italian front before dying in a flying accident in January 1918) drawing the parallel between honourable military service and the brutality shown to civilians by the same military in rural Ireland.
This poem went unpublished for a number of years; Yeats was loathe to upset neither Gregory’s mother, who did not like the poem, nor Gregory’s wife, who did not share Yeats’ nationalist sympathies.
A verdict of “death by misadventure” was subsequently recorded but it was believed locally that Eileen was murdered in retaliation for the killing of a Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) man, Constable Horan, in the area just two days earlier. The killings continued within days when British forces took two South Galway brothers from their home, tortured them – dragging them along the road, tied to the back of a truck – before mutilating them and dumping their bodies.
The official English report on the death of Mrs. Quinn was reported by the Friends of Irish Freedom Newsltter as "an excellent example of the English point of view on warfare by ruthlessness. “The police must take precaution to protect their lives,” says the report, ‘‘and if the innocent accidentally suffer at times those who ambush and murder policemen are to blame.” Colonel Von Widdern, in his description of the tactics employed by German troops when attacked by French in the Franco-Prussian war, offers an interesting parallel. “That under such circumstances (attacks on German troops by Franc tireurs),” wrote the German General, ‘‘the Germans gave ‘short shrift” to such fellows taken red handed, will be thought only reasonable, even though it is quite possible that at times innocent men may have suffered.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.24 Dec 11,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Writing anonymously, Lady Gregory, who lived near Eileen’s home at Coole Park, penned six powerful articles in The Nation to alert people in Britain to the atrocities being carried out in Ireland. One of her articles dealt directly with Eileen’s murder.
Yeats wrote 'Reprisals' in the wake of the killing - nominally address to the son of Lady Gregory, Robert Gregory (an RFC pilot Ace who shot down nineteen enemy aircraft over the Italian front before dying in a flying accident in January 1918) drawing the parallel between honourable military service and the brutality shown to civilians by the same military in rural Ireland.
This poem went unpublished for a number of years; Yeats was loathe to upset neither Gregory’s mother, who did not like the poem, nor Gregory’s wife, who did not share Yeats’ nationalist sympathies.
Almost a century later, Eileen’s grand-niece Orla Higgins, in a 2019 RTE Radio documentary pieces together the events of that fateful day and explores the impact this catastrophic event had on future generations of the family. We hear about Eileen’s shooting from vivid newspaper accounts of the time as well as reports from the Military Tribunal that was held to investigate her death. We also hear first-hand personal reminiscences from her relatives, those best placed to commemorate her memory, as they reveal new stories and untold memories about the short life and tragic death of Eileen Quinn. To listen, click on the image below:
Further press clippings - click here
2
The United States Consul in Ireland, Frederick Dumont reported to Washington on the execution of Kevin Barry: ‘intense feeling was exhibited by Irish partisans over this hanging, although it was neither denied that he was guilty nor that he was a member of the Irish Volunteers’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P210
Dumont, Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen (1869-1939) — also known as Frederick T. F. Dumont — of Lancaster, Lancaster County, Pa. Born in Phillipsburg, Warren County, N.J., March 17, 1869. Construction engineer, Pennsylvania Railroad, 1889-1901; Banker. Married Mary Wolfe May 16, 1900; U.S. Consul in Guadeloupe, 1911-12; Madrid, 1912-14; Florence, 1914-19; Dublin, 1919-20; U.S. Consul General in Frankfurt, as of 1924; Havana, 1929-32. Retired 1934.. Died June 5, 1939. Burial location unknown
Under-Secretary Sir John Anderson received 2 visitors in Dublin Castle ..’..they represented moderate Sinn Fein opinion and were empower to offer negotiations if the ban on the Dail were lifted’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p320
Sturgiss diary records the event as well, in the form of a ciphered telegram from General Macready ‘The two persons whom you saw at my house last week came last night and said they have a definite and very important proposal from Sinn Fein and are anxious to put it before the PM’….I wonder if this is another peace balloon – and will burst like all the others – a difficult moment to seek to open negotiations with the bodies of the week end crop of murdered police including another DI hardly cold.
…the reply to the Macready wire is ‘too vague, if informants will indicate nature of proposition PM will consider what action he can take’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 64-5
These visitors were General Wanless O’Gowan and Dr. W.M.Crofton, two representatives of Southern Unionist opinion. A meeting was arranged for November 7th between the intermediaries, Lloyd George, Greenwood and Bonar Law.
Constable Sydney Larkin (22) from London was killed and Sergeant Meaney & Constable Costello wounded in an ambush at Auburn Glasson, Co. Westmeath
Thomas Wall of Tralee killed by Crown Forces.
Crown forces raid the UCD campus.
RIC attempts to burn down the Balinalee Parish Priests house in retaliation for the killing of Constable Cooney the previous day were interrupted with the arrival of an IRA unit led by General Sean MacEoin. British forces amounting to eleven lorries of troops evacuated the town after a two and a half hour gunfight. The town was held for 7 days with the RIC in custody.
Fr. Patrick Gaynor later commented ‘Volunteers who carried out the initial raid whould have taken some measures to protect the town from attack and to attack the British…instead of slinking away to safety and regarding themselves as heroes for having fired a few shots at no risk..’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p84
The already wide gulf between methods of policing Ulster and that of the rest of the country was seized upon by the Friends of Irish Freedom: ‘Edward Walsh, a Republican of Achill, was sentenced to five years penal servitude for having two revolver bullets in his possession, another English court fined eleven County Down Unionists one shilling for having arms and ammunition in their possession without a permit. Similarly Patrick McNichols, a Republican of Galway was recently reported to have been sentenced to eighteen months hard labour for having ammunition in his possession, while another English court, at Derry, released on bail, Alfred Barrow, a Unionist who pleaded guilty to having a revolver and a hundred rounds of ammunition in his possession. These articles were found in his bedroom immediately after a riot in Carlisle Road.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 22, November 27 1920. Lynch Family Archives
In Parliament, copies of the Sinn Fein journal ‘The Irish Bulletin’ were circulated in the House of Commons. Not surprisingly, Hamar Greenwood erupted with ‘I consider it a loathsome alliance that men whose hands are red with the blood of gallant soldiers and policemen should come into the lobby of this house and be allowed to circulate their hideous documents of falsehood’. Frank Gallagher commented that ‘when we of the Bulletin staff read that speech, we knew how fearful the British Government had grown, and we bowed to our work with new devotion’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P213
The modest and the even timid Irish proposals of the rejuvenated Liberals in English politics, and of Mr. Asquith in particular, seemed to have created excitement in the Tory English press. The Belfast News Letter called his utterances “treason” and the London Daily Chronicle admits that it “cannot but be impressed by the fact that he does not hesitate to give comfort and encouragement to a declared enemy.”
"The comfort to be found by Republican Ireland in Mr. Asquith's speeches is but small, but perhaps some encouragement may be drawn from the fact that he seems to be retrenching from the old “Liberal” position in regard to Carsonism. In a recent speech, Mr. Asquith admitted: “Well, Ulster is a misnomer. By far the larger part of the Province of Ulster is in sympathy with the rest of Ireland. So far as their little corner is concerned—it is a little enclave in the Northeast.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The FOIF Newsletter reported on some recent views of George Russell (AE). "He calls attention to the fact that, if the English Occupation completes in this way the economic blockade of Ireland, Irish farmers will not be able to sell their products. In this case, he points out “I imagine they will naturally find them selves unable to pay rent or instalments to the (English) Land Commission or interest on their loans or repayment of loans. I don’t see, if a whole countryside takes up this attitude, what the authorities can do. An individual or a few individuals can be taken up, but a whole countryside, a whole province, cannot be forced to make payments when they are unable obviously to meet them.” Mr. Russell further points out that the Irish export of food, upon which England, to a great extent relies, will, under these conditions “be stopped and food prices will rise there.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.19 Nov 6,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Hugh Martin of the London Daily News, published a sworn affidavit by T. O’Donovan, Manager of the Co-operative Creamery, of Abbeydorney, near Tralee, to which Black and Tans did damage to the amount of £2,000 on October 18. The statement says in part: “That he saw three lorry loads of police, some in the full uniform of the R. I. C. and some dressed as ‘Black and Tans,’ draw up outside the creamery. He heard a crash of glass, and saw the police breaking into the storeroom. He saw some of the police loading up the lorries with butter and cheese (3 cwts. of the former and 240 lbs. of the latter). Others were carrying from the lorries petrol to the engine house and setting the woodwork on fire. He afterwards found that the lock of the safe had been smashed with a crow bar. Notwithstanding assurances of safe conduct if he would bring the key of the safe, Mr. O'Donovan, on leaving the office, received a violent blow on the back of the head. Turning round, half stunned, he saw one of the men swinging his rifle for a second blow. He had the appearance of being drunk. Another policeman intervened, and the blow was averted.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.22 Nov 27,1920. Lynch Family Archives
In the US, the Republican Candidate, Warren Harding was elected President by a 63.8% majority. Historians tend to regard his Presidency as “an utter failure...friends rewarded with government posts, using their office for personal enrichment in swindles such as the Teapot Dome.” Calvin Coolidge become Vice President and a period of gung-ho, laissez-faire capitalism gets underway.
The Westinghouse company opens radio station, KDKA in Pittsburgh, since commonly referred to as the first U.S. station with regularly scheduled broadcasting. On this date, KDKA reports the election returns of the 1920 U.S. presidential election.
2
The United States Consul in Ireland, Frederick Dumont reported to Washington on the execution of Kevin Barry: ‘intense feeling was exhibited by Irish partisans over this hanging, although it was neither denied that he was guilty nor that he was a member of the Irish Volunteers’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P210
Dumont, Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen (1869-1939) — also known as Frederick T. F. Dumont — of Lancaster, Lancaster County, Pa. Born in Phillipsburg, Warren County, N.J., March 17, 1869. Construction engineer, Pennsylvania Railroad, 1889-1901; Banker. Married Mary Wolfe May 16, 1900; U.S. Consul in Guadeloupe, 1911-12; Madrid, 1912-14; Florence, 1914-19; Dublin, 1919-20; U.S. Consul General in Frankfurt, as of 1924; Havana, 1929-32. Retired 1934.. Died June 5, 1939. Burial location unknown
Under-Secretary Sir John Anderson received 2 visitors in Dublin Castle ..’..they represented moderate Sinn Fein opinion and were empower to offer negotiations if the ban on the Dail were lifted’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p320
Sturgiss diary records the event as well, in the form of a ciphered telegram from General Macready ‘The two persons whom you saw at my house last week came last night and said they have a definite and very important proposal from Sinn Fein and are anxious to put it before the PM’….I wonder if this is another peace balloon – and will burst like all the others – a difficult moment to seek to open negotiations with the bodies of the week end crop of murdered police including another DI hardly cold.
…the reply to the Macready wire is ‘too vague, if informants will indicate nature of proposition PM will consider what action he can take’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 64-5
These visitors were General Wanless O’Gowan and Dr. W.M.Crofton, two representatives of Southern Unionist opinion. A meeting was arranged for November 7th between the intermediaries, Lloyd George, Greenwood and Bonar Law.
Constable Sydney Larkin (22) from London was killed and Sergeant Meaney & Constable Costello wounded in an ambush at Auburn Glasson, Co. Westmeath
Thomas Wall of Tralee killed by Crown Forces.
Crown forces raid the UCD campus.
RIC attempts to burn down the Balinalee Parish Priests house in retaliation for the killing of Constable Cooney the previous day were interrupted with the arrival of an IRA unit led by General Sean MacEoin. British forces amounting to eleven lorries of troops evacuated the town after a two and a half hour gunfight. The town was held for 7 days with the RIC in custody.
Fr. Patrick Gaynor later commented ‘Volunteers who carried out the initial raid whould have taken some measures to protect the town from attack and to attack the British…instead of slinking away to safety and regarding themselves as heroes for having fired a few shots at no risk..’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p84
The already wide gulf between methods of policing Ulster and that of the rest of the country was seized upon by the Friends of Irish Freedom: ‘Edward Walsh, a Republican of Achill, was sentenced to five years penal servitude for having two revolver bullets in his possession, another English court fined eleven County Down Unionists one shilling for having arms and ammunition in their possession without a permit. Similarly Patrick McNichols, a Republican of Galway was recently reported to have been sentenced to eighteen months hard labour for having ammunition in his possession, while another English court, at Derry, released on bail, Alfred Barrow, a Unionist who pleaded guilty to having a revolver and a hundred rounds of ammunition in his possession. These articles were found in his bedroom immediately after a riot in Carlisle Road.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 22, November 27 1920. Lynch Family Archives
In Parliament, copies of the Sinn Fein journal ‘The Irish Bulletin’ were circulated in the House of Commons. Not surprisingly, Hamar Greenwood erupted with ‘I consider it a loathsome alliance that men whose hands are red with the blood of gallant soldiers and policemen should come into the lobby of this house and be allowed to circulate their hideous documents of falsehood’. Frank Gallagher commented that ‘when we of the Bulletin staff read that speech, we knew how fearful the British Government had grown, and we bowed to our work with new devotion’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P213
The modest and the even timid Irish proposals of the rejuvenated Liberals in English politics, and of Mr. Asquith in particular, seemed to have created excitement in the Tory English press. The Belfast News Letter called his utterances “treason” and the London Daily Chronicle admits that it “cannot but be impressed by the fact that he does not hesitate to give comfort and encouragement to a declared enemy.”
"The comfort to be found by Republican Ireland in Mr. Asquith's speeches is but small, but perhaps some encouragement may be drawn from the fact that he seems to be retrenching from the old “Liberal” position in regard to Carsonism. In a recent speech, Mr. Asquith admitted: “Well, Ulster is a misnomer. By far the larger part of the Province of Ulster is in sympathy with the rest of Ireland. So far as their little corner is concerned—it is a little enclave in the Northeast.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The FOIF Newsletter reported on some recent views of George Russell (AE). "He calls attention to the fact that, if the English Occupation completes in this way the economic blockade of Ireland, Irish farmers will not be able to sell their products. In this case, he points out “I imagine they will naturally find them selves unable to pay rent or instalments to the (English) Land Commission or interest on their loans or repayment of loans. I don’t see, if a whole countryside takes up this attitude, what the authorities can do. An individual or a few individuals can be taken up, but a whole countryside, a whole province, cannot be forced to make payments when they are unable obviously to meet them.” Mr. Russell further points out that the Irish export of food, upon which England, to a great extent relies, will, under these conditions “be stopped and food prices will rise there.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.19 Nov 6,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Hugh Martin of the London Daily News, published a sworn affidavit by T. O’Donovan, Manager of the Co-operative Creamery, of Abbeydorney, near Tralee, to which Black and Tans did damage to the amount of £2,000 on October 18. The statement says in part: “That he saw three lorry loads of police, some in the full uniform of the R. I. C. and some dressed as ‘Black and Tans,’ draw up outside the creamery. He heard a crash of glass, and saw the police breaking into the storeroom. He saw some of the police loading up the lorries with butter and cheese (3 cwts. of the former and 240 lbs. of the latter). Others were carrying from the lorries petrol to the engine house and setting the woodwork on fire. He afterwards found that the lock of the safe had been smashed with a crow bar. Notwithstanding assurances of safe conduct if he would bring the key of the safe, Mr. O'Donovan, on leaving the office, received a violent blow on the back of the head. Turning round, half stunned, he saw one of the men swinging his rifle for a second blow. He had the appearance of being drunk. Another policeman intervened, and the blow was averted.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.22 Nov 27,1920. Lynch Family Archives
In the US, the Republican Candidate, Warren Harding was elected President by a 63.8% majority. Historians tend to regard his Presidency as “an utter failure...friends rewarded with government posts, using their office for personal enrichment in swindles such as the Teapot Dome.” Calvin Coolidge become Vice President and a period of gung-ho, laissez-faire capitalism gets underway.
The Westinghouse company opens radio station, KDKA in Pittsburgh, since commonly referred to as the first U.S. station with regularly scheduled broadcasting. On this date, KDKA reports the election returns of the 1920 U.S. presidential election.
3
Constable William Maxwel (24) from Co. Down was killed in Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary.
Sergeant Patrick Fallon (49) from Galway was killed while on duty at Ballymote Fair, Co. Sligo. The Auxilliaries carry out reprisals that night in Ballymote.
IRA attack Milford RIC Barracks in Co. Cork – Paddy O’Brien from Liscarroll injured.
British journalist and war correspondent, Henry W. Nevinson, returned from a visit to Ireland: “The conduct of our own British Government in Ireland has proved to me that no Englishman has ever had the right to denounce or condemn any crime you and your Ministers may have perpetrated.” He then details the methods of British rule in Ireland, adding: “And to continue and increase all these methods of treachery, violence and injustice, the Prime Minister of England now openly encourages his agents.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.19 Nov 6,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The suggestion reported in the American press from the current issue of the New Statesman (London) is one which, if taken up, could produce interesting results. The weekly suggested that the American press send to Ireland a number of “its most able and trusted correspondents”.
However the Newsletter commented on the suggestion: "the intimidation to which the correspondents of the small group of English publications which attempt to give accurate information on Ireland, report they are submitted by the English Occupation, suggests that the “assignment” is one for the most courageous of American journalists."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
An interview with Lloyd George reported in the Liberal Magazine quotes the Prime Minister: “Giving Ireland complete control of her own taxation—are the business men in Glasgow and Manchester willing to pay six shilling in the pound income-tax, while the business men in Belfast pay only two shillings? ls the working man in England going to pay eight shillings a pound on tobacco, while the working man in Ireland pays only six pence? Because, if Ireland is going to be let off her share in the war debt, that is what it amounts to.”
La Nation Belge of Brussels, “The general opinion here is that England must surrender...If Ireland had the right to trade freely, she could, for example, deliver to continental countries fresh meat, livestock and flax at less than half the prices actually paid in Holland, Belgium and France. But, as all this Irish commerce must pass through English hands, the consequences need no explanation.”
The London Morning Post proposed: “For our part, if Ireland were friendly to England, we should find no difficulty— on the point of national danger—in giving her Dominion or any other form of Home Rule. Therefore we say that our politicians are beginning at the wrong end. They ought first to make Ireland the friend of England and then every thing else would be comparatively easy. How is that to be done? We have already pointed out over and over again that the fundamentals of this question are economic. We admit Ireland thinks she is suffering from a political ailment, but who ever heard of a doctor accepting the diagnosis of his patient? If we were to do economic justice to Ireland by offering the Irish farmer a secure and substantial preference over the foreigner in the British market, we should have settled the Irish question.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.19 Nov 6,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Britain: The miners' strike ends after only a small majority vote to continue
Further press clippings - click here
Constable William Maxwel (24) from Co. Down was killed in Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary.
Sergeant Patrick Fallon (49) from Galway was killed while on duty at Ballymote Fair, Co. Sligo. The Auxilliaries carry out reprisals that night in Ballymote.
IRA attack Milford RIC Barracks in Co. Cork – Paddy O’Brien from Liscarroll injured.
British journalist and war correspondent, Henry W. Nevinson, returned from a visit to Ireland: “The conduct of our own British Government in Ireland has proved to me that no Englishman has ever had the right to denounce or condemn any crime you and your Ministers may have perpetrated.” He then details the methods of British rule in Ireland, adding: “And to continue and increase all these methods of treachery, violence and injustice, the Prime Minister of England now openly encourages his agents.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.19 Nov 6,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The suggestion reported in the American press from the current issue of the New Statesman (London) is one which, if taken up, could produce interesting results. The weekly suggested that the American press send to Ireland a number of “its most able and trusted correspondents”.
However the Newsletter commented on the suggestion: "the intimidation to which the correspondents of the small group of English publications which attempt to give accurate information on Ireland, report they are submitted by the English Occupation, suggests that the “assignment” is one for the most courageous of American journalists."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
An interview with Lloyd George reported in the Liberal Magazine quotes the Prime Minister: “Giving Ireland complete control of her own taxation—are the business men in Glasgow and Manchester willing to pay six shilling in the pound income-tax, while the business men in Belfast pay only two shillings? ls the working man in England going to pay eight shillings a pound on tobacco, while the working man in Ireland pays only six pence? Because, if Ireland is going to be let off her share in the war debt, that is what it amounts to.”
La Nation Belge of Brussels, “The general opinion here is that England must surrender...If Ireland had the right to trade freely, she could, for example, deliver to continental countries fresh meat, livestock and flax at less than half the prices actually paid in Holland, Belgium and France. But, as all this Irish commerce must pass through English hands, the consequences need no explanation.”
The London Morning Post proposed: “For our part, if Ireland were friendly to England, we should find no difficulty— on the point of national danger—in giving her Dominion or any other form of Home Rule. Therefore we say that our politicians are beginning at the wrong end. They ought first to make Ireland the friend of England and then every thing else would be comparatively easy. How is that to be done? We have already pointed out over and over again that the fundamentals of this question are economic. We admit Ireland thinks she is suffering from a political ailment, but who ever heard of a doctor accepting the diagnosis of his patient? If we were to do economic justice to Ireland by offering the Irish farmer a secure and substantial preference over the foreigner in the British market, we should have settled the Irish question.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.19 Nov 6,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Britain: The miners' strike ends after only a small majority vote to continue
Further press clippings - click here
4
Mark Sturgis now believed that the RIC were ‘getting a bit of their own back and morale is improving’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P209
In the House of Commons, Hamar Greenwood commented during a debate on reprisals by Crown forces in Ireland..’I have never associated the majority of the Irish people with this campaign of murder. I believe they loathe it…we have every information that they welcome the increasing energy of soldiers and the police in stamping out this campaign.’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.50
General Tudor was delighted with news that a man suspected to be Michael Collins was arrested in Longford. Sturgis wrote ‘sounds too good to be true. No details yet of how, when and where the man was picked up’. As for Sinn Fein; ‘funds are said to be getting very low. It is said that the most notorious gun men ‘on the run’ now only get £3 a week ‘subsistence’. Very little money is coming in from America…’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 65
The man arrested in Longford was not Collins.
T.M.Healy* writing to Lord Beaverbrook "The point I gather, taken by the blessed Cabinet donkies was that the Shins should surrender arms before a truce. This is worthy of Gallipoli, Antwerp, Deniken, Wrangel and the cohort of cods. I am for doing business and making peace."
* Timothy Michael Healy ( 1855-1931) – Nationalist politician and author, first Governor General of the Irish Free State ( 1922-28).
At this stage, the Irish Mission in the US was considering the use of an American based humanitarian aid campaign to Ireland. Initially, both the American Red Cross and Knights of Columbanus were approached. Both groups expressed agreement to assist but as the question of control remained paramount, Dr. William Maloney proposed the formation of an independent relief organisation. This organisation promoted itself as non-partisan, neutral and without any direct political or religious affiliations, but it’s secondary mission was to ‘draw American attention to the actions of British forces in the country and thus putting pressure on the British Government. In addition, it drew Americans and America directly into the Anglo-Irish conflict’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P263
Proposals for the relief organisation had already been sent to Dublin for approval by Dail Eireann.
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter raised the issue of the lack of action by the American Red Cross:
"American citizens who are such staunch supporters of works of mercy and contribute so eagerly to the alleviation of suffering in all parts of the world must sincerely regret that the American Red Cross, at this time particularly, has seen fit to offer no statement of its attitude toward Ireland’s great need of just such service as it was organized to offer. At the time of going to press, the National Headquarters of the Red Cross in this city has not seen fit to make any but the most evasive replies to the countless inquiries on this subject which they have received."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.21 Nov 20,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Reports from China of a severe famine that in some parts has forced parents to sell their children for food.
The Friends of Irish Freedom research on earlier utterances of Lloyd George produced some gems. ‘In December 1900, an English newspaper thus reported an utterance of Mr. George: ‘The British Army had been engaged in denuding the country of cattle and sheep and the houses of food supplies and in burning farms. He made no charges against the British troops who were carrying out orders….but he did blame the statesmen at home who made it absolutely necessary that the troops should engage in work which they loathed.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 22, November 27 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Cork: Meeting of Cork Corporation met for the third time in one year to elect a new Lord Mayor. Donal O’Callaghan was elected.
The Irish Independent reported that virtually all the male children born since November 2nd have been named Kevin.
Black and Tans burned the businesses of Sinn Féin sympathisers in Tralee.
In England, those whose policy is blood and iron are making their voices heard in favor of the continuance of as many wars as possible.
Sir W. Joynson Hicks, M.P., a Coalition Unionist, described himself as “one of those who fought the Germans like tigers and held on like bull-dogs,” was anxious to have military operations in Ireland speeded up. “It is true,” he declared, “that we have an army in Ireland; but they have been kept there up to the present as targets. The time has now come for them to shoot.”
The Newsletter commented: "Sir W. Joynson Hicks, the latest advocate of Dyerism, is but one example of the spirit which is bolstering the tottering Coalition, which considers the native population, whether in India or in Ireland, only in relation to the amount of ammunition which may be required to destroy it, who would find no means undesirable to save Ulster from the consequences of a withdrawal of the English intrigue there, and whose warlike blood is never more aroused than by the “inadequacy” of the sentence meted out to the Lord Mayor of Cork for an “act of high treason”.
It is interesting to note briefly in passing that the English Tories have been driven so decisively to the last ditch in defense of the Lloyd George Coalition that they have been forced again to resort to an ancient lie against Irish Catholics. There is an obvious kinship between the official of a Tory organization who, some months ago, was forced to withdraw a slanderous statement in which he said that “an Irish priest had from the altar offered a hundred days' indulgence to anyone who would go an shoot another policeman” and Major G. C. Hamilton, M.P., who, at a meeting of the Sale Conservative Club, in Manchester some weeks ago, declared that “some priests of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland have incited men to murder police—to kill them at sight.” The NEWSLETTER is pleased to note that the Manchester Guardian did not allow Major Hamilton's slanderous statement to go unchallenged.
As the Manchester Guardian points out, “there is something in an atmosphere of immemorial misrule which seems to prevent the taking of the simplest precautions against committing absurdities.” The agents of the English Occupation in Ireland seem, now, however, to be making a record for themselves in hitting the wrong man. In fact, the practice appears to have spread to rather high quarters in Dublin Castle. It has recently transpired that the Dublin residence of Max Green, a by no means unimportant official at the Castle, was raided by “the military”, his front door broken and a number of private papers removed. The latter, it is to be presumed, were subsequently returned. But even the tax-payers of Belfast might conceivably object to paying for the damage done by English troops to Mr. Green's front door, or General Macready's knocker, by way of “reprisals” for Sinn Fein activities."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.19 Nov 6,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Further press clippings - click here
Mark Sturgis now believed that the RIC were ‘getting a bit of their own back and morale is improving’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P209
In the House of Commons, Hamar Greenwood commented during a debate on reprisals by Crown forces in Ireland..’I have never associated the majority of the Irish people with this campaign of murder. I believe they loathe it…we have every information that they welcome the increasing energy of soldiers and the police in stamping out this campaign.’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.50
General Tudor was delighted with news that a man suspected to be Michael Collins was arrested in Longford. Sturgis wrote ‘sounds too good to be true. No details yet of how, when and where the man was picked up’. As for Sinn Fein; ‘funds are said to be getting very low. It is said that the most notorious gun men ‘on the run’ now only get £3 a week ‘subsistence’. Very little money is coming in from America…’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 65
The man arrested in Longford was not Collins.
T.M.Healy* writing to Lord Beaverbrook "The point I gather, taken by the blessed Cabinet donkies was that the Shins should surrender arms before a truce. This is worthy of Gallipoli, Antwerp, Deniken, Wrangel and the cohort of cods. I am for doing business and making peace."
* Timothy Michael Healy ( 1855-1931) – Nationalist politician and author, first Governor General of the Irish Free State ( 1922-28).
At this stage, the Irish Mission in the US was considering the use of an American based humanitarian aid campaign to Ireland. Initially, both the American Red Cross and Knights of Columbanus were approached. Both groups expressed agreement to assist but as the question of control remained paramount, Dr. William Maloney proposed the formation of an independent relief organisation. This organisation promoted itself as non-partisan, neutral and without any direct political or religious affiliations, but it’s secondary mission was to ‘draw American attention to the actions of British forces in the country and thus putting pressure on the British Government. In addition, it drew Americans and America directly into the Anglo-Irish conflict’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P263
Proposals for the relief organisation had already been sent to Dublin for approval by Dail Eireann.
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter raised the issue of the lack of action by the American Red Cross:
"American citizens who are such staunch supporters of works of mercy and contribute so eagerly to the alleviation of suffering in all parts of the world must sincerely regret that the American Red Cross, at this time particularly, has seen fit to offer no statement of its attitude toward Ireland’s great need of just such service as it was organized to offer. At the time of going to press, the National Headquarters of the Red Cross in this city has not seen fit to make any but the most evasive replies to the countless inquiries on this subject which they have received."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.21 Nov 20,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Reports from China of a severe famine that in some parts has forced parents to sell their children for food.
The Friends of Irish Freedom research on earlier utterances of Lloyd George produced some gems. ‘In December 1900, an English newspaper thus reported an utterance of Mr. George: ‘The British Army had been engaged in denuding the country of cattle and sheep and the houses of food supplies and in burning farms. He made no charges against the British troops who were carrying out orders….but he did blame the statesmen at home who made it absolutely necessary that the troops should engage in work which they loathed.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 22, November 27 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Cork: Meeting of Cork Corporation met for the third time in one year to elect a new Lord Mayor. Donal O’Callaghan was elected.
The Irish Independent reported that virtually all the male children born since November 2nd have been named Kevin.
Black and Tans burned the businesses of Sinn Féin sympathisers in Tralee.
In England, those whose policy is blood and iron are making their voices heard in favor of the continuance of as many wars as possible.
Sir W. Joynson Hicks, M.P., a Coalition Unionist, described himself as “one of those who fought the Germans like tigers and held on like bull-dogs,” was anxious to have military operations in Ireland speeded up. “It is true,” he declared, “that we have an army in Ireland; but they have been kept there up to the present as targets. The time has now come for them to shoot.”
The Newsletter commented: "Sir W. Joynson Hicks, the latest advocate of Dyerism, is but one example of the spirit which is bolstering the tottering Coalition, which considers the native population, whether in India or in Ireland, only in relation to the amount of ammunition which may be required to destroy it, who would find no means undesirable to save Ulster from the consequences of a withdrawal of the English intrigue there, and whose warlike blood is never more aroused than by the “inadequacy” of the sentence meted out to the Lord Mayor of Cork for an “act of high treason”.
It is interesting to note briefly in passing that the English Tories have been driven so decisively to the last ditch in defense of the Lloyd George Coalition that they have been forced again to resort to an ancient lie against Irish Catholics. There is an obvious kinship between the official of a Tory organization who, some months ago, was forced to withdraw a slanderous statement in which he said that “an Irish priest had from the altar offered a hundred days' indulgence to anyone who would go an shoot another policeman” and Major G. C. Hamilton, M.P., who, at a meeting of the Sale Conservative Club, in Manchester some weeks ago, declared that “some priests of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland have incited men to murder police—to kill them at sight.” The NEWSLETTER is pleased to note that the Manchester Guardian did not allow Major Hamilton's slanderous statement to go unchallenged.
As the Manchester Guardian points out, “there is something in an atmosphere of immemorial misrule which seems to prevent the taking of the simplest precautions against committing absurdities.” The agents of the English Occupation in Ireland seem, now, however, to be making a record for themselves in hitting the wrong man. In fact, the practice appears to have spread to rather high quarters in Dublin Castle. It has recently transpired that the Dublin residence of Max Green, a by no means unimportant official at the Castle, was raided by “the military”, his front door broken and a number of private papers removed. The latter, it is to be presumed, were subsequently returned. But even the tax-payers of Belfast might conceivably object to paying for the damage done by English troops to Mr. Green's front door, or General Macready's knocker, by way of “reprisals” for Sinn Fein activities."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.19 Nov 6,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Further press clippings - click here
5
Archbishop Gilmartin of Tuam proposed that the British Government should initiate a truce to be later followed by a ‘full measure of Home Rule including fiscal control’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P219
DeValera made another recording of a speech in the US. “No, the Irish do not hate England’. (click below to listen)
Archbishop Gilmartin of Tuam proposed that the British Government should initiate a truce to be later followed by a ‘full measure of Home Rule including fiscal control’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P219
DeValera made another recording of a speech in the US. “No, the Irish do not hate England’. (click below to listen)
"No, the Irish do not hate England. The Irish desire peace with England and with the rest of the world. It is not the Irish who are disturbing the world peace. It is not they who are the aggressors. It is the British. The British can end this question in an hour by withdrawing their troops. The Irish on their side can end it only by sacrificing their nationhood and their national right to self-determination and freedom. Which ought to yield? Ireland would have to give up what is hers, her own, her very life. England would only have to give up that, the possession of which is not vital to her, and to which in any case her title is but a robber's title.
Ireland cannot will her own annihilation. It has cost her seven hundred and fifty years of blood and tears to hold onto an individual national existence and she will not relinquish it now. The Irish Republic exists. Its shackles serve but to make its reality the more concrete. It is not destroyed when individuals or nations plunge their heads into the sand and say they cannot see it. It is there, recognized or not, and it can be destroyed only by the power that brought it into being -- the will of the Irish people.
It is fortunate that the question of the recognition of the Republic arises at this time. It is doubly fortunate that America is strong enough to decide upon it boldly, without fear, in the way its conscience prompts. Ireland's cause is not Ireland's cause only. It is the cause of the world. It is the cause of right, and of justice, and of true democracy everywhere. If I were an American, I would make it the supreme object of my life to win for my country the distinction of securing now for mankind, in peace, what millions have died for vainly in war. Ireland's claims furnishes America the opportunity. This question of recognition is distinctly an American question -- a question solely of American policy. The decision is yours and yours only -- yours to say whether you shall continue as in the past to recognize a government of might in Ireland, or begin now to recognize a government of right.
The decision on Ireland was put on record forever, America's own answer to the questions of her [president]. Shall the military power of any nation or group of nations be suffered to determine the fortunes of peoples over whom they have no right to rule except the right of force? Shall strong nations be free to wrong weak nations and make them subject to their [purposes] and interests? Shall people be ruled and dominated by arbitrary and irresponsible force, or by their own will and choice? Shall there be a common standard of right and privilege for all peoples and nations, or shall the strong do as they will and the weak suffer without redress? The Paris Peace Treaty, the international diplomats and the international financiers, have not answered these questions as the American people intended them to be answered. It is now a question for the American people to answer them for themselves in their own spirit and in their own regard. Their answer will live in history as the epoch of a new era or as the knell of the hope of all who believe that mankind had at last learned its lesson."
This recording has been reproduced by the Library of Congress through the generosity of the family of Guy Golterman, and with the cooperation of CBS-Sony Records and the Recording Industry Association of America 1 sound disc : analog, 78 rpm ; 12 in
Black and Tans in Dingle, Co. Kerry shot dead a 16 year old girl named O’Connell, daughter of a butter maker at the Dingle Creamery. With the arrival of the Tans, she ran across a road carrying her sister and leading another by the hand. ‘Two eye witnesses maintain that two Black and Tans had bet on which was the better shot, and one, resting his rifle on the wall, shot her’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 22 November 27, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Michael Maguire of Ardfert, Co. Kerry was later killed by British forces.
General Wanless O’Gowan and Dr. W.M.Crofton traveled to London to see Bonar Law and possibly Lloyd George.
Ireland cannot will her own annihilation. It has cost her seven hundred and fifty years of blood and tears to hold onto an individual national existence and she will not relinquish it now. The Irish Republic exists. Its shackles serve but to make its reality the more concrete. It is not destroyed when individuals or nations plunge their heads into the sand and say they cannot see it. It is there, recognized or not, and it can be destroyed only by the power that brought it into being -- the will of the Irish people.
It is fortunate that the question of the recognition of the Republic arises at this time. It is doubly fortunate that America is strong enough to decide upon it boldly, without fear, in the way its conscience prompts. Ireland's cause is not Ireland's cause only. It is the cause of the world. It is the cause of right, and of justice, and of true democracy everywhere. If I were an American, I would make it the supreme object of my life to win for my country the distinction of securing now for mankind, in peace, what millions have died for vainly in war. Ireland's claims furnishes America the opportunity. This question of recognition is distinctly an American question -- a question solely of American policy. The decision is yours and yours only -- yours to say whether you shall continue as in the past to recognize a government of might in Ireland, or begin now to recognize a government of right.
The decision on Ireland was put on record forever, America's own answer to the questions of her [president]. Shall the military power of any nation or group of nations be suffered to determine the fortunes of peoples over whom they have no right to rule except the right of force? Shall strong nations be free to wrong weak nations and make them subject to their [purposes] and interests? Shall people be ruled and dominated by arbitrary and irresponsible force, or by their own will and choice? Shall there be a common standard of right and privilege for all peoples and nations, or shall the strong do as they will and the weak suffer without redress? The Paris Peace Treaty, the international diplomats and the international financiers, have not answered these questions as the American people intended them to be answered. It is now a question for the American people to answer them for themselves in their own spirit and in their own regard. Their answer will live in history as the epoch of a new era or as the knell of the hope of all who believe that mankind had at last learned its lesson."
This recording has been reproduced by the Library of Congress through the generosity of the family of Guy Golterman, and with the cooperation of CBS-Sony Records and the Recording Industry Association of America 1 sound disc : analog, 78 rpm ; 12 in
Black and Tans in Dingle, Co. Kerry shot dead a 16 year old girl named O’Connell, daughter of a butter maker at the Dingle Creamery. With the arrival of the Tans, she ran across a road carrying her sister and leading another by the hand. ‘Two eye witnesses maintain that two Black and Tans had bet on which was the better shot, and one, resting his rifle on the wall, shot her’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 22 November 27, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Michael Maguire of Ardfert, Co. Kerry was later killed by British forces.
General Wanless O’Gowan and Dr. W.M.Crofton traveled to London to see Bonar Law and possibly Lloyd George.
6
The Dail Cabinet approved the Maloney organised proposal to fund relief for victims of the Irish conflict and the American Committee for Relief in Ireland was founded the next month in New York.
Moylett returned to London to meet with Sir William Tyrell, Permanent head of the Foreign Office, who told him ‘If Sinn Fein takes advantage of half our mistakes, we are ruined’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P219
Auxilliary Cadets Agnew Bertram from London, an Intelligence Officer with the RIC was kidnapped by the IRA while travelling from Macroom to Cork, interrogated and executed along with Auxiliary Lionel Mitchel (23) from Somerset. Both bodies were secretly buried and have never been found.
British forces kill T. Archer from Kilflynn, Co. Kerry and William Mulcahy from Cork.
IRA men try to disarm two RIC men – Sgt T. Wiseman and Constable G. Waters – at the Customs House in Derry. The two RIC men are shot (but not killed). Later, three RIC men were found wounded in Foyle St and one – Constable Hugh Kearns – later died form his wounds. Sectarian violence breaks out in Derry as a result.
Constable Thomas Walsh (27) from Dublin was reported missing from East Cork.
Eugene O'Neill's play The Emperor Jones premieres on Broadway.
"Main Street", Sinclair Lewis' critique of small-town America published; a key work in defining early nineteen-twenties attitudes (urban sophisticate among yokels) that help usher in a slew of introspective, self-critical works about the American scene. It was the year's best seller.
A memorial meting was held in the New York Polo Grounds and attended by 75,000.
In answer to the announcement by Sir Hamar Greenwood, Chief Secretary for Ireland, that severe punishment is being administered to stop reprisal attacks by the auxiliary police, which is the polite, official title of the notorious ‘‘Black and Tans,”
Arthur Griffith, Acting President of the Irish Republic, made the charge on November 6 that the "British Government is fully responsible for the atrocities that have followed the funeral of Terence MacSwiney, Lord Mayor of Cork. He indicts the British police and soldiers of “frightfulness” that surpasses the outrages of the Germans in Belgium during the war. He accuses the Government of instigating and directing the barbarities, which, he says, are part of the calculated plan made by the British ministry some time ago in the vain hope of breaking the spirit and the will of the Irish Nation. He makes the following eleven definite charges against the British Government: 1. Assassination of Irish citizens. 2. The burning of Irish factories, creameries, and harvests. 3. Looting of private property. 4. Sacking of towns and villages. 5. Nocturnal raids, arrests, and imprisonments. 6. Murderous assaults on clergymen and laymen. 7. Torturing of political prisoners. 8. Stoppage of inquests on murdered Irishmen. 9. Expulsion of workmen from their employment. 10. Arming of Orangemen on the north coast of Ireland. 11. Payment of Orangemen as policemen and the incitement of religious dissensions.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
THE TRIBUTE OF HUMANITY
The impressive manifestations of sympathy and gratitude which have been so marked a feature of the recognition of the supreme sacrifice offered by the Irish hunger strikers have made it clear, once more, that the human race is not slow to recognize its heroes and its prophets. During the past week the tricolor of the Irish Republic, carried in tremendous public demonstrations on every continent of the globe, has been saluted as the emblem of the universal freedom sanctified and made secure by the voluntary sacrifice of martyred Irishmen. There is a deep significance in the fact that English tanks and armored cars—the display of military power —which accompanied at a distance the great funeral of the Lord Mayor at Cork, were functionless and well-nigh unnoticed in that mighty, unified expression of the sentiment and will of a whole people. The echo of those quietly but steadily marching feet in Cork which was heard in the demonstrations of sympathy in almost every city of the civilized world is the solemn portent of the fall of imperialistic power, not only in Ireland but throughout the world wherever men and womeni have recognized in MacSwiney and his fellows the modern heroes of the human race whose sacrifice is universal.
Let no man say that the American people have lost the love and respect for liberty which on more than one occasion has given example to the whole world. The power and simplicity of the tribute which has been paid to the latest martyrs in Ireland's struggle are incontrovertible proof that this spirit is still keenly alive. The millions of American citizens, who, during the week, took pal: in the public demonstrations in practically every city and community of the United States, expressed not only their recognition of the heroic sacrifice of Terence MacSwiney and the other hunger strikers, but of the right to international recognition of the government for which they fought their splendid battle. The American people has given unmistakable expression of its will.
Nothing could be more illuminating or more indicative of the real nature of the struggle in Ireland than the contrast provided by the conduct of the armed English Occupation on the one hand and the citizens of the beseiged Republic on the other. Despite the seemingly unbearable provocation of the murder of MacSwiney and the other patriots in Cork jail, despite the gratuitous brutality of the English seizure of the Lord Mayor’s coffin on its way to Dublin, the disciplined restraint of the Irish people manifested at the orderly demonstrations in honor of their hero dead, held in Dublin, Cork and elsewhere, has arrested the attention of the civilized world. Coincident with these solemn manifestations of a disciplined will which can rise above provocation and reprisal alike, the Savage and grotesque terrorism displayed by English forces in Templemore made the indictment of English brutality complete."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.19 Nov 6,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Dail Cabinet approved the Maloney organised proposal to fund relief for victims of the Irish conflict and the American Committee for Relief in Ireland was founded the next month in New York.
Moylett returned to London to meet with Sir William Tyrell, Permanent head of the Foreign Office, who told him ‘If Sinn Fein takes advantage of half our mistakes, we are ruined’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P219
Auxilliary Cadets Agnew Bertram from London, an Intelligence Officer with the RIC was kidnapped by the IRA while travelling from Macroom to Cork, interrogated and executed along with Auxiliary Lionel Mitchel (23) from Somerset. Both bodies were secretly buried and have never been found.
British forces kill T. Archer from Kilflynn, Co. Kerry and William Mulcahy from Cork.
IRA men try to disarm two RIC men – Sgt T. Wiseman and Constable G. Waters – at the Customs House in Derry. The two RIC men are shot (but not killed). Later, three RIC men were found wounded in Foyle St and one – Constable Hugh Kearns – later died form his wounds. Sectarian violence breaks out in Derry as a result.
Constable Thomas Walsh (27) from Dublin was reported missing from East Cork.
Eugene O'Neill's play The Emperor Jones premieres on Broadway.
"Main Street", Sinclair Lewis' critique of small-town America published; a key work in defining early nineteen-twenties attitudes (urban sophisticate among yokels) that help usher in a slew of introspective, self-critical works about the American scene. It was the year's best seller.
A memorial meting was held in the New York Polo Grounds and attended by 75,000.
In answer to the announcement by Sir Hamar Greenwood, Chief Secretary for Ireland, that severe punishment is being administered to stop reprisal attacks by the auxiliary police, which is the polite, official title of the notorious ‘‘Black and Tans,”
Arthur Griffith, Acting President of the Irish Republic, made the charge on November 6 that the "British Government is fully responsible for the atrocities that have followed the funeral of Terence MacSwiney, Lord Mayor of Cork. He indicts the British police and soldiers of “frightfulness” that surpasses the outrages of the Germans in Belgium during the war. He accuses the Government of instigating and directing the barbarities, which, he says, are part of the calculated plan made by the British ministry some time ago in the vain hope of breaking the spirit and the will of the Irish Nation. He makes the following eleven definite charges against the British Government: 1. Assassination of Irish citizens. 2. The burning of Irish factories, creameries, and harvests. 3. Looting of private property. 4. Sacking of towns and villages. 5. Nocturnal raids, arrests, and imprisonments. 6. Murderous assaults on clergymen and laymen. 7. Torturing of political prisoners. 8. Stoppage of inquests on murdered Irishmen. 9. Expulsion of workmen from their employment. 10. Arming of Orangemen on the north coast of Ireland. 11. Payment of Orangemen as policemen and the incitement of religious dissensions.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
THE TRIBUTE OF HUMANITY
The impressive manifestations of sympathy and gratitude which have been so marked a feature of the recognition of the supreme sacrifice offered by the Irish hunger strikers have made it clear, once more, that the human race is not slow to recognize its heroes and its prophets. During the past week the tricolor of the Irish Republic, carried in tremendous public demonstrations on every continent of the globe, has been saluted as the emblem of the universal freedom sanctified and made secure by the voluntary sacrifice of martyred Irishmen. There is a deep significance in the fact that English tanks and armored cars—the display of military power —which accompanied at a distance the great funeral of the Lord Mayor at Cork, were functionless and well-nigh unnoticed in that mighty, unified expression of the sentiment and will of a whole people. The echo of those quietly but steadily marching feet in Cork which was heard in the demonstrations of sympathy in almost every city of the civilized world is the solemn portent of the fall of imperialistic power, not only in Ireland but throughout the world wherever men and womeni have recognized in MacSwiney and his fellows the modern heroes of the human race whose sacrifice is universal.
Let no man say that the American people have lost the love and respect for liberty which on more than one occasion has given example to the whole world. The power and simplicity of the tribute which has been paid to the latest martyrs in Ireland's struggle are incontrovertible proof that this spirit is still keenly alive. The millions of American citizens, who, during the week, took pal: in the public demonstrations in practically every city and community of the United States, expressed not only their recognition of the heroic sacrifice of Terence MacSwiney and the other hunger strikers, but of the right to international recognition of the government for which they fought their splendid battle. The American people has given unmistakable expression of its will.
Nothing could be more illuminating or more indicative of the real nature of the struggle in Ireland than the contrast provided by the conduct of the armed English Occupation on the one hand and the citizens of the beseiged Republic on the other. Despite the seemingly unbearable provocation of the murder of MacSwiney and the other patriots in Cork jail, despite the gratuitous brutality of the English seizure of the Lord Mayor’s coffin on its way to Dublin, the disciplined restraint of the Irish people manifested at the orderly demonstrations in honor of their hero dead, held in Dublin, Cork and elsewhere, has arrested the attention of the civilized world. Coincident with these solemn manifestations of a disciplined will which can rise above provocation and reprisal alike, the Savage and grotesque terrorism displayed by English forces in Templemore made the indictment of English brutality complete."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.19 Nov 6,1920. Lynch Family Archives
7
Clan na Gael Chairman McGarrity and Treasurer Hugh Montague declared John Devoy ‘ousted from his post as Secretary of the Executive' and put Luke Dillon in his office. They also replaced the other Executive members who backed Devoy. The procedure meant very little really, since they could not enforce their edicts. Devoy scoffed at them. He called their moves an example of the DeValera-type democracy, remarking that it was the first time in history a minority had expelled a majority. There was some justice in that contention and – backed by his Executive – Devoy declared that McGarrity, Montague and Dillon no longer were members of the Clan na Gael.
General O’Gowan and Dr Crofton met with the Irish Chief Secretary, Sir Hammar Greenwood, Bonar Law and Lloyd George in London. ‘The PM asked them could they say definitely that Dail Eireann, or anyway the large section of it for whom they spoke, would accept the present Home Rule Bill with the exclusion of the six counties in Ulster, and would they shoulder Ireland’s share of the War Debt. They said yes provided Ireland might take its own way to raise the money. The PM said he did not think complete fiscal autonomy was the best thing for Ireland for its own sake, but that if they wanted it and made it the condition of peace he did not think it too high a price to pay. Jonathan says O’G and C have come back in great heart and are going straight to the Dail Eireann people…anyway direct communication is established between the PM and Dail Eireann which is itself an enormous step towards peace…Shall we be putting away our pistols quite soon or shall we drop back into war bittered by yet another disappointment…meanwhile we carry on and relax no screw…one snag in the direct road to peace may be that the present Dial having been elected on a Republican ticket they will say that they cannot make a settlement without consulting their constituents…and this..at least provides them with a first class door to back out if they want to do so’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 68-9
Bonar Law commented to Sir John Anderson: ‘it looked more like a reality than anything I have heard of before’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p181
It is also believed that both Griffith and Collins initially appeared positive to these developments.
Clan na Gael Chairman McGarrity and Treasurer Hugh Montague declared John Devoy ‘ousted from his post as Secretary of the Executive' and put Luke Dillon in his office. They also replaced the other Executive members who backed Devoy. The procedure meant very little really, since they could not enforce their edicts. Devoy scoffed at them. He called their moves an example of the DeValera-type democracy, remarking that it was the first time in history a minority had expelled a majority. There was some justice in that contention and – backed by his Executive – Devoy declared that McGarrity, Montague and Dillon no longer were members of the Clan na Gael.
General O’Gowan and Dr Crofton met with the Irish Chief Secretary, Sir Hammar Greenwood, Bonar Law and Lloyd George in London. ‘The PM asked them could they say definitely that Dail Eireann, or anyway the large section of it for whom they spoke, would accept the present Home Rule Bill with the exclusion of the six counties in Ulster, and would they shoulder Ireland’s share of the War Debt. They said yes provided Ireland might take its own way to raise the money. The PM said he did not think complete fiscal autonomy was the best thing for Ireland for its own sake, but that if they wanted it and made it the condition of peace he did not think it too high a price to pay. Jonathan says O’G and C have come back in great heart and are going straight to the Dail Eireann people…anyway direct communication is established between the PM and Dail Eireann which is itself an enormous step towards peace…Shall we be putting away our pistols quite soon or shall we drop back into war bittered by yet another disappointment…meanwhile we carry on and relax no screw…one snag in the direct road to peace may be that the present Dial having been elected on a Republican ticket they will say that they cannot make a settlement without consulting their constituents…and this..at least provides them with a first class door to back out if they want to do so’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 68-9
Bonar Law commented to Sir John Anderson: ‘it looked more like a reality than anything I have heard of before’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p181
It is also believed that both Griffith and Collins initially appeared positive to these developments.
8
General Macready in a communication to the Head of the RIC, General Tudor asked ‘to try and put a check on promiscious firing in the air of lorry loads of RIC. It does not do any good and is very subversive to discipline, and annoys the army people extremely’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P270
The economic war by the military in Ireland accounted for the following creameries wholly or partially destroyed between July 1 and November 7th 1920:
Tipperary: Loughmore, Newport, Knockfine, Reiska, Silvermines, Rear Cross, Castleiny, Upperchurch, Kilcommon, Nenagh, Littleton, Killea and Templeree.
Limerick: Newcastle-West, Grange, Kildimo, Shangolden, Kilrenan, Hospital, Devon Rd, Garyspillane.
Sligo: Tubbercurry, Achonry, Ballintrillick, Ballymote.
Kerry: Lixnaw and Abbeydorney.
Cork: Banteer.
Writing of the burning of creameries and other property as “reprisals, Major-General Sir F. Maurice, quoted the official English Manual of Military Law, stated in a London daily: “Therefore, in terms of the official Manual, they are illegitimate and contrary to the practice of civilized nations. We could put up no defence whatever before an International Court of Justice or of Arbitration for reprisals taken on the initiative of the military and police forces, and both Lord Curzon and Sir Hamar Greenwood are speaking without the book when they describe such reprisals as legitimate.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.23 Dec 4,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Dublin Castle commented that “the maintenance of a rigorous discipline in the almost unparalleled conditions existing in many parts of Ireland to day is a task of extreme difficulty.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.23 Dec 4,1920. Lynch Family Archives
An IRA ambush led by Donnacha O'Hannigan at Grange, on the main road between Bruff and Limerick forced a retreat when eight lorries of soldiers and RIC instead of the expected two arrived. However in another ambush at Glencurrane, between Galbally and Mitchelstown, a much larger force was expected than actually arrived and were easily overcome. Four soldiers were killed and several wounded.
The Flying Column of the Longford Brigade of the IRA under Sean MacEoin attack an RIC post in Ballinalee, Co. Longford killing three and wounded several others.
Michael Brosnan from Castleisland, Co. Kerry killed by British forces and John Cantillion in Ardfert Co. Kerry.
Charles Mitchel, actor and television newsreader, reader of the first Telefís Éireann news bulletin in 1961 born (died 1996).
Rupert the Bear first appears in a cartoon strip in the Daily Express
General Macready in a communication to the Head of the RIC, General Tudor asked ‘to try and put a check on promiscious firing in the air of lorry loads of RIC. It does not do any good and is very subversive to discipline, and annoys the army people extremely’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P270
The economic war by the military in Ireland accounted for the following creameries wholly or partially destroyed between July 1 and November 7th 1920:
Tipperary: Loughmore, Newport, Knockfine, Reiska, Silvermines, Rear Cross, Castleiny, Upperchurch, Kilcommon, Nenagh, Littleton, Killea and Templeree.
Limerick: Newcastle-West, Grange, Kildimo, Shangolden, Kilrenan, Hospital, Devon Rd, Garyspillane.
Sligo: Tubbercurry, Achonry, Ballintrillick, Ballymote.
Kerry: Lixnaw and Abbeydorney.
Cork: Banteer.
Writing of the burning of creameries and other property as “reprisals, Major-General Sir F. Maurice, quoted the official English Manual of Military Law, stated in a London daily: “Therefore, in terms of the official Manual, they are illegitimate and contrary to the practice of civilized nations. We could put up no defence whatever before an International Court of Justice or of Arbitration for reprisals taken on the initiative of the military and police forces, and both Lord Curzon and Sir Hamar Greenwood are speaking without the book when they describe such reprisals as legitimate.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.23 Dec 4,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Dublin Castle commented that “the maintenance of a rigorous discipline in the almost unparalleled conditions existing in many parts of Ireland to day is a task of extreme difficulty.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.23 Dec 4,1920. Lynch Family Archives
An IRA ambush led by Donnacha O'Hannigan at Grange, on the main road between Bruff and Limerick forced a retreat when eight lorries of soldiers and RIC instead of the expected two arrived. However in another ambush at Glencurrane, between Galbally and Mitchelstown, a much larger force was expected than actually arrived and were easily overcome. Four soldiers were killed and several wounded.
The Flying Column of the Longford Brigade of the IRA under Sean MacEoin attack an RIC post in Ballinalee, Co. Longford killing three and wounded several others.
Michael Brosnan from Castleisland, Co. Kerry killed by British forces and John Cantillion in Ardfert Co. Kerry.
Charles Mitchel, actor and television newsreader, reader of the first Telefís Éireann news bulletin in 1961 born (died 1996).
Rupert the Bear first appears in a cartoon strip in the Daily Express
9
US Consul in Ireland, Frederick Dumont commenting to the Department of State in Washington wrote ‘the deaths of hunger strikers and the hanging of Kevin Barry have served to force the Church out into the open. Their funerals as well as the numerous funerals of Irish Volunteers killed in attempts to ambush or assassinate members of the British forces, have been remarkable for the numbers of bishops and priests in attendance….further evidence of clerical support of the rebel cause is found in raids on Dail courts, where it is and usually has been the case in very many instances that a priest is sitting as judge. More and more the church is suspected of supporting the Sinn Fein movement and keeping the people irreconcilable to any connection with Great Britain’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolotionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922’. P175
Arthur Mitcell comments that while many of the hierarchy supported Sinn Fein, the majority favoured a political settlement far short of an independent republic. Cardinal Logue appeared to have been quite happy to accept no partition and fiscal control – particularly as this allowed for continuing church control of education. Throughout the period and into 1921, the Catholic hierarchy made it plain to British envoys that the Irish would be happy with a form of ‘glorified Home Rule’ and so undermined Dail Eireann’s negotiating position with the British Government.
However ambivalent the home-grown clergy were in relation to Sinn Fein and independence, the opposite was true for the majority of Irish born, Australian and American clergy.
Athlone had numerous shop fronts and walls postered overnight with the following message:
‘ Notice..shopkeepers of Athlone are hereby ordered to close their premises on Armistice Day, November 11, in honour of the fallen heroes of the Great War and the police murdered in Ireland. This notice applies to all business houses and factroes. Any failure to comply with this order renders the destruction of said premises inevitable. Signed, Black and Tans. God Save The King’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 23, December 4, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Town of Ballinalee was burned in reprisal for IRA activity in the area.
"Murder by the throat' speech by Lloyd George
Lloyd George at the Guildhall banquet defended the reprisals of the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries and commented on the increasingly succesful British counter-attack:
‘there is no doubt that at last their patience has given way and there has been some severe hitting back...let us be fair to these gallant men who are doing their duty in Ireland...it is no use talking about this being war and these being reprisals when these things are being done [ by Sinn Fein ] with impunity in Ireland. We have murder by the throat...we had to reorganise the police and when the Government was ready we struck the terrorists and now the terrorists are complaining of terror...’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.407
Pope Benedict XV bans the film ‘The Holy Bible’ for its portrayal of a naked Adam and Eve.
Constables Archibald Turner (28) from Kent and James Woods (29) from Lancashire were killed on board a train at Ballbrack Station, Co. Kerry while returning from leave.
Mark Sturgis appeared to be enjoying his time in Dublin Castle ‘I like this life most awfully, but Gawd knows whether I shall ever settle down happily in a London office again – here one is up to the neck in intrigue, plot and counter-plot with a small spice of danger all mixed up with the life of something like a big country house in the old days.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 67-8
As part of General Orders No. 9, the IRA states that women who are convicted of being spy should be informed that it is only consideration of her sex that prevents the infliction of the statutory punishment of death. Instead she was to be given seven days to leave the country.
Further press clippings - click here
US Consul in Ireland, Frederick Dumont commenting to the Department of State in Washington wrote ‘the deaths of hunger strikers and the hanging of Kevin Barry have served to force the Church out into the open. Their funerals as well as the numerous funerals of Irish Volunteers killed in attempts to ambush or assassinate members of the British forces, have been remarkable for the numbers of bishops and priests in attendance….further evidence of clerical support of the rebel cause is found in raids on Dail courts, where it is and usually has been the case in very many instances that a priest is sitting as judge. More and more the church is suspected of supporting the Sinn Fein movement and keeping the people irreconcilable to any connection with Great Britain’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolotionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922’. P175
Arthur Mitcell comments that while many of the hierarchy supported Sinn Fein, the majority favoured a political settlement far short of an independent republic. Cardinal Logue appeared to have been quite happy to accept no partition and fiscal control – particularly as this allowed for continuing church control of education. Throughout the period and into 1921, the Catholic hierarchy made it plain to British envoys that the Irish would be happy with a form of ‘glorified Home Rule’ and so undermined Dail Eireann’s negotiating position with the British Government.
However ambivalent the home-grown clergy were in relation to Sinn Fein and independence, the opposite was true for the majority of Irish born, Australian and American clergy.
Athlone had numerous shop fronts and walls postered overnight with the following message:
‘ Notice..shopkeepers of Athlone are hereby ordered to close their premises on Armistice Day, November 11, in honour of the fallen heroes of the Great War and the police murdered in Ireland. This notice applies to all business houses and factroes. Any failure to comply with this order renders the destruction of said premises inevitable. Signed, Black and Tans. God Save The King’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 23, December 4, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Town of Ballinalee was burned in reprisal for IRA activity in the area.
"Murder by the throat' speech by Lloyd George
Lloyd George at the Guildhall banquet defended the reprisals of the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries and commented on the increasingly succesful British counter-attack:
‘there is no doubt that at last their patience has given way and there has been some severe hitting back...let us be fair to these gallant men who are doing their duty in Ireland...it is no use talking about this being war and these being reprisals when these things are being done [ by Sinn Fein ] with impunity in Ireland. We have murder by the throat...we had to reorganise the police and when the Government was ready we struck the terrorists and now the terrorists are complaining of terror...’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.407
Pope Benedict XV bans the film ‘The Holy Bible’ for its portrayal of a naked Adam and Eve.
Constables Archibald Turner (28) from Kent and James Woods (29) from Lancashire were killed on board a train at Ballbrack Station, Co. Kerry while returning from leave.
Mark Sturgis appeared to be enjoying his time in Dublin Castle ‘I like this life most awfully, but Gawd knows whether I shall ever settle down happily in a London office again – here one is up to the neck in intrigue, plot and counter-plot with a small spice of danger all mixed up with the life of something like a big country house in the old days.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 67-8
As part of General Orders No. 9, the IRA states that women who are convicted of being spy should be informed that it is only consideration of her sex that prevents the infliction of the statutory punishment of death. Instead she was to be given seven days to leave the country.
Further press clippings - click here
10
In Downing Street, Churchill asked ‘at a very hush-hush meeting’ said Sir Maurice Hankey, for authorised reprisals: if there was drunkenness and gross disorder among the troops...if there was looting, thieving, and clumsy and indiscriminate destruction, that was because the soldiers ‘goaded in the most brutal manner and finding no address’ took action on their own account. He called for a policy of reprisals ‘within strict limits and under strict control’ but the conference could not bring itself to authorise this kind of ‘Rex talionis’ which invariably involved the innocent; it was decided that ‘the moment was not opportune’. Authorised reprisals nonetheless, soon became a standard operating procedure for areas under martial law.’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p318
Around the same time, Sir Maurice recorded the Prime Minister telling Lord Grey that he ‘strongly defended the murder reprisals…reprisals from time immemorial have been resorted to in difficult times in Ireland; he gave numerous instances where they had been effective in checking crimes; he quoted two eminent nationalists who had told him in confidence that the Irish quite understood such reprisals, and that they ought not to be stopped….the truth is that these reprisals are more or less winked at by the Government’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p82
Brigadier-General Crozier was requested by General Tudor, Head of the R.I.C not to dismiss Auxiliaries for breaches of discipline. He disagreed but was overruled. This was to erupt three months later in February 1921.
Christopher Lucey, 1st Battalion, Cork No. 1 Brigade IRA of 3 Pembroke St. Cork – shot dead by British forces at Tureen Dubh Ballingeary while unarmed
Cvilians Frank Hoffman from Farmer’s Bridge, Tralee and P. Lynch from Golden, Co. Tipperary were killed by British forces.
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter reported Hoffman's murder, reprinting an editorial by the “Freeman’s Journal”:
“The shooting of Mr. Frank Hoffman near Tralee should bring even Conservative England to a realization of what is taking place in Ireland. Mr. Hoffman was of an old Protestant family in Kerry. He was connected by close ties of relationship with many of the most influential Conservative families in and around Tralee. In what some people presume to call the intolerant South, few Catholics of Kerry were more beloved of the people than this scion of a Protestant house. A young man of fine physique, six feet in height, and of active habits, he was a prominent figure in the athletics of the South of Ireland. He joined with the people in all their sports and pastimes. Like most men of large frame and generous mind, he was as tender hearted as a girl. Mr. Hoffman's trial, sentence and execution mark probably the speediest tragedy on record. Met on the road by ‘uniformed men’ as he was nearing his home, he was asked his name. When he answered, his interrogator delivered judgment in these words: ‘You are the man we want.” The prosecutor became judge forwith, assumed the function of executioner, and a bullet sent this young man and promising life before the Judgment seat.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.24 Dec 11,1920. Lynch Family Archives
A brief biography of Frank Hoffman here.
Reporter Hugh Martin of the Daily News reported that Tralee ‘is like a town with plague. Not a shop is open and people remain behind closed doors and shuttered windows from morning to nightfall. An hour before darkness sets in, women and children leave their homes and go anywhere they can for the night’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p125
Shortly after this report, Hugh Martin's life was threatened if he continued to disseminate facts in regard to Ireland. Marton was followed by the Central News special correspondent in Tralee, who was served with a Police warning that he will be... “put up against the wall and shot” if he transmits messages to the British press without first submitting them to police censorship. Simultaneously the “Terror Department,” Anti-Sinn Fein Headquarters, Cork, has sent to Mr. D. L. O’Keeffe a formal letter telling him that he is “marked on our list for execution,” threatening his household as well as himself, and referring to Sinn Fein as a murder gang “which the indomitable forces of our secret service corps now operating in Ireland will banish to eternity.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.23 Dec 4,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Following the example of Tralee the police appeared to have taken over the control of Athlone in similar fashion, judging by the fact that the following notice was pasted on dead walls and shop fronts: “Notice—Shopkeepers of Athlone are hereby ordered to close their premises on Armistice Day, Nov. 11, in honour of the fallen heroes of the Great War and the police murdered in Ireland. This notice applies to all business houses and factories. Any failure to comply with this order renders the destruction of the said premises inevitable. Signed, Black and Tans. God save the King.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.23 Dec 4,1920. Lynch Family Archives
As was to have been expected, the British preference for waging war by blockades and famine was now to dictate the tactics of the Government in Ireland. The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter commented on events in Tralee:
"Tralee, in Co. Kerry, has recently been the scene of one of the most brutal examples in history of a warfare directed against an entire population, in which women and children are made, perhaps, the chief sufferers. The town seems to have been put under a new kind of martial law by the English police, who prevented the baking of bread and the sale of food throughout the community. There have been current reports of threats by the English terrorists that Ireland was soon to feel the weight of reprisals “of a nature yet unheard of in Ireland”;--one might add, even with the memory of the recent World War fresh in mind, almost unheard of in the civilized world.
The case of Tralee, however, seems to be but a preliminary maneuver in this plan of war by famine. The groundwork laid by Sir Eric Geddes, English Minister of Transport, in his recent trip to Dublin, is already beginning to serve for an English campaign of national blockade against the Irish people. The threatened stoppage of the Irish railways seems on the point of becoming an accomplished fact. Already the Midland and Great Western, which serves the central area and a great part of West Ireland, has given notice to its 3,000 odd employes, that it will be able to operate few, if any, trains after the middle of November. Other systems are expected rapidly to follow suit. A spokesman for the Great Southern and Western is quoted in trans-Atlantic dis patches as saying: “I fear my Company will have to follow the course of the Midland and Great Western management and close down the entire system within a few weeks.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.21 Nov 20,1920. Lynch Family Archives
In Downing Street, Churchill asked ‘at a very hush-hush meeting’ said Sir Maurice Hankey, for authorised reprisals: if there was drunkenness and gross disorder among the troops...if there was looting, thieving, and clumsy and indiscriminate destruction, that was because the soldiers ‘goaded in the most brutal manner and finding no address’ took action on their own account. He called for a policy of reprisals ‘within strict limits and under strict control’ but the conference could not bring itself to authorise this kind of ‘Rex talionis’ which invariably involved the innocent; it was decided that ‘the moment was not opportune’. Authorised reprisals nonetheless, soon became a standard operating procedure for areas under martial law.’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p318
Around the same time, Sir Maurice recorded the Prime Minister telling Lord Grey that he ‘strongly defended the murder reprisals…reprisals from time immemorial have been resorted to in difficult times in Ireland; he gave numerous instances where they had been effective in checking crimes; he quoted two eminent nationalists who had told him in confidence that the Irish quite understood such reprisals, and that they ought not to be stopped….the truth is that these reprisals are more or less winked at by the Government’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p82
Brigadier-General Crozier was requested by General Tudor, Head of the R.I.C not to dismiss Auxiliaries for breaches of discipline. He disagreed but was overruled. This was to erupt three months later in February 1921.
Christopher Lucey, 1st Battalion, Cork No. 1 Brigade IRA of 3 Pembroke St. Cork – shot dead by British forces at Tureen Dubh Ballingeary while unarmed
Cvilians Frank Hoffman from Farmer’s Bridge, Tralee and P. Lynch from Golden, Co. Tipperary were killed by British forces.
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter reported Hoffman's murder, reprinting an editorial by the “Freeman’s Journal”:
“The shooting of Mr. Frank Hoffman near Tralee should bring even Conservative England to a realization of what is taking place in Ireland. Mr. Hoffman was of an old Protestant family in Kerry. He was connected by close ties of relationship with many of the most influential Conservative families in and around Tralee. In what some people presume to call the intolerant South, few Catholics of Kerry were more beloved of the people than this scion of a Protestant house. A young man of fine physique, six feet in height, and of active habits, he was a prominent figure in the athletics of the South of Ireland. He joined with the people in all their sports and pastimes. Like most men of large frame and generous mind, he was as tender hearted as a girl. Mr. Hoffman's trial, sentence and execution mark probably the speediest tragedy on record. Met on the road by ‘uniformed men’ as he was nearing his home, he was asked his name. When he answered, his interrogator delivered judgment in these words: ‘You are the man we want.” The prosecutor became judge forwith, assumed the function of executioner, and a bullet sent this young man and promising life before the Judgment seat.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.24 Dec 11,1920. Lynch Family Archives
A brief biography of Frank Hoffman here.
Reporter Hugh Martin of the Daily News reported that Tralee ‘is like a town with plague. Not a shop is open and people remain behind closed doors and shuttered windows from morning to nightfall. An hour before darkness sets in, women and children leave their homes and go anywhere they can for the night’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p125
Shortly after this report, Hugh Martin's life was threatened if he continued to disseminate facts in regard to Ireland. Marton was followed by the Central News special correspondent in Tralee, who was served with a Police warning that he will be... “put up against the wall and shot” if he transmits messages to the British press without first submitting them to police censorship. Simultaneously the “Terror Department,” Anti-Sinn Fein Headquarters, Cork, has sent to Mr. D. L. O’Keeffe a formal letter telling him that he is “marked on our list for execution,” threatening his household as well as himself, and referring to Sinn Fein as a murder gang “which the indomitable forces of our secret service corps now operating in Ireland will banish to eternity.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.23 Dec 4,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Following the example of Tralee the police appeared to have taken over the control of Athlone in similar fashion, judging by the fact that the following notice was pasted on dead walls and shop fronts: “Notice—Shopkeepers of Athlone are hereby ordered to close their premises on Armistice Day, Nov. 11, in honour of the fallen heroes of the Great War and the police murdered in Ireland. This notice applies to all business houses and factories. Any failure to comply with this order renders the destruction of the said premises inevitable. Signed, Black and Tans. God save the King.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.23 Dec 4,1920. Lynch Family Archives
As was to have been expected, the British preference for waging war by blockades and famine was now to dictate the tactics of the Government in Ireland. The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter commented on events in Tralee:
"Tralee, in Co. Kerry, has recently been the scene of one of the most brutal examples in history of a warfare directed against an entire population, in which women and children are made, perhaps, the chief sufferers. The town seems to have been put under a new kind of martial law by the English police, who prevented the baking of bread and the sale of food throughout the community. There have been current reports of threats by the English terrorists that Ireland was soon to feel the weight of reprisals “of a nature yet unheard of in Ireland”;--one might add, even with the memory of the recent World War fresh in mind, almost unheard of in the civilized world.
The case of Tralee, however, seems to be but a preliminary maneuver in this plan of war by famine. The groundwork laid by Sir Eric Geddes, English Minister of Transport, in his recent trip to Dublin, is already beginning to serve for an English campaign of national blockade against the Irish people. The threatened stoppage of the Irish railways seems on the point of becoming an accomplished fact. Already the Midland and Great Western, which serves the central area and a great part of West Ireland, has given notice to its 3,000 odd employes, that it will be able to operate few, if any, trains after the middle of November. Other systems are expected rapidly to follow suit. A spokesman for the Great Southern and Western is quoted in trans-Atlantic dis patches as saying: “I fear my Company will have to follow the course of the Midland and Great Western management and close down the entire system within a few weeks.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.21 Nov 20,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Further press clippings - click here
11
The ‘Unknown Soldiers’ of France and Britain were buried at Armistice day ceremonies.
Dr Kathleen Lynn of Dublin, in a letter to an un-named newspaper, suggested that ‘November 11th Armistice day be observed throughout the country by united prayer for England…Pray that her eyes may be opened to the inequities being perpetrated daily in Ireland by her armed forces; that she may repent her evil ways and by Divine mercy be shown what is right, and be given both grace and courage to follow it.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 25, December 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The British Government was reported as ‘furious’ at chanting during the Dublin Remembrance day ceremonies. Sturgis has no mention of this but does write of the flags and bunting on Dame & Grafton Street ‘ Could not have been more be-flagged if it had been Bond Street…what a queer country!’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P209
‘A lorry load of Black & Tans halted in College Green at 11 – tumbled out and stood to attention for the two minutes – the crowd – many Trinity College students among them no doubt – but still the Dublin crowd then sang ‘God Save the King’ and cheered the lorry as it went on its way. I can't think anything of this sort would have happened a month ago’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 70
General O’Gowan met with Sir John Anderson ‘He is in great heart – he is looking for MC* but hasn’t found him, he being most successfully on the run – but there is no cause to despair of something coming of it – yet.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 69
* MC = Michael Collins
The indignation which the brutal shooting of Mrs. Ellen Quinn by English forces in Ireland and the equally indefensible murder of other women and children in various parts of the country has caused throughout the world, had evidently been felt by the English Government. At the time, the Prime Minister’s excuse was that such atrocities were inevitable “incidents” of war.
The Newsletter commented: "It is interesting to note that it has been alleged that Irishmen have wounded or killed women and children, whereas it has never been denied even by the professional defenders of English frightfulness that the uniformed forces of England have crippled and killed Irish women and children. Now, however, England seems to be preparing a better defense of its war on women than that of dubbing such tragedies “incidents”.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The RIC Office in Dublin issued the secret ‘Crime Special 50’ dated November 11, reading:
‘County Inspector: Information has been received that it is the intention in Sinn Fein circles to employ Irish women in the commission of outrages. This should be borne in mind when outrages are being investigated. It is known that members of the Cumman na mBan have been trained in the use of firearms, and it is possible that in some cases they have taken part in the commission of outrages. Signed, C.A.Walsh, D.I.G.’
Quoted in the Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 25, December 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Roy Jenkins, British politician born (died 2003)
In the House of Commons, Lloyd George stated ‘Neither for the sake of Britain not for the sake of Ireland can we contemplate anything which would set up in Ireland an independent sovereign state…we cannot consent to anything which will enable Ireland to organise an army and a navy of her own..’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.50
As the debate on the Government of Ireland Bill partioning Ireland continued in the House of Commons, Belfast Nationalist Mp Joe Devlin stated ‘they plead in the most tender way, almost with tears in their voice, for the acceptance of the his Bill, that it may end religious rancour [ but ] my friends and myself, 340,000 Catholics…are to be left permanently and enduringly at the mercy of the Protestant Parliament in the North of Ireland..’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.50
Carson now rose to speak ‘I hope with all my heart in the long run it will lead to unity and peace in Ireland, and that in the long run it will lead to the Honourable Gentlemen opposite and myself to see Ireland one and undivided, loyal to this country and loyal to the Empire’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.51
The Government of Ireland Act passes its third reading in the House of Commons by 183 votes to 53.
British parliamentary Labour Party meets and calls for the withdrawal of the British Army from Ireland and the setting up of an Irish Constituent Assembly. They also set up a Commission of Inquiry to investigate conditions in Ireland.
"The detailed reports of the debates on the “reprisals” in Ireland which occupied the opening sessions of the English Commons provide extraordinary reading for Americans. The Kaiser is said to have wept at the news of the sinking of the Lusitania; the British Commons greeted the mention of Terence MacSwiney's name with laughter and the announcement that British troops had taken a “reprisal” at Tubbercurry with loud cheers. The debates were marked by some very pointed utterances from Arthur Henderson and by an attitude of brutal callousness on the part of the Coalition majority that was in obvious imitation of the Prime Minister’s infamous Carnarvon speech.
Sir Hamar Greenwood’s lengthy defense of the English policy, in these opening debates, contains some amazing statements. Among other things he said that the principal sources of public information about “reprisals” and the military terrorization in Ireland were “tainted”. At this late date it is hardly necessary to point out to American readers what the principal sources of this information really are. Personal investigation by experienced journalists and Special correspondents of English, Irish and American newspapers and periodicals have produced a mass of evidence on this subject which cannot be so easily refuted. Special correspondents of the Associated Press and of the Chicago Tribune have sent detailed reports to this country which few would be willing to call biased and which nevertheless refute many of Sir Hamar’s bland generalizations. The articles of Francis Hackett have aroused many thinking Americans.
One of the most pointed statements which Mr. Henderson made in giving voice to the sentiments of the hopelessly small group in the English Commons who are opposed to the Coalition’s ruthless Irish policy was as follows: “Up until the beginning of 1919,” he said, “all the outrages had been on one side— that of the Government—and during 1919, there were 14,000 armed raids, three towns were sacked and ten civilians were killed by its servants.” Mr. Henderson further pointed out that before 1919 only one policeman had been killed in Ireland.
The universality with which the tone set by Lloyd George has been adopted by the forces of the Coalition in all their comments on Ireland may be seen from the declaration of Lord Salisbury during the more recent discussion of “reprisals” in the House of Lords, when he declared that he “would not object to reprisals if they are the proper sort.” His brother, Lord Hugh Cecil, writing to The Times (London) echoed this sentiment in depreciating the unsystematic fashion in which “reprisals” were being conducted by the English, and advocating that they be regularized and carried out on a definite plan.
The English Government acquits itself of all responsibility for the crimes committed by its agents in Ireland. During the war it was the custom of English Coroners’ inquests, after a Zeppelin raid on London, to bring in a verdict of guilty against the Kaiser. When Irish Coroners’ courts brought in this kind of verdict after the sacking of an Irish town and the murder of innocent civilians by English troops, these courts were promptly suppressed. But the verdict of the rest of the civilized world cannot be so easily stifled. Little enough actual evidence comes out of Ireland in these days, yet there is sufficient to utterly discredit the statements of English ministers. Will America absolve the English Government of responsibility for the crimes committed by its agents in Ireland?"
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Greenwood informs the House of Commons that 2,000 applications had been received for the Special Constabulary but refuses to answer Devlin’s questions about how many were former UVF members.
“May I suggest to my fellow country men and women”, wrote Dr. Kathleen Lynn, of Dublin, “that November 11th, Armistice Day, be observed throughout the country by united prayer for Eng and. Pray—That her eyes may be opened to the iniquities being perpetrated daily in Ireland by her armed forces; That she may repent her evil ways and by Divine mercy be shown what is right, and be given both grace and courage to follow it.” Few things could be more impressive than that the mother of Kevin Barry, recently hanged; the sisters of the late Lord Mayor MacSwiney; the widows of Easter Week and Countess Markievicz, now in an English prison, should have publicly agreed to join Dr. Lynn in this prayer.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The British journalist, Stephen Graham took a walk across the desolate fields in Flanders:
‘The stagnancy has not dried up, it festers still in the black rot below the rushes. Double shell holes, charred ground, great pits, what is it now? The abode of rats, lizards, weasels, un-exploded stick bombs, rusty grog bottles. Helmets lie there still in plenty, there are broken rifles, there are graves. Death and the ruins completely outweigh the living. There is a pull from the other world. Lying in an old trench, behold! A skull. It is clean and polished, a soldiers head. There is a frayed hole in an otherwise perfect cranium. The simplest way to pick it up would be to put a finger in the eye hole and lift it. Friend or foe? The more you look at the skull the more angry does it seem. It has an intense, eternal grievance. This one does not grin for the mouth has been destroyed, it is just blind and senseless for ever and ever.’
11
The ‘Unknown Soldiers’ of France and Britain were buried at Armistice day ceremonies.
Dr Kathleen Lynn of Dublin, in a letter to an un-named newspaper, suggested that ‘November 11th Armistice day be observed throughout the country by united prayer for England…Pray that her eyes may be opened to the inequities being perpetrated daily in Ireland by her armed forces; that she may repent her evil ways and by Divine mercy be shown what is right, and be given both grace and courage to follow it.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 25, December 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The British Government was reported as ‘furious’ at chanting during the Dublin Remembrance day ceremonies. Sturgis has no mention of this but does write of the flags and bunting on Dame & Grafton Street ‘ Could not have been more be-flagged if it had been Bond Street…what a queer country!’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P209
‘A lorry load of Black & Tans halted in College Green at 11 – tumbled out and stood to attention for the two minutes – the crowd – many Trinity College students among them no doubt – but still the Dublin crowd then sang ‘God Save the King’ and cheered the lorry as it went on its way. I can't think anything of this sort would have happened a month ago’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 70
General O’Gowan met with Sir John Anderson ‘He is in great heart – he is looking for MC* but hasn’t found him, he being most successfully on the run – but there is no cause to despair of something coming of it – yet.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 69
* MC = Michael Collins
The indignation which the brutal shooting of Mrs. Ellen Quinn by English forces in Ireland and the equally indefensible murder of other women and children in various parts of the country has caused throughout the world, had evidently been felt by the English Government. At the time, the Prime Minister’s excuse was that such atrocities were inevitable “incidents” of war.
The Newsletter commented: "It is interesting to note that it has been alleged that Irishmen have wounded or killed women and children, whereas it has never been denied even by the professional defenders of English frightfulness that the uniformed forces of England have crippled and killed Irish women and children. Now, however, England seems to be preparing a better defense of its war on women than that of dubbing such tragedies “incidents”.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The RIC Office in Dublin issued the secret ‘Crime Special 50’ dated November 11, reading:
‘County Inspector: Information has been received that it is the intention in Sinn Fein circles to employ Irish women in the commission of outrages. This should be borne in mind when outrages are being investigated. It is known that members of the Cumman na mBan have been trained in the use of firearms, and it is possible that in some cases they have taken part in the commission of outrages. Signed, C.A.Walsh, D.I.G.’
Quoted in the Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 25, December 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Roy Jenkins, British politician born (died 2003)
In the House of Commons, Lloyd George stated ‘Neither for the sake of Britain not for the sake of Ireland can we contemplate anything which would set up in Ireland an independent sovereign state…we cannot consent to anything which will enable Ireland to organise an army and a navy of her own..’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.50
As the debate on the Government of Ireland Bill partioning Ireland continued in the House of Commons, Belfast Nationalist Mp Joe Devlin stated ‘they plead in the most tender way, almost with tears in their voice, for the acceptance of the his Bill, that it may end religious rancour [ but ] my friends and myself, 340,000 Catholics…are to be left permanently and enduringly at the mercy of the Protestant Parliament in the North of Ireland..’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.50
Carson now rose to speak ‘I hope with all my heart in the long run it will lead to unity and peace in Ireland, and that in the long run it will lead to the Honourable Gentlemen opposite and myself to see Ireland one and undivided, loyal to this country and loyal to the Empire’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.51
The Government of Ireland Act passes its third reading in the House of Commons by 183 votes to 53.
British parliamentary Labour Party meets and calls for the withdrawal of the British Army from Ireland and the setting up of an Irish Constituent Assembly. They also set up a Commission of Inquiry to investigate conditions in Ireland.
"The detailed reports of the debates on the “reprisals” in Ireland which occupied the opening sessions of the English Commons provide extraordinary reading for Americans. The Kaiser is said to have wept at the news of the sinking of the Lusitania; the British Commons greeted the mention of Terence MacSwiney's name with laughter and the announcement that British troops had taken a “reprisal” at Tubbercurry with loud cheers. The debates were marked by some very pointed utterances from Arthur Henderson and by an attitude of brutal callousness on the part of the Coalition majority that was in obvious imitation of the Prime Minister’s infamous Carnarvon speech.
Sir Hamar Greenwood’s lengthy defense of the English policy, in these opening debates, contains some amazing statements. Among other things he said that the principal sources of public information about “reprisals” and the military terrorization in Ireland were “tainted”. At this late date it is hardly necessary to point out to American readers what the principal sources of this information really are. Personal investigation by experienced journalists and Special correspondents of English, Irish and American newspapers and periodicals have produced a mass of evidence on this subject which cannot be so easily refuted. Special correspondents of the Associated Press and of the Chicago Tribune have sent detailed reports to this country which few would be willing to call biased and which nevertheless refute many of Sir Hamar’s bland generalizations. The articles of Francis Hackett have aroused many thinking Americans.
One of the most pointed statements which Mr. Henderson made in giving voice to the sentiments of the hopelessly small group in the English Commons who are opposed to the Coalition’s ruthless Irish policy was as follows: “Up until the beginning of 1919,” he said, “all the outrages had been on one side— that of the Government—and during 1919, there were 14,000 armed raids, three towns were sacked and ten civilians were killed by its servants.” Mr. Henderson further pointed out that before 1919 only one policeman had been killed in Ireland.
The universality with which the tone set by Lloyd George has been adopted by the forces of the Coalition in all their comments on Ireland may be seen from the declaration of Lord Salisbury during the more recent discussion of “reprisals” in the House of Lords, when he declared that he “would not object to reprisals if they are the proper sort.” His brother, Lord Hugh Cecil, writing to The Times (London) echoed this sentiment in depreciating the unsystematic fashion in which “reprisals” were being conducted by the English, and advocating that they be regularized and carried out on a definite plan.
The English Government acquits itself of all responsibility for the crimes committed by its agents in Ireland. During the war it was the custom of English Coroners’ inquests, after a Zeppelin raid on London, to bring in a verdict of guilty against the Kaiser. When Irish Coroners’ courts brought in this kind of verdict after the sacking of an Irish town and the murder of innocent civilians by English troops, these courts were promptly suppressed. But the verdict of the rest of the civilized world cannot be so easily stifled. Little enough actual evidence comes out of Ireland in these days, yet there is sufficient to utterly discredit the statements of English ministers. Will America absolve the English Government of responsibility for the crimes committed by its agents in Ireland?"
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Greenwood informs the House of Commons that 2,000 applications had been received for the Special Constabulary but refuses to answer Devlin’s questions about how many were former UVF members.
“May I suggest to my fellow country men and women”, wrote Dr. Kathleen Lynn, of Dublin, “that November 11th, Armistice Day, be observed throughout the country by united prayer for Eng and. Pray—That her eyes may be opened to the iniquities being perpetrated daily in Ireland by her armed forces; That she may repent her evil ways and by Divine mercy be shown what is right, and be given both grace and courage to follow it.” Few things could be more impressive than that the mother of Kevin Barry, recently hanged; the sisters of the late Lord Mayor MacSwiney; the widows of Easter Week and Countess Markievicz, now in an English prison, should have publicly agreed to join Dr. Lynn in this prayer.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The British journalist, Stephen Graham took a walk across the desolate fields in Flanders:
‘The stagnancy has not dried up, it festers still in the black rot below the rushes. Double shell holes, charred ground, great pits, what is it now? The abode of rats, lizards, weasels, un-exploded stick bombs, rusty grog bottles. Helmets lie there still in plenty, there are broken rifles, there are graves. Death and the ruins completely outweigh the living. There is a pull from the other world. Lying in an old trench, behold! A skull. It is clean and polished, a soldiers head. There is a frayed hole in an otherwise perfect cranium. The simplest way to pick it up would be to put a finger in the eye hole and lift it. Friend or foe? The more you look at the skull the more angry does it seem. It has an intense, eternal grievance. This one does not grin for the mouth has been destroyed, it is just blind and senseless for ever and ever.’
12
Peace feelers continued with General O’Gowan and Dr Crofton. Both had been unable to make contact with Michael Collins and so Crofton met with Arthur Griffith. This was reported back verbatim to Sir John Anderson in the Castle. ‘Arthur Griffith was very hoity toity at the start – said they weren't beat yet – several English MP’s had promised all help… Dr C said that being so he could back to his friends and tell them it was all off, wherat G called him back and became much more pleasant – said he had a meeting of some of his people tonight and would speak of the matter to them. He went so far as to say that one of the difficulties of settlement would be the untrustworthy wobblyness of Lloyd George…O’G will come to Anderson again at once when there is more to report. Griffith asked C whether the PM was prepared ‘to negotiate with Dail Eireann’ C said ‘No, with the Irish people’. G it seems took this not particularly amiss. O’G asked Jonathan [ Sir John Anderson ] how the first step would be made and J tells me he answered that some sort of step ought to be made by Sinn Fein to show that they were really prepared to accepted the so much less than ‘The Republic’ but that the great thing was to find the basis of agreement between the PM and Sinn Fein; once that is done Lloyd George is quite clever enough to be trusted to find a mode of procedure. Let them concentrate on agreement and leave the way to press the button to him’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 70-1
Arthur Griffith asked the remaining 9 hunger strikers to abandon their protest. The protest had lasted for 94 days.
Frederick Dumon reported to Washington that things in Ireland were turning in favour of the old regime:
‘The Irish Administration is slowly but surely resuming control of Ireland. Ulster is being put in a position to take over its own Government. The courts of justice for the country will function in Dublin and Belfast. Sinn Fein secret service has been matched by the organisation of a superior one which has in it’s possesion enough to condemn the society’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P215
Dumont’s comments were somewhat premature, particularly as regards British intelligence agents in Dublin. Collins was about to remove the various heads of the organisation nine days later.
The RIC Deputy Inspector General, C.A.Walsh issued a memorandum for all RIC members, written by Major General H.H.Tudor, the Police Adviser:
‘The Royal Irish Constabulary has shown unparalleled fortitude in standing up to a diabolical murder campaign. Discipline has been maintained at a very high level. To ensure uniformity of action and of discipline the following directions are issued for guidance. The RIC will have the fullest support in the most drastic action against that band of assassins, the so-called IRA. These murderers must be pursued relentlessly and their organisation ruthlessly suppressed. The iniatitive must be seized, the ambushers must be ambushed. The leaders and members of the criminal gang are mostly known to us. They must be given no rest. They must be hunted down…there must be no wild firing from lorries. It is useless and dangerous to innocent people…firing in the air or over the heads of crowds is strictly forbidden…property must be respected or women and children and innocent people will suffer; there must be no arson or looting…the police exist to restore and maintain order in Ireland. They must show forbearance and preserve their discipline, whatever the provocation. Women must invariably be respected…the police grow strong every day. Decent men who have been deluded or forced into joining the IRA are resigning. By continuing their firm and resolute pressure against this criminal organisation, the police will life the terror from the people of Ireland.’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p.177/78
Tom Kettle’s* widow in a letter to the London Daily News, commented ‘When I reflect that God is just, I tremble for my country. Ireland is held with a greater army of occupation that Germany put into Belgium. Towns are sacked, factories and creameries burned, newspaper offices wrecked, men- often wholly unidentified with politics – are taken from beds, flogged and sent naked home, prisoners are tortured, women and children in the grip of the reigning terror seek refuge in the sheds and fields.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 24, December 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
* Thomas Kettle (1880-1916) was a close friend of James Joyce and noted orator. He edited the short lived but controversial ‘Nationalist’ with Sheehy-Skeffington. Married to one of the Sheehy sisters like Skeffington. Kettle was MP for East Tyrone (1906-10), supported Home Rule and became an authority on the economic implications of self-government. Highly critical of narrow minded nationalism, he advocated embracing wider pan-European influences. In 1908 became the first Professor of Economics in the National Univeristy of Ireland. Kettle supported the Irish Volunteers, buying arms for the organisation in 1914 through Belgium, however with the outbreak of war, advocated that Irishmen join the colours and follow his example by joining the Dublin Fusiliers and toured the country as a recruiter. Following Sheehy-Skeffington’s killing in 1916, he volunteered for active service at the front, where he was killed later that year at Givency during the Battle of the Somme.
Western Powers pressured Italy and Yugoslavia to come to an agreement on the Adriatic seaport of Fiume. Taken over the previous year by rag-tag Italian forces led by Gabrielle D’Annunzio, the city remained in dispute with Italy claiming ownership of Yougoslav territory. Both sides agreed to make Fiume a free city and ordered D’Annunzio and his forces to leave. Hardly surprisingly, they refused.
The Ballymacelligott ambush, revenge attack and some blatant fake news.
An ambush by the IRA backfired and IRA volunteers John Herlihy and J . McMahon were killed at Ballymacelligott.
A revenge attack by the Black and Tans followed with the burning of the Ballymacelligott Creamery at 11am, November 12:
“seven or eight lorries drew up at the creamery. The manager, Mr. Byrne, and the staff were at work as usual. Two or three farmers were there on business. All ran away through fear of arrest or worse. The police opened fire, killing one of the staff, and a farmer, and wounding severely the engine driver who is not expected to recover. Another boy had his arm shattered. Mr. Byrne escaped the volleys but, when captured, would apparently have been shot, had not the Lieutenant in charge of the military intervened. About 4 p. m., five cars with armed police accompanied apparently by a journalist and photographers, arrived from C. island (Castleisland). The police opened fire on young men who were on the road some distance away and on others who ran from the Manager’s house, where they were visiting those wounded previously. It appears some of these young men were armed, and returned the fire to cover their retreat. On neither occasion was there an ambush or anything of the kind.”
Yet, it is this occasion which was celebrated in the English and American press by stories of an outrageous “ambush by Sinn Fein”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.24 Dec 11,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Dublin Castle through it's head of propaganda, Basil Brooke, was to exagerate the Ballymacelligott ambush incident into ‘the fiercest and probably the largest scale of any fight between Crown forces and the Volunteers’ even going so far as to produce a Pathe-Gazette film of the affray which faked a scene, using Auxilliaries in uniform and playing the role of IRA but including clear footage of the Vico Road in Dalkey, Co Dublin. The Illustrated London News also reported the 'fake news' in it's November 27th edition (below)
Meanwhile, the Newletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom commented on the publication of fake news (which bears a remarkable resemblance to media issues a century later):
"The “news fakes” which are being published with regularity, if not with ingenuity, from London, these days, will have little other result than the detriment they create to the cause of England. American and English newspaper readers have been treated to ridiculous fabrications about such wholly imaginary organizations as “The Amalgamated Irish Societies of America” and “The Irish Vigilance Society”. In this country, where it may be easily ascertained that no such organizations exist, the chief impression which these stories create is that English statesmen are becoming hysterical over their Irish problem."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.21 Nov 20,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Just over a month later, the Newsletter had an update on the photographs published:
"In some English papers there has been reproduced a photograph “from the Kerry front” showing “the grim reality of the struggle in Ireland.” The photograph was supposed to have been one of a series taken immediately after a convoy of R.I.C. auxiliaries was ambushed. One London journal, in giving the illustration, mentioned that the “ambush” was laid by Republicans, in every case the wording underneath drew attention to a wounded cadet in the foreground, and to two dead raiders lying in the roadway. An Irish newspaper then reproduced this photograph and in close juxtaposition another taken at the junction of the Vico and Victoria roads, Dalkey, near the entrance to Victoria Park. We have been unable to discover any difference between them, excepting that in one there are no human beings visible. It hardly seems possible that Kerry and County Dublin could both look so much alike, and so far as we can discover there has not been a battle between the R.I.C. auxiliaries and the Republicans outside Victoria Park. In one English paper at least the suggestion was made that the original photograph was part of the “official film taken during the Ballymacelligot creamery battle.” It is clear therefore that the film of the “Tralee ambush” from which the picture first mentioned was taken must have been photographed in County Dublin and it may not be unnatural to suppose that the whole film, which, it is rumored is to be seni to the United States for the purposes of English propaganda, is nothing more than a fake."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.26 Dec 25,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Peace feelers continued with General O’Gowan and Dr Crofton. Both had been unable to make contact with Michael Collins and so Crofton met with Arthur Griffith. This was reported back verbatim to Sir John Anderson in the Castle. ‘Arthur Griffith was very hoity toity at the start – said they weren't beat yet – several English MP’s had promised all help… Dr C said that being so he could back to his friends and tell them it was all off, wherat G called him back and became much more pleasant – said he had a meeting of some of his people tonight and would speak of the matter to them. He went so far as to say that one of the difficulties of settlement would be the untrustworthy wobblyness of Lloyd George…O’G will come to Anderson again at once when there is more to report. Griffith asked C whether the PM was prepared ‘to negotiate with Dail Eireann’ C said ‘No, with the Irish people’. G it seems took this not particularly amiss. O’G asked Jonathan [ Sir John Anderson ] how the first step would be made and J tells me he answered that some sort of step ought to be made by Sinn Fein to show that they were really prepared to accepted the so much less than ‘The Republic’ but that the great thing was to find the basis of agreement between the PM and Sinn Fein; once that is done Lloyd George is quite clever enough to be trusted to find a mode of procedure. Let them concentrate on agreement and leave the way to press the button to him’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 70-1
Arthur Griffith asked the remaining 9 hunger strikers to abandon their protest. The protest had lasted for 94 days.
Frederick Dumon reported to Washington that things in Ireland were turning in favour of the old regime:
‘The Irish Administration is slowly but surely resuming control of Ireland. Ulster is being put in a position to take over its own Government. The courts of justice for the country will function in Dublin and Belfast. Sinn Fein secret service has been matched by the organisation of a superior one which has in it’s possesion enough to condemn the society’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P215
Dumont’s comments were somewhat premature, particularly as regards British intelligence agents in Dublin. Collins was about to remove the various heads of the organisation nine days later.
The RIC Deputy Inspector General, C.A.Walsh issued a memorandum for all RIC members, written by Major General H.H.Tudor, the Police Adviser:
‘The Royal Irish Constabulary has shown unparalleled fortitude in standing up to a diabolical murder campaign. Discipline has been maintained at a very high level. To ensure uniformity of action and of discipline the following directions are issued for guidance. The RIC will have the fullest support in the most drastic action against that band of assassins, the so-called IRA. These murderers must be pursued relentlessly and their organisation ruthlessly suppressed. The iniatitive must be seized, the ambushers must be ambushed. The leaders and members of the criminal gang are mostly known to us. They must be given no rest. They must be hunted down…there must be no wild firing from lorries. It is useless and dangerous to innocent people…firing in the air or over the heads of crowds is strictly forbidden…property must be respected or women and children and innocent people will suffer; there must be no arson or looting…the police exist to restore and maintain order in Ireland. They must show forbearance and preserve their discipline, whatever the provocation. Women must invariably be respected…the police grow strong every day. Decent men who have been deluded or forced into joining the IRA are resigning. By continuing their firm and resolute pressure against this criminal organisation, the police will life the terror from the people of Ireland.’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p.177/78
Tom Kettle’s* widow in a letter to the London Daily News, commented ‘When I reflect that God is just, I tremble for my country. Ireland is held with a greater army of occupation that Germany put into Belgium. Towns are sacked, factories and creameries burned, newspaper offices wrecked, men- often wholly unidentified with politics – are taken from beds, flogged and sent naked home, prisoners are tortured, women and children in the grip of the reigning terror seek refuge in the sheds and fields.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 24, December 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
* Thomas Kettle (1880-1916) was a close friend of James Joyce and noted orator. He edited the short lived but controversial ‘Nationalist’ with Sheehy-Skeffington. Married to one of the Sheehy sisters like Skeffington. Kettle was MP for East Tyrone (1906-10), supported Home Rule and became an authority on the economic implications of self-government. Highly critical of narrow minded nationalism, he advocated embracing wider pan-European influences. In 1908 became the first Professor of Economics in the National Univeristy of Ireland. Kettle supported the Irish Volunteers, buying arms for the organisation in 1914 through Belgium, however with the outbreak of war, advocated that Irishmen join the colours and follow his example by joining the Dublin Fusiliers and toured the country as a recruiter. Following Sheehy-Skeffington’s killing in 1916, he volunteered for active service at the front, where he was killed later that year at Givency during the Battle of the Somme.
Western Powers pressured Italy and Yugoslavia to come to an agreement on the Adriatic seaport of Fiume. Taken over the previous year by rag-tag Italian forces led by Gabrielle D’Annunzio, the city remained in dispute with Italy claiming ownership of Yougoslav territory. Both sides agreed to make Fiume a free city and ordered D’Annunzio and his forces to leave. Hardly surprisingly, they refused.
The Ballymacelligott ambush, revenge attack and some blatant fake news.
An ambush by the IRA backfired and IRA volunteers John Herlihy and J . McMahon were killed at Ballymacelligott.
A revenge attack by the Black and Tans followed with the burning of the Ballymacelligott Creamery at 11am, November 12:
“seven or eight lorries drew up at the creamery. The manager, Mr. Byrne, and the staff were at work as usual. Two or three farmers were there on business. All ran away through fear of arrest or worse. The police opened fire, killing one of the staff, and a farmer, and wounding severely the engine driver who is not expected to recover. Another boy had his arm shattered. Mr. Byrne escaped the volleys but, when captured, would apparently have been shot, had not the Lieutenant in charge of the military intervened. About 4 p. m., five cars with armed police accompanied apparently by a journalist and photographers, arrived from C. island (Castleisland). The police opened fire on young men who were on the road some distance away and on others who ran from the Manager’s house, where they were visiting those wounded previously. It appears some of these young men were armed, and returned the fire to cover their retreat. On neither occasion was there an ambush or anything of the kind.”
Yet, it is this occasion which was celebrated in the English and American press by stories of an outrageous “ambush by Sinn Fein”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.24 Dec 11,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Dublin Castle through it's head of propaganda, Basil Brooke, was to exagerate the Ballymacelligott ambush incident into ‘the fiercest and probably the largest scale of any fight between Crown forces and the Volunteers’ even going so far as to produce a Pathe-Gazette film of the affray which faked a scene, using Auxilliaries in uniform and playing the role of IRA but including clear footage of the Vico Road in Dalkey, Co Dublin. The Illustrated London News also reported the 'fake news' in it's November 27th edition (below)
Meanwhile, the Newletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom commented on the publication of fake news (which bears a remarkable resemblance to media issues a century later):
"The “news fakes” which are being published with regularity, if not with ingenuity, from London, these days, will have little other result than the detriment they create to the cause of England. American and English newspaper readers have been treated to ridiculous fabrications about such wholly imaginary organizations as “The Amalgamated Irish Societies of America” and “The Irish Vigilance Society”. In this country, where it may be easily ascertained that no such organizations exist, the chief impression which these stories create is that English statesmen are becoming hysterical over their Irish problem."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.21 Nov 20,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Just over a month later, the Newsletter had an update on the photographs published:
"In some English papers there has been reproduced a photograph “from the Kerry front” showing “the grim reality of the struggle in Ireland.” The photograph was supposed to have been one of a series taken immediately after a convoy of R.I.C. auxiliaries was ambushed. One London journal, in giving the illustration, mentioned that the “ambush” was laid by Republicans, in every case the wording underneath drew attention to a wounded cadet in the foreground, and to two dead raiders lying in the roadway. An Irish newspaper then reproduced this photograph and in close juxtaposition another taken at the junction of the Vico and Victoria roads, Dalkey, near the entrance to Victoria Park. We have been unable to discover any difference between them, excepting that in one there are no human beings visible. It hardly seems possible that Kerry and County Dublin could both look so much alike, and so far as we can discover there has not been a battle between the R.I.C. auxiliaries and the Republicans outside Victoria Park. In one English paper at least the suggestion was made that the original photograph was part of the “official film taken during the Ballymacelligot creamery battle.” It is clear therefore that the film of the “Tralee ambush” from which the picture first mentioned was taken must have been photographed in County Dublin and it may not be unnatural to suppose that the whole film, which, it is rumored is to be seni to the United States for the purposes of English propaganda, is nothing more than a fake."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.26 Dec 25,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Fake News
Fake news & deliberate mis-information is not a 21st century phenomenon. False news has existed throughout history, from examples produced by Basil Clarke in 1920 (above) but perhaps reaching it's nadir in the 1930's as the Nazi propaganda machines built and maintained anti-Semitic fervour. Fake news also played a role in catalysing the Enlightenment, when the Catholic Church’s false explanation of the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake prompted Voltaire to speak out against religious dominance. Commercial fake news in journalism has always sold well By the early 19th century, as modern newspapers competed for sales, scoops, exposés and false or fake stories were widely used to increase circulation even leading to war. Click illustration opposite for the Wikipedia article on Fake News. |
Below: Thomas Francis Cooney (1873- ? ) of Providence, Rhode Island was a lawyer and activist in Irish-American politics. Stood as a Democratic candidate in 1908 & 1910 and member of the Friends of Irish Freedom (later to become President FOIF) & the FOIF St Enda's Trust Fund Committee.
Further press clippings - click here
13
The first League of Nations full session was held in Geneva with over 5,000 representatives from 41 countries.
Sturgis' diary makes for an interesting insight into the beginning of negotiations on a truce. O’Gowan met with Sir John Anderson in Dublin Castle and reported that he had met with Michael Collins ‘right hand man this morning for about 2 hours – he also, like Arthur Griffith yesterday started by being ‘Grand’ said that since C had gone off to Arthur Griffith without consulting them it had probably torn it. O’G..said he took entire responsibility, that he was a soldier not a politician and it did not seem odd to him to go upon such an errand to the Vice President of the Irish Republic – the ‘Private Sec’ then cooled down and finally said that he was not sorry Arthur Griffith was in it, that he and many others were sick of it and that he would talk to Arthur Griffith…and try to persuade him to try for an armistice to make terms after consultation with ‘the constituents’…this gentleman made some valuable admissions indirectly. After saying that one difficulty of an armistice was that while they could trust the soldiers they could not trust the Black & Tans – to which O’G replied that responsible officers would of course enforce order in both forces…further than MC no longer was Adj Gen of the Army and was Finance pure et simple, which made personal control of the forces in the field less direct. Of course we’ve know for a long time that Michael had ceased to be Adjutant General but I thought he was GOC instead…all of which would make it impossible to guarantee an immediate truce the moment such was agreed on by the leaders. He emphasised that neither Arthur Griffith nor MC would settle, but only the Sinn Fein cabinet – about 8 I gathered – with the consent of their people….if they want peace let them up and say so and they will not find us drive a hard bargain…’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 71-2
The New Statesman weekly reported editorially on events in Ireland:
“Whatever doubts we may have about the facts of individual outrages, Mr Lloyd-George and Sir Hamar Greenwood can no longer deny that men who, in the last resort, act under their orders, commit numerous and attrocious crimes. They know that murder, theft and arson are becoming a commonplace in whatever part of Ireland the Black and Tans enter. They know that women and children have to hurry out of their beds at midnight to escape from houses deliberately set on fire by the agents of law and order. They know that men, including a priest and a policeman who resigned rather than take part in a ‘shooting up’ orgy, have been dragged from their beds, stripped naked and flogged. They know that army discipline itself is giving way before officially licensed brutality and violence. They know that British newspaper correspondents have been threatened with murder for speaking the truth…they know that such a state of Government terrorism exists in Ireland as would seem horrible even under Turkish auspices in the Balkans”
American Commission on Conditions in Ireland. Report, 1921. P1058. Lynch Family Archives.
Constables Charles Bustrock (27) from Essex, Patrick Mackessy (35) from Kerry, John Miller (22) from Wicklow and Jeremiah O’Leary (30) from Cork were killed in an IRA ambush at Inches Cross (or Lisnagaul, in the Glen of Aherlow) Co Tipperary. The attack was led by Dinny Lacey of the No.1 Flying Column, 3rd Tipperary Brigade. Two homes in the area were later burned out as a reprisal as the occupants refused to give shelter to wounded police officers.
In Dublin, a eight-year old girl, Annie O’Neill was killed after shots were fired from a British army lorry at a group standing at a gateway.
"The English Occupation in Ireland is elaborately fulfilling the Baconian phrase of “putting the law out of office”. Its agents have been told that their duty is to make Ireland “an appropriate hell”, and they have set about their task with a will. The experiences of Commandant Hales, I.R.A., of Bandon, is, an appalling case in point. According to his sworn affidavit, Hales was stripped, tied with straps and beaten in the face till he was blinded with his own blood, his body beaten with canes and tortured with pinchers. His comrade, Harte, who underwent a similar experience at the hands of English arbiters of “law and order”, lost his reason as the result of his sufferings. Both men are still imprisoned, their will to freedom unimpaired, although their bodies are broken. The official British report of the inquiry into the case of these two young men, recently issued from Dublin Castle, shows the same callous irresponsibility which Lloyd George has made the fashion of the day. The following quotation from the report is an example of its reasoning. “When he (Hales) and Harte arrived at Bandon Barracks, they were recognized by some soldiers who were infuriated at the murders of Sergeant Mulhern, R.I.C., and Corporal Maddock of the Essex Regiment. Hales and Harte got a few severe blows on the face and body but the soldiers were immediately ordered to desist and did so.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
"The latest phase of the ruthless campaign against the Irish nation seems to have taken the form of “reprisals” for the crime of being Irish and Catholic. In the course of the past month, the English court-martial of the Rev. M. Morley, C.C., of Headford, Co. Galway, was probably the first event of its kind to take place in Ireland since 1798. Father O’Reilly, of Feakle, Co. Clare, was thrashed by English soldiers and his house bombed. Father Meehan of Castlebar, was arrested, insulted and stripped of some of his clothes, being later released, however, without giving any undertaking to return. At Kilbrin, near Mallow, the church vestments and chalice were looted by the soldiers. While Canon Macken in another Irish town was saying Mass, a British soldier entered the church, interrupted the service, and would have dispersed the congregation, but for the courage of the priest, who completed the ceremony and sent the people safely to their homes. At Clonliffe, Mt. Molbray Abbey and Phibsboro’ other raids against Catholic institutions were carried out.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
"One of the most important of the duties of the new Orange and Tans, it would seem, will be to act as spies when they are off duty. The correspondent of the London Daily News at Belfast reports that in the organization of “well disposed” Carsonites into auxiliary police, circulars have been sent to members and ex-members of the Officers’ Training Corps at Queen’s University, inviting them to volunteer as officers under Class B of the new organization, for duty one night in the week. These men are informed that “they would be required to report to their senior officers anything they might get to know in private life or social intercourse which they considered likely to be detrimental to the inter ests of the State.”
The real object of the enrollment of Ulster Orangemen as special constables “to keep order” may be gathered from the fact that upon the very day when Sir Hamar Greenwood announced the official English approval of this project, three hundred special constables, enlisted on this plan in Lisburn, resigned in protest, according to the Westminster Gazette, because some Orangemen, convicted of looting, had been sentenced to three months’ hard labor."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
At the Irish-American Hall, Wilmington, Delaware, the Rank and File Veterans Association unanimously adopted the following resolution. “Therefore, we, the Rank and File Veterans Association, Incorporated (Delaware Post, No. 261) pledge our support to the policy of according to the elected government of the Republic of Ireland, full, formal and official recognition by the Government of the United States, thus vindicating the principles for which we fought.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
"The reversion of two Irish ports to the use of their proper and historic Irish names, signalled to the American press by J. L. Fawsitt, Consul for the Republic at New York should be welcomed by every lover of Irish national traditions. Americans who respect these traditions should set example by immediately abandoning the names Queenstown and Kingstown and using the proper Irish designations of Cobh and Dun Laoghaire."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Nation (London) reports an interview with “an Irish merchant of substance and ability, as his address and conversation seemed to show... He stated,” says the Nation, “that his office, stores, and house had been bombed and gutted, and that he has lost £10,000. He showed me a photograph of his office, with the safe ripped up and torn to fragments, and the furniture scattered in utter disorder. Notes, silver, cigarettes, fishing tackle, boxes of scent, everything that these public guardians could lay their hands on had, he said, been stolen. After the sack had been complete, a policeman in uniform came round and handed the following note to the doorkeeper. He showed me the original envelope and epistle: “To Mr. B Advocate of Assassination (sic). You are warned to make no claim to compensation in a British Court. Leave town by first train. Life is sweet. You are well watched.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
“The danger to us is not in a friendly and reconciled Ireland,” said A. G. Gardiner in an article entitled “The Mad Dog World” in a recent issue of the London Daily News," but in the enemy Ireland, which centuries of misgovernment, culminating in the infamies of today, have created.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Belfast News-Letter says that when a letter from the Local Government Minister of the Irish Republic requesting the Dungannon Board of Guardians to forward all returns regarding public health to him and to sever connection with the English Local Government Board was consigned to the waste paper basket, it reached its appropriate destination.
"And yet does not Dungannon stand for something in the age-long struggle between Ireland and England? Was it not at Dungannon that the celebrated convention of the Irish Volunteers met and passed the resolution, which rang around the world, to the effect that no power on earth save the King, Lords, and Commons of IRELAND has the right to legislate for Ireland? And did not these same volunteers by the display of their armed might force the British parliament to recognize the legislative independence of Ireland? Dungannon of today is only temporarily insane; it will return to its right senses by an by."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Russia: The White Army's last units and civilian refugees are evacuated from the Crimea on board 126 ships, the remnants of the Russian Imperial Navy, to Turkey, Tunisia and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, accompanied by wide-scale civilian massacres. The total number of evacuees amounts to approximately 150,000 people, of which 20% are civilians.
13
The first League of Nations full session was held in Geneva with over 5,000 representatives from 41 countries.
Sturgis' diary makes for an interesting insight into the beginning of negotiations on a truce. O’Gowan met with Sir John Anderson in Dublin Castle and reported that he had met with Michael Collins ‘right hand man this morning for about 2 hours – he also, like Arthur Griffith yesterday started by being ‘Grand’ said that since C had gone off to Arthur Griffith without consulting them it had probably torn it. O’G..said he took entire responsibility, that he was a soldier not a politician and it did not seem odd to him to go upon such an errand to the Vice President of the Irish Republic – the ‘Private Sec’ then cooled down and finally said that he was not sorry Arthur Griffith was in it, that he and many others were sick of it and that he would talk to Arthur Griffith…and try to persuade him to try for an armistice to make terms after consultation with ‘the constituents’…this gentleman made some valuable admissions indirectly. After saying that one difficulty of an armistice was that while they could trust the soldiers they could not trust the Black & Tans – to which O’G replied that responsible officers would of course enforce order in both forces…further than MC no longer was Adj Gen of the Army and was Finance pure et simple, which made personal control of the forces in the field less direct. Of course we’ve know for a long time that Michael had ceased to be Adjutant General but I thought he was GOC instead…all of which would make it impossible to guarantee an immediate truce the moment such was agreed on by the leaders. He emphasised that neither Arthur Griffith nor MC would settle, but only the Sinn Fein cabinet – about 8 I gathered – with the consent of their people….if they want peace let them up and say so and they will not find us drive a hard bargain…’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 71-2
The New Statesman weekly reported editorially on events in Ireland:
“Whatever doubts we may have about the facts of individual outrages, Mr Lloyd-George and Sir Hamar Greenwood can no longer deny that men who, in the last resort, act under their orders, commit numerous and attrocious crimes. They know that murder, theft and arson are becoming a commonplace in whatever part of Ireland the Black and Tans enter. They know that women and children have to hurry out of their beds at midnight to escape from houses deliberately set on fire by the agents of law and order. They know that men, including a priest and a policeman who resigned rather than take part in a ‘shooting up’ orgy, have been dragged from their beds, stripped naked and flogged. They know that army discipline itself is giving way before officially licensed brutality and violence. They know that British newspaper correspondents have been threatened with murder for speaking the truth…they know that such a state of Government terrorism exists in Ireland as would seem horrible even under Turkish auspices in the Balkans”
American Commission on Conditions in Ireland. Report, 1921. P1058. Lynch Family Archives.
Constables Charles Bustrock (27) from Essex, Patrick Mackessy (35) from Kerry, John Miller (22) from Wicklow and Jeremiah O’Leary (30) from Cork were killed in an IRA ambush at Inches Cross (or Lisnagaul, in the Glen of Aherlow) Co Tipperary. The attack was led by Dinny Lacey of the No.1 Flying Column, 3rd Tipperary Brigade. Two homes in the area were later burned out as a reprisal as the occupants refused to give shelter to wounded police officers.
In Dublin, a eight-year old girl, Annie O’Neill was killed after shots were fired from a British army lorry at a group standing at a gateway.
"The English Occupation in Ireland is elaborately fulfilling the Baconian phrase of “putting the law out of office”. Its agents have been told that their duty is to make Ireland “an appropriate hell”, and they have set about their task with a will. The experiences of Commandant Hales, I.R.A., of Bandon, is, an appalling case in point. According to his sworn affidavit, Hales was stripped, tied with straps and beaten in the face till he was blinded with his own blood, his body beaten with canes and tortured with pinchers. His comrade, Harte, who underwent a similar experience at the hands of English arbiters of “law and order”, lost his reason as the result of his sufferings. Both men are still imprisoned, their will to freedom unimpaired, although their bodies are broken. The official British report of the inquiry into the case of these two young men, recently issued from Dublin Castle, shows the same callous irresponsibility which Lloyd George has made the fashion of the day. The following quotation from the report is an example of its reasoning. “When he (Hales) and Harte arrived at Bandon Barracks, they were recognized by some soldiers who were infuriated at the murders of Sergeant Mulhern, R.I.C., and Corporal Maddock of the Essex Regiment. Hales and Harte got a few severe blows on the face and body but the soldiers were immediately ordered to desist and did so.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
"The latest phase of the ruthless campaign against the Irish nation seems to have taken the form of “reprisals” for the crime of being Irish and Catholic. In the course of the past month, the English court-martial of the Rev. M. Morley, C.C., of Headford, Co. Galway, was probably the first event of its kind to take place in Ireland since 1798. Father O’Reilly, of Feakle, Co. Clare, was thrashed by English soldiers and his house bombed. Father Meehan of Castlebar, was arrested, insulted and stripped of some of his clothes, being later released, however, without giving any undertaking to return. At Kilbrin, near Mallow, the church vestments and chalice were looted by the soldiers. While Canon Macken in another Irish town was saying Mass, a British soldier entered the church, interrupted the service, and would have dispersed the congregation, but for the courage of the priest, who completed the ceremony and sent the people safely to their homes. At Clonliffe, Mt. Molbray Abbey and Phibsboro’ other raids against Catholic institutions were carried out.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
"One of the most important of the duties of the new Orange and Tans, it would seem, will be to act as spies when they are off duty. The correspondent of the London Daily News at Belfast reports that in the organization of “well disposed” Carsonites into auxiliary police, circulars have been sent to members and ex-members of the Officers’ Training Corps at Queen’s University, inviting them to volunteer as officers under Class B of the new organization, for duty one night in the week. These men are informed that “they would be required to report to their senior officers anything they might get to know in private life or social intercourse which they considered likely to be detrimental to the inter ests of the State.”
The real object of the enrollment of Ulster Orangemen as special constables “to keep order” may be gathered from the fact that upon the very day when Sir Hamar Greenwood announced the official English approval of this project, three hundred special constables, enlisted on this plan in Lisburn, resigned in protest, according to the Westminster Gazette, because some Orangemen, convicted of looting, had been sentenced to three months’ hard labor."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
At the Irish-American Hall, Wilmington, Delaware, the Rank and File Veterans Association unanimously adopted the following resolution. “Therefore, we, the Rank and File Veterans Association, Incorporated (Delaware Post, No. 261) pledge our support to the policy of according to the elected government of the Republic of Ireland, full, formal and official recognition by the Government of the United States, thus vindicating the principles for which we fought.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
"The reversion of two Irish ports to the use of their proper and historic Irish names, signalled to the American press by J. L. Fawsitt, Consul for the Republic at New York should be welcomed by every lover of Irish national traditions. Americans who respect these traditions should set example by immediately abandoning the names Queenstown and Kingstown and using the proper Irish designations of Cobh and Dun Laoghaire."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Nation (London) reports an interview with “an Irish merchant of substance and ability, as his address and conversation seemed to show... He stated,” says the Nation, “that his office, stores, and house had been bombed and gutted, and that he has lost £10,000. He showed me a photograph of his office, with the safe ripped up and torn to fragments, and the furniture scattered in utter disorder. Notes, silver, cigarettes, fishing tackle, boxes of scent, everything that these public guardians could lay their hands on had, he said, been stolen. After the sack had been complete, a policeman in uniform came round and handed the following note to the doorkeeper. He showed me the original envelope and epistle: “To Mr. B Advocate of Assassination (sic). You are warned to make no claim to compensation in a British Court. Leave town by first train. Life is sweet. You are well watched.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
“The danger to us is not in a friendly and reconciled Ireland,” said A. G. Gardiner in an article entitled “The Mad Dog World” in a recent issue of the London Daily News," but in the enemy Ireland, which centuries of misgovernment, culminating in the infamies of today, have created.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Belfast News-Letter says that when a letter from the Local Government Minister of the Irish Republic requesting the Dungannon Board of Guardians to forward all returns regarding public health to him and to sever connection with the English Local Government Board was consigned to the waste paper basket, it reached its appropriate destination.
"And yet does not Dungannon stand for something in the age-long struggle between Ireland and England? Was it not at Dungannon that the celebrated convention of the Irish Volunteers met and passed the resolution, which rang around the world, to the effect that no power on earth save the King, Lords, and Commons of IRELAND has the right to legislate for Ireland? And did not these same volunteers by the display of their armed might force the British parliament to recognize the legislative independence of Ireland? Dungannon of today is only temporarily insane; it will return to its right senses by an by."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Russia: The White Army's last units and civilian refugees are evacuated from the Crimea on board 126 ships, the remnants of the Russian Imperial Navy, to Turkey, Tunisia and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, accompanied by wide-scale civilian massacres. The total number of evacuees amounts to approximately 150,000 people, of which 20% are civilians.
14
Charlie Chaplin is divorced by his wife who said ‘that name Chaplin gets on my nerves’
Dublin Castle announced that the entire country would now be divided into two districts for court purposes. Dublin and Belfast were the only two centres where British administered courts would sit.
British Authorities in Ireland in an attempt to force the railwaymen to comply with moving men and munitions by rail, ordered the Midland Great Western Railway which ran from Dublin to Galway, to suspend operations on November 14th and with the other rail companies to suspend operations within weeks. The potential end result was a shut-down of the entire rail system and over 20,000 men out of work. Nothing definite resulted until just before Christmas.
The London Daily News published the following letter from a non-commissioned officer in the British Army serving in Ireland.
‘Sir, I am a British con-com serving in Ireland. I fought a clean (I hope) fight during the ‘Fight to end all fights’. I am now engaged in the dirtiest campaign since the Boer War, but let that be as it is. You seem to know quite a lot about it already; but there is one point you seem to have missed so far. You have probably hear Hamar state in the House that several men (Shiners) have been shot ‘whilst trying to escape’. Now how can men handcuffed and often kicked into unconciousness in the bottom of a lorry, try to escape? I ask you.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 24, December 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
A Galway priest, Fr Michael Griffin, is arrested by RIC on Sea Road, Galway - his body is found on the 20th November buried in a boggy field near Barna. (Breen says he was called out on a bogus call. O’Farrell says that he was arrested at his residence – 2 Montpellier Tce., Galway – and taken to Crown Forces HQ at Taylor’s Hill.) The house of Tommy Dillon (Proffessor of Chemistry in Galway University) is also raided but he escapes. He and his wife (Geraldine Plunkett) go on the run to Dublin.
Irish-American clergy were now becoming more vociferous in condemnation of British actions in Ireland. Bishop John J. McCourt of the Altona diocese in a sermon at the re-opening of St. Patrick’s Church in Johnstown, Pa, referred to England as the ‘outlaw of the world’ and deplored the injustices with ‘for seven long centuries the people of Ireland were persecuted in a barbarous manner by their oppressors and today we witness these outrages being renewed in a still more inhuman way by a nation that but a short time ago cried against attrocities in Poland and Belgium. In this church today, we raise our hearts in prayer to God that he will arouse the conscience of the world and no longer permit the outlaw among the nations of the world to continue these persecutions.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 23, December 4, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Charlie Chaplin is divorced by his wife who said ‘that name Chaplin gets on my nerves’
Dublin Castle announced that the entire country would now be divided into two districts for court purposes. Dublin and Belfast were the only two centres where British administered courts would sit.
British Authorities in Ireland in an attempt to force the railwaymen to comply with moving men and munitions by rail, ordered the Midland Great Western Railway which ran from Dublin to Galway, to suspend operations on November 14th and with the other rail companies to suspend operations within weeks. The potential end result was a shut-down of the entire rail system and over 20,000 men out of work. Nothing definite resulted until just before Christmas.
The London Daily News published the following letter from a non-commissioned officer in the British Army serving in Ireland.
‘Sir, I am a British con-com serving in Ireland. I fought a clean (I hope) fight during the ‘Fight to end all fights’. I am now engaged in the dirtiest campaign since the Boer War, but let that be as it is. You seem to know quite a lot about it already; but there is one point you seem to have missed so far. You have probably hear Hamar state in the House that several men (Shiners) have been shot ‘whilst trying to escape’. Now how can men handcuffed and often kicked into unconciousness in the bottom of a lorry, try to escape? I ask you.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 24, December 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
A Galway priest, Fr Michael Griffin, is arrested by RIC on Sea Road, Galway - his body is found on the 20th November buried in a boggy field near Barna. (Breen says he was called out on a bogus call. O’Farrell says that he was arrested at his residence – 2 Montpellier Tce., Galway – and taken to Crown Forces HQ at Taylor’s Hill.) The house of Tommy Dillon (Proffessor of Chemistry in Galway University) is also raided but he escapes. He and his wife (Geraldine Plunkett) go on the run to Dublin.
Irish-American clergy were now becoming more vociferous in condemnation of British actions in Ireland. Bishop John J. McCourt of the Altona diocese in a sermon at the re-opening of St. Patrick’s Church in Johnstown, Pa, referred to England as the ‘outlaw of the world’ and deplored the injustices with ‘for seven long centuries the people of Ireland were persecuted in a barbarous manner by their oppressors and today we witness these outrages being renewed in a still more inhuman way by a nation that but a short time ago cried against attrocities in Poland and Belgium. In this church today, we raise our hearts in prayer to God that he will arouse the conscience of the world and no longer permit the outlaw among the nations of the world to continue these persecutions.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 23, December 4, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
15
Numerous reports throughout the country that shop owners with their names written in Irish over their premises have been threatened, assaulted and in a number of cases, some stores have been completely wrecked.
British Forces raided the home of the IRA Chief of Staff, Richard Mulcahy discovering high level documents outlining industrial sabotage and poisoning troops. Sturgis comments ‘has been productive of some amazing good stuff. The gent himself succeeded in getting away in his nightshirt, which is a pity but the papers seized give evidence of the most thorough and complete plots to murder individuals, poison troops, horses etc, to blow up the Manchester Ship Canal etc etc. This will look very good in print.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 74
The papers revealed addresses of numerous IRA members as well as plans for IRA attacks on Britain. Mulcahy was to be strongly critcised for keeping such detailed files and evidence. (These papers were removed to London but the archive was later destroyed during a German bombing raid in WW2.) In addition, details of bank accounts etc held led to funds being removed by the British Authorities. Many of the accounts were in a branch right under the administrations nose at the Dublin Castle main gates.
In Ballina, Co Mayo, four young men who were captured by the police are shot dead.
A report appears in the press, written by an ex-officer, about the drunken behaviour of British soldiers in the village of Balla, Co. Mayo where they shot up houses in the village and terrorise a number of the inhabitants.
The Press release by Harry Boland on the severance of Clan na Gael from the IRB was now getting wider publication. Published in the Irish Republic Newspaper, Chicago. November 15th 1920.
Switzerland: In Geneva, the first assembly of the League of Nations is held.
London: first complete public performance of Gustav Holst's suite The Planets given in London by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Albert Coates
Further press clippings - click here
Numerous reports throughout the country that shop owners with their names written in Irish over their premises have been threatened, assaulted and in a number of cases, some stores have been completely wrecked.
British Forces raided the home of the IRA Chief of Staff, Richard Mulcahy discovering high level documents outlining industrial sabotage and poisoning troops. Sturgis comments ‘has been productive of some amazing good stuff. The gent himself succeeded in getting away in his nightshirt, which is a pity but the papers seized give evidence of the most thorough and complete plots to murder individuals, poison troops, horses etc, to blow up the Manchester Ship Canal etc etc. This will look very good in print.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 74
The papers revealed addresses of numerous IRA members as well as plans for IRA attacks on Britain. Mulcahy was to be strongly critcised for keeping such detailed files and evidence. (These papers were removed to London but the archive was later destroyed during a German bombing raid in WW2.) In addition, details of bank accounts etc held led to funds being removed by the British Authorities. Many of the accounts were in a branch right under the administrations nose at the Dublin Castle main gates.
In Ballina, Co Mayo, four young men who were captured by the police are shot dead.
A report appears in the press, written by an ex-officer, about the drunken behaviour of British soldiers in the village of Balla, Co. Mayo where they shot up houses in the village and terrorise a number of the inhabitants.
The Press release by Harry Boland on the severance of Clan na Gael from the IRB was now getting wider publication. Published in the Irish Republic Newspaper, Chicago. November 15th 1920.
Switzerland: In Geneva, the first assembly of the League of Nations is held.
London: first complete public performance of Gustav Holst's suite The Planets given in London by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Albert Coates
Further press clippings - click here
16
The long and bloody Russian Civil war was over with the defeat of the White Russian Armies by the Reds in Crimea.
H.A.L.Fisher wrote to the Prime Minister on the Chief Secretary’s admission that reprisals had occurred in Ireland:
‘We cannot of course allow this state of things to continue. Apart from the fact that these acts of lawless violence offend the conscience of English people, they cannot, I am persuaded help us to achieve the object which we have in view…that they will exasperate and embitter the temper of Ireland and contribute to give us a bad name in the world is equally certain…I am quite sure that public opinion in this country will not tolerate the continuity of these burnings and lootings by soldiers and policemen. The only result of them will be to induce Englishmen to say that if we can only govern Ireland by such means as these, we had better not govern Ireland at all..I turst, therefore, that we shall have no more wrecked creameries and burnt factories in Ireland’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p81
Collins inteligence gathering drive against the Cairo Gang positively identified all the individuals involved and Sunday morning, November 21st was agreed as the day of reckoning – primarily as it was a Sunday with the officers slow to rise and with a football match that afternoon, crowded streets and difficulty conducting searches and raids.
The Friends of Irish Freedom reported on developments of the kindergarten of Scoil Brighde in Dublin… ‘ is doing excellent work in providing Irish speaking surroundings fro young children whose parents cannot afford to send them into Irish speaking disticts of the country or do not dare, in these time os English military terrorisation, to have their children separated from them. The Kindergartenm which is conducted on the most modern line, provides in addition the usual advantage of having the Irish language in constant use both in the class-rooms and playgrounds. This educationn the Irish language is especially designed for children under seven, who may thus acquire it as their native tongue.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 24, December 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
De Valera announces the formation of the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic (AARIR) at a meeting in Washington. This marked the final break with the Devoy-Cohalan led Friends of Irish Freedom. Macardle says membership of the AARIR rose to 800,000 within a year.
Irish Labour Party and Trades Union Congress holds a National Congress in Dublin and advocates acceptance of the proposals put forward by the British Labour Parliamentary Party on the 11th Nov.
Australia: Queensland and Northern Territory Aviation Services (Qantas) is founded by Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness.
The long and bloody Russian Civil war was over with the defeat of the White Russian Armies by the Reds in Crimea.
H.A.L.Fisher wrote to the Prime Minister on the Chief Secretary’s admission that reprisals had occurred in Ireland:
‘We cannot of course allow this state of things to continue. Apart from the fact that these acts of lawless violence offend the conscience of English people, they cannot, I am persuaded help us to achieve the object which we have in view…that they will exasperate and embitter the temper of Ireland and contribute to give us a bad name in the world is equally certain…I am quite sure that public opinion in this country will not tolerate the continuity of these burnings and lootings by soldiers and policemen. The only result of them will be to induce Englishmen to say that if we can only govern Ireland by such means as these, we had better not govern Ireland at all..I turst, therefore, that we shall have no more wrecked creameries and burnt factories in Ireland’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p81
Collins inteligence gathering drive against the Cairo Gang positively identified all the individuals involved and Sunday morning, November 21st was agreed as the day of reckoning – primarily as it was a Sunday with the officers slow to rise and with a football match that afternoon, crowded streets and difficulty conducting searches and raids.
The Friends of Irish Freedom reported on developments of the kindergarten of Scoil Brighde in Dublin… ‘ is doing excellent work in providing Irish speaking surroundings fro young children whose parents cannot afford to send them into Irish speaking disticts of the country or do not dare, in these time os English military terrorisation, to have their children separated from them. The Kindergartenm which is conducted on the most modern line, provides in addition the usual advantage of having the Irish language in constant use both in the class-rooms and playgrounds. This educationn the Irish language is especially designed for children under seven, who may thus acquire it as their native tongue.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 24, December 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
De Valera announces the formation of the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic (AARIR) at a meeting in Washington. This marked the final break with the Devoy-Cohalan led Friends of Irish Freedom. Macardle says membership of the AARIR rose to 800,000 within a year.
Irish Labour Party and Trades Union Congress holds a National Congress in Dublin and advocates acceptance of the proposals put forward by the British Labour Parliamentary Party on the 11th Nov.
Australia: Queensland and Northern Territory Aviation Services (Qantas) is founded by Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness.
17
Countess Marckievicz was arrested again by the RIC. The US Consul in Ireland, Frederick Dumont commented that he had been ‘told by Sinn Feiners that her arrest is a relief to them; that she was a firebrand and dangerous, even to them’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolotionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922’. P162
In Co. Cork, James Lehane a labourer from Ballymakeera was shot and killed by the RIC. He was not a Volunteer.
The New Statesman of London commented on the Lehane killing in an article “The History of Reprisals”:
“On the 15th inst. a labourer named John Lehane was taken from a shop in the village of Ballymakeera and shot dead by a party of uniformed men, though nothing had happened in the district to give even the hint of an excuse for reprisals. On the same night two shops in Dublin were bombed for no other reason that can be discovered than that they were called Republican Stores, and an elderly invalid named O'Carroll, who had previously declined to disclose the whereabouts of his sons, was assassinated after curfew by an armed party of raiders. The prompt prohibition by the authorities of an inquest on O'Carroll is an open admission that the murder was done by their agents. Power was granted under the Coercion Act to supersede inquests by military inquiries where juries would not act, and it is typical of the spirit of British policy in Ireland that this power is now being used to prevent the outside world from learning even a little of the truth about crimes committed by servants of the Government.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.22 Nov 27,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Four IRA prisoners are taken by the Auxiliaries from their barracks in the Lakeside Hotel, Killaloe onto Killaloe Bridge where they are shot with their hands tied behind their backs. The four IRA men (Alphie Rodgers, Michael ‘Brud’ McMahon, Michael Egan and Martin Kildea) are killed. The British issue a statement saying that the four men were shot trying to escape.
Sergeant James O'Donoghue (46) of Caherciveen was killed in White Street, Cork. This killing turned out to have been opportunistic as an IRA team had planned to kill another officer when Donoghue arrived. The Sergeant was well regarded in the area and was reputed to have ‘turned a blind eye’ to IRA activities. Following the killing, three homes in the city were attacked by armed men in police uniforms, killing three civilians and wounding two others. (Patrick Hanley, 2 Broad St; Eugene O'Connell, 17 Broad Lane and James Coleman, 15 North Mall) and two others (Charlie O'Brien; 17 Broad Lane and Stephen Coleman, 2 Broad St) were wounded.)
Those murdered were associated with the O’Brien family, Charlie & Willie Joe O'Brien were two of the three IRA members believed to have carried out the Donoghue killing earlier. Later three informers were executed by the IRA on the basis of supplying information to the RIC for the raids.
Dumont giving his overview on the Irish situation, now felt that ‘Sinn Fein is desperate. The administration is beginning to get the upper hand…. ( but ) this time Sinn Fein is thoroughly organised and its leaders tell me that any man taken can be replaced six or seven deep before the orgnaisation will fail to function’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P209
Sturgis recorded in his diary ‘the papers collected in the Mulcahy raid are absolutely smashing and should practically kill the English support of Sinn Fein…the leaders of Dail Eireann, faced with a failing transport struggle and now the Mulcahy revelations, look like getting their tails down again.’ Dublin Castle publicists had a field day with the material, which demonstrated, they said, that the I.R.A was on its last legs’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P215
The same day, Michael Collins was giving his opinion to Art O’Briain ‘ in spite of all their terrorism, things are going pretty well here. For the moment outwardly they ( the British ) are doing their best to make it appear they are winning, but they know very well this is not so’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P210
However O’Briain received death threats including this one from a ‘Black and Tan’ to clear out of London in 24 hours ‘We wont allow you to live a free life in London at the price of the blood of Irish police’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P253
Marcus Garvey of UNIA declared his and the association’s condolences on the death of Terence MacSwiney:
A measure of Garvey's immense reverence for MacSwiney, who finally died on the seventy-third day of his hunger fast, can be gained from his declaration: "Hundreds and thousands of Irishmen have died as martyrs to the cause of Irish freedom. . . . They compelled the attention of the world and I believe the death of McSweeney [sic] did more for the freedom of Ireland today than probably anything they did for 500 years prior to his death" (NW, 17 December 1921).
Robert A Hill. “The Marcus Garvey and UNIA Papers Project “ UCLA ( Via Internet Site June 1997 )
The New York Times, it would seem, was determined to die, if necessary, in defence of the last ditch of English Imperialism in Ireland. In a recent editorial entitled “Irish Home Rule” the Times devoted a great deal of energy to arguing upon the dead issue in English and Irish politics – Lloyd George’s Home Rule Bill. It suggested that this instrument might, perhaps, be considered “a broken sword which England is handing them,” but insisted that a valiant warrior could win with it, if no other weapon were available.
"There is, however, one sentence which stands out with luminous clearness from the muddled reasoning of the Times. In discussing the manner in which Lloyd George’s war is being carried on in Ireland, it is forced to admit that “the last touch is that the Germans, in defense of their own war criminals in Belgium and in France, are going to adduce evidence of what is taking place in Ireland.”
The fallacy which the Times does not perceive in its reasoning on Lloyd George’s Home Rule Bill is that it insists upon regarding seriously what was obviously never intended to be a workable instrument of government. The latest insertion in this Bill, now passing listlessly through its final stages in the English Parliament, is a provision, for which it is asserted the Premier himself is responsible, that, if Southern Ireland fails to set up a Parliament, as authorized by the Bill, she will be placed under Crown Colony Government. It will be remembered that this is the system of rule applied by the English Imperialists to the most savage races under their dominion. This final threat of brutal oppression seems to have shocked slightly even those English statesmen who have urged that the system of “reprisals” should be regularized and enlarged in scope. The attitude of the English law-makers toward Lloyd George's Bill in general was well summarized by a recent dispatch to the New York World. “The whole proceedings on the Bill,” it said, “were thoroughly unreal, it being obviously intended as a mere gesture to the world of Britain’s readiness to give Ireland Home Rule, her refusal to accept it being put forward in justification of Britain’s policy of repression.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.21 Nov 20,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The council of the League of Nations accepts the constitution for the Free City of Danzig.
Countess Marckievicz was arrested again by the RIC. The US Consul in Ireland, Frederick Dumont commented that he had been ‘told by Sinn Feiners that her arrest is a relief to them; that she was a firebrand and dangerous, even to them’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolotionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922’. P162
In Co. Cork, James Lehane a labourer from Ballymakeera was shot and killed by the RIC. He was not a Volunteer.
The New Statesman of London commented on the Lehane killing in an article “The History of Reprisals”:
“On the 15th inst. a labourer named John Lehane was taken from a shop in the village of Ballymakeera and shot dead by a party of uniformed men, though nothing had happened in the district to give even the hint of an excuse for reprisals. On the same night two shops in Dublin were bombed for no other reason that can be discovered than that they were called Republican Stores, and an elderly invalid named O'Carroll, who had previously declined to disclose the whereabouts of his sons, was assassinated after curfew by an armed party of raiders. The prompt prohibition by the authorities of an inquest on O'Carroll is an open admission that the murder was done by their agents. Power was granted under the Coercion Act to supersede inquests by military inquiries where juries would not act, and it is typical of the spirit of British policy in Ireland that this power is now being used to prevent the outside world from learning even a little of the truth about crimes committed by servants of the Government.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.22 Nov 27,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Four IRA prisoners are taken by the Auxiliaries from their barracks in the Lakeside Hotel, Killaloe onto Killaloe Bridge where they are shot with their hands tied behind their backs. The four IRA men (Alphie Rodgers, Michael ‘Brud’ McMahon, Michael Egan and Martin Kildea) are killed. The British issue a statement saying that the four men were shot trying to escape.
Sergeant James O'Donoghue (46) of Caherciveen was killed in White Street, Cork. This killing turned out to have been opportunistic as an IRA team had planned to kill another officer when Donoghue arrived. The Sergeant was well regarded in the area and was reputed to have ‘turned a blind eye’ to IRA activities. Following the killing, three homes in the city were attacked by armed men in police uniforms, killing three civilians and wounding two others. (Patrick Hanley, 2 Broad St; Eugene O'Connell, 17 Broad Lane and James Coleman, 15 North Mall) and two others (Charlie O'Brien; 17 Broad Lane and Stephen Coleman, 2 Broad St) were wounded.)
Those murdered were associated with the O’Brien family, Charlie & Willie Joe O'Brien were two of the three IRA members believed to have carried out the Donoghue killing earlier. Later three informers were executed by the IRA on the basis of supplying information to the RIC for the raids.
Dumont giving his overview on the Irish situation, now felt that ‘Sinn Fein is desperate. The administration is beginning to get the upper hand…. ( but ) this time Sinn Fein is thoroughly organised and its leaders tell me that any man taken can be replaced six or seven deep before the orgnaisation will fail to function’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P209
Sturgis recorded in his diary ‘the papers collected in the Mulcahy raid are absolutely smashing and should practically kill the English support of Sinn Fein…the leaders of Dail Eireann, faced with a failing transport struggle and now the Mulcahy revelations, look like getting their tails down again.’ Dublin Castle publicists had a field day with the material, which demonstrated, they said, that the I.R.A was on its last legs’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P215
The same day, Michael Collins was giving his opinion to Art O’Briain ‘ in spite of all their terrorism, things are going pretty well here. For the moment outwardly they ( the British ) are doing their best to make it appear they are winning, but they know very well this is not so’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P210
However O’Briain received death threats including this one from a ‘Black and Tan’ to clear out of London in 24 hours ‘We wont allow you to live a free life in London at the price of the blood of Irish police’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P253
Marcus Garvey of UNIA declared his and the association’s condolences on the death of Terence MacSwiney:
A measure of Garvey's immense reverence for MacSwiney, who finally died on the seventy-third day of his hunger fast, can be gained from his declaration: "Hundreds and thousands of Irishmen have died as martyrs to the cause of Irish freedom. . . . They compelled the attention of the world and I believe the death of McSweeney [sic] did more for the freedom of Ireland today than probably anything they did for 500 years prior to his death" (NW, 17 December 1921).
Robert A Hill. “The Marcus Garvey and UNIA Papers Project “ UCLA ( Via Internet Site June 1997 )
The New York Times, it would seem, was determined to die, if necessary, in defence of the last ditch of English Imperialism in Ireland. In a recent editorial entitled “Irish Home Rule” the Times devoted a great deal of energy to arguing upon the dead issue in English and Irish politics – Lloyd George’s Home Rule Bill. It suggested that this instrument might, perhaps, be considered “a broken sword which England is handing them,” but insisted that a valiant warrior could win with it, if no other weapon were available.
"There is, however, one sentence which stands out with luminous clearness from the muddled reasoning of the Times. In discussing the manner in which Lloyd George’s war is being carried on in Ireland, it is forced to admit that “the last touch is that the Germans, in defense of their own war criminals in Belgium and in France, are going to adduce evidence of what is taking place in Ireland.”
The fallacy which the Times does not perceive in its reasoning on Lloyd George’s Home Rule Bill is that it insists upon regarding seriously what was obviously never intended to be a workable instrument of government. The latest insertion in this Bill, now passing listlessly through its final stages in the English Parliament, is a provision, for which it is asserted the Premier himself is responsible, that, if Southern Ireland fails to set up a Parliament, as authorized by the Bill, she will be placed under Crown Colony Government. It will be remembered that this is the system of rule applied by the English Imperialists to the most savage races under their dominion. This final threat of brutal oppression seems to have shocked slightly even those English statesmen who have urged that the system of “reprisals” should be regularized and enlarged in scope. The attitude of the English law-makers toward Lloyd George's Bill in general was well summarized by a recent dispatch to the New York World. “The whole proceedings on the Bill,” it said, “were thoroughly unreal, it being obviously intended as a mere gesture to the world of Britain’s readiness to give Ireland Home Rule, her refusal to accept it being put forward in justification of Britain’s policy of repression.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.21 Nov 20,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The council of the League of Nations accepts the constitution for the Free City of Danzig.
18
The Court of Commission on Conditions in Ireland, Washington DC.
The Court of Commission on Conditions in Ireland opened in Washington and heard the first set of public hearings testimony on the 18th and 19th November. The Commission was to continue hearing evidence until January 1921. Witness testimony was considered ‘shocking in the extreme... a long story of robbery, torture and murder by the Black and Tans and the Auxiliaries’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.410 One hundred & fifty Committee members included five State governors, eleven United States senators, thirteen members of the House of Representatives, four Roman Catholic bishops, four Methodist bishops, and other public representatives. |
Prominent members of the Friends of Irish Freedom like Judge Cohalan, John Devoy, Diarmuid Lynch, Richard Dalton, and John P. Grace were not asked to serve on this committee, possibly to avoid an accusation of bias or as Tansill argues "Thanks to the influence of Dr. Maloney"
The Committee of One Hundred and Fifty in turn had selected a commission of eight to hear testimony of witnesses . The Commission of Eight were: Jane Addams, well-known sociologist and social worker; Dr. Frederic C. Howe, author & economist; James H. Maurer, labour leader; Major Oliver P. Newman, sociologist; Senator George W. Morris, liberal statesman; Rev. Norman Thomas, lecturer and editor; Senator David I. Walsh, former Governor of Massachusetts; and L. Hollingsworth Wood, lawyer and publicist. Dr. Howe served as chairman of the commission.)
Testimony was heard from 18 Irish men and women, 18 Americans (of whom 15 had been recently in Ireland ) and 2 English women representing the English branch of the Women’s International League. Additional evidence was drawn from British reports on Ireland, including those of the Labour Party, the Society of Friends Committee and Womens International League. Notables who contributed included George Bernard Shaw, Horace Plunkett, Goerge Russell ( a.e. ).
However the testimony of the current Lord Mayor of Cork was considered to be potentially more damning of the British actions in Ireland than any previous witness, that is, if he could get to Washington. Denied a passport by the British, Donal O’Callaghan stowed away on an American steamer West Cannon with McSwiney’s brother Peter. Midway through the voyage and ill, they made their presence known and worked the rest of the passage to America as deckhands. Landing in Virginia on January 6th and into a storm of faction fighting within the US Government.
The US Consul in Ireland, Frederick Dumont commented to the Secretary of State that the Irish press was guilty of exageration, the commission ‘is always spoken of as the ‘American Commission of Inquiry’ and the fact that it sits in Washington is used to fool ignorant people. The only witnesses from Ireland who are to give testimony before the Commission are convinced Sinn Feiners’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P199
Even though Lord French and Greenwood are invited, no one from the British side appears before the commission.
Dumont in addition pointed out that one member of the ‘Committee of One Hundred’, Senator Fletcher of Florida ‘was likely to be influenced by his son-in-law, Lionel Smith-Gordon, who directed the Sinn Fein Land Bank and that Irish-American revolutionary interests had joined forces with the anti-British oil interests’
F.M.Caroll. ‘American Opinion and the Irish Question 1910-23’ Gill & McMillan 1978. P273
=======================================================================================================================================================================
The Nation published transcripts of the hearings weekly and as the weeks continued, there was widespread coverage worldwide and in particular the Irish and British press. This was the initial great success of the Commission, the issue of Ireland and British policy within the country was kept prominently before the American public. This was of particular advantage as the ‘factionalism within the Irish-American nationalist movement had destroyed the normal machinery for propaganda and agitation.’
F.M.Caroll. ‘American Opinion and the Irish Question 1910-23’ Gill & McMillan 1978. P164
Soviet Russia issues Decree of Abortion; first world nation to legalise the procedure.
Four experienced IRA men (Maurice Donnegan - O/C 5th Battalion, Cork No. 3 Brigade; Ralph Keyes - Capt Bantry Company, Sean Cotter, Adj., 5th Battalion and Cornelius O'Sullivan) are captured at Durrus, near Bantry, Co. Cork. They are protected from serious injury or even death at the hands of the RIC by the intervention of local British Army commander, Colonel Hudson of The King's Liverpool Regiment.
The Irish college at Cloghaneely, Co. Donegal along with the cooperative stores adjoining were destroyed by fire. The previous morning, a large number of military accompanied by Black & Tans broke into the college, broke windows, piled chairs and tables in a heap and set them on fire. Locals were successful in putting out the flames on that occasion.
"For some time past England’s armed forces in Ireland have displayed, in their preservation of “law and order” in Ireland, a frantic hatred toward the language of the Irish nation. Shopkeepers in Tralee, Galway, Tuam, Longford and elsewhere whose names were written in Irish over their shops have been threatened and assaulted and many of these shops have been completely wrecked. Now Cloghaneely College, famous for its cultivation and teaching of the Irish language, has been burned by armed Englishmen."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
"The reactionary press in England continues to comment upon Ireland’s struggle in phrases which are strikingly reminiscent of the Tory utterances upon our own American Revolution. Like the American Revolutionists, Sinn Fein is said to be only a small minority, leaderless and without principle. Thus the London Daily Express: “Two-thirds of the trouble in Ireland can be traced to one thing. There is no great leader among the rebels. The hierarchy of rebellion splits into groups of second-rate intellectuals, some of whom are criminals, others only foolish. In Ireland today there is no politically organized group with sound machinery and established leaders, except in Ulster.” It is interesting to note that the Daily Express considers a group which can secure the votes of more than 80 per cent of the citizens of a nation not “politically organized”, and it will be seen that Ireland today is leaderless in the same lamentable fashion in which the American Revolutionists were leaderless. "
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.24 Dec 11,1920. Lynch Family Archives
"Deeds of horror multiply so fast one after the other in Ireland today that the NEWS LETTER can do no more than report certain typical examples. The precise and reliable Manchester Guardian published recently a report from its special correspondent in County Leitrim, from which we make the following quotation: “At Mrs. Ryan’s house at Annamacooleen, her two sons, Frank and Bernard, were taken out of bed and their heads put into the nooses of ropes attached to a beam. In this position they were asked to give information, and, when they refused, were half-hanged by a tightening of the rope. The boys were then thrown into a lorry still half-clothed. About a hundred pounds were stolen. Bedding was torn to shreds, pots were broken and furniture damaged. Frank Ryan was taken in the lorry for three miles.” The Guardian correspondents quotes from the statement of Michael Donnelly, of Drumore, in further description of the events of this evening: “There was a knock at the door and I got up and opened it. Frank Ryan was pushed in ahead of a lot of men. They said to me: “Would you like to see the two Ryan brothers shot? I said: ‘I would not.” “Well,” they replied, ‘you can save them.” They brought me outside and put me on my knees in the muddy yard. They asked me if I was in the I.R.A. and I said that I had been in it three years—I would not tell a lie about that.” Upon his refusal to give any further information, Michael Donnelly was further mistreated; but, eventually, he and the Ryans were driven in the lorry far from their homes and then released.
“On their return towards Mohill,” the Guardian correspondent continues the chronicle of the same party of English troops, ‘‘the raiders went through the district of Aughaban, three miles east of Cloone; they called at the farm house of John Owens; the door was opened and inquiry made for the two eldest sons. , They were out but the two younger boys, aged 16 and 14 were seized. Between two rooms of the house is a half wall, which does not quite reach the roof. Over this was flung a halter and John Francis Owens, a lad of 16 years, was made to stand on a chair and the halter put round his neck. The chair was kicked away and the boy left half strangled. He pleaded that he was only 16 and was told: “You are old enough to ambush a policeman.” The boy of 14 was tied in the same way but fell in a faint in a tub of pig-wash when the chair was removed. His brother was then again intimidated in the same way and then dragged outside with the halter still around his neck and beaten with the buckle end of a Volunteer belt found in the house.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Further press clippings - click here
The Committee of One Hundred and Fifty in turn had selected a commission of eight to hear testimony of witnesses . The Commission of Eight were: Jane Addams, well-known sociologist and social worker; Dr. Frederic C. Howe, author & economist; James H. Maurer, labour leader; Major Oliver P. Newman, sociologist; Senator George W. Morris, liberal statesman; Rev. Norman Thomas, lecturer and editor; Senator David I. Walsh, former Governor of Massachusetts; and L. Hollingsworth Wood, lawyer and publicist. Dr. Howe served as chairman of the commission.)
Testimony was heard from 18 Irish men and women, 18 Americans (of whom 15 had been recently in Ireland ) and 2 English women representing the English branch of the Women’s International League. Additional evidence was drawn from British reports on Ireland, including those of the Labour Party, the Society of Friends Committee and Womens International League. Notables who contributed included George Bernard Shaw, Horace Plunkett, Goerge Russell ( a.e. ).
However the testimony of the current Lord Mayor of Cork was considered to be potentially more damning of the British actions in Ireland than any previous witness, that is, if he could get to Washington. Denied a passport by the British, Donal O’Callaghan stowed away on an American steamer West Cannon with McSwiney’s brother Peter. Midway through the voyage and ill, they made their presence known and worked the rest of the passage to America as deckhands. Landing in Virginia on January 6th and into a storm of faction fighting within the US Government.
The US Consul in Ireland, Frederick Dumont commented to the Secretary of State that the Irish press was guilty of exageration, the commission ‘is always spoken of as the ‘American Commission of Inquiry’ and the fact that it sits in Washington is used to fool ignorant people. The only witnesses from Ireland who are to give testimony before the Commission are convinced Sinn Feiners’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P199
Even though Lord French and Greenwood are invited, no one from the British side appears before the commission.
Dumont in addition pointed out that one member of the ‘Committee of One Hundred’, Senator Fletcher of Florida ‘was likely to be influenced by his son-in-law, Lionel Smith-Gordon, who directed the Sinn Fein Land Bank and that Irish-American revolutionary interests had joined forces with the anti-British oil interests’
F.M.Caroll. ‘American Opinion and the Irish Question 1910-23’ Gill & McMillan 1978. P273
=======================================================================================================================================================================
The Nation published transcripts of the hearings weekly and as the weeks continued, there was widespread coverage worldwide and in particular the Irish and British press. This was the initial great success of the Commission, the issue of Ireland and British policy within the country was kept prominently before the American public. This was of particular advantage as the ‘factionalism within the Irish-American nationalist movement had destroyed the normal machinery for propaganda and agitation.’
F.M.Caroll. ‘American Opinion and the Irish Question 1910-23’ Gill & McMillan 1978. P164
Soviet Russia issues Decree of Abortion; first world nation to legalise the procedure.
Four experienced IRA men (Maurice Donnegan - O/C 5th Battalion, Cork No. 3 Brigade; Ralph Keyes - Capt Bantry Company, Sean Cotter, Adj., 5th Battalion and Cornelius O'Sullivan) are captured at Durrus, near Bantry, Co. Cork. They are protected from serious injury or even death at the hands of the RIC by the intervention of local British Army commander, Colonel Hudson of The King's Liverpool Regiment.
The Irish college at Cloghaneely, Co. Donegal along with the cooperative stores adjoining were destroyed by fire. The previous morning, a large number of military accompanied by Black & Tans broke into the college, broke windows, piled chairs and tables in a heap and set them on fire. Locals were successful in putting out the flames on that occasion.
"For some time past England’s armed forces in Ireland have displayed, in their preservation of “law and order” in Ireland, a frantic hatred toward the language of the Irish nation. Shopkeepers in Tralee, Galway, Tuam, Longford and elsewhere whose names were written in Irish over their shops have been threatened and assaulted and many of these shops have been completely wrecked. Now Cloghaneely College, famous for its cultivation and teaching of the Irish language, has been burned by armed Englishmen."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
"The reactionary press in England continues to comment upon Ireland’s struggle in phrases which are strikingly reminiscent of the Tory utterances upon our own American Revolution. Like the American Revolutionists, Sinn Fein is said to be only a small minority, leaderless and without principle. Thus the London Daily Express: “Two-thirds of the trouble in Ireland can be traced to one thing. There is no great leader among the rebels. The hierarchy of rebellion splits into groups of second-rate intellectuals, some of whom are criminals, others only foolish. In Ireland today there is no politically organized group with sound machinery and established leaders, except in Ulster.” It is interesting to note that the Daily Express considers a group which can secure the votes of more than 80 per cent of the citizens of a nation not “politically organized”, and it will be seen that Ireland today is leaderless in the same lamentable fashion in which the American Revolutionists were leaderless. "
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.24 Dec 11,1920. Lynch Family Archives
"Deeds of horror multiply so fast one after the other in Ireland today that the NEWS LETTER can do no more than report certain typical examples. The precise and reliable Manchester Guardian published recently a report from its special correspondent in County Leitrim, from which we make the following quotation: “At Mrs. Ryan’s house at Annamacooleen, her two sons, Frank and Bernard, were taken out of bed and their heads put into the nooses of ropes attached to a beam. In this position they were asked to give information, and, when they refused, were half-hanged by a tightening of the rope. The boys were then thrown into a lorry still half-clothed. About a hundred pounds were stolen. Bedding was torn to shreds, pots were broken and furniture damaged. Frank Ryan was taken in the lorry for three miles.” The Guardian correspondents quotes from the statement of Michael Donnelly, of Drumore, in further description of the events of this evening: “There was a knock at the door and I got up and opened it. Frank Ryan was pushed in ahead of a lot of men. They said to me: “Would you like to see the two Ryan brothers shot? I said: ‘I would not.” “Well,” they replied, ‘you can save them.” They brought me outside and put me on my knees in the muddy yard. They asked me if I was in the I.R.A. and I said that I had been in it three years—I would not tell a lie about that.” Upon his refusal to give any further information, Michael Donnelly was further mistreated; but, eventually, he and the Ryans were driven in the lorry far from their homes and then released.
“On their return towards Mohill,” the Guardian correspondent continues the chronicle of the same party of English troops, ‘‘the raiders went through the district of Aughaban, three miles east of Cloone; they called at the farm house of John Owens; the door was opened and inquiry made for the two eldest sons. , They were out but the two younger boys, aged 16 and 14 were seized. Between two rooms of the house is a half wall, which does not quite reach the roof. Over this was flung a halter and John Francis Owens, a lad of 16 years, was made to stand on a chair and the halter put round his neck. The chair was kicked away and the boy left half strangled. He pleaded that he was only 16 and was told: “You are old enough to ambush a policeman.” The boy of 14 was tied in the same way but fell in a faint in a tub of pig-wash when the chair was removed. His brother was then again intimidated in the same way and then dragged outside with the halter still around his neck and beaten with the buckle end of a Volunteer belt found in the house.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Further press clippings - click here
19
The recent capture of Richard Mulcahy’s papers were a godsend for the beleaguered Dublin Castle Administration. Listings of over 200 IRA men categorised by location, names, addresses and whether good shots or not were pressed into immediate use by raiding parties. Details of industrial sabotage and targets in Britian along with plans to use typhoid were to be used to bolster support at home as well as press home any advantage against the IRA.
‘Hamars job is to use the Mulcahy stuff, the finest weapon he had had from this side, to bomb it to blazes…the bit about typhoid and glanders has already leaked and has been the subject of question and answer in the House. Devlin and mcVeigh have called it a horrible forgery and I exhorted Her Ladyship ( Greenwood ) to fix the CS so that he may produce his proofs quickly and entirely so that Devlin and McV may have no excuse but to continue to call it horrible while admitting that far from forgery the IRA…are proved beyond doubt to be a ruthless organised conspiracy of assassination…we are out raiding tonight for these beauties and will have them on the run anyway if they’ve taken fright and bolted’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 75
With the capture of the Mulcahy documents, Collins made it clear that it was now of prime necessity to get their blow in first, before they were all annihilated. Information that had been gathered for months on British agent movements, from housemaids, waste paper bins and drunken boasts were finalised into a plan.
Ousted Clan na Gael member Luke Dillon issued a circular to all Clan na Gael members explaining why the separation of Clan na Gael from the IRB was made public:
‘Despite the fact that our Executive had repeatedly agreed to give wholehearted co-operation to the home body, the men who should have carried the agreement into effect shamelessly broke their pledge to do so and our organ – the Gaelic American – on which 85% of the income of Clan na Gael is being spent, has been repeatedly used to pile abuse on the President of the Republic of Ireland and other members of the Irish Mission now in this country.’ Dillon went to to say that ‘unless the attacks in the Gaelic American against the President and the members of the Irish Mission should cease and unless the promised co-operation should be given, the Home Organisation would be forced to cut off the Clan na Gael from further connection with the home body…all the attacks…were to cease and an apology was to be made to the President of the Irish Republic for the charges made against him in the Gaelic American…no attempt was made to keep the promise given, and the hand of the home body was forced…’
Dillon explained why the decision to sever connection with the IRB was made public was as the lists of the membership of the Clan na Gael were refused to the IRB’s representative, his only source of making known to the men the action taken, and the reasons therefore, was by giving publicity to same in the newspapers.’
Members of the American Commission now planned to send a delegation to Ireland to investigate conditions there first hand. Applications made to the British Government were refused which led to further objections from within the overall committee. The Irish Chief Secretary, Sir Hamar Greenwood ‘dismissed the idea outright, noting that the Government had prevented Archbishop Mannix from entering Ireland, although he was a British subject’
F.M.Caroll. ‘American Opinion and the Irish Question 1910-23’ Gill & McMillan 1978. P273
American reaction was swift. 10 Senators protested and raised the issue with the Secretary of State, who simply replied that the British had the right to control the movement of non-nationals in and out of their territories, wherever the territories may be.
Gene Tierney, American actress born (d. 1991)
The Friends of Irish Freedom published and distributed an 8 page Newsletter to all members, dated 19 November 1920 outlining aspects of recent 'regrettable incidents' and placing many aspects of ongoing issues on the record.
The recent capture of Richard Mulcahy’s papers were a godsend for the beleaguered Dublin Castle Administration. Listings of over 200 IRA men categorised by location, names, addresses and whether good shots or not were pressed into immediate use by raiding parties. Details of industrial sabotage and targets in Britian along with plans to use typhoid were to be used to bolster support at home as well as press home any advantage against the IRA.
‘Hamars job is to use the Mulcahy stuff, the finest weapon he had had from this side, to bomb it to blazes…the bit about typhoid and glanders has already leaked and has been the subject of question and answer in the House. Devlin and mcVeigh have called it a horrible forgery and I exhorted Her Ladyship ( Greenwood ) to fix the CS so that he may produce his proofs quickly and entirely so that Devlin and McV may have no excuse but to continue to call it horrible while admitting that far from forgery the IRA…are proved beyond doubt to be a ruthless organised conspiracy of assassination…we are out raiding tonight for these beauties and will have them on the run anyway if they’ve taken fright and bolted’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 75
With the capture of the Mulcahy documents, Collins made it clear that it was now of prime necessity to get their blow in first, before they were all annihilated. Information that had been gathered for months on British agent movements, from housemaids, waste paper bins and drunken boasts were finalised into a plan.
Ousted Clan na Gael member Luke Dillon issued a circular to all Clan na Gael members explaining why the separation of Clan na Gael from the IRB was made public:
‘Despite the fact that our Executive had repeatedly agreed to give wholehearted co-operation to the home body, the men who should have carried the agreement into effect shamelessly broke their pledge to do so and our organ – the Gaelic American – on which 85% of the income of Clan na Gael is being spent, has been repeatedly used to pile abuse on the President of the Republic of Ireland and other members of the Irish Mission now in this country.’ Dillon went to to say that ‘unless the attacks in the Gaelic American against the President and the members of the Irish Mission should cease and unless the promised co-operation should be given, the Home Organisation would be forced to cut off the Clan na Gael from further connection with the home body…all the attacks…were to cease and an apology was to be made to the President of the Irish Republic for the charges made against him in the Gaelic American…no attempt was made to keep the promise given, and the hand of the home body was forced…’
Dillon explained why the decision to sever connection with the IRB was made public was as the lists of the membership of the Clan na Gael were refused to the IRB’s representative, his only source of making known to the men the action taken, and the reasons therefore, was by giving publicity to same in the newspapers.’
Members of the American Commission now planned to send a delegation to Ireland to investigate conditions there first hand. Applications made to the British Government were refused which led to further objections from within the overall committee. The Irish Chief Secretary, Sir Hamar Greenwood ‘dismissed the idea outright, noting that the Government had prevented Archbishop Mannix from entering Ireland, although he was a British subject’
F.M.Caroll. ‘American Opinion and the Irish Question 1910-23’ Gill & McMillan 1978. P273
American reaction was swift. 10 Senators protested and raised the issue with the Secretary of State, who simply replied that the British had the right to control the movement of non-nationals in and out of their territories, wherever the territories may be.
Gene Tierney, American actress born (d. 1991)
The Friends of Irish Freedom published and distributed an 8 page Newsletter to all members, dated 19 November 1920 outlining aspects of recent 'regrettable incidents' and placing many aspects of ongoing issues on the record.
20
Arthur Griffith and Professor Eoin MacNeill were arrested by the GOC Dublin, Major General Sir Gerald Boyd. Michael Collins became Acting Provisional President until De Valera’s return in December.
‘It was rumoured that the I.R.B. wanted him ( Michael Collins ) to remain as head of affairs, even after De Valera’s return....a coolness between the two leaders began at this point...’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p324
One of Collins’ Dublin Castle spies, Dave Nelligan went to the Gaeity Theatre with Liam Tobin and Tom Cullen from IRA HQ and there Cullen produced a list of those scheduled for assassination the following day. As Nelligan scanned through the names confirming details and presence in the city, he looked through the theatre and whispered ‘Look next door’. Two of the men on the list were seated in the neighbouring box. Assassination teams were briefed by Collins and McKee as to their targets the next morning. Twenty eight agents in eight sites were targeted.
That night in a Black and Tan raid on Vaughan’s Hotel in Dublin, Dick McKee, commander of the Dublin Brigade and Volunteers Clune and Peadar Clancy were captured and taken to Dublin Castle. Clune knew nothing, a nephew of Archbishop Clune of Perth, Western Australia, he was in the city on a business trip from Clare but McKee and Clancy were fully briefed on the following days plans. All three were tortured to tell what they knew about IRA members and activity – nothing was said. Collins was unaware the three had been captured until the following morning.
Patrick Blake and James O’Neill, two suspected IRA Volunteers accused of the murder of Constable Walter Oakley in Limeirck on 24th July, were acquitted. They were returning to Limerick with their families and had split at Limerick Junction. The O'Neill family were stopped nearby by armed and masked men - James was removed and found shot dead the next day. The Blake family was also stopped near Oola and Michael Blake (Patrick's brother) was shot dead. The masked men were led by Constable Thomas Huckerby.
Capt J Thompson, Acting I/O of the 1st Battalion, Manchester Regiment, is captured and shot by the IRA at Carrigrohane between Ballincollig and Cork City.
"It is a matter of common knowledge,” says the editor of the “Church Times,” the organ of the High Anglicans, ‘‘that law and order prevail wherever Sinn Fein rules. The Sinn Fein courts of justice are resorted to, not only by Republicans, but also by Unionists and Protestants, for the easily understood reason that in them justice is administered promptly and damages are recovered expeditiously. This is naturally very distasteful to the Dublin Castle authorities, and they are resorting to all sorts of topsy-turvy proceedings and devices in the hope of stopping it.” The High Anglican editor declares that he must maintain and insist on his point that Sinn Fein has demonstrably proved the capacity of the Irish people for self-government, and their undeniable ability as good organizers and administrators in most difficult circumstances. He quotes from a number of letters bearing similar testimony, including one from a Protestant lady, an Englishwoman, sojourning in a pretty Cork village. She says she has found the Sinn Feiners “a charming people to live amongst, and this little village seems like an earthly paradise.” -
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.21 Nov 20,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Rev. Father M. J. Doyle, recently appointed Honorary Chaplain to the British Forces, in recognition of his services in the war for the “rights of small nationalities”, sent the following protest against the treatment of his fellow countrymen. “Sir—Will you please convey to the War Office authorities my sincere thanks for their having appointed me Honorary Chaplain, to the Forces with permission to wear uniform on all appropriate occasions. May I also ask you to do me the favor of intimating to these same authorities that, owing to the disgrace and degradation into which that uniform has been brought by some of those who wear it in Ireland, I cannot, in any way whatever, associate myself with it until the British Government comes to its senses and, not only saves Ireland for the Empire, but also restores discipline and dignity to the army.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.21 Nov 20,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The English “Nation” recently printed an article which drew attention to Lloyd George’s “recklessness” in endorsing the policy of “reprisals” in Ireland. “Not that ‘reprisals' is the true word,” it tells us, “to use of the selective and deliberate terrorism of which it may now be assumed the Government are guilty. In the main Ireland has been struck not through her crime, but through her politics, and by way of the intimidation of her citizens, provided their sympathies are known, or supposed to be, with Sinn Fein. The hotbeds of Irish extremists are pretty well known. But in the campaign of the Black-and-Tans some of the quietest towns and districts in Nationalist Ireland have been singled out for attack.”
The article further states: “It does not, indeed, suit the Prime Minister’s book even to state the case for reprisals with accuracy. “Are policemen to be shot like dogs, without attempting to defend themselves?” asks Mr. George, when, if he has a mind to tell the truth on Irish outrages and reprisals, and to define the policy on them on which he has chosen to stand, he must say, “Are armed British policemen to be shot by Irishmen without the right to avenge themselves on the whole Irish nation—men, women and children, guilty and innocent, to ruin its industries, run amok through its towns, and be judge, jury, and executioner in their own cause?” It is the license to do all these things, and more, which the head of a great Government has now given to its army and its regular and auxiliary police.” -
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.21 Nov 20,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Arthur Griffith and Professor Eoin MacNeill were arrested by the GOC Dublin, Major General Sir Gerald Boyd. Michael Collins became Acting Provisional President until De Valera’s return in December.
‘It was rumoured that the I.R.B. wanted him ( Michael Collins ) to remain as head of affairs, even after De Valera’s return....a coolness between the two leaders began at this point...’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p324
One of Collins’ Dublin Castle spies, Dave Nelligan went to the Gaeity Theatre with Liam Tobin and Tom Cullen from IRA HQ and there Cullen produced a list of those scheduled for assassination the following day. As Nelligan scanned through the names confirming details and presence in the city, he looked through the theatre and whispered ‘Look next door’. Two of the men on the list were seated in the neighbouring box. Assassination teams were briefed by Collins and McKee as to their targets the next morning. Twenty eight agents in eight sites were targeted.
That night in a Black and Tan raid on Vaughan’s Hotel in Dublin, Dick McKee, commander of the Dublin Brigade and Volunteers Clune and Peadar Clancy were captured and taken to Dublin Castle. Clune knew nothing, a nephew of Archbishop Clune of Perth, Western Australia, he was in the city on a business trip from Clare but McKee and Clancy were fully briefed on the following days plans. All three were tortured to tell what they knew about IRA members and activity – nothing was said. Collins was unaware the three had been captured until the following morning.
Patrick Blake and James O’Neill, two suspected IRA Volunteers accused of the murder of Constable Walter Oakley in Limeirck on 24th July, were acquitted. They were returning to Limerick with their families and had split at Limerick Junction. The O'Neill family were stopped nearby by armed and masked men - James was removed and found shot dead the next day. The Blake family was also stopped near Oola and Michael Blake (Patrick's brother) was shot dead. The masked men were led by Constable Thomas Huckerby.
Capt J Thompson, Acting I/O of the 1st Battalion, Manchester Regiment, is captured and shot by the IRA at Carrigrohane between Ballincollig and Cork City.
"It is a matter of common knowledge,” says the editor of the “Church Times,” the organ of the High Anglicans, ‘‘that law and order prevail wherever Sinn Fein rules. The Sinn Fein courts of justice are resorted to, not only by Republicans, but also by Unionists and Protestants, for the easily understood reason that in them justice is administered promptly and damages are recovered expeditiously. This is naturally very distasteful to the Dublin Castle authorities, and they are resorting to all sorts of topsy-turvy proceedings and devices in the hope of stopping it.” The High Anglican editor declares that he must maintain and insist on his point that Sinn Fein has demonstrably proved the capacity of the Irish people for self-government, and their undeniable ability as good organizers and administrators in most difficult circumstances. He quotes from a number of letters bearing similar testimony, including one from a Protestant lady, an Englishwoman, sojourning in a pretty Cork village. She says she has found the Sinn Feiners “a charming people to live amongst, and this little village seems like an earthly paradise.” -
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.21 Nov 20,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Rev. Father M. J. Doyle, recently appointed Honorary Chaplain to the British Forces, in recognition of his services in the war for the “rights of small nationalities”, sent the following protest against the treatment of his fellow countrymen. “Sir—Will you please convey to the War Office authorities my sincere thanks for their having appointed me Honorary Chaplain, to the Forces with permission to wear uniform on all appropriate occasions. May I also ask you to do me the favor of intimating to these same authorities that, owing to the disgrace and degradation into which that uniform has been brought by some of those who wear it in Ireland, I cannot, in any way whatever, associate myself with it until the British Government comes to its senses and, not only saves Ireland for the Empire, but also restores discipline and dignity to the army.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.21 Nov 20,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The English “Nation” recently printed an article which drew attention to Lloyd George’s “recklessness” in endorsing the policy of “reprisals” in Ireland. “Not that ‘reprisals' is the true word,” it tells us, “to use of the selective and deliberate terrorism of which it may now be assumed the Government are guilty. In the main Ireland has been struck not through her crime, but through her politics, and by way of the intimidation of her citizens, provided their sympathies are known, or supposed to be, with Sinn Fein. The hotbeds of Irish extremists are pretty well known. But in the campaign of the Black-and-Tans some of the quietest towns and districts in Nationalist Ireland have been singled out for attack.”
The article further states: “It does not, indeed, suit the Prime Minister’s book even to state the case for reprisals with accuracy. “Are policemen to be shot like dogs, without attempting to defend themselves?” asks Mr. George, when, if he has a mind to tell the truth on Irish outrages and reprisals, and to define the policy on them on which he has chosen to stand, he must say, “Are armed British policemen to be shot by Irishmen without the right to avenge themselves on the whole Irish nation—men, women and children, guilty and innocent, to ruin its industries, run amok through its towns, and be judge, jury, and executioner in their own cause?” It is the license to do all these things, and more, which the head of a great Government has now given to its army and its regular and auxiliary police.” -
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.21 Nov 20,1920. Lynch Family Archives
21
Bloody Sunday
Sunday, November 21st was to prove to be a decisive moment in changing British attitudes to the War of Independence.
On a bright sunny Sunday morning, the Twelve Apostles and members of the Dublin Brigade gathered throughout the city at seven houses and one hotel, waiting for the clock to strike. All carried handguns, some with hatchets to break down locked doors. At exactly 9am, door bells were rung and doors knocked on. The killing began immediately –
28 Earlsfort Terrace: At 9am the doorbell rang and the maid was asked to show a man to Colonel Fitzpatrick’s room. She said there was no Fitzpatrick in the house but there was a Captain Fitzgerald. Shown to his room, the 22 year old Fitzgerald was shot four times, fatal wounds in the head, heart and wrist. He had been lodging there for a month according to the Irish Times ‘an ex-military officer, and had served as a barrack defence officer in the RIC somewhere in Co. Clare. While on duty he was kidnapped. He was placed against a wall and shot at, but was not much injured. He dropped to the ground pretending that he was dead, and seized an opportunity to climb over a wall, and so escaped his torturers. He was an Irishman, and was attending a hospital in Dublin.’
Fintan O’Toole ‘The Irish Times Book of the Century’. Gill & Macmillan, Dublin 1999. p59
28 Upper Pembroke Street: the main spy centre saw four agents killed but two major targets escaped.
22 Lower Mount Street: A Mr Mahon, an Auxilliary officer and member of the British Inteligence Service was killed by another IRA hit team but when a maid was asked to be shown to another officer’s room, the door had been closed and locked. Shots were fired through it but the officer escaped. Neighbours, hearing the shots, rushed out on the street and attracted a passing group of Auxilliaries. Firing into the house, the IRA men escaped through the backdoor where they were chased, one wounded and arrested ( Frank Teeling ). Two auxilliaries were sent to the nearest barracks for reinforcements. En route, they were stopped on the Canal Bridge at Mount Street and dragged into the hallway of a house on Northumberland Street. Frank Garniss (34) from Yorkshire and Cecil Morris (24) from London were questioned and then taken to the garden and shot.
117 Morehampton Road: Captain Donald Maclean (31) of the Rifle Brigade lodged with his wife and child in a house owned by Thomas Smith (45). Also lodging was Smith’s brother-in-law, Mr Cadlow. When the IRA hit team arrived, Maclean, Smith and Cadlow were taken to a room and shot, killing all except Cadlow. The team left, passing into Herbert Park Rd.
Mount Street: In another house an officer pleaded not to be shot in front of his wife. She was pushed into an adjoining room and he was shot by Tom Ennis. In another house, a girlfriend threw herself protectively across another officer – she was pulled off and he was killed.
Gresham Hotel: Captain Wilde and Lieutenant McCormack were shot in their rooms in the Gresham – Wilde in the doorway of his room and McCormack through the newspaper he was reading in bed.
Lower Baggot Street: Captain Baggelly, a courts-martial officer rumoured to have taken part in the torture of Kevin Barry was shot by a three man group as he attempted to escape through an open window – his body was left dangling there until an ambulance arrived. For many years it was rumoured he was shot by none other than Sean Lemass.
Eastwood Hotel, Leeson Street: the officer earmarked for execution had a lucky escape as he was out that morning – the story goes that the angry Volunteer allegedly grabbed a sword scabbard and beat his mistress whom he found lying in his bed.
Rathfarnham: Todd Andrews was understandably relieved to find his target was out.
28 Upper Mount Street: Vinnie Byrne shot and killed Colonel Peter Aimes and Major George Bennett, field leaders of the Cairo Gang.
All told, 14 officers were killed that morning but a figure closer to 20 is more likely, as a number of people killed were not connected to the Secret Service or shot in panic or because they could have identified the gunmen later. One of those killed was a cousin to later Field Mashall Viscount Mountgomery of Alamein. Montgomery was serving at the time with the 17th Cork Infantry Brigade. Six were wounded. Four of those killed were military Intelligence Officers and four were either Secret Service or MI5 agents.
Dave Nelligan, the Collins’ mole on duty in the Castle, reported that there was ‘Panic…utter panic’ as reports of the killings came in. It was quickly realised that the IRA had single-handedly and in one stroke, neutralised the entire intelligence system in Dublin. As news spread amongst military personnel and civil servants, hundreds of people with families attempted to seek sanctuary within the Castle walls, convinced that they were all targets of Collins gunmen.
Collins said of the killings: “For myself, my conscience is clear. There is no crime in detecting and destroying in wartime, the spy and informer. They have been destroyed without trial. I have paid them back in their own coin’
Meanwhile at Croke Park, a Gaelic football match between Dublin and Tipperary was beginning to prepare.
By lunchtime, with gates open and the stadium filling, Sean Russel, a senior IRA leader at Croke Park was getting increasingly concerned at a growing security force presence. He urged the match be postponed and was supported by Collins. A Senior GAA official, Frank Shouldice refused. The RIC had made plans to search all the fans in the grounds and identify any known and suspected IRA members. With the game about to start and with some 8,000 in the stadium, the police action began before the troop cordon surrounding the ground was completed. It was said that IRA lookouts shot at the RIC and Auxilliaries, a claim always denied by those at the match. Some later testified that shooting came from armoured cars across the nearby canal. Eleven in the crowd ( 10 men and 1 woman ) were killed including the player, Michael Hogan of Tipperary and wounding 62.
The British authorities later reported that 30 revolvers were found in the grounds and in the stands.
#(Michael Hogan was later commemorated by naming the largest stand in Croke Park, the Hogan Stand )
Later, a mixed squad of Auxilliaries and RIC search a group of civilians in Lincoln Place near TCD, then ordered them to leave and run, shot and wounded seven, one fatally.
Three republican prisoners, Ernie O’Malley, Simon Donnelly and Frank Teeling escaped from Kilmainham Jail, Dublin.
The killing wasn’t over yet for British forces – IRA volunteers Clancy and McKee and the civilian Clune were killed in the guardroom of Dublin Castle early on the 22nd November. A post-mortem showed all three had been bayoneted and shot with the authorities explaining their deaths away by saying all three had attempted to escape using hand grenades. Dave Nelligan reported to Collins that when the bodies were loaded onto a British truck, one of the two officers responsible, Captain Hardy went into a rage and battered their bodies and faces with his torch and revolver. (Many years later, this same officer wrote a novel based on events at the time).
Meanwhile in Down, Cork and Waterford, the RIC suffered casualties. Head Constable John Kearney (51) from Westmeath was seriously wounded in an attack in Newry, Co. Down. He died the following day. In Leap, Co. Cork, Constable Harry Jays (22) from Hampshire was killed and in Cappoquin, Co. Waterford, Constable Isaac Rea (20) was seriously wounded in a drive by shooting, dying on December 28th.
‘This was Bloody Sunday...it produced something ‘not far short of panic in London’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p319
Mark Sturgis commented in his diary:
‘It has been a day of black murder. What they hope to gain by it God alone knows – the reasons must be the forlorn hope at striking at the military ring which is closing on them and no doubt the desire to make a show of strength to impress the wobbling allegiance of the County Councils, the Railway men and a large majority of less violent Sinn Feiners, who show such obvious signs of throwing up the sponge given half a chance to do so….
What had happened was that at least a battalion of the IRA, perhaps more, systematically raided the houses occupied by military officers – mostly either those employed in Courts Martial or Secret Service men – in parties of twelve or upwards at 9 am this morning. They have murdered 10 officers, 2 civilians ( not in Government employ, one was the owner of a house occupied by officers and the other an officer’s brother-in-law ) and 2 of Tudor’s Auxiliaries. Many of these were caught in bed and probably all unarmed and defenceless, and some were killed in the presence of their wives…the murders took place in nine private houses in the vicinity of Upper and Lower Mount Street and Baggot Street, except two secret service men assassinated in the Gresham Hotel and the two Auxillliaries who were killed out of doors…
Major Carew…put up a good show and escaped. A party went to his house, he did not let them in and fired from the window hitting two – this lot made off and he escaped unharmed. Other officers had, I understand, still narrower escapes. The Two Auxilliaries who were killed were with a party in a lorry passing down Mount Street when a woman or child screamed from a window that officers were being murdered.The A’s rushed the house and took prisoner four men, one at least absolutely red handed who will, please God, swing within the week. The two A’s who were subsequently found shot dead in a back garden were sent back by the officer for reinforcements or more ammunition – were caught by a supporting picket of IRA, taken up a back lane and shot… as for the casualties at Croke Park: ‘we have heard some account but no substantiated detail f shooting this afternoon at a Hurly match at Croke Park. It was arranged some time ago between Dublin district and the RIC to round up the crowd and search them for bad men and arms on the assumption that a large number of such, both from Tipperary and Dublin, might well be expected there…Police and Auxiliaires went from Beggars Bush – military were to co-operate but it is said were late or police early – the police found a Sinn Fein picket at the gate who fired on them – they returned the fire and ten were killed, 11 seriously wounded and about 50 slightly. ..30 revolvers are said to have been picked up on the ground by police afterwards…’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 76-77
Immediate steps were taken by the British Administration with roadblocks on all exits from the city, trains stopped and searched, the Kingstown-Hollyhead steamers searched, City Hall comandeered and hotels adjacent to the Castle commandeered for all military officers to move into immediately. Widespread arrests of known IRA members and imprisonment in Ballykinlar special detention camp in Co. Down. City wide curfew from 10 pm to 5 am instead of the exisiting 12-5 am
All of the assassination teams had returned to their homes by the time the authorities locked down the city. A boat had been laid on to return the teams from a rendezvous point on the docks to North Dublin.
Edward Lysaght, well known in Ireland and the UK for his experiments in co-operative farming and as chairman of the publishing firm Maunsel & Co Ltd, wrote of the killings in Dublin Castle:
‘Mr Conor Clune was shot while in custody by Crown forces on November 22nd 1920. It is stated in the official report that he was trying to escape from an old detective office in Exchange Court, Dublin, i.e. part of Dublin Castle. He had no legitimate reason to fear arrest. He had been with us until a few hours before his arrest on Saturday 20th, and all his movements were quite open. He had no motive for trying to escape from any custody seeing that he knew I was outside and would identify him as soon as possible, and thus procure his release – to say nothing of trying to escape from within the portals of Dublin Castle…he was not a member of the IRA and never had been. The official report states that he was Lieutenant in the Clare Brigade IRA….the official report refers to a note book found on him and supposed to incriminate. That note book was solely concerned with my business…the official report stated that he had been staying at the hotel at which he was arrested for a number of days, but had not registered. He had , of course, in actual fact been in Dublin only one night…he came to Dublin for the purpose of having audited the annual accounts of the Raheen cooperative Society Ltd.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 25, December 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Lysaght later paid dearly for telling the truth. During the funeral of Mr Clune in Co. Clare, Lysaght’s house and co-operative farm in which the best interests of both men were engaged were raided and party destroyed by Black and Tans.
Kathleen Clark recalled when the bodies of Clune, Clancy and McKee were released for burial..…‘The bodies of the three men were handed over to their relatives and lay in the mortuary chapel of the Pro-Cathederal, Marlborough Street…while I was there Mick Collins came in; when he looked in the coffin of Peadar Clancy, tears rushed from his eyes and fell on Peadar. I did not wonder; all three men were horribly mutiliated. One had a large hole in his forehead; it looked as if an explosive bullet had been used. All the faces had the look of tortured men, which even death had not washed away the memory of…’
Kathleen Clarke. ‘Revoloutionary Woman’ O’Brien Press 1991. P178
Lloyd George it is believed held little sympathy for the executed intelligence gatherers ‘They got what they deserved, beaten by counter jumpers’
More Information on "Bloody Sunday" .............................................................................................................................................
For additional & comprehensive detail on the Bloody Sunday 1920 events, The Cairo Gang and British Intelligence in Ireland,
click here (with thanks to David at www.bloodysunday.co.uk)
..................................................................................................................................................................................................................
The body of Fr Giffith of Barna, Co Galway was found with a bullet wound to the head.
The country was now being subject to almost daily burnings, raids, reprisals, killings and maimings. Reinforcements poured in from Britain, 43,000 soldiers were now stationed in Ireland plus the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries. Dublin and to a lesser extent Cork and the South-West were now subject to a reign of terror that lasted for almost a year. Officially sanctioned shootings, burnings, raids and arrests were carried out by the ‘Auxies’ and ‘Tans’ and would gather up 500 suspects by the end of November.
After the Truce in 1921, Michael Collins explained to General Crozier why the IRA shot dead the 14 agents ‘I found out that those fellows we put on the spot were going to put a lot of us on the spot, so I got in first.’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.51
Constable Isaac James Rea (20) awas shot and fatally wounded while out walking in Cappoquin County Waterford. He died 27 December, 1920
Further press clippings - click here or illustration below.
Bloody Sunday
Sunday, November 21st was to prove to be a decisive moment in changing British attitudes to the War of Independence.
On a bright sunny Sunday morning, the Twelve Apostles and members of the Dublin Brigade gathered throughout the city at seven houses and one hotel, waiting for the clock to strike. All carried handguns, some with hatchets to break down locked doors. At exactly 9am, door bells were rung and doors knocked on. The killing began immediately –
28 Earlsfort Terrace: At 9am the doorbell rang and the maid was asked to show a man to Colonel Fitzpatrick’s room. She said there was no Fitzpatrick in the house but there was a Captain Fitzgerald. Shown to his room, the 22 year old Fitzgerald was shot four times, fatal wounds in the head, heart and wrist. He had been lodging there for a month according to the Irish Times ‘an ex-military officer, and had served as a barrack defence officer in the RIC somewhere in Co. Clare. While on duty he was kidnapped. He was placed against a wall and shot at, but was not much injured. He dropped to the ground pretending that he was dead, and seized an opportunity to climb over a wall, and so escaped his torturers. He was an Irishman, and was attending a hospital in Dublin.’
Fintan O’Toole ‘The Irish Times Book of the Century’. Gill & Macmillan, Dublin 1999. p59
28 Upper Pembroke Street: the main spy centre saw four agents killed but two major targets escaped.
22 Lower Mount Street: A Mr Mahon, an Auxilliary officer and member of the British Inteligence Service was killed by another IRA hit team but when a maid was asked to be shown to another officer’s room, the door had been closed and locked. Shots were fired through it but the officer escaped. Neighbours, hearing the shots, rushed out on the street and attracted a passing group of Auxilliaries. Firing into the house, the IRA men escaped through the backdoor where they were chased, one wounded and arrested ( Frank Teeling ). Two auxilliaries were sent to the nearest barracks for reinforcements. En route, they were stopped on the Canal Bridge at Mount Street and dragged into the hallway of a house on Northumberland Street. Frank Garniss (34) from Yorkshire and Cecil Morris (24) from London were questioned and then taken to the garden and shot.
117 Morehampton Road: Captain Donald Maclean (31) of the Rifle Brigade lodged with his wife and child in a house owned by Thomas Smith (45). Also lodging was Smith’s brother-in-law, Mr Cadlow. When the IRA hit team arrived, Maclean, Smith and Cadlow were taken to a room and shot, killing all except Cadlow. The team left, passing into Herbert Park Rd.
Mount Street: In another house an officer pleaded not to be shot in front of his wife. She was pushed into an adjoining room and he was shot by Tom Ennis. In another house, a girlfriend threw herself protectively across another officer – she was pulled off and he was killed.
Gresham Hotel: Captain Wilde and Lieutenant McCormack were shot in their rooms in the Gresham – Wilde in the doorway of his room and McCormack through the newspaper he was reading in bed.
Lower Baggot Street: Captain Baggelly, a courts-martial officer rumoured to have taken part in the torture of Kevin Barry was shot by a three man group as he attempted to escape through an open window – his body was left dangling there until an ambulance arrived. For many years it was rumoured he was shot by none other than Sean Lemass.
Eastwood Hotel, Leeson Street: the officer earmarked for execution had a lucky escape as he was out that morning – the story goes that the angry Volunteer allegedly grabbed a sword scabbard and beat his mistress whom he found lying in his bed.
Rathfarnham: Todd Andrews was understandably relieved to find his target was out.
28 Upper Mount Street: Vinnie Byrne shot and killed Colonel Peter Aimes and Major George Bennett, field leaders of the Cairo Gang.
All told, 14 officers were killed that morning but a figure closer to 20 is more likely, as a number of people killed were not connected to the Secret Service or shot in panic or because they could have identified the gunmen later. One of those killed was a cousin to later Field Mashall Viscount Mountgomery of Alamein. Montgomery was serving at the time with the 17th Cork Infantry Brigade. Six were wounded. Four of those killed were military Intelligence Officers and four were either Secret Service or MI5 agents.
Dave Nelligan, the Collins’ mole on duty in the Castle, reported that there was ‘Panic…utter panic’ as reports of the killings came in. It was quickly realised that the IRA had single-handedly and in one stroke, neutralised the entire intelligence system in Dublin. As news spread amongst military personnel and civil servants, hundreds of people with families attempted to seek sanctuary within the Castle walls, convinced that they were all targets of Collins gunmen.
Collins said of the killings: “For myself, my conscience is clear. There is no crime in detecting and destroying in wartime, the spy and informer. They have been destroyed without trial. I have paid them back in their own coin’
Meanwhile at Croke Park, a Gaelic football match between Dublin and Tipperary was beginning to prepare.
By lunchtime, with gates open and the stadium filling, Sean Russel, a senior IRA leader at Croke Park was getting increasingly concerned at a growing security force presence. He urged the match be postponed and was supported by Collins. A Senior GAA official, Frank Shouldice refused. The RIC had made plans to search all the fans in the grounds and identify any known and suspected IRA members. With the game about to start and with some 8,000 in the stadium, the police action began before the troop cordon surrounding the ground was completed. It was said that IRA lookouts shot at the RIC and Auxilliaries, a claim always denied by those at the match. Some later testified that shooting came from armoured cars across the nearby canal. Eleven in the crowd ( 10 men and 1 woman ) were killed including the player, Michael Hogan of Tipperary and wounding 62.
The British authorities later reported that 30 revolvers were found in the grounds and in the stands.
#(Michael Hogan was later commemorated by naming the largest stand in Croke Park, the Hogan Stand )
Later, a mixed squad of Auxilliaries and RIC search a group of civilians in Lincoln Place near TCD, then ordered them to leave and run, shot and wounded seven, one fatally.
Three republican prisoners, Ernie O’Malley, Simon Donnelly and Frank Teeling escaped from Kilmainham Jail, Dublin.
The killing wasn’t over yet for British forces – IRA volunteers Clancy and McKee and the civilian Clune were killed in the guardroom of Dublin Castle early on the 22nd November. A post-mortem showed all three had been bayoneted and shot with the authorities explaining their deaths away by saying all three had attempted to escape using hand grenades. Dave Nelligan reported to Collins that when the bodies were loaded onto a British truck, one of the two officers responsible, Captain Hardy went into a rage and battered their bodies and faces with his torch and revolver. (Many years later, this same officer wrote a novel based on events at the time).
Meanwhile in Down, Cork and Waterford, the RIC suffered casualties. Head Constable John Kearney (51) from Westmeath was seriously wounded in an attack in Newry, Co. Down. He died the following day. In Leap, Co. Cork, Constable Harry Jays (22) from Hampshire was killed and in Cappoquin, Co. Waterford, Constable Isaac Rea (20) was seriously wounded in a drive by shooting, dying on December 28th.
‘This was Bloody Sunday...it produced something ‘not far short of panic in London’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p319
Mark Sturgis commented in his diary:
‘It has been a day of black murder. What they hope to gain by it God alone knows – the reasons must be the forlorn hope at striking at the military ring which is closing on them and no doubt the desire to make a show of strength to impress the wobbling allegiance of the County Councils, the Railway men and a large majority of less violent Sinn Feiners, who show such obvious signs of throwing up the sponge given half a chance to do so….
What had happened was that at least a battalion of the IRA, perhaps more, systematically raided the houses occupied by military officers – mostly either those employed in Courts Martial or Secret Service men – in parties of twelve or upwards at 9 am this morning. They have murdered 10 officers, 2 civilians ( not in Government employ, one was the owner of a house occupied by officers and the other an officer’s brother-in-law ) and 2 of Tudor’s Auxiliaries. Many of these were caught in bed and probably all unarmed and defenceless, and some were killed in the presence of their wives…the murders took place in nine private houses in the vicinity of Upper and Lower Mount Street and Baggot Street, except two secret service men assassinated in the Gresham Hotel and the two Auxillliaries who were killed out of doors…
Major Carew…put up a good show and escaped. A party went to his house, he did not let them in and fired from the window hitting two – this lot made off and he escaped unharmed. Other officers had, I understand, still narrower escapes. The Two Auxilliaries who were killed were with a party in a lorry passing down Mount Street when a woman or child screamed from a window that officers were being murdered.The A’s rushed the house and took prisoner four men, one at least absolutely red handed who will, please God, swing within the week. The two A’s who were subsequently found shot dead in a back garden were sent back by the officer for reinforcements or more ammunition – were caught by a supporting picket of IRA, taken up a back lane and shot… as for the casualties at Croke Park: ‘we have heard some account but no substantiated detail f shooting this afternoon at a Hurly match at Croke Park. It was arranged some time ago between Dublin district and the RIC to round up the crowd and search them for bad men and arms on the assumption that a large number of such, both from Tipperary and Dublin, might well be expected there…Police and Auxiliaires went from Beggars Bush – military were to co-operate but it is said were late or police early – the police found a Sinn Fein picket at the gate who fired on them – they returned the fire and ten were killed, 11 seriously wounded and about 50 slightly. ..30 revolvers are said to have been picked up on the ground by police afterwards…’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 76-77
Immediate steps were taken by the British Administration with roadblocks on all exits from the city, trains stopped and searched, the Kingstown-Hollyhead steamers searched, City Hall comandeered and hotels adjacent to the Castle commandeered for all military officers to move into immediately. Widespread arrests of known IRA members and imprisonment in Ballykinlar special detention camp in Co. Down. City wide curfew from 10 pm to 5 am instead of the exisiting 12-5 am
All of the assassination teams had returned to their homes by the time the authorities locked down the city. A boat had been laid on to return the teams from a rendezvous point on the docks to North Dublin.
Edward Lysaght, well known in Ireland and the UK for his experiments in co-operative farming and as chairman of the publishing firm Maunsel & Co Ltd, wrote of the killings in Dublin Castle:
‘Mr Conor Clune was shot while in custody by Crown forces on November 22nd 1920. It is stated in the official report that he was trying to escape from an old detective office in Exchange Court, Dublin, i.e. part of Dublin Castle. He had no legitimate reason to fear arrest. He had been with us until a few hours before his arrest on Saturday 20th, and all his movements were quite open. He had no motive for trying to escape from any custody seeing that he knew I was outside and would identify him as soon as possible, and thus procure his release – to say nothing of trying to escape from within the portals of Dublin Castle…he was not a member of the IRA and never had been. The official report states that he was Lieutenant in the Clare Brigade IRA….the official report refers to a note book found on him and supposed to incriminate. That note book was solely concerned with my business…the official report stated that he had been staying at the hotel at which he was arrested for a number of days, but had not registered. He had , of course, in actual fact been in Dublin only one night…he came to Dublin for the purpose of having audited the annual accounts of the Raheen cooperative Society Ltd.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 25, December 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Lysaght later paid dearly for telling the truth. During the funeral of Mr Clune in Co. Clare, Lysaght’s house and co-operative farm in which the best interests of both men were engaged were raided and party destroyed by Black and Tans.
Kathleen Clark recalled when the bodies of Clune, Clancy and McKee were released for burial..…‘The bodies of the three men were handed over to their relatives and lay in the mortuary chapel of the Pro-Cathederal, Marlborough Street…while I was there Mick Collins came in; when he looked in the coffin of Peadar Clancy, tears rushed from his eyes and fell on Peadar. I did not wonder; all three men were horribly mutiliated. One had a large hole in his forehead; it looked as if an explosive bullet had been used. All the faces had the look of tortured men, which even death had not washed away the memory of…’
Kathleen Clarke. ‘Revoloutionary Woman’ O’Brien Press 1991. P178
Lloyd George it is believed held little sympathy for the executed intelligence gatherers ‘They got what they deserved, beaten by counter jumpers’
More Information on "Bloody Sunday" .............................................................................................................................................
For additional & comprehensive detail on the Bloody Sunday 1920 events, The Cairo Gang and British Intelligence in Ireland,
click here (with thanks to David at www.bloodysunday.co.uk)
..................................................................................................................................................................................................................
The body of Fr Giffith of Barna, Co Galway was found with a bullet wound to the head.
The country was now being subject to almost daily burnings, raids, reprisals, killings and maimings. Reinforcements poured in from Britain, 43,000 soldiers were now stationed in Ireland plus the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries. Dublin and to a lesser extent Cork and the South-West were now subject to a reign of terror that lasted for almost a year. Officially sanctioned shootings, burnings, raids and arrests were carried out by the ‘Auxies’ and ‘Tans’ and would gather up 500 suspects by the end of November.
After the Truce in 1921, Michael Collins explained to General Crozier why the IRA shot dead the 14 agents ‘I found out that those fellows we put on the spot were going to put a lot of us on the spot, so I got in first.’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.51
Constable Isaac James Rea (20) awas shot and fatally wounded while out walking in Cappoquin County Waterford. He died 27 December, 1920
Further press clippings - click here or illustration below.
22
Dublin Castle was in dissaray during the day. Mark Sturgiss comments in his diary:
‘Dublin has been quiet as a mouse today…Wilson told me he did not round up any treasures last night – he wants to go slowly and thoroughly. This morning Daily Mail attacks us ‘Murder begets Murder’ and this crop is the result of our misrule and reprisals etc. They take for granted that the Croke Park shooting was an unjustified reprisal on a helpless crowd…reports from Tudor and Boyd…make a clear story of it. The plan was for the soldiers to surround the place quietly, then the police after announcing per megaphone that the people were to file out by exits would search the males and collect evil men and guns. As it turned out the police arrived before the soldiers were in position and the moment their first lorry hove in sight, 3 men on the grandstand whipped out revolvers and fired in the air – an obviously prearranged signal – which stampeded the crowd who rushed the far fence, broke it down and were fired upon by the RIC who had heard the shooting and were themselves fired at by Sinn Fein pickets at two entrances as they got out of their lorries…
A strange and possibly unpleasant affair in the guard room at our gate is the incident of today. Three men, Clancy, McKee (Vice Commandant Dublin Brigade IRA ) and a man Clune, classed as bad were prisoners there…it is reported that they suddenly made a desperate attack on the guards whose rifles were beside them as they sat reading – one got hold of a rfile and fired two shots – another seized a spade and in the fight all were shot dead by the guard.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 79
Dublin’s Lord Mayor visited Dublin Castle requesting police protection for the sister of Fr Griffin to get to the funeral.
Dreadful series of murders in Dublin
from The Irish Times 22 November 1920
"Concerted Attacks on Officers of His Majesty's Forces Yesterday morning there was enacted in Dublin a series of crimes unparalleled in the history of the city. As a result, fourteen members of His Majesty's Forces were murdered in their houses, and a number of other seriously wounded.
The attacks, which were apparently pre-concerted, in every case occurred at the same hour. At nine o'clock in the morning the houses and hotels where these officers resided were entered by civilian bands. Most of the officers were in their bedrooms; some were dressed and ready to go to breakfast.
At least twelve were shot dead in this way, while two auxiliary police officers who were on their way to procure assistance were set upon and taken into a private house, where in a back garden they were shot dead. The official report indicates that most of these men were in some way connected with the administration of the law.
Later in the day, while a Gaelic football match was being played at Croke Park, Jones's Road, where many thousands of people were assembled, Forces of the Crown arrived, with the object of searching for perpetrators of the crimes of the morning. According to the official report, these forces were instantly fired on by pickets of civilians guarding the grounds, and the Crown Forces immediately replied. The result of this action was a violent stampede amongst the spectators and more firing, in the course of which it is estimated that ten persons were killed and upwards of fifty wounded. In addition to those wounded by gunfire, many suffered from injuries received in the stampede ...
The Murder of Captain Fitzgerald
About nine o'clock yesterday morning (Sunday) a man knocked at the door of 28 Earlsfort Terrace, which was opened by the servant. He asked her if Mr Fitzgerald lived there. She answered in the negative, and he said that he knew Captain Fitzgerald lived there. He asked her to point out his room, and pointed his revolver at her. There were seven men at the door, of whom two entered, and took up a position in the hall. The first man who entered went to Mr Fitzgerald's room, and a moment later the servant heard Captain Fitzgerald utter a loud shout. She heard one of the men who had entered the room say 'Come on.' Four shots rang out immediately, and the man left the room at once and ran away, the others following.
When the police arrived shortly afterwards they found Captain Fitzgerald dead in his bed, with three bullet marks - one in the forehead, one in the heart, and one in the right wrist. Captain Fitzgerald had been lodging in the house for a month, and the people in the house believed him to be attached to the Auxiliary RIC Forces. He was, as a matter of fact, an ex-military officer, and had served as a barrack defence officer in the RIC somewhere in the County of Clare. While on that duty he was kidnapped. He was placed against a wall and shot at, but he was not much injured. He dropped to the ground pretending that he was dead, and seized an opportunity to climb over the wall, and so escaped from his torturers. He was an Irishman, and was attending a hospital in Dublin.
Fight in Lower Mount Street
At 22 Lower Mount Street, at about nine o'clock, a man knocked at the door. He asked the servant if he could see Mr Mahon. She replied that she did not know, and at the same time twenty men rushed into the hall, one of whom, she noticed, had a revolver. The man asked her to show him Mr Mahon's room, and she led him to it, and a number of men entered the hall. She immediately heard five shots. The men asked her for another officer's room, and she showed them the door of the apartment. The door was locked, and shots were fired through it, but the officer managed to make his escape.
The occupant of a neighbouring house having heard the shots, shouted and attracted the attention of some Auxiliary Police officers who were passing. They fired into the house, and the raiders ran out by the back door. They were pursued by the officers, who wounded one and took him prisoner. They also arrested three others. The Auxiliaries rescued the officer, and sent two of their number to the nearest barrack for reinforcements. Those men, whose names were Garrin and Morris, never reached the barracks, and their dead bodies were subsequently found in a garden some distance away.
Three Killed in Morehampton Road
A party of about twenty armed men called at 117 Morehampton Road a few minutes before 9 o'clock. The house is called 'Brianna,' and was occupied by Thomas Herbert Smith, aged 45 years, with his wife and three children. He had in the house as lodger Captain Donald Louis Maclean, aged 31, with his wife and child. There was also in the house Mr Smith's brother-in-law, a gentleman named Cadlow, a native of Prestwick. Mr Maclean belonged to the Rifle Brigade, and had been lodging there for some months. While all the inmates were still in bed a knock and a ring brought Mr Smith's son, aged ten years, to the door.
About twenty men rushed into the house and upstairs. They ordered Captain Maclean and Mr Cadlow, who occupied separate rooms, out of their beds. The raiders brought them to a spare bedroom on the upper landing. They brought Mr Smith there also, and there Captain Maclean and Mr Smith were shot dead; Mr Cadlow was very seriously wounded. The raiders then ran out of the house, and went along into Herbert Park Road. Two constables, passing the house about five minutes later, were informed of the murders by Captain Maclean's widow ...
Shooting at Croke Park
from The Irish Times 22 November 1920
Wild Scenes at Football Match
The murders which occurred in the morning were followed by an unexpected fusillade at Croke Park in the afternoon, when nine people were shot dead and a great many wounded. It had been arranged that the challenge Gaelic football match between County Tipperary and County Dublin should take place in the grounds of Croke Park, Jones's Road, Dublin, and it is estimated that about 15,000 spectators had assembled to witness the contest.
According to what can be gathered from inquiries, the match had been in progress for about fifteen minutes when a force of armed men arrived in lorries and armoured cars. It is difficult to discover what actually happened, but it appears from statements of spectators that during the progress of the match armed men in uniform arrived simultaneously at the four corners of the field. Almost immediately afterwards there was firing. There was great activity in the district by forces of the Crown, armoured cars and military lorries moving about, and a general stampede followed after the first volley. A great many shots were fired, and numbers of people were injured by being knocked down in the rush and trampled upon in the scrimmage. After the shooting it was stated that the death toll was heavy. The shooting was heard in the suburbs, and people were generally alarmed.
Going toward Clonliffe Road one could see excited persons hastening from the direction of Jones's Road, and at all the exits the same anxiety to get away was evident. Some people ran so quickly that they lost their hats and did not stop to search for them. The common object seemed to be a tramcar, and these vehicles were quickly crowded. An Irish Times representative conversed with a number of men who said that they had just escaped from Jones's Road. One of these men, with some others, had lost his hat in rushing away, and he gave a vivid account of what he saw. He said that lorries and armoured cars arrived at the football ground and divided into four groups. The four corners of the field were occupied by the armed forces, and shots were fired from machine guns in armoured cars, and from rifles carried by the occupants of the lorries. A man who was standing beside him was shot and fell at his feet, and he then rushed away.
In the House of Commons, Irish Nationalist MP Devlin was phsycially assaulted by a Unionist member for his remarks when the Chief Secretary read out details of the Sunday killings.
C.J.Phillips, secretary of the Irish Situation Committee of the British Cabinet passed to Patrick Moylett an urgent message for Griffith ‘Ask Griffith for God’s sake to keep his head; and not to break off the slender link which has been established…these men were soldiers, and took a soldiers risk’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P219
IRA Newmarket Battalion, Cork No. 2 Brigade Captain Patrick McCarthy is shot dead during an ambush on "Black and Tans" at Upper Mill Lane, Millstreet.
Dublin Castle was in dissaray during the day. Mark Sturgiss comments in his diary:
‘Dublin has been quiet as a mouse today…Wilson told me he did not round up any treasures last night – he wants to go slowly and thoroughly. This morning Daily Mail attacks us ‘Murder begets Murder’ and this crop is the result of our misrule and reprisals etc. They take for granted that the Croke Park shooting was an unjustified reprisal on a helpless crowd…reports from Tudor and Boyd…make a clear story of it. The plan was for the soldiers to surround the place quietly, then the police after announcing per megaphone that the people were to file out by exits would search the males and collect evil men and guns. As it turned out the police arrived before the soldiers were in position and the moment their first lorry hove in sight, 3 men on the grandstand whipped out revolvers and fired in the air – an obviously prearranged signal – which stampeded the crowd who rushed the far fence, broke it down and were fired upon by the RIC who had heard the shooting and were themselves fired at by Sinn Fein pickets at two entrances as they got out of their lorries…
A strange and possibly unpleasant affair in the guard room at our gate is the incident of today. Three men, Clancy, McKee (Vice Commandant Dublin Brigade IRA ) and a man Clune, classed as bad were prisoners there…it is reported that they suddenly made a desperate attack on the guards whose rifles were beside them as they sat reading – one got hold of a rfile and fired two shots – another seized a spade and in the fight all were shot dead by the guard.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 79
Dublin’s Lord Mayor visited Dublin Castle requesting police protection for the sister of Fr Griffin to get to the funeral.
Dreadful series of murders in Dublin
from The Irish Times 22 November 1920
"Concerted Attacks on Officers of His Majesty's Forces Yesterday morning there was enacted in Dublin a series of crimes unparalleled in the history of the city. As a result, fourteen members of His Majesty's Forces were murdered in their houses, and a number of other seriously wounded.
The attacks, which were apparently pre-concerted, in every case occurred at the same hour. At nine o'clock in the morning the houses and hotels where these officers resided were entered by civilian bands. Most of the officers were in their bedrooms; some were dressed and ready to go to breakfast.
At least twelve were shot dead in this way, while two auxiliary police officers who were on their way to procure assistance were set upon and taken into a private house, where in a back garden they were shot dead. The official report indicates that most of these men were in some way connected with the administration of the law.
Later in the day, while a Gaelic football match was being played at Croke Park, Jones's Road, where many thousands of people were assembled, Forces of the Crown arrived, with the object of searching for perpetrators of the crimes of the morning. According to the official report, these forces were instantly fired on by pickets of civilians guarding the grounds, and the Crown Forces immediately replied. The result of this action was a violent stampede amongst the spectators and more firing, in the course of which it is estimated that ten persons were killed and upwards of fifty wounded. In addition to those wounded by gunfire, many suffered from injuries received in the stampede ...
The Murder of Captain Fitzgerald
About nine o'clock yesterday morning (Sunday) a man knocked at the door of 28 Earlsfort Terrace, which was opened by the servant. He asked her if Mr Fitzgerald lived there. She answered in the negative, and he said that he knew Captain Fitzgerald lived there. He asked her to point out his room, and pointed his revolver at her. There were seven men at the door, of whom two entered, and took up a position in the hall. The first man who entered went to Mr Fitzgerald's room, and a moment later the servant heard Captain Fitzgerald utter a loud shout. She heard one of the men who had entered the room say 'Come on.' Four shots rang out immediately, and the man left the room at once and ran away, the others following.
When the police arrived shortly afterwards they found Captain Fitzgerald dead in his bed, with three bullet marks - one in the forehead, one in the heart, and one in the right wrist. Captain Fitzgerald had been lodging in the house for a month, and the people in the house believed him to be attached to the Auxiliary RIC Forces. He was, as a matter of fact, an ex-military officer, and had served as a barrack defence officer in the RIC somewhere in the County of Clare. While on that duty he was kidnapped. He was placed against a wall and shot at, but he was not much injured. He dropped to the ground pretending that he was dead, and seized an opportunity to climb over the wall, and so escaped from his torturers. He was an Irishman, and was attending a hospital in Dublin.
Fight in Lower Mount Street
At 22 Lower Mount Street, at about nine o'clock, a man knocked at the door. He asked the servant if he could see Mr Mahon. She replied that she did not know, and at the same time twenty men rushed into the hall, one of whom, she noticed, had a revolver. The man asked her to show him Mr Mahon's room, and she led him to it, and a number of men entered the hall. She immediately heard five shots. The men asked her for another officer's room, and she showed them the door of the apartment. The door was locked, and shots were fired through it, but the officer managed to make his escape.
The occupant of a neighbouring house having heard the shots, shouted and attracted the attention of some Auxiliary Police officers who were passing. They fired into the house, and the raiders ran out by the back door. They were pursued by the officers, who wounded one and took him prisoner. They also arrested three others. The Auxiliaries rescued the officer, and sent two of their number to the nearest barrack for reinforcements. Those men, whose names were Garrin and Morris, never reached the barracks, and their dead bodies were subsequently found in a garden some distance away.
Three Killed in Morehampton Road
A party of about twenty armed men called at 117 Morehampton Road a few minutes before 9 o'clock. The house is called 'Brianna,' and was occupied by Thomas Herbert Smith, aged 45 years, with his wife and three children. He had in the house as lodger Captain Donald Louis Maclean, aged 31, with his wife and child. There was also in the house Mr Smith's brother-in-law, a gentleman named Cadlow, a native of Prestwick. Mr Maclean belonged to the Rifle Brigade, and had been lodging there for some months. While all the inmates were still in bed a knock and a ring brought Mr Smith's son, aged ten years, to the door.
About twenty men rushed into the house and upstairs. They ordered Captain Maclean and Mr Cadlow, who occupied separate rooms, out of their beds. The raiders brought them to a spare bedroom on the upper landing. They brought Mr Smith there also, and there Captain Maclean and Mr Smith were shot dead; Mr Cadlow was very seriously wounded. The raiders then ran out of the house, and went along into Herbert Park Road. Two constables, passing the house about five minutes later, were informed of the murders by Captain Maclean's widow ...
Shooting at Croke Park
from The Irish Times 22 November 1920
Wild Scenes at Football Match
The murders which occurred in the morning were followed by an unexpected fusillade at Croke Park in the afternoon, when nine people were shot dead and a great many wounded. It had been arranged that the challenge Gaelic football match between County Tipperary and County Dublin should take place in the grounds of Croke Park, Jones's Road, Dublin, and it is estimated that about 15,000 spectators had assembled to witness the contest.
According to what can be gathered from inquiries, the match had been in progress for about fifteen minutes when a force of armed men arrived in lorries and armoured cars. It is difficult to discover what actually happened, but it appears from statements of spectators that during the progress of the match armed men in uniform arrived simultaneously at the four corners of the field. Almost immediately afterwards there was firing. There was great activity in the district by forces of the Crown, armoured cars and military lorries moving about, and a general stampede followed after the first volley. A great many shots were fired, and numbers of people were injured by being knocked down in the rush and trampled upon in the scrimmage. After the shooting it was stated that the death toll was heavy. The shooting was heard in the suburbs, and people were generally alarmed.
Going toward Clonliffe Road one could see excited persons hastening from the direction of Jones's Road, and at all the exits the same anxiety to get away was evident. Some people ran so quickly that they lost their hats and did not stop to search for them. The common object seemed to be a tramcar, and these vehicles were quickly crowded. An Irish Times representative conversed with a number of men who said that they had just escaped from Jones's Road. One of these men, with some others, had lost his hat in rushing away, and he gave a vivid account of what he saw. He said that lorries and armoured cars arrived at the football ground and divided into four groups. The four corners of the field were occupied by the armed forces, and shots were fired from machine guns in armoured cars, and from rifles carried by the occupants of the lorries. A man who was standing beside him was shot and fell at his feet, and he then rushed away.
In the House of Commons, Irish Nationalist MP Devlin was phsycially assaulted by a Unionist member for his remarks when the Chief Secretary read out details of the Sunday killings.
C.J.Phillips, secretary of the Irish Situation Committee of the British Cabinet passed to Patrick Moylett an urgent message for Griffith ‘Ask Griffith for God’s sake to keep his head; and not to break off the slender link which has been established…these men were soldiers, and took a soldiers risk’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P219
IRA Newmarket Battalion, Cork No. 2 Brigade Captain Patrick McCarthy is shot dead during an ambush on "Black and Tans" at Upper Mill Lane, Millstreet.
Meanwhile, in the quiet Dublin suburb of Terenue, a couple were married.
Michael O'Brien & Elizabeth 'Lillie' Clancy were wed in St. Joseph's Church, Terenure and held their celebration at 16 Airfield Road, Rathgar. However, this was no 'ordinary' wedding. The groom was an Irish Republican Army Intelligence officer involved with planning the previous day's 'neutralisation' of the British Intelligence service in Dublin. Also present, a mere 3km from the centre of the British administration of Ireland in Dublin Castle, was the 'Most Wanted Man in the British Empire' with a £10,000 bounty on his head, Michael Collins and his Adjutant General Gearoid O'Sullivan. My paternal grand-father Michael was the Best Man & Grand-Uncle, Dublin Whiskey distiller Dennis Lynch & his wife were also in attendance.
The O'Brien-Clancy wedding was featured in a 1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter article from November 2015 - click here or the image below to access. (this will download the Newsletter from this site - about 10mb).
The £10,000 British bounty on Michael Collins for information leading to his arrest 'dead or alive' would conservatively be estimated at around £425k/€500k/$555k in 2019 values.
Michael O'Brien & Elizabeth 'Lillie' Clancy were wed in St. Joseph's Church, Terenure and held their celebration at 16 Airfield Road, Rathgar. However, this was no 'ordinary' wedding. The groom was an Irish Republican Army Intelligence officer involved with planning the previous day's 'neutralisation' of the British Intelligence service in Dublin. Also present, a mere 3km from the centre of the British administration of Ireland in Dublin Castle, was the 'Most Wanted Man in the British Empire' with a £10,000 bounty on his head, Michael Collins and his Adjutant General Gearoid O'Sullivan. My paternal grand-father Michael was the Best Man & Grand-Uncle, Dublin Whiskey distiller Dennis Lynch & his wife were also in attendance.
The O'Brien-Clancy wedding was featured in a 1916-2016 Commemoration Newsletter article from November 2015 - click here or the image below to access. (this will download the Newsletter from this site - about 10mb).
The £10,000 British bounty on Michael Collins for information leading to his arrest 'dead or alive' would conservatively be estimated at around £425k/€500k/$555k in 2019 values.
Michael Collins wedding gift to the couple, a silver sugar bowl made by Weir & Sons of Grafton Street, Dublin was a feature article in the October 2019 Style Magazine. Click here or the illustration below to view the article on this site.
For further press clippings - click here
23
The Irish Independent commented: ‘Dublin has just passed through a week-end the like of which it has not experienced since 1916’ The London Times was appalled ‘ An army already periliously indisicplined and a police force avowedly beyond control have defiled by heinous acts the reputation of England.’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P216
Informers to the Castle appeared to be still active, according the Mark Sturgiss. 'O' (Brig.Gen Ormonde Winter) says he has just got it from an informer that tonight they may try to tamper with the electric light and then rush the Castle – there’ll be the hell of a devarsion if they do as our sherry is not too weak to fire us to feats of daring. The information came from Mrs C who is not too accurate as a rule.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 80
The Knights of Columanus Washington chapter commented on recent events in Ireland..”Today an appeal for Irish liberation grips the hearts of liberals in every land…the real Irish grievance today is that a group of nations which profess an interest in establishing the principles of self-determination throughout the world, permits one of it’s members to withhold self-determination from Ireland, or,rather that the group appears to be establishing an agreement among it’s members whereby League brute force rather than British brute force hall be the power which is to prevent Ireland from winning her self-determination.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 23, December 4, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Four IRA members (P O'Donoghue, P Trahey, James Mehigan & Stephen Dorman) from 2nd Battalion, Cork No. 1 Brigade are killed
Among the IRA men arrested on this day in Dublin in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday was Thomas Whelan, a 23 year old from Connemara who was living at 14 Barrow St, Ringsend. He was to be executed on 14th March 1921.
Further press clippings - click here
24
Despite the events over the previous few days, a few in Dublin Castle were somewhat optimistic. ‘Wilson told me he had never felt so optimistic – there is a feeling that we are now up against the gunmen not a nation – surely all the extremists are sick of it and would say so if ‘terror’ gave them a chance – so I suppose we must go on hammering the IRA till sanity can become vocal’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 81
Griffith replied to C.J.Philips message that he ‘will do his best [to] stop shootings, but afraid he will lose control if reprisals continue…let them do their part – I’ll do mine’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P219
Philips and Moylett began a round of almost daily meetings and according to Arthur Mitchell, an agreement seemed near.
Meanwhile during the debates in the House of Commons, the Irish Chief Secretary commented on official reprisals against creameries: ‘They are not always innocent institutions, allied with gaily comparisoned dairy maid, spreading beneficient light and humour in the neighbourhood. They are sometimes the headquarters of the assassins.’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.51
In the House of Commons, Greenwood says that “The murder gang in Ireland issues an illegal document known as the Irish Republican Bulletin. … I consider it a loathsome alliance that men whose hands are red with the blood of gallant soldiers and policemen should come into the lobby of this House and be allowed to circulate their hideous documents of falsehood.”
Gallagher (1953), pg 107
Hansard record of House of Commons Debate on Ireland - 24 November 1920 - click here.
Liam Deasy and Jim Lordan - two officers of the Cork No. 3 Brigade, IRA are detained by the Auxiliaries (under Colonel Crake) at Castletownkenneigh but they are released.
Labour leader, Arthur Anderson, accompanied by George Russel (AE), meet with Llyod George in Downing St. to push for a ceasefire but with no practical results.
Constable Thomas Dillon (25) from Roscommon was killed on Infirmary Road, Phoenix Park, Dublin.
Constable Michael Dennehy RIC of Ruskey, County Roscommon, disappeared, believed killed by the IRA. The is some confusion about how and when Dennehy died. He left his Barracks and proceeded to Knockhall, County Roscommon, and at about 8.30pm he was kidnapped by unknown armed men. Dail Éireann department of Defence records show that Dennehy was arrested and charged by the I.R.A. with espionage, court martialled by a duly authorised authority, found guilty, and executed on the 24th of November 1920. There are several versions on how and when Michael Dennehy died but some state he was not executed but had fled to America.
Further press clippings - click here
Despite the events over the previous few days, a few in Dublin Castle were somewhat optimistic. ‘Wilson told me he had never felt so optimistic – there is a feeling that we are now up against the gunmen not a nation – surely all the extremists are sick of it and would say so if ‘terror’ gave them a chance – so I suppose we must go on hammering the IRA till sanity can become vocal’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 81
Griffith replied to C.J.Philips message that he ‘will do his best [to] stop shootings, but afraid he will lose control if reprisals continue…let them do their part – I’ll do mine’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P219
Philips and Moylett began a round of almost daily meetings and according to Arthur Mitchell, an agreement seemed near.
Meanwhile during the debates in the House of Commons, the Irish Chief Secretary commented on official reprisals against creameries: ‘They are not always innocent institutions, allied with gaily comparisoned dairy maid, spreading beneficient light and humour in the neighbourhood. They are sometimes the headquarters of the assassins.’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.51
In the House of Commons, Greenwood says that “The murder gang in Ireland issues an illegal document known as the Irish Republican Bulletin. … I consider it a loathsome alliance that men whose hands are red with the blood of gallant soldiers and policemen should come into the lobby of this House and be allowed to circulate their hideous documents of falsehood.”
Gallagher (1953), pg 107
Hansard record of House of Commons Debate on Ireland - 24 November 1920 - click here.
Liam Deasy and Jim Lordan - two officers of the Cork No. 3 Brigade, IRA are detained by the Auxiliaries (under Colonel Crake) at Castletownkenneigh but they are released.
Labour leader, Arthur Anderson, accompanied by George Russel (AE), meet with Llyod George in Downing St. to push for a ceasefire but with no practical results.
Constable Thomas Dillon (25) from Roscommon was killed on Infirmary Road, Phoenix Park, Dublin.
Constable Michael Dennehy RIC of Ruskey, County Roscommon, disappeared, believed killed by the IRA. The is some confusion about how and when Dennehy died. He left his Barracks and proceeded to Knockhall, County Roscommon, and at about 8.30pm he was kidnapped by unknown armed men. Dail Éireann department of Defence records show that Dennehy was arrested and charged by the I.R.A. with espionage, court martialled by a duly authorised authority, found guilty, and executed on the 24th of November 1920. There are several versions on how and when Michael Dennehy died but some state he was not executed but had fled to America.
Further press clippings - click here
25
Dublin Castle requested that all shops close as a mark of respect for the funeral procession of 10 of the assassinated British officers on Sunday. The procession left George V hospital at 10am, proceeded along the quays and onto a destroyer at the North Wall.
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter reported a ‘monster mass meeting was held in Milan, Italy at which Deputy Mauri recited the history of Ireland’s seven centuries of struggle for independence and strongly stigmatised the imperial rule of England. Telegrams of sympathy and support where sent to President de Valera and Cardinal Logue.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 23, December 4, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Meanwhile it was reported that Sir A Williamson in the House of Commons annoucned that six British NCO’s had been reduced in rank and another jailed for 7 days for taking part in the Balbriggan raid. These were the only actions taken to discipline the British military.
The Tans raided Liberty Hall, HQ of the ICTU. Finding nothing, they decided to make off with some cultural loot – all the musical instruments belonging to the Unions band in addition to arresting the President and Treasurer of the Irish Trades Union Congress and of the Irish Labor Party.
" Irish labor has acted as American labor or English labor would have acted had it been faced with a similar question. Workers in the United States will know how to sympathize with their Irish colleagues. But the British Labor Party which has already given official recognition to Ireland's right to freedom still hesitates to use its power in Ireland’s aid. "
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Ricardo Montalbán, actor born (d. 2009)
Dublin Castle requested that all shops close as a mark of respect for the funeral procession of 10 of the assassinated British officers on Sunday. The procession left George V hospital at 10am, proceeded along the quays and onto a destroyer at the North Wall.
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter reported a ‘monster mass meeting was held in Milan, Italy at which Deputy Mauri recited the history of Ireland’s seven centuries of struggle for independence and strongly stigmatised the imperial rule of England. Telegrams of sympathy and support where sent to President de Valera and Cardinal Logue.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 23, December 4, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Meanwhile it was reported that Sir A Williamson in the House of Commons annoucned that six British NCO’s had been reduced in rank and another jailed for 7 days for taking part in the Balbriggan raid. These were the only actions taken to discipline the British military.
The Tans raided Liberty Hall, HQ of the ICTU. Finding nothing, they decided to make off with some cultural loot – all the musical instruments belonging to the Unions band in addition to arresting the President and Treasurer of the Irish Trades Union Congress and of the Irish Labor Party.
" Irish labor has acted as American labor or English labor would have acted had it been faced with a similar question. Workers in the United States will know how to sympathize with their Irish colleagues. But the British Labor Party which has already given official recognition to Ireland's right to freedom still hesitates to use its power in Ireland’s aid. "
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Ricardo Montalbán, actor born (d. 2009)
Further press clippings - click here
26
Arthur Griffith, Eamonn Duggan and Eoin MacNeill were among 500 arrested. Dorothy Macardle understood that Collins now took over as Acting President of the Republic.
Ambush by Castletownroche Battalion Column, Cork No. 2 Brigade (led by Thomas Barry) on RIC and military convoy at Labacally, near Glanworth, Co Cork. Three military killed.
The Shanaglish, Co. Galway atrocity - torture and murder of the Loughnane Brothers.
Two bothers, Henry and Patrick Loughnane, from Shanaglish, Gort, Co. Galway were arrested by a party of Auxillaries while threshing grain. That was the last time both men were seen alive. Days later, the Auxillaries inform their Mother that her sons had escaped from custody at Drimharsna Castle, Ardrahan. On the 6th December, their bodies are found in a pond in Drombriste. They had been brutally tortured for hours before being executed, their bodies burned & dumped.
An in-depth and harrowing examination of the attrocity is here.
26
Arthur Griffith, Eamonn Duggan and Eoin MacNeill were among 500 arrested. Dorothy Macardle understood that Collins now took over as Acting President of the Republic.
Ambush by Castletownroche Battalion Column, Cork No. 2 Brigade (led by Thomas Barry) on RIC and military convoy at Labacally, near Glanworth, Co Cork. Three military killed.
The Shanaglish, Co. Galway atrocity - torture and murder of the Loughnane Brothers.
Two bothers, Henry and Patrick Loughnane, from Shanaglish, Gort, Co. Galway were arrested by a party of Auxillaries while threshing grain. That was the last time both men were seen alive. Days later, the Auxillaries inform their Mother that her sons had escaped from custody at Drimharsna Castle, Ardrahan. On the 6th December, their bodies are found in a pond in Drombriste. They had been brutally tortured for hours before being executed, their bodies burned & dumped.
An in-depth and harrowing examination of the attrocity is here.
Among the IRA men arrested on this day in Dublin (in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday) was Patrick Moran, a 33 year old labour activist and veteran of the 1916 Rebellion from Crossna, Co. Roscommon. He was to be tried, found guilty and executed on 14th March 1921 - becoming one of the 'Forgotten Ten'
Two IRA men (C Morrisey & L Mulcahy) from 1st Battalion, Cork No. 1 are killed. O'Farrell says that D Morrissey and a W Mulcahy from Cork are killed fighting against the Black and Tans.
Henry Nevinson*, operating as the special correspondent for the London Daily Herald reported on events in Limerick:
‘Cases in which young men have been taken away and mercilessly beaten are very frequent. Last Thursday night, a man was taken from his home to the riverbank by two armed police, asked if he could swim and thrown in the river. Hapilly it was at ebb, so he was just able to keep his head above water till they went away. Three weeks ago, a farm labourer at Parkhill was taken out of bed – his wife was within a week of confinement – and terribly beaten. Since then he has been in the Union hospital. His house was bombed and burnt. An oldish man, not a volunteer, was driven naked from his house in which were his wife and five children and it was burned to the ground. On another night, a house inhabited by three sisters and their aged mother was forced by masked and armed police who cut off one woman's hair with a razor and slit her left hand between the second and third fingers through to the palm. Their little workshop in the town had been bombed and partly burned previously.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 24, December 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
* Henry Woodd Nevinson (1856 – 1941) was a British war correspondent during the Second Boer War and World War I, a campaigning journalist exposing slavery in western Africa, political commentator and suffragist. His son, Christopher Nevinson was the famous World War 1 artist.
Two IRA men (C Morrisey & L Mulcahy) from 1st Battalion, Cork No. 1 are killed. O'Farrell says that D Morrissey and a W Mulcahy from Cork are killed fighting against the Black and Tans.
Henry Nevinson*, operating as the special correspondent for the London Daily Herald reported on events in Limerick:
‘Cases in which young men have been taken away and mercilessly beaten are very frequent. Last Thursday night, a man was taken from his home to the riverbank by two armed police, asked if he could swim and thrown in the river. Hapilly it was at ebb, so he was just able to keep his head above water till they went away. Three weeks ago, a farm labourer at Parkhill was taken out of bed – his wife was within a week of confinement – and terribly beaten. Since then he has been in the Union hospital. His house was bombed and burnt. An oldish man, not a volunteer, was driven naked from his house in which were his wife and five children and it was burned to the ground. On another night, a house inhabited by three sisters and their aged mother was forced by masked and armed police who cut off one woman's hair with a razor and slit her left hand between the second and third fingers through to the palm. Their little workshop in the town had been bombed and partly burned previously.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 24, December 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
* Henry Woodd Nevinson (1856 – 1941) was a British war correspondent during the Second Boer War and World War I, a campaigning journalist exposing slavery in western Africa, political commentator and suffragist. His son, Christopher Nevinson was the famous World War 1 artist.
Further press clippings - click here
27
At the Dail Cabinet meeting, a request was made for Griffith to nominate his successor to assume duties while he was in prison.
Constable Timothy Quin (34) from Tipperary was killed near Castlemartyr, Co. Cork.
Constable Maurice Quirk (34) from Kerry was seriously wounded in Capoquin, Co. Waterford and died on 29th November.
As a defensive measure, barricades were erected at the entrance to Downing Street. Sturgis commented:
‘What a tribute to Sinn Fein prowess! Should put their stock up several points!’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 81
Further rioting in Derry.
"Information to show that the English Occupation is becoming panicy over the amount of real news that is coming out of Ireland accumulates each day. Insinuations have recently been circulated from Dublin Castle that American newspaper correspondents are not safe in Ireland and that Sinn Fein may shoot some of them. James M. Tuohy, staff correspondent of the New York World, writes: “If an American correspondent is shot, it is not likely that it will be at the hands of Sinn Feiners, who regard them as their only medium to get the news of conditions in Ireland to the world.”
A striking extract from a letter from a Black and Tan in Ireland, written to his mother in London is published by the Daily News. “Things are becoming worse and worse for the civil population,” says the letter. “I don’t know how they stand it at all and I suppose what our bosses want us to do is to drive all the civvies out of the country. If we carried on in England as we carry on here the people would run into the sea to escape us.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.22 Nov 27,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Wholesale violence and death are dangerous weapons to use, and the government which uses them to bring about the subjection of a whole people is playing a desperate game. The war-like organs of the Coalition in London may continue to demand blood and more blood, but even so conservative a journal as The Times sees danger ahead. In a recent editorial, Lord Northcliffe’s paper said: “This country is strong enough to defeat an Irish demand for secession; but its strength to do so is being sapped by the obstinate refusal to grant Ireland what is legitimately her right (?). The Government may claim that events have conspired to force them to their present attitude; but they cannot deny that, in their Irish policy, they have swept farther and still farther from those great principles on which the Empire reposed its hopes for the future.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.22 Nov 27,1920. Lynch Family Archives
It is interesting to note that 17 English Protestant Bishops have added their protests to those of the few Englishmen whose consciences can still be shocked by the immorality of Coalition policies. The address adopted by the 17 declares in part: “While condemning murder and outrage by whomsoever committed, we deplore the disastrous state of affairs in Ireland at this time. We believe that force breeds force and that reprisals suggest reprisals, but brotherly love and good-will lead to amity and peace. We therefore ask that military terrorism may cease, and that a truce be arranged by both sides so that, in an atmosphere of peace, negotiations for a settlement may be carried on.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.22 Nov 27,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The English policy of arming the small group of her fanatic dupes in the neighborhood of Belfast, while she attempts to disarm the rest of Ireland, affords Some startling contrasts in the application of justice. According to reports in the Irish press, while Edward Walsh, a Republican of Achill, was sentenced to five years’ penal servitude, (two years of which sentence were remitted) for having two revolver bullets in his possession, another English court fined eleven County Down Unionists one shilling for having arms and ammunition in their possession without a permit. Similarly Patrick McNichols, a Republican of Galway, was recently reported to have been sentenced to eighteen months’ hard labor, for having ammunition in his possession, while another English court, at Derry, released on bail, Alfred Barrow, a Unionist, who pleaded guilty to having a revolver and a hundred rounds of ammunition in his possession. These articles were found in his bed-room immediately after a riot in Carlise Road.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.22 Nov 27,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Further press clippings - click here
27
At the Dail Cabinet meeting, a request was made for Griffith to nominate his successor to assume duties while he was in prison.
Constable Timothy Quin (34) from Tipperary was killed near Castlemartyr, Co. Cork.
Constable Maurice Quirk (34) from Kerry was seriously wounded in Capoquin, Co. Waterford and died on 29th November.
As a defensive measure, barricades were erected at the entrance to Downing Street. Sturgis commented:
‘What a tribute to Sinn Fein prowess! Should put their stock up several points!’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 81
Further rioting in Derry.
"Information to show that the English Occupation is becoming panicy over the amount of real news that is coming out of Ireland accumulates each day. Insinuations have recently been circulated from Dublin Castle that American newspaper correspondents are not safe in Ireland and that Sinn Fein may shoot some of them. James M. Tuohy, staff correspondent of the New York World, writes: “If an American correspondent is shot, it is not likely that it will be at the hands of Sinn Feiners, who regard them as their only medium to get the news of conditions in Ireland to the world.”
A striking extract from a letter from a Black and Tan in Ireland, written to his mother in London is published by the Daily News. “Things are becoming worse and worse for the civil population,” says the letter. “I don’t know how they stand it at all and I suppose what our bosses want us to do is to drive all the civvies out of the country. If we carried on in England as we carry on here the people would run into the sea to escape us.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.22 Nov 27,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Wholesale violence and death are dangerous weapons to use, and the government which uses them to bring about the subjection of a whole people is playing a desperate game. The war-like organs of the Coalition in London may continue to demand blood and more blood, but even so conservative a journal as The Times sees danger ahead. In a recent editorial, Lord Northcliffe’s paper said: “This country is strong enough to defeat an Irish demand for secession; but its strength to do so is being sapped by the obstinate refusal to grant Ireland what is legitimately her right (?). The Government may claim that events have conspired to force them to their present attitude; but they cannot deny that, in their Irish policy, they have swept farther and still farther from those great principles on which the Empire reposed its hopes for the future.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.22 Nov 27,1920. Lynch Family Archives
It is interesting to note that 17 English Protestant Bishops have added their protests to those of the few Englishmen whose consciences can still be shocked by the immorality of Coalition policies. The address adopted by the 17 declares in part: “While condemning murder and outrage by whomsoever committed, we deplore the disastrous state of affairs in Ireland at this time. We believe that force breeds force and that reprisals suggest reprisals, but brotherly love and good-will lead to amity and peace. We therefore ask that military terrorism may cease, and that a truce be arranged by both sides so that, in an atmosphere of peace, negotiations for a settlement may be carried on.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.22 Nov 27,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The English policy of arming the small group of her fanatic dupes in the neighborhood of Belfast, while she attempts to disarm the rest of Ireland, affords Some startling contrasts in the application of justice. According to reports in the Irish press, while Edward Walsh, a Republican of Achill, was sentenced to five years’ penal servitude, (two years of which sentence were remitted) for having two revolver bullets in his possession, another English court fined eleven County Down Unionists one shilling for having arms and ammunition in their possession without a permit. Similarly Patrick McNichols, a Republican of Galway, was recently reported to have been sentenced to eighteen months’ hard labor, for having ammunition in his possession, while another English court, at Derry, released on bail, Alfred Barrow, a Unionist, who pleaded guilty to having a revolver and a hundred rounds of ammunition in his possession. These articles were found in his bed-room immediately after a riot in Carlise Road.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.22 Nov 27,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Further press clippings - click here
28
In retaliation for reprisal raids on civilian targets, the I.R.A. established a secret team in England to damage docks, warehouses, power stations and railway bridges. The first attack took place on November 28th, when 15 warehouses were destroyed in Liverpool. Shortly afterwards, papers captured in the Dublin raid on Mulcahy’s offices led to the arrests of over 100 of the undercover operatives in England. Most were deported and others sentenced to penal servitude. However the reaction in Britain was immediate. The House of Commons public gallery was closed, a gunboat patrolled the Thames and barricades erected in Downing Street were further strengthened.
The Kilmichael Ambush
Meanwhile in Kilmichael near Macroom in Co. Cork, Tom Barry’s Flying Column struck a devastating blow to the Auxilliaries which resulted in Lord French declaring martial law in three counties. The former British Army sergeant who saw action in France and Mesopotamia was leading the guerilla action against the hunters who had now become the hunted in his first mission as Commander but without permision and outside of his operational area.
The Macroom area was a district whose police chief head earlier declared it ‘practically in a state of war’. The town was under curfew and all fairs and meetings had been banned. Almost all the outlying police barracks had been evacuated and burned down, along with local court houses…the RIC garrison had ceased to function and control of the coutryside had been ceded to the rebels. One Macroom IRA officer descrbed it as ‘a hinterland unpoliced and unwatched’
Peter Hart ‘The IRA & It's Enemies – Violence and Community in Cork 1916-1923’ Oxford University Press 1998. p28
The arrival of the Auxiliaries changed the situation, raiding constantly and aggressively to the extent that by the end of October, the County Inspector reported Macroom to be ‘now about the quietest part of the county’. By mid-November, poorly equipped and in open transport, the Auxiliaries began to complete short patrols on known routes and at known times.
Two Auxiliary Crossley tenders carrying 18 officers and cadets from ‘C’ Company (mostly ex-army and RAF officers, majority under 27 – three had been decorated with the Military Cross, one with the Distinguished Flyin Cross) based at Macroom Castle starting out on a evening & night support exercise with troops of the Essex Regiment.
Barry’s 36 Volunteers were in position from early morning, turning away Mass goers and posting men to prevent any Auxiliary from escaping. Bayonets were fixed as the convoy wound it's way to where Barry stood standing in the road signalling it to stop at around 4.05 pm. As the first lorry slowed, Barry threw a grenade into the cab, killing the driver and District Inspector Crake. Volunteers opened up on the trucks, killing seven immediately. Several that tried to escape up a laneway were shot down. The second truck had attempted to turn but was stuck fast in a bog as fire was opened up. In the fighting, three Volunteers, Jim O’Sullivan, Deasy and Michael McCarthy were killed. It was said that an attempt to surrender by the Auxilliaries had been accepted, but that some of the survivors opened fire and resulted in a furious battle in which no prisoners were taken.
The bloody close quarter and hand to hand fighting resulted in 17 Auxiliaries dead with 3 IRA losses and 2 Auxiliaries surviving, 1 crippled and comatose at the ambush site, the other, Cecil Guthrie was wounded but managed to escape. The tenders were then set alight and Barry, seeing the shocked faces of his men, ordered five minutes of drill marching up and down the road through the corpses and burning trucks to restore discipline. Barry said afterwards ‘Keep close to them should be our motto…there are no good or bad shots at ten yards range.’
Constable H. Forde was badly wounded, but survived with brain damage and paralysed for the rest of his life.
From the IRA, Michael McCarthy, Jim Sullivan and the 16 year old Pat Deasy were killed.
More detail on the Kilmichael Ambush here
Dublin Castle claimed later that the corpses of the Auxiliaries had been mutilated with axes and that their attackers were wearing ‘trench helmets and disguised in the uniform of British soldiers..’ The local coroner reported later that most had been riddled with bullets, three were shot at point-blank range, several had been shot after death and another had his head smashed open with a club or axe. Reprisals however were swift, with farm houses burned in the locality. British forces in Macroom ordered that from that day onwards, all men and boys in the town along with any males passing through the area, would have their hands out of their pockets. Any breaking this order were likely to be shot on sight. Tom Barry became a folk hero and a revolutionary celebrity and the ambush allegedly became required reading at British military academies, including Sandhurst and the US West Point. But amongst the variations that sprung up in folk-history… ‘Most impressive of all, it has been reported that when the Japanese army captured Singapore, they marched in singing ‘The Boys of Kilmichael’
Peter Hart ‘The IRA & It's Enemies – Violence and Community in Cork 1916-1923’ Oxford University Press 1998. p22
As for Auxilliary Guthrie, he managed to get to within 2 miles of Macroom, where he was re-captured by local Volunteers, executed two days later and buried secretly in Annahala Bog. (His body was discovered, exhumed and reburied in Inchigeela in 1926)
Boys of Kilmichael
On the twentieth day of November,
the day that the tans left Macroom.
they were loaded in two crossley tenders
not knowing that they'd meet their doom
But when they came to Kilmichael
they suddnely came to a stop
For they met with the boys of the column
Who made a clean sweep of the lot.
Then over the hills went the echo
the peal of the rifle and gun
The flames from the lorries gave tidings
That the boys from Kilmichael had won.
So here's to the boys of Kilmichael
Those brave lads so gallant and true
Who fought 'neath the green flag of Erin
And conquered the red, white and blue.
Author unknown but believed to have been the local teacher, Jeremiah O’Mahoney.
‘Kilmichael is important not just because of it's effect on the course of the revolution in Cork,but also because it helped to define the revolution in military and moral terms. This is how Barry and other IRA chroniclers wanted it to be seen, as a’formal engagement’ the centrepiece of a heroic military campaign. The IRA fought fairly and won a brilliant victory. The Auxiliaries were terrorists. They acted treacherously and deserved to be anihilated. Kilmichael was a brave, daring and even brilliant ambush but it turned into a massacre…’
Peter Hart ‘The IRA & It's Enemies – Violence and Community in Cork 1916-1923’ Oxford University Press 1998. p37
De Valera announced publicly that the Bloody Sunday murders of British intelligence officers was justified.
In retaliation for reprisal raids on civilian targets, the I.R.A. established a secret team in England to damage docks, warehouses, power stations and railway bridges. The first attack took place on November 28th, when 15 warehouses were destroyed in Liverpool. Shortly afterwards, papers captured in the Dublin raid on Mulcahy’s offices led to the arrests of over 100 of the undercover operatives in England. Most were deported and others sentenced to penal servitude. However the reaction in Britain was immediate. The House of Commons public gallery was closed, a gunboat patrolled the Thames and barricades erected in Downing Street were further strengthened.
The Kilmichael Ambush
Meanwhile in Kilmichael near Macroom in Co. Cork, Tom Barry’s Flying Column struck a devastating blow to the Auxilliaries which resulted in Lord French declaring martial law in three counties. The former British Army sergeant who saw action in France and Mesopotamia was leading the guerilla action against the hunters who had now become the hunted in his first mission as Commander but without permision and outside of his operational area.
The Macroom area was a district whose police chief head earlier declared it ‘practically in a state of war’. The town was under curfew and all fairs and meetings had been banned. Almost all the outlying police barracks had been evacuated and burned down, along with local court houses…the RIC garrison had ceased to function and control of the coutryside had been ceded to the rebels. One Macroom IRA officer descrbed it as ‘a hinterland unpoliced and unwatched’
Peter Hart ‘The IRA & It's Enemies – Violence and Community in Cork 1916-1923’ Oxford University Press 1998. p28
The arrival of the Auxiliaries changed the situation, raiding constantly and aggressively to the extent that by the end of October, the County Inspector reported Macroom to be ‘now about the quietest part of the county’. By mid-November, poorly equipped and in open transport, the Auxiliaries began to complete short patrols on known routes and at known times.
Two Auxiliary Crossley tenders carrying 18 officers and cadets from ‘C’ Company (mostly ex-army and RAF officers, majority under 27 – three had been decorated with the Military Cross, one with the Distinguished Flyin Cross) based at Macroom Castle starting out on a evening & night support exercise with troops of the Essex Regiment.
Barry’s 36 Volunteers were in position from early morning, turning away Mass goers and posting men to prevent any Auxiliary from escaping. Bayonets were fixed as the convoy wound it's way to where Barry stood standing in the road signalling it to stop at around 4.05 pm. As the first lorry slowed, Barry threw a grenade into the cab, killing the driver and District Inspector Crake. Volunteers opened up on the trucks, killing seven immediately. Several that tried to escape up a laneway were shot down. The second truck had attempted to turn but was stuck fast in a bog as fire was opened up. In the fighting, three Volunteers, Jim O’Sullivan, Deasy and Michael McCarthy were killed. It was said that an attempt to surrender by the Auxilliaries had been accepted, but that some of the survivors opened fire and resulted in a furious battle in which no prisoners were taken.
The bloody close quarter and hand to hand fighting resulted in 17 Auxiliaries dead with 3 IRA losses and 2 Auxiliaries surviving, 1 crippled and comatose at the ambush site, the other, Cecil Guthrie was wounded but managed to escape. The tenders were then set alight and Barry, seeing the shocked faces of his men, ordered five minutes of drill marching up and down the road through the corpses and burning trucks to restore discipline. Barry said afterwards ‘Keep close to them should be our motto…there are no good or bad shots at ten yards range.’
- District Inspector Francis William Crake aged 27, awarded the Military Cross during WW1. Captain with the Bedfordshire Regiment and Hertfordshire Regiment, home address 22 Westgate Road, Newcastle-on-Tyne, England.
- Temporary Cadet William Thomas Barnes aged 26, awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross during WW1. Served with the Royal Fusiliers and Royal Air Force, came from Glebe Road, Sutton, Surrey, England.
- Temporary Cadet Cyril Dunstan Wakefield Bayley aged 22, joined the Artists Rifles at the outbreak of WW1 and was commissioned into the Royal Flying Corps later R.A.F. flew missions in France and Germany. He was wounded in the War and at one time was the youngest Officer in the R.A.F. He is buried in Manchester. Home address, 24 Reynard Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, England.
- Temporary Cadet Leonard Douglas Bradshaw aged 22. Served during WW1 and was only 16 when he joined the Royal Field Artillery and was a commissioned officer at 18. He was wounded in France and also gassed. From 34 Larkhill Terrace Blackburn, Lancashire, England.
- Temporary Cadet James Chubb Gleave aged 21 . Was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross during WW1. His brother was Killed in Action on the Somme in July 1916. Mentioned in Dispatches, home address Crumdale, Canterbury, England.
- Temporary Cadet Philip Noel Graham aged 31. Captain Northumberland Fusiliers, home address 14 Wooten Road, Abingdon, Berkshire, England.
- Temporary Cadet William Hooper Jones aged 24. Previously served in the Dardanelles campaign during WW1 where he was promoted from the ranks. He was awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre in 1918. Lieutenant Northumberland Fusiliers, home address Mount Pleasant, Hawkstone, Tottington, Bury, Lancashire, England.
- Temporary Cadet Frederick Hugo aged 40. Was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and the Military Cross. Former service Indian Army, home address Grove House, Southgate, Middlesex, England.
- Temporary Cadet Albert George Jones aged 33. Captain Northumberland Fusiliers, home address 14 Wooten Road, Abingdon, Berkshire, England. Former service with the Suffolk Regiment, home address 56 Swindon Road, Wroughton, Wiltshire, England.
- Temporary Cadet Ernest William Henry Lucas aged 31. Former service with the Royal Sussex Regiment, home address 42 Fox Street, Sheldon, Tidworth, England.
- Temporary Cadet William Andre Pallister aged 25. Enlisted as a Private at the outbreak of the War but was Commissioned as a Lieutenant in the West Yorks Regiment. Transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, promoted to Captain, and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Home address 71 Primrose Avenue, Sheffield, England.
- Temporary Cadet Henry Oliver Pearson aged 21. Former service Lieutenant Yorks Regiment, home address 22 St Paul’s Square, York, England.
- Temporary Cadet Frank Taylor aged 22. Former service with the 2nd Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers and Royal Irish Rifles, mentioned in dispatches, home address 13 Brunswick Road, Gravesend, England.
- Temporary Cadet Christopher Herbert Wainwright aged 36.
- Temporary Cadet Benjamin Webster aged 30. Former service Lieutenant 8th Black Watch, home address 300 Langside Road, Crosshill, Glasgow, Scotland.
- Temporary Constable Arthur Frederick Poole aged 21. Former service with the Royal Air Force, home address 2 Muriel Street, Kingscross, London, England.
- Temporary Cadet Cecil James Guthrie aged 21 escaped alive from the ambush but was captured and two days later on the 28th of November he was killed. Reports vary on how long he was at large before being captured. Former service with the Royal Air Force, home address given as care of Macroom Castle.
Constable H. Forde was badly wounded, but survived with brain damage and paralysed for the rest of his life.
From the IRA, Michael McCarthy, Jim Sullivan and the 16 year old Pat Deasy were killed.
More detail on the Kilmichael Ambush here
Dublin Castle claimed later that the corpses of the Auxiliaries had been mutilated with axes and that their attackers were wearing ‘trench helmets and disguised in the uniform of British soldiers..’ The local coroner reported later that most had been riddled with bullets, three were shot at point-blank range, several had been shot after death and another had his head smashed open with a club or axe. Reprisals however were swift, with farm houses burned in the locality. British forces in Macroom ordered that from that day onwards, all men and boys in the town along with any males passing through the area, would have their hands out of their pockets. Any breaking this order were likely to be shot on sight. Tom Barry became a folk hero and a revolutionary celebrity and the ambush allegedly became required reading at British military academies, including Sandhurst and the US West Point. But amongst the variations that sprung up in folk-history… ‘Most impressive of all, it has been reported that when the Japanese army captured Singapore, they marched in singing ‘The Boys of Kilmichael’
Peter Hart ‘The IRA & It's Enemies – Violence and Community in Cork 1916-1923’ Oxford University Press 1998. p22
As for Auxilliary Guthrie, he managed to get to within 2 miles of Macroom, where he was re-captured by local Volunteers, executed two days later and buried secretly in Annahala Bog. (His body was discovered, exhumed and reburied in Inchigeela in 1926)
Boys of Kilmichael
On the twentieth day of November,
the day that the tans left Macroom.
they were loaded in two crossley tenders
not knowing that they'd meet their doom
But when they came to Kilmichael
they suddnely came to a stop
For they met with the boys of the column
Who made a clean sweep of the lot.
Then over the hills went the echo
the peal of the rifle and gun
The flames from the lorries gave tidings
That the boys from Kilmichael had won.
So here's to the boys of Kilmichael
Those brave lads so gallant and true
Who fought 'neath the green flag of Erin
And conquered the red, white and blue.
Author unknown but believed to have been the local teacher, Jeremiah O’Mahoney.
‘Kilmichael is important not just because of it's effect on the course of the revolution in Cork,but also because it helped to define the revolution in military and moral terms. This is how Barry and other IRA chroniclers wanted it to be seen, as a’formal engagement’ the centrepiece of a heroic military campaign. The IRA fought fairly and won a brilliant victory. The Auxiliaries were terrorists. They acted treacherously and deserved to be anihilated. Kilmichael was a brave, daring and even brilliant ambush but it turned into a massacre…’
Peter Hart ‘The IRA & It's Enemies – Violence and Community in Cork 1916-1923’ Oxford University Press 1998. p37
De Valera announced publicly that the Bloody Sunday murders of British intelligence officers was justified.
Further press clippings - click here
29
In the continuing negotiations between Moylett and Phillips, Dublin Castle officials now threatened to ‘resign en-bloc if matters went any further’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P219
De Valera requested Patrick McCartan meet with the Soviet representatives in Washington to discuss a possible treaty between Ireland and Russia with the recognition of the Irish Republic as the main topic. This was completed with the Soviet Government agreeing a draft treaty. The main clause for the draft was for the Russians to promise the recognition of Ireland as a Republic. Ireland also promised to encourage the recognition of Russia. De Valera then told McCartan to send the draft to the Dail and to be ready to leave for Russia.
The London Times in a scathing comment on the British army and policy in Ireland ‘an army already periolously indisciplined and a police force avowedly beyond control have defiled by heinious acts the reputation of England; while the Government are not free from suspicion of dishonourable connivance.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 24, December 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Sir Hamar Greenwood, commenting after a long debate in the House of Commons ‘I regret the bloodhsed, but there will be more of it’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 25, December 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Shane Leslie and George Russell (AE) put themselves forward as potential intermediaries between Sinn Fein and the British Government. AE met with Lloyd George and was ‘reputedly told that the British Government ‘will not tolerate a Republic but anything short of that’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p182
UK: rationing imposed during World War I ends when the restriction on availability of sugar is lifted by the government
The November issue of the Contemporary Review contained an article by Hamilton Fyfe, English novelist and journalist, on the “New Spirit of Empire”. The Newsletter commented: "Mr. Fyfe not only “thinks imperially” but he has been at some pains, evidently, to think out just where the time-honored formulae of British imperialism exhibit their weakest points and where they are most liable to attack. His advice to the imperialists of today and of the future is interesting. It is no longer wise, he warns Englishmen, to announce too freely that they are the chosen people, who rule the “lesser breeds without the law” by a kind of right of divine superiority. Let the English keep their sturdy faith “in the divine right to impose their ruleship” wherever they can. But let them not prate about it. The rest of the world will not relish such outspoken superiority today. That, in general, is Mr. Fyfe's advice to English statesmen. He suggests that they must announce that they now believe these “lesser breeds” capable of ultimately managing their own affairs but that they feel the responsibility of England to train them in the way they should go (for a consideration in oil and commerce.) Mr. Fyfe's theory is not startlingly new—its application can be seen in the recent pronouncements of a number of English public men but it is particularly interesting that he should publicly elaborate it at this moment when England is facing the judgment of the world on her centuries of domination in Ireland which has brought her today to an attempted reduplication of the methods of ruthlessness which in all ages have betrayed her pious assumption of divine superiority."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Further press clippings - click here
29
In the continuing negotiations between Moylett and Phillips, Dublin Castle officials now threatened to ‘resign en-bloc if matters went any further’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P219
De Valera requested Patrick McCartan meet with the Soviet representatives in Washington to discuss a possible treaty between Ireland and Russia with the recognition of the Irish Republic as the main topic. This was completed with the Soviet Government agreeing a draft treaty. The main clause for the draft was for the Russians to promise the recognition of Ireland as a Republic. Ireland also promised to encourage the recognition of Russia. De Valera then told McCartan to send the draft to the Dail and to be ready to leave for Russia.
The London Times in a scathing comment on the British army and policy in Ireland ‘an army already periolously indisciplined and a police force avowedly beyond control have defiled by heinious acts the reputation of England; while the Government are not free from suspicion of dishonourable connivance.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 24, December 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Sir Hamar Greenwood, commenting after a long debate in the House of Commons ‘I regret the bloodhsed, but there will be more of it’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 25, December 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Shane Leslie and George Russell (AE) put themselves forward as potential intermediaries between Sinn Fein and the British Government. AE met with Lloyd George and was ‘reputedly told that the British Government ‘will not tolerate a Republic but anything short of that’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p182
UK: rationing imposed during World War I ends when the restriction on availability of sugar is lifted by the government
The November issue of the Contemporary Review contained an article by Hamilton Fyfe, English novelist and journalist, on the “New Spirit of Empire”. The Newsletter commented: "Mr. Fyfe not only “thinks imperially” but he has been at some pains, evidently, to think out just where the time-honored formulae of British imperialism exhibit their weakest points and where they are most liable to attack. His advice to the imperialists of today and of the future is interesting. It is no longer wise, he warns Englishmen, to announce too freely that they are the chosen people, who rule the “lesser breeds without the law” by a kind of right of divine superiority. Let the English keep their sturdy faith “in the divine right to impose their ruleship” wherever they can. But let them not prate about it. The rest of the world will not relish such outspoken superiority today. That, in general, is Mr. Fyfe's advice to English statesmen. He suggests that they must announce that they now believe these “lesser breeds” capable of ultimately managing their own affairs but that they feel the responsibility of England to train them in the way they should go (for a consideration in oil and commerce.) Mr. Fyfe's theory is not startlingly new—its application can be seen in the recent pronouncements of a number of English public men but it is particularly interesting that he should publicly elaborate it at this moment when England is facing the judgment of the world on her centuries of domination in Ireland which has brought her today to an attempted reduplication of the methods of ruthlessness which in all ages have betrayed her pious assumption of divine superiority."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Further press clippings - click here
30
Collins in discussion with Griffith said he considered Moylett ‘an unutterable fool’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P219
In the press appeared a letter from Roger Sweetman TD, who stated that he was ‘absolutely convinced that the methods of warfare now being employed are deplorable in their results to our country’. He proposed that a conference should be convened, including the Irish Labour Party, the Catholic hierarchy, the ‘Irish Peace Conference’ (a group of businessmen and aristocrtaic non-entities) and the newly arrived British Labour Party delegation’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P220
Mitchell comments that this represented some weakening within Dail Eireann as Sweetman made the proposal without any reference to the Dail.
Mark Sturgis reported that ‘Scotland Yard is mightily perturbed about Sinn Fein plots in London. Government Offices, House of Commons etc all to be most straightly guarded.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 84
British official thinking seemed to be of the opinion that in Ireland, ‘the gunmen are obviously out of hand and their own leaders seem scared to death of them’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 84
London: At a farewell dinner for Archbishop Clune hosted by Sir J.D.Connelly, the Agent General for Western Australia and attended by Lord Morris and T.P.O’Connor and Joe Devlin, two of the remaining IPP MPs in Westminster, Clune was persuaded to postpone his departure. Devlin had arranged a meeting with the Prime Minister for the following day and an opportunity to talk
Letter appears in press from Roger Sweetman (Sinn Féin TD for Wexford North) proposing a conference of public bodies to formulate peace proposals.
Coogan (1990), pg 196
British Labour Party Commission on Ireland meets in Dublin. They subsequently travel to Limerick, Kilkenny and Cork.
Two RIC men (Constable William Muir and Constable Coughlan) were captured by the Ballylongford Company of the IRA. Constable Muir were brought to Moyvane where he were guarded by the local company. The British Army issued an ultimatum that Ballylongford would be razed to the ground if two men were not released and the Kerry No. 1 Brigade HQ ordered their release. Constable Muir later committed suicide (27th December 1920).
Din-Din O'Riordan shot by IRA in Cork City as informer. Din-Din said that he had been recruited by another IRA man who worked for Mr Nicholson of Woodford Bournes and that he received money from Mr Nicholson. According to O'Callaghan, the Cork No. 1 Brigade IRA had received this information from Josephine Marchmont Brown (who worked in Victoria Barracks for Capt Kelley, I/O and later married Florrie O'Donoghue) that Nicholson was part of an Anti-Sinn Féin Society and they shot him and the IRA man who worked for him. Three other businessmen (Alfred Reilly, Harrison Beal and George Tilson) were subsequently shot by the IRA as spies.
In Diarmuid Lynch’s records are copies of accounts for the Friends of Irish Freedom at the end of November 1920:
Irish Victory Fund stands at $1,227,724:53.
Friends of Irish Freedom Envoys to Paris: $17,362:00
Remittances to Ireland: $115,046:00
Mr. De Valera's Expenses: $26,748:00
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter reported on the conclusions at which the investigative Mission sent to Ireland by the Women’s International League, included the statement that “Dáil Eireann rules over the Irish people by the overwhelming consent of the people;” and that “the British Government, attempting to rule against the will of the people, can only do so by force complicated by fraud.” The report recently published by this Mission contains some interesting observations. “It is commonly known,” we read, “that a number of Unionist men in the shipyards (at Belfast) carry arms, yet at night the soldiers go to the Roman Catholics to search for arms, and scenes of violence and terrorism occur during the search. We were Struck by the frank confession that the business interests of the majority in Belfast and the surrounding areas must be protected, and the calmness with which the Protestants in all areas of Ireland, even in those parts of Ulster where a Protestant majority cannot be secured, are thrown over in order to make the Belfast majority secure.....At the meeting in Kingsway Hall, London, where the report of this Mission was first made public, Sir Hamar Greenwood’s assertion that there was not a “tittle of evidence” to connect the army and the Black and Tans with “reprisals” in Ireland was strikingly refuted by the great number of photographs and lantern slides of the ruined Irish towns which were displayed by the members of the Mission."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.23 Dec 4,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Further press clippings - click here
Collins in discussion with Griffith said he considered Moylett ‘an unutterable fool’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P219
In the press appeared a letter from Roger Sweetman TD, who stated that he was ‘absolutely convinced that the methods of warfare now being employed are deplorable in their results to our country’. He proposed that a conference should be convened, including the Irish Labour Party, the Catholic hierarchy, the ‘Irish Peace Conference’ (a group of businessmen and aristocrtaic non-entities) and the newly arrived British Labour Party delegation’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P220
Mitchell comments that this represented some weakening within Dail Eireann as Sweetman made the proposal without any reference to the Dail.
Mark Sturgis reported that ‘Scotland Yard is mightily perturbed about Sinn Fein plots in London. Government Offices, House of Commons etc all to be most straightly guarded.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 84
British official thinking seemed to be of the opinion that in Ireland, ‘the gunmen are obviously out of hand and their own leaders seem scared to death of them’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 84
London: At a farewell dinner for Archbishop Clune hosted by Sir J.D.Connelly, the Agent General for Western Australia and attended by Lord Morris and T.P.O’Connor and Joe Devlin, two of the remaining IPP MPs in Westminster, Clune was persuaded to postpone his departure. Devlin had arranged a meeting with the Prime Minister for the following day and an opportunity to talk
Letter appears in press from Roger Sweetman (Sinn Féin TD for Wexford North) proposing a conference of public bodies to formulate peace proposals.
Coogan (1990), pg 196
British Labour Party Commission on Ireland meets in Dublin. They subsequently travel to Limerick, Kilkenny and Cork.
Two RIC men (Constable William Muir and Constable Coughlan) were captured by the Ballylongford Company of the IRA. Constable Muir were brought to Moyvane where he were guarded by the local company. The British Army issued an ultimatum that Ballylongford would be razed to the ground if two men were not released and the Kerry No. 1 Brigade HQ ordered their release. Constable Muir later committed suicide (27th December 1920).
Din-Din O'Riordan shot by IRA in Cork City as informer. Din-Din said that he had been recruited by another IRA man who worked for Mr Nicholson of Woodford Bournes and that he received money from Mr Nicholson. According to O'Callaghan, the Cork No. 1 Brigade IRA had received this information from Josephine Marchmont Brown (who worked in Victoria Barracks for Capt Kelley, I/O and later married Florrie O'Donoghue) that Nicholson was part of an Anti-Sinn Féin Society and they shot him and the IRA man who worked for him. Three other businessmen (Alfred Reilly, Harrison Beal and George Tilson) were subsequently shot by the IRA as spies.
In Diarmuid Lynch’s records are copies of accounts for the Friends of Irish Freedom at the end of November 1920:
Irish Victory Fund stands at $1,227,724:53.
Friends of Irish Freedom Envoys to Paris: $17,362:00
Remittances to Ireland: $115,046:00
Mr. De Valera's Expenses: $26,748:00
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter reported on the conclusions at which the investigative Mission sent to Ireland by the Women’s International League, included the statement that “Dáil Eireann rules over the Irish people by the overwhelming consent of the people;” and that “the British Government, attempting to rule against the will of the people, can only do so by force complicated by fraud.” The report recently published by this Mission contains some interesting observations. “It is commonly known,” we read, “that a number of Unionist men in the shipyards (at Belfast) carry arms, yet at night the soldiers go to the Roman Catholics to search for arms, and scenes of violence and terrorism occur during the search. We were Struck by the frank confession that the business interests of the majority in Belfast and the surrounding areas must be protected, and the calmness with which the Protestants in all areas of Ireland, even in those parts of Ulster where a Protestant majority cannot be secured, are thrown over in order to make the Belfast majority secure.....At the meeting in Kingsway Hall, London, where the report of this Mission was first made public, Sir Hamar Greenwood’s assertion that there was not a “tittle of evidence” to connect the army and the Black and Tans with “reprisals” in Ireland was strikingly refuted by the great number of photographs and lantern slides of the ruined Irish towns which were displayed by the members of the Mission."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.23 Dec 4,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Further press clippings - click here
1
Bond Campaign Funds Controversy
As to the Bond Campaign funds, what was to be done with them? Obviously sending some $3.7 million in easily confiscated securities and cash to Dublin was not an option. Collins was in favour of retaining some $500,000 in the US so that ‘funds would be always available for carrying on the Government if anything extraordinary happened’.
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P200
However de Valera opted to keep the bulk of the funds in the US, and without any Cabinet approval but with agreement of James O’Mara, divided the funds between bank deposits and US Government bonds. Joseph Garrity was given power of attorney. That however, wasn’t all: ‘...in an extraordinary letter, he informed McGarrity that should the Irish people vote against full independence, the money could be used to finance a future Republican movement. De Valera, therefore appears to have had personal control of a large sum of money that was the property of Dail Eireann’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P197
The Friends of Irish Freedom were certainly aware of just where the funds were.
The Freeman's Journal, Dublin reported on a recent Friends of Irish Freedom Resolution calling on de Valera to 'send the irish Bond Certificate money 'which we understand is idle in American banks in your name' immediately to Ireland to relieve the distress and to aid in reconstruction'
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p149
Reaction to the Friends calls for action on the Bond fund was to be swift. Harry Boland responding on 21 December alleging that the Friend's 'Victory Fund' of 1919 was being utilised to discredit & undermine the work of President de Valera. Mary McSwiney, sister of Terence was equally none too pleased with the Friends, issuing a strongly worded statement to the effect and published by the Irish Independent on January 21, 1921.
London: Archbishop Clune of Perth met with Lloyd George and found him willing to discuss a truce in Ireland, subject to certain conditions. ‘Clune related to Lloyd George his experience of conditions in Clare [the British reprisals in Lahinch], and following an expression of regret about reprisals, Lloyd George asked him to interview the Sinn Fein leaders in Dublin, arranging safe conduct for Clune to visit Griffith and other leaders in Mountjoy Prison.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p183
Prior to leaving London, Archbishop Clune met with Art O’Brien who set up contacts with Collins and the prelate also sought the advice of Archbishop Mannix.
Dail Eireann’s London Consul, Art O’Brian’s offices were raided by Scotland Yard and all records impounded.
The British cabinet now took steps to prevent de Valera returning to Ireland. The British Embassy in Washington was advised ‘ If he applies for a visa to a passport it is to be refused. If he returns clandestinely he will be deported to his country of origin…in any communication to the United States Government you should emphasise the fact that he is not a British subject’. The decision so moved an unidentified civil servant that he minuted on the file: ‘...it is an astonishing revelation, after all the bullying H.M.Govt have put up with from this man, to find out that he is not even technically a British subject’.
Longford & O’Neill. “Eamon de Valera “ Hutchinson, London.1970. p115
Dublin Castle issued new regulations on motor vehicle permits – only allowing movement between 6am and 8pm and then within a radius of no more than 20 miles from the residence of the owner. Limiting transportation was seen as being a vital part of British control – all military raids, including those of the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries concentrated on destroying any means of transport – from motor vehicles to the bicycle.
Along with the general strengthening of oppression in Ireland by Lloyd George, the suppression of public opinion became more rigorous than ever before. Raids and sackings of printing premises and publishing houses would peak in December. The previous month saw the destruction of the largest printing works in Ireland – the Athlone Printing Works along with numerous newspaper offices throughout the country. Combined with destruction of newspaper printing presses, particular emphasis was placed on Irish language publications. The Newsletter takes up the story:
"...Among these is the systematic suppression of the Irish language and culture. Raids on Irish classes and festivals are now succeeded by attacks on Gaelic publications. The break-up of Patrick Mahon's printing works in Dublin on Saturday is palpably meant as a stroke against “Misneach,” the Gaelic League literary weekly, and other distinctive publications there printed. The conductors of the Gaelic magazine “An Branar” announce that the November number cannot appear, all manuscripts and everything else relating to the work having been carried away in a raid. “An Branar” is purely intellectual and artistic."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.23 Dec 4,1920. Lynch Family Archives
In response to Bloody Sunday, British Cabinet decided that the Chief Secretary (Greenwood) should apply martial law in such particular areas that he might consider it necessary.
The Irish Bulletin commenting on November 1920, wrote ‘Nine days out of thirty passed without a murder committed by the constabulary or military. On the other twenty one days armed forces murdered 61 unarmed, defenceless men, women and children and attempted to murder 8 others; 101 unarmed persons, including women and little children were wounded; 38 public halls or clubs wholly or partially destroyed; 9 creameries burned down, 5 newspaper offices bombed or wrecked, 193 shops, private residences and farm houses burned, the crops burned on 71 farms, 35 men seized and publicly flogged by the constabulary.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 24, December 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
A recent editorial in the London Times admits that “an army already perilously indisciplined and a police force avowedly beyond control have defiled by heinous acts the reputation of England; while the Government are not flee from suspicion of dishonorable connivance.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.24 Dec 11,1920. Lynch Family Archives
In London, Sturgis wrote that ‘everybody is talking of the Shinn murder plots and the press is unanimous as far as I have seen it. Even the ‘Times’ wishes us God speed in smashing the murder gang repeating as if it were secondarily that it considers authorised legal methods more in keeping with England’s dignity than indiscriminate reprisals, with which sentiment I cordially agree’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 85
"The English Union of Democratic Control* is clear sighted enough to see that half measures are no longer possible between England and Ireland. Its organ, the weekly Foreign Affairs, puts the case directly: “What is essential” writes the editor “is that Ireland should be treated as an equal and that Great Britain should recognize her right to full independence under whatever form of constitution, republican or otherwise, she may choose to adopt. We urge this recognition, not as a concession to violence—for acts of violence are the symptom, not the cause, of the trouble—but as the best way of dealing with a revolutionary situation, which can only be met by a new departure, simple, timely, decisive, even dramatic. But while the step suggested is a way of escape from a desperate impasse, it is, at the same time, much more than this. It is a great and far-reaching stroke of high policy. It would have its echoes both throughout the Empire and throughout the world. It would go far to lighten the whole atmosphere of international politics, revive the fading belief in justice, and restore the damaged credit of a country which claims to be the champion of liberty.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.23 Dec 4,1920. Lynch Family Archives
* The Union of Democratic Control was a British pressure group formed in 1914 to press for a more responsive foreign policy. While not a pacifist organisation, it was opposed to military influence in government. More information here.
The Mexican Revolution ends with a new regime coming to power, which couples with the end of the Old West.
Below: Michael Collins' identification card - Dublin Castle.
Bond Campaign Funds Controversy
As to the Bond Campaign funds, what was to be done with them? Obviously sending some $3.7 million in easily confiscated securities and cash to Dublin was not an option. Collins was in favour of retaining some $500,000 in the US so that ‘funds would be always available for carrying on the Government if anything extraordinary happened’.
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P200
However de Valera opted to keep the bulk of the funds in the US, and without any Cabinet approval but with agreement of James O’Mara, divided the funds between bank deposits and US Government bonds. Joseph Garrity was given power of attorney. That however, wasn’t all: ‘...in an extraordinary letter, he informed McGarrity that should the Irish people vote against full independence, the money could be used to finance a future Republican movement. De Valera, therefore appears to have had personal control of a large sum of money that was the property of Dail Eireann’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P197
The Friends of Irish Freedom were certainly aware of just where the funds were.
The Freeman's Journal, Dublin reported on a recent Friends of Irish Freedom Resolution calling on de Valera to 'send the irish Bond Certificate money 'which we understand is idle in American banks in your name' immediately to Ireland to relieve the distress and to aid in reconstruction'
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p149
Reaction to the Friends calls for action on the Bond fund was to be swift. Harry Boland responding on 21 December alleging that the Friend's 'Victory Fund' of 1919 was being utilised to discredit & undermine the work of President de Valera. Mary McSwiney, sister of Terence was equally none too pleased with the Friends, issuing a strongly worded statement to the effect and published by the Irish Independent on January 21, 1921.
London: Archbishop Clune of Perth met with Lloyd George and found him willing to discuss a truce in Ireland, subject to certain conditions. ‘Clune related to Lloyd George his experience of conditions in Clare [the British reprisals in Lahinch], and following an expression of regret about reprisals, Lloyd George asked him to interview the Sinn Fein leaders in Dublin, arranging safe conduct for Clune to visit Griffith and other leaders in Mountjoy Prison.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p183
Prior to leaving London, Archbishop Clune met with Art O’Brien who set up contacts with Collins and the prelate also sought the advice of Archbishop Mannix.
Dail Eireann’s London Consul, Art O’Brian’s offices were raided by Scotland Yard and all records impounded.
The British cabinet now took steps to prevent de Valera returning to Ireland. The British Embassy in Washington was advised ‘ If he applies for a visa to a passport it is to be refused. If he returns clandestinely he will be deported to his country of origin…in any communication to the United States Government you should emphasise the fact that he is not a British subject’. The decision so moved an unidentified civil servant that he minuted on the file: ‘...it is an astonishing revelation, after all the bullying H.M.Govt have put up with from this man, to find out that he is not even technically a British subject’.
Longford & O’Neill. “Eamon de Valera “ Hutchinson, London.1970. p115
Dublin Castle issued new regulations on motor vehicle permits – only allowing movement between 6am and 8pm and then within a radius of no more than 20 miles from the residence of the owner. Limiting transportation was seen as being a vital part of British control – all military raids, including those of the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries concentrated on destroying any means of transport – from motor vehicles to the bicycle.
Along with the general strengthening of oppression in Ireland by Lloyd George, the suppression of public opinion became more rigorous than ever before. Raids and sackings of printing premises and publishing houses would peak in December. The previous month saw the destruction of the largest printing works in Ireland – the Athlone Printing Works along with numerous newspaper offices throughout the country. Combined with destruction of newspaper printing presses, particular emphasis was placed on Irish language publications. The Newsletter takes up the story:
"...Among these is the systematic suppression of the Irish language and culture. Raids on Irish classes and festivals are now succeeded by attacks on Gaelic publications. The break-up of Patrick Mahon's printing works in Dublin on Saturday is palpably meant as a stroke against “Misneach,” the Gaelic League literary weekly, and other distinctive publications there printed. The conductors of the Gaelic magazine “An Branar” announce that the November number cannot appear, all manuscripts and everything else relating to the work having been carried away in a raid. “An Branar” is purely intellectual and artistic."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.23 Dec 4,1920. Lynch Family Archives
In response to Bloody Sunday, British Cabinet decided that the Chief Secretary (Greenwood) should apply martial law in such particular areas that he might consider it necessary.
The Irish Bulletin commenting on November 1920, wrote ‘Nine days out of thirty passed without a murder committed by the constabulary or military. On the other twenty one days armed forces murdered 61 unarmed, defenceless men, women and children and attempted to murder 8 others; 101 unarmed persons, including women and little children were wounded; 38 public halls or clubs wholly or partially destroyed; 9 creameries burned down, 5 newspaper offices bombed or wrecked, 193 shops, private residences and farm houses burned, the crops burned on 71 farms, 35 men seized and publicly flogged by the constabulary.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 24, December 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
A recent editorial in the London Times admits that “an army already perilously indisciplined and a police force avowedly beyond control have defiled by heinous acts the reputation of England; while the Government are not flee from suspicion of dishonorable connivance.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.24 Dec 11,1920. Lynch Family Archives
In London, Sturgis wrote that ‘everybody is talking of the Shinn murder plots and the press is unanimous as far as I have seen it. Even the ‘Times’ wishes us God speed in smashing the murder gang repeating as if it were secondarily that it considers authorised legal methods more in keeping with England’s dignity than indiscriminate reprisals, with which sentiment I cordially agree’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 85
"The English Union of Democratic Control* is clear sighted enough to see that half measures are no longer possible between England and Ireland. Its organ, the weekly Foreign Affairs, puts the case directly: “What is essential” writes the editor “is that Ireland should be treated as an equal and that Great Britain should recognize her right to full independence under whatever form of constitution, republican or otherwise, she may choose to adopt. We urge this recognition, not as a concession to violence—for acts of violence are the symptom, not the cause, of the trouble—but as the best way of dealing with a revolutionary situation, which can only be met by a new departure, simple, timely, decisive, even dramatic. But while the step suggested is a way of escape from a desperate impasse, it is, at the same time, much more than this. It is a great and far-reaching stroke of high policy. It would have its echoes both throughout the Empire and throughout the world. It would go far to lighten the whole atmosphere of international politics, revive the fading belief in justice, and restore the damaged credit of a country which claims to be the champion of liberty.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.23 Dec 4,1920. Lynch Family Archives
* The Union of Democratic Control was a British pressure group formed in 1914 to press for a more responsive foreign policy. While not a pacifist organisation, it was opposed to military influence in government. More information here.
The Mexican Revolution ends with a new regime coming to power, which couples with the end of the Old West.
Below: Michael Collins' identification card - Dublin Castle.
Further press clippings - click here
2
Archbishop Clune met with Art O'Brian and advised that Lloyd George and other Government officials ‘are desperately anxious’ for peace. O'Brian sent a report to Griffith in Mountjoy Jail, approving of the Truce concept as it would ‘open up possibilities of our making a big score in the game which would considerably hasten settlement and recognition’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P219
O’Brien added: ‘The three interviews, none of which have been sought by us, all seem to me to exhibit a greater anxiety for pace hat they have previously exhibited’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p182
Advised of the development, Collins wrote to Griffith: ‘It is too much to expect that Irish physical force could combat successfully English physical force for any length of time if the directors of the latter could get a free hand for ruthlessness…my view is that a Truce on the terms specified cannot possibly do us any harm. It appears to me that is distinctly an advance’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p182
Collins, also advised Griffith to ‘send out a personal message to the Ministry to carry out the Departmental Duties with increased vigour. It seems to be there are signs of slackness appearing and this tendency must be combated’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P221
While the boycott of Belfast and selected British goods continued, one firm in Dublin particularly broke the boycott, to such an extent that the Cabinet was asked to stop the Dublin Trams as William Martin Murphy’s Dublin United Tramway Company had not paid a fine of £300 for displaying and continuing to carry adverts for banned Belfast goods. The matter was passed to the Minister for Defence and liaison officers.
A planned ambush on two lorries at Clasinimuid, Co. Cork (on Crossbarry-Bandon road) by Column from Bandon Battalion of the Cork No. 3 Brigade is aborted when it becomes clear that lorries have civilians on board.
Deasy (1973), pgs 175-176
Three officers of the Cork No. 3 Brigade IRA are shot dead by the British Army (Essex Regiment) after they were seized on Laurel Walk, Bandon. The three officers were Capt John Galvin (Main St, Bandon) , Lt Jim O'Donoghue and Section Commander Joe Begley (Castle St., Bandon). They had gone to meet a Essex Regiment sergeant who they believed would allow the IRA access into the Bandon military barracks.
A demonstration in support of Irish Independence was held in the town hall at Johannesburg, South Africa. Resolutions were adopted calling on the nations of the world “to secure the recognition of the already established Republic of Ireland,” protesting against the barbarities perpetrated in Ireland by the English Army of Occupation, and demanding the “immediate withdrawal” of these troops. The Newsletter commented:
"The interest which is being taken in South Africa in the Irish struggle is well exemplified by the fact that the Free State Nationalist Congress at Bloemfontein unanimously adopted a resolution expressing the opinion that “the right of self-determination of nations, as laid down as a principle by Great Britain and her Allies is not only to be applied to those portions of the British Empire which possess the status of Dominions, but to others, particularly in the case of a civilized and developed race such as the Irish people"
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.27 Jan 1,1921. Lynch Family Archives
Further press clippings - click here
2
Archbishop Clune met with Art O'Brian and advised that Lloyd George and other Government officials ‘are desperately anxious’ for peace. O'Brian sent a report to Griffith in Mountjoy Jail, approving of the Truce concept as it would ‘open up possibilities of our making a big score in the game which would considerably hasten settlement and recognition’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P219
O’Brien added: ‘The three interviews, none of which have been sought by us, all seem to me to exhibit a greater anxiety for pace hat they have previously exhibited’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p182
Advised of the development, Collins wrote to Griffith: ‘It is too much to expect that Irish physical force could combat successfully English physical force for any length of time if the directors of the latter could get a free hand for ruthlessness…my view is that a Truce on the terms specified cannot possibly do us any harm. It appears to me that is distinctly an advance’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p182
Collins, also advised Griffith to ‘send out a personal message to the Ministry to carry out the Departmental Duties with increased vigour. It seems to be there are signs of slackness appearing and this tendency must be combated’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P221
While the boycott of Belfast and selected British goods continued, one firm in Dublin particularly broke the boycott, to such an extent that the Cabinet was asked to stop the Dublin Trams as William Martin Murphy’s Dublin United Tramway Company had not paid a fine of £300 for displaying and continuing to carry adverts for banned Belfast goods. The matter was passed to the Minister for Defence and liaison officers.
A planned ambush on two lorries at Clasinimuid, Co. Cork (on Crossbarry-Bandon road) by Column from Bandon Battalion of the Cork No. 3 Brigade is aborted when it becomes clear that lorries have civilians on board.
Deasy (1973), pgs 175-176
Three officers of the Cork No. 3 Brigade IRA are shot dead by the British Army (Essex Regiment) after they were seized on Laurel Walk, Bandon. The three officers were Capt John Galvin (Main St, Bandon) , Lt Jim O'Donoghue and Section Commander Joe Begley (Castle St., Bandon). They had gone to meet a Essex Regiment sergeant who they believed would allow the IRA access into the Bandon military barracks.
A demonstration in support of Irish Independence was held in the town hall at Johannesburg, South Africa. Resolutions were adopted calling on the nations of the world “to secure the recognition of the already established Republic of Ireland,” protesting against the barbarities perpetrated in Ireland by the English Army of Occupation, and demanding the “immediate withdrawal” of these troops. The Newsletter commented:
"The interest which is being taken in South Africa in the Irish struggle is well exemplified by the fact that the Free State Nationalist Congress at Bloemfontein unanimously adopted a resolution expressing the opinion that “the right of self-determination of nations, as laid down as a principle by Great Britain and her Allies is not only to be applied to those portions of the British Empire which possess the status of Dominions, but to others, particularly in the case of a civilized and developed race such as the Irish people"
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.27 Jan 1,1921. Lynch Family Archives
Further press clippings - click here
3
Archbishop Clune of Perth, along with Bishop Fogarty, Bishop of Killaloe, was escorted by Andy Cope into Mountjoy prison to visit Arthur Griffith. There discussions on a truce were held and terms drafted in consultation with other Republican prisoners… ‘reprisals to be called off, cessation of arrests and pursuits, the Dail to be free to meet and no espionage. ‘
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P219
While Bishop Fogarty was visiting Griffith in Mountjoy, his home was raided
The raid on the home of the Most Reverend Dr. Fogarty by armed English forces, with masked and in some cases blackened faces. The house was completely searched and some private documents referring to parochial matters were taken.
In commenting on this affair, Young Ireland, Mr. Arthur Griffith's weekly said: “Such are the facts about this, the first raid, we believe, that has been made on a Bishop. It looks very like something more than a raid on his Lordship. Why, for instance, should the two men have their faces blackened? Very significant is the statement that the papers would be returned if not wanted. This evidently refers to the men’s ‘authorities’ to whom the papers were to be submitted. Read in connection with the death notices received by Dr. O'Dea, and, we believe, by other Bishops, and viewed in the light of the assassination of Father Griffin and the treatment accorded to others, it was fortunate, perhaps providential, that a telegram had been sent, calling the Bishop away.”
In addition to the outrage on the home of the Bishop of Killaloe, there occurred, during the same week, other acts of violence on various Irish priests. The Reverend M. J. Conroy, parish priest of Kilmeena, near Westport, was arrested at the parochial house at 4 o’clock in the morning. He was taken to the temporary English barracks at Westport Quay, where three other priests were also in custody—Reverend J. J. Glynn, C. C., S. T. L. Drumlion; Reverend J. Roddy, C. C., Breedogue, Boyle; and the Reverend P. H. Delahunty, C. C., Callan.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.27 Jan 1,1921. Lynch Family Archives
Clune stayed with Dublin solicitor, Sir John O’Connell in Killiney posing as a Rev. Dr Walsh.
With Dail Eireann ‘on the run’ and many of the leaders either jailed, in hiding or overseas, there was some revisionist thought, particularly amongst the County Councils. Six of the 32 member Galway County Council met and agreed on a statement that ‘any side refusing to accept these proposals would be held by the world responsible for any further shootings or burnings that may take place’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P220
Hopkinson says that Galway County Council passed a peace resolution but Coogan says that six of the 32 members of Galway County Council (the remainder being on the run) meet and discuss a resolution (but do not pass) which called on the Dáil to negotiate a truce. (Macardle agrees with Coogan’s version of events while Gallagher questions whether the resolution was passed.)
Some other County Councils also wavered somewhat in their allegiance to Dail Eireann. ‘ Westmeath C.C. was to consider a motion to submit its accounts to the Castles Local Government Board at its next meeting. A few days later it was withdrawn, probably at pistol point’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P220-221
Constable Maurice Prendiville (45) from Kerry was killed while crossing the Blackwater Bridge in Youghal, Co. Cork.
Following more than a month of the Turkish–Armenian War, the Turkish-dictated Treaty of Alexandropol is concluded.
Archbishop Clune of Perth, along with Bishop Fogarty, Bishop of Killaloe, was escorted by Andy Cope into Mountjoy prison to visit Arthur Griffith. There discussions on a truce were held and terms drafted in consultation with other Republican prisoners… ‘reprisals to be called off, cessation of arrests and pursuits, the Dail to be free to meet and no espionage. ‘
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P219
While Bishop Fogarty was visiting Griffith in Mountjoy, his home was raided
The raid on the home of the Most Reverend Dr. Fogarty by armed English forces, with masked and in some cases blackened faces. The house was completely searched and some private documents referring to parochial matters were taken.
In commenting on this affair, Young Ireland, Mr. Arthur Griffith's weekly said: “Such are the facts about this, the first raid, we believe, that has been made on a Bishop. It looks very like something more than a raid on his Lordship. Why, for instance, should the two men have their faces blackened? Very significant is the statement that the papers would be returned if not wanted. This evidently refers to the men’s ‘authorities’ to whom the papers were to be submitted. Read in connection with the death notices received by Dr. O'Dea, and, we believe, by other Bishops, and viewed in the light of the assassination of Father Griffin and the treatment accorded to others, it was fortunate, perhaps providential, that a telegram had been sent, calling the Bishop away.”
In addition to the outrage on the home of the Bishop of Killaloe, there occurred, during the same week, other acts of violence on various Irish priests. The Reverend M. J. Conroy, parish priest of Kilmeena, near Westport, was arrested at the parochial house at 4 o’clock in the morning. He was taken to the temporary English barracks at Westport Quay, where three other priests were also in custody—Reverend J. J. Glynn, C. C., S. T. L. Drumlion; Reverend J. Roddy, C. C., Breedogue, Boyle; and the Reverend P. H. Delahunty, C. C., Callan.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.27 Jan 1,1921. Lynch Family Archives
Clune stayed with Dublin solicitor, Sir John O’Connell in Killiney posing as a Rev. Dr Walsh.
With Dail Eireann ‘on the run’ and many of the leaders either jailed, in hiding or overseas, there was some revisionist thought, particularly amongst the County Councils. Six of the 32 member Galway County Council met and agreed on a statement that ‘any side refusing to accept these proposals would be held by the world responsible for any further shootings or burnings that may take place’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P220
Hopkinson says that Galway County Council passed a peace resolution but Coogan says that six of the 32 members of Galway County Council (the remainder being on the run) meet and discuss a resolution (but do not pass) which called on the Dáil to negotiate a truce. (Macardle agrees with Coogan’s version of events while Gallagher questions whether the resolution was passed.)
Some other County Councils also wavered somewhat in their allegiance to Dail Eireann. ‘ Westmeath C.C. was to consider a motion to submit its accounts to the Castles Local Government Board at its next meeting. A few days later it was withdrawn, probably at pistol point’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P220-221
Constable Maurice Prendiville (45) from Kerry was killed while crossing the Blackwater Bridge in Youghal, Co. Cork.
Following more than a month of the Turkish–Armenian War, the Turkish-dictated Treaty of Alexandropol is concluded.
Further press clippings - click here
4
Archbishop Clune ‘conferred with Michael Collins... both ( Collins and Griffith ) were willing to agree a truce without surrender of arms.’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. P322
Another request was made at the Dail Cabinet meeting for Griffith to appoint his temporary successor.
Tralee was reported to be under severe military restrictions, with the population ‘prevented at the rifle muzzle from purchasing the necessities of life with their meagre resources, and when a shop keeper dares to open, the place is entered and the proprietor compelled to close under threats.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 23, December 4, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Attempts were being made by Arthur Henderson (1863-1935) Labour MP to mediate between Sinn Fein and the British Government and appeals for peace were made by TD Roger Sweetman and the Bishop of Tuam.
"The few voices of sanity which are raised in England today against the ruinous policy toward Ireland are rendered the more conspicuous by their isolation. Says A. G. Gardiner, in a recent editorial in the London Daily News, “They (the Government) began the policy of frightfulness deliberately. They believed, as the Prussians in Belgium believed that they had only to adopt it in order to terrorize the nation. They made the blunder which the Hun mind in any nation always makes: it believes that, if you are only barbarous enough— ‘thorough’, to use the expressive word of one of Mr. George's predecessors, in the vain art of subjugating Ireland–you can reduce a people to submission. ‘Ireland must be blooded’—that was the phrase in the Army. Any one who mixed with the military hierarchy during the war will be familiar with it. Some times the figure was put at 500. Kill 500 or so and all the rest will be as quiet as lambs and the blessings of Carsonism would bring peace and happiness to a chastened people. It is the dream of vulgar, ignorant and brutal minds—of minds for whom the teachings of history have no meaning. The experiment has been tried and its failure is before us. Every new infamy wrought by the Government, every new atrocity, every indiscriminate murder, every creamery sent in flames to the skies, deepens the wrath of an outraged people. Every crime and every folly we commit recoils on us in the accumulated anger of a people who will perish rather than submit to an alien tryanny.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.23 Dec 4,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Further press clippings - click here
4
Archbishop Clune ‘conferred with Michael Collins... both ( Collins and Griffith ) were willing to agree a truce without surrender of arms.’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. P322
Another request was made at the Dail Cabinet meeting for Griffith to appoint his temporary successor.
Tralee was reported to be under severe military restrictions, with the population ‘prevented at the rifle muzzle from purchasing the necessities of life with their meagre resources, and when a shop keeper dares to open, the place is entered and the proprietor compelled to close under threats.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 23, December 4, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Attempts were being made by Arthur Henderson (1863-1935) Labour MP to mediate between Sinn Fein and the British Government and appeals for peace were made by TD Roger Sweetman and the Bishop of Tuam.
"The few voices of sanity which are raised in England today against the ruinous policy toward Ireland are rendered the more conspicuous by their isolation. Says A. G. Gardiner, in a recent editorial in the London Daily News, “They (the Government) began the policy of frightfulness deliberately. They believed, as the Prussians in Belgium believed that they had only to adopt it in order to terrorize the nation. They made the blunder which the Hun mind in any nation always makes: it believes that, if you are only barbarous enough— ‘thorough’, to use the expressive word of one of Mr. George's predecessors, in the vain art of subjugating Ireland–you can reduce a people to submission. ‘Ireland must be blooded’—that was the phrase in the Army. Any one who mixed with the military hierarchy during the war will be familiar with it. Some times the figure was put at 500. Kill 500 or so and all the rest will be as quiet as lambs and the blessings of Carsonism would bring peace and happiness to a chastened people. It is the dream of vulgar, ignorant and brutal minds—of minds for whom the teachings of history have no meaning. The experiment has been tried and its failure is before us. Every new infamy wrought by the Government, every new atrocity, every indiscriminate murder, every creamery sent in flames to the skies, deepens the wrath of an outraged people. Every crime and every folly we commit recoils on us in the accumulated anger of a people who will perish rather than submit to an alien tryanny.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.23 Dec 4,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Further press clippings - click here
5
Fr. O’Flanagan, who had played a role in the formation of Sinn Fein ) sent a telegram to Lloyd George, countersigned as Acting President of Sinn Fein: ‘You state you are willing to make peace at once without waiting till Christmas. Ireland is also willing to make peace. What first step do you propose’ and then accompanied Sir James O’Connor to London in a private effort to negotiate a mutual peace. This was not supported by Dail Eireann.
Michael Hopkinson comments that ‘a later comment by O’Flanagan suggests that his cable was a deliberate attempt to sabotage Clune’s efforts, which he held to be too much influenced by Dublin Castle.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p181
Bishop Cohalan of Cork declared that the killing of policemen or soldiers by any Catholic resident in his diocese would result in excommunication. None of the hierarchy followed with similar pronouncements.
Auxiliary Cadet, Constable Hedley Balls was killed during a house search in Sallymount Avenue, Leeson Park, Dublin.
A referendum in Greece is favorable to the reinstatement of the monarchy.
Scotland votes against prohibition.
Further press clippings - click here
Fr. O’Flanagan, who had played a role in the formation of Sinn Fein ) sent a telegram to Lloyd George, countersigned as Acting President of Sinn Fein: ‘You state you are willing to make peace at once without waiting till Christmas. Ireland is also willing to make peace. What first step do you propose’ and then accompanied Sir James O’Connor to London in a private effort to negotiate a mutual peace. This was not supported by Dail Eireann.
Michael Hopkinson comments that ‘a later comment by O’Flanagan suggests that his cable was a deliberate attempt to sabotage Clune’s efforts, which he held to be too much influenced by Dublin Castle.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p181
Bishop Cohalan of Cork declared that the killing of policemen or soldiers by any Catholic resident in his diocese would result in excommunication. None of the hierarchy followed with similar pronouncements.
Auxiliary Cadet, Constable Hedley Balls was killed during a house search in Sallymount Avenue, Leeson Park, Dublin.
A referendum in Greece is favorable to the reinstatement of the monarchy.
Scotland votes against prohibition.
Further press clippings - click here
6
Archbishop Clune, now in London borough proposals for a truce which would enable Dail Eireann to meet and select representatives to negotiate with British officials but with no possibility of decommissioning arms. Later in discussions with Lloyd George, Clune found that the Prime Minister was adamant on the arms question, all had to be surrendered before any negotiations could follow. His policy shift could be determined as resulting from the peace overtures from the Sinn Fein Vice President and also from a resolution passed by the Galway Urban Council calling for a truce.
Lloyd George now felt without any doubt, that the Irish revolution was on the wane, the tip of the white flag fluttering over the battlements.
‘Lloyd George seemed to conclude...that it was not necessary to facilitate a meeting of Dail Eireann or make any considerable offers of terms to Sinn Fein...he was confident that the majority in Ireland were anxious for peace... meanwhile they would intensify their campaign against Sinn Fein, proclaim marital law over large areas, make the surrender of all arms and uniforms by a certain date compulsory and render any person failing to comply with the order liable to the death penalty...the same penalty will be applied to the aiding and abetting and harbouring of rebels...’
Macardle ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press. Dublin 1957. p414-415
Martial Law was initially discussed a number of times in 1919 by the Cabinet but turned down due to low troop numbers, the political and legal consequences and also the psychological reality that to declare martial law was an acknowledgement that a full scale rebellion against British rule was taking place in Ireland. A Cabinet meeting was held with the Chief Secretary and the military leaders in Ireland about whether to impose martial law or not. General Macready was opposed to a truce, believing that martial law applied to 26 counties was the best means to an Irish settlement but Major-General Boyd of the G.C.Dublin District was concerned at the effect on Irish public opinion and the action would appear to be the policy of last resort. However, it was agreed that ‘the most beneficial aspects of martial law would lie in the achievement of unit of command and in increased speed and efficiency of action’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p92
However, the Cabinet baulked at the concept of a 26 county martial law and insisted on most of the Munster counties only ( Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Tipperary ). The military were worried that Dublin was not to be included in the martial-law area. Macready considered this interference to be a half-hearted measure. Military recommendations for passport controls, identity cards and press censorship were disregarded. The announcement was to be made public on December 10th.
Despite the Cabinet's belief that the war was being won in Ireland, public opinion was certainly growing increasingly hostile to British actions in the island. The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter commented:
"An imposing list of names is attached to the memorial recently presented to Lloyd George, condemning “all murder and outrage,” and expressing the conviction of the signatories that “the action of the Government in permitting reprisals in Ireland is contrary to the dictates of humanity and justice and is inconsistent with the maintenance of orderly government.” The signers were: Arthur Acland, F. D. Acland, Sir Thomas Barlow, Lord Beauchamp, Sir Hugh Bell, Lord Henry Bentinck, Lord Buckmaster, the Bishop of Chelmsford, G. K. Chesterton, John Clifford, J. R. Clynes, Lady Courtney of Penwith, Mrs. Creighton, John Drinkwater, Lord Emmott, A. G. Gardiner William Garnett. Lord Gladstone. G. P. Gooch, Arthur Henderson, John Morgan Jones, Sir John Lavery, Walter Leaf, Bishop of Lichfield, Lord Loreburn, H. W. Massingham, W. Moore-Ede, Lady Montague, Lord Morris, Gilbert Murray, Lord Parmoor, Bishop of Peterborough, H. Rashdall, Owen Rhys, B. Seebohm Rowntree, Joseph Rowntree, Miss Maude Royden, Walter Runciman, C. P. Scott, Lord Shuttleworth, J. A. Spender, Mrs. Beatrice Webb, Sidney Webb."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.24 Dec 11,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Frederick Dumont, the US Consul in Dublin reported that he was approached to act as an intermediary in arranging a meeting between I.R.A and British Army representatives. The I.R.A representatives advised that it was their army ‘ alone which makes and has made opposition to British rule in Ireland practical… no one except themselves can bind them and their army to a settlement of any kind ‘. Dumont reported that ‘an effort was then made to get the Dail Eireann to join with the Irish Republican Army, allowing the latter to speak for them in any negotiations which took place between the leaders of the two armies’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P220
Concerned about growing developments on the Local Government front, Griffith working from Mountjoy Jail asked Diarmuid O'Hegarty to get Brugha and Collins to issue a manifesto ‘to prevent Local bodies or individuals putting ‘their foot in it’ and to get the Local Government Department to ‘tackle these bodies and prevent any further cowardice’.
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P220
Griffith issued a statement from prison ‘Let Ireland recall today George Washington’s message to our ancestors: ‘Patriots of Ireland, stand fast.”. Today is Ireland’s Valley Forge. Tomorrow will be Ireland’s Yorktown’
Collins similarly stated: “At the present moment there is very grave danger that the country may be stampeded on false promises and foolish ill-timed actions. We must stand up against that danger. My advice to the people is ‘Hold Fast’.
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P221
There was widespread refusal to accept Fr Flanagan’s actions as official. De Valera in New York declared it was unofficial, the Dail Cabinet issued a similar statement .
Collins speaking with Art O’Brian apparently was pleased with the collapse of negotiations: ‘ ...My own opinion of these negotiations is that they are entirely dishonest…an effort to put us in the wrong with the world and particularly with our own people…some well intentioned people here at home seem to think that if our acts of self-defence are discontinued we will get anything we liked from England’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P224
Dublin Castle appeared to be somewhat naive on the role Archbishop Clune was playing, but on this date it had become clear:
‘ …The public peace negotiator is Arthur Henderson and he is a dud; nobody has been paying much attention to him. The real one is Clune, RC Archbishop of Perth, Australia; he was in France Chaplain General to the Forces – Andy says an excellent fellow.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 86
However in line with Downing St, Sturgis felt that both Sir Hammar Greenwood and Sir John Anderson ‘think that the time is not ripe, that we must hit harder first, but that decision rests with Sinn Fein not with us. Our terms should be quite firm for them to accept tomorrow if they like, or in six months after further blows. My fear that reprisals having done their work will be impossible to control…Tudor and 'O' ( Brig.Gen Ormonde Winter ) would I’m sure both regard peace now as a tragedy! Perhaps they are right?!’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 87
Sir Hammar Greenwood told Lloyd George: ‘The Sinn Fein cause and organisation is breaking up. Clune and everyone else admits this…there is no need of hurry in settlement. We can in due course and on our own and fair terms settle this Irish question for good’.
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p183
British Forces were still unable to track down Collins, leaving many in the Castle pondering on a vexing question ‘I wonder how it is that the Archbishop sees Collins apparently without difficulty in Dublin and our intelligence fails to find him after weeks of search – but Dublin is a terrible warren of a place…’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 86
Major General H.H.Tudor, Police Adviser circulated a memorandum to all officers and men of the RIC:
‘There have been recently a large number of reports of arson. Whilst by no means clear that this is down by the Forces of the Crown, I wish again to impress on all members of the Police Force, the absolute necessity of stopping burnings whatever the provocation. The only justifiable burnings are the destruction of buildings which have been used to shelter ambushers or from which fire is opened on forces of the Crown. Burnings of houses or buildings not directly connected with the assassination or attempted assassination, is indefensible. I appeal to the police of all ranks to suppress all destruction of property in Ireland even of notorious Sinn Feiners. The force will now fully recognise that the Government is giving them strong support and I feel sure that they do not wish to embarrass the Government in their very difficult task of exterminating the murder organisation. I can assure them that incendiarism tends to alienate the sympathy of many right thinking and law abiding citizens of the Empire and does harm to the cause of right for which we are fighting’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p.178
The owners & Editor of the Freemans Journal were tried by court martial for a report on 8 September 1920 claiming that two Black & Tans had killed two policemen in Tullow and for another report on 25 October 1920 on an alleged flogging of a prisoner in Portobello Barracks. The paper was found guilty on 6 counts relating to the flogging case and directors Hamilton Edwards and Martin Fitzgerald along with the editor P.J.Hooper were imprisoned and the paper fined £3,000.
De Valera that evening was to address a meeting of the 'Universal Negro Improvement Association' in New York
” While the address by De Valera did not take place as planned, the leaflet pointed to his significance for the UNIA:
Come and see the Irish President
Among the speakers will be: His Excellency Hon. MARCUS GARVEY Provisional President of Africa
His Excellency Hon. EAMON De VALERA Provisional President of Ireland “
Robert A Hill. “The Marcus Garvey and UNIA Papers Project “ UCLA ( Via Internet Site June 1997 )
Dave Brubeck, American jazz pianist, composer born (d. 2012)
Further press clippings - click here
Archbishop Clune, now in London borough proposals for a truce which would enable Dail Eireann to meet and select representatives to negotiate with British officials but with no possibility of decommissioning arms. Later in discussions with Lloyd George, Clune found that the Prime Minister was adamant on the arms question, all had to be surrendered before any negotiations could follow. His policy shift could be determined as resulting from the peace overtures from the Sinn Fein Vice President and also from a resolution passed by the Galway Urban Council calling for a truce.
Lloyd George now felt without any doubt, that the Irish revolution was on the wane, the tip of the white flag fluttering over the battlements.
‘Lloyd George seemed to conclude...that it was not necessary to facilitate a meeting of Dail Eireann or make any considerable offers of terms to Sinn Fein...he was confident that the majority in Ireland were anxious for peace... meanwhile they would intensify their campaign against Sinn Fein, proclaim marital law over large areas, make the surrender of all arms and uniforms by a certain date compulsory and render any person failing to comply with the order liable to the death penalty...the same penalty will be applied to the aiding and abetting and harbouring of rebels...’
Macardle ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press. Dublin 1957. p414-415
Martial Law was initially discussed a number of times in 1919 by the Cabinet but turned down due to low troop numbers, the political and legal consequences and also the psychological reality that to declare martial law was an acknowledgement that a full scale rebellion against British rule was taking place in Ireland. A Cabinet meeting was held with the Chief Secretary and the military leaders in Ireland about whether to impose martial law or not. General Macready was opposed to a truce, believing that martial law applied to 26 counties was the best means to an Irish settlement but Major-General Boyd of the G.C.Dublin District was concerned at the effect on Irish public opinion and the action would appear to be the policy of last resort. However, it was agreed that ‘the most beneficial aspects of martial law would lie in the achievement of unit of command and in increased speed and efficiency of action’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p92
However, the Cabinet baulked at the concept of a 26 county martial law and insisted on most of the Munster counties only ( Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Tipperary ). The military were worried that Dublin was not to be included in the martial-law area. Macready considered this interference to be a half-hearted measure. Military recommendations for passport controls, identity cards and press censorship were disregarded. The announcement was to be made public on December 10th.
Despite the Cabinet's belief that the war was being won in Ireland, public opinion was certainly growing increasingly hostile to British actions in the island. The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter commented:
"An imposing list of names is attached to the memorial recently presented to Lloyd George, condemning “all murder and outrage,” and expressing the conviction of the signatories that “the action of the Government in permitting reprisals in Ireland is contrary to the dictates of humanity and justice and is inconsistent with the maintenance of orderly government.” The signers were: Arthur Acland, F. D. Acland, Sir Thomas Barlow, Lord Beauchamp, Sir Hugh Bell, Lord Henry Bentinck, Lord Buckmaster, the Bishop of Chelmsford, G. K. Chesterton, John Clifford, J. R. Clynes, Lady Courtney of Penwith, Mrs. Creighton, John Drinkwater, Lord Emmott, A. G. Gardiner William Garnett. Lord Gladstone. G. P. Gooch, Arthur Henderson, John Morgan Jones, Sir John Lavery, Walter Leaf, Bishop of Lichfield, Lord Loreburn, H. W. Massingham, W. Moore-Ede, Lady Montague, Lord Morris, Gilbert Murray, Lord Parmoor, Bishop of Peterborough, H. Rashdall, Owen Rhys, B. Seebohm Rowntree, Joseph Rowntree, Miss Maude Royden, Walter Runciman, C. P. Scott, Lord Shuttleworth, J. A. Spender, Mrs. Beatrice Webb, Sidney Webb."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.24 Dec 11,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Frederick Dumont, the US Consul in Dublin reported that he was approached to act as an intermediary in arranging a meeting between I.R.A and British Army representatives. The I.R.A representatives advised that it was their army ‘ alone which makes and has made opposition to British rule in Ireland practical… no one except themselves can bind them and their army to a settlement of any kind ‘. Dumont reported that ‘an effort was then made to get the Dail Eireann to join with the Irish Republican Army, allowing the latter to speak for them in any negotiations which took place between the leaders of the two armies’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P220
Concerned about growing developments on the Local Government front, Griffith working from Mountjoy Jail asked Diarmuid O'Hegarty to get Brugha and Collins to issue a manifesto ‘to prevent Local bodies or individuals putting ‘their foot in it’ and to get the Local Government Department to ‘tackle these bodies and prevent any further cowardice’.
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P220
Griffith issued a statement from prison ‘Let Ireland recall today George Washington’s message to our ancestors: ‘Patriots of Ireland, stand fast.”. Today is Ireland’s Valley Forge. Tomorrow will be Ireland’s Yorktown’
Collins similarly stated: “At the present moment there is very grave danger that the country may be stampeded on false promises and foolish ill-timed actions. We must stand up against that danger. My advice to the people is ‘Hold Fast’.
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P221
There was widespread refusal to accept Fr Flanagan’s actions as official. De Valera in New York declared it was unofficial, the Dail Cabinet issued a similar statement .
Collins speaking with Art O’Brian apparently was pleased with the collapse of negotiations: ‘ ...My own opinion of these negotiations is that they are entirely dishonest…an effort to put us in the wrong with the world and particularly with our own people…some well intentioned people here at home seem to think that if our acts of self-defence are discontinued we will get anything we liked from England’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P224
Dublin Castle appeared to be somewhat naive on the role Archbishop Clune was playing, but on this date it had become clear:
‘ …The public peace negotiator is Arthur Henderson and he is a dud; nobody has been paying much attention to him. The real one is Clune, RC Archbishop of Perth, Australia; he was in France Chaplain General to the Forces – Andy says an excellent fellow.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 86
However in line with Downing St, Sturgis felt that both Sir Hammar Greenwood and Sir John Anderson ‘think that the time is not ripe, that we must hit harder first, but that decision rests with Sinn Fein not with us. Our terms should be quite firm for them to accept tomorrow if they like, or in six months after further blows. My fear that reprisals having done their work will be impossible to control…Tudor and 'O' ( Brig.Gen Ormonde Winter ) would I’m sure both regard peace now as a tragedy! Perhaps they are right?!’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 87
Sir Hammar Greenwood told Lloyd George: ‘The Sinn Fein cause and organisation is breaking up. Clune and everyone else admits this…there is no need of hurry in settlement. We can in due course and on our own and fair terms settle this Irish question for good’.
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p183
British Forces were still unable to track down Collins, leaving many in the Castle pondering on a vexing question ‘I wonder how it is that the Archbishop sees Collins apparently without difficulty in Dublin and our intelligence fails to find him after weeks of search – but Dublin is a terrible warren of a place…’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 86
Major General H.H.Tudor, Police Adviser circulated a memorandum to all officers and men of the RIC:
‘There have been recently a large number of reports of arson. Whilst by no means clear that this is down by the Forces of the Crown, I wish again to impress on all members of the Police Force, the absolute necessity of stopping burnings whatever the provocation. The only justifiable burnings are the destruction of buildings which have been used to shelter ambushers or from which fire is opened on forces of the Crown. Burnings of houses or buildings not directly connected with the assassination or attempted assassination, is indefensible. I appeal to the police of all ranks to suppress all destruction of property in Ireland even of notorious Sinn Feiners. The force will now fully recognise that the Government is giving them strong support and I feel sure that they do not wish to embarrass the Government in their very difficult task of exterminating the murder organisation. I can assure them that incendiarism tends to alienate the sympathy of many right thinking and law abiding citizens of the Empire and does harm to the cause of right for which we are fighting’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p.178
The owners & Editor of the Freemans Journal were tried by court martial for a report on 8 September 1920 claiming that two Black & Tans had killed two policemen in Tullow and for another report on 25 October 1920 on an alleged flogging of a prisoner in Portobello Barracks. The paper was found guilty on 6 counts relating to the flogging case and directors Hamilton Edwards and Martin Fitzgerald along with the editor P.J.Hooper were imprisoned and the paper fined £3,000.
De Valera that evening was to address a meeting of the 'Universal Negro Improvement Association' in New York
” While the address by De Valera did not take place as planned, the leaflet pointed to his significance for the UNIA:
Come and see the Irish President
Among the speakers will be: His Excellency Hon. MARCUS GARVEY Provisional President of Africa
His Excellency Hon. EAMON De VALERA Provisional President of Ireland “
Robert A Hill. “The Marcus Garvey and UNIA Papers Project “ UCLA ( Via Internet Site June 1997 )
Dave Brubeck, American jazz pianist, composer born (d. 2012)
Further press clippings - click here
7
Collins’ ‘Hold Fast’ letter was published by the Irish Independent. A police raid on the offices that night prevented another letter from Collins advising ‘let us drop talking and get on with the work’, but appeared a few days later. This was to become his hallmark.
The RIC were certainly held in poor regard by some with the Dublin Castle administration. ‘I do not trust the police not to do us damage by sheer stupidity. I am no pacifist but I hate to see them rob their own cause of good effect as they do over and over again by doing the right thing in the wrong way and often the wrong thing in the wrong way too. The soldiers would probably be equally stupid but their discipline is of a different order.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 87
Sir John Anderson wrote to Mark Sturgis of Brigadier-General Ormonde Winter: ‘His show is thoroughly bad and I don’t see it getting any better…he has worked devilishly hard and we mustn't let him down but the job is too vital to be left in the wrong hands’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p57
"Lloyd George, Sir Hamar Greenwood and other spokesmen for the Government indulge in some pretty shifting and side-stepping these days in their answers to the opposition in the English Commons. We find Lloyd George, for example, announcing all in a single breath that he is willing to listen to moderate opinion in Ireland, that there is no such thing as moderate opinion in Ireland, that he refuses to receive a deputation representing moderate opinion in Ireland until the situation is improved, and, finally, upon the very day of the most vicious recrudescence of English violence, that the situation in Ireland had already shown a great improvement. The uninitiated might have supposed that the solemn protest signed by seventeen English Bishops against government outlawry in Ireland would have given the Prime Minister pause. But no. He suggested to Mr. Devlin that, first of all, he was not sure that such a protest had been made, and secondly, that, if it had, the signatories “could not possibly know the facts”. There is but one possible method of reply to these tactic in English statesmanship: facts and more facts of the true situation in Ireland must be given to the world, since the Prime Minister and his government will have no intercourse with truth."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.24 Dec 11,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Collins’ ‘Hold Fast’ letter was published by the Irish Independent. A police raid on the offices that night prevented another letter from Collins advising ‘let us drop talking and get on with the work’, but appeared a few days later. This was to become his hallmark.
The RIC were certainly held in poor regard by some with the Dublin Castle administration. ‘I do not trust the police not to do us damage by sheer stupidity. I am no pacifist but I hate to see them rob their own cause of good effect as they do over and over again by doing the right thing in the wrong way and often the wrong thing in the wrong way too. The soldiers would probably be equally stupid but their discipline is of a different order.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 87
Sir John Anderson wrote to Mark Sturgis of Brigadier-General Ormonde Winter: ‘His show is thoroughly bad and I don’t see it getting any better…he has worked devilishly hard and we mustn't let him down but the job is too vital to be left in the wrong hands’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p57
"Lloyd George, Sir Hamar Greenwood and other spokesmen for the Government indulge in some pretty shifting and side-stepping these days in their answers to the opposition in the English Commons. We find Lloyd George, for example, announcing all in a single breath that he is willing to listen to moderate opinion in Ireland, that there is no such thing as moderate opinion in Ireland, that he refuses to receive a deputation representing moderate opinion in Ireland until the situation is improved, and, finally, upon the very day of the most vicious recrudescence of English violence, that the situation in Ireland had already shown a great improvement. The uninitiated might have supposed that the solemn protest signed by seventeen English Bishops against government outlawry in Ireland would have given the Prime Minister pause. But no. He suggested to Mr. Devlin that, first of all, he was not sure that such a protest had been made, and secondly, that, if it had, the signatories “could not possibly know the facts”. There is but one possible method of reply to these tactic in English statesmanship: facts and more facts of the true situation in Ireland must be given to the world, since the Prime Minister and his government will have no intercourse with truth."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.24 Dec 11,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Further press clippings - click here
8
The American Commission on Conditions in Ireland held its second hearing over December 8,9 and 10th. Testimony was heard from primary witnesses Mary & Muriel McSwiney.
The London Daily news carried the following editorial:
‘The story of English rule in Ireland is the darkest tragedy of earth with the single exception of the tragedy of Armenia. We have assassinated the Irish nation for six hundred years. We have burned its towns and put its people to the sword. We have destroyed its manufacturers. We have planted it again and again with settlers as a garrison to overawe the nation. We have driven its people from the soil so that today its population is only half what it was a century ago. There is no tale of oppression so sustained, so malignant in the annals of civilised Europe…it is necessary to remind ourselves of this if we are to appreciate what is happening today..’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 26, December 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Erskine Childers in a letter to the London Times on the subject of Dublin Castle’s Weekly Summary:
‘The Weekly Summary privately published would immediately land its publisher in penal servitude. It contains thinly disguised and sometimes shamelessly undisguised incitements to murder and outrage as well as the grossest falsification of fact. But the point to be emphasised is not that this fiery poison is week by week pumped into the veins of ignorant servants of the executive, but that the journal constantly portrays the whole Sinn Fein movement – a perfectly legitimate movement for the independence of Ireland – as a vile and degraded movement – a criminal conspiracy and nothing more. The plain truth is that no Irishman's life or property is safe who, whether approving of armed rebellion or not, believes in the independence of his country or is considered by the agents of the British Government to believe in it.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 26, December 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Sturgis felt that the Weekly Summary, which he called ‘B.T’s Weekly’ after it’s editor Basil Thompson ‘is I incline to think usually of academic interest only, says that even the extremists would welcome peace but would take as a victory any recognition of themselves implied by negotiating with them..’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 86
Lloyd George met Archbishop Clune again in Downing Street and he was stressing ‘that his freedom of action was curtailed by military and political considerations. He observed that the period following Bloody Sunday and Kilmichael was not the most favourable for truce discussions.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p184
Clune reported on his meeting that he had accepted there was a distinction between the military perspective and that of Lloyd George but that any insistence on arms surrender would be fatal to the negotiations.
Archbishop Clune, quoted the Prime Minister commented: ‘..regarding the cessation of hostilities on their side, he ( Lloyd George ) wants Macroom (Kilmichael ) to exempted. Military say that the perpetrators are on the hills in Cork. They are insisting on being allowed to pursue and capture them. He does not know if this is true.’
Irish Press cutting - Lynch Family Archives. Folder 48-0008
As regards the Prime Minister’s comments, Tom Barry recalled in 1948 that ‘Collins, so proud of his native West Cork, was in great form at this British attempt to isolate it, and felt that the Prime Minister had conferred a signal honour on the Brigade. In his teasing way he tried to make me angry, saying there were fools not to accept the terms and leave the West Cork crowd to stew in their own juice, as the British could then concentrate on knocking the stuffing out of them, and that the West Cork Brigade would not stand up to them for three days. When informed that his estimate of the West Cork men’s survival if left on their own was a gross understatement, and that anyway they would last long enough to dispatch a sufficient of their number to Dublin to exterminate the Cabinet which concluded such a truce, Mick laughed heartily and expressed approval…’
Irish Press cutting - Lynch Family Archives. Folder 48-0008
The Flying Column of the Cork No. 3 brigade, under Sean Lehane (Schull), attempts to ambush a lorry containing soldiers from the Essex regiment at Gaggin, Co. Cork but the lorry escapes from the ambush site and doubles back. They capture and kill one IRA man (Michael McLeane, Lowertown, near Schull) but withdraw when they see the size of the column. (O’Farrell says that Column was under command of Charlie Hurley and the surname of the IRA man killed was McClean .)
"In these days when even so conservative a paper as the Baltimore Sun has come to the conclusion that through its use of the methods of the Russian Czars and ‘‘the red-handed Turks” the British Government “has made Ireland a moral world-question”, it may be surprising to those who are not aware of the extent of the influence of English propaganda in this country that the Kansas City Times should continue its editorial advocacy of a close Anglo-American alliance in words which are so obviously a mockery of the truth. The NEWS LETTER appends with shame this example of the literary and ethical fare which the Times serves its readers: “Britain and the United States have the same general purpose in the world, growing out of a common political and social tradition. Both of them stand for order, international friendliness, for the trusteeship principle in dealing with backward people, for Justice and good faith among nations”.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.24 Dec 11,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Washington DC: Mrs. MacSwiney received from the Mayor of Figueras (Spain) a resolution passed by the Town Council expressing “emotion and admiration at the glorious death of the Lord Mayor of Cork and other patriotic Irishmen who have died in English prisons, that our adhesion to the liberty of people and the in violable rules of justice may be proclaimed.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.24 Dec 11,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Further press clippings - click here
‘The story of English rule in Ireland is the darkest tragedy of earth with the single exception of the tragedy of Armenia. We have assassinated the Irish nation for six hundred years. We have burned its towns and put its people to the sword. We have destroyed its manufacturers. We have planted it again and again with settlers as a garrison to overawe the nation. We have driven its people from the soil so that today its population is only half what it was a century ago. There is no tale of oppression so sustained, so malignant in the annals of civilised Europe…it is necessary to remind ourselves of this if we are to appreciate what is happening today..’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 26, December 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Erskine Childers in a letter to the London Times on the subject of Dublin Castle’s Weekly Summary:
‘The Weekly Summary privately published would immediately land its publisher in penal servitude. It contains thinly disguised and sometimes shamelessly undisguised incitements to murder and outrage as well as the grossest falsification of fact. But the point to be emphasised is not that this fiery poison is week by week pumped into the veins of ignorant servants of the executive, but that the journal constantly portrays the whole Sinn Fein movement – a perfectly legitimate movement for the independence of Ireland – as a vile and degraded movement – a criminal conspiracy and nothing more. The plain truth is that no Irishman's life or property is safe who, whether approving of armed rebellion or not, believes in the independence of his country or is considered by the agents of the British Government to believe in it.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 26, December 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Sturgis felt that the Weekly Summary, which he called ‘B.T’s Weekly’ after it’s editor Basil Thompson ‘is I incline to think usually of academic interest only, says that even the extremists would welcome peace but would take as a victory any recognition of themselves implied by negotiating with them..’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 86
Lloyd George met Archbishop Clune again in Downing Street and he was stressing ‘that his freedom of action was curtailed by military and political considerations. He observed that the period following Bloody Sunday and Kilmichael was not the most favourable for truce discussions.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p184
Clune reported on his meeting that he had accepted there was a distinction between the military perspective and that of Lloyd George but that any insistence on arms surrender would be fatal to the negotiations.
Archbishop Clune, quoted the Prime Minister commented: ‘..regarding the cessation of hostilities on their side, he ( Lloyd George ) wants Macroom (Kilmichael ) to exempted. Military say that the perpetrators are on the hills in Cork. They are insisting on being allowed to pursue and capture them. He does not know if this is true.’
Irish Press cutting - Lynch Family Archives. Folder 48-0008
As regards the Prime Minister’s comments, Tom Barry recalled in 1948 that ‘Collins, so proud of his native West Cork, was in great form at this British attempt to isolate it, and felt that the Prime Minister had conferred a signal honour on the Brigade. In his teasing way he tried to make me angry, saying there were fools not to accept the terms and leave the West Cork crowd to stew in their own juice, as the British could then concentrate on knocking the stuffing out of them, and that the West Cork Brigade would not stand up to them for three days. When informed that his estimate of the West Cork men’s survival if left on their own was a gross understatement, and that anyway they would last long enough to dispatch a sufficient of their number to Dublin to exterminate the Cabinet which concluded such a truce, Mick laughed heartily and expressed approval…’
Irish Press cutting - Lynch Family Archives. Folder 48-0008
The Flying Column of the Cork No. 3 brigade, under Sean Lehane (Schull), attempts to ambush a lorry containing soldiers from the Essex regiment at Gaggin, Co. Cork but the lorry escapes from the ambush site and doubles back. They capture and kill one IRA man (Michael McLeane, Lowertown, near Schull) but withdraw when they see the size of the column. (O’Farrell says that Column was under command of Charlie Hurley and the surname of the IRA man killed was McClean .)
"In these days when even so conservative a paper as the Baltimore Sun has come to the conclusion that through its use of the methods of the Russian Czars and ‘‘the red-handed Turks” the British Government “has made Ireland a moral world-question”, it may be surprising to those who are not aware of the extent of the influence of English propaganda in this country that the Kansas City Times should continue its editorial advocacy of a close Anglo-American alliance in words which are so obviously a mockery of the truth. The NEWS LETTER appends with shame this example of the literary and ethical fare which the Times serves its readers: “Britain and the United States have the same general purpose in the world, growing out of a common political and social tradition. Both of them stand for order, international friendliness, for the trusteeship principle in dealing with backward people, for Justice and good faith among nations”.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.24 Dec 11,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Washington DC: Mrs. MacSwiney received from the Mayor of Figueras (Spain) a resolution passed by the Town Council expressing “emotion and admiration at the glorious death of the Lord Mayor of Cork and other patriotic Irishmen who have died in English prisons, that our adhesion to the liberty of people and the in violable rules of justice may be proclaimed.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.24 Dec 11,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Further press clippings - click here
9
Collins to Gavan Duffy: “There are a lot of foolish people here talking of peace – rather well intentioned people talking in a foolish manner. The English are certainly anxious for a truce. It is they who are raising the clamour”
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P221
The feeling amongst the mandarins in Dublin Castle was that ‘this truce talk is all froth; it is hard to make up one's mind as to the sincerity of the Sinn Fein leaders for peace if they can save their own faces’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 88
Widespread military arrests appeared to produce some results for British intelligence ‘The military are very cock-a-hoop and report that the arrest of IRA officers, gunmen etc is having an immediate effect in making the majority who want peace more coherent and also has resulted in a very large increase in information coming in from unexpected sources. For instance the ring leaders of the Sunday murders are known and it is said amongst the men arrested are several of the murderers…’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 88
However it also appears that in the general arrests, a Dublin Castle informer was also swept up:
‘O’G in this evening to say his best tool was arrested last night – inevitable when planning is so secret that the right hand knows not what the left hand doeth. I doubt if I can help without giving the whole show away.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 88
Griffith nominated three choices as his temporary successor as leader of the Dail. Cathal Brugha, Sean Stack and Michael Collins.
Griffith concluded that the Prime Minister ‘apparently wants peace but is afraid of his militarists’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p184
The same day, Lloyd George declared at Carnarvon that he ‘had murder by the throat’ and later in the Commons that the Government would ‘have no option but to continue and indeed to intensify their campaign’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p184
In the US, De Valera was preparing to return to Ireland. He spent the last two days with Joe McGarrity… “ first he travelled to Philadelphia on 9 December, accompanied by James O’Mara, to begin the protracted, and certainly melodramatic, leave taking. McGarrity urged him not to get caught, in case capture led to his going on hunger strike and dying like MacSwiney … the three talked for a long time and then travelled back to New York together…”
T.P.Coogan “ De Valera”. Hutchinson 1993. P193
McGarrity was appointed agent for the Irish Republic in the United States by De Valera in addition to being appointed Trustee of the Dail Eireann Funds in the US.
American Commission on Conditions in Ireland Hearings – 2nd Session – Day 1/3
Terence MacSwiney’s widow. Muriel arrived in the US.
Ernie O'Malley captured by British forces in Inistioge, Co Kilkenny. A notebook found on him has the names of all the members of the 7th Battalion (Callan) of the West Kilkenny brigade - many of who are subsequently arrested. He is taken to Dublin Castle where he is interrogated and tortured by the Auxiliaries. However, they do not find out who he is (he had given them the name of Bernard Stewart). Gallagher puts this down to the split in the intelligence sections of the RIC, Auxiliaries and military who did not share their information. A detailed description of his interrogation is given by O’Malley (but he does not mention that his notebooks led to the arrest of a number of men).
Further press clippings - click here
Collins to Gavan Duffy: “There are a lot of foolish people here talking of peace – rather well intentioned people talking in a foolish manner. The English are certainly anxious for a truce. It is they who are raising the clamour”
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P221
The feeling amongst the mandarins in Dublin Castle was that ‘this truce talk is all froth; it is hard to make up one's mind as to the sincerity of the Sinn Fein leaders for peace if they can save their own faces’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 88
Widespread military arrests appeared to produce some results for British intelligence ‘The military are very cock-a-hoop and report that the arrest of IRA officers, gunmen etc is having an immediate effect in making the majority who want peace more coherent and also has resulted in a very large increase in information coming in from unexpected sources. For instance the ring leaders of the Sunday murders are known and it is said amongst the men arrested are several of the murderers…’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 88
However it also appears that in the general arrests, a Dublin Castle informer was also swept up:
‘O’G in this evening to say his best tool was arrested last night – inevitable when planning is so secret that the right hand knows not what the left hand doeth. I doubt if I can help without giving the whole show away.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 88
Griffith nominated three choices as his temporary successor as leader of the Dail. Cathal Brugha, Sean Stack and Michael Collins.
Griffith concluded that the Prime Minister ‘apparently wants peace but is afraid of his militarists’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p184
The same day, Lloyd George declared at Carnarvon that he ‘had murder by the throat’ and later in the Commons that the Government would ‘have no option but to continue and indeed to intensify their campaign’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p184
In the US, De Valera was preparing to return to Ireland. He spent the last two days with Joe McGarrity… “ first he travelled to Philadelphia on 9 December, accompanied by James O’Mara, to begin the protracted, and certainly melodramatic, leave taking. McGarrity urged him not to get caught, in case capture led to his going on hunger strike and dying like MacSwiney … the three talked for a long time and then travelled back to New York together…”
T.P.Coogan “ De Valera”. Hutchinson 1993. P193
McGarrity was appointed agent for the Irish Republic in the United States by De Valera in addition to being appointed Trustee of the Dail Eireann Funds in the US.
American Commission on Conditions in Ireland Hearings – 2nd Session – Day 1/3
Terence MacSwiney’s widow. Muriel arrived in the US.
Ernie O'Malley captured by British forces in Inistioge, Co Kilkenny. A notebook found on him has the names of all the members of the 7th Battalion (Callan) of the West Kilkenny brigade - many of who are subsequently arrested. He is taken to Dublin Castle where he is interrogated and tortured by the Auxiliaries. However, they do not find out who he is (he had given them the name of Bernard Stewart). Gallagher puts this down to the split in the intelligence sections of the RIC, Auxiliaries and military who did not share their information. A detailed description of his interrogation is given by O’Malley (but he does not mention that his notebooks led to the arrest of a number of men).
Further press clippings - click here
10
Posters and leaflets with Collins’ phrase ‘Stand Fast’ began to appear throughout the country.
London advised Dublin Castle that the Cabinet had decided to declare Martial law in Cork, Limerick, Tipperary and Kerry.
‘A state of armed insurrection is declared to exist…the forces of the Crown in Ireland are also declared to be on active service’
Military Commanders were summonsed and requested that the GOC be appointed as Military Governor. This was approved by Lord French and written into the Proclamation. However the general consensus amongst the military leaders was that martial law should have been extended to the entire 26 counties, excluding the loyal 6 counties in Ulster. Lord French deplored the absence of the city and county of Dublin from the proclamation. All arms were to be surrendered by December 27th with facilities made for similar surrender in counties not under martial law. These would be all military and police barracks as well as all Ministers of Religion. The penalty for being found in possession of arms, ammunition or the civilian use of British military uniforms would be death. The matter of Habeas Corpus in the civil courts system was dealt with by ordering the sentence as laid down by the Military Court in the proclaimed area to be carried out virtually immediately. Separate proclamations sanctioned official reprisals and the use of hostages in military convoys.
Lloyd George made his move in what he termed cracking the whip in one hand and holding a carrot in the other. In a statement to the House of Commons he decided to toughen his requirements for a truce.
Llyod George says in the House of Commons that his government was prepared to discuss with anyone who could claim to represent Irish opinion on the following basis: (1) The six Counties to be treated separately; (2) no secession of Ireland or any part of Ireland from the UK and (2) no distraction from the security of these islands or their safety in times of war.
Immediately martial law was declared in counties Cork, Tipperary, Limerick and Kerry and within the cities of Cork and Limerick, ostensibly in an attempt to curb spiralling violence and attacks on British forces. Additional details would be made public early in the week.
Michael Collins believed that Lloyd George’s speech, together with the actions of the British forces ‘has thrown everybody – even, I think, Roger Sweetman – in our camp now’ These developments had shown ‘what exactly the purrings of the previous weeks were intended for’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P221
Sturgis wondered what effect the imposition of martial law would have on the peace talks: ‘Personally I like the idea that crime repression goes its appointed way undisturbed by political moves for peace and, I hope, without prejudice to them. I’m sure that out terms whatever they are should be firmly stated – take ‘em or leave ‘em’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 89
Attack by recently formed Fermoy Battalion Column (led by Capt Patrick Egan, O/C Bartlemy Company) on lorry containing British soldiers at Leary's Cross near Castlelyons. Nine soldiers surrender and are disarmed.
British find bomb factory in basement of 198 Parnell St (or in Dominick St)
George Cockerill, Tory MP for Reigate commented to Moylett: ‘Neither country ready for an honourable peace at the same time’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p181
In Kerry, I.R.A. snipers made it virtually impossible for British forces to use main roads. In Limerick, I.R.A. snipers were sandbagged into high tenements and daylight raids took place in Tipperary, capturing arms and explosives.
British forces captured a bomb making factory in Dublin, but the staff managed to escape and quickly established another factory.
Pro-Government press continued to encourage military action in Ireland – take this editorial from the London Globe:
‘You cannot extinguish terror by sprinkling the terrorised with rose water. It must be met by terror more terrible than itself. No nation at war shrinks from the employment of such means, and we have been told on the highest authority that in Ireland, we are at war, as indeed it is perfectly obvious we are’. The Morning Post also made no exception, even conjuring up the horrors of Cromwell. ‘The methods employed by Cromwell to enforce the beginnings of ordered rule were what we should call severe; but we may be quite sure that Cromwell, who was no bad judge of a situation, nor addicted to cruelty, did no more than he believed to be necessary and right….we say again, with every sense of responsibility, that it is the duty of the Government to immediately proclaim martial law in Ireland.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 25, December 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter was also subtle in its calls for action. Take this excerpt where it associates all that is best with American nationalism and allows the reader to draw their own conclusions:
‘American patriots in their own struggle for liberty denied themselves tea because it came to them with an English tax and drank instead a mixture made from raspberry leaves. They gave up eating lamb, so that their sheep might provide a greater supply of wool, for home manufactured clothing. In Ireland today, one of the essential features of the struggle against English domination is the concerted campaign to patronise home industries and to lessen that part of the great tribute which England has been taking from Ireland derived from the sale of English made goods. This is a spirit which Americans can sympathise. It is more, it suggests a way in which Americans can aid the courageous struggle of the Irish for liberty.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 25, December 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
President Woodrow Wilson received the Nobel Peace Prize.
American Commission on Conditions in Ireland Hearings – 2nd Session – Day 2/3
Liam de Roiste recorded in his diary:
"Cohalan, Devoy and Diarmuid Lynch are now the backers of de Valera."
Lynch Family Archives – Folder 3
De Valera secretly leaves the United States in the same way he arrived, smuggled aboard a liner.
De Valera visit in the United States was certainly successful in many respects, from publicising the Sinn Fein movement and fund raising, Sean Cronin commented in 1969 that ‘his contribution to heightening dissension within the exile nationalist ranks was to resemble, as many enemies were later to point out, his contribution to divisions over the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the resulting Civil War.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p173
Posters and leaflets with Collins’ phrase ‘Stand Fast’ began to appear throughout the country.
London advised Dublin Castle that the Cabinet had decided to declare Martial law in Cork, Limerick, Tipperary and Kerry.
‘A state of armed insurrection is declared to exist…the forces of the Crown in Ireland are also declared to be on active service’
Military Commanders were summonsed and requested that the GOC be appointed as Military Governor. This was approved by Lord French and written into the Proclamation. However the general consensus amongst the military leaders was that martial law should have been extended to the entire 26 counties, excluding the loyal 6 counties in Ulster. Lord French deplored the absence of the city and county of Dublin from the proclamation. All arms were to be surrendered by December 27th with facilities made for similar surrender in counties not under martial law. These would be all military and police barracks as well as all Ministers of Religion. The penalty for being found in possession of arms, ammunition or the civilian use of British military uniforms would be death. The matter of Habeas Corpus in the civil courts system was dealt with by ordering the sentence as laid down by the Military Court in the proclaimed area to be carried out virtually immediately. Separate proclamations sanctioned official reprisals and the use of hostages in military convoys.
Lloyd George made his move in what he termed cracking the whip in one hand and holding a carrot in the other. In a statement to the House of Commons he decided to toughen his requirements for a truce.
Llyod George says in the House of Commons that his government was prepared to discuss with anyone who could claim to represent Irish opinion on the following basis: (1) The six Counties to be treated separately; (2) no secession of Ireland or any part of Ireland from the UK and (2) no distraction from the security of these islands or their safety in times of war.
Immediately martial law was declared in counties Cork, Tipperary, Limerick and Kerry and within the cities of Cork and Limerick, ostensibly in an attempt to curb spiralling violence and attacks on British forces. Additional details would be made public early in the week.
Michael Collins believed that Lloyd George’s speech, together with the actions of the British forces ‘has thrown everybody – even, I think, Roger Sweetman – in our camp now’ These developments had shown ‘what exactly the purrings of the previous weeks were intended for’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P221
Sturgis wondered what effect the imposition of martial law would have on the peace talks: ‘Personally I like the idea that crime repression goes its appointed way undisturbed by political moves for peace and, I hope, without prejudice to them. I’m sure that out terms whatever they are should be firmly stated – take ‘em or leave ‘em’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 89
Attack by recently formed Fermoy Battalion Column (led by Capt Patrick Egan, O/C Bartlemy Company) on lorry containing British soldiers at Leary's Cross near Castlelyons. Nine soldiers surrender and are disarmed.
British find bomb factory in basement of 198 Parnell St (or in Dominick St)
George Cockerill, Tory MP for Reigate commented to Moylett: ‘Neither country ready for an honourable peace at the same time’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p181
In Kerry, I.R.A. snipers made it virtually impossible for British forces to use main roads. In Limerick, I.R.A. snipers were sandbagged into high tenements and daylight raids took place in Tipperary, capturing arms and explosives.
British forces captured a bomb making factory in Dublin, but the staff managed to escape and quickly established another factory.
Pro-Government press continued to encourage military action in Ireland – take this editorial from the London Globe:
‘You cannot extinguish terror by sprinkling the terrorised with rose water. It must be met by terror more terrible than itself. No nation at war shrinks from the employment of such means, and we have been told on the highest authority that in Ireland, we are at war, as indeed it is perfectly obvious we are’. The Morning Post also made no exception, even conjuring up the horrors of Cromwell. ‘The methods employed by Cromwell to enforce the beginnings of ordered rule were what we should call severe; but we may be quite sure that Cromwell, who was no bad judge of a situation, nor addicted to cruelty, did no more than he believed to be necessary and right….we say again, with every sense of responsibility, that it is the duty of the Government to immediately proclaim martial law in Ireland.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 25, December 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter was also subtle in its calls for action. Take this excerpt where it associates all that is best with American nationalism and allows the reader to draw their own conclusions:
‘American patriots in their own struggle for liberty denied themselves tea because it came to them with an English tax and drank instead a mixture made from raspberry leaves. They gave up eating lamb, so that their sheep might provide a greater supply of wool, for home manufactured clothing. In Ireland today, one of the essential features of the struggle against English domination is the concerted campaign to patronise home industries and to lessen that part of the great tribute which England has been taking from Ireland derived from the sale of English made goods. This is a spirit which Americans can sympathise. It is more, it suggests a way in which Americans can aid the courageous struggle of the Irish for liberty.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 25, December 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
President Woodrow Wilson received the Nobel Peace Prize.
American Commission on Conditions in Ireland Hearings – 2nd Session – Day 2/3
Liam de Roiste recorded in his diary:
"Cohalan, Devoy and Diarmuid Lynch are now the backers of de Valera."
Lynch Family Archives – Folder 3
De Valera secretly leaves the United States in the same way he arrived, smuggled aboard a liner.
De Valera visit in the United States was certainly successful in many respects, from publicising the Sinn Fein movement and fund raising, Sean Cronin commented in 1969 that ‘his contribution to heightening dissension within the exile nationalist ranks was to resemble, as many enemies were later to point out, his contribution to divisions over the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the resulting Civil War.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p173
Further press clippings - click here
11
The Dail cabinet met to approve Griffith’s selection of temporary leader. Brugha declined the nomination due to pressure of army work, Stack also cited responsibilities with the courts and police. Collins accepted and held the position until de Valera’s return less than 2 weeks later.
Sturgis commenting on the imposition of martial law and the death penalty for possession of arms and wearing military uniforms ‘I think this ought to be put the other way round. We ought to declare war on them and shoot them for being out of uniform not in it.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 90
Burning of Cork
7.30pm: An I.R.A attack on an Auxiliary Police lorry near the Victoria Barracks in Cork city resulted in the death of Cadet Spencer Chapman (27) and the wounding of 11 others when a bomb was dropped into the lorry.
Later that evening a force of Black and Tans and Auxiliaries began looting, wrecking and burning Cork. The entire city centre was damaged, most of the buildings on one side of Patrick Street were burnt out, shops throughout the city were looted and the City Hall was also partly damaged by fire. A resulting Court of Enquiry was set up the Cork District Military Commander, Major General Strickland and reported to Parliament on December 29th. It was rumoured that Sinn Fein forces had fired the city and English insurance companies refused to pay out claiming ‘malicious injuries’.
The British Labour Commission thought otherwise as they viewed the destruction the next day. As part of its report, it stated that ‘shortly after 9 p.m. on Saturday, December 11th, Auxiliary Police and Black and Tans appeared in large numbers in the streets of the city, and at revolver point...drove people to their homes earlier than the curfew regulations required...the streets were soon entirely deserted and the work of destruction begun...the fires appear to have been an organised attempt to destroy the most valuable premises in the city..’
Macardle ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press. Dublin 1957. p416-417
One of the British Officers wounded in the Sunday attack, Lieutenant-Col.Hugh F. Montgomery of GHQ died unexpectedly.
American Commission on Conditions in Ireland Hearings – 2nd Session – Day 3/3
Trojan condoms debut in the US.
Further press clippings - click here
11
The Dail cabinet met to approve Griffith’s selection of temporary leader. Brugha declined the nomination due to pressure of army work, Stack also cited responsibilities with the courts and police. Collins accepted and held the position until de Valera’s return less than 2 weeks later.
Sturgis commenting on the imposition of martial law and the death penalty for possession of arms and wearing military uniforms ‘I think this ought to be put the other way round. We ought to declare war on them and shoot them for being out of uniform not in it.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 90
Burning of Cork
7.30pm: An I.R.A attack on an Auxiliary Police lorry near the Victoria Barracks in Cork city resulted in the death of Cadet Spencer Chapman (27) and the wounding of 11 others when a bomb was dropped into the lorry.
Later that evening a force of Black and Tans and Auxiliaries began looting, wrecking and burning Cork. The entire city centre was damaged, most of the buildings on one side of Patrick Street were burnt out, shops throughout the city were looted and the City Hall was also partly damaged by fire. A resulting Court of Enquiry was set up the Cork District Military Commander, Major General Strickland and reported to Parliament on December 29th. It was rumoured that Sinn Fein forces had fired the city and English insurance companies refused to pay out claiming ‘malicious injuries’.
The British Labour Commission thought otherwise as they viewed the destruction the next day. As part of its report, it stated that ‘shortly after 9 p.m. on Saturday, December 11th, Auxiliary Police and Black and Tans appeared in large numbers in the streets of the city, and at revolver point...drove people to their homes earlier than the curfew regulations required...the streets were soon entirely deserted and the work of destruction begun...the fires appear to have been an organised attempt to destroy the most valuable premises in the city..’
Macardle ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press. Dublin 1957. p416-417
One of the British Officers wounded in the Sunday attack, Lieutenant-Col.Hugh F. Montgomery of GHQ died unexpectedly.
American Commission on Conditions in Ireland Hearings – 2nd Session – Day 3/3
Trojan condoms debut in the US.
Further press clippings - click here
12
Bishop Cohalan of Cork issued an excommunication decree against all Catholic’s in his diocese involved in acts of murder, attempted murder, ambush or kidnap or that order such acts. He also stated ‘There is no such thing as an Irish Government, and that the English invaders have a moral right to this country’ adding that the crimes of the Government of Ireland are infinitely greater than the crimes of a private military organisation. (It is odd that he should issue this statement on the day after the burning of Cork city centre by the Auxies but it was probably in preparation since Kilmichael.)
Canon Patrick Lyons of Ardee writing to Shane Leslie commented that Bishop Cohalan ‘is now without a particle of influence with his own people owing to his precipitancy and flippancy… his chief contribution was an excommunication which misfired.’
Michael Collins commented that Cohalan’s pronouncement ‘does him no credit’ and added that he had been told that ‘the populace there were enraged with him and his tirade...if Ireland is defeated after it’s heroic struggle, after the agony of its heroes, it will be defeated by men like Dr. Cohalan and Dr. Gilmartin’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P223
Incidentally, mone of the other Catholic hierarchy supported Cohalan.
Corks Lord Mayor, O’Callaghan, successor to MacSwiney, issued this statement to the press following the destruction:
‘The people have two alternatives: to fight on to the end or to lose all the possible results from their suffering. There will be no surrender. We have asserted our right to be free and we will maintain it.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 25, December 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Cork Corporation adopted the following resolution:
‘We the Corporation of Cork, affirm once more that the Irish nation is fighting for its very existence against an unscrupulous enemy but is desirous of an honourable peace consistent with its position as a sovereign state and we express undiminished confidence in our elected representatives, who alone are authorised to speak in our behalf. We proclaim our unaltered determination to seek or sanction no truce save such international agreement as may be arranged between the Dail Eireann and the English Government.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 25, December 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
American press was swift in condemnation of the burning of Cork:
The New York World: ‘The British Government engaged in the work of destroying cottages and dairies by way of reprisals, presents a sorry spectacle. Even more detestable is its position when it applies the torch to a populous city and, by reckless fusillades terrorises the inhabitants…if London has forgotten how to govern, the British Empire is nearer a catastrophe than most people have believed.’ The conservative Baltimore Sun commented somewhat despairingly ‘May heaven speedily send unhappy Ireland deliverances from her woes and may it send the British people deliverance from the harness of heart and blindness of mind that suffer such things to continue’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 25, December 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
"The English terror in Cork is being maintained by every possible method. Not only are whole sections of the city given to flames, but individuals are continually attacked and harassed. Henry W. Nevinson reported recently Some observations which he had made in a single day in that city. “Yesterday evening about five,” he wrote, “two lorries dashed through the streets, firing at random, one man walking between two brothers was shot in the abdomen and killed. That was in Water Street. A few minutes later, five or six auxiliaries, belonging to what General Tudor calls his “Corps d’élite,” took whips from drivers of outside cars, or from Day's Hunting Shop, and lashed the ordinary passers-by in Patrick Street, the city's main thoroughfare.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.27 Jan 1,1921. Lynch Family Archives
In commenting upon the burning of Cork, an editorial in the London Daily Herald commented:
“So the wheel has come full circle. Those methods which six years ago were denounced as inexpiable crimes are now the adopted, if disavowed, methods of British terrorism. The doctrine of frightfulness has become the basis of our policy. Prussia is in the dust, but Prussianism has come victorious out of the war. Sir Hamar foreshadowed a military inquiry. If one is held, it will, of course, exonerate the British forces, as a German military inquiry into Louvain would have exonerated Major von Manteuffel. And the deepest shame of all is that, by large masses of people in this country, it is all accepted complacently. There are formal expressions of dis approval, there are attempts to concoct excuses, there are endeavours to cast responsibility upon the stricken nation. But there is no apprehension of the sickening horror of it, no fierce indignation against its authors. The moral purification of five years of war has cleansed the nation of these weaknesses.”
It is the lesson of history that imperialism like militarism contains the seeds of its own destruction, yet one is afraid that there will be few in England to listen to the Herald’s prophecy: “Cork is the sequel to Amritsar. What English town may not be the sequel to Cork? " Ireland is not merely the acid test of our honour. It is the key to our own future. We can still choose there between justice and the naked sword. And it is as certain as the sunrise that those who take the sword will, in the fullness of time, perish by the sword.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.27 Jan 1,1921. Lynch Family Archives
Constable Frederick Taylor (18) from Surrey was killed in an attack on the Ballinalee RIC Barracks, Co. Longford.
The Newsletter reminded readers of an incident in Lloyd George's early parliamentary career:
It may possibly be remembered in England by those whose memory is not too convenient, that, in February 1901 Lloyd George made a violent attack in the English Commons on the British General who had issued a proclamation of which the text is as follows: “The town of Ventersburg has been cleared of supplies and partly burnt, and the farms in the vicinity destroyed, on account of the frequent attacks on the railway line in the neighborhood. The Boer women and children who are left behind should apply to the Boer commandants for food, who will supply them unless they wish to see them starve. No supplies will be sent from the railway to the town. November 1, 1900.” It is an interesting side light on English methods that nearly four months after this order was issued, the then Minister of War announced that the proclamation had been disapproved of—after the attack by Lloyd George—and withdrawn. “Care was taken”, it was added, “that the women and children should not be abandoned to starvation.” But the present moral of this incident is. as the Nation (London) points out, that the British Government is now adopting a measure in its war against Ireland which it repudiated in the Boer war: “The railwaymen whose relatives at Balbriggan, or Mallow, or Tuam, or Galway have had their houses blown up by these (English) munitions, strike against carrying them. The Government, which only needs these munitions because it refuses to let this population govern itself, then declares that it will starve out the civilian population.”
In this connection the Nation offers some further illuminating comment. An editorial paragraph says: “The Government has done everything necessary to precipitate chaos and nothing to avoid the catastrophe. The blockade of Ireland has long been considered by the War Office. The reason for this policy was clear. The infamy and growing disrepute of the system of ‘reprisals’ made the alternative method of blockade more desirable in its eyes.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Further press clippings - click here
Bishop Cohalan of Cork issued an excommunication decree against all Catholic’s in his diocese involved in acts of murder, attempted murder, ambush or kidnap or that order such acts. He also stated ‘There is no such thing as an Irish Government, and that the English invaders have a moral right to this country’ adding that the crimes of the Government of Ireland are infinitely greater than the crimes of a private military organisation. (It is odd that he should issue this statement on the day after the burning of Cork city centre by the Auxies but it was probably in preparation since Kilmichael.)
Canon Patrick Lyons of Ardee writing to Shane Leslie commented that Bishop Cohalan ‘is now without a particle of influence with his own people owing to his precipitancy and flippancy… his chief contribution was an excommunication which misfired.’
Michael Collins commented that Cohalan’s pronouncement ‘does him no credit’ and added that he had been told that ‘the populace there were enraged with him and his tirade...if Ireland is defeated after it’s heroic struggle, after the agony of its heroes, it will be defeated by men like Dr. Cohalan and Dr. Gilmartin’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P223
Incidentally, mone of the other Catholic hierarchy supported Cohalan.
Corks Lord Mayor, O’Callaghan, successor to MacSwiney, issued this statement to the press following the destruction:
‘The people have two alternatives: to fight on to the end or to lose all the possible results from their suffering. There will be no surrender. We have asserted our right to be free and we will maintain it.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 25, December 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Cork Corporation adopted the following resolution:
‘We the Corporation of Cork, affirm once more that the Irish nation is fighting for its very existence against an unscrupulous enemy but is desirous of an honourable peace consistent with its position as a sovereign state and we express undiminished confidence in our elected representatives, who alone are authorised to speak in our behalf. We proclaim our unaltered determination to seek or sanction no truce save such international agreement as may be arranged between the Dail Eireann and the English Government.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 25, December 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
American press was swift in condemnation of the burning of Cork:
The New York World: ‘The British Government engaged in the work of destroying cottages and dairies by way of reprisals, presents a sorry spectacle. Even more detestable is its position when it applies the torch to a populous city and, by reckless fusillades terrorises the inhabitants…if London has forgotten how to govern, the British Empire is nearer a catastrophe than most people have believed.’ The conservative Baltimore Sun commented somewhat despairingly ‘May heaven speedily send unhappy Ireland deliverances from her woes and may it send the British people deliverance from the harness of heart and blindness of mind that suffer such things to continue’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 25, December 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
"The English terror in Cork is being maintained by every possible method. Not only are whole sections of the city given to flames, but individuals are continually attacked and harassed. Henry W. Nevinson reported recently Some observations which he had made in a single day in that city. “Yesterday evening about five,” he wrote, “two lorries dashed through the streets, firing at random, one man walking between two brothers was shot in the abdomen and killed. That was in Water Street. A few minutes later, five or six auxiliaries, belonging to what General Tudor calls his “Corps d’élite,” took whips from drivers of outside cars, or from Day's Hunting Shop, and lashed the ordinary passers-by in Patrick Street, the city's main thoroughfare.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.27 Jan 1,1921. Lynch Family Archives
In commenting upon the burning of Cork, an editorial in the London Daily Herald commented:
“So the wheel has come full circle. Those methods which six years ago were denounced as inexpiable crimes are now the adopted, if disavowed, methods of British terrorism. The doctrine of frightfulness has become the basis of our policy. Prussia is in the dust, but Prussianism has come victorious out of the war. Sir Hamar foreshadowed a military inquiry. If one is held, it will, of course, exonerate the British forces, as a German military inquiry into Louvain would have exonerated Major von Manteuffel. And the deepest shame of all is that, by large masses of people in this country, it is all accepted complacently. There are formal expressions of dis approval, there are attempts to concoct excuses, there are endeavours to cast responsibility upon the stricken nation. But there is no apprehension of the sickening horror of it, no fierce indignation against its authors. The moral purification of five years of war has cleansed the nation of these weaknesses.”
It is the lesson of history that imperialism like militarism contains the seeds of its own destruction, yet one is afraid that there will be few in England to listen to the Herald’s prophecy: “Cork is the sequel to Amritsar. What English town may not be the sequel to Cork? " Ireland is not merely the acid test of our honour. It is the key to our own future. We can still choose there between justice and the naked sword. And it is as certain as the sunrise that those who take the sword will, in the fullness of time, perish by the sword.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.27 Jan 1,1921. Lynch Family Archives
Constable Frederick Taylor (18) from Surrey was killed in an attack on the Ballinalee RIC Barracks, Co. Longford.
The Newsletter reminded readers of an incident in Lloyd George's early parliamentary career:
It may possibly be remembered in England by those whose memory is not too convenient, that, in February 1901 Lloyd George made a violent attack in the English Commons on the British General who had issued a proclamation of which the text is as follows: “The town of Ventersburg has been cleared of supplies and partly burnt, and the farms in the vicinity destroyed, on account of the frequent attacks on the railway line in the neighborhood. The Boer women and children who are left behind should apply to the Boer commandants for food, who will supply them unless they wish to see them starve. No supplies will be sent from the railway to the town. November 1, 1900.” It is an interesting side light on English methods that nearly four months after this order was issued, the then Minister of War announced that the proclamation had been disapproved of—after the attack by Lloyd George—and withdrawn. “Care was taken”, it was added, “that the women and children should not be abandoned to starvation.” But the present moral of this incident is. as the Nation (London) points out, that the British Government is now adopting a measure in its war against Ireland which it repudiated in the Boer war: “The railwaymen whose relatives at Balbriggan, or Mallow, or Tuam, or Galway have had their houses blown up by these (English) munitions, strike against carrying them. The Government, which only needs these munitions because it refuses to let this population govern itself, then declares that it will starve out the civilian population.”
In this connection the Nation offers some further illuminating comment. An editorial paragraph says: “The Government has done everything necessary to precipitate chaos and nothing to avoid the catastrophe. The blockade of Ireland has long been considered by the War Office. The reason for this policy was clear. The infamy and growing disrepute of the system of ‘reprisals’ made the alternative method of blockade more desirable in its eyes.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Further press clippings - click here
13
Answering questions in the House of Commons on the burning of Cork city, the Chief Secretary of Ireland, Sir Hammar Greenwood said that there was ‘no evidence that the fires were started by crown forces’ and the identity of the arsonists was unknown.
Griffith, in a letter to Collins expressed fears that the British were using Clune’s visits for espionage purposes and that they would reject Clune’s revised terms when he next visited them. Collins in turn, in a letter to Joe MacDonagh, commented:
‘It seems to me that something might have been done…were it not for the ill-timed actions of (a) the Galway Council and (b) Father O’Flanagan’s wire. To them must be added R.M.Sweetman’s very futile and very foolish letter.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p185
Griffith writes to Clune saying that Lloyd George's terms amounted to surrender and that "there would be no surrender, no matter what frightfulness was used"
Bishop Shahan, Rector of the Catholic University of America in a press release on the burning of Cork:
“Let all Washington arise to denounce this unspeakable crime…in Cork, wild eyed anarchy wearing the insignia of English authority, its agents encouraged and abetted by the English Parliament, though unnamed and irresponsible, waves the torch, pours the oil, casts the bomb, cuts the fire hose, shoots up the peaceful and unarmed city, and retires to its lorries and its barracks, waiting for another black night to repeat this Saturnalia of murder, arson and loot.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 25, December 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
"The events of the past week called forth an interesting phenomenon in the reporting of Irish news in our reactionary press. The deliberate vagueness which has clouded all such stories permitted to reach this country, the deliberate misrepresentations in text, and the deliberate perversions of truths in head-lines have not sufficed to extenuate the stark horror of the English burning of Cork. The editorial comments which have accompanied the news stories in the American press are illuminating proof of this fact. Says the conservative Baltimore Sun: “May Heaven speedily send unhappy Ireland deliverance from her woes and may it send the British people deliverance from the hardness of heart and blindness of mind that suffer such things to continue.” And, the New York World: “The British Government, engaged in the work of destroying cottages and dairies by way of reprisals, presents a sorry spectacle. Even more detestible is its position when it applies the torch to a populous city and, by reckless fussilades terrorizes the inhabitants. If London has forgotten how to govern, the British Empire is nearer a catastrophe than most people have believed.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Friends of Irish Freedom reminded readers of its newsletter that all Americans were implicated in the continued British occupation and destruction in Ireland,:
‘According to the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States for 1920, Great Britain owed the United States on November 15th, 1920, $4,196,818,358.44 in principal and $314,582,824.97 in unpaid and accrued interest thereon. Americans cannot escape a sense of responsibility in aiding to finance English frightfulness in Ireland.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 25, December 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
James McNeill, brother of Eoin McNeill and ex-civil servant was arrested and jailed in Dublin.
RIC Constable Frederick Taylor (18) from Newcastle-On-Tyne, was killed by a bomb explosion during a sustained attack on Ballinalee Barracks County Limerick. Constable Taylor was from Newcastle-on-Tyne UK.
Two IRA men from the West Clare brigade (William Shanahan, Brigade Police Officer and Michael McNamara, Captain of Doonbeg company) are captured - both men are shot dead while in custody
Further press clippings - click here
Answering questions in the House of Commons on the burning of Cork city, the Chief Secretary of Ireland, Sir Hammar Greenwood said that there was ‘no evidence that the fires were started by crown forces’ and the identity of the arsonists was unknown.
Griffith, in a letter to Collins expressed fears that the British were using Clune’s visits for espionage purposes and that they would reject Clune’s revised terms when he next visited them. Collins in turn, in a letter to Joe MacDonagh, commented:
‘It seems to me that something might have been done…were it not for the ill-timed actions of (a) the Galway Council and (b) Father O’Flanagan’s wire. To them must be added R.M.Sweetman’s very futile and very foolish letter.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p185
Griffith writes to Clune saying that Lloyd George's terms amounted to surrender and that "there would be no surrender, no matter what frightfulness was used"
Bishop Shahan, Rector of the Catholic University of America in a press release on the burning of Cork:
“Let all Washington arise to denounce this unspeakable crime…in Cork, wild eyed anarchy wearing the insignia of English authority, its agents encouraged and abetted by the English Parliament, though unnamed and irresponsible, waves the torch, pours the oil, casts the bomb, cuts the fire hose, shoots up the peaceful and unarmed city, and retires to its lorries and its barracks, waiting for another black night to repeat this Saturnalia of murder, arson and loot.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 25, December 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
"The events of the past week called forth an interesting phenomenon in the reporting of Irish news in our reactionary press. The deliberate vagueness which has clouded all such stories permitted to reach this country, the deliberate misrepresentations in text, and the deliberate perversions of truths in head-lines have not sufficed to extenuate the stark horror of the English burning of Cork. The editorial comments which have accompanied the news stories in the American press are illuminating proof of this fact. Says the conservative Baltimore Sun: “May Heaven speedily send unhappy Ireland deliverance from her woes and may it send the British people deliverance from the hardness of heart and blindness of mind that suffer such things to continue.” And, the New York World: “The British Government, engaged in the work of destroying cottages and dairies by way of reprisals, presents a sorry spectacle. Even more detestible is its position when it applies the torch to a populous city and, by reckless fussilades terrorizes the inhabitants. If London has forgotten how to govern, the British Empire is nearer a catastrophe than most people have believed.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Friends of Irish Freedom reminded readers of its newsletter that all Americans were implicated in the continued British occupation and destruction in Ireland,:
‘According to the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States for 1920, Great Britain owed the United States on November 15th, 1920, $4,196,818,358.44 in principal and $314,582,824.97 in unpaid and accrued interest thereon. Americans cannot escape a sense of responsibility in aiding to finance English frightfulness in Ireland.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 25, December 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
James McNeill, brother of Eoin McNeill and ex-civil servant was arrested and jailed in Dublin.
RIC Constable Frederick Taylor (18) from Newcastle-On-Tyne, was killed by a bomb explosion during a sustained attack on Ballinalee Barracks County Limerick. Constable Taylor was from Newcastle-on-Tyne UK.
Two IRA men from the West Clare brigade (William Shanahan, Brigade Police Officer and Michael McNamara, Captain of Doonbeg company) are captured - both men are shot dead while in custody
Further press clippings - click here
14
Archbishop Clune met with Sir John Anderson and Mark Sturgis at the Irish Office in London. ‘He is sure that the Sinn Feiners will not yet surrender all arms as a preliminary to Truce. Jonathan encouraged him to believe that an unofficial truce, a slacking off on both sides might be arranged even without this. Clune is confident that such a truce would enable Sinn Fein to pause, consider and confer, and, with Christmas, would create an atmosphere favourable to settlement. Jonathan rubbed in that in a return to constitutional methods alone lay the road to peace by compromise. ‘
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 91
Clune returned to Dublin to see both Griffith and Eoin McNeill in Mountjoy prison to discuss this development.
“It is curious to observe,” says a recent article in The New Statesman (London), “how in the speeches of the anti-Irish propagandists the public is in one breath warned of the awful risks to Great Britain which would attend the Irish application of the principle of self-determination and, in the next, presented with a description of a Great Britain so overwhelmingly powerful as to seem impregnable under any circumstances.” The article chronicles an interesting list of Mr. Lloyd George's self-contradictions. “Thus,” it says, “in his speech at Carnarvon, the other day, after thanking Almighty God for having granted a victorious end (to the recent war), he wound up by exclaiming, a propos of Ireland, “But we will take no risks in the future.” Are we to understand Mr. Lloyd George to mean that, whereas, owing to an assurance of divine assistance, Great Britain in her relations with Germany could afford to take risks, all such assurance is lacking where her relations with Ireland are concerned? It sounds as if Mr. Lloyd George had paid a compliment to Ireland by mistake. The passage is, of course, susceptible to another interpretation, namely that God has handed over the Irish question unconditionally to Mr. Lloyd George!”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The new Lord Mayor of Cork, Donal O’Callaghan, sent an appeal to John W Davis, American Ambassador in London to put an immediate stop to the ‘march of murder across the bloody and wasted fields of Ireland’:
‘during the past week the people of Cork, men, women and children, have been held up in the streets of this city and robbed of all they possessed; hundreds of shops have been looted, unoffending citizens publicly whipped, shot and it is feared in some cases, burned alive in their homes. The principal business quarter of the city has been bombed, burned and destroyed by the armed forces of the Crown, rendering thousands of people homeless and workless. In the name of humanity and of our tortured people seeking protection from such savage tyranny, we respectfully urge the immediate intervention of your Government’.
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.408
The Lord Mayor also sent an appeal for aid to the head of the American Red Cross, Dr. Livingstone Farrand. ‘Sensitive to the political implication of relief in Ireland, consulted the Department of State, the British Embassy and the British Red Cross. On the strength of the report from the British Director that no one was homeless as a result of the destruction although eventually jobs would be affected, the American Red Cross informed people such as Mrs. Peter Golden that they felt no action could be taken. Appeals directly to the Secretary of State for advice about the distribution of clothing and assistance were turned aside with the suggestion that the Irish Red Cross might be willing to help.’
F.M.Caroll. ‘American Opinion and the Irish Question 1910-23’ Gill & McMillan 1978. P165
The US Consul in Dublin in a dispatch to Secretary of State, Lansing commented:
‘damages from incendiarism in Cork up to December 12th have been variously estimated at from $2.5 million to $5 million....the Black and Tans are accused of cruelties, murders, arson and reprisals. It seems to me more than probable that in many cases these accusation have a foundation of fact...the truth appears to be that the Government used wrong measures to meet a desperate situation...’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.408
The Manchester Guardian editoralised on British policy in Ireland: “This policy is plainly a policy of what the Germans quite honestly call ‘frightfulness’. The chief difference between their proceedings and ours appears to be that, whereas they avowed and defended theirs, and put it into their military manuals, we, on the contrary, are still a little shame faced of ours. The official apologists began by denying the facts; then, when that became no longer possible, pleaded exaggeration, or alternatively ‘human nature’. They professed to be conducting inquiries, the results of which never appeared. Finally, we were told that certain offenders among the police had been tried and punished, but the Minister of State for War, bolder than his civilian colleagues, frankly assured us that no single soldier had been punished. In any case, murders and reprisals go on exactly as before, or rather both, with certain fluctuations, show a steady tendency to increase. That is the result so far of the British adaptation of German frightfulness.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Collins to Griffith: ‘Let Lloyd George make no mistake, the I.R.A is not broke. The events of the week and these days are more eloquent on that question that all his military advisers. Neither is the spirit of the people broken’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P224
Private American attempts to get aid to Ireland were more effective. Through the Irish-American Club of Philadelphia, the wife of a prominent Irish-American, Seamus O’Doherty, was able to send the SS Honolulu to Cork by late December loaded with 1,700 tons of food, clothing and household goods.
Major Holmes, District Commander in Cork reported to the Irish Office that the Cork burnings were ‘almost certainly started not by any organised body but by single individuals who got together casually, as it were, for mischief – an odd subaltern perhaps, a policeman, an odd Auxiliary, doubtless some civilians, and after the start many real hooligans out for loot’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 91
British military issue a proclamation that after 27th December anyone found guilty by a military court of carrying arms or “adding and abetting” rebels would be liable to be shot.
Archbishop Clune met with Sir John Anderson and Mark Sturgis at the Irish Office in London. ‘He is sure that the Sinn Feiners will not yet surrender all arms as a preliminary to Truce. Jonathan encouraged him to believe that an unofficial truce, a slacking off on both sides might be arranged even without this. Clune is confident that such a truce would enable Sinn Fein to pause, consider and confer, and, with Christmas, would create an atmosphere favourable to settlement. Jonathan rubbed in that in a return to constitutional methods alone lay the road to peace by compromise. ‘
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 91
Clune returned to Dublin to see both Griffith and Eoin McNeill in Mountjoy prison to discuss this development.
“It is curious to observe,” says a recent article in The New Statesman (London), “how in the speeches of the anti-Irish propagandists the public is in one breath warned of the awful risks to Great Britain which would attend the Irish application of the principle of self-determination and, in the next, presented with a description of a Great Britain so overwhelmingly powerful as to seem impregnable under any circumstances.” The article chronicles an interesting list of Mr. Lloyd George's self-contradictions. “Thus,” it says, “in his speech at Carnarvon, the other day, after thanking Almighty God for having granted a victorious end (to the recent war), he wound up by exclaiming, a propos of Ireland, “But we will take no risks in the future.” Are we to understand Mr. Lloyd George to mean that, whereas, owing to an assurance of divine assistance, Great Britain in her relations with Germany could afford to take risks, all such assurance is lacking where her relations with Ireland are concerned? It sounds as if Mr. Lloyd George had paid a compliment to Ireland by mistake. The passage is, of course, susceptible to another interpretation, namely that God has handed over the Irish question unconditionally to Mr. Lloyd George!”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The new Lord Mayor of Cork, Donal O’Callaghan, sent an appeal to John W Davis, American Ambassador in London to put an immediate stop to the ‘march of murder across the bloody and wasted fields of Ireland’:
‘during the past week the people of Cork, men, women and children, have been held up in the streets of this city and robbed of all they possessed; hundreds of shops have been looted, unoffending citizens publicly whipped, shot and it is feared in some cases, burned alive in their homes. The principal business quarter of the city has been bombed, burned and destroyed by the armed forces of the Crown, rendering thousands of people homeless and workless. In the name of humanity and of our tortured people seeking protection from such savage tyranny, we respectfully urge the immediate intervention of your Government’.
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.408
The Lord Mayor also sent an appeal for aid to the head of the American Red Cross, Dr. Livingstone Farrand. ‘Sensitive to the political implication of relief in Ireland, consulted the Department of State, the British Embassy and the British Red Cross. On the strength of the report from the British Director that no one was homeless as a result of the destruction although eventually jobs would be affected, the American Red Cross informed people such as Mrs. Peter Golden that they felt no action could be taken. Appeals directly to the Secretary of State for advice about the distribution of clothing and assistance were turned aside with the suggestion that the Irish Red Cross might be willing to help.’
F.M.Caroll. ‘American Opinion and the Irish Question 1910-23’ Gill & McMillan 1978. P165
The US Consul in Dublin in a dispatch to Secretary of State, Lansing commented:
‘damages from incendiarism in Cork up to December 12th have been variously estimated at from $2.5 million to $5 million....the Black and Tans are accused of cruelties, murders, arson and reprisals. It seems to me more than probable that in many cases these accusation have a foundation of fact...the truth appears to be that the Government used wrong measures to meet a desperate situation...’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.408
The Manchester Guardian editoralised on British policy in Ireland: “This policy is plainly a policy of what the Germans quite honestly call ‘frightfulness’. The chief difference between their proceedings and ours appears to be that, whereas they avowed and defended theirs, and put it into their military manuals, we, on the contrary, are still a little shame faced of ours. The official apologists began by denying the facts; then, when that became no longer possible, pleaded exaggeration, or alternatively ‘human nature’. They professed to be conducting inquiries, the results of which never appeared. Finally, we were told that certain offenders among the police had been tried and punished, but the Minister of State for War, bolder than his civilian colleagues, frankly assured us that no single soldier had been punished. In any case, murders and reprisals go on exactly as before, or rather both, with certain fluctuations, show a steady tendency to increase. That is the result so far of the British adaptation of German frightfulness.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Collins to Griffith: ‘Let Lloyd George make no mistake, the I.R.A is not broke. The events of the week and these days are more eloquent on that question that all his military advisers. Neither is the spirit of the people broken’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P224
Private American attempts to get aid to Ireland were more effective. Through the Irish-American Club of Philadelphia, the wife of a prominent Irish-American, Seamus O’Doherty, was able to send the SS Honolulu to Cork by late December loaded with 1,700 tons of food, clothing and household goods.
Major Holmes, District Commander in Cork reported to the Irish Office that the Cork burnings were ‘almost certainly started not by any organised body but by single individuals who got together casually, as it were, for mischief – an odd subaltern perhaps, a policeman, an odd Auxiliary, doubtless some civilians, and after the start many real hooligans out for loot’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 91
British military issue a proclamation that after 27th December anyone found guilty by a military court of carrying arms or “adding and abetting” rebels would be liable to be shot.
Further press clippings - click here
15
The Court of Commission on Conditions in Ireland, Third Hearing in Washington DC was held over December 15 & 16.
15
The Court of Commission on Conditions in Ireland, Third Hearing in Washington DC was held over December 15 & 16.
The special correspondent of the Manchester Guardian reporting from Cork wrote that ‘the destruction was deliberately caused. In the House of Commons we may hear it was a Sinn Fein outrage, as if even the most determined rebels would fire their own city for fun or by accident. It was neither. The people have known in Cork that something like this was to happen before long.
A free hand was given for the reduction of the city to quietude and respect for authority, and one has heard in the last few weeks much ominous and threatening talk from members of His Majesty’s forces of the fate that was to befall the city if anything happened to a policeman or soldier….men in civilian clothes carrying revolvers moved about among the people, firing occasional shots and creating panic. A tramcar was boarded by police with carbines and auxiliaries in plain clothes, who brought it back to the tram centre where it was burned and its twisted framework stands in the middle of Patrick Street today. Several people are reported to have been hurt or wounded during the hold up.
The firing went on intermittently until 10 o’clock, the curfew hour…..the occupants of one house, to my knowledge and probably others were warned about 9 o’clock before any fire had begun, to clear out..the warning was given by a party of men mostly in civilian clothes and a few in Royal Irish Constabulary uniforms – an incident of some significance. At the curfew hours no one remained on the streets by the Auxiliaries and military patrols who have charge of the city during the night hours. Just before 10 o’clock party of twenty or thirty men in civilian clothes came to the large drapery store of Grant & Co, and broke the boarding and wire netting recently put up to protect the windows from a night attack. They entered and spent some time carrying out loot. Then came an explosion and the building was ablaze. A few minutes after burning Grants, a similar attack, whether by the same party or another, it is not clear, was made on the Munster Arcade, a large drapery and general store with large glass frontage and three entrances. Here the looting was systematic, kit bags and portmanteaux were taken from one department, stored in another and then taken out into the street. A bomb was thrown and the place set on fire. The whole building, covering over an acre, was levelled. With it went eight other shops and some poor class dwellings in back streets’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 26, December 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Collins in a note to Art O'Brian, began to distance himself from the Moylett ‘affair’ and indicated the lack of trust by the Sinn Fein leadership : ‘I had no doubt at all about the class of busybodies who were humming around with all sorts of claims of their own importance, and all sorts of suggestions for the settlement of Ireland, as well as every place else’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P218
Collins added of Moylett: ‘I fancy him to be a man who thinks nobody can tell him anything’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p181
And as for Lloyd George: ‘…there is far too much of a tendency to believe the Lloyd George is wishful for peace and it is only his own wild men prevent him from accomplishing his desires…I am not convinced that he is the peace maker..’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p184
In some circles the feeling was the Griffith was ‘weakening’ on the demand for an Irish Republic, which was denied and a new Truce formula was worked out.
Sturgis writes of tentative negotiation between Archbishop Clune and Arthur Griffith. Sir John Anderson’s suggestion was ‘a damping down – ‘rest of your oars’ he calls it. They to stop outrage, we to stop raiding and incidentally looting, burning, shooting etc. we would delay any court martial likely to stir up public feel but some court martial's would of course have to go on. We would not raid but if a real criminal was idiot enough to put himself under the eyes of the authorities we would have to arrest him. Nothing was said about releasing Griffith to convene his MP’s – at present this would impossible….Macready is back tomorrow…it will be a big gain if he guarantees that the soldiers all over Ireland would observe an informal truce – then we would have to see how we can guarantee a damping down of the police without hurting their feelings…’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 92
As for arms decommissioning, MacMahon was of the opinion that none would be forthcoming until such time as Ulster was also disarmed. Lord French felt that by the deadline of December 27th, most arms would have been hidden and few if any would be surrendered.
In Dunmanway, Co. Cork, a Cadet named Harte driving a lorry load of Auxiliaries met 75 year old Canon Magner, PP of Dunmanway and Timothy Crowley, an intellectually disabled boy walking on a rural road. He halted the lorry, got out and shot both dead. On return to the barracks, he was put under military arrest and moved to Cork. Harte was one of the Auxiliaries based in Cork who was moved to Dunmanway following the burning of Cork.
American Commission on Conditions in Ireland Hearings – 3rd Session – Day 1/1
Mrs Muriel McSwiney was staying at the Hotel St Regis in New York. Diarmuid Lynch on behalf of the Friends of Irish Freedom wrote that William P Cunningham, Secretary of the Pittsburgh Local Council Friends of Irish Freedom had invited her to be their guest at the annual reception on January 13th 1921. Later that day, another invitation for Mrs McSwiney was received from Rev F.X.McCabe, Kansas City Missouri extending an invitation to the city.
McGarrity later admitted that it was around this time that he and others burgled the offices of the Gaelic American to gain the lists of Clann na Gael members.
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p172
Belgium: The Brussels Conference establishes a timetable for German war reparations, intended to extend for over 42 years.
China: An 8.6 Richter scale Haiyuan earthquake causes a landslide in Gansu Province, China, killing 180,000.
Further press clippings - click here
16
The first meeting of the American Committee for Relief in Ireland (ACRI ) was held in the Bankers Club, New York.
Since early 1919, all cables to and from Great Britain and Ireland were sent to the British Admiralty for examination by Room 40. While this remained secret, under threat of loss of operating licences to the non-British cable companies, it all came tumbling out in the open on December 16th. During a Senate Sub-Committee hearing in Washington D.C., Western Union’s President, Newcomb Carlton explained that his company had protested to the British Government about the order, stating that while all messages were sent to British Naval Intelligence, all were returned within hours adding '‘they do not hold them long enough for anything like deciphering’. The Chairman of the sub-committee intervened to point out that while it may take several weeks to several months to decipher a document, it only takes seconds to copy it. Carlton continued ‘They wanted those messages only for such supervision as might give them an inkling of pending disorders within Great Britain, I assume having to do with Irish unrest and also to do with Bolshevik propaganda’ and added that he had been reassured by the British Government that ‘ The messages would not be deciphered. The reason why they wanted the messages was to keep general track of who was cabling.’
The British Government was highly embarrassed at this revelation, and officially denied that any such order had been given to cable companies. However, the Official Secrets Act was swiftly amended so that in the future, cable companies would be required by law to hand over their cable traffic.
When the Senate Sub-Committee reconvened after the Christmas recess, Western Union’s President requested the committee did not press him further as it was compromising the firm’s position in Britain. He did confirm that ‘The British Government was desirous of supervising in and out cable messages to certain European countries in the interest of British peace and quiet.’
Apparently the American Embassy in London and consulates throughout Great Britain and Ireland were aware the British were intercepting, copying and attempting to decipher their messages. ‘An Assistant secretary later recalled how ‘a message had been sent to Washington one evening but through some inadvertence we had not kept a copy. We telephoned the cable company and asked them to return the original and evidently a new clerk answered and replied ‘That message isn't here. It’s over at the Admiralty.’
James Rusbridger & Eric Nave. ‘Betrayal at Pearl Harbour – How Churchill lured Roosevelt into War’. Michael O’Mara Books Ltd. London. 1991. P35-36.
British poet Theodore Maynard said of Ireland ‘The demand for Irish Independence is not a mere pretext for a lot of lawless man to use as justification for their raids, destruction of life and property and a general shattering of the peace and public welfare of England and Ireland, It is a philosophical demand of a kindly people, determined and courageous, placing their lives between aggression and the perfectly rational functioning Government they have established and are maintaining’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 26, December 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Lord Kilmaine, who resided in the West of Ireland, in the course of his speech during the Lord’s debate on the English Bill for the partition of Ireland said ‘I am a witness of the absolute breakdown and failure of Government in the South and West of Ireland during the last two years. The breakdown was so absolute that we did not know where the British Government was….but what I have seen of Sinn Fein courts and of the Sinn Fein movement in the extreme west of Ireland during the time that they have been allowed complete control has made me change my opinion about the ability of the Irish to rule themselves. Sinn Feiners have shown extraordinary fairness in a great many ways, and they have been extremely just in their decisions’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 26, December 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Summary justice was meted out to many, including two men from Limerick, O’Neill and Blake. Both had been arrested by British forces, court martialed in Dublin and acquitted. Both on their return to Limerick were collected by friends in two cars. ‘On the road, Blake’s car was met by armed English forces who asked ‘Is Blake here’? The brother or the man who had been acquitted stood up and replied ‘Yes’. He was shot dead. O’Neill’s car was stopped also and he was shot dead…it is obvious that even English court martial are not executioners sure enough to satisfy the servants of the English Crown’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 26, December 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Following the burning and sacking of Cork, an Enquiry opened at Victoria Barracks, Cork to discover responsibility for the reprisal. The British instituted enquiry was a military review under command of Major-General Strickland. No press or lawyers were admitted, witnesses were admitted singly and the report when submitted to Cabinet, was suppressed. It wound up on December 20th.
Dunmanway: A captured letter from an Auxiliary named Charlie to his mother: ‘I contracted a chill on Saturday night during the burning and looting of Cork in all of which I took perforce a reluctant part. We did it right never mind how much the well intentioned Hammar Greenwood would excuse us. In all my life…and in all the tales of fiction I have read I have never witnessed during the past 16 days with the RIC Auxiliaries. It baffles description. And we are supposed to be ex-officers and gentlemen. There are quite a number of decent fellows and likewise a lot of ruffians…the houses in vicinity of the ambush were set alight and from there the various parties set out on their mission of destruction. Many who witnessed similar scenes in France and Flanders say nothing they have experienced ever compared to the punishment meted out in Cork…’ and commenting on the murders the day before of Canon Magner and Timothy Crowley ‘…we were very kindly received by the people but the consequence of the cold blooded murder is that no-one will come within a mile of us now and all the shops are closed. The brute who did it has been sodden with drink for some time and has been sent to Cork under arrest for examination by experts in lunacy…’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p83
Franciscan and Carmelite monasteries were searched in Dublin on information that Michael Collins was in hiding in one.
All the Dublin Castle administration were ordered to carry passes complete with photos.
Four RIC Constables were killed in an ambush at Kilcommon near Thurles, Co. Tipperary. Constables Patrick Halford (27) from Meath, Ernest Harden (21) from Essex, Albert Palmer (24) from Surrey and Arthur Smith (22) from London. Three were wounded.
Michael Edmonds from Tipperary is dragged from his bed and his body is found later – he had been shot in the head with signs of torture on his body. Auxiliaries suspected.
Liam Deasy and Florrie O’Donoghue were in Dublin for discussions with IRA GHQ, where it was decided to send a representative from Cork to organise the purchase and shipment of 600 rifles and ammunition from Italy. This was to be the first large gun-running operation since Easter 1916. Mick Leahy was chosen due to his marine engineering background, to travel to Genoa and arrange the deal. Myross Strand near Glandore Harbour in West Cork being the landing place. The arms were then to be distributed to nearly one hundred dumps.
Further press clippings - click here
17
The British raids on monasteries found nothing, but arrested was Fr. Dominick who had ministered to Terence McSwiney in Brixton Prison.
British Cabinet advised Dublin Castle that no truce would be possible without disarmament.
R.I.C. Detective Inspector Phillip O’Sullivan working the Castle was killed in Dublin while out walking with his girlfriend in Henry Street. He had won the Military Cross during service in the First World War with the Royal Navy.
Constable Peter Shannon (36) was killed in an ambush while on patrol at Swanlinbar, Co Cavan.
The first armed party were carried on the Great Southern and Western railway without protest.
RC Bishop of Kilmore, Dr Finnegan says that "Any war … to be just and lawful must be backed by a well grounded hope of success … What hope of success have you against the mighty forces of the British Empire? None … none whatever and if it unlawful as it is, every life taken in pursuance of it is murder."
Lord Bandon’s ancestral home was burned down. Woken by the local IRA Commander while sprinkling petrol around his rooms he was allegedly informed: ‘Your lot burned my castle last week…now I’m burning yours’
"It is interesting to see the consciences of the English Universities stirring against the infamy of English rule in Ireland. In a recent issue of the Cambridge Review there appeared a letter condemning outrages in Ireland and calling upon all Cambridge men who shared the sentiments expressed to submit their names to the Cambridge University Branch of the Peace with Ireland Council. The letter said in part: “If we are asked what special concern we as Cambridge men have in these matters, we would call to mind the general con demnation of the representatives of the German universities for uttering no Word of protest against the conduct of their Government during the war. With out wishing to institute odious comparisons between the methods of the British and Gelman Governments, we feel bound to protest against official actions and inactions which must bring and indeed have brought, disgrace upon the name of our country.” The letter was singed as follows: Henry Bond, J. R. M. Butler, J. H. Clapham, G. A. Chase, F. M. Cornford, Horace Darwin, Edward Davison, A. S. Eddington, C. R. Fay, A. Henderson, H. D. Henderson, J. M. Keynes, J. H. Lewis, Arnold D. McNair, R. St. John Parry, James Passant, D. R. Pye, St. John Pym, A. Quiller-Couch, A. S. Ramsey, Charles E. Raven, W. H. R. Rivers, C. B. Rootham, D. H. Robertson, A. Seward, F. R. Salter, G. G. Sharp, A. E. Shipley, F. A. Simpson, S. E. Swann."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.27 Jan 1,1921. Lynch Family Archives
17
The British raids on monasteries found nothing, but arrested was Fr. Dominick who had ministered to Terence McSwiney in Brixton Prison.
British Cabinet advised Dublin Castle that no truce would be possible without disarmament.
R.I.C. Detective Inspector Phillip O’Sullivan working the Castle was killed in Dublin while out walking with his girlfriend in Henry Street. He had won the Military Cross during service in the First World War with the Royal Navy.
Constable Peter Shannon (36) was killed in an ambush while on patrol at Swanlinbar, Co Cavan.
The first armed party were carried on the Great Southern and Western railway without protest.
RC Bishop of Kilmore, Dr Finnegan says that "Any war … to be just and lawful must be backed by a well grounded hope of success … What hope of success have you against the mighty forces of the British Empire? None … none whatever and if it unlawful as it is, every life taken in pursuance of it is murder."
Lord Bandon’s ancestral home was burned down. Woken by the local IRA Commander while sprinkling petrol around his rooms he was allegedly informed: ‘Your lot burned my castle last week…now I’m burning yours’
"It is interesting to see the consciences of the English Universities stirring against the infamy of English rule in Ireland. In a recent issue of the Cambridge Review there appeared a letter condemning outrages in Ireland and calling upon all Cambridge men who shared the sentiments expressed to submit their names to the Cambridge University Branch of the Peace with Ireland Council. The letter said in part: “If we are asked what special concern we as Cambridge men have in these matters, we would call to mind the general con demnation of the representatives of the German universities for uttering no Word of protest against the conduct of their Government during the war. With out wishing to institute odious comparisons between the methods of the British and Gelman Governments, we feel bound to protest against official actions and inactions which must bring and indeed have brought, disgrace upon the name of our country.” The letter was singed as follows: Henry Bond, J. R. M. Butler, J. H. Clapham, G. A. Chase, F. M. Cornford, Horace Darwin, Edward Davison, A. S. Eddington, C. R. Fay, A. Henderson, H. D. Henderson, J. M. Keynes, J. H. Lewis, Arnold D. McNair, R. St. John Parry, James Passant, D. R. Pye, St. John Pym, A. Quiller-Couch, A. S. Ramsey, Charles E. Raven, W. H. R. Rivers, C. B. Rootham, D. H. Robertson, A. Seward, F. R. Salter, G. G. Sharp, A. E. Shipley, F. A. Simpson, S. E. Swann."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.27 Jan 1,1921. Lynch Family Archives
Further press clippings - click here
18
Bishop Daniel Cohalan of Cork, an outspoken critic of violence on both sides, commented on the burning of Cork in his pastoral letter, saying that it was simply punishment for murder. He rejected as ‘false teaching’ the assertion that ‘Ireland is at the moment a sovereign independent state’ and that consequently ‘Irishmen have authority to kill England’s forces and burn English property in Ireland’ was now convinced that events were finally turning in favour of the British: ‘Some Republicans used to speak of the receding authority of England and of the occupation of the deserted districts by the advancing authority of the Republic….he would be a bold Republican who would talk now, in city or country, of districts delivered from British rule.’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P215 & 223
The British Military Governor of martial law areas, Brigadier-General Higginson, announced that captured officers of ‘the rebel forces’ would be carried in Government cars and lorries. This was to reduce the number of ambushes on Government vehicles.
Archbishop Clune has a lengthy meeting with Griffith at which a draft peace proposal was formulated. This proposal is very similar to the one that is accepted in July 1921. Clune brings it to Llyod George in London.
Meeting in Barry's Hotel, Gardiner Row, Dublin between Cathal Brugha, Michael Collins, Liam Mellows, Sean McMahon, Joe Vize (IRA GHQ) and representatives of two of the Cork brigades - Florrie O'Donoghue (Adj Cork No. 1) and Liam Deasy (Adj Cork No. 3) - to discuss possible landing of arms on Squince Strand near Myross, Co. Cork. (O'Donoghue says 13th-14th).
The Flying Column of the Mid-Clare Brigade IRA led by Joe Barrett and consisting of 56 men ambushes three lorries of a joint British military and police patrol at Monreal (between Ennis and Ennistymon), Co. Clare. Two lorries were expected but nevertheless it was claimed by Barrett that 16 British were killed and 14 wounded. Five IRA men were wounded (Paddy O'Loughlin, Bill McNamara, Bill Carroll, Jack Hasnett and Jim Kierse). Among the IRA men present were Ignatius O'Neill, John Joe Neylon, Martin Slattery and John Minihan,
Brigadier-General Higginson (Cork) issues a notice saying that captured rebel officers will in future be carried on British lorries as protection.
According to Sturgis, following the murder of Canon Magner in Dunmanway…’ the PM is furious and the whole cabinet have been badly frightened ‘What's the good of having martial law if the fellow I not tried and hanged already’…Harte is at present in hospital – the charge will be brought tomorrow…I am sorry for him…as these men have undoubtedly been influenced by what they have taken to be passive approval of their officers from Tudor downwards to believe they will never be punished for anything. Still this murder of an old inoffensive priest in broad daylight…is so ghastly that unless he be proved raving mad, he should hang – and if he gets off on the plea of insanity surely those responsible for leaving him loose on the world in charge of a party armed to the teeth should take his place in the dock.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 95
The English people were reminded by the “Statist” (London) that their Government, in pursuing its policy of blockading Ireland, is strangling one of their best markets, and destroying the productivity of one of their chief sources of food supply.
"According to this publication, over 90 per cent of Irish imports are of English origin, while England depends on Ireland for the major portion of her imported food supplies. The Statist points out that the wide powers of the new railway and motor orders make it easy for the English Govern ment to defeat any effort to maintain the economic well-being of Ireland. To the Statist, the future looks dark, and the more recent news that armed English forces in Ireland have raided the Lighting Department of the Dublin Corpora tion and confiscated all documents and correspondence of the Central Food Emergency Committee, shows the extent to which English rule is prepared to go in its war of starvation against the Irish nation. The entire scope of activity of the Food Committee was the taking of precautionary measures to secure a sufficient supply of food for the Irish people under the tightening of the English blockade."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
"Carter Glass’s “News” of Lynchburg, Virginia, is becoming oracular on the subject of Ireland. A recent and lengthy editorial in this paper concludes with the following amazing statement: “Indeed, as time passes and murders and reprisals constantly multiply in that afflicted country, the finger of logic is pointing inevitably to but two alternatives, one a complete conquest and military occupation of Ireland or the complete victory of the Sinn Fein cause. That the latter eventually can materialize in fact, does not appear to be rationally con ceivable.” The NEWS LETTER can hardly bring itself to believe that “The News” is here with offering gratuitous approbation of Lloyd George’s policy of military frightfulness which has so shocked the entire world. Assuming, therefore, that the editor is pained by the conclusion which his lack of information forces him to draw, the NEWS LETTER hastens to assure him that neither in the world at large nor in England itself is the recognition of the established Irish Republic regarded as “inconceivable.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The English talk of a truce with Ireland can carry little conviction in the face of Sir Hamar Greenwood's recent peroration to a long debate in the English Commons, in which he said: “I regret the bloodshed, but there will be more of it.” -
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
American Commission on Conditions in Ireland Hearings – 4th Session – Day 1/1
Further press clippings - click here
19
General Strickland ordered his units in Munster to ‘in future, a Sinn Fein prisoner is to be taken handcuffed in the front of each lorry which comes or leaves their areas’. Hostage taking had arrived, and proved very effective. So effective, that the army ordered all its units to do likewise less than three weeks later.
An ambush by East Limerick Brigade Column (led by Donnchadh O'Hannigan) with help from Castletownroche Battalion Column (Cork No. 2) and Mitchelstown Company (Cork No.2 Brigade) at Glencurrane (in Co Limerick but just north of Mitchelstown). Two of the British party killed and three wounded and rest surrender. Attackers capture 18 rifles.
Opening of the Nation Committee in Washington to enquire into British atrocities in Ireland - it was subsequently addressed by Muriel and Mary MacSwiney (wife and sister respectively of Terence McSwiney) and the new Lord Major of Cork Donal O'Callaghan.
Further press clippings - click here
19
General Strickland ordered his units in Munster to ‘in future, a Sinn Fein prisoner is to be taken handcuffed in the front of each lorry which comes or leaves their areas’. Hostage taking had arrived, and proved very effective. So effective, that the army ordered all its units to do likewise less than three weeks later.
An ambush by East Limerick Brigade Column (led by Donnchadh O'Hannigan) with help from Castletownroche Battalion Column (Cork No. 2) and Mitchelstown Company (Cork No.2 Brigade) at Glencurrane (in Co Limerick but just north of Mitchelstown). Two of the British party killed and three wounded and rest surrender. Attackers capture 18 rifles.
Opening of the Nation Committee in Washington to enquire into British atrocities in Ireland - it was subsequently addressed by Muriel and Mary MacSwiney (wife and sister respectively of Terence McSwiney) and the new Lord Major of Cork Donal O'Callaghan.
Further press clippings - click here
20
General Macready issued an order to all crown forces forbidding offences against person and property. It was ineffective.
The Enquiry into the burning of Cork completed at Victoria Barracks after 5 days of testimony. It’s finding placed responsibility on members of K Company of the Auxiliaries who had been based in Victoria Barracks at the time but the Government refused publication.
The Press Association had a strong rumour that President De Valera was landing at Cherbourg from New York en-route to Paris. The Chief Secretary advised Dublin Castle that ‘if de Valera landed in Ireland he was to be regarded as ‘political’ and no step was to be taken without reference to London. 'O' ( Brig.Gen Ormonde Winter ) says that if he does come here he will probably be shot by both sides…’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 96
The trial of Cadet Harte who killed two in Dunmanway was adjourned for 10 days pending a report on his sanity.
West Kilkenny IRA carry out an ambush on a joint police-military patrol at Nine-Mile-House near the Kilkenny-Tipperary border (between Cullan and Glenbower). Eight soldiers are killed and an RIC sergeant (Sgt Thomas Walsh (40)).
Two IRA men (Capt J J Lobby and Vol William Delaney) are taken from Cashel by Auxiliaries and shot dead near Kilfeacle cemetery. (O’Farrell says 18th for Delaney and 19th for Lobby.)
“It is in the grip of a merciless terror, “writes Proinnsias o Gallchobhair in a recent issue of the Dublin weekly, Old Ireland, “that a nation proclaims loudest its unalterable nationhood.” The analysis which he gives of the spirit of the Irish nation today is so interesting that we reprint it here in part: “Let the weaklings murmur as they will, this day is the greatest of all days for this Nation of many dead. Why should we doubt, we who live? Those who have died—two hundred of our brothers and sisters in this one year alone—these did not doubt. Thomas MacCurtain did not doubt. Terence MacSwiney did not doubt. Kevin Barry did not doubt. Richard McKee did not doubt. James Howley did not doubt. Yet to them the Irish Republic meant death. We are not this man or that man, we are a whole people. Each one of us is Ireland, the unconquered and unconquerable. By the actions of each one of us, that Ireland will be judged, judged by a squalid enemy to whom every failure, every weakness, every whole or partial surrender will be as new blood to the veins. Ireland cannot surrender the claims she has made. No generation can surrender those claims in her name. No individual can surrender them. Every man is part of his nation. He is not separate from it. It is he and he is it. What the nation demands every individual in it must demand. What the nation refuses to forego no man can yield. That is what nationality means; it is what a man’s duty to his country means.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.27 Jan 1,1921. Lynch Family Archives
Below: The Gaelic American ups the ante with 'Send the Funds to Ireland' and additional commentary from John Devoy who wrote of the 'supposedly inspired leaders from Ireland who know as little of American politics as they do of the interior of Pategonia'
General Macready issued an order to all crown forces forbidding offences against person and property. It was ineffective.
The Enquiry into the burning of Cork completed at Victoria Barracks after 5 days of testimony. It’s finding placed responsibility on members of K Company of the Auxiliaries who had been based in Victoria Barracks at the time but the Government refused publication.
The Press Association had a strong rumour that President De Valera was landing at Cherbourg from New York en-route to Paris. The Chief Secretary advised Dublin Castle that ‘if de Valera landed in Ireland he was to be regarded as ‘political’ and no step was to be taken without reference to London. 'O' ( Brig.Gen Ormonde Winter ) says that if he does come here he will probably be shot by both sides…’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 96
The trial of Cadet Harte who killed two in Dunmanway was adjourned for 10 days pending a report on his sanity.
West Kilkenny IRA carry out an ambush on a joint police-military patrol at Nine-Mile-House near the Kilkenny-Tipperary border (between Cullan and Glenbower). Eight soldiers are killed and an RIC sergeant (Sgt Thomas Walsh (40)).
Two IRA men (Capt J J Lobby and Vol William Delaney) are taken from Cashel by Auxiliaries and shot dead near Kilfeacle cemetery. (O’Farrell says 18th for Delaney and 19th for Lobby.)
“It is in the grip of a merciless terror, “writes Proinnsias o Gallchobhair in a recent issue of the Dublin weekly, Old Ireland, “that a nation proclaims loudest its unalterable nationhood.” The analysis which he gives of the spirit of the Irish nation today is so interesting that we reprint it here in part: “Let the weaklings murmur as they will, this day is the greatest of all days for this Nation of many dead. Why should we doubt, we who live? Those who have died—two hundred of our brothers and sisters in this one year alone—these did not doubt. Thomas MacCurtain did not doubt. Terence MacSwiney did not doubt. Kevin Barry did not doubt. Richard McKee did not doubt. James Howley did not doubt. Yet to them the Irish Republic meant death. We are not this man or that man, we are a whole people. Each one of us is Ireland, the unconquered and unconquerable. By the actions of each one of us, that Ireland will be judged, judged by a squalid enemy to whom every failure, every weakness, every whole or partial surrender will be as new blood to the veins. Ireland cannot surrender the claims she has made. No generation can surrender those claims in her name. No individual can surrender them. Every man is part of his nation. He is not separate from it. It is he and he is it. What the nation demands every individual in it must demand. What the nation refuses to forego no man can yield. That is what nationality means; it is what a man’s duty to his country means.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.27 Jan 1,1921. Lynch Family Archives
Below: The Gaelic American ups the ante with 'Send the Funds to Ireland' and additional commentary from John Devoy who wrote of the 'supposedly inspired leaders from Ireland who know as little of American politics as they do of the interior of Pategonia'
Further press clippings - click here
21
The Court of Commission on Conditions in Ireland held the fourth hearing over December 21, 22 & 23 in Washington DC.
21
The Court of Commission on Conditions in Ireland held the fourth hearing over December 21, 22 & 23 in Washington DC.
The Railwaymen opted to end their six month campaign against moving British munitions and men. Military transportation never returned to normal.
Clune meets with Lloyd George in London and gives him Griffith's truce proposal. Llyod George rejects it as it does not include the handing in of arms and he tells Clune that his military are confident of mopping up the IRA.
Collins in a letter to Art O’Brian made clear that Lloyd George’s insistence on the surrender of arms would not and could not be agreed to ‘…things seemingly went satisfactorily up to the last day practically when everything broke down because of an impossible condition…of course, nobody could dream of entertaining such a proposition..’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 253
Informing to Dublin Castle appeared to continue. Sturgis reported ‘..an informer says there are rumours that the Shinns intend to destroy, if they can, the City Hall and Municipal Buildings in order that they may not be taken over by the military; probably tonight. I can't think they would be so idiotic.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 97
Both City Hall and the Municipal Buildings were to be taken over by the Military on 22nd December. There was no attack by the IRA.
Harry Boland came out fighting in reaction to the Friends of Irish Freedom recent calls for the transfer of Bond funds to Ireland to aid reconstruction and to relieve distress and the previous day's Gaelic American 'Send the Funds to Ireland' commentary by Devoy. Boland declared in an interview with the Boston Post that 'The line is clearly drawn. On the one hand Ireland calls you through her official head, President de Valera; on the other the petty, jealous and selfish interest of a group of individuals would deprive Ireland of your aid'
Below: Harry Boland's interview with the Boston Post.
Further press clippings - click here
22
The Clerk to Dublin Corporation was ‘a tiny little man with a vast white waxed moustache’ named Campbell. He saw Sir John Anderson ostensibly on pensions ‘and carried on to more interesting subjects…he is very loyal, very bitter and very brave…he told us that with the exception of half a dozen the whole corporation were wreckers, that the reduction of Municipal affairs to chaos was the result of their set policy. He gave as an instance of their petty malignity that they spent most of last night hacking down the flag staff over the Municipal Buildings so that the military…could not hoist the hated flag over them. This heroic effort they regarded with extreme satisfaction.! In his view the burning of Cork will have had a great sobering effect on the towns of Ireland.’ He was also asked as to why the murder of Canon Magner had created far more of a storm in London than here in Ireland ‘ his astute explanation …is that the Canon was not a Sinn Feiner.’. As for the Sinn Fein leadership, he said that several of the ‘most wanted men were walking around the city almost daily – McGarry disguised as a woman, Cosgrave as a priest or monk. Michael Collins he saw only once in his life but is certain he saw him two days ago in Dame Street undisguised’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 97-8
"A recent editorial in the Manchester Guardian, entitled “Ireland’s War”, gives interesting support to our statement. It should be remembered that the Guardian, one of the most exact and fair minded of the liberal newspapers in England, has often stated that it does not believe in the advisability of an Irish Republic. However, in the editorial referred to, the Guardian uses its most sincere arguments for an end of the present reign of terror. “First of all,” says the editorial, “we must remember that Nationalist Ireland, from end to end, acknowledges no lawful authority outside his own shores and that for every Sinn Feiner the one authority to which he owes respect and obedience is not the British Parliament, but the Irish Parliament.” The editorial points out that, after all, Dáil Eireann is the elected government of Ireland and that its decrees alone are obeyed. It is obvious, then, the Guardian says, that Dáil Eireann has declared war on England and the only authority in Ireland which can end the war is the Dáil Eireann : “What Dáil Eireann has done Dáil Eireann can undo. Having declared a War, it can also declare a truce.” The editorial makes its impilcation clear that peace in Ireland can only be restored by negotiations between the British Government and Dáil Eireann."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.26 Dec 25,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Previously determined protagonists of the British Empire, Lord Bryce (former Chief Secretary for Ireland 1905-07 & British Ambassador to the United States 1907-13) and Lord Buckmaster (former Lord Chancellor of Britain) denounced English rule in Ireland at a meeting at Cambridge University. The Newsletter reported:
"Their denunciations were made by letter. From Lord Bryce's we take this paragraph: “Never since 1798 have the forces of the Crown so disregarded their duty, nor have Ministers tried to palliate such excesses, destroying discipline, placing innocent men and women between two fires, and obliging them to fear and to flee from those charged with their pro tection. I earnestly hope that the protests to be delivered at your meeting may help to arouse national opinion to see that the good fame of England shall no longer suffer at the hands of those who ought to preserve it.”
From Lord Buckmaster’s letter to this Cambridge demonstration, we quote this paragraph: “I am satisfied that if once knowledge were possessed by the people of this country, they would not tolerate the things that are done in their names. Hatred of murder, if it be deep and sincere, cannot discrimi nate. Though some murders may be worse than others, all are utterly abomi nable, and, that murder has been done in the name of the Crown during the last few weeks, in Ireland, no impartial observer can deny. The administration of the law in Ireland is only supported by terror and, as the terror grows, hatred of the law grows at the same pace.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.27 Jan 1,1921. Lynch Family Archives
Harry Boland's response to the Friends fo Irish Freedom was published in Dublin's Freeman's Journal and accused the Friends of using their 1919 Victory Fund warchest 'to undermine the work of President de Valera'
Constable William Jones (37) from Limerick was shot dead off duty in Kelly's Pub, Newtownbarry, Co. Wexford.
The Committee of One Hundred had evolved into the American Committee on Relief in Ireland (ACOMRI) and by year's end had raised some $5 million. This was largely due to the endorsements of President Harding, William McAdoo, all the American Catholic Cardinals and Herbert Hoover and donations coming in from the wealthy. Further large donations came in from the Ancient Order of Hibernians, church dioceses and proceeds from dinners and concerts, some given by Count John McCormack.
McCormack, John (1884-1945), Irish-American tenor, born in Athlone. He joined the choir of the Dublin Cathedral in 1903. In 1907 he made his operatic debut at Covent Garden in London, and in 1909 he sang at the Manhattan Opera House in New York. He subsequently sang with the Metropolitan and Chicago opera companies. His greatest success, however, was on the concert platform, where his rendition of Irish folk songs achieved great popularity. McCormack retired from the stage in 1938.
The 8th Congress of Soviets of the Russian SFSR adopts the GOELRO plan, the major plan of the economical development of the country.
22
The Clerk to Dublin Corporation was ‘a tiny little man with a vast white waxed moustache’ named Campbell. He saw Sir John Anderson ostensibly on pensions ‘and carried on to more interesting subjects…he is very loyal, very bitter and very brave…he told us that with the exception of half a dozen the whole corporation were wreckers, that the reduction of Municipal affairs to chaos was the result of their set policy. He gave as an instance of their petty malignity that they spent most of last night hacking down the flag staff over the Municipal Buildings so that the military…could not hoist the hated flag over them. This heroic effort they regarded with extreme satisfaction.! In his view the burning of Cork will have had a great sobering effect on the towns of Ireland.’ He was also asked as to why the murder of Canon Magner had created far more of a storm in London than here in Ireland ‘ his astute explanation …is that the Canon was not a Sinn Feiner.’. As for the Sinn Fein leadership, he said that several of the ‘most wanted men were walking around the city almost daily – McGarry disguised as a woman, Cosgrave as a priest or monk. Michael Collins he saw only once in his life but is certain he saw him two days ago in Dame Street undisguised’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 97-8
"A recent editorial in the Manchester Guardian, entitled “Ireland’s War”, gives interesting support to our statement. It should be remembered that the Guardian, one of the most exact and fair minded of the liberal newspapers in England, has often stated that it does not believe in the advisability of an Irish Republic. However, in the editorial referred to, the Guardian uses its most sincere arguments for an end of the present reign of terror. “First of all,” says the editorial, “we must remember that Nationalist Ireland, from end to end, acknowledges no lawful authority outside his own shores and that for every Sinn Feiner the one authority to which he owes respect and obedience is not the British Parliament, but the Irish Parliament.” The editorial points out that, after all, Dáil Eireann is the elected government of Ireland and that its decrees alone are obeyed. It is obvious, then, the Guardian says, that Dáil Eireann has declared war on England and the only authority in Ireland which can end the war is the Dáil Eireann : “What Dáil Eireann has done Dáil Eireann can undo. Having declared a War, it can also declare a truce.” The editorial makes its impilcation clear that peace in Ireland can only be restored by negotiations between the British Government and Dáil Eireann."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.26 Dec 25,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Previously determined protagonists of the British Empire, Lord Bryce (former Chief Secretary for Ireland 1905-07 & British Ambassador to the United States 1907-13) and Lord Buckmaster (former Lord Chancellor of Britain) denounced English rule in Ireland at a meeting at Cambridge University. The Newsletter reported:
"Their denunciations were made by letter. From Lord Bryce's we take this paragraph: “Never since 1798 have the forces of the Crown so disregarded their duty, nor have Ministers tried to palliate such excesses, destroying discipline, placing innocent men and women between two fires, and obliging them to fear and to flee from those charged with their pro tection. I earnestly hope that the protests to be delivered at your meeting may help to arouse national opinion to see that the good fame of England shall no longer suffer at the hands of those who ought to preserve it.”
From Lord Buckmaster’s letter to this Cambridge demonstration, we quote this paragraph: “I am satisfied that if once knowledge were possessed by the people of this country, they would not tolerate the things that are done in their names. Hatred of murder, if it be deep and sincere, cannot discrimi nate. Though some murders may be worse than others, all are utterly abomi nable, and, that murder has been done in the name of the Crown during the last few weeks, in Ireland, no impartial observer can deny. The administration of the law in Ireland is only supported by terror and, as the terror grows, hatred of the law grows at the same pace.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.27 Jan 1,1921. Lynch Family Archives
Harry Boland's response to the Friends fo Irish Freedom was published in Dublin's Freeman's Journal and accused the Friends of using their 1919 Victory Fund warchest 'to undermine the work of President de Valera'
Constable William Jones (37) from Limerick was shot dead off duty in Kelly's Pub, Newtownbarry, Co. Wexford.
The Committee of One Hundred had evolved into the American Committee on Relief in Ireland (ACOMRI) and by year's end had raised some $5 million. This was largely due to the endorsements of President Harding, William McAdoo, all the American Catholic Cardinals and Herbert Hoover and donations coming in from the wealthy. Further large donations came in from the Ancient Order of Hibernians, church dioceses and proceeds from dinners and concerts, some given by Count John McCormack.
McCormack, John (1884-1945), Irish-American tenor, born in Athlone. He joined the choir of the Dublin Cathedral in 1903. In 1907 he made his operatic debut at Covent Garden in London, and in 1909 he sang at the Manhattan Opera House in New York. He subsequently sang with the Metropolitan and Chicago opera companies. His greatest success, however, was on the concert platform, where his rendition of Irish folk songs achieved great popularity. McCormack retired from the stage in 1938.
The 8th Congress of Soviets of the Russian SFSR adopts the GOELRO plan, the major plan of the economical development of the country.
Punch Magazine - 22 December 1920. By the time the presiding officer of the House of Lords, Lord Chancellor F.E.Smith proposed the Government of Ireland Bill, it was in tatters.
The Government of Ireland Act 1920 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act's long title was "An Act to provide for the better government of Ireland"; it is also known as the Fourth Home Rule Bill or (less accurately) as the Fourth Home Rule Act. The Act was intended to establish separate Home Rule institutions within two new subdivisions of Ireland: the six north-eastern counties were to form "Northern Ireland", while the larger part of the country was to form "Southern Ireland". Both areas of Ireland were to continue as a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and provision was made for their future reunification under common Home Rule institutions. By March 1920, with virtually no Irish nationalists sitting in Westminster, the remaining Irish Unionist and Nationalist MPs felt that the proposals were unworkable. After considerable delays in debating the financial aspects of the measure, the substantive third reading of the Bill was approved by a large majority on 11 November 1920 with Irish Unionists and Nationalists sitting voting against. Passed by the House of Lords, The Act then became law on 23 December 1920 but it was already out of touch with realities in Ireland. The long-standing demand for home rule had been replaced among Nationalists by a demand for complete independence. The Republic's army was waging the Irish War of Independence against British rule, which was at it's peak at this time. Home Rule never took effect in Southern Ireland, due to the Irish War of Independence, which resulted instead in the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the establishment in 1922 of the Irish Free State. However, the institutions set up under this Act for Northern Ireland continued to function until they were suspended by the British parliament in 1972 as a consequence of the Troubles. The remaining provisions of the Act still in force in Northern Ireland were repealed under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. |
Frederick Edwin Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead, GCSI, PC, DL (1872 – 1930), known as F. E. Smith, was a British Conservative politician and barrister, former Attorney General and Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. He was a skilled orator, noted for his staunch opposition to Irish nationalism.
In 1915, Smith succeed Edward Carson as Attorney General and led the prosecution of Roger Casement in 1916. Appointed as Lord Chancellor by Lloyd George, the Morning Post dismissed the appointment as "carrying a joke beyond the limits of pleasantry", while the King urged Lloyd George to reconsider. Smith was involved in the negotiations that led to the signature of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921, which led to the formation of the Irish Free State with much of the treaty drafted by Smith. His support for the Treaty, and his warm relations with the Irish nationalist leaders Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins, angered some of his former Unionist associates, notably Sir Edward Carson. Upon signing the Treaty he remarked to Collins, "I may have just signed my political death warrant", to which Collins dryly and with premonitory accuracy replied, "I have just signed my actual death warrant" A 1924 entry in Evelyn Waugh's diary states that an English High Court judge, presiding in a sodomy case, sought advice on sentencing from Lord Birkenhead. "Could you tell me," he asked, "what do you think one ought to give a man who allows himself to be buggered?" Birkenhead replied without hesitation, "Oh, thirty shillings or two pounds; whatever you happen to have on you." Hard living and heavy drinking finally caught up with F.E.Smith and died aged 58 in 1930. |
Further press clippings - click here
23
The Government of Ireland Act (Partition Act) 1920
The Government of Ireland Act was given Royal assent with elections to take place in May, 1921 for both Parliaments. Lloyd George’s legislative reaction to the Irish situation essentially both proposed and approved partition, the establishment of parliaments with local self-government in both Dublin and Belfast with provision for reunification if both parliaments agreed. Control of defence, foreign policy and finance remained with Westminster and the right to intervene at will in Irish affairs with the proviso ‘the supreme authority of the parliament of the United Kingdom shall remain unaffected and undiminished over all persons, matters and things in Ireland and every part thereof.’
The Act did not confer the level of self-government demanded by Sinn Fein but had been tailored not to overly alarm Lloyd George’s coalition partners, Bonar Law and the Conservatives. The absence of Sinn Fein from Westminster allowed the Coalition to push through the partition act without any real opposition and it has been argued that Sinn Fein effectively collaborated with the British Government in bringing the issue of partition to Irish policy due to abstenstionism. The concept of Partition had no nationalist parliamentary opposition. The area which would come under the Belfast jurisdiction was reduced by Unionist demands from 9 counties to 6 leaving Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan to the South.
Professor J.J.Lee argued that partition was not to separate unionists from nationalists in order for them to live peacefully apart, it was instead to ensure a Protestant supremacy over Catholics even in predominantly Catholic areas. An early sectarian apartheid and sowing the seeds of the future civil rights demands and paramilitary violence beginning 49 years later.
Diarmaid Ferriter comments that "The Act was also a reflection of the growing determination of British politicians to get the Irish Question off it's tables; the Tories no longer needed or wanted to rally around Unionists, and Liberals were no longer courtsing Irish votes. As Phillip Kerr, an adviser to David Lloyd Georg wrote 'It would at least accomplish tow essential things: it would take Ulster out of the Irish question which it had blocked for a generation and it would take Ireland out of the English party controversies'. That was the privately acknowledge reality and did not suggest any sense of an Ulster unionism being valued or cherished by the British political establishment..."
The Border. The legacy of a century of Anglo-Irish Politics. Diarmaid Ferriter. Profile Books 2019. p9
In its final passage through the British parliament, southern unionists managed to get elective second chambers to both Belfast and Dublin parliaments. However, Craig manages to have the senate of the Belfast parliament elected by the lower house (thus reducing even this safeguard for northern Catholics). On the 22nd, the Belfast Telegraph expressed “thankfulness that the right of Ulster to separate treatment and to be arbiters of her political testimony is now recognised in fact and by Act of Parliament”. However, on the 24th the Irish News, in an editorial, says that “a more ghastly ‘Christmas gift’ was never thrust on our Nation” and on the 1st January goes on to say, with reference to the Act of Union, that “The undoing of the crime of 1800 has been accomplished by the commissioning of a still more odious deed”.
Dublin: On the same day, De Valera returned from America, smuggled back aboard the SS Celtic and returning to Dublin. Met on Custom House dock by Tom Cullen and (possibly) Batt O'Connor. Brought to Dr Farnan's house where he meets Cathal Brugha. (Macardle says Christmas day and Gallagher says Christmas Eve.) For many days, Dublin Castle was unaware for a he had returned. De Valera returned to a country that had changed substantially from that of 18 months previously. During his absence the political situation had changed dramatically and the accepted leader was Michael Collins
Liam Mellows wrote of De Valera’s US visit a few years later while in Mountjoy Jail, that he had:
‘..changed an ignorant and either apathetic or hostile people into genuine sympathisers in two years. He made the name of Ireland respected where it was despised, and the Irish cause an ideal where it had been regarded as political humbug..’
Macardle ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press. Dublin 1957. p411.
Lloyd George ordered that the directors of the Freemans Journal – Hamilton Edwards and Martin Fitzgerald be released from prison once the £3,000 fine was paid. Macready protested on the grounds the release would have on the police and military as well as calling on martial law to be extended to Clare, Kilkenny, Wexford and Waterford. Edwards and Fitzgerald refused to pay and so remained in jail.
Meanwhile the Dublin rate collectors received as a Christmas Card, a circular from Dail Eireann ‘threatening them in so many words with death if they do not collect rates and hand over to the illegal treasurers’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 99
T.M.Healy in a letter to Lord Beaverbrook commented on the Cabinet’s refusal to accept Archbishop Clune’s peace imitative: ‘the silly Cabinet turned him down, believing they can crush the Shinns, and that their acceptance of a Truce spelled weakness. No worse incident has occurred for 100 years’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p182
Art O’Brien in a letter to Collins expressed concern that Archbishop Clune was too naïve and trusting to deal with Lloyd George.
Rt. Hon. C. F. G. Masterman, speaking recently at Macclesfield, England, with a full sense of his “responsibility as an ex-Cabinet Minister”, said: “The attempt is not merely to punish the guilty, but to break the whole spirit of Ireland by inflicting punishment upon people who are as innocent as babes unborn. That was the system which, under the German invasion of Belgium, turned the whole world against Germany. Yet, in every particular the things going on in Ireland today are a replica of in some cases they are worse than—the things which the German army did in Belgium.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.26 Dec 25,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The United Kingdom and France ratify the border between French-held Syria and British-held Palestine.
The NEWS LETTER more than once called attention to the English war on Irish women:
"Mrs. Sheehy Skeffington in an interview recently published in London dealt fully with the set purpose to support a campaign of terrorism against the women of Ireland. In her view, the terrorizing of women is being persisted in to draw back the wanted men to their homes. Within the past fortnight, she said, nuns had been arrested by Black-and-Tans and taken to Dublin Castle. She said that there had been a great many cases of definite terrorism in the past few months, the uniformed men wreaking their vengeance on the womenfolk and children of men on the run. “In the West of Ireland,” she said, “girls have been made to stand up to their waists in water with only night-dresses on. In another case they kept the wife of a man for whom they were searching outside at the point of the bayonet, though her children were in a state of terror because of bloodhounds baying. Miss Daly, a sister-in-law of Tom Clarke, executed in 1916, and whose own brother was executed, was attacked by uniformed men and her hair cut with a razor. Her hand was gashed when she struggled. There have been recently cases in Dublin where women have been stood against a wall and shot at, not with the intention of killing them, but to rack their nerves, and one girl, putting up her hand in fright, got a bullet through it.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.27 Jan 1,1921. Lynch Family Archives
"The NEWS LETTER is glad to see that Laurence Ginnell is telling Americans something of the Brehon Laws of Ireland. Of the period which they represent, John F. Burke, in his “Outlines of the Industrial History of Ireland” wrote: “Here we find Ireland an independent nation, with a form of political government devised to suit the needs and wishes of its people. Under this Celtic rule, the Irish nation developed for well-nigh twelve centuries before external influences began to have any marked effect. The development of agriculture was secured by laws regulating all dealing in land, in order to safeguard alike the interests of the cultivator and the owner of the land. The insistence on compensation for manures indicates the nature of the encouragement afforded to those who desired to utilize their land to best advantage. In like manner—and this is a striking contrast with present conditions—affore station was promoted, heavy penalties being afflicted on those who felled trees illegally. To secure skilled craftsmen, rigid conditions of apprenticeship were prescribed, and no tradesman could practice until his work had been passed by qualified judges. Exchange of surplus produce between different localities was facilitated by an excellent service of roads, and by the establishment of regular fairs and assemblies.”
“Nor was education neglected,” continues Mr. Burke, “as is testified by the number of scholars that flocked to the Irish schools from all parts of the continent and by the no less great number of Irish scholars and missionaries that spread learning and religion throughout the continent. The high degree of skill displayed by the native craftsman is reflected in the beautiful architecture of the Celtic churches from the eighth century onwards and in the various relics of metal work and illuminated manuscripts which are still preserved in museums of the United Kingdom. Thus a native government realized that the economic development of the country was an essential condition of the peace and prosperity of the governed. It has been widely recognized that the political structure devised in the Brehon Laws represented at its zenith an organization far in advance of its time. The statement is no less true of its economic structure.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.26 Dec 25,1920. Lynch Family Archives
23
The Government of Ireland Act (Partition Act) 1920
The Government of Ireland Act was given Royal assent with elections to take place in May, 1921 for both Parliaments. Lloyd George’s legislative reaction to the Irish situation essentially both proposed and approved partition, the establishment of parliaments with local self-government in both Dublin and Belfast with provision for reunification if both parliaments agreed. Control of defence, foreign policy and finance remained with Westminster and the right to intervene at will in Irish affairs with the proviso ‘the supreme authority of the parliament of the United Kingdom shall remain unaffected and undiminished over all persons, matters and things in Ireland and every part thereof.’
The Act did not confer the level of self-government demanded by Sinn Fein but had been tailored not to overly alarm Lloyd George’s coalition partners, Bonar Law and the Conservatives. The absence of Sinn Fein from Westminster allowed the Coalition to push through the partition act without any real opposition and it has been argued that Sinn Fein effectively collaborated with the British Government in bringing the issue of partition to Irish policy due to abstenstionism. The concept of Partition had no nationalist parliamentary opposition. The area which would come under the Belfast jurisdiction was reduced by Unionist demands from 9 counties to 6 leaving Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan to the South.
Professor J.J.Lee argued that partition was not to separate unionists from nationalists in order for them to live peacefully apart, it was instead to ensure a Protestant supremacy over Catholics even in predominantly Catholic areas. An early sectarian apartheid and sowing the seeds of the future civil rights demands and paramilitary violence beginning 49 years later.
Diarmaid Ferriter comments that "The Act was also a reflection of the growing determination of British politicians to get the Irish Question off it's tables; the Tories no longer needed or wanted to rally around Unionists, and Liberals were no longer courtsing Irish votes. As Phillip Kerr, an adviser to David Lloyd Georg wrote 'It would at least accomplish tow essential things: it would take Ulster out of the Irish question which it had blocked for a generation and it would take Ireland out of the English party controversies'. That was the privately acknowledge reality and did not suggest any sense of an Ulster unionism being valued or cherished by the British political establishment..."
The Border. The legacy of a century of Anglo-Irish Politics. Diarmaid Ferriter. Profile Books 2019. p9
In its final passage through the British parliament, southern unionists managed to get elective second chambers to both Belfast and Dublin parliaments. However, Craig manages to have the senate of the Belfast parliament elected by the lower house (thus reducing even this safeguard for northern Catholics). On the 22nd, the Belfast Telegraph expressed “thankfulness that the right of Ulster to separate treatment and to be arbiters of her political testimony is now recognised in fact and by Act of Parliament”. However, on the 24th the Irish News, in an editorial, says that “a more ghastly ‘Christmas gift’ was never thrust on our Nation” and on the 1st January goes on to say, with reference to the Act of Union, that “The undoing of the crime of 1800 has been accomplished by the commissioning of a still more odious deed”.
Dublin: On the same day, De Valera returned from America, smuggled back aboard the SS Celtic and returning to Dublin. Met on Custom House dock by Tom Cullen and (possibly) Batt O'Connor. Brought to Dr Farnan's house where he meets Cathal Brugha. (Macardle says Christmas day and Gallagher says Christmas Eve.) For many days, Dublin Castle was unaware for a he had returned. De Valera returned to a country that had changed substantially from that of 18 months previously. During his absence the political situation had changed dramatically and the accepted leader was Michael Collins
Liam Mellows wrote of De Valera’s US visit a few years later while in Mountjoy Jail, that he had:
‘..changed an ignorant and either apathetic or hostile people into genuine sympathisers in two years. He made the name of Ireland respected where it was despised, and the Irish cause an ideal where it had been regarded as political humbug..’
Macardle ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press. Dublin 1957. p411.
Lloyd George ordered that the directors of the Freemans Journal – Hamilton Edwards and Martin Fitzgerald be released from prison once the £3,000 fine was paid. Macready protested on the grounds the release would have on the police and military as well as calling on martial law to be extended to Clare, Kilkenny, Wexford and Waterford. Edwards and Fitzgerald refused to pay and so remained in jail.
Meanwhile the Dublin rate collectors received as a Christmas Card, a circular from Dail Eireann ‘threatening them in so many words with death if they do not collect rates and hand over to the illegal treasurers’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 99
T.M.Healy in a letter to Lord Beaverbrook commented on the Cabinet’s refusal to accept Archbishop Clune’s peace imitative: ‘the silly Cabinet turned him down, believing they can crush the Shinns, and that their acceptance of a Truce spelled weakness. No worse incident has occurred for 100 years’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p182
Art O’Brien in a letter to Collins expressed concern that Archbishop Clune was too naïve and trusting to deal with Lloyd George.
Rt. Hon. C. F. G. Masterman, speaking recently at Macclesfield, England, with a full sense of his “responsibility as an ex-Cabinet Minister”, said: “The attempt is not merely to punish the guilty, but to break the whole spirit of Ireland by inflicting punishment upon people who are as innocent as babes unborn. That was the system which, under the German invasion of Belgium, turned the whole world against Germany. Yet, in every particular the things going on in Ireland today are a replica of in some cases they are worse than—the things which the German army did in Belgium.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.26 Dec 25,1920. Lynch Family Archives
The United Kingdom and France ratify the border between French-held Syria and British-held Palestine.
The NEWS LETTER more than once called attention to the English war on Irish women:
"Mrs. Sheehy Skeffington in an interview recently published in London dealt fully with the set purpose to support a campaign of terrorism against the women of Ireland. In her view, the terrorizing of women is being persisted in to draw back the wanted men to their homes. Within the past fortnight, she said, nuns had been arrested by Black-and-Tans and taken to Dublin Castle. She said that there had been a great many cases of definite terrorism in the past few months, the uniformed men wreaking their vengeance on the womenfolk and children of men on the run. “In the West of Ireland,” she said, “girls have been made to stand up to their waists in water with only night-dresses on. In another case they kept the wife of a man for whom they were searching outside at the point of the bayonet, though her children were in a state of terror because of bloodhounds baying. Miss Daly, a sister-in-law of Tom Clarke, executed in 1916, and whose own brother was executed, was attacked by uniformed men and her hair cut with a razor. Her hand was gashed when she struggled. There have been recently cases in Dublin where women have been stood against a wall and shot at, not with the intention of killing them, but to rack their nerves, and one girl, putting up her hand in fright, got a bullet through it.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.27 Jan 1,1921. Lynch Family Archives
"The NEWS LETTER is glad to see that Laurence Ginnell is telling Americans something of the Brehon Laws of Ireland. Of the period which they represent, John F. Burke, in his “Outlines of the Industrial History of Ireland” wrote: “Here we find Ireland an independent nation, with a form of political government devised to suit the needs and wishes of its people. Under this Celtic rule, the Irish nation developed for well-nigh twelve centuries before external influences began to have any marked effect. The development of agriculture was secured by laws regulating all dealing in land, in order to safeguard alike the interests of the cultivator and the owner of the land. The insistence on compensation for manures indicates the nature of the encouragement afforded to those who desired to utilize their land to best advantage. In like manner—and this is a striking contrast with present conditions—affore station was promoted, heavy penalties being afflicted on those who felled trees illegally. To secure skilled craftsmen, rigid conditions of apprenticeship were prescribed, and no tradesman could practice until his work had been passed by qualified judges. Exchange of surplus produce between different localities was facilitated by an excellent service of roads, and by the establishment of regular fairs and assemblies.”
“Nor was education neglected,” continues Mr. Burke, “as is testified by the number of scholars that flocked to the Irish schools from all parts of the continent and by the no less great number of Irish scholars and missionaries that spread learning and religion throughout the continent. The high degree of skill displayed by the native craftsman is reflected in the beautiful architecture of the Celtic churches from the eighth century onwards and in the various relics of metal work and illuminated manuscripts which are still preserved in museums of the United Kingdom. Thus a native government realized that the economic development of the country was an essential condition of the peace and prosperity of the governed. It has been widely recognized that the political structure devised in the Brehon Laws represented at its zenith an organization far in advance of its time. The statement is no less true of its economic structure.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.26 Dec 25,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Further press clippings - click here
24
Collins continuing his ‘Scarlet Pimpernel’ existence, was almost captured by Auxiliary Troops while dining in the Gresham Hotel, Dublin. His observation made some months earlier that ‘The Auxiliaries should always be treated seriously, but there was no need to overestimate their intelligence’ proved correct, as despite close questioning at his table, the Auxiliaries left, not recognising the most wanted man in Ireland.
While Dail Eireann continued its policy of not antagonising the hierarchy, some within the clergy were not so reticent in commenting on Dail Eireann. ‘Archbishop Gilmartin on Tuam was critical of the campaign of violence and 2 bishops – Kelly of Ross and Hoare of Ardagh – denied that Dail Eireann had a moral right to function as a Government’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922’. P174
De Valera was also reasserting his authority, in a comment to Richard Mulcahy ‘You are going too fast. The odd shooting of a policeman here and there is having a bad effect, from the propaganda point of view, on us in America. What we want is one good battle about once a month with about 500 men on each side.’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.51
Two deserters from the British Army, who give their names as Peter Monahan and Tommy Clarke, offer their services to the IRA in Kilbrittain, Co. Cork. Despite initial scepticism, they are accepted and Monahan proves very useful to the Irish Republican Army.
The British command advised the London Cabinet that ‘arms were being surrendered in some quantities…’
In fact there had been no substantial surrender of arms. General Strickland believing that the Volunteers would, at best, bury them.
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P275
"Sir Hamar Greenwood’s recent defenses of the English policy in Ireland, among which are featured such dicta as a statement that reprisals were “succeeding” and that they do not exist; a fulsome praise for the police organ, the Weekly Summary which supports and excites the English Occupation in Ireland and which he admitted the Government started and now subsidizes at the rate of £15 to £20 a week; contain the best possible evidence that the English Government is deliberately inciting its forces in Ireland to arson and murder. Thus spoke Sir Hamar, according to the record of Parliamentary Debates: “He would advise members who were interested in those (Irish) creameries to go through their lists of managers and assistants, for he could assure them that, if there were one creamery in Ireland which was a rendez-vous of the Irish Republican Army or one manager a member of that army, that creamery was in peril. (Cheers)”
There is no doubt that the judgment of the world will agree with that of Mr. Devlin when in the course of some Parliamentary questions and answers in the English Commons on the murder of Canon Magner, he told Sir Hamar Greenwood “You are the murderer”. Lloyd George and the other ministers who compose the remarkable aggregation of the Coalition government will, in the eyes of the world, share the title with Greenwood. While two lorry-loads of auxiliary police were driving from Dunmanway to Cork, the cadet in charge ordered the lorries to stop, dismounted and shot dead a young farmer named Timothy Crowley, twenty-four years old, of no politics, and Canon Magner, who was a most respected clergyman, seventy-three years old, and took no part in politics. Mr. Brady, resident magistrate of Dunmanway, who witnessed the occurrence, had a narrow escape. The English Government saw no way of avoiding a complete admission of guilt in the affair. That it has announced that the cadet who did the shooting is supposed to have been out of his mind, has little real bearing on the situation, unless it is to suggest that the same excuse may be applied with equal justice to his masters at Westminster, the madness of whose hatred for the nation they have despoiled has made almost every recent debate in the English Parliament a scene of degraded passions."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.26 Dec 25,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Opera tenor Enrico Caruso sings his last performance--La Juive--at New York's Metropolitan Opera.
24
Collins continuing his ‘Scarlet Pimpernel’ existence, was almost captured by Auxiliary Troops while dining in the Gresham Hotel, Dublin. His observation made some months earlier that ‘The Auxiliaries should always be treated seriously, but there was no need to overestimate their intelligence’ proved correct, as despite close questioning at his table, the Auxiliaries left, not recognising the most wanted man in Ireland.
While Dail Eireann continued its policy of not antagonising the hierarchy, some within the clergy were not so reticent in commenting on Dail Eireann. ‘Archbishop Gilmartin on Tuam was critical of the campaign of violence and 2 bishops – Kelly of Ross and Hoare of Ardagh – denied that Dail Eireann had a moral right to function as a Government’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922’. P174
De Valera was also reasserting his authority, in a comment to Richard Mulcahy ‘You are going too fast. The odd shooting of a policeman here and there is having a bad effect, from the propaganda point of view, on us in America. What we want is one good battle about once a month with about 500 men on each side.’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.51
Two deserters from the British Army, who give their names as Peter Monahan and Tommy Clarke, offer their services to the IRA in Kilbrittain, Co. Cork. Despite initial scepticism, they are accepted and Monahan proves very useful to the Irish Republican Army.
The British command advised the London Cabinet that ‘arms were being surrendered in some quantities…’
In fact there had been no substantial surrender of arms. General Strickland believing that the Volunteers would, at best, bury them.
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P275
"Sir Hamar Greenwood’s recent defenses of the English policy in Ireland, among which are featured such dicta as a statement that reprisals were “succeeding” and that they do not exist; a fulsome praise for the police organ, the Weekly Summary which supports and excites the English Occupation in Ireland and which he admitted the Government started and now subsidizes at the rate of £15 to £20 a week; contain the best possible evidence that the English Government is deliberately inciting its forces in Ireland to arson and murder. Thus spoke Sir Hamar, according to the record of Parliamentary Debates: “He would advise members who were interested in those (Irish) creameries to go through their lists of managers and assistants, for he could assure them that, if there were one creamery in Ireland which was a rendez-vous of the Irish Republican Army or one manager a member of that army, that creamery was in peril. (Cheers)”
There is no doubt that the judgment of the world will agree with that of Mr. Devlin when in the course of some Parliamentary questions and answers in the English Commons on the murder of Canon Magner, he told Sir Hamar Greenwood “You are the murderer”. Lloyd George and the other ministers who compose the remarkable aggregation of the Coalition government will, in the eyes of the world, share the title with Greenwood. While two lorry-loads of auxiliary police were driving from Dunmanway to Cork, the cadet in charge ordered the lorries to stop, dismounted and shot dead a young farmer named Timothy Crowley, twenty-four years old, of no politics, and Canon Magner, who was a most respected clergyman, seventy-three years old, and took no part in politics. Mr. Brady, resident magistrate of Dunmanway, who witnessed the occurrence, had a narrow escape. The English Government saw no way of avoiding a complete admission of guilt in the affair. That it has announced that the cadet who did the shooting is supposed to have been out of his mind, has little real bearing on the situation, unless it is to suggest that the same excuse may be applied with equal justice to his masters at Westminster, the madness of whose hatred for the nation they have despoiled has made almost every recent debate in the English Parliament a scene of degraded passions."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.26 Dec 25,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Opera tenor Enrico Caruso sings his last performance--La Juive--at New York's Metropolitan Opera.
The Police Gazette or Hue-and-Cry Ireland was published in Dublin every Tuesday and Friday by Alexander Thom & Co., and is almost always referred to as Hue-and-Cry It is unclear when The Police Gazette was first published in Ireland and exactly how much of the publication survives. The National Library of Ireland’s holding runs from 1837 to 1917, with some gaps. This was the official newspaper of the Royal Irish Constabulary and notices placed in the paper were distributed to all police divisions. Hue-and-Cry contains notices and reports from the 32-counties regarding felonies, together in many instances with the names and descriptions of those wanted by the police. It also contains the names and particulars of habitual criminals recently released from prison under police supervision (The supervision periods for these individuals ranged from 2 to 7 years) and includes descriptions of young offenders who had absconded from reformatories, descriptions of stolen cattle, sheep and horses as well as rewards offered for the arrests of wanted felons.
This Supervision list replaces earlier lists of ‘Deserters from Her Majesty’s Service [Ireland]’. Information contained in Hue-and-Cry for these men include name, regiment, place of birth, trade, age, height, physical description, place of desertion and marks and remarks on the deserter. Notices were also placed in Hue-and-Cry by English and Scottish Police who believed that felons wanted by them might try and escape to Ireland
Further press clippings - click here
This Supervision list replaces earlier lists of ‘Deserters from Her Majesty’s Service [Ireland]’. Information contained in Hue-and-Cry for these men include name, regiment, place of birth, trade, age, height, physical description, place of desertion and marks and remarks on the deserter. Notices were also placed in Hue-and-Cry by English and Scottish Police who believed that felons wanted by them might try and escape to Ireland
Further press clippings - click here
25
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter’s Christmas Editorial was succinct ‘To Men Of Good Will’. ‘You will travel far in Ireland today to find that care-free laughing spirit which, we have been told, is the national characteristic. An English journalist has said ‘There is no laughter in Ireland today…they are a nation of whisperers..’. If the Irish have become a nation of whisperers, their hushed voice like the dying whisper of Terence MacSwiney carries a message ‘It is not to those who can inflict the most suffering but to those who can suffer most that victory will come’. It is a message of striking appropriateness to the season – at once an appeal and an exhortation to men of good will. Every night in Ireland now, people sleep in fields, under hedges or in haystacks because the dare not sleep at home. Every night those hardy ones who sleep in their beds are courting destruction at the hands of a foreign invader – in Ireland now, at Christmas time, in the twentieth century. But this newer, radiant spirit of Ireland is not only a genius for suffering; it is the expression of a high purpose. Their determination that the elementary right of peoples to be governed according to their own choice shall not safely be denied, makes them uniquely the champions of a greater thing that Ireland. It is for the world to say how long their victory will be deferred.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 26, December 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Major B.A.McKinnon in charge of a company of Auxiliaries shot and killed J. Leen and J. Hickey in Ballymacelligott, Tralee, Co. Kerry and then ordered their homes burned.
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter’s Christmas Editorial was succinct ‘To Men Of Good Will’. ‘You will travel far in Ireland today to find that care-free laughing spirit which, we have been told, is the national characteristic. An English journalist has said ‘There is no laughter in Ireland today…they are a nation of whisperers..’. If the Irish have become a nation of whisperers, their hushed voice like the dying whisper of Terence MacSwiney carries a message ‘It is not to those who can inflict the most suffering but to those who can suffer most that victory will come’. It is a message of striking appropriateness to the season – at once an appeal and an exhortation to men of good will. Every night in Ireland now, people sleep in fields, under hedges or in haystacks because the dare not sleep at home. Every night those hardy ones who sleep in their beds are courting destruction at the hands of a foreign invader – in Ireland now, at Christmas time, in the twentieth century. But this newer, radiant spirit of Ireland is not only a genius for suffering; it is the expression of a high purpose. Their determination that the elementary right of peoples to be governed according to their own choice shall not safely be denied, makes them uniquely the champions of a greater thing that Ireland. It is for the world to say how long their victory will be deferred.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 26, December 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Major B.A.McKinnon in charge of a company of Auxiliaries shot and killed J. Leen and J. Hickey in Ballymacelligott, Tralee, Co. Kerry and then ordered their homes burned.
Further press clippings - click here
26
Sturgis wrote in his diary ‘I can't help being uneasy that we are not taking a big enough view of the position – not only the future of the Irish is at stake but the future relations of two countries which must for ever live side by side and there is so much talk as if we had nothing to do but beat an enemy’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 100
John ‘Flyer’ Nathan, one of the Kilmichael ambushers, is captured at Shannonvale, Co. Cork and imprisoned in Ballykinlar.
Further press clippings - click here
26
Sturgis wrote in his diary ‘I can't help being uneasy that we are not taking a big enough view of the position – not only the future of the Irish is at stake but the future relations of two countries which must for ever live side by side and there is so much talk as if we had nothing to do but beat an enemy’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 100
John ‘Flyer’ Nathan, one of the Kilmichael ambushers, is captured at Shannonvale, Co. Cork and imprisoned in Ballykinlar.
Further press clippings - click here
27
The new regulations concerning the death penalty for harbouring, aiding and abetting rebel forces, carrying arms, ammunition and the possession of an Irish Volunteers uniform came into force.
The United Press reports from Dublin a proclamation issued by the association of Irish Women’s Societies:
“Ignore the martial law, read a proclamation prepared by the women. The particular regulation to which they took objection was that declaring that any person harboring men bearing arms may be subjected to the death penalty. “Ignore it,” the women said. “Act as Nurse Cavell did when the Germans made their threats in Belgium. Every woman should harbor armed men if she has the opportunity.” The proclamation declared that every man of military age should bear arms in the defense of his country, despite the drastic regulations under martial law.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.27 Jan 1,1921. Lynch Family Archives
The British Army and the RIC, led by Colonel Wilkinson, raid a dance being held by the 3rd Battalion of the East Limerick Brigade IRA to raise funds in Caherguillamore House near Bruff, Co. Limerick. Shooting broke out leading to the deaths of five IRA men (including Martin Conway, V-C of the 3rd Battalion from Holycross, Bruff, Co. Limerick and Edward (Ned) Maloney or Moloney ) and one or two RIC men (Constable Alfred Hodgsden and possibly Constable John Reid). 128 men were taken prisoner and many of them were given long penal sentences by a court martial. Conway may have killed one of the RIC men. Toomey says that only one RIC man was killed (Hogsden) and that it was Moloney who killed him and that Moloney was killed immediately after this.
Italy: Italian forces bombard the free port of Fiume to forcibly remove D’Annunzio and his followers. The Fascists led by Mussolini protested but little was done until 1922.
The new regulations concerning the death penalty for harbouring, aiding and abetting rebel forces, carrying arms, ammunition and the possession of an Irish Volunteers uniform came into force.
The United Press reports from Dublin a proclamation issued by the association of Irish Women’s Societies:
“Ignore the martial law, read a proclamation prepared by the women. The particular regulation to which they took objection was that declaring that any person harboring men bearing arms may be subjected to the death penalty. “Ignore it,” the women said. “Act as Nurse Cavell did when the Germans made their threats in Belgium. Every woman should harbor armed men if she has the opportunity.” The proclamation declared that every man of military age should bear arms in the defense of his country, despite the drastic regulations under martial law.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.27 Jan 1,1921. Lynch Family Archives
The British Army and the RIC, led by Colonel Wilkinson, raid a dance being held by the 3rd Battalion of the East Limerick Brigade IRA to raise funds in Caherguillamore House near Bruff, Co. Limerick. Shooting broke out leading to the deaths of five IRA men (including Martin Conway, V-C of the 3rd Battalion from Holycross, Bruff, Co. Limerick and Edward (Ned) Maloney or Moloney ) and one or two RIC men (Constable Alfred Hodgsden and possibly Constable John Reid). 128 men were taken prisoner and many of them were given long penal sentences by a court martial. Conway may have killed one of the RIC men. Toomey says that only one RIC man was killed (Hogsden) and that it was Moloney who killed him and that Moloney was killed immediately after this.
Italy: Italian forces bombard the free port of Fiume to forcibly remove D’Annunzio and his followers. The Fascists led by Mussolini protested but little was done until 1922.
Further press clippings - click here
28
“The present treatment meted out to Ireland is a disgrace to civilization.” This is the message from James J. Heavey, Consul General for Sweden at Valparaiso, Chile. Sympathy with Ireland’s struggle for liberty and indignation at the brutality of English oppression is being stirred in every part of the world. Mr. Heavey has also written that the facts in regard to Ireland’s history, past and present, which have been widely circulated by this organization are “educating the thinking people of the world in the true sense.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.27 Jan 1,1921. Lynch Family Archives
Further press clippings - click here
28
“The present treatment meted out to Ireland is a disgrace to civilization.” This is the message from James J. Heavey, Consul General for Sweden at Valparaiso, Chile. Sympathy with Ireland’s struggle for liberty and indignation at the brutality of English oppression is being stirred in every part of the world. Mr. Heavey has also written that the facts in regard to Ireland’s history, past and present, which have been widely circulated by this organization are “educating the thinking people of the world in the true sense.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.27 Jan 1,1921. Lynch Family Archives
Further press clippings - click here
29
The Court of Enquiry findings into the sacking of Cork was made available to the Cabinet:
‘Its report was so unfavourable to the Auxiliaries that a ministerial conference of 29 December decided that ‘to publish it while Parliament was sitting would be disastrous to the Government’s whole policy in Ireland’ Indeed the report was apparently so harsh that, after two special conferences in February 1921, it was determined never to publish it or reveal its contents to Parliament’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p318
Sturgis commented ‘Macready came in before lunch. He said that Strickland’s Cork report is mild compared with that which would be issued by an outside Court of Enquiry presided over by somebody such as Cave*.. I find it hard to believe that the Military Court were as this suggests letting down the Auxiliaries lightly’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 101
* George Cave, Tory MP and Barrister. Former Solicitor General and Home Secretary.
Cabinet agreed that Macready would get Clare, Waterford, Wexford and Kilkenny under martial law.
The Cabinet together with their military advisors reviewed the truce issue. Macready emphasised the dangers of IRA reorganisation during a Truce and Sir Henry Wilson argued that to halt the conflict ‘would be absolutely fatal’. The Liberal critics within the Cabinet argued for compromise, the majority Tories supported the continuation of the war. Philip Kerr was left to point out to Archbishop Clune that the South African precedent for arms surrender preparatory to the end of the war and at the very least, a Truce, was the preferred option and to thank the Archbishop for his efforts.
Collins, meeting with one of his agents, Seamus O’Maoileoin in Tipperary asked how the Bishop Cohalan led excommunication threat was affecting the volunteers. Collins commented ‘If the priests were with us, things would be better….if I had my way, that fucker of a bishop would be shot…. There is neither sense nor reason in shooting poor, uneducated idiots as spies and letting people like the bishop of Cork get away with it. According to the rules of warfare, any civilian aiding the enemy is a spy, but I suppose our political friends would never agree to it.’
Quoted in T.P.Coogan ‘Ireland since the Rising’. Pall Mall Press. 1966. P230
The British Labour Commission presented its report to a special conference in London. It detailed the murders and killings and also the ‘wanton destruction of economic Ireland ‘. The British Forces were ‘compelling the whole Irish people to live in an atmosphere of sheer terrorism’ and advocated negotiation on a truce in addition to the withdrawal of British military and the proposed formation of an Irish constituent assembly.
British internment of suspects now accounted for some 1478 men. This was to quadruple in the next 6 months.
Ghandi predicted ‘a sea of blood’ in India under continued British rule.
The 4th Battalion of the Cork No. 1 Brigade attack a 10 man RIC patrol on the Main St, Middleton, Co. Cork. This results in the deaths of two policemen (Constable Ernst Dray (21) and Constable Arthur Thorp (23)). Another policeman (Constable Martin Mullen) is killed when reinforcements on their way to Middleton are ambushed near the village of Ballyrichard.
British (Llyod George, Bonar Law, Churchill, Greenwood, Anderson, Wilson, Macready, Tudor, Boyd & Strickland) meet in conclave. The generals argue that another four months will bring favourable progress. Wilson and Macready argue for extension of martial law countrywide. They get four more counties. Archbishop Clune informed, after this meeting, that all prospect of a truce had been closed.
Further press clippings - click here
The Court of Enquiry findings into the sacking of Cork was made available to the Cabinet:
‘Its report was so unfavourable to the Auxiliaries that a ministerial conference of 29 December decided that ‘to publish it while Parliament was sitting would be disastrous to the Government’s whole policy in Ireland’ Indeed the report was apparently so harsh that, after two special conferences in February 1921, it was determined never to publish it or reveal its contents to Parliament’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p318
Sturgis commented ‘Macready came in before lunch. He said that Strickland’s Cork report is mild compared with that which would be issued by an outside Court of Enquiry presided over by somebody such as Cave*.. I find it hard to believe that the Military Court were as this suggests letting down the Auxiliaries lightly’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 101
* George Cave, Tory MP and Barrister. Former Solicitor General and Home Secretary.
Cabinet agreed that Macready would get Clare, Waterford, Wexford and Kilkenny under martial law.
The Cabinet together with their military advisors reviewed the truce issue. Macready emphasised the dangers of IRA reorganisation during a Truce and Sir Henry Wilson argued that to halt the conflict ‘would be absolutely fatal’. The Liberal critics within the Cabinet argued for compromise, the majority Tories supported the continuation of the war. Philip Kerr was left to point out to Archbishop Clune that the South African precedent for arms surrender preparatory to the end of the war and at the very least, a Truce, was the preferred option and to thank the Archbishop for his efforts.
Collins, meeting with one of his agents, Seamus O’Maoileoin in Tipperary asked how the Bishop Cohalan led excommunication threat was affecting the volunteers. Collins commented ‘If the priests were with us, things would be better….if I had my way, that fucker of a bishop would be shot…. There is neither sense nor reason in shooting poor, uneducated idiots as spies and letting people like the bishop of Cork get away with it. According to the rules of warfare, any civilian aiding the enemy is a spy, but I suppose our political friends would never agree to it.’
Quoted in T.P.Coogan ‘Ireland since the Rising’. Pall Mall Press. 1966. P230
The British Labour Commission presented its report to a special conference in London. It detailed the murders and killings and also the ‘wanton destruction of economic Ireland ‘. The British Forces were ‘compelling the whole Irish people to live in an atmosphere of sheer terrorism’ and advocated negotiation on a truce in addition to the withdrawal of British military and the proposed formation of an Irish constituent assembly.
British internment of suspects now accounted for some 1478 men. This was to quadruple in the next 6 months.
Ghandi predicted ‘a sea of blood’ in India under continued British rule.
The 4th Battalion of the Cork No. 1 Brigade attack a 10 man RIC patrol on the Main St, Middleton, Co. Cork. This results in the deaths of two policemen (Constable Ernst Dray (21) and Constable Arthur Thorp (23)). Another policeman (Constable Martin Mullen) is killed when reinforcements on their way to Middleton are ambushed near the village of Ballyrichard.
British (Llyod George, Bonar Law, Churchill, Greenwood, Anderson, Wilson, Macready, Tudor, Boyd & Strickland) meet in conclave. The generals argue that another four months will bring favourable progress. Wilson and Macready argue for extension of martial law countrywide. They get four more counties. Archbishop Clune informed, after this meeting, that all prospect of a truce had been closed.
Further press clippings - click here
30
Freeman Journal directors and editor were released following payment of the fine.
The Dublin IRA Brigade active service unit was formed. Made up of 50 men picked from the elite of the four battalions and divided into sections corresponding with the geographical areas of the battalions. Each section was to operate independently although on occasion, would group for a large operation. The men worked full time and were paid £4-10-0 a week. Revolvers and hand guns would be used in fast paced, brief city operations and a target of three operations a day were aimed for and soon regularly achieved.
Two Harley Street mental health specialists travelled to Cork to assess Harte. According to Sturgis, the administration went to great pains to ensure the judicial system was correctly applied to the accused. Equally they pondered the case of a man arrested in Dublin while carrying a loaded revolver and a bomb. ‘Macready is strong to prosecute for treason…Cassel thinks a treason charge would probably succeed and the penalty is death…our short point against them is that to call ‘treason’ and ‘levying war against the King’…is to elevate the crime into something grand and goes half way to admitting the contention that they are at war with a tyrant….if necessity demands the death penalty in Dublin for carrying arms, then we’d better have martial law here and be done with it’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 102
The Archbishop of Tuam came out with a strong pronouncement against assassination. ‘This looks good – the Church usually see what way the cat will jump’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 102
Jack Lord, American actor born (d. 1998)
Collins papers found by British forces in raid on Eileen McGrane's flat at 21 Dawson St, Dublin.
J. Balgrife from Ballykeran, Co. Westmeath dies as does Richard Leonard from Pallasgreen, Co. Tipperary. Toomey says that Leonard was a school attendance officer shot at Ballybrood. He goes onto say that the British Army commander in Limerick, Brigadier R P Cameron, placed three officers under arrest after the killing but that they were subsequently exonerated.
Attack on Kilbrittain RIC Barracks by IRA fails after their mine fails to explode.
Further press clippings - click here
31
Freeman Journal directors and editor were released following payment of the fine.
The Dublin IRA Brigade active service unit was formed. Made up of 50 men picked from the elite of the four battalions and divided into sections corresponding with the geographical areas of the battalions. Each section was to operate independently although on occasion, would group for a large operation. The men worked full time and were paid £4-10-0 a week. Revolvers and hand guns would be used in fast paced, brief city operations and a target of three operations a day were aimed for and soon regularly achieved.
Two Harley Street mental health specialists travelled to Cork to assess Harte. According to Sturgis, the administration went to great pains to ensure the judicial system was correctly applied to the accused. Equally they pondered the case of a man arrested in Dublin while carrying a loaded revolver and a bomb. ‘Macready is strong to prosecute for treason…Cassel thinks a treason charge would probably succeed and the penalty is death…our short point against them is that to call ‘treason’ and ‘levying war against the King’…is to elevate the crime into something grand and goes half way to admitting the contention that they are at war with a tyrant….if necessity demands the death penalty in Dublin for carrying arms, then we’d better have martial law here and be done with it’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 102
The Archbishop of Tuam came out with a strong pronouncement against assassination. ‘This looks good – the Church usually see what way the cat will jump’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 102
Jack Lord, American actor born (d. 1998)
Collins papers found by British forces in raid on Eileen McGrane's flat at 21 Dawson St, Dublin.
J. Balgrife from Ballykeran, Co. Westmeath dies as does Richard Leonard from Pallasgreen, Co. Tipperary. Toomey says that Leonard was a school attendance officer shot at Ballybrood. He goes onto say that the British Army commander in Limerick, Brigadier R P Cameron, placed three officers under arrest after the killing but that they were subsequently exonerated.
Attack on Kilbrittain RIC Barracks by IRA fails after their mine fails to explode.
Further press clippings - click here
31
Mark Sturgis in his diary wrote of the year just ending:
‘We are right on top and if we have climbed there by a ladder with many rotten rugs, one may, almost say ‘Tout comprendre, c’est tout pardonner’….it’s not unlike riding a fast hunt – one jumps a fence and there's another in front of you; no time to stop and have a look at it but smack at it you go with no idea what's t’other side and you may be clearing another obstacle or in for a crashing fall.
Well here it is, we start 1920 with the job of making Ireland’s first pukka Home Rule Act work – myself I think that without loss of dignity, without giving away any vital thing and with certainly a chance of co-operation from a great majority of Irishmen we might have been able to set about this task in an atmosphere of, if not peace, then truce – one thing only I know that the longer one peers into the future of all this business, the duller grows one’s power of sight. One this there is which never grows less and that is the entrancing interest of this amazing game of chance.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 102-3
178 police officers were killed in Ireland during 1920, the majority in guerrilla warfare tactics.
Hits of the Year: ‘Wyoming lullaby’, ‘Avalon’ and ‘Margie’.
‘looking back over the year 1920, the observer traces a bleak landscape, littered with corpses, disfigured with burned buildings - from Ascendancy mansions to humble creameries - a silent witness to the bankruptcy of Unionism. In Ulster, said one police report, there were ‘feeling of bitterness which years will scarcely dispel’; in Munster and Connaught ‘there was little semblance of Government control except in the immediate neighbourhood of police and troops’. The Dublin Metropolitan Police Force was almost useless. The R.I.C was in sorry condition, its constables boycotted, forced to commandeer food, housed in cramped quarters with no proper air or light, with every man’s hand against them, and under constant pressure from their families to resign’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p318
‘the numbers of unarmed persons killed by Crown Forces in Ireland during the 12 months of 1920 reached 203; this included 6 women and 12 children under 17 years of age. 69 persons were deliberately killed in the streets or their own homes, 36 men were killed while in custody, the rest were victims of indiscriminate firing by the military and police..’
Macardle ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press. Dublin 1957. p419
Police numbers in Ireland while reduced through resignations, emigration and casualties, had actually risen with the Black and Tans & Auxiliaries. ( Police numbers 1920: 11,056 including Black and Tans and Auxiliaries. Within 12 months this was up to 14,174 in 1921 )
FSL Lyons. Ireland. p.415
However, negotiations without the arms surrender were ‘very much in the air as the year closed’ but the consensus amongst the military and House of Commons was that the I.R.A. ‘would break under the weight of the men and arms mobilised against it’ before domestic, imperial and world opinion forced a halt.’
In New York, the accounts for the Irish Victory Fund were published, showing large expenses incurred for the successful advertising campaign against the League of Nations in the summer & autumn of 1919:
Period: January 1 1919 to December 31, 1920:
Books, pamphlets, news bulletins, office equipment & supplies $113,303.00
Postage and express rates 22,605.56
Salaries - Headquarters staff 27,431.16
Salaries - organisers 35,641.45
Advertising, publicity and public meetings 96,641.45
Bureau of Information, Friends of Irish Freedom, Washington 124,466.05
Protestant Friends of Ireland 77,486.05
Travelling Expenses - President De Valera 26,748.26
To Ireland ( per representatives of Dail Eireann ) 115,046.61
Subscription to Irish Bond Certificates 25,000.00
Other items not listed in summary 222,911.96
Total disbursements from the Irish Victory Fund: $887,284.74
Balance remaining: $117,796.09
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.347
The general feeling among Irish-American ranks when De Valera returned to Ireland was one of ‘relief’. Tansill describes De Valera as being ‘obsessed with the idea that as a so-called President of the Irish Republic he could demand the instant and unquestioning allegiance of all men of Irish blood everywhere. He was amazed and infuriated when Judge Cohalan clearly intimated that his primary allegiance was to America. Aid to Ireland was based upon the view that Irish freedom would be an American asset. Ardent Americanism was the first article in the political creed of Judge Cohalan, and he never permitted any reservations in this regard. It was a tragedy for the Irish-American movement when De Valera challenged this article..’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.395-396
Piaras Beaslai wrote:
‘the case made by Devoy and Cohalan, put briefly, was that the Irish in America could only exert influence in American politics in their capacity as American citizens, to whom American interests were paramount, who sought recognition for Irish independence as something in consonance with American ideals of liberty. De Valera on the other hand maintained...that the Irish in America should be welded into an organised force, entirely under his own control as ‘President of the Irish Republic ‘...what he claimed was a right to ‘dictate a policy’ to Irish-Americans by virtue of his office...the fundamental fallacy of De Valera position was his failure to recognise that, as President of the Irish Government fighting for its life, his place was in Ireland and not in America. His claim to dominate Irish-American with an authority derived from the people of Ireland was obviously illogical..’
Piaras Beaslai. ‘Michael Collins and the Making of a New Ireland’. London 1926. Vol. 2. p21-22.
De Valera himself considered his sojourn in the US as invaluable and as to the Friends of Irish Freedom ‘the split with Cohalan and Devoy was the one dark spot, but even this had its compensations. He had laid the basis of a new organisation more clearly committed to supporting the decisions of the Irish Cabinet. Branches of the Friends of Irish Freedom left the Cohalan-Devoy body and affiliated to the new association, which went from strength to strength….only 1/10th of its original 200,000 members remained affiliated to it. It was so small it had little influence.’
Longford & O’Neill. “Eamon de Valera “ Hutchinson, London.1970. p114
Throrough out the year, the Wilson Administration in Washington observed the situation in Ireland unfold but did not protest or make any Government comments on the action that was being taken there.
In Dublin, the Ministry of Defence estimated expenses for July – December 1920 inclusive as being £32,750. They were just under 17% out, spending £39,350. ‘By any standard, this was revolution on the cheap’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P79
Arthur Mitchell makes some comment that in later years, Richard Mulcachy believed that ‘if the British military had been used earlier and widely, the I.R.A would have been crushed, and that it was the refusal of the British Authorities to admit the seriousness of the situation that prevented this from happening’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P210
In New York, the American Committee for Relief in Ireland formed the Executive Committee, soon growing to include leaders throughout American society, Government, religion and labour. ‘It was the most eminent collection of patrons ever assembled by an Irish American organisation’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P263
The Friends of Irish Freedom advanced $25,000 immediately to the Committee for Relief and a fund raising drive was organised by the Friend’s branches throughout the United States. Within six months, the relief organisation raised over $5 million.
Diarmuid Lynch recalled difficulties in sending arms to Ireland ‘throughout the year 1920, certain circumstances militated against the transportation of arms – with the result that only efforts on a minor scale were attempted.’
Application for Military Service Pension Certificate ( Diarmuid Lynch) - Department of Defence Files. Lynch Archives. March 9, 1938.
Questioned by the Military Service Pensions Board, Liam Pedlar recalled some 24 years later that he met Diarmuid ‘frequently in the United States. I never knew him to be engaged in anything other than political work. Diarmuid was one of the active men in the Friends of Irish Freedom. The Clann were supposed to influence the policy of Friends of Irish Freedom. [Diarmuid] was organising meetings etc. I never knew him to procure arms. It was part of the work of the Friends of Irish Freedom to collect money for the movement generally. The executive body would direct the disposal of the monies. H.Boland was an official representative of the IRA – I served under him. I couldn’t answer whether Mr Lynch would be subject to control by H. Boland. S. Nunan assisted in purchase of arms. [as for Diarmuid Lynch’s return to Ireland at the time ]…I don’t think he would have a ‘dog’s chance’ of making a public appearance in Ireland. My impression would be that if a question of his return arose, it would have been felt that he would be of more use in U.S.A.’
Application for Military Service Pension Certificate ( Diarmuid Lynch) - Department of Defence Files. Lynch Archives. December 19, 1944.
The British Government called it’s commanders in Ireland to a general conference in London. There they were asked to estimate the prospects and support their views on the suppression of the rebellion. Three to four months was the general consensus, using the Auxiliary forces, internment, sweeps, arrests, reprisals and hostage taking. This, they reasoned, would quickly result in the collapse of any resistance, of the Irish Government and of public support. In addition, they believed funds were limiting the I.R.A effectiveness. Anyway, they estimated the Irish Rebellion to be all over by the summer of 1921. In a way they were right, but not as they thought in December 1920.
`The English didn't seem to know right what they were doing. I think they were just going through the motions of what had worked before . . .' "
Professor Tom Garvin - UCD Lecturer in Politics. Irish Times interview 1996.
George Bernard Shaw, in the words spoken by character in ‘Back to Methuselah’ Part 1, Act 1 ‘ You see things; and you say ‘Why/’ But I dream things that never were and I say ‘Why not?’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.51
1921 would bring the year of reprisals and truce.
Further press clippings - click here