Last updated: Tuesday, 9 June 2020
1
The first force of 500 Auxiliaries arrive in Ireland under Brigadier General F.P.Crozier. (1879-1937) a Boer War veteran and professional soldier who had fought with the 119th Infantry Brigade, was GOC of the 40th Division in France in 1919 and fought against the Bolsheviks in the Polish Army in addition to a period in the Lithuanian army and was, for his sins:
‘a reformed alcoholic, had been an Orange firebrand before the war. A gentleman who far out-carsoned Carson in the extremity of his views.’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p319-320.
These Auxilliary Troops were organised into companies of 100 men and sent to centres of IRA activity around the country. This first group of reinforcements were sent to the Curragh Camp where they received a short course on police duties and responsibilities. ‘ which they later found of no practical use’
The Auxiliaries would quickly become widely feared as they were mobile, heavily armed, aggressive and totally unpredictable. Fighting a war against a guerilla force ensured that the terms of the Geneva Convention were not followed to the letter by either side. The ‘Auxies’ regularly ran amok, shooting up villages, throwing grenades into shops and pubs, killing farm animals as well as the odd pot shot at any civilian unwise enough to show themselves. This quickly moved to targeted assassination, random and arbitrary killings, arson and terror.
Crozier, writing years later, admitted he ‘...found the British Army in Ireland well behaved, but the R.I.C demoralised; he found, also, that ‘irregular reprisals carried out by the wardens of the law’ were being attributed to Sinn Fein. The R.I.C were being employed to ‘murder, rob, loot and burn up the innocent, because they could not catch the guilty few on the run’.
Macardle. ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press, Dublin 1957. p359.
Widespread resignations from within the R.I.C. increased. Some, more sympathetic to the Sinn Fein cause, were persuaded to remain on as information gatherers for Collins and the IRA.
Sir Henry Wilson, now a Field Marshal and Chief of the Imperial General Staff told the Prime Minister that ‘if there had to be murder, the Government should do the murdering’. Such language was at least candid, too candid for Lloyd George...they were discussing authorised reprisals - ‘and said that no Government could possibly take this responsibility’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p318
General Tudor believed that the British forces had Sinn Fein on the run and that the people were ‘sick of it’. Mark Sturgis ensconced in Dublin Castle wrote otherwise ‘it’s the same old story, and precious little good to us if nobody will up and say so’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P209
Sinn Fein organised a boycott of all Belfast goods as a protest against the expulsion of 5,000 Catholic workers from the Belfast shipyards.
The Assistant Under-Secretary, Alfred Cope in some pillow talk with his Irish girlfriend said of the Chief Secretary that he ‘was no good and was out for a big job and did nothing’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolotionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P202
Civilian clothes were now issued to all British forces chauffeurs and ‘those engaged on Inteligence duties’. A query was sent to all units throughout the country ‘Are there any Irishmen now serving in your command who you consider should be transferred to commands outside Ireland in view of the present political situation?’
Arthur Mitchell. “Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922.” Gill & Mcmillan 1995. P206
With IRA mail seizures on the increase, the British Authorities in Ireland resorted to using aircraft to carry sensitive documents to major cities and towns. That was all very well, until ‘In Bantry, five volunteers disguised as British soldiers, stood around a white circle drawn on the ground, and a military plane dropped a bundle of communications in their midst…. Michael Collins investigated the use of small, portable planes for his communications system. Scotland Yard believed that Art O’Briain was trying to arrange for the training of aviators and purchase of planes in order to create a Sinn Fein air force’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P205
Collins gave an interview to an unnamed American correspondent which was reported in the Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter; ‘For 750 years Ireland has fought for her freedom and independence, accepted compromises and always has been defeated and disappointed. This time we are not going to yield until we establish our claims to recognition throughout the world. Ireland today has an existing Government. We have our cabinet, our parliament, our treasury, our army, our consular service, our courts, and this year we shall begin to collect income taxes that have hitherto been paid to the British Government. …. One half of the income taxes in Ireland will be paid to our Government in a year or two; last year we asked for a loan of £250,000 from the Irish people for our treasury. We raised £400,000 of this sum. We lost only £29, which was taken by the British authorities from one of our collectors. A Government which is carrying on as the Irish is today cannot talk of compromise. We may not see the realisation of Ireland as a free nation, but our children will – and I think we will too. Meanwhile we are busy establishing the machinery necessary to our existence and the smooth running of a modern state.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 10 September 4, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The World Newspaper based in Tulsa, Oaklahoma, editorialised on justice for Ireland saying ‘If England has an iota of justice on it's side in the Irish controversy, it is high time she present it to America. She cannot merely plead that she needs Ireland. The horse thief could as well plead that he needed the horse. She must show her title deeds in good form and according to the high pretense she has so recently set up, or prepare to find American public opinion solidly against her.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 10 September 4, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The former MP for North Fermanagh and Crown Prosecutor on the Connaught circuit, Mr. G. Fetherstonhaugh, wrote to the British press saying ‘ we were Unionists because we firmly believed that the Union rule was the best rule for Ireland’s prosperity, and the maintenance of peace between warring races and creeds. The belief has died hard; but will anyone now contend that, even in it's best days, Union rule has proved a success? For the past forty years – to say nothing of the earlier periods – we have had constant turmoil and agitation, culminating in the present terrible state of affairs. … let all Ireland that demands it, have independence in the fullest measure, does it really matter what that independence is called? Let North-East Ulster have what it so earnestly claimed – not a separate legislature, but to remain as it is, part of the United Kingdom. It would soon seek reunion with the rest of Ireland. There is no real danger to the Empire – at any rate, none comparable to the present state of things. …shall we stand by silent while our country is wrapped in the flames of civil war, in the vain hope of restoring a system which, after one hundred and twenty years of trial, has proved a disastrous failure.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 10 September 4, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Belfast businessman and owner/editor of some 30 British newspapers, Charles Diamond, imprisoned in May for criticism of the British Parliament, was released.
Lloyd George asserted that England maintains an army of occupation in Ireland merely for the suppression of crime, while Bonar Law commented that there was no coercion of opinion in Ireland.
Basil Clarke appointed as head of Dublin Castle’s News Bureau.
Five RIC constables on bicycles were attacked at Rathmacross, Co. Roscommon (between Ballaghdereen and Frenchpark) resulting in the deaths of two policemen (Constables Edward Murphy (24) and Martin McCarthy (28)) and one IRA volunteer (Tom McDonagh). The IRA were led by Jim Hunt and Marren. (O'Farrell says that the ambush takes place at Ratra, Teevnacreeva.)
Barney Marron, Monaghan Brigade IRA, shot dead during a raid for arms. P. Marron also killed.
Ambush by 6th Battalion, Cork No. 1 Brigade on British forces at Inniscarra. British got away and there were no casualties on either side.
Middle East: France announces the creation of the state of Lebanon with the government in Beirut.
Below: Lynch responds on behalf of the Friends of Irish Freedom to de Valera's request of August 6:
The first force of 500 Auxiliaries arrive in Ireland under Brigadier General F.P.Crozier. (1879-1937) a Boer War veteran and professional soldier who had fought with the 119th Infantry Brigade, was GOC of the 40th Division in France in 1919 and fought against the Bolsheviks in the Polish Army in addition to a period in the Lithuanian army and was, for his sins:
‘a reformed alcoholic, had been an Orange firebrand before the war. A gentleman who far out-carsoned Carson in the extremity of his views.’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p319-320.
These Auxilliary Troops were organised into companies of 100 men and sent to centres of IRA activity around the country. This first group of reinforcements were sent to the Curragh Camp where they received a short course on police duties and responsibilities. ‘ which they later found of no practical use’
The Auxiliaries would quickly become widely feared as they were mobile, heavily armed, aggressive and totally unpredictable. Fighting a war against a guerilla force ensured that the terms of the Geneva Convention were not followed to the letter by either side. The ‘Auxies’ regularly ran amok, shooting up villages, throwing grenades into shops and pubs, killing farm animals as well as the odd pot shot at any civilian unwise enough to show themselves. This quickly moved to targeted assassination, random and arbitrary killings, arson and terror.
Crozier, writing years later, admitted he ‘...found the British Army in Ireland well behaved, but the R.I.C demoralised; he found, also, that ‘irregular reprisals carried out by the wardens of the law’ were being attributed to Sinn Fein. The R.I.C were being employed to ‘murder, rob, loot and burn up the innocent, because they could not catch the guilty few on the run’.
Macardle. ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press, Dublin 1957. p359.
Widespread resignations from within the R.I.C. increased. Some, more sympathetic to the Sinn Fein cause, were persuaded to remain on as information gatherers for Collins and the IRA.
Sir Henry Wilson, now a Field Marshal and Chief of the Imperial General Staff told the Prime Minister that ‘if there had to be murder, the Government should do the murdering’. Such language was at least candid, too candid for Lloyd George...they were discussing authorised reprisals - ‘and said that no Government could possibly take this responsibility’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p318
General Tudor believed that the British forces had Sinn Fein on the run and that the people were ‘sick of it’. Mark Sturgis ensconced in Dublin Castle wrote otherwise ‘it’s the same old story, and precious little good to us if nobody will up and say so’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P209
Sinn Fein organised a boycott of all Belfast goods as a protest against the expulsion of 5,000 Catholic workers from the Belfast shipyards.
The Assistant Under-Secretary, Alfred Cope in some pillow talk with his Irish girlfriend said of the Chief Secretary that he ‘was no good and was out for a big job and did nothing’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolotionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P202
Civilian clothes were now issued to all British forces chauffeurs and ‘those engaged on Inteligence duties’. A query was sent to all units throughout the country ‘Are there any Irishmen now serving in your command who you consider should be transferred to commands outside Ireland in view of the present political situation?’
Arthur Mitchell. “Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922.” Gill & Mcmillan 1995. P206
With IRA mail seizures on the increase, the British Authorities in Ireland resorted to using aircraft to carry sensitive documents to major cities and towns. That was all very well, until ‘In Bantry, five volunteers disguised as British soldiers, stood around a white circle drawn on the ground, and a military plane dropped a bundle of communications in their midst…. Michael Collins investigated the use of small, portable planes for his communications system. Scotland Yard believed that Art O’Briain was trying to arrange for the training of aviators and purchase of planes in order to create a Sinn Fein air force’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P205
Collins gave an interview to an unnamed American correspondent which was reported in the Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter; ‘For 750 years Ireland has fought for her freedom and independence, accepted compromises and always has been defeated and disappointed. This time we are not going to yield until we establish our claims to recognition throughout the world. Ireland today has an existing Government. We have our cabinet, our parliament, our treasury, our army, our consular service, our courts, and this year we shall begin to collect income taxes that have hitherto been paid to the British Government. …. One half of the income taxes in Ireland will be paid to our Government in a year or two; last year we asked for a loan of £250,000 from the Irish people for our treasury. We raised £400,000 of this sum. We lost only £29, which was taken by the British authorities from one of our collectors. A Government which is carrying on as the Irish is today cannot talk of compromise. We may not see the realisation of Ireland as a free nation, but our children will – and I think we will too. Meanwhile we are busy establishing the machinery necessary to our existence and the smooth running of a modern state.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 10 September 4, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The World Newspaper based in Tulsa, Oaklahoma, editorialised on justice for Ireland saying ‘If England has an iota of justice on it's side in the Irish controversy, it is high time she present it to America. She cannot merely plead that she needs Ireland. The horse thief could as well plead that he needed the horse. She must show her title deeds in good form and according to the high pretense she has so recently set up, or prepare to find American public opinion solidly against her.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 10 September 4, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The former MP for North Fermanagh and Crown Prosecutor on the Connaught circuit, Mr. G. Fetherstonhaugh, wrote to the British press saying ‘ we were Unionists because we firmly believed that the Union rule was the best rule for Ireland’s prosperity, and the maintenance of peace between warring races and creeds. The belief has died hard; but will anyone now contend that, even in it's best days, Union rule has proved a success? For the past forty years – to say nothing of the earlier periods – we have had constant turmoil and agitation, culminating in the present terrible state of affairs. … let all Ireland that demands it, have independence in the fullest measure, does it really matter what that independence is called? Let North-East Ulster have what it so earnestly claimed – not a separate legislature, but to remain as it is, part of the United Kingdom. It would soon seek reunion with the rest of Ireland. There is no real danger to the Empire – at any rate, none comparable to the present state of things. …shall we stand by silent while our country is wrapped in the flames of civil war, in the vain hope of restoring a system which, after one hundred and twenty years of trial, has proved a disastrous failure.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 10 September 4, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Belfast businessman and owner/editor of some 30 British newspapers, Charles Diamond, imprisoned in May for criticism of the British Parliament, was released.
Lloyd George asserted that England maintains an army of occupation in Ireland merely for the suppression of crime, while Bonar Law commented that there was no coercion of opinion in Ireland.
Basil Clarke appointed as head of Dublin Castle’s News Bureau.
Five RIC constables on bicycles were attacked at Rathmacross, Co. Roscommon (between Ballaghdereen and Frenchpark) resulting in the deaths of two policemen (Constables Edward Murphy (24) and Martin McCarthy (28)) and one IRA volunteer (Tom McDonagh). The IRA were led by Jim Hunt and Marren. (O'Farrell says that the ambush takes place at Ratra, Teevnacreeva.)
Barney Marron, Monaghan Brigade IRA, shot dead during a raid for arms. P. Marron also killed.
Ambush by 6th Battalion, Cork No. 1 Brigade on British forces at Inniscarra. British got away and there were no casualties on either side.
Middle East: France announces the creation of the state of Lebanon with the government in Beirut.
Below: Lynch responds on behalf of the Friends of Irish Freedom to de Valera's request of August 6:
Above: de Valera's letter (August 6) to Lynch and the F.O.I.F. requesting a 'special meeting' of the Friend's National Council at 'a central point, like Chicago'. Left: Lynch & The Friends respond to de Valera's request. |
Dear Mr. President.
The subject matter of your letter dated August 6th was again considered by the National Executive at it's meeting last night.
As the meetings of the National Council have regularly been held at New York, the Executive did not feel at liberty to change the place of meeting to any other city without the authority of the Council itself.
The next meeting of the National Council will accordingly be held at New York on Friday, September 17th, and the Executive has recommended the advisability of, on that occasion, selecting the place and time of the October meeting or of any special session it may deem necessary.
The National Executive also had before it a number of suggested amendments to the Constitution submited by the Massachusetts State Council. Such proposals will be a special order of business at the next meeting of the Executive which will be held prior to that of the National Council. The decisions in this matter must necessarily be based on conditions which we from experience know to prevail generally throughout the organisation and not on those which exist in any one locality.
Is mise, le meas mor,
Diarmuid Lynch
De Valera's strategy was to out manoever and out-vote the New York 'clique of Devoy, Cohalan, Lynch and Dalton' and have changes implemented to the FOIF governance and constitution which he had deemed necessary.
Royal Air Force in Ireland: With the use of the RAF in counter insurgency work throughout Ireland, below is the 'RAF List' of officers and air bases in late September 1920. The main airbase in Ireland was at Baldonnel (renamed Casement 1965) with smaller bases at Castlebar, Oranmore and Fermoy.
Baldonnel airfield, Dublin was first laid out in 1917 and was used by the Royal Flying Corps (soon to become the Royal Air Force). It was part of the RAF's Ireland Command and HQ of No. 11 Squadron (Irish Wing) and No.100 Squadron. The aerodrome was originally run by just two pilots from the Royal Air Force. The airfield was later used by 'The Bremen' for the first successful east-west Atlantic crossing in1928 and the first Aer Lingus flight took place on 27 May 1936. It was also the destination at which Douglas Corrigan landed on his famous 'wrong way' flight across the Atlantic on 18 July 1938. In February 1965 Baldonnel was renamed Casement Aerodrome in honour of the Irish nationalist Roger Casement, executed for treason by the British in 1916.
Fermoy Aerodrome Co. Cork - laid out c. 1918 with three hangars and a garage as the HQ of No. 2 Squadron, later taken over by the Free State Air Corps and then the army and was renamed Fitzgerald Camp and used until closure in 1998.
In 1920 Castlebar Aerodrome, Co. Mayo was an RAF grass strip for the Castlebar Flight of No. 100 Squadron with wooden huts and canvas hangers, located parallel to the road and railway line in the area, where the "Baxter Factory" is now situated, on the old Breaffy Road. The Officers were billeted in nearby "Maryland House", next to Castlebar Railway Station, which was rented from the then owner. There were at least five aircraft from the aerodrome lost (mainly to mechanical failure) at the strip or in the area, with at least three fatalities, and a member of the aerodrome guard tragically shot another member of the guard who jumped out in the dark as a prank.
Oranmore Aerodrome, Co. Galway opened in May 1918 as a Royal Flying Corps aerodrome. Units assigned to the airfield were 2 Sqn, 100 Sqn and 105 Sqn and ceased operations as a military airfield on Independence but continued as a civilian airfield for Galway until the opening of a new airport in 1976. The original airfield is now part of a commercial industrial park.
Air Commodore Ian Malcolm Bonham-Carter CB, OBE, RAF (1882 – 1953) was later to serve as AOC No 3 Group, 23 Group and Duty Air Commodore at RAF Fighter Command 1939-45. However, he is better known today as the grand-uncle of actor Helena Bonham Carter.
Later in September 1920 (28.09.20) is this RAF internal memo advising that Bonham Carter requested a number of RAF personnel based in Ireland 'would rather have removed'. This would appear not due to any latent Republican sympathies but as part of the country wide move by British forces to relocate officers with Irish connections. This was a pre-emptive action to prevent retaliation by the IRA against RAF officers and their families then resident in Ireland.
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In the US, 3,000 dock workers refuse to unload British vessels until Britain removes troops from Ireland.
The Times editorialised: ‘Alderman MacSwiney, a man whose name was unknown outside his own city, will, if he dies, take rank with Fitzgerald, with Emmett and with Tone in the martyrology of Ireland’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p86
British Government asked Dublin Castle if MacSwiney should be released. They answered no. Mark Sturgis felt that his release ‘would not affect soldiers much either way, but it would take the heart right out of the police…it would show that the Government was only bluffing and would make our job impossible’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P210
However Sturgis wrote privately ‘No hunger striker is yet dead. I cant believe they are not all being secretly fed but the danger is that this class of stunt brings out any constitutional weakness and one of em may die by mistake. A cipher telegram today from London demanded a full statement for issues after McS’s death! But I – who bet 5/- to Winter that he would die – am really beginning to believe he wont.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p33
Back in Dublin, the Dublin Castle administration engaged in some double-speak ‘The military in Ireland are in no sense an army of occupation….that the intervention of armed forces is welcomed by the responsible body of Irish opinion has been proved abundantly.’
Arthur Mitchell. “Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922.” Gill & Mcmillan 1995. P207
Lord Bentinck, M.P., writing to The Times (London) criticised the alliance between the Prime Minister and Sir Edward Carson:
“Lloyd George’s incapacity to govern Ireland becomes more manifest every day. The land is filled with violence, and upon his failure lawlessness and crime flourish apace. His incapacity arises from the fact that he persists in ignoring the simplest rules of democratic government. Who can crush the spirit of a nation? Who can draw Leviathan with a hook? Who can successfully deny either the fundamental unity of the Irish people or their right to be ruled by the majority of their own people? The Prime Minister is kicking against the pricks. From the moment that the Prime Minister recognizes that the only method by which Ireland can be governed is by the consent of its people will the Irish sky begin to brighten. From the moment that the Government cease their futile attempts to kill Republicanism by force will loyalty to the Empire begin to gain ground. But what hope is there that the Prime Minister will embrace the cause of liberty and justice for Ireland while he is tied to his alliance with Sir Edward Carson? That is the governing factor in this tragic situation. Surely the happiness and welfare of millions of people are more important than the personal position of any one man. In all humility I submit that, in the interests of Ireland and of the Empire, it is the duty of the Prime Minister to dissolve that partnership, and to trust to the wisdom and public spirit of the House and the country to support him in a policy of reconciliation and peace.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.11 Sep 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Churchill’s concept of another special police force was instigated and strongly supported by Sir James Craig, this time exclusively for Unionist dominated areas of Ulster. The Special Constabulary Force was established drawing its membership almost exclusively from the UVF. This force was to rise to 20,000 by July 1921. Craig warning that the situation in the six counties had dramatically deteriorated and that the citizenry were rapidly loosing faith in the Government to protect them. This would lead to arms which was feared would in turn lead to civil war. Also it was feared that a general Rising by Sinn Fein could not be contained by Government forces on the ground at the time. The special constabulary was to be raised ... “from the loyal population which would only be called out for duty in case of emergency. The organisation of the UVF should be used for this purpose, as was done for raising the 36th Ulster Division when the war broke out”
The Manchester Guardian editorialised on the demoralisation of British troops in Ireland ‘ One of the special losses which the Irish chaos is brining upon england is a loss of some measure of discipline in our army…there are hours of indiscriminate firing or bombing, looting or arson, by troops or police or both; a good deal of property – which may be that of ardent Unionists – is destroyed and a few Irish civilians, who are probably as innocent of the previous murders as the dead men’s own comrades, may be shot. Such roughly is the history of the riots by police or soldiers at Lismore and Fermoy, at Tuam, Limerick, Tralee, Cork, Thurles and Templemore…’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Belfast Newsletter trumpeted a warning on Sinn Fein: ‘It is impossible to exaggerate the gravity of the danger with which the British Empire is threatened. The conspiracy for it's downfall is working everywhere, and it seems to have large financial support. What the Sinn Feiners are doing in Ireland and the United States is known throughout the world, but it is not so well known that they are active in Egypt and India as well as in the Dominions, and that they are putting forth all their strength to accomplish their nefarious objects.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The British Government conceded to Sir James Craig demands that a force of full time constabulary be established for Northern Ireland under the Government of Ireland Act. Recruitment would begin on 1 November.
Sir John Anderson commenting to Bonar Law ‘We have tried the experiment of setting up an unarmed body of Special Constabularly in Belfast and even that had not been an unqualified success. On the first night, three of the Special Constables were arrested for looting…you cannot in the middle of a faction fight recognise one of the contending parties and expect it to deal with disorder in the spirit of impartiality and fairness essential in those who have to carry out the orders of the Government’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p159
This developments in turn defined the long term character of loyalist Government in Ulster. Shortly afterwards, a memorandum laying down the essential points of the new administration left no doubt as to what was to be expected, with the new Government ‘will, undoubtedly be formed from the Protestant majority. Consequently the steps now taken should be in accordance with the views of that majority. It should not be a Government in which both sides are treated as being equally entitled to a voice in whatever measures are taken…the essential point ot remember is that the Unionists hold that no rebel who wishes to set up a Republic can be regarded merely as a ‘political opponent’ but must be repressed.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p158
"A perusal of the Irish and English papers of the last few weeks makes extra ordinarily clear the fact which is for the most part hidden from the American public, that the industrial plant owners of Belfast, who enjoy infinite special privilege under the British Government, are the real formentors of the recent rioting. They have succeeded in stirring up hatred among their workers, not against Sinn Feiners or Republican sympathizers, but against Irish Catholic workmen. The London Daily Herald recently reported that one of the seven hundred unemployed ex-service men in Belfast called on thirty-five firms before he could secure work, and that when he told thirty-four of these, in answer to questions, that he was a Catholic, he was informed that there was no work for him. In forwarding a subscription to the Belfast Expelled Workers Fund, Mr. Devlin, M.P., wrote: “These men have been subjected to cruel, relentless persecution. They are the wounded soldiers in the fight for religious and eco nomic liberty. We must stand by them to the death.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.11 Sep 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
In the US, 3,000 dock workers refuse to unload British vessels until Britain removes troops from Ireland.
The Times editorialised: ‘Alderman MacSwiney, a man whose name was unknown outside his own city, will, if he dies, take rank with Fitzgerald, with Emmett and with Tone in the martyrology of Ireland’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p86
British Government asked Dublin Castle if MacSwiney should be released. They answered no. Mark Sturgis felt that his release ‘would not affect soldiers much either way, but it would take the heart right out of the police…it would show that the Government was only bluffing and would make our job impossible’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P210
However Sturgis wrote privately ‘No hunger striker is yet dead. I cant believe they are not all being secretly fed but the danger is that this class of stunt brings out any constitutional weakness and one of em may die by mistake. A cipher telegram today from London demanded a full statement for issues after McS’s death! But I – who bet 5/- to Winter that he would die – am really beginning to believe he wont.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p33
Back in Dublin, the Dublin Castle administration engaged in some double-speak ‘The military in Ireland are in no sense an army of occupation….that the intervention of armed forces is welcomed by the responsible body of Irish opinion has been proved abundantly.’
Arthur Mitchell. “Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922.” Gill & Mcmillan 1995. P207
Lord Bentinck, M.P., writing to The Times (London) criticised the alliance between the Prime Minister and Sir Edward Carson:
“Lloyd George’s incapacity to govern Ireland becomes more manifest every day. The land is filled with violence, and upon his failure lawlessness and crime flourish apace. His incapacity arises from the fact that he persists in ignoring the simplest rules of democratic government. Who can crush the spirit of a nation? Who can draw Leviathan with a hook? Who can successfully deny either the fundamental unity of the Irish people or their right to be ruled by the majority of their own people? The Prime Minister is kicking against the pricks. From the moment that the Prime Minister recognizes that the only method by which Ireland can be governed is by the consent of its people will the Irish sky begin to brighten. From the moment that the Government cease their futile attempts to kill Republicanism by force will loyalty to the Empire begin to gain ground. But what hope is there that the Prime Minister will embrace the cause of liberty and justice for Ireland while he is tied to his alliance with Sir Edward Carson? That is the governing factor in this tragic situation. Surely the happiness and welfare of millions of people are more important than the personal position of any one man. In all humility I submit that, in the interests of Ireland and of the Empire, it is the duty of the Prime Minister to dissolve that partnership, and to trust to the wisdom and public spirit of the House and the country to support him in a policy of reconciliation and peace.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.11 Sep 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Churchill’s concept of another special police force was instigated and strongly supported by Sir James Craig, this time exclusively for Unionist dominated areas of Ulster. The Special Constabulary Force was established drawing its membership almost exclusively from the UVF. This force was to rise to 20,000 by July 1921. Craig warning that the situation in the six counties had dramatically deteriorated and that the citizenry were rapidly loosing faith in the Government to protect them. This would lead to arms which was feared would in turn lead to civil war. Also it was feared that a general Rising by Sinn Fein could not be contained by Government forces on the ground at the time. The special constabulary was to be raised ... “from the loyal population which would only be called out for duty in case of emergency. The organisation of the UVF should be used for this purpose, as was done for raising the 36th Ulster Division when the war broke out”
The Manchester Guardian editorialised on the demoralisation of British troops in Ireland ‘ One of the special losses which the Irish chaos is brining upon england is a loss of some measure of discipline in our army…there are hours of indiscriminate firing or bombing, looting or arson, by troops or police or both; a good deal of property – which may be that of ardent Unionists – is destroyed and a few Irish civilians, who are probably as innocent of the previous murders as the dead men’s own comrades, may be shot. Such roughly is the history of the riots by police or soldiers at Lismore and Fermoy, at Tuam, Limerick, Tralee, Cork, Thurles and Templemore…’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Belfast Newsletter trumpeted a warning on Sinn Fein: ‘It is impossible to exaggerate the gravity of the danger with which the British Empire is threatened. The conspiracy for it's downfall is working everywhere, and it seems to have large financial support. What the Sinn Feiners are doing in Ireland and the United States is known throughout the world, but it is not so well known that they are active in Egypt and India as well as in the Dominions, and that they are putting forth all their strength to accomplish their nefarious objects.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The British Government conceded to Sir James Craig demands that a force of full time constabulary be established for Northern Ireland under the Government of Ireland Act. Recruitment would begin on 1 November.
Sir John Anderson commenting to Bonar Law ‘We have tried the experiment of setting up an unarmed body of Special Constabularly in Belfast and even that had not been an unqualified success. On the first night, three of the Special Constables were arrested for looting…you cannot in the middle of a faction fight recognise one of the contending parties and expect it to deal with disorder in the spirit of impartiality and fairness essential in those who have to carry out the orders of the Government’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p159
This developments in turn defined the long term character of loyalist Government in Ulster. Shortly afterwards, a memorandum laying down the essential points of the new administration left no doubt as to what was to be expected, with the new Government ‘will, undoubtedly be formed from the Protestant majority. Consequently the steps now taken should be in accordance with the views of that majority. It should not be a Government in which both sides are treated as being equally entitled to a voice in whatever measures are taken…the essential point ot remember is that the Unionists hold that no rebel who wishes to set up a Republic can be regarded merely as a ‘political opponent’ but must be repressed.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p158
"A perusal of the Irish and English papers of the last few weeks makes extra ordinarily clear the fact which is for the most part hidden from the American public, that the industrial plant owners of Belfast, who enjoy infinite special privilege under the British Government, are the real formentors of the recent rioting. They have succeeded in stirring up hatred among their workers, not against Sinn Feiners or Republican sympathizers, but against Irish Catholic workmen. The London Daily Herald recently reported that one of the seven hundred unemployed ex-service men in Belfast called on thirty-five firms before he could secure work, and that when he told thirty-four of these, in answer to questions, that he was a Catholic, he was informed that there was no work for him. In forwarding a subscription to the Belfast Expelled Workers Fund, Mr. Devlin, M.P., wrote: “These men have been subjected to cruel, relentless persecution. They are the wounded soldiers in the fight for religious and eco nomic liberty. We must stand by them to the death.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.11 Sep 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
3
Dublin: a public notice was posted throughout the city and delivered privately to all Civil Servants, offering a reward for information against members of the I.R.A., to disguise their handwriting, not to give either name or address and to mail to ‘D.W.Ross, Poste Restante, G.P.O., London’.
Dublin: a public notice was posted throughout the city and delivered privately to all Civil Servants, offering a reward for information against members of the I.R.A., to disguise their handwriting, not to give either name or address and to mail to ‘D.W.Ross, Poste Restante, G.P.O., London’.
General Macready in an interview with ‘Le Petit Parisien’ and ‘La Liberte’ said ‘...that it might be necessary to shoot half a hundred individuals in Ireland...we have most of their names, and the day may come when we shall be able to make a definite clearance of them’
Macardle ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press. Dublin 1957. p381
Sturgis revealed some more of his views: ‘I almost begin to believe that these mean, dishonest, insufferably conceited Irishmen are an inferior race and are only sufferable when they are whipped – like the Jews’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p35
Behind the scenes attempts were made to allow Cardinal Mannix into Ireland. One of the last remaining Nationalist MP’s in Westminster, Kelly spoke with Mark Sturgis on the ‘startling proposition that we should shut our eyes and allow Cardinal Mannix to slip in for a day or two to see his mother and get the freedom of several cities. I said, when I had got my breath that I was all for letting him in but I didn’t think HM Government could well be asked to give quite so much help to a ‘British Government Defeat’ etc etc…and that Freedom business would mean a hell of a fuss…Kelly went off with a variation of the ‘put it on paper’ answer. I bet we shall hear no more of it.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p34
Michael Collins intrigued Dublin Castle for the Scarlet Pimpernel-like activities. In Mark Sturgis’s diaries, he was simply referred to as ‘Michael’: Brigadier Ormonde Winter ‘is on the track of Michael – he was amusing about a report he wanted to send to the Under Secretary but couldn’t as it would have said that Michael slept with a girl, address known, once a week, and this he shrank from dictating to his chaste female shorthand writer. So he had to give his news by word of mouth’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p35
The Ulster Unionist Council called on the Government to take immediate action to protect lives and property.
Premiere of D.W. Griffith's film melodrama Way Down East, starring Lillian Gish. It became one of the most profitable films of the twenties, earning $3.9 million for United Artists.
Presidential candidate Harding announces that he will seek a revision of the Treaty of Versailles so that the US can join the League of Nations.
Two policemen were cycling from Portlaw to Leamybrien, Co. Waterford when they were ambushed at Kilmacthomas, Co. Waterford resulting in the death of Sgt Martin Morgan (44) on 27 September..
Coroners’ inquests abolished in ten Irish counties.
An American civil engineer stationed in Cork commented on British military forces activities in the city:
“The Englishmen place themselves securely in armored cars and parade the principal streets of a city like Cork at nine o'clock of a summer evening. From their position of security, they fire volley after volley into defenseless women and children and continue following up and firing on them as they run for safety. They parade the streets here in military wagons armed with rifles which they hold at the ‘present’. The fire indiscriminately through the streets and, in some cases, at anyone or anything they may see. They go through the country firing at young girls and boys who may be dancing at the cross-roads. Only last night they shot two young boys. If they chance to see a cow in the fields or on the road, they either shoot or bayonet her. The Government would like to see a religious war here. They are trying all and every means in their power to goad the people into rebellion. They are hoping that an opportunity may be given them of completely wiping out the race.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.11 Sep 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The FOIF Newsletter commented on the British stranglehold on Irish trade.
"The Cork agent of the Great Western Railway was recently advised that an order had been issued by the Ministry of Agriculture that no animal was to be landed in Great Britain from Ireland except for immediate slaughter. As there was no accommodation at Fishguard for the slaughter of live stock there could be no shipment from either Cork or Waterford to Fishguard until further notice. Buyers anticipating the issue of this order had not been purchasing for export, and consequently the fairs held in Munster on the same day, and serving the ports of Cork and Waterford, were almost paralyzed."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.11 Sep 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Macardle ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press. Dublin 1957. p381
Sturgis revealed some more of his views: ‘I almost begin to believe that these mean, dishonest, insufferably conceited Irishmen are an inferior race and are only sufferable when they are whipped – like the Jews’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p35
Behind the scenes attempts were made to allow Cardinal Mannix into Ireland. One of the last remaining Nationalist MP’s in Westminster, Kelly spoke with Mark Sturgis on the ‘startling proposition that we should shut our eyes and allow Cardinal Mannix to slip in for a day or two to see his mother and get the freedom of several cities. I said, when I had got my breath that I was all for letting him in but I didn’t think HM Government could well be asked to give quite so much help to a ‘British Government Defeat’ etc etc…and that Freedom business would mean a hell of a fuss…Kelly went off with a variation of the ‘put it on paper’ answer. I bet we shall hear no more of it.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p34
Michael Collins intrigued Dublin Castle for the Scarlet Pimpernel-like activities. In Mark Sturgis’s diaries, he was simply referred to as ‘Michael’: Brigadier Ormonde Winter ‘is on the track of Michael – he was amusing about a report he wanted to send to the Under Secretary but couldn’t as it would have said that Michael slept with a girl, address known, once a week, and this he shrank from dictating to his chaste female shorthand writer. So he had to give his news by word of mouth’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p35
The Ulster Unionist Council called on the Government to take immediate action to protect lives and property.
Premiere of D.W. Griffith's film melodrama Way Down East, starring Lillian Gish. It became one of the most profitable films of the twenties, earning $3.9 million for United Artists.
Presidential candidate Harding announces that he will seek a revision of the Treaty of Versailles so that the US can join the League of Nations.
Two policemen were cycling from Portlaw to Leamybrien, Co. Waterford when they were ambushed at Kilmacthomas, Co. Waterford resulting in the death of Sgt Martin Morgan (44) on 27 September..
Coroners’ inquests abolished in ten Irish counties.
An American civil engineer stationed in Cork commented on British military forces activities in the city:
“The Englishmen place themselves securely in armored cars and parade the principal streets of a city like Cork at nine o'clock of a summer evening. From their position of security, they fire volley after volley into defenseless women and children and continue following up and firing on them as they run for safety. They parade the streets here in military wagons armed with rifles which they hold at the ‘present’. The fire indiscriminately through the streets and, in some cases, at anyone or anything they may see. They go through the country firing at young girls and boys who may be dancing at the cross-roads. Only last night they shot two young boys. If they chance to see a cow in the fields or on the road, they either shoot or bayonet her. The Government would like to see a religious war here. They are trying all and every means in their power to goad the people into rebellion. They are hoping that an opportunity may be given them of completely wiping out the race.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.11 Sep 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The FOIF Newsletter commented on the British stranglehold on Irish trade.
"The Cork agent of the Great Western Railway was recently advised that an order had been issued by the Ministry of Agriculture that no animal was to be landed in Great Britain from Ireland except for immediate slaughter. As there was no accommodation at Fishguard for the slaughter of live stock there could be no shipment from either Cork or Waterford to Fishguard until further notice. Buyers anticipating the issue of this order had not been purchasing for export, and consequently the fairs held in Munster on the same day, and serving the ports of Cork and Waterford, were almost paralyzed."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.11 Sep 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
4
The Galway Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant of Galway, Sir Henry Grattan Bellew, resigned his position stating ‘His Majesty’s Government is determined on the substitution of military for civil law. I can act so little in harmony with the new policy that I beg herewith to resign…I hope my colleagues will follow my example, so that the wrecking of Irish towns and the ruin of Irish industries may be proceeded without any camouflage or the appearance of approval by Irishmen of the sabotage of their country which retention of office without function would imply’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 12 September 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information Director, Daniel T O’Connell resigned to take up a law practice in Boston.
The London Daily Express, commenting upon Ireland of September 1920, admits a certain fascination: “There is an electrical feeling in Ireland—there is something in the atmosphere which tells one to guard one’s words and keep one’s own counsel, for one never knows to whom one is talking. There is, in spite of all, a fascination about this green island. There is always romance and eternal humour in Ireland, and the Irishman is the most lovable and generous of creatures on God’s green earth—away from home.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.11 Sep 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The thinking within Dublin Castle on the expected death of McSwiney is clear. ‘If he dies we expect a big row but think we are quite able to deal with it. If he is let out we do not see how we can ever hold another hunger striker again and must let out the present gun men in Cork Gaol. The release of McSwiney would not affect soldiers much either way, but would take the heart right out of the police. The IG [Inspector General] was clear it would be disastrous. It would convince everybody that the Government had been bluffing again and make our job impossible..’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p36
Lloyd George, on holiday in Lucerne, wrote to Bonar Law on any potential release of hunger strikers: ‘If we released him we might as well give up again attempting to maintain law and order in Ireland..’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p86
The Galway Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant of Galway, Sir Henry Grattan Bellew, resigned his position stating ‘His Majesty’s Government is determined on the substitution of military for civil law. I can act so little in harmony with the new policy that I beg herewith to resign…I hope my colleagues will follow my example, so that the wrecking of Irish towns and the ruin of Irish industries may be proceeded without any camouflage or the appearance of approval by Irishmen of the sabotage of their country which retention of office without function would imply’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 12 September 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information Director, Daniel T O’Connell resigned to take up a law practice in Boston.
The London Daily Express, commenting upon Ireland of September 1920, admits a certain fascination: “There is an electrical feeling in Ireland—there is something in the atmosphere which tells one to guard one’s words and keep one’s own counsel, for one never knows to whom one is talking. There is, in spite of all, a fascination about this green island. There is always romance and eternal humour in Ireland, and the Irishman is the most lovable and generous of creatures on God’s green earth—away from home.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.11 Sep 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The thinking within Dublin Castle on the expected death of McSwiney is clear. ‘If he dies we expect a big row but think we are quite able to deal with it. If he is let out we do not see how we can ever hold another hunger striker again and must let out the present gun men in Cork Gaol. The release of McSwiney would not affect soldiers much either way, but would take the heart right out of the police. The IG [Inspector General] was clear it would be disastrous. It would convince everybody that the Government had been bluffing again and make our job impossible..’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p36
Lloyd George, on holiday in Lucerne, wrote to Bonar Law on any potential release of hunger strikers: ‘If we released him we might as well give up again attempting to maintain law and order in Ireland..’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p86
5
New York: United States census shows New York to be the largest US city with a population of 5.6 million. Los Angeles with 570,000 is the largest city on the West Coast. (A century later, New York had an estimated 20.1 million and L.A. 4 million)
Volunteer Liam Hegarty killed by British forces outside Ballyvourney, Co. Cork. On August 25th a party of soldiers set up camps at the Mouth of the Glen. As volunteers were assembling to raid them, large numbers of British troops arrived from Macroom, Kenmare, and Bantry. The volunteers quickly left the area and worked throughout the night removing all guns and ammunition from the area. Most volunteers also left. At dawn next morning over two hundred soldiers, R.I.C. and Auxies began thorough searches. Particular attention was paid to Keimcoraboula. These searches proved unsuccessful. It became known locally as the Keimcoraboula Round-up. On Sunday 6th September, Liam Hegarty and Michael Lynch were shot dead by Auxies at Ballyvourney. Both were unarmed and it caused outrage in the area. Large numbers of local people attended their funeral. There is now information that secret service men were to visit the area and an IRA guard was mounted at the Pass of Keimaneigh for almost a month. One suspect was captured and held prisoner for a few days. He was a British Magistrate named Brady who was touring Ireland, somewhat foolishly considering the regional unrest, on a motor-cycle. He was well treated and was released unharmed but the motor cycle was retained.. The company had now acquired a motor-cycle which proved invaluable for delivering dispatches and conveying officers to meetings etc.
Erskine Childers, in a series of articles on English military rule in Ireland, recently published in the London Daily News, and which were for the most part a carefully reasoned argument addressed to the English people, emphasised the fact that, in maintaining a large military force in Ireland, which is required to perform such degrading tasks as the terrorisation of women and children, and the murder of innocent citizens, would necessarily lead to the utter demoralisation of the English troops.
The Manchester Guardian took up this point. “One of the special losses,” it says, “which the Irish chaos is bringing upon England is a loss in some measure of discipline in our army.” The editorial pays particular attention to the alarming increase of the so-called reprisals by English troops: “There are hours of indiscriminate firing or bombing, looting or arson, by troops or police or both; a good deal of property—which may be that of ardent Unionists—is destroyed and a few Irish civilians, who are probably as innocent of the previous murders as the dead men’s own comrades, may be shot. Such, roughly, is the history of the riots by police or soldiers at Lismore and Fermoy, at Tuam, Limerick, Tralee, Cork, Thurles, and Templemore.”
The Newsletter went on to comment: "There is, however, at least one glaring inaccuracy in the above quotation. It would be well-nigh impossible to cite any instance in which the property or lives of Unionists have been knowingly in danger by the English occupation. The common cause made by Unionists and the English military in the recent Ulster riots is notorious."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.11 Sep 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
New York: United States census shows New York to be the largest US city with a population of 5.6 million. Los Angeles with 570,000 is the largest city on the West Coast. (A century later, New York had an estimated 20.1 million and L.A. 4 million)
Volunteer Liam Hegarty killed by British forces outside Ballyvourney, Co. Cork. On August 25th a party of soldiers set up camps at the Mouth of the Glen. As volunteers were assembling to raid them, large numbers of British troops arrived from Macroom, Kenmare, and Bantry. The volunteers quickly left the area and worked throughout the night removing all guns and ammunition from the area. Most volunteers also left. At dawn next morning over two hundred soldiers, R.I.C. and Auxies began thorough searches. Particular attention was paid to Keimcoraboula. These searches proved unsuccessful. It became known locally as the Keimcoraboula Round-up. On Sunday 6th September, Liam Hegarty and Michael Lynch were shot dead by Auxies at Ballyvourney. Both were unarmed and it caused outrage in the area. Large numbers of local people attended their funeral. There is now information that secret service men were to visit the area and an IRA guard was mounted at the Pass of Keimaneigh for almost a month. One suspect was captured and held prisoner for a few days. He was a British Magistrate named Brady who was touring Ireland, somewhat foolishly considering the regional unrest, on a motor-cycle. He was well treated and was released unharmed but the motor cycle was retained.. The company had now acquired a motor-cycle which proved invaluable for delivering dispatches and conveying officers to meetings etc.
Erskine Childers, in a series of articles on English military rule in Ireland, recently published in the London Daily News, and which were for the most part a carefully reasoned argument addressed to the English people, emphasised the fact that, in maintaining a large military force in Ireland, which is required to perform such degrading tasks as the terrorisation of women and children, and the murder of innocent citizens, would necessarily lead to the utter demoralisation of the English troops.
The Manchester Guardian took up this point. “One of the special losses,” it says, “which the Irish chaos is bringing upon England is a loss in some measure of discipline in our army.” The editorial pays particular attention to the alarming increase of the so-called reprisals by English troops: “There are hours of indiscriminate firing or bombing, looting or arson, by troops or police or both; a good deal of property—which may be that of ardent Unionists—is destroyed and a few Irish civilians, who are probably as innocent of the previous murders as the dead men’s own comrades, may be shot. Such, roughly, is the history of the riots by police or soldiers at Lismore and Fermoy, at Tuam, Limerick, Tralee, Cork, Thurles, and Templemore.”
The Newsletter went on to comment: "There is, however, at least one glaring inaccuracy in the above quotation. It would be well-nigh impossible to cite any instance in which the property or lives of Unionists have been knowingly in danger by the English occupation. The common cause made by Unionists and the English military in the recent Ulster riots is notorious."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.11 Sep 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
6
De Valera sent invitations throughout the United States for key members of the Friends of Irish Freedom to attend a National Council meeting on September 17th in the Waldorf Astoria, New York.
The inevitability of McSwiney’s death was by now, quite obvious to many. Many Catholics in the US were questioning the morality of the stance taken. One cleric, Fr. Bernard Vaughan stated that he personally ‘should not feel entitled to administer the rites of the church to anyone, no matter what his nationality, who was deliberately dying through a hunger strike.’ The US Bishop Turner replied through the Associated Press that ‘Catholic theology teaches that a man may deliberately expose his life when a great good is to be expected for the cause which he represents. A soldier may deliberately set fire to a store of munitions lest they fall into the hands of the enemy, when he knows that he himself will be surely killed in the explosion’. [and just in case the parallel being drawn was unclear to anyone, the Newsletter comments : ] ‘This is the case of the Mayor of Cork. He thinks his country’s cause would be benefited although he knows it means his certain death.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 12 September 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Various requests for clemency in the McSwiney case were sent worldwide to Lloyd George. The editor of the Boston Post, Edwin Grozier was one example when he wrote ‘The McSwiney case in particular has attracted worldwide attention and aroused the sympathy of millions who, though they may know little of the merits of the case, recognise that here is a man deliberately sacrificing his life for an ideal. The interests in this matter in Boston and in the United States generally is intense, and the policy of clemenecy on the part of your Government would meet with widespread approval.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 12 September 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Start of a daily air-mail service between New York and San Francisco.
De Valera sent invitations throughout the United States for key members of the Friends of Irish Freedom to attend a National Council meeting on September 17th in the Waldorf Astoria, New York.
The inevitability of McSwiney’s death was by now, quite obvious to many. Many Catholics in the US were questioning the morality of the stance taken. One cleric, Fr. Bernard Vaughan stated that he personally ‘should not feel entitled to administer the rites of the church to anyone, no matter what his nationality, who was deliberately dying through a hunger strike.’ The US Bishop Turner replied through the Associated Press that ‘Catholic theology teaches that a man may deliberately expose his life when a great good is to be expected for the cause which he represents. A soldier may deliberately set fire to a store of munitions lest they fall into the hands of the enemy, when he knows that he himself will be surely killed in the explosion’. [and just in case the parallel being drawn was unclear to anyone, the Newsletter comments : ] ‘This is the case of the Mayor of Cork. He thinks his country’s cause would be benefited although he knows it means his certain death.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 12 September 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Various requests for clemency in the McSwiney case were sent worldwide to Lloyd George. The editor of the Boston Post, Edwin Grozier was one example when he wrote ‘The McSwiney case in particular has attracted worldwide attention and aroused the sympathy of millions who, though they may know little of the merits of the case, recognise that here is a man deliberately sacrificing his life for an ideal. The interests in this matter in Boston and in the United States generally is intense, and the policy of clemenecy on the part of your Government would meet with widespread approval.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 12 September 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Start of a daily air-mail service between New York and San Francisco.
7
At Griffith’s request, Patrick Moylett met with John Steele, the London based correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and later approached Brigadier George Cockerill, MP for Reigate. ‘He told Cockerill that he was a merchant, that he had come from Arthur Griffith, and that he was empowered to suggest a negotiation on Cockerill’s lines (Cockerill’s memo of 29 October 1920). He got only as far as H. Fisher, a Liberal member of the Cabinet’s Irish Committee…’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p321
A recipient of one of De Valera’s telegrams for a National Council meeting was the former Governor of New York, Edward Dunne. He wrote to John Devoy from his law offices in Chicago that he had received an urgent wire from de Valera 'to be in " ...New York on the 17th of this month to attend a meeting of the Executive of the F.O.I.F. at which time he says far reaching decisions have to be arrived at on the Irish cause." But while he was anxious to do what he could to further the cause of Irish Independence, he did not want to be 'embroiled in any controversies between honest ardent advocates of an Irish Republic, such as de Valera and yourself, for both of whom I have an honest respect' and asking if there was any danger 'of such an embroilment at the proposed meeting'
At Griffith’s request, Patrick Moylett met with John Steele, the London based correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and later approached Brigadier George Cockerill, MP for Reigate. ‘He told Cockerill that he was a merchant, that he had come from Arthur Griffith, and that he was empowered to suggest a negotiation on Cockerill’s lines (Cockerill’s memo of 29 October 1920). He got only as far as H. Fisher, a Liberal member of the Cabinet’s Irish Committee…’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p321
A recipient of one of De Valera’s telegrams for a National Council meeting was the former Governor of New York, Edward Dunne. He wrote to John Devoy from his law offices in Chicago that he had received an urgent wire from de Valera 'to be in " ...New York on the 17th of this month to attend a meeting of the Executive of the F.O.I.F. at which time he says far reaching decisions have to be arrived at on the Irish cause." But while he was anxious to do what he could to further the cause of Irish Independence, he did not want to be 'embroiled in any controversies between honest ardent advocates of an Irish Republic, such as de Valera and yourself, for both of whom I have an honest respect' and asking if there was any danger 'of such an embroilment at the proposed meeting'
Devoy replied to Dunne that: ‘De Valera hoped to control the meeting and to push through the amendments that would change the whole structure of the Friends. It was evident that De Valera wanted ‘for himself the credit for all we have done in America and his whole mind is now concentrated on the effort to show that nobody in America amounts to anything and that he is the kingpin of the movement’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.391
As McGough puts it: "De Valera's strategy was to outvote the New York 'clique of Devoy, Cohalan, Lynch and Dalton, and have the changes implemented to the FOIF governance and consitution which he deemed necessary'
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p143
At the end of the first week in September, the number of Irish citizens held in British jails was:
Winchester: 21
Pankhurst: 7
Wansdworth: 7
Birmingham : 7
Wormwood Scrubs: 14
Pentonville: 5
Liverpool: 13
Brixton: 8
The Irish Republic Government issued details on the 269 British troops and police who were captured by Volunteer units from May to August 1920. ‘Lloyd George has characterised the Republican Army as a ‘huge murder society’. Not one of these British agents, in spite of utmost provocation, which their Government has for years given the Irish people, was injured in the slightest respect. They were treated with the full courtesies due to prisoners of war and were released as speedily as possible, the greatest majority of them having been held only a few hours.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 17 October 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The hunger strikers remained high on the agenda and none more so that Dublin Castle: ‘The Cork men are reported very bad – wonder if one or more will die while everybody is looking at McS – this would rather damage his martyr’s crown’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p37
A deputation of Unionists met members of the Cabinet in London to outline their concerns.
The race for the White House was well underway by the time the Evening News New York came out strongly for the Democrats with the Cassel cartoon below:
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.391
As McGough puts it: "De Valera's strategy was to outvote the New York 'clique of Devoy, Cohalan, Lynch and Dalton, and have the changes implemented to the FOIF governance and consitution which he deemed necessary'
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p143
At the end of the first week in September, the number of Irish citizens held in British jails was:
Winchester: 21
Pankhurst: 7
Wansdworth: 7
Birmingham : 7
Wormwood Scrubs: 14
Pentonville: 5
Liverpool: 13
Brixton: 8
The Irish Republic Government issued details on the 269 British troops and police who were captured by Volunteer units from May to August 1920. ‘Lloyd George has characterised the Republican Army as a ‘huge murder society’. Not one of these British agents, in spite of utmost provocation, which their Government has for years given the Irish people, was injured in the slightest respect. They were treated with the full courtesies due to prisoners of war and were released as speedily as possible, the greatest majority of them having been held only a few hours.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 17 October 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The hunger strikers remained high on the agenda and none more so that Dublin Castle: ‘The Cork men are reported very bad – wonder if one or more will die while everybody is looking at McS – this would rather damage his martyr’s crown’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p37
A deputation of Unionists met members of the Cabinet in London to outline their concerns.
The race for the White House was well underway by the time the Evening News New York came out strongly for the Democrats with the Cassel cartoon below:
8
A four man RIC patrol was ambused near Tullow, Co. Carlow. Constables Timothy Delaney (30) and John Gaughan (34) were killed and another seriously wounded. The Freeman’s Journal claimed that the Black & Tans had killed both policemen in Tullow. British Authorities were later to court martial the owners and editors of the paper on this accusation.
RIC driver, Constable Edward Krumm (25), is killed in Galway Railway Station, Galway City - he is thought to have killed one of his attackers. A Military Inquiry is held instead of an inquest for the first time under ROIA as jury members had not been turning up for inquests.
A Cabinet ministers meeting was held in Downing Street at which General Macready disapproved of the arming of an irregular force in Ulster as it would precipitate a civil war and proposed that 8 battalions be raised in Britain for use in Ireland. However it was agreed that the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Sir Hamar Greenwood organise a special constabulary. Also appointed was a Permanent Under-Secretary in Belfast (Sir Ernst Clarke).
Attempted ambush on British Army cycle patrol by men from the Cork No. 3 brigade IRA (led by Liam Deasy) at Manch on the Dunmanway-Ballineen road fails due to incorrect information and one IRA man is captured.
Galway: Sean Mulvoy was killed in a fight with a Black and Tan at Galway railway station. In the reprisals that followed, Seamus Quirke, a Lieutenant in the Fianna Eireann was summarily executed by a police firing squad.
Italy: Gabriele D'Annunzio proclaims the Italian Regency of Carnaro, in the city of Fiume.
A four man RIC patrol was ambused near Tullow, Co. Carlow. Constables Timothy Delaney (30) and John Gaughan (34) were killed and another seriously wounded. The Freeman’s Journal claimed that the Black & Tans had killed both policemen in Tullow. British Authorities were later to court martial the owners and editors of the paper on this accusation.
RIC driver, Constable Edward Krumm (25), is killed in Galway Railway Station, Galway City - he is thought to have killed one of his attackers. A Military Inquiry is held instead of an inquest for the first time under ROIA as jury members had not been turning up for inquests.
A Cabinet ministers meeting was held in Downing Street at which General Macready disapproved of the arming of an irregular force in Ulster as it would precipitate a civil war and proposed that 8 battalions be raised in Britain for use in Ireland. However it was agreed that the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Sir Hamar Greenwood organise a special constabulary. Also appointed was a Permanent Under-Secretary in Belfast (Sir Ernst Clarke).
Attempted ambush on British Army cycle patrol by men from the Cork No. 3 brigade IRA (led by Liam Deasy) at Manch on the Dunmanway-Ballineen road fails due to incorrect information and one IRA man is captured.
Galway: Sean Mulvoy was killed in a fight with a Black and Tan at Galway railway station. In the reprisals that followed, Seamus Quirke, a Lieutenant in the Fianna Eireann was summarily executed by a police firing squad.
Italy: Gabriele D'Annunzio proclaims the Italian Regency of Carnaro, in the city of Fiume.
9
The Irish Independent commenting on the fledgling Irish consular service: ‘During the past 12 months the Continent has been enlightened on Ireland as it never was before. Formerly the people of Europe heard nothing about our country except the perverted views sent them through English sources. Through the activities of Mr Gavan Duffy in Paris and Mr Sean T. O'Kelly in Rome, the exact facts have been given to Continental readers’
Arthur Mitchell. “Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922.” Gill & Mcmillan 1995. P185
Italian earthquakes kill 500 and leave 20,000 homeless.
Count John McCormack cancelled what would have been a lucrative Australian tour because an audience in Adelaide insisted on singing the British national anthem at the close of one of his concerts.
The Irish Independent commenting on the fledgling Irish consular service: ‘During the past 12 months the Continent has been enlightened on Ireland as it never was before. Formerly the people of Europe heard nothing about our country except the perverted views sent them through English sources. Through the activities of Mr Gavan Duffy in Paris and Mr Sean T. O'Kelly in Rome, the exact facts have been given to Continental readers’
Arthur Mitchell. “Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922.” Gill & Mcmillan 1995. P185
Italian earthquakes kill 500 and leave 20,000 homeless.
Count John McCormack cancelled what would have been a lucrative Australian tour because an audience in Adelaide insisted on singing the British national anthem at the close of one of his concerts.
10
The Irish Bulletin issues captured British documents written on the 15th January 1920 and the 8th April 1920 which were written on Dáil notepaper. This calls into question the statement from the Chief Commissioner of the DMP (issued on the 27th May) that no Dáil notepaper had been seized by detectives in their raid on Dáil HQ the previous November. More significantly, the Bulletin also published a report from Capt F. Harper-Shove of the British General staff and in charge of Intelligence in the Dublin district and claimed that an expert was prepared to swear that the typewriter on which this report was typed was the same typewriter on which the death notices were typed which were sent to Dáil member the previous May. Finally, the Bulletin published a letter from F. Harper-Stove from St. Andrew’s Hotel, Exchequer St., Dublin to “Dear Hardy” saying that “Have been given a free hand to carry on, and everyone has been charming. Re our little stunt, I see no prospects until I have things on a firmer basis, but still hope and believe there are possibilities”. The Bulletin claims that the little stunt is the assassination of leaders of Sinn Féin.
Laurence Housman, an English author and artist, wrote the following summary of the English Government in Ireland:
“The Government is now embarked upon a course to which odium necessarily attaches, whatever means it employs to avoid admitting that its chosen course is the wrong one. The inability of a Government to say, ‘I am a blunderer and a sinner’, frequently produces the situation in which our own now finds itself—that, while keeping to its course, it cannot do right; that, of it is to remain consistent, it must continue to do wrong.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.12 Sep 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The French journal, “L’Opinion” recently published: “With what perseverance the Westminster reactionaries pursue their anti-Irish propaganda! Formerly, when America and England were not friends, they denounced an Irish-American plot; during the war, they denounced a German-Irish plot; today they announce a Russo-Irish plot, and, without ever proving anything, assure us that an empire of 400,000,000 is in danger of being destroyed by less than 4,000,000 Sinn Feiners, and that Ireland wishes to ruin modern civilization, of which she herself was one of the most eminent creators, and has remained one of the most ardent missionaries.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.12 Sep 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Delhi, India: The Indian National Congress adopted Mathatma Ghandi’s programme of non-coperation with the British Government, through boycott of British goods, legislative councils, withdrawal of children from Government schools and lawyers from general practice.
The Irish Bulletin issues captured British documents written on the 15th January 1920 and the 8th April 1920 which were written on Dáil notepaper. This calls into question the statement from the Chief Commissioner of the DMP (issued on the 27th May) that no Dáil notepaper had been seized by detectives in their raid on Dáil HQ the previous November. More significantly, the Bulletin also published a report from Capt F. Harper-Shove of the British General staff and in charge of Intelligence in the Dublin district and claimed that an expert was prepared to swear that the typewriter on which this report was typed was the same typewriter on which the death notices were typed which were sent to Dáil member the previous May. Finally, the Bulletin published a letter from F. Harper-Stove from St. Andrew’s Hotel, Exchequer St., Dublin to “Dear Hardy” saying that “Have been given a free hand to carry on, and everyone has been charming. Re our little stunt, I see no prospects until I have things on a firmer basis, but still hope and believe there are possibilities”. The Bulletin claims that the little stunt is the assassination of leaders of Sinn Féin.
Laurence Housman, an English author and artist, wrote the following summary of the English Government in Ireland:
“The Government is now embarked upon a course to which odium necessarily attaches, whatever means it employs to avoid admitting that its chosen course is the wrong one. The inability of a Government to say, ‘I am a blunderer and a sinner’, frequently produces the situation in which our own now finds itself—that, while keeping to its course, it cannot do right; that, of it is to remain consistent, it must continue to do wrong.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.12 Sep 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The French journal, “L’Opinion” recently published: “With what perseverance the Westminster reactionaries pursue their anti-Irish propaganda! Formerly, when America and England were not friends, they denounced an Irish-American plot; during the war, they denounced a German-Irish plot; today they announce a Russo-Irish plot, and, without ever proving anything, assure us that an empire of 400,000,000 is in danger of being destroyed by less than 4,000,000 Sinn Feiners, and that Ireland wishes to ruin modern civilization, of which she herself was one of the most eminent creators, and has remained one of the most ardent missionaries.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.12 Sep 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Delhi, India: The Indian National Congress adopted Mathatma Ghandi’s programme of non-coperation with the British Government, through boycott of British goods, legislative councils, withdrawal of children from Government schools and lawyers from general practice.
an occasional historical aside
The first Hollywood Scandal - Olive Thomas. On September 10, 1920, 25 year old Irish-American stage & movie actress Olive Thomas died in Paris five days after ingesting her husband's syphillis medication. Although her death was ruled as accidental, news of her hospitalisation and subsequent death were the subject of intense speculation in the press and quickly became the first heavily publicised Hollywood scandal. |
Olive Duffy was born in 1894 to an impoverished Irish-American steel working family in Pennsylvania, married at 16, separated at 19 and working as an artists model in New York aged 20.
Snatched from obscurity thanks to her looks, Olive moved on to the Ziegfeld Follies the following year and changed her name. During her time as a Ziegfeld girl, she also appeared in the more risqué show The Midnight Frolic. This was primarily a show for famous male patrons who had plenty of money to bestow on the young and beautiful female performers. Thomas received expensive gifts from her admirers; it was rumored that German Ambassador von Bernstorff had given her a $10,000 string of pearls. Thomas continued modeling while appearing in the Follies. She became the first "Vargas Girl" after she posed for a portrait 'Memories of Olive' painted by Peruvian artist Alberto Vargas. In 1916, she began a successful career in silent films and would appear in more than 20 features over the course of her four-year film career. That year she also married actor Jack Pickford, the younger brother of fellow silent-film star Mary Pickford. Screenwriter Frances Marion remarked, "I had seen her often at the Pickford home, for she was engaged to Mary's brother, Jack. Two innocent-looking children, they were the gayest, wildest brats who ever stirred the stardust on Broadway. Both were talented, but they were much more interested in playing the roulette of life than in concentrating on their careers." Together they developed a reputation for partying, hard drinking, drug use, wrecking expensive cars and fighting. |
In August 1920, the pair headed for Paris, hoping to combine a holiday with some film preparations.
On the night of September 5, 1920, they went out for a night of entertainment and partying before returning to the Ritz around 3 a.m. An intoxicated and tired Thomas ingested mercury bichloride liquid solution (prescribed to Pickford to topically treat sores caused by his chronic syphilis). Thomas had either thought the flask contained drinking water or sleeping pills; accounts vary. Realising what had happened, Thomas was taken to the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine, where she died five days later.
While Thomas lay dying, the press began reporting in some lurid detail, the various rumors that began to arise about the circumstances of the incident. Some papers reported that Thomas had attempted suicide after having a fight with Pickford over his alleged infidelities, while others said she attempted suicide after discovering Pickford had given her syphilis. There were rumors that Thomas was plagued by a drug addiction, that she and Pickford had been involved in "champagne and cocaine orgies," or that Pickford tricked her into drinking poison in an attempt to murder her to collect her insurance money. Owen Moore, who accompanied Pickford and Thomas in Paris, denied the rumors, saying that Thomas was not suicidal and that she and Pickford had not fought that evening. Jack Pickford also denied the rumors, stating, "Olive and I were the greatest pals on Earth. Her death is a ghastly mistake."
After Thomas' death, the police initiated an investigation and an autopsy was performed. Thomas' death was attributed to acute nephritis caused by mercury bichloride absorption. On September 13, 1920, her death was ruled accidental by the Paris physician who conducted her autopsy. Jack Pickford brought Thomas' body back to the United States. Several accounts state that Pickford tried to commit suicide en route but was talked out of it.
On September 29, 1920, an Episcopal funeral service for Thomas was held at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in New York City. According to The New York Times, police escorts were needed at the event, for the entire church was crowded with “hundreds” of fellow actors, other invited attendees, as well as a horde of curious onlookers. Several women are reported to have fainted during the ceremony.
The press coverage of Olive Thomas' death was one of the first examples of the media sensationalism related to a major Hollywood star. Her death has been cited as one of the first major Hollywood scandals.
Other scandals in the early 20's were to follow including the Fatty Arbuckle trial in 1921, the murder of William Desmond Taylor in 1922, and the drug-related death of Wallace Reid. These combined to cause many religious and morality groups to label Hollywood as "immoral". The resulting public outcry prompted Hollywood studios to begin writing contracts with "morality clauses" or "moral turpitude clauses," allowing the dismissal of contractees who breached them.
Over the years, Thomas was gradually forgotten but her ghost is reputed to roam her once longtime home, New York's Amsterdam Theatre.
On the night of September 5, 1920, they went out for a night of entertainment and partying before returning to the Ritz around 3 a.m. An intoxicated and tired Thomas ingested mercury bichloride liquid solution (prescribed to Pickford to topically treat sores caused by his chronic syphilis). Thomas had either thought the flask contained drinking water or sleeping pills; accounts vary. Realising what had happened, Thomas was taken to the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine, where she died five days later.
While Thomas lay dying, the press began reporting in some lurid detail, the various rumors that began to arise about the circumstances of the incident. Some papers reported that Thomas had attempted suicide after having a fight with Pickford over his alleged infidelities, while others said she attempted suicide after discovering Pickford had given her syphilis. There were rumors that Thomas was plagued by a drug addiction, that she and Pickford had been involved in "champagne and cocaine orgies," or that Pickford tricked her into drinking poison in an attempt to murder her to collect her insurance money. Owen Moore, who accompanied Pickford and Thomas in Paris, denied the rumors, saying that Thomas was not suicidal and that she and Pickford had not fought that evening. Jack Pickford also denied the rumors, stating, "Olive and I were the greatest pals on Earth. Her death is a ghastly mistake."
After Thomas' death, the police initiated an investigation and an autopsy was performed. Thomas' death was attributed to acute nephritis caused by mercury bichloride absorption. On September 13, 1920, her death was ruled accidental by the Paris physician who conducted her autopsy. Jack Pickford brought Thomas' body back to the United States. Several accounts state that Pickford tried to commit suicide en route but was talked out of it.
On September 29, 1920, an Episcopal funeral service for Thomas was held at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in New York City. According to The New York Times, police escorts were needed at the event, for the entire church was crowded with “hundreds” of fellow actors, other invited attendees, as well as a horde of curious onlookers. Several women are reported to have fainted during the ceremony.
The press coverage of Olive Thomas' death was one of the first examples of the media sensationalism related to a major Hollywood star. Her death has been cited as one of the first major Hollywood scandals.
Other scandals in the early 20's were to follow including the Fatty Arbuckle trial in 1921, the murder of William Desmond Taylor in 1922, and the drug-related death of Wallace Reid. These combined to cause many religious and morality groups to label Hollywood as "immoral". The resulting public outcry prompted Hollywood studios to begin writing contracts with "morality clauses" or "moral turpitude clauses," allowing the dismissal of contractees who breached them.
Over the years, Thomas was gradually forgotten but her ghost is reputed to roam her once longtime home, New York's Amsterdam Theatre.
11
The Dail Loan campaign ended with a final total of £380,000.
A World motorcycle speed record of 100mph set at Brooklands motor circuit in Britain.
New York: Shortly after the close of the first UNIA convention, Liberty Hall was the scene of a meeting attended by about fourteen Irish sympathisers. Speeches were delivered by Dudley Field Malone and other leaders of the boycott of English ships, which had been called by Irish longshoremen in order to try to force the British government's release of Terence MacSwiney, the lord mayor of Cork.
MacSwiney's hunger strike, according to Robert Kee, "uniquely concentrated attention from all over the world on the spirit and determination of Irish militants" (The Green Flag, p. 696). Indeed, at the closing session of the first UNIA convention, Garvey announced that he had dispatched a telegram "to Father Dominick, confessor of the Lord Mayor of Cork, and it read 'Convey to MacSwiney sympathy of 400,000,000 Negroes'" (NW. Saturday 11 September 1920 ).
Robert A Hill. “The Marcus Garvey and UNIA Papers Project “ UCLA ( Via Internet Site June 1997 )
Following the UNIA convention, the Fereral Bureau of Investigation reported that Garvey sent Rev. J. W. Selkridge "down to the docks to urge all the Negro longshoremen not to load British ships, which pleased the Irish strikers, who learned that Garvey had sent him down to aid them" (DNA, RG 65, file OG 329359).
Robert A Hill. “The Marcus Garvey and UNIA Papers Project “ UCLA ( Via Internet Site June 1997 )
The French Newspaper ‘La Nationaliste’ of Montreal, Canada, began to print the Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter in full each week titled ‘The other side of the coin – to the English readers – news and information the press and the news agencies at large hide from their patrons’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The American correspondent of the London Daily News, P.W. Wison (formerly a member of the British Parliament) continued to publish what termed “dispassionate” papers on the Irish question. The Newsletter calls him on his journalism style:
"He relies on the power of insinuation to discredit the Irish cause, at the moment when he announces himself as most rational. In the midst of a paragraph in which he pretends to address Sinn Fein, with sympathetic understanding, one finds this sentence printed in bold-face type. “Are you now fighting on differences that are worth the cost?” To this he virtuously adds: “All I do is to put the question.” The concluding paragraph of the same article, which appeared recently in the New York World, contains an effort to absolve British intrigue of its just responsibility in the Ulster riots, by accusing Irishmen of religious bigotry."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.12 Sep 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Sir Algernon Coote, His Majesty’s Lieutenant of Queen’s County since 1900, resigned his position. He explained his reasons in a press statement: ‘My experience is that his Majesty’s Lieutenants are not now consulted in any way in reference to the maintenance of law and order in the country. I entirely mistrust the present Government and disapprove of many of it's recent actions in Ireland and in connection with Irish affairs.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 13 September 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Washington City Club had as guest speaker, Osmond Grattan Esmonde, great grandson of Henry Grattan and a war veteran who had served in Serbia. He raised the alleged reasons why the British Government had refused independence to Ireland:
‘1st that Irishmen cannot agree between themselves. 2nd, that Ireland is carrying on a class war, and 3rd, on account of religious differences. The first was refuted by the results of the last three general elections in Ireland, which voiced the will of the people for a republic. The class war and the religious differences, Mr Esmonde said, were caused solely by British influence and propaganda. He cited an instance of a person being sent from England to burn a Protestant church in Belfast to stir up hatred against the Catholics. ..he also stated that in a district of 700 Protestant farmers, all but 11 voted for the republic. Mr Esmonde claimed that the Irish Government is the most stable in Europe today, that order is maintained except where the British army of occupation prevents it, and that recognition from the United States and other neutral countries of the world must come eventually.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 13 September 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Sir Hamar Greenwood’s recent statement in Lucerne, Switzerland, that if Sinn Feiners had been content to accept anything short of complete independence, Lloyd George’s proposal would have been considered and that the Premier is still ready to meet them was questioned by Arthur Griffith, Acting President of the Irish Republic. Griffith in an interview said ‘There is here an obvious effort to mislead foreign opinion and to excuse the horror that is being deliberately enacted in Brixton Prison. The suggestion that the British Government proffered the Sinn Fein leaders everything except absolute independence, and received no answers to their proposals. It is quite untrue that any proposals have been received by the selected representatives of the people of Ireland by the British Government. As I said three weeks ago, when Dail Eireann receives any such proposals, Dail Eireann will deal with them.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 13 September 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
John Toner (50), a Catholic carter, is shot by a military patrol close to his home in Cable St., Belfast. The army say that he was in breach of curfew regulations and that he failed to stop when requested. Mr Toner died in hospital the following day.
Below: Letter from John Devoy to Judge Cohalan:
The Dail Loan campaign ended with a final total of £380,000.
A World motorcycle speed record of 100mph set at Brooklands motor circuit in Britain.
New York: Shortly after the close of the first UNIA convention, Liberty Hall was the scene of a meeting attended by about fourteen Irish sympathisers. Speeches were delivered by Dudley Field Malone and other leaders of the boycott of English ships, which had been called by Irish longshoremen in order to try to force the British government's release of Terence MacSwiney, the lord mayor of Cork.
MacSwiney's hunger strike, according to Robert Kee, "uniquely concentrated attention from all over the world on the spirit and determination of Irish militants" (The Green Flag, p. 696). Indeed, at the closing session of the first UNIA convention, Garvey announced that he had dispatched a telegram "to Father Dominick, confessor of the Lord Mayor of Cork, and it read 'Convey to MacSwiney sympathy of 400,000,000 Negroes'" (NW. Saturday 11 September 1920 ).
Robert A Hill. “The Marcus Garvey and UNIA Papers Project “ UCLA ( Via Internet Site June 1997 )
Following the UNIA convention, the Fereral Bureau of Investigation reported that Garvey sent Rev. J. W. Selkridge "down to the docks to urge all the Negro longshoremen not to load British ships, which pleased the Irish strikers, who learned that Garvey had sent him down to aid them" (DNA, RG 65, file OG 329359).
Robert A Hill. “The Marcus Garvey and UNIA Papers Project “ UCLA ( Via Internet Site June 1997 )
The French Newspaper ‘La Nationaliste’ of Montreal, Canada, began to print the Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter in full each week titled ‘The other side of the coin – to the English readers – news and information the press and the news agencies at large hide from their patrons’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The American correspondent of the London Daily News, P.W. Wison (formerly a member of the British Parliament) continued to publish what termed “dispassionate” papers on the Irish question. The Newsletter calls him on his journalism style:
"He relies on the power of insinuation to discredit the Irish cause, at the moment when he announces himself as most rational. In the midst of a paragraph in which he pretends to address Sinn Fein, with sympathetic understanding, one finds this sentence printed in bold-face type. “Are you now fighting on differences that are worth the cost?” To this he virtuously adds: “All I do is to put the question.” The concluding paragraph of the same article, which appeared recently in the New York World, contains an effort to absolve British intrigue of its just responsibility in the Ulster riots, by accusing Irishmen of religious bigotry."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.12 Sep 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Sir Algernon Coote, His Majesty’s Lieutenant of Queen’s County since 1900, resigned his position. He explained his reasons in a press statement: ‘My experience is that his Majesty’s Lieutenants are not now consulted in any way in reference to the maintenance of law and order in the country. I entirely mistrust the present Government and disapprove of many of it's recent actions in Ireland and in connection with Irish affairs.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 13 September 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Washington City Club had as guest speaker, Osmond Grattan Esmonde, great grandson of Henry Grattan and a war veteran who had served in Serbia. He raised the alleged reasons why the British Government had refused independence to Ireland:
‘1st that Irishmen cannot agree between themselves. 2nd, that Ireland is carrying on a class war, and 3rd, on account of religious differences. The first was refuted by the results of the last three general elections in Ireland, which voiced the will of the people for a republic. The class war and the religious differences, Mr Esmonde said, were caused solely by British influence and propaganda. He cited an instance of a person being sent from England to burn a Protestant church in Belfast to stir up hatred against the Catholics. ..he also stated that in a district of 700 Protestant farmers, all but 11 voted for the republic. Mr Esmonde claimed that the Irish Government is the most stable in Europe today, that order is maintained except where the British army of occupation prevents it, and that recognition from the United States and other neutral countries of the world must come eventually.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 13 September 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Sir Hamar Greenwood’s recent statement in Lucerne, Switzerland, that if Sinn Feiners had been content to accept anything short of complete independence, Lloyd George’s proposal would have been considered and that the Premier is still ready to meet them was questioned by Arthur Griffith, Acting President of the Irish Republic. Griffith in an interview said ‘There is here an obvious effort to mislead foreign opinion and to excuse the horror that is being deliberately enacted in Brixton Prison. The suggestion that the British Government proffered the Sinn Fein leaders everything except absolute independence, and received no answers to their proposals. It is quite untrue that any proposals have been received by the selected representatives of the people of Ireland by the British Government. As I said three weeks ago, when Dail Eireann receives any such proposals, Dail Eireann will deal with them.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 13 September 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
John Toner (50), a Catholic carter, is shot by a military patrol close to his home in Cable St., Belfast. The army say that he was in breach of curfew regulations and that he failed to stop when requested. Mr Toner died in hospital the following day.
Below: Letter from John Devoy to Judge Cohalan:
Transcript of letter Devoy to Cohalan, 11 September 1920.
12
The London Observer newspaper editorial commented on ‘the immense weakening of Britain’s moral position throughout the world’ due to continuing events in Ireland.
A Brigade Council of the 3rd South Tipperary Brigade was taking place at Blackcastle (each battalion was represented three officers as well as all the brigade officers) when the building was raided a party of mounted Lancers. Three IRA men were captured. The dispersion of the Brigade Council became known as the "Blackcastle Races".
The London Observer newspaper editorial commented on ‘the immense weakening of Britain’s moral position throughout the world’ due to continuing events in Ireland.
A Brigade Council of the 3rd South Tipperary Brigade was taking place at Blackcastle (each battalion was represented three officers as well as all the brigade officers) when the building was raided a party of mounted Lancers. Three IRA men were captured. The dispersion of the Brigade Council became known as the "Blackcastle Races".
13
Two news reports, separated by only two days, indicated just how Ulster was governed in 1920. On September 13th, the London Morning Post carried a report from Belfast ‘Up to the present, no official information has reached Belfast as to the decision of the Cabinet on the question of creating and arming a force of special constables in Ulster. The fact however that there has just landed at the port of Belfast from a Government vessel, a very large number of service rifles and revolvers of the latest pattern is accepted, in well informed circles, as a sign that the Cabinet have agreed to establish and arm the force.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
John Lawrence Hammond, an English journalist and writer on economic subjects, who had served in the war as a Lieutenant of the Lowland Division, R. F. A., has this to say in regard to the new Crimes Act: “Under this Act and these regulations, no Irishman who is not under the protection of Sir Edward Carson is safe from indefinite imprisonment or from the danger of a Secret trial by a court-martial. I went into the Army, like most Englishmen, when we were engaged in that war for liberty which our Government has turned into one of the grimmest jokes ever played by the devil on mankind. What I saw of courts-martial would convince any reasonable person that soldiers can do almost anything in the world except administer justice.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.12 Sep 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Two news reports, separated by only two days, indicated just how Ulster was governed in 1920. On September 13th, the London Morning Post carried a report from Belfast ‘Up to the present, no official information has reached Belfast as to the decision of the Cabinet on the question of creating and arming a force of special constables in Ulster. The fact however that there has just landed at the port of Belfast from a Government vessel, a very large number of service rifles and revolvers of the latest pattern is accepted, in well informed circles, as a sign that the Cabinet have agreed to establish and arm the force.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
John Lawrence Hammond, an English journalist and writer on economic subjects, who had served in the war as a Lieutenant of the Lowland Division, R. F. A., has this to say in regard to the new Crimes Act: “Under this Act and these regulations, no Irishman who is not under the protection of Sir Edward Carson is safe from indefinite imprisonment or from the danger of a Secret trial by a court-martial. I went into the Army, like most Englishmen, when we were engaged in that war for liberty which our Government has turned into one of the grimmest jokes ever played by the devil on mankind. What I saw of courts-martial would convince any reasonable person that soldiers can do almost anything in the world except administer justice.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.12 Sep 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
14
Three IRA men are killed in South Roscommon by the 9th Lancers. They are Michael Glavey (Ballinlough), Patrick Glynn (Aughaderry, Loughglynn) and Michael Keane.
The London Times reproduces most of the Irish Bulletin of the 10th but says that it failed to prove an actual plot of assassination of public representatives.
A meeting of Dublin Corporation sets up a committee to put the Belfast Boycott into immediate effect.
Three IRA men are killed in South Roscommon by the 9th Lancers. They are Michael Glavey (Ballinlough), Patrick Glynn (Aughaderry, Loughglynn) and Michael Keane.
The London Times reproduces most of the Irish Bulletin of the 10th but says that it failed to prove an actual plot of assassination of public representatives.
A meeting of Dublin Corporation sets up a committee to put the Belfast Boycott into immediate effect.
Transcript
15
The London Morning Post carried this dispatch from Derry: ‘The systematic disarming of Londonderry continued today, when large military forces isolated the Sinn Fein area, which has invariably been the storm centre during the rioting. An exhaustive house to house search for firearms was made, with what result is not known.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Constable Terence P. Wheatley (25) was shot and killed in Market Square, Dundalk. He had received a written warning dated 2nd September to leave Ireland or be shot.
In a interview given to a French newspaper, Macready says that “We have most of their names, and the day may come when we shall be able to make a definite clearance of them”
Sir Ernest Clarke, a leading civil servant, appointed as an additional Under-Secretary in Belfast in anticipation of the changes that the setting up of a Northern Ireland parliament would bring. His job was to provide a framework for the forthcoming administration. Greenwood pushes him to work on the restoration of expelled workers but this fails mainly due the insistence of the UULA and Loyalist Vigilante Committee insisting that returning workers should sign a declaration of loyalty to the Crown and renounce support for Sinn Féin.
In the United States, on the initiative of Dr W. J. Maloney (and with the help of Frank P. Walsh) a committee of prominent people was set up to investigate conditions in Ireland. (It included 11 Senators, 13 Congressmen, 5 Governors, prominent clergy from a number of denominations, college presidents, etc.) It decided to hold hearings in Washington by five of its members.
The London Morning Post carried this dispatch from Derry: ‘The systematic disarming of Londonderry continued today, when large military forces isolated the Sinn Fein area, which has invariably been the storm centre during the rioting. An exhaustive house to house search for firearms was made, with what result is not known.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Constable Terence P. Wheatley (25) was shot and killed in Market Square, Dundalk. He had received a written warning dated 2nd September to leave Ireland or be shot.
In a interview given to a French newspaper, Macready says that “We have most of their names, and the day may come when we shall be able to make a definite clearance of them”
Sir Ernest Clarke, a leading civil servant, appointed as an additional Under-Secretary in Belfast in anticipation of the changes that the setting up of a Northern Ireland parliament would bring. His job was to provide a framework for the forthcoming administration. Greenwood pushes him to work on the restoration of expelled workers but this fails mainly due the insistence of the UULA and Loyalist Vigilante Committee insisting that returning workers should sign a declaration of loyalty to the Crown and renounce support for Sinn Féin.
In the United States, on the initiative of Dr W. J. Maloney (and with the help of Frank P. Walsh) a committee of prominent people was set up to investigate conditions in Ireland. (It included 11 Senators, 13 Congressmen, 5 Governors, prominent clergy from a number of denominations, college presidents, etc.) It decided to hold hearings in Washington by five of its members.
16
The Dail Eireann Department of Trade and Commerce under Ernest Blyth, proposed a bill to encourage Irish manufacturing by requiring Irish retailers to stock approved Irish goods (with fines for failure to comply). Others proposed that a 'Buy Irish’ campaign be started as ‘the Irish people are asleep as regards their duty to support Irish manufacture’. However, the poposed Bill was handed over to a special committee and was heard of no more.
The journalist Hugh Martin in his dispatches to the London Daily news, commented on the responsibility of the British Troops for the continuing disorders in Ulster:
‘The part that is played in this disgraceful business by the British Army is an equivocal one. Every squad of Orange rioters fights… under the Union Jack. The troops shrink from firing upon this flag. They show, indeed, wherever they go, an extraordinary tenderness for the feelings of Orangemen, whom they regard as loyal, though possibly mistaken, friends; while Catholics are simply ‘Sinn feiners’ and therefore enemies.’
The Daily News commented editorially ‘It would be quite unfair to blame them ( the British troops ). The Government has taught them that their business is to fight Sinn Fein and that in the struggle they may legitimately override practically all restrictions and law. If the Orange mob will do the fighting for them, why, then, should they interfere. Why should not Sir Edward Carson’s ‘Loyalists’ be left to hound women and children out of their homes, to loot Catholic shops and burn Catholic houses under the cover of the Union Jack? The answer. Of course, is that the only result of such proceedings is to convince the Southern Irish finally that the Union Jack is the emblem of tyranny. It is not an answer which can be made by a Government which has deliberately abandoned the pretence of impartiality between the warring Irish parties. Yet the assumption of impartiality is the one sound reason for the continuance of British rule in Ireland against the will of Irishmen.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 12 September 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Paris: ‘Le Matin’ considered one of the more powerful French dailies, commented editorially on Britain’s policies towards Irish political prisoners ‘They are allowing the struggle between England and Ireland to transform itself into a moral conflict between England and civilisation.’ None other than Sir Edward Carson was holidaying in Vichy at the time and responded, quickly terming it as ‘one sided and unfair’ and asking that it’s readers ‘compare the action of the loyal people of Ulster in supporting recruiting and conscription when the Sinn Fein organisation in the South and West was in close conspiracy with Germany for the overthrow of your country, as well as mine?’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 13 September 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Dail Eireann Department of Trade and Commerce under Ernest Blyth, proposed a bill to encourage Irish manufacturing by requiring Irish retailers to stock approved Irish goods (with fines for failure to comply). Others proposed that a 'Buy Irish’ campaign be started as ‘the Irish people are asleep as regards their duty to support Irish manufacture’. However, the poposed Bill was handed over to a special committee and was heard of no more.
The journalist Hugh Martin in his dispatches to the London Daily news, commented on the responsibility of the British Troops for the continuing disorders in Ulster:
‘The part that is played in this disgraceful business by the British Army is an equivocal one. Every squad of Orange rioters fights… under the Union Jack. The troops shrink from firing upon this flag. They show, indeed, wherever they go, an extraordinary tenderness for the feelings of Orangemen, whom they regard as loyal, though possibly mistaken, friends; while Catholics are simply ‘Sinn feiners’ and therefore enemies.’
The Daily News commented editorially ‘It would be quite unfair to blame them ( the British troops ). The Government has taught them that their business is to fight Sinn Fein and that in the struggle they may legitimately override practically all restrictions and law. If the Orange mob will do the fighting for them, why, then, should they interfere. Why should not Sir Edward Carson’s ‘Loyalists’ be left to hound women and children out of their homes, to loot Catholic shops and burn Catholic houses under the cover of the Union Jack? The answer. Of course, is that the only result of such proceedings is to convince the Southern Irish finally that the Union Jack is the emblem of tyranny. It is not an answer which can be made by a Government which has deliberately abandoned the pretence of impartiality between the warring Irish parties. Yet the assumption of impartiality is the one sound reason for the continuance of British rule in Ireland against the will of Irishmen.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 12 September 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Paris: ‘Le Matin’ considered one of the more powerful French dailies, commented editorially on Britain’s policies towards Irish political prisoners ‘They are allowing the struggle between England and Ireland to transform itself into a moral conflict between England and civilisation.’ None other than Sir Edward Carson was holidaying in Vichy at the time and responded, quickly terming it as ‘one sided and unfair’ and asking that it’s readers ‘compare the action of the loyal people of Ulster in supporting recruiting and conscription when the Sinn Fein organisation in the South and West was in close conspiracy with Germany for the overthrow of your country, as well as mine?’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 13 September 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
New York: At noon, a horse-drawn wagon passed by lunchtime crowds on Wall Street and stopped across the street from the headquarters of the J.P. Morgan bank at 23 Wall Street, on the Financial District's busiest corner. Inside the wagon, 45 kg of dynamite with 230 kg of heavy, cast-iron sash weights exploded in a timer-set detonation, sending the weights tearing through the air. The horse and wagon were blasted into small fragments. 30 were killed outright - 8 more dying from injuries within hours. The casualties were mostly young people who worked as messengers, stenographers, clerks, and brokers and hundreds injured. The bomb caused more than $2 million in property damage ($25 million today) and destroyed most of the interior spaces of the Morgan building.
Within one minute of the explosion, William H. Remick, president of the New York Stock Exchange, suspended trading in order to prevent a panic. Outside, rescuers worked feverishly to transport the wounded to the hospital. James Saul, a 17-year-old messenger, commandeered a parked car and transported 30 injured people to an area hospital. Police officers rushed to the scene, performed first aid, and appropriated all nearby automobiles as emergency transport vehicles.
The bombing was never solved, although investigators and historians believe the Wall Street bombing was carried out by Galleanists (Italian anarchists), a group responsible for a series of bombings the previous year. The attack was related to postwar social unrest, labour struggles, and anti-capitalist agitation in the United States.
Within one minute of the explosion, William H. Remick, president of the New York Stock Exchange, suspended trading in order to prevent a panic. Outside, rescuers worked feverishly to transport the wounded to the hospital. James Saul, a 17-year-old messenger, commandeered a parked car and transported 30 injured people to an area hospital. Police officers rushed to the scene, performed first aid, and appropriated all nearby automobiles as emergency transport vehicles.
The bombing was never solved, although investigators and historians believe the Wall Street bombing was carried out by Galleanists (Italian anarchists), a group responsible for a series of bombings the previous year. The attack was related to postwar social unrest, labour struggles, and anti-capitalist agitation in the United States.
17
The 9th Session of Dail Eireann met secretly in an unknown location but believed to be the private residence of Denis Lynch, manager of the Dublin Whiskey Distillery (brother of Diarmuid Lynch). 47 TD’s present.
There Count Plunkett told the Dail that the Soviet Government was ‘manifesting the most friendly feeling towards Ireland and were anxious to come to an understanding with the Republic and Irish Labour’
Griffith also ‘asked for a secret meeting with Sir John Anderson to discuss the possibilities of a truce’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P191 & 218
The Dáil also issues a decree prohibiting the imposition of religious tests as a condition of employment.
In Galway, a plainclothes Black and Tan was killed at the railway station and that night, the Black and Tans raided the city.
The Newsletter reported the events some weeks later. The man, in plainclothes, new to the area, had gone to the railway station to meet the midnight train from Dublin and buy an evening paper. ‘Some people say that a rush was made for the papers in the station, as the St.Leger had been run that afternoon, and the Black and Tan, being an Englishman and a stranger to the city, with his head full of tales of Sinn Fein assassins, believed that an attack was designed on him, drew a revolver and fired. He shot one man and was about to shoot another, when a Volunteer policeman drew a revolver and shot him. A British official, who had stepped off the train, came forward and volunteered the opinion that the policeman was the aggressor. Afterwards it became known that the man was a policeman, he denied having ever made such a statement. At all events, it seems to be the fact that no one knew at the time that the policeman was a policeman, and that there was no attempt to assassinate him, and that he was shot only after beginning to shoot wildly at other people’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 17 October 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
National Council Meeting of the Friends of Irish Freedom
The long awaited National Council meeting of the Friends of Irish Freedom took place in the Waldorf-Astoria, New York.
"Lynch's minutes record 168 present, including twenty three priests and twenty eight women"
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p143
It quickly developed into a fiery meeting.
The Newsletter was most circumspect in it’s record of the gathering, writing that the Friends:
‘adopted a set of resolutions so important that the Newsletter deems it necessary to reproduce it at some length.’ And continued to do so. After pledging to Eamon De Valera, President of the Irish Republic, ‘it's continued and earnest support in his efforts to secure recognition of the Republic of Ireland by our Government, until full recognition is accorded’ a protest was made to Secretary [of State] Colby: ‘We call upon Secretary Colby to make such vigorous protest against the order of the British Admiralty forbidding the entrance of East bound passenger steamers sailing under the American flag to Cork Harbour as will secure it's immediate withdrawal and an apology for this flagrant violation of the freedom of the seas in time of peace. The action of the British Government in this instance is a blow aimed at American business as well as at Irish trade and the pretence that it has for it's purpose the restoration of order in Ireland is a characteristic sample of English hypocrisy and false pretences. The restoration of order in Ireland can be immediately secured by the withdrawal of the British army of occupation, which is the cause of all the disorders that exists in that country. …’
The final resolution was a strongly worded statement that the Friends were ‘unalterably opposed’ to the entry of the United States into the League of Nations. Governor Cox also came under attack for the ‘misleading and wholly unfounded statements’ that if the US joined, it would afford ‘Ireland an opportunity to obtain her liberty’. The Friends reminded all present that the League made no provision and that submitting such a request to a body where British influence was uppermost ‘would result only in giving an international sanction to an adverse decision that would really be English.’
Recognition by the United States of the foundling Republic and not an appeal to the ‘English League of Nations’ would be the only help that Ireland would consider. As to claims that recognition by the US would lead to an Anglo-American war were soundly dismissed. ‘England is facing insolvency and cannot make war on a first class power without American money. ‘
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 13 September 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
With what was little more than the warm-up act out of the way, the main feature began with the proposed De Valera amendments being tabled. These were strongly opposed by the New York Mayor, John Grace and others within the Friends.
De Valera took strong exception to some of the phrases of dissent, accused the organisation of filibustering and protested by walking out of the meeting ‘…. while his supporters rushed after him, seeking to break up the meeting with shouts of ‘follow the President’.
De Valera was followed by Harry Boland 'who prompted uproar with the following statement directed against Cohalan: 'One word from the man who sits back holding the strings while his puppets dance will settle this whole matter differently"
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p143
Several delegations went to de Valera's suite in the hotel and begged him to return to the meeting, but he refused to be placated or return.
Harry Boland next returned to the meeting and after a tirade of abusive remarks directed at the followers of Devoy and Cohalan, stated that De Valera wished ‘all those who wanted to help the Irish Republic to meet him in that room the following day. Only a few members of the National Council agreed to accept his invitation’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.391
"The minutes reported that Judge Goff urged Boland 'not to do something now which might be regretted all the days of his life. He asked Mr. Boland to withdraw the invitation tendered for [the] next day and not to be the first to appear to be a secessionist'
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p144
The 9th Session of Dail Eireann met secretly in an unknown location but believed to be the private residence of Denis Lynch, manager of the Dublin Whiskey Distillery (brother of Diarmuid Lynch). 47 TD’s present.
There Count Plunkett told the Dail that the Soviet Government was ‘manifesting the most friendly feeling towards Ireland and were anxious to come to an understanding with the Republic and Irish Labour’
Griffith also ‘asked for a secret meeting with Sir John Anderson to discuss the possibilities of a truce’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P191 & 218
The Dáil also issues a decree prohibiting the imposition of religious tests as a condition of employment.
In Galway, a plainclothes Black and Tan was killed at the railway station and that night, the Black and Tans raided the city.
The Newsletter reported the events some weeks later. The man, in plainclothes, new to the area, had gone to the railway station to meet the midnight train from Dublin and buy an evening paper. ‘Some people say that a rush was made for the papers in the station, as the St.Leger had been run that afternoon, and the Black and Tan, being an Englishman and a stranger to the city, with his head full of tales of Sinn Fein assassins, believed that an attack was designed on him, drew a revolver and fired. He shot one man and was about to shoot another, when a Volunteer policeman drew a revolver and shot him. A British official, who had stepped off the train, came forward and volunteered the opinion that the policeman was the aggressor. Afterwards it became known that the man was a policeman, he denied having ever made such a statement. At all events, it seems to be the fact that no one knew at the time that the policeman was a policeman, and that there was no attempt to assassinate him, and that he was shot only after beginning to shoot wildly at other people’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 17 October 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
National Council Meeting of the Friends of Irish Freedom
The long awaited National Council meeting of the Friends of Irish Freedom took place in the Waldorf-Astoria, New York.
"Lynch's minutes record 168 present, including twenty three priests and twenty eight women"
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p143
It quickly developed into a fiery meeting.
The Newsletter was most circumspect in it’s record of the gathering, writing that the Friends:
‘adopted a set of resolutions so important that the Newsletter deems it necessary to reproduce it at some length.’ And continued to do so. After pledging to Eamon De Valera, President of the Irish Republic, ‘it's continued and earnest support in his efforts to secure recognition of the Republic of Ireland by our Government, until full recognition is accorded’ a protest was made to Secretary [of State] Colby: ‘We call upon Secretary Colby to make such vigorous protest against the order of the British Admiralty forbidding the entrance of East bound passenger steamers sailing under the American flag to Cork Harbour as will secure it's immediate withdrawal and an apology for this flagrant violation of the freedom of the seas in time of peace. The action of the British Government in this instance is a blow aimed at American business as well as at Irish trade and the pretence that it has for it's purpose the restoration of order in Ireland is a characteristic sample of English hypocrisy and false pretences. The restoration of order in Ireland can be immediately secured by the withdrawal of the British army of occupation, which is the cause of all the disorders that exists in that country. …’
The final resolution was a strongly worded statement that the Friends were ‘unalterably opposed’ to the entry of the United States into the League of Nations. Governor Cox also came under attack for the ‘misleading and wholly unfounded statements’ that if the US joined, it would afford ‘Ireland an opportunity to obtain her liberty’. The Friends reminded all present that the League made no provision and that submitting such a request to a body where British influence was uppermost ‘would result only in giving an international sanction to an adverse decision that would really be English.’
Recognition by the United States of the foundling Republic and not an appeal to the ‘English League of Nations’ would be the only help that Ireland would consider. As to claims that recognition by the US would lead to an Anglo-American war were soundly dismissed. ‘England is facing insolvency and cannot make war on a first class power without American money. ‘
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 13 September 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
With what was little more than the warm-up act out of the way, the main feature began with the proposed De Valera amendments being tabled. These were strongly opposed by the New York Mayor, John Grace and others within the Friends.
De Valera took strong exception to some of the phrases of dissent, accused the organisation of filibustering and protested by walking out of the meeting ‘…. while his supporters rushed after him, seeking to break up the meeting with shouts of ‘follow the President’.
De Valera was followed by Harry Boland 'who prompted uproar with the following statement directed against Cohalan: 'One word from the man who sits back holding the strings while his puppets dance will settle this whole matter differently"
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p143
Several delegations went to de Valera's suite in the hotel and begged him to return to the meeting, but he refused to be placated or return.
Harry Boland next returned to the meeting and after a tirade of abusive remarks directed at the followers of Devoy and Cohalan, stated that De Valera wished ‘all those who wanted to help the Irish Republic to meet him in that room the following day. Only a few members of the National Council agreed to accept his invitation’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.391
"The minutes reported that Judge Goff urged Boland 'not to do something now which might be regretted all the days of his life. He asked Mr. Boland to withdraw the invitation tendered for [the] next day and not to be the first to appear to be a secessionist'
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p144
18
John Devoy was by now in no doubt that De Valera was working towards a split in the ranks of Irish-America and in particular, the Friends of Irish Freedom. In a letter to Judge Cohalan he wrote:
‘the whole play was staged last night for a split. Father Power’s attempt to stampede the meeting with his squad of priests shouting ‘break it up, break it up’ being evidently intended as the signal, but its utter failure knocked out their plans. At an earlier stage in the meeting one of them was heard to say ‘we haven't a gamblers chance here’ and the other said ‘see how perfectly the Machine works..’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.392
Devoy commented that generally, among Irish-American ranks there was deep resentment towards De Valera and Harry Boland for the divisive actions the previous evening. He described the De Valera meeting as ‘an anticlimax. De Valera embraced the opportunity to criticise all his opponents, but he accomplished little. There was however a hint that a new Irish-American society more friendly to De Valera would be organised and this was a herald of things to come’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.392
John Devoy was by now in no doubt that De Valera was working towards a split in the ranks of Irish-America and in particular, the Friends of Irish Freedom. In a letter to Judge Cohalan he wrote:
‘the whole play was staged last night for a split. Father Power’s attempt to stampede the meeting with his squad of priests shouting ‘break it up, break it up’ being evidently intended as the signal, but its utter failure knocked out their plans. At an earlier stage in the meeting one of them was heard to say ‘we haven't a gamblers chance here’ and the other said ‘see how perfectly the Machine works..’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.392
Devoy commented that generally, among Irish-American ranks there was deep resentment towards De Valera and Harry Boland for the divisive actions the previous evening. He described the De Valera meeting as ‘an anticlimax. De Valera embraced the opportunity to criticise all his opponents, but he accomplished little. There was however a hint that a new Irish-American society more friendly to De Valera would be organised and this was a herald of things to come’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.392
The Newsletter’s Vol.11 No.12 appeared that morning - leader was ‘Sabotage of a Nation’, commenting that ‘It has never been more appallingly clear that, in the struggle now going on in Ireland, the forces of systematic destruction are definitely arrayed against the spirit of constructive liberty…during the past few months England has discarded the last shred of pretence and notable examples of her destructive campaign against Irish lives and property may be drawn from her own official admissions. The English prisoner policy which has been given world-wide publicity through the slow murder of the Lord Mayor of Cork, among others, which is now taking place in English Jails, has obviously the ultimate purpose of provoking the Irish people into organised opposition which will serve as excuse for a national Amritsar*. At the same time the English military occupation has progressed far in it’s destruction of industries in Ireland. In the five months since last April nearly twenty creameries and cheese factories have been destroyed by English troops in the Golden Vale of Counties Limerick and Tipperary…’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 12 September 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
This edition of the Newsletter published specific references to the Belfast progroms and that ‘the great majority of Irish Protestants are as incapable of such actions and disaprove of them as severley as the Catholics’ and citing statements by the Church of Ireland Primate, Archbishop D’Arcy and Bishop of Meath, Sir Nugent Everard condeming recent developments.
The Newsletter also had it’s fair share of oddities, as in the invention of a Mr. A.L.Burlin to process peat into paper. ‘Welsh peat makes excellent brown paper. Cheshire peat is nice and fibrous, but I think that the Irish variety is the best.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 12 September 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Sir James Long, knighted in 1910 for his services as Chairman of the Board of Cork Harbour Commissioners resigned his title ‘as a protest against the treatment administered to the Lord Mayor and fellow hunger strikers by His Majesty’s Government.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 12 September 18, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The London Nation newspaper ‘There is no sense in which the English Government can be said to be maintaining order in Ireland’ the most that can be said is that it is engaged in supressing a rival order’
What was surprising to many was the relative inactivity of the British trade union movement to the McSwiney hunger strike.
Mrs McSwiney in a letter stated that Ireland did not want pleading resolutions from English labour, pointing out that they alone had the power to force the Government to release the Lord Mayor and that no lesser gesture would be acceptable. George Lansbury, editor of the London Daily Herald carried the call, urging the Unions to conclusive action: ‘We, of the British labour movement are able, if we have the will, to change the present conditions in Ireland, we can leave the Carsons and Laws and Balfours and Lord Georges to the judgement of history and their God. It is our duty to find a way out of the present difficulty’
A common feeling among many, both in the US and England was that the King was believed to be preparing to intervene at the eleventh hour, to ‘save the English Government from the consequences of it’s blundering attitude toward Ireland.’. Many others felt that it was highly unlikely. Amongst the press, there was almost universal opposition to the Government’s decision not to release McSwiney. One of the few newspapers that made little comment was the London Observer, which was ‘silent for the first three weeks’ on the subject. In an editiorial, J.L.Garvin proposed that the price of releasing McSwiney from prison should be to give ‘Sir Edward Carson and his Ulster followers almost unlimited power’ through complete self-government ‘ in anticipation of the passage of the Home Rule Bill....The Irish question in its effect upon Anglo-Americans,” he wrote, “with the consequent reaction for evil on nearly all other relations—is still the real pivot of the world’s politics.” It is unfortunate, for the point which he evidently wishes to make that, he should conclude his editorial upon a note of extreme uncertainty. In speaking of the sabotage by the British army in Ireland, he says, “we cannot believe this. We entreat the Chief Secretary to show that the Constabulary, since they have had to be recruited from Great Britain, have been kept as well in hand as before.” It is significant that no such assurance has been forthcoming from the English Government.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 13 September 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Irish newspaper publishers and journalists were warned by Dublin Castle that due to the ‘increasing frequency with which misleading statements, often untrue, and, in any case, calculated to aggravate disorder and disaffection, have appeared in the columns of certain newspapers, and I am directed by the Lord Justices to call the attention of the Press of Ireland to the obligations and responsibilities which are imposed by all upon those responsible for the publication of such statements….if the breaches continue the Government will not hesitate to deal with the newspaper companies and individuals concerned as drastically as the circumstances will permit.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 13 September 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
An IRA attack on the Scariff RIC barracks (led by Michael Brennan) has to be called off when the time bombs fail to explode. The barracks is vacated two days later.
Transcript
19
Sir John Anderson agreed to Griffith's moves to meet with him and September 26th fixed as the meeting date.
Reports that a majority of the Royal Irish Constabulary had ‘threatened to resign if the Lord Mayor of Cork and the political prisoners in Cork jail were released’ were quickly sent to various news-services in the US. However the subsequent denials from many members of the force were far slower to be picked up. Arthur Griffith in an issue of ‘Young Ireland’ wrote ‘The people of Ireland understand fully that it is not the members of the R.I.C. who are responsible for the decision to do the Lord Mayor of Cork to death.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 13 September 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
How the situation in Ireland affected everyday life can be seen by revised provisions to ‘Riot and Civil Commotion’ clauses in insurance policies advertised by Lloyds of London. One newly inserted clause provides that if the principals of a firm insured are members of ‘any society or organisation inimical to law and order’ or if the principals take part in any meetings ‘antagonistic to the Government of Great Britain and Ireland, or take part or assist in any disturbance’ they shall not recover costs of any damage caused. Compare that with another clause in the same policy where it states that if the principals of a firm take part ‘in a disturbance to uphold law and order’ they will be paid if their property suffers. In this, among other ways, that the Orange incendiary and rioter is encouraged.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Lord Monteagle, the elderly Unionist who had recently taken the opportunity to expose the false statements made in the lists of “Outrages Officially Reported” from Dublin Castle wrote to the Irish Times. He quoted the following item from such a recent Dublin Castle release: “County Limerick—On the evening of the 26th instant (August) a police patrol was fired upon at Shanagolden, Adare District. Fire was returned and one civilian was shot dead.” Lord Monteagle says: “I have closely investigated this matter on the spot, and can confidently assert, on the testimony of unimpeachable witnesses, that no shot was fired on this occasion except by the police ‘patrol’. The one civilian shot dead was a most harmless old-age pensioner John Hynes, who was fleeing from the terror-stricken village and was alone, 200 yards away.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.13 Sep 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
* Lord Monteagle, the son of the 1st Lord Monteagle (1790-1866) who opposed any extension of the Poor Law to Ireland. He saw emigration as a possible soloution to overcrowding on his estate in Co. Limerick and paid passage for his tenants during 1845-49 who wished to emigrate.
"The Northcliffe Press, which is very busy these days offering “expert” solutions of the Irish question, displays an intimate knowledge of things Irish which is at times amazing. The other day the London “Evening News” stated that Bantry is in County Down; yesterday the ‘‘Daily Mail” described one of its pictures as “The smoking ruins of houses in Lisburn, County Tipperary.” Quite as ridiculous is a snaphsot taken at the “Peace” Conference of a gentle man who is given the name of “Count” Plunkett. Will Sir Horace feel flattered at being identified with the loyal Sinn Feiner Count Joseph Plunkett?
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.13 Sep 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Constables James Donohoe (29) and John Mahony (26) were killed in an ambush on the joint RIC/Military patrol at Mountmahon, Co. Limerick.
Below: The London Observer comments on American involvement in Irish affairs:
Sir John Anderson agreed to Griffith's moves to meet with him and September 26th fixed as the meeting date.
Reports that a majority of the Royal Irish Constabulary had ‘threatened to resign if the Lord Mayor of Cork and the political prisoners in Cork jail were released’ were quickly sent to various news-services in the US. However the subsequent denials from many members of the force were far slower to be picked up. Arthur Griffith in an issue of ‘Young Ireland’ wrote ‘The people of Ireland understand fully that it is not the members of the R.I.C. who are responsible for the decision to do the Lord Mayor of Cork to death.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 13 September 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
How the situation in Ireland affected everyday life can be seen by revised provisions to ‘Riot and Civil Commotion’ clauses in insurance policies advertised by Lloyds of London. One newly inserted clause provides that if the principals of a firm insured are members of ‘any society or organisation inimical to law and order’ or if the principals take part in any meetings ‘antagonistic to the Government of Great Britain and Ireland, or take part or assist in any disturbance’ they shall not recover costs of any damage caused. Compare that with another clause in the same policy where it states that if the principals of a firm take part ‘in a disturbance to uphold law and order’ they will be paid if their property suffers. In this, among other ways, that the Orange incendiary and rioter is encouraged.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Lord Monteagle, the elderly Unionist who had recently taken the opportunity to expose the false statements made in the lists of “Outrages Officially Reported” from Dublin Castle wrote to the Irish Times. He quoted the following item from such a recent Dublin Castle release: “County Limerick—On the evening of the 26th instant (August) a police patrol was fired upon at Shanagolden, Adare District. Fire was returned and one civilian was shot dead.” Lord Monteagle says: “I have closely investigated this matter on the spot, and can confidently assert, on the testimony of unimpeachable witnesses, that no shot was fired on this occasion except by the police ‘patrol’. The one civilian shot dead was a most harmless old-age pensioner John Hynes, who was fleeing from the terror-stricken village and was alone, 200 yards away.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.13 Sep 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
* Lord Monteagle, the son of the 1st Lord Monteagle (1790-1866) who opposed any extension of the Poor Law to Ireland. He saw emigration as a possible soloution to overcrowding on his estate in Co. Limerick and paid passage for his tenants during 1845-49 who wished to emigrate.
"The Northcliffe Press, which is very busy these days offering “expert” solutions of the Irish question, displays an intimate knowledge of things Irish which is at times amazing. The other day the London “Evening News” stated that Bantry is in County Down; yesterday the ‘‘Daily Mail” described one of its pictures as “The smoking ruins of houses in Lisburn, County Tipperary.” Quite as ridiculous is a snaphsot taken at the “Peace” Conference of a gentle man who is given the name of “Count” Plunkett. Will Sir Horace feel flattered at being identified with the loyal Sinn Feiner Count Joseph Plunkett?
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.13 Sep 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Constables James Donohoe (29) and John Mahony (26) were killed in an ambush on the joint RIC/Military patrol at Mountmahon, Co. Limerick.
Below: The London Observer comments on American involvement in Irish affairs:
20
"Sack of Balbriggan" in County Dublin: "Black and Tans" destroy more than fifty properties in the town
Peter Burke, the Head Constable in Balbriggan, north Co. Dublin was promoted to the position of District Inspector. To celebrate, he and friends from the force went to a Balbriggan public house, out of uniform. Later that evening, the owner of the pub decided that the men had had enough liquor and refused more, to which they ‘jumped the counter and began to serve themselves. The woman then sent a message to the police barracks concerning their conduct. Policemen came down from the barracks, and finding that the offenders were also policemen, they saluted and returned. The woman, knowing she would be committing an offence if she permitted drunkeness, then sent for the Republican police, who asked the men to leave. They refused, and the Republican police, not knowing all this time that the offenders were imperial police, said they would put them out. The recently promoted district inspector then drew a revolver, but he was fired on first. Only then was it discovered that these plain clothes men were policemen. The other policemen then left the place rapidly and went up the ‘Black and Tan’ depot…the Black and Tans applied at the local police barracks for information about leading Sinn Feiners and were given none. They then entered the town and picked out two men. They asked one of the men, who was forty-two years of age, who the leading Sinn Feiners were. He refused to say. They plunged their bayonets through each of his thighs. He still refused. A bayonet was plunged into the back of his neck. He still refused to give the information asked for. He was then frog marched at the double up nd down the road and finally flung in the road. The other man, who had witnessed all this, was then appealed to. He too refused to speak. He was treated like the other man though with not so extreme a mutilation. They left him and went through the town ‘making hey-day and holiday’.
Reported by the Manchester Guardian and carried by the Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 19 November 6, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
That night, a force of 150 Black and Tans sacked Balbriggan. 25 homes were burned out, the local hosiery factory destroyed . With no charges brought against the Tans and with apparent support from both Government and Macready, other towns and villages were also attacked, including Trim and Mallow.
The result for the majority of Balbriggan’s inhabitants was the loss of some 400 jobs and more than 2,000 residents sleeping rough in open country or with relatives. The Black and Tans were quartered in nearby Gormanstown.
23 Volunteers took part in an arms raid on a British troop ration party passing Monk’s Bakery in Church Street, Dublin. In this first Dublin IRA attack on troops in the war, a short but fierce gun battle ensued in which two British soldiers were killed and four others wounded, one dying of injuries later. (Privates Washington, Humphries & Whitehead of the 2nd Duke of Wellington West Riding Regiment. As the Volunteers withdrew, British reinforcements were beginning to arrive from the nearby North Dublin Union. An 18 year old medical student and Section Commander, Kevin Barry with an address at 58 South Circular Road, Dublin, was arrested in Upper Church Street by a sergeant of the 2nd Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. He had been found hiding under a lorry clutching a rifle. Three of the four wounded later died.
Barry had been on holidays in Carlow and had come back to Dublin to do his repeat first year medical examinations. (The raid took place in the morning at 11.00am and he was due to sit his last exam in the afternoon.)
Tim O’Mahony, a well known Unionist and Deputy Lieutenant and Commisioner of the Peace in Wickow, 'resigned his position as he was unable to allow his name to be connected with ‘the present unconstitutional tyranny…which is fast reducing Ireland to a state of anarchy and must lead, if continued, to the ruin of all classes in Ireland.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
"Sack of Balbriggan" in County Dublin: "Black and Tans" destroy more than fifty properties in the town
Peter Burke, the Head Constable in Balbriggan, north Co. Dublin was promoted to the position of District Inspector. To celebrate, he and friends from the force went to a Balbriggan public house, out of uniform. Later that evening, the owner of the pub decided that the men had had enough liquor and refused more, to which they ‘jumped the counter and began to serve themselves. The woman then sent a message to the police barracks concerning their conduct. Policemen came down from the barracks, and finding that the offenders were also policemen, they saluted and returned. The woman, knowing she would be committing an offence if she permitted drunkeness, then sent for the Republican police, who asked the men to leave. They refused, and the Republican police, not knowing all this time that the offenders were imperial police, said they would put them out. The recently promoted district inspector then drew a revolver, but he was fired on first. Only then was it discovered that these plain clothes men were policemen. The other policemen then left the place rapidly and went up the ‘Black and Tan’ depot…the Black and Tans applied at the local police barracks for information about leading Sinn Feiners and were given none. They then entered the town and picked out two men. They asked one of the men, who was forty-two years of age, who the leading Sinn Feiners were. He refused to say. They plunged their bayonets through each of his thighs. He still refused. A bayonet was plunged into the back of his neck. He still refused to give the information asked for. He was then frog marched at the double up nd down the road and finally flung in the road. The other man, who had witnessed all this, was then appealed to. He too refused to speak. He was treated like the other man though with not so extreme a mutilation. They left him and went through the town ‘making hey-day and holiday’.
Reported by the Manchester Guardian and carried by the Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 19 November 6, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
That night, a force of 150 Black and Tans sacked Balbriggan. 25 homes were burned out, the local hosiery factory destroyed . With no charges brought against the Tans and with apparent support from both Government and Macready, other towns and villages were also attacked, including Trim and Mallow.
The result for the majority of Balbriggan’s inhabitants was the loss of some 400 jobs and more than 2,000 residents sleeping rough in open country or with relatives. The Black and Tans were quartered in nearby Gormanstown.
23 Volunteers took part in an arms raid on a British troop ration party passing Monk’s Bakery in Church Street, Dublin. In this first Dublin IRA attack on troops in the war, a short but fierce gun battle ensued in which two British soldiers were killed and four others wounded, one dying of injuries later. (Privates Washington, Humphries & Whitehead of the 2nd Duke of Wellington West Riding Regiment. As the Volunteers withdrew, British reinforcements were beginning to arrive from the nearby North Dublin Union. An 18 year old medical student and Section Commander, Kevin Barry with an address at 58 South Circular Road, Dublin, was arrested in Upper Church Street by a sergeant of the 2nd Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. He had been found hiding under a lorry clutching a rifle. Three of the four wounded later died.
Barry had been on holidays in Carlow and had come back to Dublin to do his repeat first year medical examinations. (The raid took place in the morning at 11.00am and he was due to sit his last exam in the afternoon.)
Tim O’Mahony, a well known Unionist and Deputy Lieutenant and Commisioner of the Peace in Wickow, 'resigned his position as he was unable to allow his name to be connected with ‘the present unconstitutional tyranny…which is fast reducing Ireland to a state of anarchy and must lead, if continued, to the ruin of all classes in Ireland.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
21
Arrangement for the secret meeting between Anderson and Griffith collapsed as Dublin Castle was unwilling to agree to one of Griffith’s main conditions – a signed statement from the British Government that they would negotiate with Dail Eireann as ‘an equal’.
As funeral arrangements were being made in Balbriggan for those killed in the Black and Tan raid, they were warned that if any public funeral was held, the Tans would return to complete the destruction of the town and ‘increase the list of dead’.
The Dublin correspondent of the London Daily news, describing the sack of Balbriggan, wrote ‘That the Black and Tans ardently desired nothing more than the explosion is evident from their conduct; and the immunity they enjoy suggests that those to whom they look for order in the past have no complaints to make about their methods.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 14 October 2, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Robert Lynd, the literary editor of the London Daily News, also in Balbriggan to inspect the damage caused wrote ‘The White Terror is in full swing. British Cabinet ministers and their chosen advisers are responsible for it…these outrages in Ireland are performed by men in the service of the British Government, with the help of bombs and bayonets purchased with your money and mine…it seems certain, first of all, that the trouble did not begin with the deliberate murder of a policeman. The policeman who was killed was in plain clothes in a public house, it is said, when a row broke out. The Volunteer Police (Republican) arrived to quell the disturbance and to clear the public house. According to the popular story, the policeman resisted ejection, drew a revolver and was then himself fired on’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 17 October 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Times wrote ‘in view of the wide area covered by the reprisals, it is difficult to believe that the occurrences at Balbriggan can have been entirely the result of a spontaneous outburst of resentment on the part of justifiably incensed policemen. There seems to have been behind it a directing influence..’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p81
However, the sack of Balbriggan was widely published in the American press as a case of reprisal for the brutal murder of a policeman by Sinn Fein. Photographs of ruined buildings provided a telling commentary on the British administation of Ireland ‘at times when imperialism was at it’s least popular and the rights of small nations were uppermost in international councils.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p80
Mark Sturgis recorded in his diary: “ It looks as if the pressure on the Quiet Side of Sinn Fein to break away from the Gunmen was increasing.”
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P218
Anderson was to write to Sturgis later that ‘It is quite clear from the evidence that the burning was organised, and countenanced by the officers in charge’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p80
‘All hunger strikers still live and the interest in them is getting very stale. McSwiney must be a thorn in the flesh of the violent wing of Sinn Fein. I wonder they don’t poison him. Perhaps they would if they could get at the gentle Father Dominick’*
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p43
* Fr Dominick – Terence McSwiney’s chaplain in Brixton prison.
John A. Lynch, Republican Councillor, Director of Elections for Sinn Fein and Registrar of Courts was shot and killed by Black & Tans in the Exchange Hotel, Parliament Street early that morning. . “Six soldiers came to the door of the hotel at two o clock in the morning, asked to see the rgeister, looked for a name and went to room number six. They left. Nobody heard a sound. And some half hour or so afterwards, two policemen came and knocked at the hotel and said to the night clerk ‘We are going to guard room number six, where a man lies dying. The military told us to come here.” All the next day they stood guard at that room, and did not even admit the proprietor of the hotel into that room. They supposed the man was dying. He was shot in the throat. The military held the inquest.’
Testimony of Rev. Dr. Cotter before the American Commission on Ireland. Interim Report, 1921. P19. Lynch Family Archives.
When the City Coroner attempted to hold an inquest into the death of Lynch, he was prevented and the military held their own. In October the military court released it’s findings that death was due to a shot fired by a member of ‘the forces of the Crown in self-defence’. Sinn Fein continued to assert that Mr Lynch was unarmed at the time of his murder. Lynch had earlier delivered a large sum of money for the Dail Loan and through this was a connection to Collins.
The ‘Weekly Summary’ continued it’s format, commenting that the armed police force in Ireland will ‘go on with their job – the job of making Ireland an appropriate hell for those whose trade is agitation and whose method in murder’. The Nation Newspaper (London) commented that this is in response to a nation whose people are ‘organised less for rebellion, than for construction; less for disorder than for order; less for protest than for self-development.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 14 October 2, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Meanwhile British officials in Ireland and England were busy disclaiming responsibility for the Black and Tans. Sir Nevill Macready denied all responsibility for them. Sir Hamar Greenwood said they were not within his jurisdiction. Lloyd George continued to speak mildly about reprisals.
However, Tudors’ remarks on the sacking of Balbriggan by the Black and Tans were recorded by Sturgis:’
"Tudor quite agreed yesterday to my view that had they confined themselves to the dignified shooting of the two prominent Shins, notorious bad men, the reprisal would have been not so bad – the burning spoilt the whole thing. Still worse things can happen that the firing up of a sink like Balbriggan and surely the people who say ‘Stop the murders before all our homes go up in smoke’ must increase’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p43
Constable Denis Maguire (45) was killed while observing a military search of a house in Ferbane, Co. Offaly.
Arrangement for the secret meeting between Anderson and Griffith collapsed as Dublin Castle was unwilling to agree to one of Griffith’s main conditions – a signed statement from the British Government that they would negotiate with Dail Eireann as ‘an equal’.
As funeral arrangements were being made in Balbriggan for those killed in the Black and Tan raid, they were warned that if any public funeral was held, the Tans would return to complete the destruction of the town and ‘increase the list of dead’.
The Dublin correspondent of the London Daily news, describing the sack of Balbriggan, wrote ‘That the Black and Tans ardently desired nothing more than the explosion is evident from their conduct; and the immunity they enjoy suggests that those to whom they look for order in the past have no complaints to make about their methods.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 14 October 2, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Robert Lynd, the literary editor of the London Daily News, also in Balbriggan to inspect the damage caused wrote ‘The White Terror is in full swing. British Cabinet ministers and their chosen advisers are responsible for it…these outrages in Ireland are performed by men in the service of the British Government, with the help of bombs and bayonets purchased with your money and mine…it seems certain, first of all, that the trouble did not begin with the deliberate murder of a policeman. The policeman who was killed was in plain clothes in a public house, it is said, when a row broke out. The Volunteer Police (Republican) arrived to quell the disturbance and to clear the public house. According to the popular story, the policeman resisted ejection, drew a revolver and was then himself fired on’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 17 October 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Times wrote ‘in view of the wide area covered by the reprisals, it is difficult to believe that the occurrences at Balbriggan can have been entirely the result of a spontaneous outburst of resentment on the part of justifiably incensed policemen. There seems to have been behind it a directing influence..’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p81
However, the sack of Balbriggan was widely published in the American press as a case of reprisal for the brutal murder of a policeman by Sinn Fein. Photographs of ruined buildings provided a telling commentary on the British administation of Ireland ‘at times when imperialism was at it’s least popular and the rights of small nations were uppermost in international councils.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p80
Mark Sturgis recorded in his diary: “ It looks as if the pressure on the Quiet Side of Sinn Fein to break away from the Gunmen was increasing.”
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P218
Anderson was to write to Sturgis later that ‘It is quite clear from the evidence that the burning was organised, and countenanced by the officers in charge’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p80
‘All hunger strikers still live and the interest in them is getting very stale. McSwiney must be a thorn in the flesh of the violent wing of Sinn Fein. I wonder they don’t poison him. Perhaps they would if they could get at the gentle Father Dominick’*
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p43
* Fr Dominick – Terence McSwiney’s chaplain in Brixton prison.
John A. Lynch, Republican Councillor, Director of Elections for Sinn Fein and Registrar of Courts was shot and killed by Black & Tans in the Exchange Hotel, Parliament Street early that morning. . “Six soldiers came to the door of the hotel at two o clock in the morning, asked to see the rgeister, looked for a name and went to room number six. They left. Nobody heard a sound. And some half hour or so afterwards, two policemen came and knocked at the hotel and said to the night clerk ‘We are going to guard room number six, where a man lies dying. The military told us to come here.” All the next day they stood guard at that room, and did not even admit the proprietor of the hotel into that room. They supposed the man was dying. He was shot in the throat. The military held the inquest.’
Testimony of Rev. Dr. Cotter before the American Commission on Ireland. Interim Report, 1921. P19. Lynch Family Archives.
When the City Coroner attempted to hold an inquest into the death of Lynch, he was prevented and the military held their own. In October the military court released it’s findings that death was due to a shot fired by a member of ‘the forces of the Crown in self-defence’. Sinn Fein continued to assert that Mr Lynch was unarmed at the time of his murder. Lynch had earlier delivered a large sum of money for the Dail Loan and through this was a connection to Collins.
The ‘Weekly Summary’ continued it’s format, commenting that the armed police force in Ireland will ‘go on with their job – the job of making Ireland an appropriate hell for those whose trade is agitation and whose method in murder’. The Nation Newspaper (London) commented that this is in response to a nation whose people are ‘organised less for rebellion, than for construction; less for disorder than for order; less for protest than for self-development.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 14 October 2, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Meanwhile British officials in Ireland and England were busy disclaiming responsibility for the Black and Tans. Sir Nevill Macready denied all responsibility for them. Sir Hamar Greenwood said they were not within his jurisdiction. Lloyd George continued to speak mildly about reprisals.
However, Tudors’ remarks on the sacking of Balbriggan by the Black and Tans were recorded by Sturgis:’
"Tudor quite agreed yesterday to my view that had they confined themselves to the dignified shooting of the two prominent Shins, notorious bad men, the reprisal would have been not so bad – the burning spoilt the whole thing. Still worse things can happen that the firing up of a sink like Balbriggan and surely the people who say ‘Stop the murders before all our homes go up in smoke’ must increase’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p43
Constable Denis Maguire (45) was killed while observing a military search of a house in Ferbane, Co. Offaly.
22
Six members of the RIC were killed when their motor patrol was ambushed near Rineen, Co. Clare by a flying column led by Sean Liddy: Sergeant Michal Hynes (29) from Roscommon, and Constables Reginald Hardman (21) a Black & Tan from London, Michael Harte (28) from Sligo, John Hodnett (31) from Cork, Michael Kelly (32) from Roscommon and John McGuire (21) from Mayo died. Official reports concluded that dum-dum bullets were used and seriously injured constables were hunted down and killed. One IRA member was wounded. The more immediate aftermath were brutal reprisals in Ennistymon, Lahinch and Miltown Malbay.
In reprisal for Rineen ambush, the RIC run amok in Ennistymon, Lahinch and Miltown Malbay killing six people and burning 26 buildings, including Ennistymon and Lahinch Townhalls. Killed by the RIC were John Keane, Dan Lehane, Tom Connole, P J Linnane (12 year old boy), Joseph Salmon or Sammon (an East Clare farmer on holidays) and Pake Lehane (son of Dan who had been present at Rineen ambush). O’Farrell says that man from Milltown Malbay called Lynch was also killed. Hopkinson comments that there was no follow up by the local IRA to the Rineen ambush and "thereafter West Clare was quiet".
Councillor John Aloysius Lynch from Kilmallock, Co Limerick was shot by British soldiers in the Exchange Hotel, Parliament St., Dublin - O'Donnoghue & Dalton indicate that they may have thought they had Liam Lynch. Gallagher indicates that he was a District Judge in the Republican Courts.
The London Metropolitan Police forms the Flying Squad, a motorised mobile detective patrol unit.
Ireland’s cause was being well presented in many parts of the world. Mr. Sean O’Duinn published in Denmark an article setting forth the following facts "the futility of the efforts of the Parliamentary Party; the corrupt extravagance of the British officialdom in Ireland; the bureaucracy of the Chief Secretary and his staff; the saddling of 50 coercion laws on Ireland since the Union; the impossibility of obtaining legislation beneficial to Ireland through West minster except by means of violent agitation; the English monopoly of 97 per cent of Ireland's foreign trade; the emigration of 6% millions of Irish people between 1831–1913; the retention of only 15 percent of the Irish people in Ire land; the discontent of 80 percent of the people with these conditions; and the connivance of the British government in all this and her unquestionable responsibility. The article was published in the popular “Ukens Revy”."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.13 Sep 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
France: Allies fix German war reparations at £12.5 billion.
Six members of the RIC were killed when their motor patrol was ambushed near Rineen, Co. Clare by a flying column led by Sean Liddy: Sergeant Michal Hynes (29) from Roscommon, and Constables Reginald Hardman (21) a Black & Tan from London, Michael Harte (28) from Sligo, John Hodnett (31) from Cork, Michael Kelly (32) from Roscommon and John McGuire (21) from Mayo died. Official reports concluded that dum-dum bullets were used and seriously injured constables were hunted down and killed. One IRA member was wounded. The more immediate aftermath were brutal reprisals in Ennistymon, Lahinch and Miltown Malbay.
In reprisal for Rineen ambush, the RIC run amok in Ennistymon, Lahinch and Miltown Malbay killing six people and burning 26 buildings, including Ennistymon and Lahinch Townhalls. Killed by the RIC were John Keane, Dan Lehane, Tom Connole, P J Linnane (12 year old boy), Joseph Salmon or Sammon (an East Clare farmer on holidays) and Pake Lehane (son of Dan who had been present at Rineen ambush). O’Farrell says that man from Milltown Malbay called Lynch was also killed. Hopkinson comments that there was no follow up by the local IRA to the Rineen ambush and "thereafter West Clare was quiet".
Councillor John Aloysius Lynch from Kilmallock, Co Limerick was shot by British soldiers in the Exchange Hotel, Parliament St., Dublin - O'Donnoghue & Dalton indicate that they may have thought they had Liam Lynch. Gallagher indicates that he was a District Judge in the Republican Courts.
The London Metropolitan Police forms the Flying Squad, a motorised mobile detective patrol unit.
Ireland’s cause was being well presented in many parts of the world. Mr. Sean O’Duinn published in Denmark an article setting forth the following facts "the futility of the efforts of the Parliamentary Party; the corrupt extravagance of the British officialdom in Ireland; the bureaucracy of the Chief Secretary and his staff; the saddling of 50 coercion laws on Ireland since the Union; the impossibility of obtaining legislation beneficial to Ireland through West minster except by means of violent agitation; the English monopoly of 97 per cent of Ireland's foreign trade; the emigration of 6% millions of Irish people between 1831–1913; the retention of only 15 percent of the Irish people in Ire land; the discontent of 80 percent of the people with these conditions; and the connivance of the British government in all this and her unquestionable responsibility. The article was published in the popular “Ukens Revy”."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.13 Sep 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
France: Allies fix German war reparations at £12.5 billion.
Truth, Fiction & Retribution. The murder of Resident Magistrate Captain Alan Cane Lendrum.
Caherfeenick, Doonbeg, Co. Clare.
Early morning, September 22, four volunteers from the IRA’s West Clare brigade gathered at a level crossing & stopped a Ford two seater driven by 37 year old local resident magistrate, Captain Alan Cane Lendrum MC (a native of County Tyrone, a former rubber-planter in Malaya and a veteran of the First World War, in which he had served with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.) Lendrum was en-route to court in Ennistymon.
According to Liam Haugh O/C of the West Clare Brigades Active Service Unit the aim of the operation was to commandeer Lendrum’s car not to kill him. “The car was a Ford two seater and looked good in the eyes of some [I.R.A.] Volunteer officers. The tacit consent of the brigade commander was given for its seizure when opportunity favoured – with the understanding that its owner was not to be injured.” Haugh was the only I.R.A. volunteer to give an account of the incident.
However other sources indicate that during the summer of 1920, IRA Intelligence had established that Captain Lendrum was a Director of the British Secret Service for the West Clare division. An order for his arrest was issued by the Brigade Commandant, and after many unsuccessful attempts, he was finally intercepted on 22nd September, at the Caherfeenic Railroad Crossing.
As Lendrum drove towards the level crossing the gates were closed by two I.R.A. Volunteers and he was ordered at gunpoint to surrender his car. Captain Lendrum drew his automatic pistol but was shot & seriously injured before he had a chance to fire.
The IRA claimed that Lendrum had drawn an automatic pistol to defend himself and that was why he was shot . George Noblett, an R.I.C. District Inspector and personal friend of Lendrum, later speculated : “ I am sure he resisted. Alan Lendrum was a man who would never put his hands up and he always carried a small German automatic in those days. His resistance may well have cost him his life but any other action on his part would have been completely out of character.”
The IRA brigade chief-of-police Willie Shanahan arrived at the scene shortly afterwards and disposed of the car but what followed became more widely known for almost a century as an IRA War of Independence atrocity.
Contemporary accounts of the magistrate’s death reported that Lendrum’s assailants next dragged the wounded magistrate to a nearby beach, where they buried him up to his neck and left him to drown in the incoming tide. On their return the next morning, they found him still alive, and they reportedly dug him up again and reburied him closer to the shoreline. Later accounts of the atrocity were embellished with details that the victim was buried facing towards the advancing tide, so that he might witness his own impending fate.
However, Haugh's witness statement contradicts what was to become the commonly accepted version of events. In 1947, he stated that Captain Lendrum was taken to an outhouse in a field nearby where he died that evening. In the meantime the car was secreted eight miles further on. The body was weighed down and sunk off low-water in Lough Donnell near Doughmore Strand the same night.
When Captain Lendrum failed to arrive at Ennistymon Court, ten lorries of British soldiers left Ennistymon to search for the missing Resident Magistrate. While searching, these troops came across evidence of the Rineen Ambush that had taken place the same day, and became involved in the hunt for the attackers there. No trace was found of Captain Lendrum or his car.
The London Times reported on 26 September that notices were posted in Kilkee, threatening that if Lendrum was not found by 29 September the villages of "Kilkee, Kilrush, Carrigaholt , Doonbeg and Kilmihil and other towns in the west" would be burned.
James Lendrum, his younger brother, then travelled to Clare and met with D.I. George Noblett and the Parish Priest at Kilkee, Canon Glynn, to negotiate for the return of Alan Lendrum’s body. Cannon Glynn approached the local I.R.A. and arranged for the return of Lendrum's body. According to the Irish Times; “Two civilians interviewed one of the police district inspectors in West Clare and informed him that Captain Lendrum had been shot dead when ambushed on 22 September, and Sinn Fein would give up the body if the police were withheld from their threatened reprisals for a period sufficient to enable them to obtain the body as ‘at present there were difficulties in the way’.”
On 1 October 1920, a coffin containing Lendrum’s body was recovered by the R.I.C. on the railway line near Craggonock railway station. The body was taken to Kilrush where a military inquest took place behind closed doors. A local paper ‘The Saturday Record’ reported that there were two bullet wounds in Lendrum's head and the British Military inquest established that Lendrum had died of gunshot wounds. However members of the R.I.C. in Clare allegedly spread an alternative version of events and claimed that Lendrum had died of drowning. According to Fr. Pat Gaynor a priest in the area; “After a subsequent autopsy, the police claimed that he had been buried while still alive: that death was due to drowning.”
Lendrum’s body was returned to Tyrone and buried at Kilskerry Church.
Early morning, September 22, four volunteers from the IRA’s West Clare brigade gathered at a level crossing & stopped a Ford two seater driven by 37 year old local resident magistrate, Captain Alan Cane Lendrum MC (a native of County Tyrone, a former rubber-planter in Malaya and a veteran of the First World War, in which he had served with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.) Lendrum was en-route to court in Ennistymon.
According to Liam Haugh O/C of the West Clare Brigades Active Service Unit the aim of the operation was to commandeer Lendrum’s car not to kill him. “The car was a Ford two seater and looked good in the eyes of some [I.R.A.] Volunteer officers. The tacit consent of the brigade commander was given for its seizure when opportunity favoured – with the understanding that its owner was not to be injured.” Haugh was the only I.R.A. volunteer to give an account of the incident.
However other sources indicate that during the summer of 1920, IRA Intelligence had established that Captain Lendrum was a Director of the British Secret Service for the West Clare division. An order for his arrest was issued by the Brigade Commandant, and after many unsuccessful attempts, he was finally intercepted on 22nd September, at the Caherfeenic Railroad Crossing.
As Lendrum drove towards the level crossing the gates were closed by two I.R.A. Volunteers and he was ordered at gunpoint to surrender his car. Captain Lendrum drew his automatic pistol but was shot & seriously injured before he had a chance to fire.
The IRA claimed that Lendrum had drawn an automatic pistol to defend himself and that was why he was shot . George Noblett, an R.I.C. District Inspector and personal friend of Lendrum, later speculated : “ I am sure he resisted. Alan Lendrum was a man who would never put his hands up and he always carried a small German automatic in those days. His resistance may well have cost him his life but any other action on his part would have been completely out of character.”
The IRA brigade chief-of-police Willie Shanahan arrived at the scene shortly afterwards and disposed of the car but what followed became more widely known for almost a century as an IRA War of Independence atrocity.
Contemporary accounts of the magistrate’s death reported that Lendrum’s assailants next dragged the wounded magistrate to a nearby beach, where they buried him up to his neck and left him to drown in the incoming tide. On their return the next morning, they found him still alive, and they reportedly dug him up again and reburied him closer to the shoreline. Later accounts of the atrocity were embellished with details that the victim was buried facing towards the advancing tide, so that he might witness his own impending fate.
However, Haugh's witness statement contradicts what was to become the commonly accepted version of events. In 1947, he stated that Captain Lendrum was taken to an outhouse in a field nearby where he died that evening. In the meantime the car was secreted eight miles further on. The body was weighed down and sunk off low-water in Lough Donnell near Doughmore Strand the same night.
When Captain Lendrum failed to arrive at Ennistymon Court, ten lorries of British soldiers left Ennistymon to search for the missing Resident Magistrate. While searching, these troops came across evidence of the Rineen Ambush that had taken place the same day, and became involved in the hunt for the attackers there. No trace was found of Captain Lendrum or his car.
The London Times reported on 26 September that notices were posted in Kilkee, threatening that if Lendrum was not found by 29 September the villages of "Kilkee, Kilrush, Carrigaholt , Doonbeg and Kilmihil and other towns in the west" would be burned.
James Lendrum, his younger brother, then travelled to Clare and met with D.I. George Noblett and the Parish Priest at Kilkee, Canon Glynn, to negotiate for the return of Alan Lendrum’s body. Cannon Glynn approached the local I.R.A. and arranged for the return of Lendrum's body. According to the Irish Times; “Two civilians interviewed one of the police district inspectors in West Clare and informed him that Captain Lendrum had been shot dead when ambushed on 22 September, and Sinn Fein would give up the body if the police were withheld from their threatened reprisals for a period sufficient to enable them to obtain the body as ‘at present there were difficulties in the way’.”
On 1 October 1920, a coffin containing Lendrum’s body was recovered by the R.I.C. on the railway line near Craggonock railway station. The body was taken to Kilrush where a military inquest took place behind closed doors. A local paper ‘The Saturday Record’ reported that there were two bullet wounds in Lendrum's head and the British Military inquest established that Lendrum had died of gunshot wounds. However members of the R.I.C. in Clare allegedly spread an alternative version of events and claimed that Lendrum had died of drowning. According to Fr. Pat Gaynor a priest in the area; “After a subsequent autopsy, the police claimed that he had been buried while still alive: that death was due to drowning.”
Lendrum’s body was returned to Tyrone and buried at Kilskerry Church.
Repercussions for the abduction and death of Captain Lendrum quickly followed on 22 December, 1920. RIC investigations revealed that the crime was committed by members of the West Clare Irish Republican Brigade and the only known member who could drive a car was Willie Shanahan. Following on from this, Shanahan and Michael McNamara (captain of the Doonbeg company) were placed on an arrest warrant and they went on the run.
Night terror raids were carried out at his home and the homes of friends by the British miliatry. During one particular raid, his parents were subjected to violence and threats of destruction to their residence. While on the run, Shanahan was involved in an encounter with British forces weeks later at Cloonagarnane, Craggaknock, during a session of the Sinn Fein Appeals Court. The court venue was a closely guarded secret due to the nature of the cases and the required presence of men on the run. The venue was tipped off by an informer, and attacked by a large force of Black and Tans and RIC. In the ensuing gunfight, two civilians attending the Court session were killed.
Shanahan and McNamara successfully evaded arrest until 17th December, 1920, when they were betrayed. They were surrounded and captured while sleeping at the home of Mrs. Reidy, located about three quarters of a mile southeast of Doonbeg. Both men were brutally beaten with rifle and revolver butts and accused of killing Captain Lendrum. They were taken to Kilrush Military Barracks, and on arrival, they were again tortured and beaten.
On 22nd December, 1920 both were transferred to Ennis under a heavy Military escort. Before reaching their destination, McNamara was taken from the lorry and murdered. His body, badly mangled after being dragged for several yards by the lorry, bore the marks of three severe bayonet thrusts and one bullet wound.
Shanahan was forced to witness the murder and then taken to the Ennis Military Barracks where his captors continued their brutal methods of interrogation for six hours. He was summarily shot later that evening. His body was taken from the Military Barracks to the other end of town and thrown into the grounds of the County Infirmary.
On Christmas Day 1920, Shanahan and McNamara - their coffins draped with the Tricolour - were buried side by side with IRA Military Honours in the Republican Plot of Doonbeg.
As both men were captured by British forces following a tip-off, an IRA investigation believed the source to have been, wrongly as it transpired, a local schoolteacher, Patrick Joseph D'Arcy, and in retaliation, he was tried, found guilty and executed on 17 June 1921. (Details of D'Arcy's trial here.)
There were four victims of the 22 September roadblock. However, a further casualty was to be truth.
Night terror raids were carried out at his home and the homes of friends by the British miliatry. During one particular raid, his parents were subjected to violence and threats of destruction to their residence. While on the run, Shanahan was involved in an encounter with British forces weeks later at Cloonagarnane, Craggaknock, during a session of the Sinn Fein Appeals Court. The court venue was a closely guarded secret due to the nature of the cases and the required presence of men on the run. The venue was tipped off by an informer, and attacked by a large force of Black and Tans and RIC. In the ensuing gunfight, two civilians attending the Court session were killed.
Shanahan and McNamara successfully evaded arrest until 17th December, 1920, when they were betrayed. They were surrounded and captured while sleeping at the home of Mrs. Reidy, located about three quarters of a mile southeast of Doonbeg. Both men were brutally beaten with rifle and revolver butts and accused of killing Captain Lendrum. They were taken to Kilrush Military Barracks, and on arrival, they were again tortured and beaten.
On 22nd December, 1920 both were transferred to Ennis under a heavy Military escort. Before reaching their destination, McNamara was taken from the lorry and murdered. His body, badly mangled after being dragged for several yards by the lorry, bore the marks of three severe bayonet thrusts and one bullet wound.
Shanahan was forced to witness the murder and then taken to the Ennis Military Barracks where his captors continued their brutal methods of interrogation for six hours. He was summarily shot later that evening. His body was taken from the Military Barracks to the other end of town and thrown into the grounds of the County Infirmary.
On Christmas Day 1920, Shanahan and McNamara - their coffins draped with the Tricolour - were buried side by side with IRA Military Honours in the Republican Plot of Doonbeg.
As both men were captured by British forces following a tip-off, an IRA investigation believed the source to have been, wrongly as it transpired, a local schoolteacher, Patrick Joseph D'Arcy, and in retaliation, he was tried, found guilty and executed on 17 June 1921. (Details of D'Arcy's trial here.)
There were four victims of the 22 September roadblock. However, a further casualty was to be truth.
1922 a book was published anomalously, entitled ‘Tales of the R.I.C’. It was in fact written by Temporary Major Aubrey Waithman-Long, General List while living at Ballina House, Mayo. Long had served in the Auxiliary Division of the RIC. "Tales of the RIC". are a series of anonymous short stories that appeared first in Blackwood's Magazine in 1920 and 1921. Strongly unionist, they are based on episodes in the Royal Irish Constabulary's struggle against the Irish Republican Army during the War of Independence. They begin around the spring of 1920, and end with the truce of July 1921. 'The day will come in Ireland when men will pray to God for a sight of the good old green uniform of the R.I.C. And it will be too late.' There is a chapter entitled ‘The R.M.’ which was a thinly veiled account of the death of Lendrum. The subject of the tale is Mayne a former British Army officer appointed Resident Magistrate. Mayne is ambushed at a railway crossing who shoot him in the head. In the tale Mayne is not dead, they abandon him expecting him to die,but return later to find him still alive. Mayne is then taken to the shore and buried up to his neck in the sand for the tide to kill him. They have to rebury him a second time, he is finally drowned as the next tide. Mayne’s corpse is subsequently found in a coffin on a railway line and one his killers confesses.
In 1959, a book “The Black And Tans” by Richard Bennett, states.“On the day the Black and Tans ran wild in Ennistymon, Lahinch and Milltown Malbay, for example, a party of volunteers a few miles away buried a Resident Magistrate up to his neck in sand, just below high water mark, as they imagined. He had been kidnapped and condemned to death as a traitor, but the appointed executioner had wounded him in the head without killing him. The Volunteers returned the next day to find the victim still alive. They dug him out and buried him further down the beach, where he could watch the next tide advance, to put him slowly out of his misery.”
1961. A book was published “Assassination. The Death Of Sir Henry Wilson And The Tragedy Of Ireland.” by Rex Taylor. Taylor mentions “Alan Lendrum, M.C.” and states: “One morning on his way to the courthouse, he found the level crossing gates closed against him he got out of his car and was shot down. He lay in the road suffering agony from many wounds. Those of the I.R.A. who had shot him, fearful now that he might live to name them as his attackers, carried him down to the foreshore and there buried him while he was still alive. In all the history of Irish sadistic violence there is nothing to equal this atrocity against a gallant and decent man.”
1989 Kevin Myers in the The Irish Times “Alan Lendrum had got out of his car to open the gates of a level crossing. Hidden gunmen shot him down but did not kill him. Finding him wounded but still very much alive, his assailants abducted him and took him to a beach; and there buried him up to his neck in the sand, to await the rising tide and death. Relatives of Alan Lendrum say that the first tide was not enough; so he was duly dug up and buried , still alive, further down, and in due course was drowned.”. But a short time later retracted this with "Presumably one of [Basil] Clark’s more imaginative underlings concocted the fiction that he had been buried up to his neck near the high tide point and left there for the rising sea to drown him. It did not rise high enough so that his I.R.A. captors dug him up and buried him closer to the low water mark where finally the waters drowned him. Now this was not true. The truth was bad enough anyway, but it was not enough for Clark’s imagination. Yet though the story was intended to have a short term anti-I.R.A. value, it continued to surface in various forms throughout the years.”
2000. Richard Abbott in ‘Police Casualties In Ireland 1919 -1922′ “ [Lendrum] was ambushed and wounded between Ennistymon and Ennis, Co. Clare. He was then buried to his neck in the sand on a nearby beach by his attackers. On their return they found that they had buried their victim above the high tide line , so they buried him below it.”
The grisly details on the demise of Captain Lendrum became the accepted truth of what occurred on 22 September 1920. However a recent History Ireland article by Eoin Shanahan (nephew of the IRA West Clare Brigade Chief of Police, Wilie Shanahan) examined the case in more detail. With the assistance of Captain Lendrum's descendants, the discovery that when truth and fiction are blended for propaganda purposes, fiction tends to become the accepted version of events.
Eoin Shanahan writes:
In 1959, a book “The Black And Tans” by Richard Bennett, states.“On the day the Black and Tans ran wild in Ennistymon, Lahinch and Milltown Malbay, for example, a party of volunteers a few miles away buried a Resident Magistrate up to his neck in sand, just below high water mark, as they imagined. He had been kidnapped and condemned to death as a traitor, but the appointed executioner had wounded him in the head without killing him. The Volunteers returned the next day to find the victim still alive. They dug him out and buried him further down the beach, where he could watch the next tide advance, to put him slowly out of his misery.”
1961. A book was published “Assassination. The Death Of Sir Henry Wilson And The Tragedy Of Ireland.” by Rex Taylor. Taylor mentions “Alan Lendrum, M.C.” and states: “One morning on his way to the courthouse, he found the level crossing gates closed against him he got out of his car and was shot down. He lay in the road suffering agony from many wounds. Those of the I.R.A. who had shot him, fearful now that he might live to name them as his attackers, carried him down to the foreshore and there buried him while he was still alive. In all the history of Irish sadistic violence there is nothing to equal this atrocity against a gallant and decent man.”
1989 Kevin Myers in the The Irish Times “Alan Lendrum had got out of his car to open the gates of a level crossing. Hidden gunmen shot him down but did not kill him. Finding him wounded but still very much alive, his assailants abducted him and took him to a beach; and there buried him up to his neck in the sand, to await the rising tide and death. Relatives of Alan Lendrum say that the first tide was not enough; so he was duly dug up and buried , still alive, further down, and in due course was drowned.”. But a short time later retracted this with "Presumably one of [Basil] Clark’s more imaginative underlings concocted the fiction that he had been buried up to his neck near the high tide point and left there for the rising sea to drown him. It did not rise high enough so that his I.R.A. captors dug him up and buried him closer to the low water mark where finally the waters drowned him. Now this was not true. The truth was bad enough anyway, but it was not enough for Clark’s imagination. Yet though the story was intended to have a short term anti-I.R.A. value, it continued to surface in various forms throughout the years.”
2000. Richard Abbott in ‘Police Casualties In Ireland 1919 -1922′ “ [Lendrum] was ambushed and wounded between Ennistymon and Ennis, Co. Clare. He was then buried to his neck in the sand on a nearby beach by his attackers. On their return they found that they had buried their victim above the high tide line , so they buried him below it.”
The grisly details on the demise of Captain Lendrum became the accepted truth of what occurred on 22 September 1920. However a recent History Ireland article by Eoin Shanahan (nephew of the IRA West Clare Brigade Chief of Police, Wilie Shanahan) examined the case in more detail. With the assistance of Captain Lendrum's descendants, the discovery that when truth and fiction are blended for propaganda purposes, fiction tends to become the accepted version of events.
Eoin Shanahan writes:
The first account of the drowning atrocity appeared in the highly regarded Edinburgh-based Blackwood’s Magazine in May 1921 and was loosely based on the ambush and death of Captain Lendrum. Later the same year, the story was reissued by Blackwood’s in Tales of the RIC, a book of anonymous short stories. This was an ideal propaganda vehicle, enjoying wide circulation at home and abroad. An ad in The Fortnightly (vol. 110) declared: ‘Read Tales of the RIC and you will there find THE FACTS and no longer be bored’. The ‘facts’ in question made for gruesome reading: ‘And the next flood tide put an end to a torture the like of which Lenin and Trotsky could hardly exceed for sheer malignant devilry’.
Because it presented a macabre vignette of the callous cruelty of the IRA, this story was retold as fact by successive commentators of varying backgrounds. In 1951 Sir Christopher Lynch Robinson, in The last of the Irish RMs, referred to a magistrate being ‘buried alive in the sands’ in Galway. In The Black and Tans (1959) Richard Bennett repeated the story, listing Tales of the RIC as his source in his bibliography. Rex Taylor’s version in Assassination: the death of Sir Henry Wilson and the tragedy of Ireland (1961) baldly stated that Lendrum was buried alive on the beach: ‘In all the history of Irish sadistic violence, there is nothing to equal this atrocity committed against a gallant and decent man’. The story was recycled through the years in several publications, including Life World Library: Ireland by Joe McCarthy (1964), The Irish constabularies 1822–1922 by Donal J. O’Sullivan (1999) and A history of Ireland by Peter and Fiona Somerset Fry (1991). Tim Pat Coogan in Ireland since the Rising (1966) gave it the full treatment, including the reburial facing the tide. A fictional interlude was provided by best-selling novelist Eilis Dillon, who reintroduced the story in The interloper (1967). ‘I was staying in a house in County Clare . . . The men I was with were rejoicing—that’s the only word I can use—in the lingering death inflicted on a resident magistrate, buried in the sand and left to drown in the rising tide on a desolate shore.’ A character in J. G. Farrell’s highly regarded novel Troubles (1970) is singled out for a similar fate
The content and timing of these accounts of the ‘barbarity’ had a collateral effect in the North. Generations of the magistrate’s relatives and friends may have gone to their graves believing that the horrific drowning had actually happened. In Police casualties in Ireland 1919–1922 (2000) Richard Abbott referred to resultant ‘serious disturbances and lawlessness that spanned both the political and religious divides’ in the North. Arthur Hezlet fleshed out this oblique comment in his The ‘B’ Specials: a history of the Ulster Special Constabulary (1972): ‘In Ulster itself tension was further increased by the murder of Captain Lendrum, a resident magistrate . . . from Trillick in Co. Tyrone’. Hezlet detailed the burial and reburial, followed by the dead body being brutally discarded on a manure heap. He opined: ‘I make no apology for recalling this atrocity . . . for unless some such cases are mentioned it is difficult to understand the pressures and tensions of the time and the hatreds that exist in Ireland to this day’. This work was published in one of the darkest years of the recent Troubles, with close to 500 people losing their lives. In 1989 Kevin Myers, writing with characteristic gusto in the Irish Times, rehashed the standard ‘burial on the beach’ story, although he honourably retracted it later, blaming Basil Clarke and his propaganda machine for the misinformation.
In West Clare, people shrugged off reports of such an atrocity: ‘Sure, everybody knows that didn’t happen’. Nevertheless, there was a sense of helplessness in the absence of definitive proof to the contrary, and the extended families of the men involved had to live with the shadow of this cruel atrocity hanging over them. It was not just outsiders who repeated the story. Fr Patrick Gaynor ministered locally and was a member of the supreme executive of Sinn Féin. His memoirs, written between 1945 and 1949, were published in 2003 as The Gaynors of Tyone by Eamonn Gaynor, who wrote: ‘After a subsequent autopsy the police claimed that he had been buried while still alive, that death was due to drowning’.
Fr Patrick Gaynor, a local Sinn Fein priest and republican police chief commented lated on the killing of Captain Lendrum ‘the incident was not to our credit’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p130
In A history of County Clare (2003) Seán Spellissy gave a similar account. Brian Dinan repeated the ‘burial, reburial and drowning’ account in Clare and its people: a concise history (1987). A recent treatment of the period, Blood on the banner by Padraig Óg Ó Ruairc (2009), stated that Willie Shanahan, ‘thinking Lendrum was already dead, took him to a lake, tied a weight to him and threw him into the water, where the unconscious captain died of drowning’.
Shanahan and McNamara would later suffer ruthless torture of sadistic proportions in direct reprisal. While they were honoured and remembered locally, their actual fate was rarely mentioned in the many publications that had documented the drowning fable.
On 5 October 1920 in Kilrush, in lieu of an inquest, a court of inquiry was held into the death of Captain Lendrum. The death certificate, informed by this court, clearly stated that death resulted from ‘murder by shooting by persons unknown’. This crucial finding was never subsequently mentioned in the proliferating published accounts of the events of that fateful day. And so it transpires after all these years that there was no drowning, no burial alive and no tidal atrocity in Doonbeg in 1920. It has taken almost a century to dispel the fabrications surrounding the death of Alan Lendrum. For some, the wait has been worthwhile. For many, it is too late.
Captain Lendrum's murder quickly passed into local folklore in West Clare. Within a short space of time, there was a belief in the area that Captain Lendrum driving his ghostly car could be seen on the roads late at night, even decades after his killing. In effect, Captain Lendrum had somewhat sadly, become a children's bogeyman. Tomás Mac Conmara in his 2019 book "The Time of the Tans: An Oral History of the War of Independence in County Clare" explains:
Thanks to British Inteligence in Ireland, Eoin Shanahan, RTE, & History Ireland.
Below: RTE television segment on the killings in West Clare 1920. Broadcast November 2011.
New York: Lynch writing to Judge Cohalan (spending the summer months in up-state New York) had some comments on an uncharacteristic lapse of the part of John Devoy in addition to routine items within the Friends offices & network:
Transcript
My Dear Judge
Please wire me tomorrow as to what day you are returning to the city.
It is necessary to have a meeting of the Executive to consider the Constitution & we must have a talk in the meantime.
I daresay you heard from J.D. [John Devoy] re J.K. & Hugh getting him to revise his article on the N/C [National Council] meeting. I subsequently corrected same on questions of [?]
When at 165 yesterday, [Gaelic American Newspaper offices at 165 William Street, NY] he had not arrived & no one told me, then in addition re the article he had also was then an editorial. I was shocked today to find that in the latter he made a deplorable mistake in attributing a scheme to our Massachusetts friends that they never proposed. For the life of me I can't make out how he got the idea of each State Council electing two members on the N/Council. This statement will be used to deadly advantage against him & against the N.Executive, also of course to the end of undermining & ridiculing all his arguments on this and other questions. It is too bad!!
I enclose copy of the petition (which was addressed to the G.A. [Gaelic American newspaper] by Downing) & copy of my letter to Bishop G [Bishop Gallagher of Detroit] with reference to same.
I am also sending you copy of MSS from the Bureau by Garrett O'Connor, Canada. This fellow is N.G. [no good?]. Even if the data were not subject to question, I doubt the advantages or even prospects of such being published by the F.O.I.F.
Kirby has suggested that we send a retainer of $500 to Delahunty. He said that the money had been used requesting Mayors to act re McSweeney. That this work should have been done by the Americans instanced this as another mistake of decentralisation.
Hinted at friendly rivalry between organisations but that these should not be overlapping.
Meeting adjourned after his talk, but one N/C from each state was requested to remain for an Executive session. Will hear about this later, John Murphy was trying to reach you this PM
DL
On the expulsion cases. Dick says this is favourable & I am sending check accordingly.
In your wire you might please say whether Monday or Tuesday night would suit you for the Exec meeting. In the meantime I may send out a circular letter to the Branches giving a few facts about the [consternation?] that the matter had been and is being attended to by the N. Exec. This would discount the campaign of the Kickers who want to get all three Branches worked up.
What do you think?
Sincerely,
DL
23
The London Daily Chronicle. Formerly a ‘Liberal’ newspaper but now one of the mouth-pieces of the ruling Coalition, commented that Balbriggan was only a small town and nothing whatsoever to do with parallels being drawn with the sack of Louvain by German forces during the war. For it’s readers, it detailed just what a ‘town’ was in Ireland, commenting that Balbriggan ‘…has about 2,000 inhabitants, Trim about 1,500, the scenes of the Clare reprisals were a few hundred each. A single main street, a police barracks, one or two places of worship, anything up to a dozen public houses, a few score of small dwelling houses, and possibly, a factory or creamery – that is in Ireland a town. Comparisons with a great populous University city like Louvain are farcical.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 19 November 6, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The RIC reported that the winter concentration of troops be postponed from October 1st to December 1st as they believed now was the time to strike the knock-out blow. ‘if troops go into winter quarters at the end of September, Sinn Fein will flourish in abandoned districts which will then have to be reconquered in the spring’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P209
The postponement order was duly issued. In late September, the IRA captured the document signed by a British Brigadier on the General Staff in Ireland and made public in Dublin and London. ‘The general officer commanding in chief has therefore agreed to suspend the proposal for a winter concentration until after December 1, by which time it is hopes that the Royal Irish Constabulary will have received sufficient reinforcements to enable them to take over control of the areas from which it is desired to withdraw military detachments’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Macready issued a secret order to British troops in Ireland:
“There are indications that the measures recently taken by the Government for the suppression of disorders in Ireland are beginning to bear fruit and have the desired effects in, at any rate, the more moderate sections of Sinn Fein….without being unduly optomistic, the IG hopes that if the pressure is maintained and if certain other measures which they have in view are successful, a great improvement in the situation may take place within the next two months’.
American Commission on Conditions in Ireland. Report, 1921. P1058. Lynch Family Archives.
Macready next released a statement to the Associated Press that if present conditions continued in Ireland ‘the situation might become such that ‘reprisals’ would be necessary’.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 14 October 2, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Major-General Radcliffe told Sir Henry Wilson on the increasing attacks in Ireland: ‘I think the only solution to this problem is to institute a system of ‘official’ reprisals…if there is a definite scheme of reprisals in force, and made known beforehand, it should be easy to get the troops to restrain their unofficial efforts, while all the deterrent effect on Sinn Fein cannot but be inconsiderable’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p93
Sir Henry later makes an entry in his diary saying that Sinn Feiners were being shot by local police "without question or trial … Winston saw very little harm in this but it horrifies me". He also noted that "Tudor made it very clear that the police and the Black and Tans and the 100 Intell: officers are all carrying out reprisal killings".
Questioning the apparent British denial of America’s freedom of the seas, the New York American Newspaper commented ‘American cargo boats are operating between New York and Irish ports. Their success of building up a satisfactory trade communication between the two countries has not escaped the British shipping companies, which have already lodged protest against the competition. It is only a matter of time when an effort will be made to put upon our cargo ships the same embargo now declared upon our passenger ships…must Americans whittle down their own liberty to aid and abet the progromming of a small nation because it aspires to the independence we won 144 years ago’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 14 October 2, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Mickey Rooney, American actor, dancer and entertainer born (d. 2014)
The London Daily Chronicle. Formerly a ‘Liberal’ newspaper but now one of the mouth-pieces of the ruling Coalition, commented that Balbriggan was only a small town and nothing whatsoever to do with parallels being drawn with the sack of Louvain by German forces during the war. For it’s readers, it detailed just what a ‘town’ was in Ireland, commenting that Balbriggan ‘…has about 2,000 inhabitants, Trim about 1,500, the scenes of the Clare reprisals were a few hundred each. A single main street, a police barracks, one or two places of worship, anything up to a dozen public houses, a few score of small dwelling houses, and possibly, a factory or creamery – that is in Ireland a town. Comparisons with a great populous University city like Louvain are farcical.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 19 November 6, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The RIC reported that the winter concentration of troops be postponed from October 1st to December 1st as they believed now was the time to strike the knock-out blow. ‘if troops go into winter quarters at the end of September, Sinn Fein will flourish in abandoned districts which will then have to be reconquered in the spring’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P209
The postponement order was duly issued. In late September, the IRA captured the document signed by a British Brigadier on the General Staff in Ireland and made public in Dublin and London. ‘The general officer commanding in chief has therefore agreed to suspend the proposal for a winter concentration until after December 1, by which time it is hopes that the Royal Irish Constabulary will have received sufficient reinforcements to enable them to take over control of the areas from which it is desired to withdraw military detachments’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Macready issued a secret order to British troops in Ireland:
“There are indications that the measures recently taken by the Government for the suppression of disorders in Ireland are beginning to bear fruit and have the desired effects in, at any rate, the more moderate sections of Sinn Fein….without being unduly optomistic, the IG hopes that if the pressure is maintained and if certain other measures which they have in view are successful, a great improvement in the situation may take place within the next two months’.
American Commission on Conditions in Ireland. Report, 1921. P1058. Lynch Family Archives.
Macready next released a statement to the Associated Press that if present conditions continued in Ireland ‘the situation might become such that ‘reprisals’ would be necessary’.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 14 October 2, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Major-General Radcliffe told Sir Henry Wilson on the increasing attacks in Ireland: ‘I think the only solution to this problem is to institute a system of ‘official’ reprisals…if there is a definite scheme of reprisals in force, and made known beforehand, it should be easy to get the troops to restrain their unofficial efforts, while all the deterrent effect on Sinn Fein cannot but be inconsiderable’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p93
Sir Henry later makes an entry in his diary saying that Sinn Feiners were being shot by local police "without question or trial … Winston saw very little harm in this but it horrifies me". He also noted that "Tudor made it very clear that the police and the Black and Tans and the 100 Intell: officers are all carrying out reprisal killings".
Questioning the apparent British denial of America’s freedom of the seas, the New York American Newspaper commented ‘American cargo boats are operating between New York and Irish ports. Their success of building up a satisfactory trade communication between the two countries has not escaped the British shipping companies, which have already lodged protest against the competition. It is only a matter of time when an effort will be made to put upon our cargo ships the same embargo now declared upon our passenger ships…must Americans whittle down their own liberty to aid and abet the progromming of a small nation because it aspires to the independence we won 144 years ago’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 14 October 2, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Mickey Rooney, American actor, dancer and entertainer born (d. 2014)
24
The Philadelphia Record newspaper went on record with ‘Ireland, in the opinion of the reading public, is independent of British rule. The only thing necessary is for Britain to acknowledge it.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
General Sir Nevil Macready in an interview with American correspondents after the sacking of Balbriggan commented:
‘Punishment for such acts [i.e. reprisals] is a delicate matter, inasmuch as it might be interpreted as setting at naught the hoped for effect of the training the officers had given their men..’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.48
Sir Henry Wilson recorded in his diary that ‘Captain Shore on Tudor’s staff in Dublin had a long talk with Winston and me. Shore talks in the calmest way of murdering the SFs. He told us he had certain SFs marked down and the slightest show of resistance they will be shot…Winston told me that Prime Minister had told Tudor that he (Tudor) could rely on Lloyd George to back him’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p82
Countess Markievicz issued two official documents to the Local Government Boards. One outlined a plan for Conciliation Boards for the arbitration throughout Ireland of ‘such questions as the advance of wages, length of working hours and other questions that may arise between employers and the employed’. The other provided for the cooperation of the Local Boards with the Ministry to procure suitable employment for Irishmen who had resigned from the Royal Irish Constabulary.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 16 October 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Manchester Guardian carried an article on a Black and Tan member that resigned in disgust following the forces destruction of Balbriggan. He stated that he was misled by English advertisments for recruits and, instead of joining a police force as he had been led to believe, he found himself in ‘what looked like a corps of bandits’. As for Balbriggan ‘this is no work for an Englishman. That is why I have come out of them, but Englishmen are misled and I want them to be told the facts’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 17 October 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
W.E.Wylie, the Dublin Castle Legal Advisor in a memo on reprisals, concluded ‘as law advisor to a civil Government I must be no party to ‘hushing up’ the killing of any human being’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 246
Major-General Strickland (1869-1951) GOC 6th Division in Ireland was shot at in the centre of Cork. A botched assassination attempt. ‘Macready thinks had he been killed the soldiers would have broken out and sacked Cork which probably have resulted in the imposition of martial law’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 46
The Philadelphia Record newspaper went on record with ‘Ireland, in the opinion of the reading public, is independent of British rule. The only thing necessary is for Britain to acknowledge it.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
General Sir Nevil Macready in an interview with American correspondents after the sacking of Balbriggan commented:
‘Punishment for such acts [i.e. reprisals] is a delicate matter, inasmuch as it might be interpreted as setting at naught the hoped for effect of the training the officers had given their men..’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.48
Sir Henry Wilson recorded in his diary that ‘Captain Shore on Tudor’s staff in Dublin had a long talk with Winston and me. Shore talks in the calmest way of murdering the SFs. He told us he had certain SFs marked down and the slightest show of resistance they will be shot…Winston told me that Prime Minister had told Tudor that he (Tudor) could rely on Lloyd George to back him’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p82
Countess Markievicz issued two official documents to the Local Government Boards. One outlined a plan for Conciliation Boards for the arbitration throughout Ireland of ‘such questions as the advance of wages, length of working hours and other questions that may arise between employers and the employed’. The other provided for the cooperation of the Local Boards with the Ministry to procure suitable employment for Irishmen who had resigned from the Royal Irish Constabulary.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 16 October 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Manchester Guardian carried an article on a Black and Tan member that resigned in disgust following the forces destruction of Balbriggan. He stated that he was misled by English advertisments for recruits and, instead of joining a police force as he had been led to believe, he found himself in ‘what looked like a corps of bandits’. As for Balbriggan ‘this is no work for an Englishman. That is why I have come out of them, but Englishmen are misled and I want them to be told the facts’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 17 October 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
W.E.Wylie, the Dublin Castle Legal Advisor in a memo on reprisals, concluded ‘as law advisor to a civil Government I must be no party to ‘hushing up’ the killing of any human being’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 246
Major-General Strickland (1869-1951) GOC 6th Division in Ireland was shot at in the centre of Cork. A botched assassination attempt. ‘Macready thinks had he been killed the soldiers would have broken out and sacked Cork which probably have resulted in the imposition of martial law’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 46
Transcript
25
Dublin’s Daily Herald commented on the DMP: ‘The authority of the DMP is nil. Nobody pays the slightest attention to them’
In Dublin Castle around midday, the legal advisor W.E.Wylie spoke with Mark Sturgiss and said that ‘representatives of Dail Eireann had approached him asking for a secret confab to see whether a true could not be patched up pending discussion of peace. W’s reply was that he could not put the British Government view but that he suggested, and vouched for the sincerity of. Anderson and Andy Cope….Anderson said that eh could not meet anybody without first speaking to the CS and that he ought to be given the names of those he would meet. The CS has consented that Anderson alone should, if he liked, see whom he liked when he liked. He said that more than Anderson would be a conference and undesirable.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 45
Sturgiss commented that the representative was Arthur Griffith and had arranged to meet Anderson alone the next day at 11am in the offices of Corrigan Solicitors, 2 St. Andrew’s Street. Corrigan being a long term legal contact of Wylies who had helped defend him following the Rising. Wylie assurred Sturgis that the moderate wing of the Dail wanted ‘a secret confab’. Corrigan was the legal adviser for the Irish National Aid and Dependents Fund and Collins often used a room above his office.
Sturgis also wrote that ‘peasant opinion’ was outraged at the Lord Mayor’s fast blasphemously outlasting that of Christ’s forty days and nights in the desert..’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p87
The New Statesman commented: ‘In Ireland, under existing conditions it is inevitable that the armed forces of the Crown should at times get out of hand. They are compelled to operate in small detachments not always under effective control, and the shooting down of comrades by invisible forces constitutes a provocation which men with arms in their hands find it difficult to resists, no matter how good their discipline. But with the Auxilliary Constable…there is clear evidence that methods of terrorism are adopted less from passion than from policy…’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p79
Another group in the United States that was strongly pro- Irish Republic was the Protestant Friends of Ireland. When the Head of the P.F.I., Dr Mythen received a letter from De Valera suggesting their dissolution, he wrote:
‘your personal animosity to Judge Cohalan is none of my affair...your covert charge against me, that I am permitting the use of the P.F.I. to be simply a tool for the use of Judge Cohalan, is a lie...never once has Judge Cohalan ever in any manner, shape or form, even suggested the manner in which our organisation should be run or what manner of work it should do.’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.393
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter warned its readers that Lord Beaverbrook, ‘owner of the reactionary London Daily Express and former head of the British Ministtry of Information, is again in this country’ and that he was guest of honour at a movie producers lunch in the New York Ritz Carlton, where they were urged to develop a closer relationship with Britian.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 13 September 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The British Admiralty banned all east-bound vessels carrying passengers to enter the harbor of Queenstown,(Cobh).
The New York American Newspaper commented on the Admiralty order: “American cargo boats are operating between New York and Irish ports. Their success in building up a satisfactory trade communication between the two countries has not escaped the British Shipping companies, which have already lodged protest against the competition. It is only a matter of time when an effort will be made to put upon our cargo ships the same embargo now declared upon our passenger ships. Is this denial of our freedom of the seas to be accepted in silence? Must Americans whittle down their own liberty to aid and abet the pogromming of a small nation because it aspires to the independence we won 144 years ago?”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.14 Oct 2, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The growing desire for freedom in other British colonies was beginning to assert itself. The Newsletter carried a brief mention that India was following Ireland’s example with ‘hundreds of India’s men and women…’…simply hurling back their titles and badges of honour to the British king. Mr. M.K.Ghandi, the leader of the movement, has returned his Kaisar-I-Hind Gold Medal, the Zulu War medal and the Boer War medal…’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 13 September 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
General Tudor was widely reported in the American Press as supporting his Black and Tans by saying ‘that the influx of these trained soldiers inured to fighting has been of the utmost value to the police in their most difficult struggle against the elusive and treacherous enemy in indisputable.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Meanwhile, Sir Frederick Maurice stated ‘I believe that the quasi-military police force is an impossible instrument for the restoration of order and that it's existence is making impossible a settlement upon which England and Ireland are fixing their hopes.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Countess Markievicz wrote of McSwiney’s hunger strike to a friend in the United States: ‘There is exhaltation and joy in the fighter’s death, with the passion and glory of the battlefield surging through his veins; but to lie in a prison cell and pay your life out, heartbeat by heartbeat, each one more painful than the last, requires a courage and strength that is God like. We in Ireland, accept his sacrifice humbly and on our knees, praying to almighty God to give us strength as he gave to Terry McSwiney that we too may face up bravely to whatever comes our way.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 16 October 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
A five man RIC patrol is ambushed in the village of Broadford, Co. Clare resulting in the death of one RIC man (Constable Michael Brogan, 41 from Galway) and the wounding of another (Constable Brennan). The IRA party was led by Michael Brennan and included James Hogan (later a professor in UCC). Brennan says that there were only two men in the RIC patrol.
Two RIC men (Constable Thomas Leonard and Constable Carroll) are shot on the Falls Road in Belfast. Constable Leonard later dies from his wounds. First RIC man killed in Belfast (even though 54 people had died in Belfast since July). Riots break out afterwards.
Dublin’s Daily Herald commented on the DMP: ‘The authority of the DMP is nil. Nobody pays the slightest attention to them’
In Dublin Castle around midday, the legal advisor W.E.Wylie spoke with Mark Sturgiss and said that ‘representatives of Dail Eireann had approached him asking for a secret confab to see whether a true could not be patched up pending discussion of peace. W’s reply was that he could not put the British Government view but that he suggested, and vouched for the sincerity of. Anderson and Andy Cope….Anderson said that eh could not meet anybody without first speaking to the CS and that he ought to be given the names of those he would meet. The CS has consented that Anderson alone should, if he liked, see whom he liked when he liked. He said that more than Anderson would be a conference and undesirable.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 45
Sturgiss commented that the representative was Arthur Griffith and had arranged to meet Anderson alone the next day at 11am in the offices of Corrigan Solicitors, 2 St. Andrew’s Street. Corrigan being a long term legal contact of Wylies who had helped defend him following the Rising. Wylie assurred Sturgis that the moderate wing of the Dail wanted ‘a secret confab’. Corrigan was the legal adviser for the Irish National Aid and Dependents Fund and Collins often used a room above his office.
Sturgis also wrote that ‘peasant opinion’ was outraged at the Lord Mayor’s fast blasphemously outlasting that of Christ’s forty days and nights in the desert..’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p87
The New Statesman commented: ‘In Ireland, under existing conditions it is inevitable that the armed forces of the Crown should at times get out of hand. They are compelled to operate in small detachments not always under effective control, and the shooting down of comrades by invisible forces constitutes a provocation which men with arms in their hands find it difficult to resists, no matter how good their discipline. But with the Auxilliary Constable…there is clear evidence that methods of terrorism are adopted less from passion than from policy…’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p79
Another group in the United States that was strongly pro- Irish Republic was the Protestant Friends of Ireland. When the Head of the P.F.I., Dr Mythen received a letter from De Valera suggesting their dissolution, he wrote:
‘your personal animosity to Judge Cohalan is none of my affair...your covert charge against me, that I am permitting the use of the P.F.I. to be simply a tool for the use of Judge Cohalan, is a lie...never once has Judge Cohalan ever in any manner, shape or form, even suggested the manner in which our organisation should be run or what manner of work it should do.’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.393
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter warned its readers that Lord Beaverbrook, ‘owner of the reactionary London Daily Express and former head of the British Ministtry of Information, is again in this country’ and that he was guest of honour at a movie producers lunch in the New York Ritz Carlton, where they were urged to develop a closer relationship with Britian.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 13 September 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The British Admiralty banned all east-bound vessels carrying passengers to enter the harbor of Queenstown,(Cobh).
The New York American Newspaper commented on the Admiralty order: “American cargo boats are operating between New York and Irish ports. Their success in building up a satisfactory trade communication between the two countries has not escaped the British Shipping companies, which have already lodged protest against the competition. It is only a matter of time when an effort will be made to put upon our cargo ships the same embargo now declared upon our passenger ships. Is this denial of our freedom of the seas to be accepted in silence? Must Americans whittle down their own liberty to aid and abet the pogromming of a small nation because it aspires to the independence we won 144 years ago?”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.14 Oct 2, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The growing desire for freedom in other British colonies was beginning to assert itself. The Newsletter carried a brief mention that India was following Ireland’s example with ‘hundreds of India’s men and women…’…simply hurling back their titles and badges of honour to the British king. Mr. M.K.Ghandi, the leader of the movement, has returned his Kaisar-I-Hind Gold Medal, the Zulu War medal and the Boer War medal…’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 13 September 25, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
General Tudor was widely reported in the American Press as supporting his Black and Tans by saying ‘that the influx of these trained soldiers inured to fighting has been of the utmost value to the police in their most difficult struggle against the elusive and treacherous enemy in indisputable.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Meanwhile, Sir Frederick Maurice stated ‘I believe that the quasi-military police force is an impossible instrument for the restoration of order and that it's existence is making impossible a settlement upon which England and Ireland are fixing their hopes.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Countess Markievicz wrote of McSwiney’s hunger strike to a friend in the United States: ‘There is exhaltation and joy in the fighter’s death, with the passion and glory of the battlefield surging through his veins; but to lie in a prison cell and pay your life out, heartbeat by heartbeat, each one more painful than the last, requires a courage and strength that is God like. We in Ireland, accept his sacrifice humbly and on our knees, praying to almighty God to give us strength as he gave to Terry McSwiney that we too may face up bravely to whatever comes our way.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 16 October 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
A five man RIC patrol is ambushed in the village of Broadford, Co. Clare resulting in the death of one RIC man (Constable Michael Brogan, 41 from Galway) and the wounding of another (Constable Brennan). The IRA party was led by Michael Brennan and included James Hogan (later a professor in UCC). Brennan says that there were only two men in the RIC patrol.
Two RIC men (Constable Thomas Leonard and Constable Carroll) are shot on the Falls Road in Belfast. Constable Leonard later dies from his wounds. First RIC man killed in Belfast (even though 54 people had died in Belfast since July). Riots break out afterwards.
26
Griffith met with Wylie but refused to see Anderson until such stage as he received ‘signed statements that the Government would treat Dail Eireann as an equal etc, which W refused at once….Arthur Griffiths sleep had not improved him as so far all has come to nothing…if the sleuths here know that Anderson went to Corregans they will start watching him as they do Andy! W saw Arthur Griffith for a few minutes only and no business done. I don’t know what stampeded AG overnight. It is significant that on Saturday anyway he was willing to talk. It looks as if the pressure on the Quiet Side of Sinn Fein to break away from the gumen was increasing.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 46
Countess Markievicz was arrested by the RIC with three men in car for ‘a trivial motoring offence’, i.e no tail light showing. Mark Sturgis, the Dublin Castle official noted ‘I believe she’s a thorn in the flesh of Sinn Fein , so it may be a pity to take her away from them’…he favoured letting her go ‘ which might, I think, discredit her with everybody’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolotionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922’. P162
However some in the Administration thought otherwise.‘ Winter wants to deport her as an undesirable alien.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 46
In what is taken as a reprisal for the shooting of the two RIC men, early on the morning of the 26th, IRA and IRB man, Eamonn Trodden, is taken from his home on the Falls Road and shot. Later two Sinn Féin members James (Sean) Gaynor (24) and John (Sean) McFadden (24) are shot in their homes – both are from Springfield Rd., Belfast. It is suspected that was RIC involvement in these killings – nationalists came to view them as the first killings masterminded by RIC men District Inspector Nixon and Chief Inspector Harrison. (It is claimed that Harrison and Head Constable Giff were actually involved in the killings with other members of the gang such as Sgt C. Clarke, Sgt Hicks and Sgt. Glover and Constables Golding, Caldwell, Sterrit, Gorden, Cooke, Packenham and Norton also likely to be involved. This information comes from a confidential memo compiled by the Belfast IRA with the help of sympathetic members of the RIC. It is in the Blythe papers in UCD.) According to McDermott, Gaynor was brother of IRA officer Liam Gaynor.
Week long training camp starts for 36 men of the Cork No. 3 brigade (mostly Bandon Battalion) at Clonbouig led by Tom Barry.
Possible meeting between Arthur Griffith and John Anderson in the offices of Corrigan's Solicitors, St Andrew's St., Dublin.
Notices put up in Kilkee that if Capt Lendrum was not returned by 29th, then the villages of Kilkee, Kilrush, Carigaholt, Kilmill and Doonbeg would be burned. On October 1st, Lendrum body is found in a coffin on the railway line near Craggknock station.
In discussing the latest developments of the English reign of terror in Ireland, the Nation (London) printed the following summary of the situation in late September 1920:
“The consequences will be felt for many generations and in many countries. Englishmen at home scarcely realise how large a place our treatment of Ireland occupies in the imagination of other peoples. It happens that the violent changes of the map of Europe since the Armistice have left Ireland the most flagrant modern case of the imposition of a foreign rule on a white nation. For eighteen months the Government has been acting as if it wanted above everything else to make the world realize that that rule was as harsh and illiberal as its worst enemies could wish. Our quarrel with Ireland is passing rapidly, as we warned our leaders two months ago, into the position that our quarrel with the American Colonies occupied in the years preceding the war of independence. Such a prospect none of our neighbours will regard with indifference.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.14 Oct 2, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Griffith met with Wylie but refused to see Anderson until such stage as he received ‘signed statements that the Government would treat Dail Eireann as an equal etc, which W refused at once….Arthur Griffiths sleep had not improved him as so far all has come to nothing…if the sleuths here know that Anderson went to Corregans they will start watching him as they do Andy! W saw Arthur Griffith for a few minutes only and no business done. I don’t know what stampeded AG overnight. It is significant that on Saturday anyway he was willing to talk. It looks as if the pressure on the Quiet Side of Sinn Fein to break away from the gumen was increasing.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 46
Countess Markievicz was arrested by the RIC with three men in car for ‘a trivial motoring offence’, i.e no tail light showing. Mark Sturgis, the Dublin Castle official noted ‘I believe she’s a thorn in the flesh of Sinn Fein , so it may be a pity to take her away from them’…he favoured letting her go ‘ which might, I think, discredit her with everybody’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolotionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922’. P162
However some in the Administration thought otherwise.‘ Winter wants to deport her as an undesirable alien.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 46
In what is taken as a reprisal for the shooting of the two RIC men, early on the morning of the 26th, IRA and IRB man, Eamonn Trodden, is taken from his home on the Falls Road and shot. Later two Sinn Féin members James (Sean) Gaynor (24) and John (Sean) McFadden (24) are shot in their homes – both are from Springfield Rd., Belfast. It is suspected that was RIC involvement in these killings – nationalists came to view them as the first killings masterminded by RIC men District Inspector Nixon and Chief Inspector Harrison. (It is claimed that Harrison and Head Constable Giff were actually involved in the killings with other members of the gang such as Sgt C. Clarke, Sgt Hicks and Sgt. Glover and Constables Golding, Caldwell, Sterrit, Gorden, Cooke, Packenham and Norton also likely to be involved. This information comes from a confidential memo compiled by the Belfast IRA with the help of sympathetic members of the RIC. It is in the Blythe papers in UCD.) According to McDermott, Gaynor was brother of IRA officer Liam Gaynor.
Week long training camp starts for 36 men of the Cork No. 3 brigade (mostly Bandon Battalion) at Clonbouig led by Tom Barry.
Possible meeting between Arthur Griffith and John Anderson in the offices of Corrigan's Solicitors, St Andrew's St., Dublin.
Notices put up in Kilkee that if Capt Lendrum was not returned by 29th, then the villages of Kilkee, Kilrush, Carigaholt, Kilmill and Doonbeg would be burned. On October 1st, Lendrum body is found in a coffin on the railway line near Craggknock station.
In discussing the latest developments of the English reign of terror in Ireland, the Nation (London) printed the following summary of the situation in late September 1920:
“The consequences will be felt for many generations and in many countries. Englishmen at home scarcely realise how large a place our treatment of Ireland occupies in the imagination of other peoples. It happens that the violent changes of the map of Europe since the Armistice have left Ireland the most flagrant modern case of the imposition of a foreign rule on a white nation. For eighteen months the Government has been acting as if it wanted above everything else to make the world realize that that rule was as harsh and illiberal as its worst enemies could wish. Our quarrel with Ireland is passing rapidly, as we warned our leaders two months ago, into the position that our quarrel with the American Colonies occupied in the years preceding the war of independence. Such a prospect none of our neighbours will regard with indifference.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.14 Oct 2, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
27
The ‘White Cross’ Project was formed in the United States to provide support and care for the victims of the military campaign in Ireland.
The Newsletter thundered ‘The arrest of Countess Markievicz is one of the most signal instances of the deliberate English suppression of all constructive work in Ireland.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 16 October 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Following the raid of the military barracks in Mallow by Liam Lynch which resulted in 37 rifles, ammunition and freeing of prisoners , the town was raided by British soldiers. The Military Barracks was the only barracks to be taken by the IRA during the War of Independence. Unusually, it was the Auxilliaries that moved in to the town, restoring order and removing the military.
One witness commented on British forces in Mallow: ‘The first thing they did was to fire revolver shots and rifle shots about the town. Next they raided some of the public houses and looted them and got drunk.”
Frank Dempsey, Chairman Mallow Urban Council in evidence before the American Commission on Ireland. Interim Report, 1921. P18. Lynch Family Archives.
‘Balfour the politician and Balfour the philosopher appeared to reason on two different planes’ claimed the Newsletter reporting on his speech to the Internaional Congress of Philosophy in Oxford. There, Balfour argued cogently for the principles of nationality, that these lie with the people who have a conciousness of their nationality and in whom this conciousness is highly developed. However, Balfour the politician with other member sof the British cabinet, ‘subscribes to a policy of force and systematic supression in Ireland.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 17 October 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
General Macready submitted a memorandum titled ‘Military Appreciation of the Situation in Ireland’ recommending either immediate martial law or internment under military custody of the active heads of the IRA. This was reasoned as a legal alternative to what had become indiscriminate reprisals by British troops. However both Macready and Tudor advised that they would be unable to control their armed forces should a senior commander be killed, including the possibility of the sacking of Dublin.
R.I.C. sergeant Martin Morgan (44) shot in an ambush while cycling to his barracks in Newtown County Waterford.
Nationalists attack returning shipyard workers in the Marrowbone district of Belfast, sniping breaks out and two Protestants – Frederick Barr (44) and John Lawther (19) – received fatal wounds. (McDermott says Lawther shot by Catholic gunmen on the 29th.)
RIC reprisals in Trim, Co Meath
Polish–Soviet War: Bolshevist Russia sues for peace with Poland.
William Conrad, American actor, film director and producer born (d. 1994)
The ‘White Cross’ Project was formed in the United States to provide support and care for the victims of the military campaign in Ireland.
The Newsletter thundered ‘The arrest of Countess Markievicz is one of the most signal instances of the deliberate English suppression of all constructive work in Ireland.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 16 October 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Following the raid of the military barracks in Mallow by Liam Lynch which resulted in 37 rifles, ammunition and freeing of prisoners , the town was raided by British soldiers. The Military Barracks was the only barracks to be taken by the IRA during the War of Independence. Unusually, it was the Auxilliaries that moved in to the town, restoring order and removing the military.
One witness commented on British forces in Mallow: ‘The first thing they did was to fire revolver shots and rifle shots about the town. Next they raided some of the public houses and looted them and got drunk.”
Frank Dempsey, Chairman Mallow Urban Council in evidence before the American Commission on Ireland. Interim Report, 1921. P18. Lynch Family Archives.
‘Balfour the politician and Balfour the philosopher appeared to reason on two different planes’ claimed the Newsletter reporting on his speech to the Internaional Congress of Philosophy in Oxford. There, Balfour argued cogently for the principles of nationality, that these lie with the people who have a conciousness of their nationality and in whom this conciousness is highly developed. However, Balfour the politician with other member sof the British cabinet, ‘subscribes to a policy of force and systematic supression in Ireland.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 17 October 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
General Macready submitted a memorandum titled ‘Military Appreciation of the Situation in Ireland’ recommending either immediate martial law or internment under military custody of the active heads of the IRA. This was reasoned as a legal alternative to what had become indiscriminate reprisals by British troops. However both Macready and Tudor advised that they would be unable to control their armed forces should a senior commander be killed, including the possibility of the sacking of Dublin.
R.I.C. sergeant Martin Morgan (44) shot in an ambush while cycling to his barracks in Newtown County Waterford.
Nationalists attack returning shipyard workers in the Marrowbone district of Belfast, sniping breaks out and two Protestants – Frederick Barr (44) and John Lawther (19) – received fatal wounds. (McDermott says Lawther shot by Catholic gunmen on the 29th.)
RIC reprisals in Trim, Co Meath
Polish–Soviet War: Bolshevist Russia sues for peace with Poland.
William Conrad, American actor, film director and producer born (d. 1994)
28
As part of his regular dispatch to the US Secretary of State, F.T.F.Dumont, the US Consul in Dublin wrote:
‘The bitterness of feeling in Ireland leads to horrors that can hardly be surpassed in a civilised country...there is no doubt that the ill feeling between the two sides grows day by day and that much trouble will follow in the next few weeks. This is the normal result of enlisting British ex-servicemen for the Royal Irish Constabulary. These men, habituated to scenes of bloodshed in the Great War, are not policemen. They are entirely without sympathy for the Irish aspirations and enlisted in the constabulary for the adventure and excitement of the life... the Black and Tans of today dominate and terrorise...when all is said and done, and without regard to old quarrels between the Irish and Great Britain, the British Government is responsible for the present condition of affairs in Ireland… resignations of police, justices of the peace, commisioners for oaths, etc continue on a heavy scale…’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.407
In a statement to the press, Sir Hamar Greenwood said ‘There is no truth in the allegation that the Government connives at or supports reprisals. The Government condemns reprisals and has issued order condemning them and has taken steps to prevent them… the number of reprisals in few and the damage done is exaggerated’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p.176-77
The Deputy Inspector General of the RIC (C. A. Walsh) issues a circular on Alleged Acts of Reprisals by Police and Soldiers saying that it deprecated the destruction of buildings but that use of weapons when threatened was only legitimate self-defence. It also states that it is the duty of the police “to hunt down murderers by every means in their power”. It goes onto say that "The police will be fully supported and protected in the discharge oh their duties by every means available". Townshend calls the RIC order "positively ambiguous".
Equally, Sinn Fein had remarkable success in organising foreign journalists and taking them on tours of areas, factories and buildings that had been destroyed by security forces, which became known in Dublin Castle as ‘The Republican Scenic Railway’
Reprisals were to gather momentum during October 1920 and the remainder of the year. Abbott attributes this to the influx of new, temporary short service recruits from Britain ‘The ultimate threat of dismissal, the policeman’s most serious punishment, had no terror for these new recruits who had joined up in an emergency and were not embarking on a career with pension rights…’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p.173
Mallow: disturbances in the north Cork town when a raid on a military barracks by Liam Lynch and Ernie O'Malley is followed by a sack of the town by British soldiers.
“Shoeless" Joe Jackson and 7 other members of the Chicago White Sox baseball team are accused of conspiring to lose the 1919 World Series as part of a deal with gamblers. On September 28, 1920, three players confessed and implicated the other five before a grand jury. On Nov. 12, 1920, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis is appointed baseball commissioner, and is granted dictatorial control to restore the game's reputation. On August 2, 1921, a Chicago jury acquits the players of wrongdoing, but commissioner Landis ignores the court and bans Jackson and other Chicago players from baseball for life.
As part of his regular dispatch to the US Secretary of State, F.T.F.Dumont, the US Consul in Dublin wrote:
‘The bitterness of feeling in Ireland leads to horrors that can hardly be surpassed in a civilised country...there is no doubt that the ill feeling between the two sides grows day by day and that much trouble will follow in the next few weeks. This is the normal result of enlisting British ex-servicemen for the Royal Irish Constabulary. These men, habituated to scenes of bloodshed in the Great War, are not policemen. They are entirely without sympathy for the Irish aspirations and enlisted in the constabulary for the adventure and excitement of the life... the Black and Tans of today dominate and terrorise...when all is said and done, and without regard to old quarrels between the Irish and Great Britain, the British Government is responsible for the present condition of affairs in Ireland… resignations of police, justices of the peace, commisioners for oaths, etc continue on a heavy scale…’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.407
In a statement to the press, Sir Hamar Greenwood said ‘There is no truth in the allegation that the Government connives at or supports reprisals. The Government condemns reprisals and has issued order condemning them and has taken steps to prevent them… the number of reprisals in few and the damage done is exaggerated’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p.176-77
The Deputy Inspector General of the RIC (C. A. Walsh) issues a circular on Alleged Acts of Reprisals by Police and Soldiers saying that it deprecated the destruction of buildings but that use of weapons when threatened was only legitimate self-defence. It also states that it is the duty of the police “to hunt down murderers by every means in their power”. It goes onto say that "The police will be fully supported and protected in the discharge oh their duties by every means available". Townshend calls the RIC order "positively ambiguous".
Equally, Sinn Fein had remarkable success in organising foreign journalists and taking them on tours of areas, factories and buildings that had been destroyed by security forces, which became known in Dublin Castle as ‘The Republican Scenic Railway’
Reprisals were to gather momentum during October 1920 and the remainder of the year. Abbott attributes this to the influx of new, temporary short service recruits from Britain ‘The ultimate threat of dismissal, the policeman’s most serious punishment, had no terror for these new recruits who had joined up in an emergency and were not embarking on a career with pension rights…’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p.173
Mallow: disturbances in the north Cork town when a raid on a military barracks by Liam Lynch and Ernie O'Malley is followed by a sack of the town by British soldiers.
“Shoeless" Joe Jackson and 7 other members of the Chicago White Sox baseball team are accused of conspiring to lose the 1919 World Series as part of a deal with gamblers. On September 28, 1920, three players confessed and implicated the other five before a grand jury. On Nov. 12, 1920, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis is appointed baseball commissioner, and is granted dictatorial control to restore the game's reputation. On August 2, 1921, a Chicago jury acquits the players of wrongdoing, but commissioner Landis ignores the court and bans Jackson and other Chicago players from baseball for life.
29
Several of the Ulster delegates who had visited the US earlier in 1920, sent a message ‘to their friends in America to thank them for what they had done for them in the past and to say that they were trusting them to help in the future in case of need’. The Newsletter commented that ‘nothing could be a more direct insult to the great body of Protestant opinion in the United States which has nothing but scorn for the effort of English intrigue to create and forster religious intolerance in Ulster.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Mark Sturgiss’ diary holds the following comments on the senior executive in the British administration of Ireland: ‘The Lord Chancellor is a poltroon of the most contemptible dye – does nothing and apparently thinks of nothing but the best way to show Sinn Fein that he is neutral and passive – a coward and a shirker, and by God a thief too since he continues to draw his salary. The Attorney General sits in London afraid to set foot in Ireland and the Solicitor General is a fool. Wylie is the only member of the legal big wigs who faces the music except the Chief Crown Solicitor, and as such may loose his life. The CS has promised to make him a judge ‘when he has finished his job’.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 48
Countess Markiewicz was still imprisoned but with nothing substantial to charge her with other than the motoring offence. ‘I am strongly for letting her go as not worth keeping which might I think, discredit her with everybody. ..of course Tudor, Winter and Co will have fits if she is released….’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 48
Basil Clarke, the Castle’s head of the News Bureau requested to resign following the Mallow reprisals. He had just told the Daily Mail that reprisals would not take place when the Mallow shootings occurred. Withdrawn the following day.
The Chief Secretary Sir Hamar Greenwood was recalled to London for a cabinet briefing.
Constables Terence Flood (35) from Leitrim and Edward Noonan (26) a Black and Tan from Galway were killed in an ambush at Killoskehan, Templemore, Co. Tipperary.
Constables John Downey (35) from Cork and John Keefe (30) from Clare were killed outside a pub in O’Brien’s Bridge, Co. Clare. Downey was about to resign from the RIC
The first domestic radio sets come to stores in the United States; a Westinghouse radio costs $10.
Austria: Adolf Hitler makes his first public political appearance, with speeches in Vienna, Innsbruck, and Salzburg
Several of the Ulster delegates who had visited the US earlier in 1920, sent a message ‘to their friends in America to thank them for what they had done for them in the past and to say that they were trusting them to help in the future in case of need’. The Newsletter commented that ‘nothing could be a more direct insult to the great body of Protestant opinion in the United States which has nothing but scorn for the effort of English intrigue to create and forster religious intolerance in Ulster.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Mark Sturgiss’ diary holds the following comments on the senior executive in the British administration of Ireland: ‘The Lord Chancellor is a poltroon of the most contemptible dye – does nothing and apparently thinks of nothing but the best way to show Sinn Fein that he is neutral and passive – a coward and a shirker, and by God a thief too since he continues to draw his salary. The Attorney General sits in London afraid to set foot in Ireland and the Solicitor General is a fool. Wylie is the only member of the legal big wigs who faces the music except the Chief Crown Solicitor, and as such may loose his life. The CS has promised to make him a judge ‘when he has finished his job’.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 48
Countess Markiewicz was still imprisoned but with nothing substantial to charge her with other than the motoring offence. ‘I am strongly for letting her go as not worth keeping which might I think, discredit her with everybody. ..of course Tudor, Winter and Co will have fits if she is released….’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 48
Basil Clarke, the Castle’s head of the News Bureau requested to resign following the Mallow reprisals. He had just told the Daily Mail that reprisals would not take place when the Mallow shootings occurred. Withdrawn the following day.
The Chief Secretary Sir Hamar Greenwood was recalled to London for a cabinet briefing.
Constables Terence Flood (35) from Leitrim and Edward Noonan (26) a Black and Tan from Galway were killed in an ambush at Killoskehan, Templemore, Co. Tipperary.
Constables John Downey (35) from Cork and John Keefe (30) from Clare were killed outside a pub in O’Brien’s Bridge, Co. Clare. Downey was about to resign from the RIC
The first domestic radio sets come to stores in the United States; a Westinghouse radio costs $10.
Austria: Adolf Hitler makes his first public political appearance, with speeches in Vienna, Innsbruck, and Salzburg
30
RA raid on the Trim Co Meath RIC barracks leads to reprisal sacking of the town by Crown forces.
De Valera in a letter to President Wilson demanded complete Irish independence and a British withdrawal.
Griffith echoed publicly de Valera’s comments on 16th September, advocating a treaty that would provide self-Government while meeting Britain’s security needs.
Sir Hamar Greenwood addressed the RIC at their depot in the Phoenix Park, the majority of his speech touching on reprisals by police and soldiers: ‘Many reports have appeared in the press of alleged acts of reprisal by police and soldiers. These accounts are gnerally thoroughly misleading and often misrepresent acts of justifiable self-defence as reprislas; but there are cases in which unjustifiable action has undoubtedly been taken. These cases are being carefully investigated. Meanwhile it is necessary to repeat and emphasise that reprisals will ruin the discipline of the force and cannot be countenanced by those in authority. The great provocation under which men suffer who see their comrades and friends foully murdered is fully recognised, but the police are urged to maintain, in spite of this provocation, that self control which has characterised the Force in the past. By doing so they will earn the respect and admiration of the majority of their fellow countrymen… it must, however, be made clear to all ranks that the effective use of weapons when threatened or attacked is only legitimate self defence and that is it their duty to hunt down murderers by every means in their power…’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p.173-74
Sir Hamar Greenwood speech to members of the RIC was reported in the New York World: ‘The Chief Secretary dwelt upon the provocation which had been given the police…he congratulated the men upon their general maintenance of discipline’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Friends Newsletter commented on British policy in Ireland and on Greenwoods speech:
"When the American press first began to publish stories of the reign of frightfulness which has been let loose in Ireland by the English Government, when stories began to filter into the United States through the daily news papers of the wholesale burning of towns and the unrestricted murder of innocent citizens, many of them women and children, the facts presented in the papers were invariably accompanied by the statement that the English ministers and the English press had been swift in their denunciation of these outrages.
It should now be clear to every reader of the daily news that this is by no means the case. That the English Government not only approves of these horrible acts but encourages them as a part of the campaign into which it has allowed its war against the Irish people to degenerate is undeniable. Of the principal English daily publications, to which the world is accustomed to look for the expression of English sentiment there are only three which have condemned the outrages perpetrated in Ireland by the armed forces of England in one uniform or another: The Times, the Manchester Guardian and to a lesser extent the London Daily News. And of these at least two are not above the suspicion of using events in Ireland for the purpose of party recriminations in English politics. Ministerial complicity in this campaign of licensed atrocity in Ireland, as the Manchester Guardian has pointed out, is clearly enough shown by the virtual silence of Lloyd George and every responsible Minister while more than a hundred Irish towns have been despoiled by arson, wreckage and murder carefully organized by English troops.
Meanwhile Sir Hamar Greenwood is not, as English press dispatches to this country seek to suggest, condemning “reprisals' in any tone which is calculated to compel obedience. The opposite seems to be nearer the truth. Take, for example, the reports of his speech to members of the R. I. C. on Sep tember 30. The account in the New York World begins with this phrase: “The Chief Secretary dwelt upon the provocation which had been given the police.He congratulated the men upon their general maintenance of discipline.” In the direct quotation which follows there are two sentences which say that “‘reprisals' ruin discipline” and “will not be countenanced.” On the other hand there is a second reference to great “provocation”; a statement that accounts of reprisals are “misrepresented cases of self-protection”; a commendation of the “self-control” of the force and a final promise that they have the support of the Government in their “difficult and dangerous duty”. Any school-boy who has read his Julius Caesar and studied Marc Anthony’s oration knows the trick on which this speech is based. And yet the newspaper heading used for it is: “Warns Police Against Reprisals”.
General Tudor's defense of his Black and Tans makes interesting reading. He is reported in the American press as saying: “That the influx of these trained soldiers inured to fighting has been of the utmost value to the police in their most difficult struggle against the elusive and treacherous enemy is indisputable.” It is obvious that any denial of outrages is futile after this damaging admission that “trained soldiers inured to fighting” have been brought into Ireland by the thousands upon the pretext that they are needed for police duty.
In this connection the statement of Sir Frederick Maurice upon the militarization of police is interesting: “I believe that the quasi-military police force is an impossible instrument for the restoration of order and that its existence is making impossible a settlement upon which England and Ireland are fixing their hopes.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.15 Oct 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Lord Grey, in a letter to the Westminster Gazette, commented that it appeared as if British rule in Ireland was an abject failure. ‘The Government of Ireland has never been such a reproach and discredit to British statesmanship as it is today…the British administation, in fact, is exhibiting the helplessness of an extremely feeble Government…..to this we have come after centuries of British rule.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The London Times admitted that ‘No Government can conceal from the Irish people the immense progress their cause has made and is making in this country and overseas. Ireland may conclude that she can wait and that the Government cannot.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
‘Hunger strikers, all alive O, have faded into insignificance as a topic beside reprisals. There is no doubt we have benefitted by them to some extent but they are not really possible without martial law to regularise them. Yet we have been driven into repudiating them and saying they will be stopped. If they stop, Sinn Fein stock will rise higher than if they had never been, unless the big wigs in London find a substitute which will satisfy the ‘armed forces’ and have an equally discouraging effect on the gunmen…’ On the subject of the RIC and military sackings; ‘burning is idiotic and a little quiet shooting effective – and to shoot a known bad man who, if he hasn’t just shot your comrade, has no doubt shot somebody else, is morally more defensible than this stupid blind work’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 49-50
Detective Inspector James Brady (22) from Dublin was killed when the IRA ambushed an RIC lorry patrol in Chaffpool, Co. Sligo while on a final tour of the area before returning to his permanent station in Ballymoney, Co. Antrim the next day.
Major reprisals by RIC including the burning of a creamery in Tubbercurry, Co Sligo after District Inspector James Brady was killed in an ambush by IRA (led by Frank Carty) at Chaffpool between Bunnadden and Tubbercuury. Sgt O'Hara also seriously injured.
Trim RIC barracks attacked and captured by Meath Brigade IRA (including Sean Boylan) early on a Sunday morning. Twenty rifles, twenty shotguns, six revolvers, a box of grenades and ammunition for all arms taken. A large number of houses and shops in Trim are subsequently burned and a number of people ill-treated by the RIC. Kit Lynam, O/C 1st (Dunboyne) Battalion, Mick Hynes and Patrick Mooney (V/C and O/C 2nd (Trim) Battalion respectively) also involved in attack.
‘Little Tommy’, a British spy dressed as a tramp, is captured by the IRA and killed at Knockmore, Co. Carlow.
By month’s end, attempts to suppers news of reprisals and killings in Ireland were unsuccessful as reports filtered through of Government sponsored and approved attacks on civilian targets throughout Ireland. The economic war against the population continued, with burnings of Co-Operative creameries, factories etc.
The official newsletter of Dail Eireann, ‘The Irish Bulletin’ continued to appear and was published in French and Spanish for distribution throughout Europe. The Friends of Irish Freedom Bulletin continued publication in the US, along with Dr Patrick McCartan, publicising the Irish situation.
RA raid on the Trim Co Meath RIC barracks leads to reprisal sacking of the town by Crown forces.
De Valera in a letter to President Wilson demanded complete Irish independence and a British withdrawal.
Griffith echoed publicly de Valera’s comments on 16th September, advocating a treaty that would provide self-Government while meeting Britain’s security needs.
Sir Hamar Greenwood addressed the RIC at their depot in the Phoenix Park, the majority of his speech touching on reprisals by police and soldiers: ‘Many reports have appeared in the press of alleged acts of reprisal by police and soldiers. These accounts are gnerally thoroughly misleading and often misrepresent acts of justifiable self-defence as reprislas; but there are cases in which unjustifiable action has undoubtedly been taken. These cases are being carefully investigated. Meanwhile it is necessary to repeat and emphasise that reprisals will ruin the discipline of the force and cannot be countenanced by those in authority. The great provocation under which men suffer who see their comrades and friends foully murdered is fully recognised, but the police are urged to maintain, in spite of this provocation, that self control which has characterised the Force in the past. By doing so they will earn the respect and admiration of the majority of their fellow countrymen… it must, however, be made clear to all ranks that the effective use of weapons when threatened or attacked is only legitimate self defence and that is it their duty to hunt down murderers by every means in their power…’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p.173-74
Sir Hamar Greenwood speech to members of the RIC was reported in the New York World: ‘The Chief Secretary dwelt upon the provocation which had been given the police…he congratulated the men upon their general maintenance of discipline’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Friends Newsletter commented on British policy in Ireland and on Greenwoods speech:
"When the American press first began to publish stories of the reign of frightfulness which has been let loose in Ireland by the English Government, when stories began to filter into the United States through the daily news papers of the wholesale burning of towns and the unrestricted murder of innocent citizens, many of them women and children, the facts presented in the papers were invariably accompanied by the statement that the English ministers and the English press had been swift in their denunciation of these outrages.
It should now be clear to every reader of the daily news that this is by no means the case. That the English Government not only approves of these horrible acts but encourages them as a part of the campaign into which it has allowed its war against the Irish people to degenerate is undeniable. Of the principal English daily publications, to which the world is accustomed to look for the expression of English sentiment there are only three which have condemned the outrages perpetrated in Ireland by the armed forces of England in one uniform or another: The Times, the Manchester Guardian and to a lesser extent the London Daily News. And of these at least two are not above the suspicion of using events in Ireland for the purpose of party recriminations in English politics. Ministerial complicity in this campaign of licensed atrocity in Ireland, as the Manchester Guardian has pointed out, is clearly enough shown by the virtual silence of Lloyd George and every responsible Minister while more than a hundred Irish towns have been despoiled by arson, wreckage and murder carefully organized by English troops.
Meanwhile Sir Hamar Greenwood is not, as English press dispatches to this country seek to suggest, condemning “reprisals' in any tone which is calculated to compel obedience. The opposite seems to be nearer the truth. Take, for example, the reports of his speech to members of the R. I. C. on Sep tember 30. The account in the New York World begins with this phrase: “The Chief Secretary dwelt upon the provocation which had been given the police.He congratulated the men upon their general maintenance of discipline.” In the direct quotation which follows there are two sentences which say that “‘reprisals' ruin discipline” and “will not be countenanced.” On the other hand there is a second reference to great “provocation”; a statement that accounts of reprisals are “misrepresented cases of self-protection”; a commendation of the “self-control” of the force and a final promise that they have the support of the Government in their “difficult and dangerous duty”. Any school-boy who has read his Julius Caesar and studied Marc Anthony’s oration knows the trick on which this speech is based. And yet the newspaper heading used for it is: “Warns Police Against Reprisals”.
General Tudor's defense of his Black and Tans makes interesting reading. He is reported in the American press as saying: “That the influx of these trained soldiers inured to fighting has been of the utmost value to the police in their most difficult struggle against the elusive and treacherous enemy is indisputable.” It is obvious that any denial of outrages is futile after this damaging admission that “trained soldiers inured to fighting” have been brought into Ireland by the thousands upon the pretext that they are needed for police duty.
In this connection the statement of Sir Frederick Maurice upon the militarization of police is interesting: “I believe that the quasi-military police force is an impossible instrument for the restoration of order and that its existence is making impossible a settlement upon which England and Ireland are fixing their hopes.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.15 Oct 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Lord Grey, in a letter to the Westminster Gazette, commented that it appeared as if British rule in Ireland was an abject failure. ‘The Government of Ireland has never been such a reproach and discredit to British statesmanship as it is today…the British administation, in fact, is exhibiting the helplessness of an extremely feeble Government…..to this we have come after centuries of British rule.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The London Times admitted that ‘No Government can conceal from the Irish people the immense progress their cause has made and is making in this country and overseas. Ireland may conclude that she can wait and that the Government cannot.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
‘Hunger strikers, all alive O, have faded into insignificance as a topic beside reprisals. There is no doubt we have benefitted by them to some extent but they are not really possible without martial law to regularise them. Yet we have been driven into repudiating them and saying they will be stopped. If they stop, Sinn Fein stock will rise higher than if they had never been, unless the big wigs in London find a substitute which will satisfy the ‘armed forces’ and have an equally discouraging effect on the gunmen…’ On the subject of the RIC and military sackings; ‘burning is idiotic and a little quiet shooting effective – and to shoot a known bad man who, if he hasn’t just shot your comrade, has no doubt shot somebody else, is morally more defensible than this stupid blind work’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 49-50
Detective Inspector James Brady (22) from Dublin was killed when the IRA ambushed an RIC lorry patrol in Chaffpool, Co. Sligo while on a final tour of the area before returning to his permanent station in Ballymoney, Co. Antrim the next day.
Major reprisals by RIC including the burning of a creamery in Tubbercurry, Co Sligo after District Inspector James Brady was killed in an ambush by IRA (led by Frank Carty) at Chaffpool between Bunnadden and Tubbercuury. Sgt O'Hara also seriously injured.
Trim RIC barracks attacked and captured by Meath Brigade IRA (including Sean Boylan) early on a Sunday morning. Twenty rifles, twenty shotguns, six revolvers, a box of grenades and ammunition for all arms taken. A large number of houses and shops in Trim are subsequently burned and a number of people ill-treated by the RIC. Kit Lynam, O/C 1st (Dunboyne) Battalion, Mick Hynes and Patrick Mooney (V/C and O/C 2nd (Trim) Battalion respectively) also involved in attack.
‘Little Tommy’, a British spy dressed as a tramp, is captured by the IRA and killed at Knockmore, Co. Carlow.
By month’s end, attempts to suppers news of reprisals and killings in Ireland were unsuccessful as reports filtered through of Government sponsored and approved attacks on civilian targets throughout Ireland. The economic war against the population continued, with burnings of Co-Operative creameries, factories etc.
The official newsletter of Dail Eireann, ‘The Irish Bulletin’ continued to appear and was published in French and Spanish for distribution throughout Europe. The Friends of Irish Freedom Bulletin continued publication in the US, along with Dr Patrick McCartan, publicising the Irish situation.
1
Arthur Griffith charged the British Administration in Ireland with plotting to assassinate the leaders of Dail Eireann. ‘according to Dumont, the documents that Griffith showed him about this plan ‘would not have been accepted by a child’ However Dumont felt that "the real danger was that the ‘physical force’ section of Sinn Fein might kill him, the authorities had considered giving him a guard."
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P215
Dublin Castle’s Mark Sturgiss comments that in Griffiths statement ‘he also quotes from a Military document dropped by aerial post in the wrong place by incredible stupidity. Macready is furious and wants the 2 airmen courtmartialled.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 50
Sturgis recorded Andy Cope’s view of reprisals: ‘if this is so it’s tragic, that these men cannot see that indiscriminate burning is idiotic and a little quite shooting equally effective – and to shoot a know bad man, who, if he hasn’t just shot your comrade, has no doubt shot aombody else, ir morally more defensible that this stupid blind work..’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p82
RIC Detective Inspector Brady, ex of the Irish Guards was killed in Tubercurry, Co. Sligo.
The Military Court sitting on the inquest into two men killed in Balbriggan ‘brought in a verdict that they were stabbed not by bayonets but by some sharp instrument like a knife by unknown members of the police – this is pretty nasty. I wonder if it will be made public’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 50
Certain elements in the British press carried charges that Ireland was fighting hand in glove with the Bolsheviks. ‘the extent of the Red terror prevailing in Ireland has been concealed from the British public by the deliberate, systematic interference of operators, holding Sinn Fein views, with telegraphic communication between England and Ireland’
The Newsletter scoffed at such implications, adding that ‘at least 95% of the Irish news in the English press bore the imprimatur of Dublin Castle and was in facr prepared by it's large corps of official propagandists. Dublin Castle has descended to the most obvious lyign statements to excuse it's systematic campaign of destruction.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Times reported ‘The name of England is being sullied throughout the Empire and throughout the world by this savagery for which the Government can no longer escape, however much they may seek to disclaim responsibility’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p.176
The Daily Mail comments that ‘Britain, France, the Continent, America…half the world is coming to feel that our Government is condoning vendeatta and turning a blind eye upon the execution of lawless reprisals…the slur on our nation’s good name becomes insufferable..’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p81
One month after his release from prison for anti-Government statements in Ulster, Charles Diamond, editor of the English Catholic Herald was back in the news again, this time in a letter to the Paris Match on Sir Edward Carson: ‘Carson and Carsonsim are the expression of everything that is anti-liberal and anti-democratic and anti-progressive. The leopard cannot change his spots’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Shady investment entrepreneur Charles Ponzi is indicted on multiple fraud counts in the US, and the term "Ponzi Scheme" is coined to refer to pyramid scams.
Two British soldiers killed in an action near Drumcrondra bridge in Dublin.
John Connolly is shot dead by members of the Essex Regiment in Castle Bernard Park, Bandon, Co. Cork.
Walter Matthau, American actor born (d. 2000)
Arthur Griffith charged the British Administration in Ireland with plotting to assassinate the leaders of Dail Eireann. ‘according to Dumont, the documents that Griffith showed him about this plan ‘would not have been accepted by a child’ However Dumont felt that "the real danger was that the ‘physical force’ section of Sinn Fein might kill him, the authorities had considered giving him a guard."
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P215
Dublin Castle’s Mark Sturgiss comments that in Griffiths statement ‘he also quotes from a Military document dropped by aerial post in the wrong place by incredible stupidity. Macready is furious and wants the 2 airmen courtmartialled.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 50
Sturgis recorded Andy Cope’s view of reprisals: ‘if this is so it’s tragic, that these men cannot see that indiscriminate burning is idiotic and a little quite shooting equally effective – and to shoot a know bad man, who, if he hasn’t just shot your comrade, has no doubt shot aombody else, ir morally more defensible that this stupid blind work..’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p82
RIC Detective Inspector Brady, ex of the Irish Guards was killed in Tubercurry, Co. Sligo.
The Military Court sitting on the inquest into two men killed in Balbriggan ‘brought in a verdict that they were stabbed not by bayonets but by some sharp instrument like a knife by unknown members of the police – this is pretty nasty. I wonder if it will be made public’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 50
Certain elements in the British press carried charges that Ireland was fighting hand in glove with the Bolsheviks. ‘the extent of the Red terror prevailing in Ireland has been concealed from the British public by the deliberate, systematic interference of operators, holding Sinn Fein views, with telegraphic communication between England and Ireland’
The Newsletter scoffed at such implications, adding that ‘at least 95% of the Irish news in the English press bore the imprimatur of Dublin Castle and was in facr prepared by it's large corps of official propagandists. Dublin Castle has descended to the most obvious lyign statements to excuse it's systematic campaign of destruction.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Times reported ‘The name of England is being sullied throughout the Empire and throughout the world by this savagery for which the Government can no longer escape, however much they may seek to disclaim responsibility’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p.176
The Daily Mail comments that ‘Britain, France, the Continent, America…half the world is coming to feel that our Government is condoning vendeatta and turning a blind eye upon the execution of lawless reprisals…the slur on our nation’s good name becomes insufferable..’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p81
One month after his release from prison for anti-Government statements in Ulster, Charles Diamond, editor of the English Catholic Herald was back in the news again, this time in a letter to the Paris Match on Sir Edward Carson: ‘Carson and Carsonsim are the expression of everything that is anti-liberal and anti-democratic and anti-progressive. The leopard cannot change his spots’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 15 October 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Shady investment entrepreneur Charles Ponzi is indicted on multiple fraud counts in the US, and the term "Ponzi Scheme" is coined to refer to pyramid scams.
Two British soldiers killed in an action near Drumcrondra bridge in Dublin.
John Connolly is shot dead by members of the Essex Regiment in Castle Bernard Park, Bandon, Co. Cork.
Walter Matthau, American actor born (d. 2000)
2
Taunted by a crowd in Cork’s Patrick Street, 2 drunken Auxilliary Cadets open fire wounding two. In the fracas that followed, one of the Auxilliaries was wounded.
J.L.Hammond writing in the Daily News commented on the situation in Ireland as:
‘Lloyd George says to Ireland; ‘I will make the price of your freedom so terrible that you will not pay it’. The horrors of life in Ireland will cease when England says ‘ the price of the re-conquest of Ireland is so terrible that I will not pay it, I have too much respect for my traditions and my character in the world’
Sir Nevil Macready in an interview with the Parisian daily ‘Liberte’, ‘Nobody can say when peace will be restored in Ireland, but my deep conviction is that the country desires it, and that a very small band of terrorists is imposing it's policy by force. We know most of their names, and a day may come when we might be able to effect a definite clearance of them. I believe that if this were done, Ireland would, a month later, know tranquillity and order.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 16 October 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Kevin Barry, tried by Courts Martial was accused of the death of Private Whitehead in Church Street on 20th September. Early and somewhat primitive ballistic tests proved that bullets fired by the gun Barry was found with had killed the soldier.
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter carried the front page editorial ‘Big Game Hunting In Ireland’ detailing the Black and Tans arrival in the country. ‘When coercive acts of Parliament cannot be relied upon to secure submission, when an imperial army of occupation cannot force the people of Ireland to dis-establish their duly elected Republic, the situation is a desperate one. Lloyd George has met it by a final, desperate measure. The British Government is now paying a pound a day and the privildge of looting to ex-officers of the British army and maintaining them as sergeants in the auxilliary division of the RIC. ‘for a special emergency…. Formerly military terrorisation in Ireland was conducted unde the name of ‘reprisals’. No, no one talks of reprisals in connections with the Black and Tans. Their object is frankly murder and arson, without restraint…the Black and Tans are doing Lloyd George’s work thoroughly.’
‘…the world has never seen a more inexcusable campaign of torture that that which Lloyd George is now prosecuting against the Irish people. Brixton prison, Cork Jail and the other strongholds of England’s power, have been converted by the British premier into torture chambers which far out do those of the Spanish Inquisition…’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 14 October 2, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Newsletter also had comment to make on George Bernard Shaw’s lack of ‘firmness and courage in his many utterances on the situation in Ireland’ following his previous reputation for ‘fearless utterance’. The Newsletter warned ‘Mr Shaw’s reputation will undoubtedly suffer as the result of the undignified straddle which he is evidently trying to make in regard to Ireland.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 14 October 2, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Muriel McSwiney wrote to Diarmuid Lynch from 3 Adam Street, Strand, London as she kept vigil daily with her husband, Cork Lord Mayor Terence McSwiney in Brixton Prison.
Taunted by a crowd in Cork’s Patrick Street, 2 drunken Auxilliary Cadets open fire wounding two. In the fracas that followed, one of the Auxilliaries was wounded.
J.L.Hammond writing in the Daily News commented on the situation in Ireland as:
‘Lloyd George says to Ireland; ‘I will make the price of your freedom so terrible that you will not pay it’. The horrors of life in Ireland will cease when England says ‘ the price of the re-conquest of Ireland is so terrible that I will not pay it, I have too much respect for my traditions and my character in the world’
Sir Nevil Macready in an interview with the Parisian daily ‘Liberte’, ‘Nobody can say when peace will be restored in Ireland, but my deep conviction is that the country desires it, and that a very small band of terrorists is imposing it's policy by force. We know most of their names, and a day may come when we might be able to effect a definite clearance of them. I believe that if this were done, Ireland would, a month later, know tranquillity and order.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 16 October 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Kevin Barry, tried by Courts Martial was accused of the death of Private Whitehead in Church Street on 20th September. Early and somewhat primitive ballistic tests proved that bullets fired by the gun Barry was found with had killed the soldier.
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter carried the front page editorial ‘Big Game Hunting In Ireland’ detailing the Black and Tans arrival in the country. ‘When coercive acts of Parliament cannot be relied upon to secure submission, when an imperial army of occupation cannot force the people of Ireland to dis-establish their duly elected Republic, the situation is a desperate one. Lloyd George has met it by a final, desperate measure. The British Government is now paying a pound a day and the privildge of looting to ex-officers of the British army and maintaining them as sergeants in the auxilliary division of the RIC. ‘for a special emergency…. Formerly military terrorisation in Ireland was conducted unde the name of ‘reprisals’. No, no one talks of reprisals in connections with the Black and Tans. Their object is frankly murder and arson, without restraint…the Black and Tans are doing Lloyd George’s work thoroughly.’
‘…the world has never seen a more inexcusable campaign of torture that that which Lloyd George is now prosecuting against the Irish people. Brixton prison, Cork Jail and the other strongholds of England’s power, have been converted by the British premier into torture chambers which far out do those of the Spanish Inquisition…’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 14 October 2, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Newsletter also had comment to make on George Bernard Shaw’s lack of ‘firmness and courage in his many utterances on the situation in Ireland’ following his previous reputation for ‘fearless utterance’. The Newsletter warned ‘Mr Shaw’s reputation will undoubtedly suffer as the result of the undignified straddle which he is evidently trying to make in regard to Ireland.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 14 October 2, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Muriel McSwiney wrote to Diarmuid Lynch from 3 Adam Street, Strand, London as she kept vigil daily with her husband, Cork Lord Mayor Terence McSwiney in Brixton Prison.
|
3 Adam Street, originally the home of the Spanish Ambassador to Britain was rented by Art O'Brien and was for a time the centre of the London Office of Dáil Éireann.
3
Michael Collins commenting to Gavan Duffy said that ‘British measures are becoming more and more marked, but their evacuations are becoming more marked also.’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P209
Constable Clarence Chave (24) from Scotland was killed when shot at in Patrick Street, Cork
Paris: First running of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe horse race.
Michael Collins commenting to Gavan Duffy said that ‘British measures are becoming more and more marked, but their evacuations are becoming more marked also.’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P209
Constable Clarence Chave (24) from Scotland was killed when shot at in Patrick Street, Cork
Paris: First running of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe horse race.
4
The former Prime Minister, Asquith, in a letter to the Times wrote of the Lloyd George policy on Ireland:
‘...its only logical sequence is to take in hand the task of re-conquering Ireland, and holding her by force - a task which, though not, perhaps, beyond the powers, will never be sanctioned by the will or the conscience of the British people’
Joining the increasing clamour against the British Government was the opposition journalist, A.G.Gardier. In his article ‘The war in Ireland’ wrote ‘if for no other reason that this of making an end of the Irish question it is the capital duty of Liberals and Labour to subordinate all their exclusive aims to the one task of sweeping away the present Government and substituting one which represents the true mind of the country and it's passionate desire for domestic peace’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 17 October 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Thinking in the Castle was now towards a widespread sweep of the Sinn Fein leaders but Markiewicz was still a problem.
The fate of Markiewicz is still open – there will be a raid tonight which 'O' [Brig.Gen Ormonde Winter] thinks may provide documents giving us a big case against her. Anyway we must settle tomorrow whether to try her or dismiss her with scorn. 'O' wants to arrest all the leaders, AG [Arthur Griffith] etc and try them for conspiracy…’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 51
An unusual family connection here was that Countess Markiewicz's mother, Gena Gore-Booth was in fact God-Mother to Mark Sturgis.
Black and Tans in Tuam, Co Galway, stopped young girls in the street and cut their hair and forced young men and boys to crawl up the main street.
The former Prime Minister, Asquith, in a letter to the Times wrote of the Lloyd George policy on Ireland:
‘...its only logical sequence is to take in hand the task of re-conquering Ireland, and holding her by force - a task which, though not, perhaps, beyond the powers, will never be sanctioned by the will or the conscience of the British people’
Joining the increasing clamour against the British Government was the opposition journalist, A.G.Gardier. In his article ‘The war in Ireland’ wrote ‘if for no other reason that this of making an end of the Irish question it is the capital duty of Liberals and Labour to subordinate all their exclusive aims to the one task of sweeping away the present Government and substituting one which represents the true mind of the country and it's passionate desire for domestic peace’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 17 October 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Thinking in the Castle was now towards a widespread sweep of the Sinn Fein leaders but Markiewicz was still a problem.
The fate of Markiewicz is still open – there will be a raid tonight which 'O' [Brig.Gen Ormonde Winter] thinks may provide documents giving us a big case against her. Anyway we must settle tomorrow whether to try her or dismiss her with scorn. 'O' wants to arrest all the leaders, AG [Arthur Griffith] etc and try them for conspiracy…’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 51
An unusual family connection here was that Countess Markiewicz's mother, Gena Gore-Booth was in fact God-Mother to Mark Sturgis.
Black and Tans in Tuam, Co Galway, stopped young girls in the street and cut their hair and forced young men and boys to crawl up the main street.
5
British officers stationed in Kerry were now ordered by Military Command not to hunt as they could be an attractive target for the Irish Volunteers. The British 6th Division made it known locally that if there was any attempt made on their officers ‘during engagement in fox-hunting, a terrible penalty would follow’ in which all local sports would be banned.
Lord Riddell wrote in his diary after seeing Lloyd George that ‘I came away with the conclusion that this is an organised movement to which the Government is more or less assenting parties’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p82
The world’s largest ocean liner, ‘The Bismarck’ was destroyed by fire in Hamburg.
The contrast between the discipline of the Irish citizens and the deliberate indiscipline of the British forces in Ireland stuck many observers, including those of many US newspaper editors and was duly reported in the American press.
General Sir Hubert Gough, the one time Ulster mutineer, wrote in a letter to the Manchester Guardian ‘I do not think any truthful or sane person can avoid the conclusion that the authorities in Ireland are deliberately encouraging, and. What is more, actually screening, reprisals and ‘counter murder’ by the armed forces of the crown. A most sinister feature of the present policy is that indiscipline is actually connived at. This can only have one result – namely, to create a most dangerous, demoralised armed force which will be a terror, not only to the people of the country, but eventually to the Government.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 16 October 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Arthur Griffith reiterated Sinn Fein policy when he stated ‘we have a mandate from our people to set up a republic and until that mandate is withdrawn, we have no authority to accept anything less than complete independence.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 16 October 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
More than one newspaper was beginning to draw parallels between Ireland of 1920 and that of just before the 1798 Rising. Common Sense magazine in London observed ‘the conditions of anarchy now prevailing repeat exactly those of the year preceeding the rebellion of 1798, a rising deliberately provoked by the Castle authorities of that time.’
General Lake, who in 1798 held the same position as Sir Nevil Macready did in 1920, wrote ‘a tranquil country was rapidly converted into a place of tyranny, tortures and outrage, with homesteads on fire, provisions destroyed and families ruined’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 16 October 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Daily Mail, much to Sturgess’s amusement, wrote of Terence McSwiney and ‘acuses him in so many words of faring sumptously. Hope this won't irritate him into dying!…The Freeman asks today for Dominion Home Rule and the right for Ireland to govern herself within the Empire’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 51
British officers stationed in Kerry were now ordered by Military Command not to hunt as they could be an attractive target for the Irish Volunteers. The British 6th Division made it known locally that if there was any attempt made on their officers ‘during engagement in fox-hunting, a terrible penalty would follow’ in which all local sports would be banned.
Lord Riddell wrote in his diary after seeing Lloyd George that ‘I came away with the conclusion that this is an organised movement to which the Government is more or less assenting parties’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p82
The world’s largest ocean liner, ‘The Bismarck’ was destroyed by fire in Hamburg.
The contrast between the discipline of the Irish citizens and the deliberate indiscipline of the British forces in Ireland stuck many observers, including those of many US newspaper editors and was duly reported in the American press.
General Sir Hubert Gough, the one time Ulster mutineer, wrote in a letter to the Manchester Guardian ‘I do not think any truthful or sane person can avoid the conclusion that the authorities in Ireland are deliberately encouraging, and. What is more, actually screening, reprisals and ‘counter murder’ by the armed forces of the crown. A most sinister feature of the present policy is that indiscipline is actually connived at. This can only have one result – namely, to create a most dangerous, demoralised armed force which will be a terror, not only to the people of the country, but eventually to the Government.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 16 October 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Arthur Griffith reiterated Sinn Fein policy when he stated ‘we have a mandate from our people to set up a republic and until that mandate is withdrawn, we have no authority to accept anything less than complete independence.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 16 October 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
More than one newspaper was beginning to draw parallels between Ireland of 1920 and that of just before the 1798 Rising. Common Sense magazine in London observed ‘the conditions of anarchy now prevailing repeat exactly those of the year preceeding the rebellion of 1798, a rising deliberately provoked by the Castle authorities of that time.’
General Lake, who in 1798 held the same position as Sir Nevil Macready did in 1920, wrote ‘a tranquil country was rapidly converted into a place of tyranny, tortures and outrage, with homesteads on fire, provisions destroyed and families ruined’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 16 October 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Daily Mail, much to Sturgess’s amusement, wrote of Terence McSwiney and ‘acuses him in so many words of faring sumptously. Hope this won't irritate him into dying!…The Freeman asks today for Dominion Home Rule and the right for Ireland to govern herself within the Empire’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 51
6
The American Commission on Conditions in Ireland
In Washington, the group named ‘The Committee of One Hundred’ was now appointed to investigate alleged attrocities and excesses of the British army and RIC in Ireland with the purpose of ‘best serve the cause of peace by placing before English, Irish and American public opinion the facts of the situation, free from both agonised exageration and merciless understatement’
“The American Commission on Conditions in Ireland – Interim Report 1921” Lynch Family Archives.
150 people had responded to the invitations issued by Maloney and Villard which led to the selection of the 100. Sitting on it’s board were a Cardinal, Archbishop, 4 Catholic Bishops, 7 Protestant Bishops, 4 Methodist Bishops, 2 Rabbis, 5 State governors, 11 Senators, 13 Congressmen, 5 city Mayors and numerous College Presidents, Professors, Newspaper Editors, former Government officials ( including the former Immigration Commissioner for New York ) Labour and Industry leaders. Overall, some 36 States were represented. From this group, eight were balloted to act as a Court of Commission to hear first hand testimony from witnesses on the actual situation in Ireland. The Court was certainly well qualified and distinguished but with a predominatly liberal background, it was subject to criticism from some sections of American society. The final eight were:
Chairman: L. Hollingsworth Wood. New York lawyer active in liberal causes & a member of the Society of Friends.
Vice-Chairman: Dr. Frederick C. Howe. New York lawyer & former international affairs expert for the American Commission to Negotiate Peace.
Member: Jane Adams, Chicago. Social Worker.
Member: Rev. Norman Thomas – Socialist Presbetrian minister and editor of ‘The World Tomorrow’
Member: James H. Maurer – Pennsylvania labour leader
Member: Major Oliver P. Newman – Soldier and journalist.
Member: Senator David I. Walsh of Massachussets.
Member: Senator George W. Norris of Nebraska.
Secretaries: William MacDonald & Harold Kellock.
The first meeting was scheduled for November 18th in Washington and invitations to attend were issued to people in Ireland who had figured in British reprisals and the British Government were invited to send representatives.
Sir Auckland Geddes, the British Ambassador in Washington was having none of it, informing the Foreign Office that the project was ‘obviously designed to embarrass us as naturally no evidence can be forthcoming from this side.’ Geddes went into damage limitation mode by strongly recommended that no evidence should be presented from the British side as it could not be done effectively. However he did recommend allowing any person invited to attend, as preventing some high profile individuals from giving evidence would be far more damaging.
The London Times commented that the membership was ‘a strange mixture of Anglophobes, idealists and radicals’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p173
Shortly afterwards, the British Government advised the Commission’s chief secretary, Dr. MacDonald that the Government would not actively assist the commission but that it would not withhold passports from those invited to give testimony.
With the Irish-American feud ongoing, Tansill comments that the ‘opposition’ were deliberately not invited to join and assist the Commission’s investigation : ‘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...Cardinal Gibbons served...but not Cardinal O’Connell..’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.409
Constable John Flaherty (46) from Galway was shot and killed while on beat patrol in Bishop Street, Derry.
Sergeant Francis Doherty (46) from Leitrim and Constable William Stanley (46) from Cork were ambushed and killed in Feakle, Co. Clare.
Brigadier General George Cockerill, Conservative MP for Reigate wrote to the Prime Minister and concluded: ‘for pity’s sake, let the troops have either peace or war’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p180
The American Commission on Conditions in Ireland
In Washington, the group named ‘The Committee of One Hundred’ was now appointed to investigate alleged attrocities and excesses of the British army and RIC in Ireland with the purpose of ‘best serve the cause of peace by placing before English, Irish and American public opinion the facts of the situation, free from both agonised exageration and merciless understatement’
“The American Commission on Conditions in Ireland – Interim Report 1921” Lynch Family Archives.
150 people had responded to the invitations issued by Maloney and Villard which led to the selection of the 100. Sitting on it’s board were a Cardinal, Archbishop, 4 Catholic Bishops, 7 Protestant Bishops, 4 Methodist Bishops, 2 Rabbis, 5 State governors, 11 Senators, 13 Congressmen, 5 city Mayors and numerous College Presidents, Professors, Newspaper Editors, former Government officials ( including the former Immigration Commissioner for New York ) Labour and Industry leaders. Overall, some 36 States were represented. From this group, eight were balloted to act as a Court of Commission to hear first hand testimony from witnesses on the actual situation in Ireland. The Court was certainly well qualified and distinguished but with a predominatly liberal background, it was subject to criticism from some sections of American society. The final eight were:
Chairman: L. Hollingsworth Wood. New York lawyer active in liberal causes & a member of the Society of Friends.
Vice-Chairman: Dr. Frederick C. Howe. New York lawyer & former international affairs expert for the American Commission to Negotiate Peace.
Member: Jane Adams, Chicago. Social Worker.
Member: Rev. Norman Thomas – Socialist Presbetrian minister and editor of ‘The World Tomorrow’
Member: James H. Maurer – Pennsylvania labour leader
Member: Major Oliver P. Newman – Soldier and journalist.
Member: Senator David I. Walsh of Massachussets.
Member: Senator George W. Norris of Nebraska.
Secretaries: William MacDonald & Harold Kellock.
The first meeting was scheduled for November 18th in Washington and invitations to attend were issued to people in Ireland who had figured in British reprisals and the British Government were invited to send representatives.
Sir Auckland Geddes, the British Ambassador in Washington was having none of it, informing the Foreign Office that the project was ‘obviously designed to embarrass us as naturally no evidence can be forthcoming from this side.’ Geddes went into damage limitation mode by strongly recommended that no evidence should be presented from the British side as it could not be done effectively. However he did recommend allowing any person invited to attend, as preventing some high profile individuals from giving evidence would be far more damaging.
The London Times commented that the membership was ‘a strange mixture of Anglophobes, idealists and radicals’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p173
Shortly afterwards, the British Government advised the Commission’s chief secretary, Dr. MacDonald that the Government would not actively assist the commission but that it would not withhold passports from those invited to give testimony.
With the Irish-American feud ongoing, Tansill comments that the ‘opposition’ were deliberately not invited to join and assist the Commission’s investigation : ‘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...Cardinal Gibbons served...but not Cardinal O’Connell..’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.409
Constable John Flaherty (46) from Galway was shot and killed while on beat patrol in Bishop Street, Derry.
Sergeant Francis Doherty (46) from Leitrim and Constable William Stanley (46) from Cork were ambushed and killed in Feakle, Co. Clare.
Brigadier General George Cockerill, Conservative MP for Reigate wrote to the Prime Minister and concluded: ‘for pity’s sake, let the troops have either peace or war’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p180
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RIC Officers were experiencing substantial hardships through the public ostracism of the force in much of Ireland. Everyday goods such as clothing, food and services were denied to men and their families in many locations. To help counter this, a bonus payment was introduced; Constables receiving 8/, Sergeants 9/ and Head Constables 10/ weekly during the summer months and increasing by 4/ for each grade in the winter. Unmarried men received half the rates. Despite this, recruitment was drastically affected within Ireland and most of the new recruits for the force came from the UK.
The London Daily News published this commentary of the present British reign of terror in Ireland by Rt. Hon. C. F. G. Masterman:
“It is a habit of this stubborn old English race to refuse to believe that violence or assassination is any argument to prove a cause right. But when by the British Government in Ireland, or by officials of the British Government, or with the apology for or tacit acquiescence by the British Government, the weapon of terrorism and assassination was transferred from the conquered to the conquerors, the whole situation was transformed in a moment. Directly the servants of the British Government commenced to burn, loot, murder and destroy in that policy of reprisal which is the mark of weakness and the mask of anarchy, it was evident at once the British Government in Ireland was doomed. In a day and a night it has fallen clattering to the ground, and all the king’s horses and all the king's men can never put it in its place again. It has not been murdered. It has committed suicide.”
On the same day, The London Daily Mail puts the case correctly, if mildly, in saying: “Britain, France, the Continent, America (N. and S.), half the world, is coming to feel that our Government is condoning vendetta and turning a blind eye upon the execution of lawless reprisals. What other conclusion is likely in the face of silence only broken by vague official phrases. The slur on our nation’s good name becomes insufferable.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.18 Oct 30, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The weekly New Statesman (London) added to the available information on the subject of Dublin Castle’s propaganda outlet, "The Weekly Summary":
“The military authorities have lately obtained a grant from the Irish Treasury for the purpose of printing and circulating a weekly news bulletin for the benefit of the police. This bulletin not only contains reports, of the most inflammatory character, of Sinn Fein outrages, but, “leaderettes’ which are deliberate and almost unveiled incitements to illegal vio lence. When Dublin Castle—that is to say the civil authorities—discovered the character of this sheet, it was aghast and demanded that she should be allowed to exercise a certain censorship over the contents. It obtained, we understand, the privilege of going over the proofs with a blue pencil, but whether, or to what extent, its deletions and corrections ever reach the military printers seems doubtful. This affair, we may observe in passing, is quite typical of the present relations between the civil and the military powers in Ireland.”
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8
Brigadier-General George Cockerill, Conservative MP for Reigate, wrote again to the London Times calling for a conference between Irish and British interests, without any restrictive terms by “untrammelled” plenipotentiaries and suggesting an immediate truce preceeded by a British approved meeting of the Dail.
"While the spokesman for the English Government in Ireland are loud in the protestations of innocence in connection with the present campaign of horror, their military forces, the actions of Dublin Castle leave little doubt as to their essential guilt. It is using every method in its power to further its murder campaign and to protect its agents of assassination. When a Dublin coroner wished, as the normal exercise of his civic duty, to hold an inquest on the body of John A. Lynch, brutally murdered in his room in a Dublin hotel by English Black and Tans, the military, prevented the inquest and held a secret investigation of their own. The public inquiry into the murder by English troops of John Mulroy and Seamus Quirke in Galway City, was prevented by the British authorities under threat of being dispersed by force.
The only contribution which Lord Grey’s Letter to the Westminster Gazette offers to the great mass of semi-official English statements issued in the last few months for consumption abroad and particularly in America, is his virtual admission that English rule in Ireland is and always has been a complete failure. He said: “The Government of Ireland has never been such a reproach and discredit to British statesmanship as it is today.” And again: “The British Administration, in fact, is exhibiting the helplessness of an extremely feeble Government.” There is candid admission of defeat in his lament: “To this we have come after centuries of British rule.”
That the ex-army officers which England continues to recruit to form her Black and Tans in Ireland (called an auxiliary police force) are in reality designed for military and not police duty is made additionally clear by the fol lowing excerpt from a military order signed by an English Brigadier General of the General Staff in Ireland, captured by the Republican forces and recently made public in Dublin and London: “The general officer commanding in chief has therefore agreed to suspend the proposal for a winter concentration until after December 1, by which time it is hoped that the Royal Irish Constabulary will have received sufficient reinforcements to enable them to take over control of the areas from which it is desired to withdraw military detachments.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.15 Oct 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
“Fear as a means of government is out of date,” writes J. J. Hughes, a member of the Irish Transport Workers’ Union, in an article for the London Daily Herald. “It never worked well; and it certainly will not work with the Irish people, and still less with this generation than with all the previous generations who have endured the miseries of England’s rule. The Irish people see in the “only human’ orgies of the Black and Tans the continuity of the English policy in Ireland.“Finest country on earth”, said one of the new recruits the other day, in a Tipperary town. “They gave me 20 years a short time ago for shooting my wife; now they give me a pound a day for shooting Sinn Feiners.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.19 Nov 6,1920. Lynch Family Archives
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8
Brigadier-General George Cockerill, Conservative MP for Reigate, wrote again to the London Times calling for a conference between Irish and British interests, without any restrictive terms by “untrammelled” plenipotentiaries and suggesting an immediate truce preceeded by a British approved meeting of the Dail.
"While the spokesman for the English Government in Ireland are loud in the protestations of innocence in connection with the present campaign of horror, their military forces, the actions of Dublin Castle leave little doubt as to their essential guilt. It is using every method in its power to further its murder campaign and to protect its agents of assassination. When a Dublin coroner wished, as the normal exercise of his civic duty, to hold an inquest on the body of John A. Lynch, brutally murdered in his room in a Dublin hotel by English Black and Tans, the military, prevented the inquest and held a secret investigation of their own. The public inquiry into the murder by English troops of John Mulroy and Seamus Quirke in Galway City, was prevented by the British authorities under threat of being dispersed by force.
The only contribution which Lord Grey’s Letter to the Westminster Gazette offers to the great mass of semi-official English statements issued in the last few months for consumption abroad and particularly in America, is his virtual admission that English rule in Ireland is and always has been a complete failure. He said: “The Government of Ireland has never been such a reproach and discredit to British statesmanship as it is today.” And again: “The British Administration, in fact, is exhibiting the helplessness of an extremely feeble Government.” There is candid admission of defeat in his lament: “To this we have come after centuries of British rule.”
That the ex-army officers which England continues to recruit to form her Black and Tans in Ireland (called an auxiliary police force) are in reality designed for military and not police duty is made additionally clear by the fol lowing excerpt from a military order signed by an English Brigadier General of the General Staff in Ireland, captured by the Republican forces and recently made public in Dublin and London: “The general officer commanding in chief has therefore agreed to suspend the proposal for a winter concentration until after December 1, by which time it is hoped that the Royal Irish Constabulary will have received sufficient reinforcements to enable them to take over control of the areas from which it is desired to withdraw military detachments.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.15 Oct 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
“Fear as a means of government is out of date,” writes J. J. Hughes, a member of the Irish Transport Workers’ Union, in an article for the London Daily Herald. “It never worked well; and it certainly will not work with the Irish people, and still less with this generation than with all the previous generations who have endured the miseries of England’s rule. The Irish people see in the “only human’ orgies of the Black and Tans the continuity of the English policy in Ireland.“Finest country on earth”, said one of the new recruits the other day, in a Tipperary town. “They gave me 20 years a short time ago for shooting my wife; now they give me a pound a day for shooting Sinn Feiners.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.19 Nov 6,1920. Lynch Family Archives
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9
Lloyd George speech in Carnavon
Lloyd George speech in Carnavon came out strongly against any form of Dominion Home Rule for Ireland and supportive of police reinforcements, adding ‘The police naturally feel that the time has come to defend themselves and that is what is called reprisals in Ireland. Sinn Fein could not have it both ways. If they were at war, they must expect the consequences. You cannot have a one sided war….there is no doubt that at last their [The RIC] patience has given way and that there has been some severe hitting back. Let us be fair to those 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 the IRA] with impunity in Ireland.’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p.179
This was viewed by many in the security forces as a strong hint that the Government had an official policy on reprisals.
On Lloyd George speech on Ireland in Carnavon, the Newsletter said it ‘had no other remarkable features except it’s brutality. His attitude towards the loss of life and property which has been sustained by hundreds of wholly innocent people in Ireland was frankly callous…he promises a further reign of terror by the English Occupation and he treats General Macready’s threat that the ‘small body of assassins’ will be broken up, but of constructive policy to end the present reign of frightfulness he has nothing more to offer and a passing reference to himself as an ‘ardent home ruler’.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 16 October 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Cork City Hall partially destroyed in a bomb attack.
Arthur Griffith approved the suggestion proposed by Cockerill and the matter was taken up directly by an envoy to the MP later in the month. The Dail Cabinet also sent a couriered message to de Valera instructing him to remain in the US until a formal demand for American recognition of the Irish Republic was submitted.
Sir Eric Geddes, British Minister for Transport arrived in Ireland to advise on the rail situation.
Hazel Lavery, on return to London with her husband from a portrait visit to Ireland, expressed disapointment to Winston Churchill at not meeting Michael Collins and that she wished to return. Churchill warned: ‘Be careful my dear John, our men are not all good shots’
Sinead McCoole ‘Hazel – A Life of Lady Lavery 1880-1935’. Lilliput Press, Dublin 1996. P64
Reaction to the Lloyd George speech from two New York dailies was mixed. The New York Times reporting that it was greatly impressed and that British public opinion was ‘now back with the Government’. However, turning to another metropolitan daily, it’s view was that Lloyd George’s policy towards Ireland is ‘called anarchy’ and his speech ‘causes disapointment’ in England.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 16 October 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Springfield Republican in Massachussetts commented ‘The Irish and their radical leaders today are a phenomenal example, evidently, of a self-control sufficiently disciplines and strong to promote a formidable rebellion on the lines of passive resistance’ and goes on to suggest that the constructive work of the Republic and ‘restraint of the Irish people under Sinn Fein leadership has demonstrated the fitness of Ireland’s population for full self-Government and even absolute independence.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 16 October 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
De Valera in a letter to the Irish Vigilance Association* commented "As the family of the present British Sovereign has been so long identified with our nation, we have no objection to recognzing a member of it as King of Ireland providing he conforms to the law of Dail Eireann"
This was picked up by The New Statesman, the British political and cultural magazine and published in it's October 9, 1920 edition.
*The Irish Vigilance Association' was founded in Dublin in November 1911, under the auspices of the Dominicans. Its primary purpose was to protect Irish Catholics from the excesses of the English popular press. Volunteers were sought and a number of Vigilance Committees were set up in various parts of the country.
This was picked up by The New Statesman, the British political and cultural magazine and published in it's October 9, 1920 edition.
*The Irish Vigilance Association' was founded in Dublin in November 1911, under the auspices of the Dominicans. Its primary purpose was to protect Irish Catholics from the excesses of the English popular press. Volunteers were sought and a number of Vigilance Committees were set up in various parts of the country.
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10
Mark Sturgis records Andy Copes comments: ‘The RIC are not out of hand but are systematically led to reprise by their officers’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p82
Carinthian Plebiscite: A large part of Carinthia Province votes to become part of Austria, rather than Yugoslavia.
The FOIF Newsletter published a reference to Ghandi and non-violent resistance in India:
"In the object lessons which Ireland and India are today giving to the world in “non-violence resistance” to British oppression, it is interesting to read the answer of Mr. Gandhi, the leader of the pacifist movement in India, to his critics. He says: “I would rather have India resort to arms in order to defend her honor than that she should in a cowardly manner become or remain a help less witness to her own dishonor. But I believe that non-violence is infinitely Superior to violence, forgiveness is more manly than punishment. Forgiveness adorns a soldier. But abstinence is forgiveness only when there is the power to punish; it is meaningless when it pretends to proceed from a helpless creature. A mouse hardly forgives a cat when it allows itself to be torn to pieces by her. I do not believe India to be helpless. I do not believe myself to be a helpless creature. Only I want to use India’s and my strength for a better purpose. And so I am not pleading for India to practice non-violence because she is weak. I want her to practice non-violence being conscious of her strength and power. * * * I want India to recognize that she has a soul that cannot perish and that she can rise triumphantly above every physical weakness and defy the physical combination of a whole world.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.17 Oct 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
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Mark Sturgis records Andy Copes comments: ‘The RIC are not out of hand but are systematically led to reprise by their officers’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p82
Carinthian Plebiscite: A large part of Carinthia Province votes to become part of Austria, rather than Yugoslavia.
The FOIF Newsletter published a reference to Ghandi and non-violent resistance in India:
"In the object lessons which Ireland and India are today giving to the world in “non-violence resistance” to British oppression, it is interesting to read the answer of Mr. Gandhi, the leader of the pacifist movement in India, to his critics. He says: “I would rather have India resort to arms in order to defend her honor than that she should in a cowardly manner become or remain a help less witness to her own dishonor. But I believe that non-violence is infinitely Superior to violence, forgiveness is more manly than punishment. Forgiveness adorns a soldier. But abstinence is forgiveness only when there is the power to punish; it is meaningless when it pretends to proceed from a helpless creature. A mouse hardly forgives a cat when it allows itself to be torn to pieces by her. I do not believe India to be helpless. I do not believe myself to be a helpless creature. Only I want to use India’s and my strength for a better purpose. And so I am not pleading for India to practice non-violence because she is weak. I want her to practice non-violence being conscious of her strength and power. * * * I want India to recognize that she has a soul that cannot perish and that she can rise triumphantly above every physical weakness and defy the physical combination of a whole world.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.17 Oct 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
11
A previously unknown group, the All Ireland Anti-Sinn Fein Society announced that it’s Supreme Council of the Cork Circle had decided that ‘If in the future any member of His Majesty’s forces be murdered, two members of the Sinn Fein party in the County of Cork will be killed.’
Judge Cohalan in a letter to the East Chicago Globe, outlined his and the Irish-American attitude to the League of Nations:
‘I have no hesitancy in saying to you that I am unalterably opposed tot he entrance of our country to the proposed League of Nations. I regard it as the latest, if not the last effort, of the extraordinarily clever men who govern the British Empire to undo the work of our revolution and return this country to the position of being a mere dependency of England.
The United States today is the sole solvent competitor of England in the markets of the world. It represents the only obstacle …preventing the British Empire from having absolute world dominion…her governing class has never ceased it's efforts by direction or indirection to destroy our country. The proposed League of Nations…would impose upon the world a Super-Government which would be English in interest, in sympathy and in fact, and I am opposed to such a plan – not through bitterness of feeling against the English people, but because I regard the English governing class as the great remaining obstacle to universal freedom.
Under Article X, we would be bound to go to the assistance of England in all her contests and wars in which, as recent events have shown more and more, she is unable to protect herself. …we would make permanent for all time England’s possession of Ireland, India, Egypt and South Africa, and would put back for generations the hopes of Mankind. We would fasten upon Ireland and India the chain of English domination, and not alone prevent any American assistance to these countries, but guarantee American assistance to England’s tyranny and oppression....to talk of bringing the cause of Ireland before the League under Article XI is futile puerility or arrant hypocrisy. England and her closest allies will own and control both the Council and the Assembly.
England with all the subetly of her statesmen has thus far failed to destroy America. I am confident she will again fail and that her reputation of her latest scheme will be so overwhelming as to convince her rulers at home and her agents abroad that she cannot destroy America by indirection.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 18 October 30, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
A previously unknown group, the All Ireland Anti-Sinn Fein Society announced that it’s Supreme Council of the Cork Circle had decided that ‘If in the future any member of His Majesty’s forces be murdered, two members of the Sinn Fein party in the County of Cork will be killed.’
Judge Cohalan in a letter to the East Chicago Globe, outlined his and the Irish-American attitude to the League of Nations:
‘I have no hesitancy in saying to you that I am unalterably opposed tot he entrance of our country to the proposed League of Nations. I regard it as the latest, if not the last effort, of the extraordinarily clever men who govern the British Empire to undo the work of our revolution and return this country to the position of being a mere dependency of England.
The United States today is the sole solvent competitor of England in the markets of the world. It represents the only obstacle …preventing the British Empire from having absolute world dominion…her governing class has never ceased it's efforts by direction or indirection to destroy our country. The proposed League of Nations…would impose upon the world a Super-Government which would be English in interest, in sympathy and in fact, and I am opposed to such a plan – not through bitterness of feeling against the English people, but because I regard the English governing class as the great remaining obstacle to universal freedom.
Under Article X, we would be bound to go to the assistance of England in all her contests and wars in which, as recent events have shown more and more, she is unable to protect herself. …we would make permanent for all time England’s possession of Ireland, India, Egypt and South Africa, and would put back for generations the hopes of Mankind. We would fasten upon Ireland and India the chain of English domination, and not alone prevent any American assistance to these countries, but guarantee American assistance to England’s tyranny and oppression....to talk of bringing the cause of Ireland before the League under Article XI is futile puerility or arrant hypocrisy. England and her closest allies will own and control both the Council and the Assembly.
England with all the subetly of her statesmen has thus far failed to destroy America. I am confident she will again fail and that her reputation of her latest scheme will be so overwhelming as to convince her rulers at home and her agents abroad that she cannot destroy America by indirection.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 18 October 30, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Laurence Ginnell (1852 – 1923) was an Irish nationalist politician, lawyer and unusually was both a Member of Parliament (MP) as well as a TD in the Dail.
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12
The Cairo Gang, under direction of Colonel Ormond Winter, were increasingly successful in the intelligence war against the IRA. Both Dan Breen and Sean Treacy of the South Tipperary Flying Column had been tracked down to a house on the north side of Dublin owned by a Professor Carolan in Drumcondra. The building was quickly surrounded by a large force of soldiers. Two intelligence agents were first into the house, rushing to the top bedroom and firing through the locked doors. Return fire from Breen and Treacy killed both men. Treacy escaped through a window and Breen was hit in the back as soldiers came up the stairs. He pulled the door open, firing out. One bullet grazed his forehead, two hit his calves, another in the right lung and another passed through his thigh as the soldiers evacuated the building. Breen returned to the room, dropped through the window and through the garden. There he shot another soldier dead, escaped onto to the road, barefoot and with a broken toe. At the roadside he was confronted by an armoured car, shot at that and made his escape through the grounds of a nearby college, forded a river and took refuge in a ‘safe house’. There he was patched up and brought secretly to the Mater Hospital.
Two Intelligence officers and three R.I.C policemen were killed in the fray. One of the dead was Major George Osbert Stirling Smyth (brother of the Divisional Police Commisioner for Munster assassinated on 17th July in Cork) had come to Ireland especially to track down his brother’s killers. Professor Carolan was also killed.
Sergeants Peter McArdle (42) from Cork & Martin O’Connor (53) from Sligo along with Constables John Crawford (29) from Clare, Francis Gallagher (30) from Donegal and Michael Kenny (38) from Clare were killed when their motor patrol was ambushed at Fourmile House, Ballinderry, Co. Roscommon. At the funerals, large cards were attached to the coffins reading ‘Behold the work of Sinn Fein. Is this Irish? Murdered by Irish savages and Sinn Fein. Shame on you.’
An English spy was discovered, arraigned and exposed in Dublin. Hardy, was accused by Arthur Griffith as being a ‘scoundrel, but those who employed you are worse scoundrels’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 16 October 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
It appears that Hardy was little more than an Agent Provocteur – released from an English jail by Ian MacPherson when he was Chief Secretary for Ireland. In exchange for his release from 5 years penal servitude, Hardy was to offer Republican leaders supposedly secret information to prevent any assassination attempts of senior British officials.
Christy Ring, Cork hurler born (died 1979).
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13
Lloyd George stated in Cabinet that he was: ‘a Gladstonian Home Ruler and wished to keep Ireland as an integral part of the United Kingdom’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p320
The Chief Secretary and Sir John Anderson met a deputation of the Ulster Unionist Council’s Standing Committee. H. L Garret started proceedings by bluntly stating ‘If anyone wants to start terrorism today in the north of Ireland they will soon find that two can play at that game…the time has come when Belfast and the north of Ireland should not be associated with the rest of Ireland in any sort of way…we have not the smallest confidence in the officials in Dublin Castle…’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p159/160
Chief Secretary, Sir Hamar Greenwood in a Belfast speech said ‘ …we won’t tolerate an independent Ireland or part of Ireland being independent. We believe in the imperial and strategic unit of these islands. We believe that this unity is fundamental for the well being of the whole empire. ‘
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 17 October 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Cabinet advised Dublin that under no circumstances was Arthur Griffith to be prosecuted for his recent interview statements. Mark Sturgiss took offence ‘so we are uncontradicted murderers, though ‘pon me word it seems to matter one damn whether we contradict lies or not – interest dies if we don’t and nobody believes us if we do’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 56
Sean Treacy, who had escaped the siege in Drumcondra was killed by members of the Cairo Gang as he left Peadar Clancy’s Republican Outfitters, a city centre drapery shop on Talbot Street. Dick McKee managed to escape capture but Auxiliaries Lr Price and Sergeant Christian were killed. Collins now ordered a city wide intelligence gathering mission on the Gang, specifically names and addresses of all those associated with the group. Their movements and business fronts were soon detected and confirmed through various contacts within the Castle administration and the RIC and plans drawn up to neutralise them before Collins organisation itself was neutralised. A great deal of this information was sourced from captured British mails which provided more information on home addresses and circumstances of officers and men. This data was transferred to an alpha index and used later in revenge burnings of British officers homes in Britain.
Some US businesses were beginning to realise the commercial appeal of the struggle in Ireland. One such was the Boston based publisher of ‘The Four Just Men’ by Edgar Wallace*.
The Newsletter commented that 'The Four Just Men' had been advertised as ‘an absorbing, thrilling story, which, besides it’s appeal as a novel ‘is of human interest through it’s use by the Sinn Feiners in Ireland’. Seems the publishers had issued a 12 page advertising pamphlet purporting to give an account of the author’s career and claim that ‘in almost every raid which the English soldiers have made in Ireland, copies of this book have been found and so persistently have the Sein [sic] Feiners used the book as propaganda, that Mr Wallace has been compelled to publish in the British press, statements denying that there was any propaganda in his work.’
The Newsletter reassured it readers by adding ‘An attentive perusal of ‘The Four Just Men’ shows that there is not the slightest ground for these allegations.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 16 October 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
* Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) A British novelist, playwright and journalist who was an enormously popular writer of detective and suspense stories. After service in the British army in South Africa, he returned to England and produced ‘The Four Just Men’ in 1905. Wallace practically invented the modern ‘thriller’, with his works having complex, but clearly developed plots and were well known for their thrilling climaxes. His last work was part-authorship of the film script for King Kong which was finished before his death in Hollywood.
The Newsletter, ever vigilant for an anti-Irish bias or report, slated the Evening Star of Washington for carrying a photo of people leaving Balbriggan following the sacking by the Black and Tans. The caption content was misleading ‘This photograph shows residents of Balbriggan, fleeing from the city to avoid the desperate fighting there. A good part of Balbriggan was destroyed and many lost their homes. Others dared not remain because of political conditions.’ The Newsletter commented, that ‘itshould have been obvious to the most cursory reader of the news dispatches from Ireland that there was no ‘fighting’ in Balbriggan. Even the English reports of the destruction of the town made no mention of any armed resistance by the inhabitants to the Black and Tans orgy of destruction.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 17 October 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Lloyd George stated in Cabinet that he was: ‘a Gladstonian Home Ruler and wished to keep Ireland as an integral part of the United Kingdom’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p320
The Chief Secretary and Sir John Anderson met a deputation of the Ulster Unionist Council’s Standing Committee. H. L Garret started proceedings by bluntly stating ‘If anyone wants to start terrorism today in the north of Ireland they will soon find that two can play at that game…the time has come when Belfast and the north of Ireland should not be associated with the rest of Ireland in any sort of way…we have not the smallest confidence in the officials in Dublin Castle…’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p159/160
Chief Secretary, Sir Hamar Greenwood in a Belfast speech said ‘ …we won’t tolerate an independent Ireland or part of Ireland being independent. We believe in the imperial and strategic unit of these islands. We believe that this unity is fundamental for the well being of the whole empire. ‘
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 17 October 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Cabinet advised Dublin that under no circumstances was Arthur Griffith to be prosecuted for his recent interview statements. Mark Sturgiss took offence ‘so we are uncontradicted murderers, though ‘pon me word it seems to matter one damn whether we contradict lies or not – interest dies if we don’t and nobody believes us if we do’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 56
Sean Treacy, who had escaped the siege in Drumcondra was killed by members of the Cairo Gang as he left Peadar Clancy’s Republican Outfitters, a city centre drapery shop on Talbot Street. Dick McKee managed to escape capture but Auxiliaries Lr Price and Sergeant Christian were killed. Collins now ordered a city wide intelligence gathering mission on the Gang, specifically names and addresses of all those associated with the group. Their movements and business fronts were soon detected and confirmed through various contacts within the Castle administration and the RIC and plans drawn up to neutralise them before Collins organisation itself was neutralised. A great deal of this information was sourced from captured British mails which provided more information on home addresses and circumstances of officers and men. This data was transferred to an alpha index and used later in revenge burnings of British officers homes in Britain.
Some US businesses were beginning to realise the commercial appeal of the struggle in Ireland. One such was the Boston based publisher of ‘The Four Just Men’ by Edgar Wallace*.
The Newsletter commented that 'The Four Just Men' had been advertised as ‘an absorbing, thrilling story, which, besides it’s appeal as a novel ‘is of human interest through it’s use by the Sinn Feiners in Ireland’. Seems the publishers had issued a 12 page advertising pamphlet purporting to give an account of the author’s career and claim that ‘in almost every raid which the English soldiers have made in Ireland, copies of this book have been found and so persistently have the Sein [sic] Feiners used the book as propaganda, that Mr Wallace has been compelled to publish in the British press, statements denying that there was any propaganda in his work.’
The Newsletter reassured it readers by adding ‘An attentive perusal of ‘The Four Just Men’ shows that there is not the slightest ground for these allegations.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 16 October 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
* Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) A British novelist, playwright and journalist who was an enormously popular writer of detective and suspense stories. After service in the British army in South Africa, he returned to England and produced ‘The Four Just Men’ in 1905. Wallace practically invented the modern ‘thriller’, with his works having complex, but clearly developed plots and were well known for their thrilling climaxes. His last work was part-authorship of the film script for King Kong which was finished before his death in Hollywood.
The Newsletter, ever vigilant for an anti-Irish bias or report, slated the Evening Star of Washington for carrying a photo of people leaving Balbriggan following the sacking by the Black and Tans. The caption content was misleading ‘This photograph shows residents of Balbriggan, fleeing from the city to avoid the desperate fighting there. A good part of Balbriggan was destroyed and many lost their homes. Others dared not remain because of political conditions.’ The Newsletter commented, that ‘itshould have been obvious to the most cursory reader of the news dispatches from Ireland that there was no ‘fighting’ in Balbriggan. Even the English reports of the destruction of the town made no mention of any armed resistance by the inhabitants to the Black and Tans orgy of destruction.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 17 October 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
14
Sir Henry Wilson recording in his diary wrote that Lloyd George was ‘going to shoulder the responsibility of the reprisals but wanted to wait until the American elections were over’
Macardle ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press. Dublin 1957. p381
James Craig, speaking in the Belfast shipyard after the expulsion of Catholics: ‘Do I approve of the action you boys have taken in the past? I say yes.’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.48
George Bernard Shaw commenting on the Irish situation said that the British parliament was ‘under the Premier’s leadership…handling Ireland as the Turkish Empire used to handle the Balkans.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 17 October 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Patrick Moylett, a businessman from the West of Ireland and an IRB member made a number of visits to London, acting as a middleman on behalf of Arthur Griffith. John Steele, the London editor of the Chicago Tribune put Moylett in touch with leading figures in the Foreign Office including C.J.Phillips. Moyletts frequent meetings with Phillips were also attended by H.A.L. Fisher, the Minister for Education and one of the leading critics within the Government of unauthorised reprisals. Further meetings were to be held during the year.
An attempt was made by a Irish Volunteers detachment in Phibsboro to capture an armoured car. The attempt failed and one volunteer was killed.
Dan Breen, under the assumed name Shine was being treated in the Mater hospital for wounds received when the hospital was surrounded and searched. Breen was hidden and not found.
A peace treaty between the Soviet and the Finnish governments is concluded at Tartu.
A series of incidents in Limerick County occurred during the second week of October:
"On Friday morning Mrs. Brennan, a widow of Meelick, two miles from Limerick City, was ordered to leave her home by English troops and the house and hay-barn were burned immediately afterwards. On Saturday the Kildimo Co-operative Creamery was destroyed by lorry-loads of armed men; 50 tons of hay was burned at a farm nearby; and the out-buildings and hay at another farm destroyed. On the same day the house of William Keane, Black-boy Pike, Limerick, was burned, after the family had been ordered out by armed men. Scores of similar instances could be recorded from the English and Irish newspapers of the past month. The record of these two days is typical, however, of the method and dispatch with which this campaign is being conducted in Ireland."
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 National Council of the Friends of Irish Freedom was held in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. There the group agreed to stand firm against the League of Nations, appealing to the American public to vote against the proposal of membership in the forthcoming Presidential elections:
Sir Henry Wilson recording in his diary wrote that Lloyd George was ‘going to shoulder the responsibility of the reprisals but wanted to wait until the American elections were over’
Macardle ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press. Dublin 1957. p381
James Craig, speaking in the Belfast shipyard after the expulsion of Catholics: ‘Do I approve of the action you boys have taken in the past? I say yes.’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.48
George Bernard Shaw commenting on the Irish situation said that the British parliament was ‘under the Premier’s leadership…handling Ireland as the Turkish Empire used to handle the Balkans.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 17 October 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Patrick Moylett, a businessman from the West of Ireland and an IRB member made a number of visits to London, acting as a middleman on behalf of Arthur Griffith. John Steele, the London editor of the Chicago Tribune put Moylett in touch with leading figures in the Foreign Office including C.J.Phillips. Moyletts frequent meetings with Phillips were also attended by H.A.L. Fisher, the Minister for Education and one of the leading critics within the Government of unauthorised reprisals. Further meetings were to be held during the year.
An attempt was made by a Irish Volunteers detachment in Phibsboro to capture an armoured car. The attempt failed and one volunteer was killed.
Dan Breen, under the assumed name Shine was being treated in the Mater hospital for wounds received when the hospital was surrounded and searched. Breen was hidden and not found.
A peace treaty between the Soviet and the Finnish governments is concluded at Tartu.
A series of incidents in Limerick County occurred during the second week of October:
"On Friday morning Mrs. Brennan, a widow of Meelick, two miles from Limerick City, was ordered to leave her home by English troops and the house and hay-barn were burned immediately afterwards. On Saturday the Kildimo Co-operative Creamery was destroyed by lorry-loads of armed men; 50 tons of hay was burned at a farm nearby; and the out-buildings and hay at another farm destroyed. On the same day the house of William Keane, Black-boy Pike, Limerick, was burned, after the family had been ordered out by armed men. Scores of similar instances could be recorded from the English and Irish newspapers of the past month. The record of these two days is typical, however, of the method and dispatch with which this campaign is being conducted in Ireland."
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 National Council of the Friends of Irish Freedom was held in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. There the group agreed to stand firm against the League of Nations, appealing to the American public to vote against the proposal of membership in the forthcoming Presidential elections:
The following resolutions were passed unanimously by the National Council of the Friends of Irish Freedom on October 14:
We, the National Council of the Friends of Irish Freedom, assembled at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York, October 14, 1920, speaking as loyal citizens of the United States, for whose honor and interests our race has ever stood, renew and reaffirm our protest against the League of Nations and appeal to the American people to repudiate it in the coming elections, for the following reasons:
First—The League is an attempt to undermine and eventually destroy the Sovereignty of the United States and make it subordinate to a Super-Government controlled by the Imperialistic Powers of Europe and Asia, in whose councils England would have a controlling voice and influence; that the question of peace or war would, if America went into it, be decided by the Council of the League, instead of by Congress which, under our Constitution, has the sole power to declare war; that the surrender of this right would place in the hands of foreigners the power to use the armed forces and the financial resources of this Republic in wars for the promotion of other than American interests and would infallibly result in the ultimate destruction of our system of government.
We, the National Council of the Friends of Irish Freedom, assembled at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York, October 14, 1920, speaking as loyal citizens of the United States, for whose honor and interests our race has ever stood, renew and reaffirm our protest against the League of Nations and appeal to the American people to repudiate it in the coming elections, for the following reasons:
First—The League is an attempt to undermine and eventually destroy the Sovereignty of the United States and make it subordinate to a Super-Government controlled by the Imperialistic Powers of Europe and Asia, in whose councils England would have a controlling voice and influence; that the question of peace or war would, if America went into it, be decided by the Council of the League, instead of by Congress which, under our Constitution, has the sole power to declare war; that the surrender of this right would place in the hands of foreigners the power to use the armed forces and the financial resources of this Republic in wars for the promotion of other than American interests and would infallibly result in the ultimate destruction of our system of government.
Second—Article X. of the Covenant binds all members of the League to preserve and maintain, as against foreign aggression—a cunning phrase which would certainly be interpreted in their own selfish interests by the representatives of the Great Powers—the territorial integrity of all the other members of the League. This would compel the United States to send military aid to England to suppress an insurrection in Ireland, India or Egypt, and to Japan in a similar emergency in Korea or Shantung, if any foreign aid, even it it consisted only of supplies of arms and munitions of war, were given to the people fighting for their liberty. Such aid to tyrants against oppressed peoples would dishonor the American people and bring indelible disgrace upon them. We are confident that in this matter we speak for many millions of citizens of Irish blood, and we warn the American people that no man or organization has any warrant or authority from citizens of our race to assert the contrary"
The National Council of the Friends also took time to amend the organisation's Constitution and State, Local and Branch By-Laws. |
15
Moylett on his return from London reported to Griffith that ‘the British were as hard up for a settlement as we were’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P218
Moylett now returned to London with instructions to get a written statement that both the Irish and British would appoint representatives after Dail Eireann met.
Mario Puzo, American author born (d. 1999)
For more news clippings - click here
Moylett on his return from London reported to Griffith that ‘the British were as hard up for a settlement as we were’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P218
Moylett now returned to London with instructions to get a written statement that both the Irish and British would appoint representatives after Dail Eireann met.
Mario Puzo, American author born (d. 1999)
For more news clippings - click here
16
Alfred G Gardner, former editor of the London Daily News, contributed an article to the New York Herald, saying that England today is like a turbulent sea that is being battered from every quarter of the compass. Among the dangers threatening the ship of state, he enumerated unemployment, high prices, the coal strike, the blockade of Russia and the Irish situation, and in the Irish situation he thought the real menace lies with Lloyd George's Carnavon Declaration: ‘The military and police are now licensed to do their worst and will answer assassination by more frightfulness and tragedy, and will move on to some final catastrophe which may shake the world’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 17 October 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
British coal strike began which resulted in widespread disruption.
Dundee: Churchill in a constituency speech Declared that it was the 'Government's firm intention to break up the murder gang in Ireland' adding that while he favoured a permanent settlement in Ireland on the basis of Home Rule, no such settlement could be achieved on the basis of 'surrender to treacherous murder, but only on the basis of justice and generosity'
However, the Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter commenting on Churchill's speech, said that he clearly envisaged the possibility of the establishment of an independent Ireland. “Believe me, a surrender based on impotence, however it may be veiled, means, and can only mean, an independent Irish Republic. I really cannot see what has happened to induce the Liberal and Conservation parties to abandon the position which they have taken up in regard to Ireland and to agree to the institution in that country in one form or another of such a republic.” Later on in the same speech he devoted a good deal of time to explaining what would be likely to happen “if in a moment of weakness or of exhaustion on the part of those to whom they should look for guidance a British Parliament was found to agree to the setting up of an independent Republic in Ireland.”
The Newsletter closed with "All of which shows that such a Republic is by no means “outside the range of practical politics.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.22 Nov 27,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Paddy Finucane, Royal Air Force fighter pilot, youngest Wing Commander in RAF history born in Rathmines, Dublin. (killed in action 1942 over English Channel).
For more news clippings - click here
Alfred G Gardner, former editor of the London Daily News, contributed an article to the New York Herald, saying that England today is like a turbulent sea that is being battered from every quarter of the compass. Among the dangers threatening the ship of state, he enumerated unemployment, high prices, the coal strike, the blockade of Russia and the Irish situation, and in the Irish situation he thought the real menace lies with Lloyd George's Carnavon Declaration: ‘The military and police are now licensed to do their worst and will answer assassination by more frightfulness and tragedy, and will move on to some final catastrophe which may shake the world’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 17 October 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
British coal strike began which resulted in widespread disruption.
Dundee: Churchill in a constituency speech Declared that it was the 'Government's firm intention to break up the murder gang in Ireland' adding that while he favoured a permanent settlement in Ireland on the basis of Home Rule, no such settlement could be achieved on the basis of 'surrender to treacherous murder, but only on the basis of justice and generosity'
However, the Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter commenting on Churchill's speech, said that he clearly envisaged the possibility of the establishment of an independent Ireland. “Believe me, a surrender based on impotence, however it may be veiled, means, and can only mean, an independent Irish Republic. I really cannot see what has happened to induce the Liberal and Conservation parties to abandon the position which they have taken up in regard to Ireland and to agree to the institution in that country in one form or another of such a republic.” Later on in the same speech he devoted a good deal of time to explaining what would be likely to happen “if in a moment of weakness or of exhaustion on the part of those to whom they should look for guidance a British Parliament was found to agree to the setting up of an independent Republic in Ireland.”
The Newsletter closed with "All of which shows that such a Republic is by no means “outside the range of practical politics.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.22 Nov 27,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Paddy Finucane, Royal Air Force fighter pilot, youngest Wing Commander in RAF history born in Rathmines, Dublin. (killed in action 1942 over English Channel).
For more news clippings - click here
17
The first of the Sinn Fein hunger strikers in Cork Jail died. Michael Fitzgerald was on hunger strike for 68 days. DeValera sent a telegram to his family from the United States ‘We are confronted by the knowledge that Michael’s life has been freely given to the sacred cause of liberty, that his struggles and principles have received the generous approval of his country, and that his expressed wish to be priviledged to be the first of the Cork prisoners to make the supreme sacrifice was granted to him’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 18 October 30, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Mark Sturgis wrote in his diary ‘The first death of a hunger striker this evening – Fitzgerald, in Cork Prison – an undoubted murderer. Serj. Roche, RIC up from Tipperary to identify a dead Sinn – Tracy – was shot in Dublin this afternoon, walking about unarmed, the poor idiot’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 57
Sergeant Daniel Roche (45) from Cork was killed by Joe Dolan, Tom Keogh and Jim Slattery at the junction of Capel Street and Ormond Quay, Dublin. He had been brought to the city to identify the body of Sean Treacy as well as assist in the search for Dan Breen. Roche was shot as he was chatting with David Nelligan, a DMP detective attached to the ‘G’ Division and one of the three detectives in Dublin Castle who was working with Michael Collins as IRA Inteligence Officers. Nelligan had arranged for three of the ‘Squad’ to kill Roche.
The British Government again attempted to force the issue on the refusal by the railwaymen to transport military supplies and personnel. And again trains were halted as engineers and drivers walked off the job.
Art O’Briain met with the US radical journalist Lincoln Jeffers returning from a Moscow visit in London. Jeffers advised ‘everybody there is very favourable to the Irish Republic and that they are quite willing to recognise if necessary’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P191.
John Reed, U.S. communist and leftist symbol of the prior decade, dies in Russia.
For more news clippings - click here
The first of the Sinn Fein hunger strikers in Cork Jail died. Michael Fitzgerald was on hunger strike for 68 days. DeValera sent a telegram to his family from the United States ‘We are confronted by the knowledge that Michael’s life has been freely given to the sacred cause of liberty, that his struggles and principles have received the generous approval of his country, and that his expressed wish to be priviledged to be the first of the Cork prisoners to make the supreme sacrifice was granted to him’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 18 October 30, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Mark Sturgis wrote in his diary ‘The first death of a hunger striker this evening – Fitzgerald, in Cork Prison – an undoubted murderer. Serj. Roche, RIC up from Tipperary to identify a dead Sinn – Tracy – was shot in Dublin this afternoon, walking about unarmed, the poor idiot’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 57
Sergeant Daniel Roche (45) from Cork was killed by Joe Dolan, Tom Keogh and Jim Slattery at the junction of Capel Street and Ormond Quay, Dublin. He had been brought to the city to identify the body of Sean Treacy as well as assist in the search for Dan Breen. Roche was shot as he was chatting with David Nelligan, a DMP detective attached to the ‘G’ Division and one of the three detectives in Dublin Castle who was working with Michael Collins as IRA Inteligence Officers. Nelligan had arranged for three of the ‘Squad’ to kill Roche.
The British Government again attempted to force the issue on the refusal by the railwaymen to transport military supplies and personnel. And again trains were halted as engineers and drivers walked off the job.
Art O’Briain met with the US radical journalist Lincoln Jeffers returning from a Moscow visit in London. Jeffers advised ‘everybody there is very favourable to the Irish Republic and that they are quite willing to recognise if necessary’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P191.
John Reed, U.S. communist and leftist symbol of the prior decade, dies in Russia.
For more news clippings - click here
18
The Miner’s Strike took escalated in Britain. All mines were closed as miners struck for a pay claim of 2/ more per shift for men, 1/ more for youths and 9 pence more for boys under 16, per shift. A state of emergency was declared to preserve coal stocks with all advertising and display lighting banned, reduced water supply, cuts in food rationing of sugar from 12 to 8oz and banning of food hoarding.
Arthur Griffith in an interview with the Financial Times (London) commented on the attitude of the Republican Government toward British finance:
“We should prefer our associations with you to be friendly, rather than hostile. You are our closest neighbour, and many of the interests of Ireland and Great Britain are identical. If we were free, so far from identifying ourselves with any enemy, which threatened your independence, we should be bound to range ourselves alongside you, if only for the selfish reason that if you went under it would be our turn next. That would have been true even of a German invasion. You can tell your city men that they have nothing to fear in the way of confiscation or unfair discrimination, and that if they are nervous about the outlook and anxious to have the uncertainty dispelled the quickest way to bring about a change for the better is for them to make up their minds to Irish independence and to use their influence with the Government to bring it about.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.17 Oct 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Recruitment for the Auxilliaries went ahead in Britian. The Newsletter reported ‘The men recruited are required to pass no character tests and have obviously to be chosen with an eye to their adaptability to the brutal work expected of them in Ireland.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 17 October 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Another raid on Collin’s Offices was recorded by Sturgiss: ‘Wilsons people have raided Michael Collins’ headquarters and got some good stuff but caught no men – but one or two proper gunboys have got shot this weekend.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 56
Close to death, MacSwiney in a final message to Cathal Brugha wrote of ‘the pain of Easter Week’ being finally expunged in reference to his feelings of responsibility for the failure of Cork to come out in 1916.
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p86
Constable John Longhead (36) from Sligo was killed in an IRA attack on the Ruan RIC Barracks, Co. Clare. Constable William Carroll (29) and Wilmott were reported missing on the same date although Wilmott re-appeared some days later.
Brothers Edward Dwyer ( Adjutant G Company, First Battalion, Third Tipperary Brigade IRA ) and Francis (Captain F Company – nicknamed ‘The Ragg’) who were killed by masked men, believed to have been RIC in Ballydavid. Their killing was revenged on July 7th 1921 with the killing of a former RIC Sergeant in Mayo.
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter commented:
“While Greenwood was foully libelling the Irish nation, (in the Commons Debates),” said Arthur Griffith, to a number of representatives of the American press in Dublin, “Mrs. O'Dwyer of Bansha was standing beside the bodies of her two dead boys, dragged from their beds and murdered before her eyes by English soldiery. To those condoling with her, she said: ‘My two boys who worked our farm are killed without reason or cause. They were shot down practically before my eyes. Let it be so. We will bear it all for Ireland.” That is the spirit of an Irish mother seventy years old. That is the spirit of Ireland, and the murderous policy of England can never prevail against it.”
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 Miner’s Strike took escalated in Britain. All mines were closed as miners struck for a pay claim of 2/ more per shift for men, 1/ more for youths and 9 pence more for boys under 16, per shift. A state of emergency was declared to preserve coal stocks with all advertising and display lighting banned, reduced water supply, cuts in food rationing of sugar from 12 to 8oz and banning of food hoarding.
Arthur Griffith in an interview with the Financial Times (London) commented on the attitude of the Republican Government toward British finance:
“We should prefer our associations with you to be friendly, rather than hostile. You are our closest neighbour, and many of the interests of Ireland and Great Britain are identical. If we were free, so far from identifying ourselves with any enemy, which threatened your independence, we should be bound to range ourselves alongside you, if only for the selfish reason that if you went under it would be our turn next. That would have been true even of a German invasion. You can tell your city men that they have nothing to fear in the way of confiscation or unfair discrimination, and that if they are nervous about the outlook and anxious to have the uncertainty dispelled the quickest way to bring about a change for the better is for them to make up their minds to Irish independence and to use their influence with the Government to bring it about.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.17 Oct 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Recruitment for the Auxilliaries went ahead in Britian. The Newsletter reported ‘The men recruited are required to pass no character tests and have obviously to be chosen with an eye to their adaptability to the brutal work expected of them in Ireland.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 17 October 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Another raid on Collin’s Offices was recorded by Sturgiss: ‘Wilsons people have raided Michael Collins’ headquarters and got some good stuff but caught no men – but one or two proper gunboys have got shot this weekend.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 56
Close to death, MacSwiney in a final message to Cathal Brugha wrote of ‘the pain of Easter Week’ being finally expunged in reference to his feelings of responsibility for the failure of Cork to come out in 1916.
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p86
Constable John Longhead (36) from Sligo was killed in an IRA attack on the Ruan RIC Barracks, Co. Clare. Constable William Carroll (29) and Wilmott were reported missing on the same date although Wilmott re-appeared some days later.
Brothers Edward Dwyer ( Adjutant G Company, First Battalion, Third Tipperary Brigade IRA ) and Francis (Captain F Company – nicknamed ‘The Ragg’) who were killed by masked men, believed to have been RIC in Ballydavid. Their killing was revenged on July 7th 1921 with the killing of a former RIC Sergeant in Mayo.
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter commented:
“While Greenwood was foully libelling the Irish nation, (in the Commons Debates),” said Arthur Griffith, to a number of representatives of the American press in Dublin, “Mrs. O'Dwyer of Bansha was standing beside the bodies of her two dead boys, dragged from their beds and murdered before her eyes by English soldiery. To those condoling with her, she said: ‘My two boys who worked our farm are killed without reason or cause. They were shot down practically before my eyes. Let it be so. We will bear it all for Ireland.” That is the spirit of an Irish mother seventy years old. That is the spirit of Ireland, and the murderous policy of England can never prevail against it.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
19
The Irish Bishops issued a statement: ‘ If there is anarchy in Ireland, the Ministers of the British Crown are its architects. Not by inhuman oppression will the Irish question be settled, but by the recognition of the indefeasible right of Ireland, as of every other nation, to choose the form of Government under which its people are to live’
Galway city councillor Michael Walsh was abducted and murdered by British forces.
New York
With the split in Irish America growing, Lynch was increasingly testy with Friends of Irish Freedom State Presidents who were slow in responding to his requests for information. In the case of John McGarry of Chicago there were some grounds for a tough response to perceived tardiness. In January 1920, Chicago FOIF activists McGarry and Richard Wolfe had retained nearly $20,000 of funds collected for the IVF drive to instead finance the Bond Drive. These weren't the only ones. The Ladies Auxilliary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians withheld $5,000 for the same purpose. Lynch was forced to threaten these activists with lawsuits unless the funds were promptly remitted but was only partly successful. McGarry however, also sat on the Clann na Gael Executive and had been intent on avoiding a split beween de Valera and the Friends - to the extent that he supported both sides. This resulted in McGarry's 'leaking' of Devoy's attempt to convene a secret meeting of the Clann to challenge de Valera's authority in March 1920. All together, the relationship between fellow Clann members Lynch, the Friends Executive and McGarry was difficult.
John A. McGarry
5329 Wayne Ave
Chicago, Ill.
Why do you not reply to my telegram October eleventh. My letter to Branches advising each number of delegates cannot be held up any longer otherwise they will have no opportunity to select them. Will you not recommend two others one of whom will act as temporary Secretary whose name and address I can give the Branches. Unless I her from you by wir immediately I must take other steps which needless to say I have no desire to do.
Diarmuid Lynch
Before sending out the letters to the Branches, I have just decided to wire you as per enclosed copy in the hope that we may receive the information promptly and convey same to the Branches when advising them regarding their representation. These letters however, cannot be held up after tomorrow. It is exactly four weeks since I first communicated with you regarding the State Convention and it is damned annoyed to find myself with not a single bit of definite information at this late date.
Is mise, le meas mor,
National Secretary
In New York, a judge ruled that membership of the Communist party was grounds for deportation.
The question of reprisals by British forces was having a tremendous impact on British and Irish public opinion. The RIC issued a circular from Dublin Castle that ‘reprisals cannot be countenanced by those in authority’ and ‘urges’ the police to ‘maintain that self-control that has characterised them in the past’. However it carefully avoided any statement of what punishment, if any, would be meted out to the offenders and further ‘makes it clear’ that ‘the effective use of weapons when threatened or attacked is only legitimate self-defense’ and that it is the duty of the police to ‘hunt down mauraders by every means in their power'’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 17 October 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Reports circulating in the US press appeared to indicate that recruitment for the Black and Tans had been stopped in Britain. However the Friends of Irish Freedom contacts in London reported otherwise, with recruitment posters and advertising still produced in the city. ‘Irresponsible ex-soldiers who are not willing to settle down to any normal occupation of peacetime life are still wanted for the coercion of the Irish people and the devastation of their country. Ten shillings a day with all living expenses found is only a part of their pay. The priviledge of looting has been found to be a valuable one.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 17 October 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
"Since Lloyd George's brutal announcement of his Government's policy it is significant that his agents in Ireland have abandoned a great deal of their former pretense that “reprisals” and the whole campaign of murder and arson were not sanctioned by them. The special correspondent of the London Daily News in Ireland, last week made a significant report that he found a very strong feeling among the officers of the English Occupation, especially “those high up”, in favor of “systematizing reprisals”. The idea, it is explained, is to send out “punitive expeditions,” as against the frontier tribes in India and the recalcitrant natives of Africa. These expeditions work by destroying the villages within a prescribed area and shooting such natives as can be caught. Latterly, these expeditions in India have been accompanied by airplanes, from which the villages are gunned and bombed, as was the Punjab during the period of the Amritsar massacre. The use of airplanes for this purpose is also advocated by the military in Ireland, it being pointed out that airplanes can be worked with great economy of men and with practically complete safety to them."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.17 Oct 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Aerial Policing
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter excerpt above refers to what was shortly to become official British Colonial policy - that of Aerial Policing.
Lord French, as Irish Viceroy had suggested in 1919 that much of Ireland that was in rebellion could be controlled from the air through targeting bombing of both military and civilian targets. Nothing came of the suggestion, however during late January 1920, a small force of twelve RAF aircraft had helped quell a twenty year rebellion in British Somaliland in East Africa without the use of troops. In February, Churchill asked RAF Chief of the Air Staff Hugh Trenchard to draw up a plan whereby Mesopotamia could be cheaply policed by aircraft armed with machine guns, shrapnel & gas bombs and supported by as few as 4,000 British and 10,000 Indian troops. The result became known as "aerial policing" using the air force to control large swathes of territory. Simply put, it was a policy of policing the Empire 'on the cheap' that Churchill had first mused on in the House of Commons in March 1920, before the Iraqi uprising had even begun.
"It may be possible to effect economies during the course of the present year by holding Mesopotamia through the agency of the Air Force rather than by a military force. It has been pointed out that by your Air Force you have not to hold long lines of communications because the distance would only be one or one-and-a-half hours' flight by aeroplane. It is essential in dealing with Mesopotamia to get the military expenditure down as soon as the present critical state of affairs passes away." They could ‘operate in every part of the protectorate [and] enforce control, now here, now there, with- out the need of maintaining long lines of communication eating up troops and money’.
As early as April 1919, Churchill had approved ‘the general policy of using poisonous gas against uncivilised tribes’. A few months later the Air Staff admitted that ‘although considerable time and trouble was expended on research during the war, we have not yet evolved suitable and practicable gas bombs for use from aircraft’.
The Royal Air Force Staff hastened to back up their minister’s initiative, holding that the unique properties of the new air arm made it not just a replacement but an improvement on traditional military methods of control. ‘The “long arm” of the new weapon renders it ubiquitous, they proclaimed – or at least, it was ‘practicable to keep a whole country under more or less constant surveillance’. And that surveillance had a special quality – ‘from the ground every inhabitant of a village is under the impression that the occupant of an aeroplane is looking directly at him’. Rebellion could be nipped in the bud by prompt action, and indeed patrolling and leaflet-dropping ought to prevent ‘the seeds of unrest from being sown...Strong and vigorous action must in time compel the submission of the most recalcitrant tribes’, and do so ‘without the use of punitive measures by ground troops’.
Then there was always the option of targeted bombing and straffing of selected targets so that the Imperial message could be made clear to the natives - be they Afghan, Arab or Irish.
Churchill now authorised immediate reinforcements that included two squadrons of the Royal Air Force. The airmen would not have it all their own way, however. Unsurprisingly, there was resistance from the start within the government from some who saw air attack as indiscriminate and even inhumane, as well as from Army Generals who believed that only the direct physical contact of ground forces could really do the job. Sir Henry Wilson mocked the project as ‘a fantastic salad of hot air, aeroplanes and Arabs’. Harold Dickson suspected that ‘it will not take long before the wily Arab gets to learn the limits of an aeroplane’s power’.
Despite some opposition, RAF Chief Trenchard was given authorisation to begin the policy of 'Aerial Policing' in Iraq in June 1920. Around the same time,Trenchard helpfully wrote that the RAF could also even suppress "industrial disturbances or risings" in Britain if required. Whatever about using air support to quell uprisings overseas, the suggestion that the Royal Air Force could be used in such a manner in Britain and perhaps at a push, the Irish, was a step too far.The idea was not to Churchill's liking and Trenchard was advised not to refer to this proposal again.
Schemes of air control similar to that practiced in Mesopotamia were set up in the Palestine Mandate in 1922 and in the Aden Protectorate six years later. Aircraft were active at various times throughout the Empire - seeing action against rioters in Egypt, tribesmen on the North-Western Frontier in India, pastoralists in the Southern Sudan and nomads in the Somali hinterland. The air force also intervened against organised workers in the British class struggle and minor operations against Irish Republicans during 1920/21. It was indeed 'policing the Empire on the cheap'.
The effect of ‘Aerial Policing’ was to have a widespread and historic influence that is still felt today. The Mesopotamia campaign heavily influenced several of the RAF squadron leaders in what is now Iraq at the time. Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris - who in 1942 assumed the leadership of RAF Bomber Command - had seen service in the region. For Harris, what was true of Iraq could also be true of Germany. As historian AJP Taylor said of him: "He genuinely believed that the German people could be cowed from the air as he had once cowed the tribesmen of Iraq" The destruction of Hamburg, Dresden and scores of other German cities and towns followed. Around 600,000 Germans, mostly civilians, perished. But although the crews of Bomber Command fought with courage - more than 55,000 crewmen were killed, the RAF's strategic bombing campaign alone could not force Germany's surrender. The Allied armies rather than the combined British and US Air Forces were required to destroy Hitler's war machine.
More than 90 years after the RAF's first bombing campaign in Iraq, the legacy of "aerial policing" can be argued as still persisting. For example, US strategy in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan is the direct descendant of that original British campaign in Mesopotamia in 1920-23.
As part of research on the artist Basil Spackman (an RAF pilot in the Mesopotamia campaign) - the issue of Aerial Policing was examined in more detail. Click here for more information.
For more news clippings 19 October 1920- click here
20
In the House of Commons, Arthur Henderson, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party moved the resoloution that ‘this house regrets the present state of lawlessness in Ireland and the lack of discipline in the armed forces of the Crown, resulting in the death or injury of innocent citizens and the destruction of property and is of the opinion that an indpendent investigation should at once be instituted into the cause, nature and extent of reprisals on the part of those whose duty it is the maintenance of law and order..’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p.174-5
Chief Secretary Hammar Greenwood in his reply stated that he could not identify crown forces who sacked Balbriggan and killed two inhabitants…‘I cannot in my heart of hearts…condemn in the same way those polisemen who lost their heads as I condemn the assasins who provoked this outrage’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.48
And adding: ‘The best and surest way to stop reprisals is to stop the murder of policemen, soldiers and loyal citizens’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p.176
Lord Curzon, the Foreign Secretary rose and condemned the IRA campaign in Ireland: ‘It is not guerilla warfae. It is the warfare of the red indian, of the Apache. It is the warfare, which nearly a hundred years ago the Government of India had to supress and which was known as ‘Thugee’…this is not rebellion by rising; this is not freedom by fighting; this is rebellion by murder’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.50
Curzon went on to sumarise the IRA activity from January 1, 1919 to 18 October 1920:
Courthouses destroyed: 64
RIC Barracks destroyed: 492
RIC barracks vacated/damaged: 114
RIC barracks destroyed: 21
RIC barracks damaged: 48
Raids on mail services: 741
Attacks on Coastguard stations & lighthouses: 40
RIC killed: 117
RIC wounded: 185
Military killed: 23
Military wounded: 71
Civilians killed: 32
Civilians wounded: 83
Private residences of loyal citizens destroyed: 148
In the subsequent vote, the Government won 379 to 346.
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter commented on Lord Curzon's speech: "...replying for the Government in the House of Lords, to the demand for a full and open inquiry into “reprisals” by the Crown forces, declared that if it were granted the present “competition in murder” would be followed by an equal, and possibly more dangerous, “competition in perjury.” In the Commons the Coalition members loudly cheered Sir Hamar Greenwood’s protest against “these heroes of yesterday” being accused of complicity in the murders of today. One official spokesman admits that the servants of the Crown in Ireland are engaged in a “murder competition,” and are prepared to shield themselves by perjury; the other denies the existence of any tendency toward reprisals. Of the two, one is more apt to welcome even the reactionary frankness of the Tory Lord than the pious deceit of the Chief Secretary.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst is charged with sedition after calling upon workers to loot the London Docks.
New York: The Irish America Split is made permanent.
The stage was now set for the launching of an alternative Irish American organisation. In New York, De Valera announced the birth of the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic. The membership growth was rapid but ‘its decline was inevitable when Irish-Americans realised that it had no real reason for existence...it had been organised not to promote the cause of Irish recognition but to embarrass John Devoy and Judge Cohalan... [De Valera ] had shattered Irish-American unity beyond repair. The Friends of Irish Freedom had been dealt a blow from which the organisation never recovered. The rivalry between the Association and the Friends was not a friendly one, and even after his return to Ireland, De Valera continued to inspire hostility between the two organisations.’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.393-394
DeValera told the founding conference of the association that when Ireland ‘needed a co-ordinated and unified movement to supply the channels by which the popular sentiment in this country (the United States) in favour of justice to Ireland might express itself ‘there was none adequate for the purpose’.
Sean Cronin. ‘The McGarrity Papers’ Anvil Press 1972. P86
John McGarry replied to Lynch's letter and cable of the previous day. Perhaps making his point, a reply was transmitted late and received at The Western Union offices,195 Broadway, NY at 10.36pm while the National Executive meeting was in progress at the Friends HQ, 280 Broadway. McGarry cabled:
In the House of Commons, Arthur Henderson, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party moved the resoloution that ‘this house regrets the present state of lawlessness in Ireland and the lack of discipline in the armed forces of the Crown, resulting in the death or injury of innocent citizens and the destruction of property and is of the opinion that an indpendent investigation should at once be instituted into the cause, nature and extent of reprisals on the part of those whose duty it is the maintenance of law and order..’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p.174-5
Chief Secretary Hammar Greenwood in his reply stated that he could not identify crown forces who sacked Balbriggan and killed two inhabitants…‘I cannot in my heart of hearts…condemn in the same way those polisemen who lost their heads as I condemn the assasins who provoked this outrage’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.48
And adding: ‘The best and surest way to stop reprisals is to stop the murder of policemen, soldiers and loyal citizens’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p.176
Lord Curzon, the Foreign Secretary rose and condemned the IRA campaign in Ireland: ‘It is not guerilla warfae. It is the warfare of the red indian, of the Apache. It is the warfare, which nearly a hundred years ago the Government of India had to supress and which was known as ‘Thugee’…this is not rebellion by rising; this is not freedom by fighting; this is rebellion by murder’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.50
Curzon went on to sumarise the IRA activity from January 1, 1919 to 18 October 1920:
Courthouses destroyed: 64
RIC Barracks destroyed: 492
RIC barracks vacated/damaged: 114
RIC barracks destroyed: 21
RIC barracks damaged: 48
Raids on mail services: 741
Attacks on Coastguard stations & lighthouses: 40
RIC killed: 117
RIC wounded: 185
Military killed: 23
Military wounded: 71
Civilians killed: 32
Civilians wounded: 83
Private residences of loyal citizens destroyed: 148
In the subsequent vote, the Government won 379 to 346.
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter commented on Lord Curzon's speech: "...replying for the Government in the House of Lords, to the demand for a full and open inquiry into “reprisals” by the Crown forces, declared that if it were granted the present “competition in murder” would be followed by an equal, and possibly more dangerous, “competition in perjury.” In the Commons the Coalition members loudly cheered Sir Hamar Greenwood’s protest against “these heroes of yesterday” being accused of complicity in the murders of today. One official spokesman admits that the servants of the Crown in Ireland are engaged in a “murder competition,” and are prepared to shield themselves by perjury; the other denies the existence of any tendency toward reprisals. Of the two, one is more apt to welcome even the reactionary frankness of the Tory Lord than the pious deceit of the Chief Secretary.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst is charged with sedition after calling upon workers to loot the London Docks.
New York: The Irish America Split is made permanent.
The stage was now set for the launching of an alternative Irish American organisation. In New York, De Valera announced the birth of the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic. The membership growth was rapid but ‘its decline was inevitable when Irish-Americans realised that it had no real reason for existence...it had been organised not to promote the cause of Irish recognition but to embarrass John Devoy and Judge Cohalan... [De Valera ] had shattered Irish-American unity beyond repair. The Friends of Irish Freedom had been dealt a blow from which the organisation never recovered. The rivalry between the Association and the Friends was not a friendly one, and even after his return to Ireland, De Valera continued to inspire hostility between the two organisations.’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.393-394
DeValera told the founding conference of the association that when Ireland ‘needed a co-ordinated and unified movement to supply the channels by which the popular sentiment in this country (the United States) in favour of justice to Ireland might express itself ‘there was none adequate for the purpose’.
Sean Cronin. ‘The McGarrity Papers’ Anvil Press 1972. P86
John McGarry replied to Lynch's letter and cable of the previous day. Perhaps making his point, a reply was transmitted late and received at The Western Union offices,195 Broadway, NY at 10.36pm while the National Executive meeting was in progress at the Friends HQ, 280 Broadway. McGarry cabled:
Your wires eleventh and nineteenth. I was awaiting developments Local Council Sunday seventeenth as I expected they adopted action of secessionists and by doing so have cut themselves off. We have left considerable loyal minority with which we can organise State Convention and do business decently. Wire you tomorrow names hotel for convention which should be last Sunday November and Chicago. John A McGarry.
At the National Executive meeting of the FOIF, the number of branches expelled from the organisation were noted:
'The list of branches which were thereafter suspended is long: the Edward Fitzgerald branch of Philadelphia, the Thomas Ashe branch in San Diego and, in New York, the Eamonn Ceannt, the St. Kevin's and the Joseph Plunkett branches, were among dozens of branches expelled for insubordination to the National Council.'
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p144
Membership of the Friends of Irish Freedom in 1919 ‘was impressive. There were 100,749 regular members and about 175,000 associate members, 484 Associate Branches, After the split, the regular membership declined to 20,000, less than 20% of the previous years membership’
Diarmuid Lynch "The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising" Mercier Press. 1957. p209
‘With sorrow and regret Diarmuid Lynch saw, wrecked and broken, the magnificient organisation he had done so much to create’
Florence O’Donoghue in Diarmuid Lynch ‘"The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising" Mercier Press. 1957. p214
“De Valera in establishing at Washington DC, his new Association in opposition to the Friends of Irish Freedom, attempted to put the finishing touch to his work of destruction in America. He created dissension and turmoil among the supporters of the Irish Republic in this country, just at the time when Ireland most needed united support in her desperate struggle. Even in this he was backed up by his colleagues in Dail Eireann”
Declaration on the Political Situation in Ireland. Friends of Irish Freedom March 28, 1922. Lynch Family Archives.
The Irish Bishops in a pastoral letter read in all churches declaring that if there was anarchy in Ireland, it was due to the British Government.
De Valera sent to President Wilson his formal appeal to the Government of the United States for the recognition of the Republic of Ireland as a sovereign, independent state.
The Suffragette leader, Sylvia Pankhurst was charged with sedition after urging workers to loot the docks and imprisoned for 6 months.
King George V approved the burial of an ‘unknown soldier from the Great War’ in Westminster Abbey on Armistice Day.
Art O’Brien in a letter to Michael Collins proposed ‘the end of the hunger-strike as a weapon’.
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p86
Kevin Barry was court-martialled and sentenced to death for his part in the attack on British forces in Church Street, Dublin. Once announced, there were calls from all sections of the community to have the sentence commuted because of his youth, and his comrades in the Dublin Brigade made several unsuccessful attempts to rescue him from prison.
The sentence was due to be carried out on in twelve days time on November 1st at 8am.
Kevin Barry made a sworn statement ‘...the first officer continued to question me as to the names and addresses of my companions, and also asked me for the names of the company commander and any other officers that I knew..he informed me that if I gave all the information I knew I could get off’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.50
For more news clippings - click here
"We'll have to take refuge in Greenland or Tierra del Fuego" John Devoy
Word was now circulating that Harry Boland was back in New York and that he had received authority to 'cut off Cohalan and Devoy from everything'. Devoy wrote to Judge Cohalan on the news (copy of letter below).
"The latest mess comes out of a tailors shop, a very appropriate place because Boland is a tailor... is that Harry has a letter from Mick Collins, which is to let loose whenever he thinks it is reasonable.
"Cutting off Cohalan and Devoy from everything"
We'll have to take refuge in Greenland or Tierra del Fuego. God Save Ireland.
Yours, JD
Golden* is out of the Secretaryship of the A.A.R.I.R. and is to go 'on the road'. I don't know who is to take his place. Of course is so unfit to be Secretary of anything. He is only good for speech making and writing jingles'
*Devoy was irrascible at the best of times, but he was particularly scathing of Peter Golden in this letter. Golden was a second cousin of Terence MacSwiney, Lord Mayor of Cork. His father, Terence Golden taught the classics in Macroom where Peter was born on 16th August 1877. He emigrated to St. Louis, Missouri in 1901 and in 1908 became editor of the Irish News. He wrote several books of poetry on Irish affairs until a career in acting led him to Broadway, New York where he worked as a journalist with the Gaelic American under John Devoy and was recognised for his efforts by Padraig Pearse. He was the New York Secretary of the Friends of Irish Freedom until dissatisfaction with the Devoy-Cohalan group led to his becoming General Secretary of the Irish Progressive League and National Secretary of the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic. He was responsible for the re-establishment of Clan Na Gael with Harry Boland and Liam Mellows.
A gifted orator, his voice, "The Voice of Ireland" was heard across the United Stated in a whistle-stop fund-raising tour which had a devastating effect on his heaith. He supported de Valera in the 'split' and travelled to Ireland in August 1922 in an attempt to reconcile both sides in the Civil War. Finally his health gave way and he died in Denver, Colorado on 19th March, 1926 aged 49.
His remains were returned to Ireland on the S.S. Republic and he was buried on 14th July 1926 in St. Finbarr's Cemetery, Cork, just a stones throw from his cousin Terence MacSwiney.
21
While the British print media had long suspected there was an official policy on reprisals, The Morning Post reported on the previous day’s debate in the House of Commons: ‘Whatever we may think of these reprisals in theory, in prctice they are found to be the most effective way of causing these murders to cease’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p.176
The Times reporting that ‘metholds inexcusable even under the loose code of revolutionaries are certainly not metholds which the Government of Great Britain can tolerate on the part of its servants..’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p.176
De Valera to Harry Boland in New York: ‘As regards the Inquiry Commission, we must take it as it is. Half heartedness would be simply ruinious. We can make it give good returns if we throw ourselves into it… if the wrong men get hold of that and give the evidence a British complexion, we are ruined’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolotionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P198
Arthur Mitchell also states that the Irish mission secretly financed the commission.
The Philadelphia Public Ledger ‘often a conduit for British Government information, carried a report that a certain leading member of Dail Eireann was threatening Griffith and his moderate group that if they adopted ‘the policy of accepting less than complete independence’ he would break away from the body ‘carrying with him the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Republican Brotherhood, both of which he controls’ The Irish Bulletin (21 Oct ) retorted that this story was simply part of a campaign to prepare British public opinion for the murder of Michael Collins.’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P218
The Black and Tans sacked four of the Cleeves creameries in Mallow and the Golden Vale seriously damaging local business.
The FOIF Newsletter commented:
"The call for increased production of the necessities of life, which comes not only from England and Ireland, but from almost every part of the world, continues to be met by the English Occupation in Ireland with a consistent cam paign of destruction. The sack of the condensed milk factory of Messrs. Cleeves at Mallow followed the destruction of three of their creameries in the Golden Vale. The export of condensed milk and cream which was made from the Cleeves’ factory in Mallow, and is still made in Limerick and other centers, approached a million pounds a year in value. The destruction of the costly machinery used, and especially of the refrigerating system and tin-making machinery, means the loss of property irreplaceable for a long time to come, and damage reparable only at prices greatly in advance of the cost of initial installation. The Mallow factory alone employed more than 250 workers and consumed 5,000 to 8,000 gallons of milk a day."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.18 Oct 30,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Constable Bertie Rippingale (25 ) from Essex and Albert Rundle (26) from London, both Black & Tan’s were ambushed and killed at Glandore, Co. Cork.
The Manchester Guardian admitted ‘While we have all been lauding the world in talk about security for Armenians and freedom for little Belgium, we have ourselves drifted into a position where our criminal failure to govern a conquered white people stinks in the nostrils of the world worse than any other contemporary scandal of misgovernment’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 18 October 30, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Dr Joseph O’Carroll, a distinguished practising physician in Dublin, returned a C.B.E. awarded some years previously, commenting ‘…now that the Parliament of the British Empire, by the enactment of the so-called Restoration of Order Act and it's subsequent administration, has deprived my country of all the guarantees of public and private liberty which are supposed to be the marks of the British Empire, I feel that I can no longer with any self-respect remain a member of the Order…’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 18 October 30, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
"Meanwhile, against the economic warfare conducted by the English Govern ment against the very livelihoods of the Irish people, the Republican Government opposes a freezing-out system which will deprive the English exchequer of no small proportion of the imperial tribute usually exacted from Ireland. To take merely an English estimate of the situation—“over thousands of square miles of Ireland, notably in the counties of Cork, Kerry, Clare, Galway, Sligo and Mayo, not one penny of income-tax will this year be paid to the English Government. In all parts of Ireland, with the exception of the stronghold of English intrigue in the neighborhood of Belfast, solid men of business are now refusing to make any direct contributions to England.” In this connection, it is interesting to note that Lloyd George’s appeal to the pockets of the English, Scottish and Welsh voters is reducing his problem to what the London Daily News calls “a cash basis”, and that this “cash basis” supplies Irishmen with the last word in favor of complete separation from the Empire.
Coming directly on the heels of the blandly irresponsible suggestions for the termination of England’s Irish problem, made so effortlessly by Lords Grey, and Morley and a host of other English statesmen, the letter written by Arthur Henderson to the London Times has at least the refreshing quality of being realistic. The simple facts which he sets forth, and which were lightly ignored by the politicians of the Liberal Party, are indisputable: “The British Government may treat Dáil Eireann as an illegal body; but the majority of the Irish people apparently accept it as their Government. They accept its decrees, they appear before its courts, they obey its decisions. In short, it is a de facto Government. On the other hand, the authority of the British Government in Ireland, though possessing legal sanction, is openly derided and defied, and has utterly failed to give that protection which is its justification for maintaining an Army of Occupation.” From these facts the conclusions which Mr. Henderson draws are equally simple. “All proposals for a settlement must be brought to the test of these stark facts * * * by allowing the Irish people themselves to make the settlement.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.18 Oct 30,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Further breaks within the Friends of irish Freedom following the Chicago Local Council of the FOIF directive for branches to withhold all funds from the FOIF National Council. The Local Council was immediately suspended.
For more news clippings - click here
While the British print media had long suspected there was an official policy on reprisals, The Morning Post reported on the previous day’s debate in the House of Commons: ‘Whatever we may think of these reprisals in theory, in prctice they are found to be the most effective way of causing these murders to cease’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p.176
The Times reporting that ‘metholds inexcusable even under the loose code of revolutionaries are certainly not metholds which the Government of Great Britain can tolerate on the part of its servants..’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p.176
De Valera to Harry Boland in New York: ‘As regards the Inquiry Commission, we must take it as it is. Half heartedness would be simply ruinious. We can make it give good returns if we throw ourselves into it… if the wrong men get hold of that and give the evidence a British complexion, we are ruined’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolotionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P198
Arthur Mitchell also states that the Irish mission secretly financed the commission.
The Philadelphia Public Ledger ‘often a conduit for British Government information, carried a report that a certain leading member of Dail Eireann was threatening Griffith and his moderate group that if they adopted ‘the policy of accepting less than complete independence’ he would break away from the body ‘carrying with him the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Republican Brotherhood, both of which he controls’ The Irish Bulletin (21 Oct ) retorted that this story was simply part of a campaign to prepare British public opinion for the murder of Michael Collins.’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P218
The Black and Tans sacked four of the Cleeves creameries in Mallow and the Golden Vale seriously damaging local business.
The FOIF Newsletter commented:
"The call for increased production of the necessities of life, which comes not only from England and Ireland, but from almost every part of the world, continues to be met by the English Occupation in Ireland with a consistent cam paign of destruction. The sack of the condensed milk factory of Messrs. Cleeves at Mallow followed the destruction of three of their creameries in the Golden Vale. The export of condensed milk and cream which was made from the Cleeves’ factory in Mallow, and is still made in Limerick and other centers, approached a million pounds a year in value. The destruction of the costly machinery used, and especially of the refrigerating system and tin-making machinery, means the loss of property irreplaceable for a long time to come, and damage reparable only at prices greatly in advance of the cost of initial installation. The Mallow factory alone employed more than 250 workers and consumed 5,000 to 8,000 gallons of milk a day."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.18 Oct 30,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Constable Bertie Rippingale (25 ) from Essex and Albert Rundle (26) from London, both Black & Tan’s were ambushed and killed at Glandore, Co. Cork.
The Manchester Guardian admitted ‘While we have all been lauding the world in talk about security for Armenians and freedom for little Belgium, we have ourselves drifted into a position where our criminal failure to govern a conquered white people stinks in the nostrils of the world worse than any other contemporary scandal of misgovernment’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 18 October 30, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Dr Joseph O’Carroll, a distinguished practising physician in Dublin, returned a C.B.E. awarded some years previously, commenting ‘…now that the Parliament of the British Empire, by the enactment of the so-called Restoration of Order Act and it's subsequent administration, has deprived my country of all the guarantees of public and private liberty which are supposed to be the marks of the British Empire, I feel that I can no longer with any self-respect remain a member of the Order…’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 18 October 30, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
"Meanwhile, against the economic warfare conducted by the English Govern ment against the very livelihoods of the Irish people, the Republican Government opposes a freezing-out system which will deprive the English exchequer of no small proportion of the imperial tribute usually exacted from Ireland. To take merely an English estimate of the situation—“over thousands of square miles of Ireland, notably in the counties of Cork, Kerry, Clare, Galway, Sligo and Mayo, not one penny of income-tax will this year be paid to the English Government. In all parts of Ireland, with the exception of the stronghold of English intrigue in the neighborhood of Belfast, solid men of business are now refusing to make any direct contributions to England.” In this connection, it is interesting to note that Lloyd George’s appeal to the pockets of the English, Scottish and Welsh voters is reducing his problem to what the London Daily News calls “a cash basis”, and that this “cash basis” supplies Irishmen with the last word in favor of complete separation from the Empire.
Coming directly on the heels of the blandly irresponsible suggestions for the termination of England’s Irish problem, made so effortlessly by Lords Grey, and Morley and a host of other English statesmen, the letter written by Arthur Henderson to the London Times has at least the refreshing quality of being realistic. The simple facts which he sets forth, and which were lightly ignored by the politicians of the Liberal Party, are indisputable: “The British Government may treat Dáil Eireann as an illegal body; but the majority of the Irish people apparently accept it as their Government. They accept its decrees, they appear before its courts, they obey its decisions. In short, it is a de facto Government. On the other hand, the authority of the British Government in Ireland, though possessing legal sanction, is openly derided and defied, and has utterly failed to give that protection which is its justification for maintaining an Army of Occupation.” From these facts the conclusions which Mr. Henderson draws are equally simple. “All proposals for a settlement must be brought to the test of these stark facts * * * by allowing the Irish people themselves to make the settlement.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.18 Oct 30,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Further breaks within the Friends of irish Freedom following the Chicago Local Council of the FOIF directive for branches to withhold all funds from the FOIF National Council. The Local Council was immediately suspended.
For more news clippings - click here
22
Patrick Moylett returned from London with the statement from British officials in which the term ‘Dail Eireann ‘ was used and taken by both Griffith and Moylett to indicate recognition that the Dail was the representative assembly of Ireland.
Some historians tend to disagree on the level of recognition offered by this document:
‘…he returned with a vague offer which seemed to imply a partial recognition of the Dail.’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p321
Dublin Castle officials were advised that Terence McSwiney was near death. ‘'O' (Brig.Gen Ormonde Winter) who has always said McSwiney would not die has just announced that he thinks he is for it..’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 56
Constable Harry Biggs (23) from London was killed in an ambush at Parkwood, WestMeath.
Dublin Castle announced that the Government would shortly raise a special constabulary for the six counties. This was to be an armed (and predominantly Protestant) police reserve.
Joe Devlin, the Belfast nationalist MP stated during the House of Commons debate on setting up the Ulster Special Constabulary ‘The Chief Secretary is going to arm progromists to murder the Catholics…instead of paving stones and sticks, they are to be given rifles.’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.50
Clann na Gael no longer affiliated with the IRB
A major blow to the Friends of Irish Freedom was struck by Harry Boland as representative of the Supreme Council of the I.R.B. acting on behalf of the I.R.B. in Ireland, issued a press statement advising that Clan na Gael was no longer affiliated to the organisation: ‘Speaking with full authority in the name of the Supreme Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, I hereby announce that the Clan na Gael organisation is no longer affiliated with the Brotherhood’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin Adair. New York 1957. P.392
Sean Cronin puts the events in greater detail with the text of the press release:
‘We have tried in vain to secure the co-operation which we believe the rank and file of the Clan na Gael wishes to give us, and having found that the Clann Executive itself is powerless against the veto of Judge Cohalan , we find it our duty to inform the body of the members of that fact and to tell them that we have been reluctantly compelled to sever our connections between the Clan na Gael and the parent body in Ireland until such time as the will of the members of the Executive becomes operative, and not the will of Judge Cohalan.
In taking this step, which we take only as a last resort, we are acctuated solely by the desire to see given to Ireland that which was meant for Ireland – the influence and moral support of an organisation founded to assist the people of Ireland in their struggle to establish a republic. The Republic of Ireland – the dream of the last generations – has become a fact in this generation, through the sacrifices of our comrades at Easter 1916, and the deliberate vote of the Irish people. The Government of the Irish Republic, as chosen by the Irish Congress of Ireland, is a legitimate Government and to it the members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood have pledged their allegiance and their lives.
In the view of the parent organisation it is intolerable that the Gaelic American, well known here and in Ireland to be the organisation organ, should be using its circulation amongst the members to propagate misrepresentation and falsehood, despite our remonstrance, unjustifiably sapping the strength and unity of the efforts to secure recognition for the Republic of Ireland. We are united in Ireland as one man, struggling our utmost against the efforts made by Great Britain to crush and destroy us, and we want the support of every lover of Ireland in America. We know from past experience that the members of the Clan na Gael organisation do love Ireland and we are unwilling that the support they are ready to give should be shut off from us by the control of one individual. Until it is clear, therefore, that the organisation is free to co-operate with us, speaking with full authority in the name of the Supreme Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, I hereby announce that the Clan na Gael organisation is no longer affiliated with the Brotherhood.’
Sean Cronin. ‘The McGarrity Papers’ Anvil Press 1972. P85
The Friends of Irish Freedom commented in March 1922 in the 'Declaration on the Political Situation in Ireland':
“Harry Boland, acting in collusion with De Valera, cut off Clan na Gael from affiliation with the I.R.B in Ireland - thereby depriving the fighting men in Ireland of effective support from the organisation that had made the Easter week rising possible; that for over fifty years had stood practically alone in the fight for an Irish Republic ; that had the ability to get things done when it was humanly possible to do them and when not hampered and dictated to by inexperienced men blinded with conceit in themselves. Boland’s mad action was supported by his colleagues in Ireland, but subsequently they were unable to defend their mistake in ratifying his decision”
Declaration on the Political Situation in Ireland. Friends of Irish Freedom March 28, 1922. Lynch Family Archives.
Piaras Beaslai in ‘Michael Collins and the making of a New Ireland’ wrote:
‘Soon after his return to America, Harry Boland announced publicly, that he was authorised to declare the Clan na Gael dissevered from the I.R.B. in Ireland. This statement was certainly inaccurate, and a clear case of exceeding his instructions. Collins was startled and annoyed when he saw the action Boland had taken...’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.385
John Devoy writing to Judge Cohalan on July 17th:
‘Harry [ Boland ] admitted he was instructed to cut the connection that had lasted for sixty years. That is how he put it, but it ought to be forty-six. This shows they will stop at nothing and are determined to smash everything that stands in their way...they are great men to have the fate of a country in their hands...’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.385
According to Sean Cronin, in August 1922, three members of the Supreme Council who had taken the Treaty side, P.S. O’Hegarty, Dr. McCartan and Denis McCullough ‘declared that Boland indeed was carrying out the orders of the IRB. They were replying to a letter by Devoy in the Irish Independent.’
Sean Cronin. ‘The McGarrity Papers’ Anvil Press 1972. P85
Four years later when John Devoy visited Ireland, he spoke with several persons that were on the Supreme Council of the I.R.B. at the time. They assured him that Harry Boland was not instructed to disassociate Clan na Gael from the I.R.B. at any time and had ‘merely responded to the pressure exerted upon him by lieutenants of De Valera’.
‘..With sorrow and regret, Diarmuid Lynch saw, wrecked and broken, the magnificent organisation he had done so much to create. It's regular membership was then 100,749, it had 484 associate branches and it’s total membership approximated 275,000. Of these, 20,000 remained after the split...’
Florence O'Donoghue on Diarmuid Lynch "The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising" Mercier Press. 1957. p214
In Moscow, Lenin escaped an assassination attempt.
Timothy Leary, American psychologist, author and proponent of LSD born (d. 1996)
For more news clippings - click here
Patrick Moylett returned from London with the statement from British officials in which the term ‘Dail Eireann ‘ was used and taken by both Griffith and Moylett to indicate recognition that the Dail was the representative assembly of Ireland.
Some historians tend to disagree on the level of recognition offered by this document:
‘…he returned with a vague offer which seemed to imply a partial recognition of the Dail.’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p321
Dublin Castle officials were advised that Terence McSwiney was near death. ‘'O' (Brig.Gen Ormonde Winter) who has always said McSwiney would not die has just announced that he thinks he is for it..’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 56
Constable Harry Biggs (23) from London was killed in an ambush at Parkwood, WestMeath.
Dublin Castle announced that the Government would shortly raise a special constabulary for the six counties. This was to be an armed (and predominantly Protestant) police reserve.
Joe Devlin, the Belfast nationalist MP stated during the House of Commons debate on setting up the Ulster Special Constabulary ‘The Chief Secretary is going to arm progromists to murder the Catholics…instead of paving stones and sticks, they are to be given rifles.’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.50
Clann na Gael no longer affiliated with the IRB
A major blow to the Friends of Irish Freedom was struck by Harry Boland as representative of the Supreme Council of the I.R.B. acting on behalf of the I.R.B. in Ireland, issued a press statement advising that Clan na Gael was no longer affiliated to the organisation: ‘Speaking with full authority in the name of the Supreme Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, I hereby announce that the Clan na Gael organisation is no longer affiliated with the Brotherhood’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin Adair. New York 1957. P.392
Sean Cronin puts the events in greater detail with the text of the press release:
‘We have tried in vain to secure the co-operation which we believe the rank and file of the Clan na Gael wishes to give us, and having found that the Clann Executive itself is powerless against the veto of Judge Cohalan , we find it our duty to inform the body of the members of that fact and to tell them that we have been reluctantly compelled to sever our connections between the Clan na Gael and the parent body in Ireland until such time as the will of the members of the Executive becomes operative, and not the will of Judge Cohalan.
In taking this step, which we take only as a last resort, we are acctuated solely by the desire to see given to Ireland that which was meant for Ireland – the influence and moral support of an organisation founded to assist the people of Ireland in their struggle to establish a republic. The Republic of Ireland – the dream of the last generations – has become a fact in this generation, through the sacrifices of our comrades at Easter 1916, and the deliberate vote of the Irish people. The Government of the Irish Republic, as chosen by the Irish Congress of Ireland, is a legitimate Government and to it the members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood have pledged their allegiance and their lives.
In the view of the parent organisation it is intolerable that the Gaelic American, well known here and in Ireland to be the organisation organ, should be using its circulation amongst the members to propagate misrepresentation and falsehood, despite our remonstrance, unjustifiably sapping the strength and unity of the efforts to secure recognition for the Republic of Ireland. We are united in Ireland as one man, struggling our utmost against the efforts made by Great Britain to crush and destroy us, and we want the support of every lover of Ireland in America. We know from past experience that the members of the Clan na Gael organisation do love Ireland and we are unwilling that the support they are ready to give should be shut off from us by the control of one individual. Until it is clear, therefore, that the organisation is free to co-operate with us, speaking with full authority in the name of the Supreme Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, I hereby announce that the Clan na Gael organisation is no longer affiliated with the Brotherhood.’
Sean Cronin. ‘The McGarrity Papers’ Anvil Press 1972. P85
The Friends of Irish Freedom commented in March 1922 in the 'Declaration on the Political Situation in Ireland':
“Harry Boland, acting in collusion with De Valera, cut off Clan na Gael from affiliation with the I.R.B in Ireland - thereby depriving the fighting men in Ireland of effective support from the organisation that had made the Easter week rising possible; that for over fifty years had stood practically alone in the fight for an Irish Republic ; that had the ability to get things done when it was humanly possible to do them and when not hampered and dictated to by inexperienced men blinded with conceit in themselves. Boland’s mad action was supported by his colleagues in Ireland, but subsequently they were unable to defend their mistake in ratifying his decision”
Declaration on the Political Situation in Ireland. Friends of Irish Freedom March 28, 1922. Lynch Family Archives.
Piaras Beaslai in ‘Michael Collins and the making of a New Ireland’ wrote:
‘Soon after his return to America, Harry Boland announced publicly, that he was authorised to declare the Clan na Gael dissevered from the I.R.B. in Ireland. This statement was certainly inaccurate, and a clear case of exceeding his instructions. Collins was startled and annoyed when he saw the action Boland had taken...’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.385
John Devoy writing to Judge Cohalan on July 17th:
‘Harry [ Boland ] admitted he was instructed to cut the connection that had lasted for sixty years. That is how he put it, but it ought to be forty-six. This shows they will stop at nothing and are determined to smash everything that stands in their way...they are great men to have the fate of a country in their hands...’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.385
According to Sean Cronin, in August 1922, three members of the Supreme Council who had taken the Treaty side, P.S. O’Hegarty, Dr. McCartan and Denis McCullough ‘declared that Boland indeed was carrying out the orders of the IRB. They were replying to a letter by Devoy in the Irish Independent.’
Sean Cronin. ‘The McGarrity Papers’ Anvil Press 1972. P85
Four years later when John Devoy visited Ireland, he spoke with several persons that were on the Supreme Council of the I.R.B. at the time. They assured him that Harry Boland was not instructed to disassociate Clan na Gael from the I.R.B. at any time and had ‘merely responded to the pressure exerted upon him by lieutenants of De Valera’.
‘..With sorrow and regret, Diarmuid Lynch saw, wrecked and broken, the magnificent organisation he had done so much to create. It's regular membership was then 100,749, it had 484 associate branches and it’s total membership approximated 275,000. Of these, 20,000 remained after the split...’
Florence O'Donoghue on Diarmuid Lynch "The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising" Mercier Press. 1957. p214
In Moscow, Lenin escaped an assassination attempt.
Timothy Leary, American psychologist, author and proponent of LSD born (d. 1996)
For more news clippings - click here
23
Rising concern was evident in Dublin Castle, with talk of martial law being proclaimed. However London was adamant that ‘whatever the difficulties of the present situation they cannot have martial law….McSwiney has, they think, a clot, if so he’s probably ‘for it’.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 59
James MacMahon was assuring his colleagues in Dublin Castle of the certainty of the Catholic hierarchy support if Dominion Status was offerred.
The Republican Courts of Law and Arbitration, which had completely supplanted the courts of the English Petty Sessions and Assizes, continued to be one of the important “objectives” of the English Military Occupation.
"During the week ending October 23, a detachment of this army prevented the holding of an East Cavan Republican Court at Carrickallen, confiscated the briefs of the solicitors, and turned away judges, litigants and public. While a Republican Court was sitting in the town hall at Ballina, a detachment of English troops entered the building and arrested those present. A court at Ballinamore, County Leitrim, was “suppressed” in similar fashion, and on the same day a similar raid was made on Temperance Hall, Arva, where a Republican Court was sitting. "
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Any fair-minded Englishman who takes the trouble to travel through Ire land today, steering clear of British officials, and getting into touch “with all the Irish he can meet in towns and villages”, says E. N. Bennett, the well known English war correspondent, “will be convinced in three weeks that, with rare exceptions, our newspapers are deliberately concealing or misrepresenting the facts of the Irish position. What all these gentlemen (Englishmen who visit Ireland) and the British public as a whole fail to see is that the Irish Republic is already an accomplished fact. You may harass the Irish as you will, burn their homes, murder their leaders, but you cannot crush the spirit which is even now sending eleven men to voluntary death. The age-long struggle is nearing its close, and, from the present welter of devastation and misery, an independent Ireland will arise, friendly to our selves, if even now we seize the golden opportunity for reconciliation, but other wise forming one more of those hostile nations created by Lloyd George’s statesmanship, inspired from generation to generation with bitterness towards England and her people.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.18 Oct 30,1920. Lynch Family Archives
"It is amazing, in the face of the indisputable fact of the destruction of Irish creameries, of the railroad crisis precipitated by the English Army of Occupation and of the deliberate strangulation of Irish over-seas commerce by English ordnances, to find Sir Hamar Greenwood cheerfully making the pronouncement that the Irish people are themselves strangling the trade and industry of their country. Roughly speaking, twenty-two cooperative creameries in Ireland had been destroyed by English sabotage before the first of October. For the destruction of the single creamery at Newport £12,349 was awarded as an English compensation. In the case of the other establishments the damage undoubtedly varied, but it would be hard to exaggerate, certainly, the entire loss inflicted on the farming community of Ireland If the estimated damage done to other farm and industrial property in Ireland by the English troops in the course of the past three months alone were taken into consideration, the total would be an enormous one. In this connection, it should not be forgotten that industrial fairs and exhibitions throughout Ireland, except in the stronghold of English privilege in northeast Ulster, are considered “seditious” by the English Occupation, are practically never allowed to be planned and are invariably broken up when held. Ireland under English rule is a country where industry is treason and sabotage is a legitimate medium of oppression.
Lloyd George’s promise in the midst of the wild “khaki election” of not so long ago, that he would make England “a land fit for heroes to live in” is being strangely fulfilled. Lloyd George’s solicitude for the moral and physical welfare of the English heroes of French battlefields whose votes he sought has been content with allowing the body of unemployed ex-soldiers to grow to such tremendous proportions in London that it has actually attacked his own office in Downing Street. As a solution of this problem he has offered these “heroes” work to do in Ireland. To the men whom during the war he was not ashamed to invite to fight for those high principles which he took from the pen of Mr. Wilson he now offers the choice of starving in the streets of London or 1e-en listing to enforce his rule of blood in Ireland and in India."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.18 Oct 30,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Devoy in a letter from the United States Hotel in Boston, wrote a brief, terse note to Judge Cohalan:
"Dear C. Boland has given that letter of his to the press for publication. They mean war to the knife. Yours, J.D."
Rising concern was evident in Dublin Castle, with talk of martial law being proclaimed. However London was adamant that ‘whatever the difficulties of the present situation they cannot have martial law….McSwiney has, they think, a clot, if so he’s probably ‘for it’.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 59
James MacMahon was assuring his colleagues in Dublin Castle of the certainty of the Catholic hierarchy support if Dominion Status was offerred.
The Republican Courts of Law and Arbitration, which had completely supplanted the courts of the English Petty Sessions and Assizes, continued to be one of the important “objectives” of the English Military Occupation.
"During the week ending October 23, a detachment of this army prevented the holding of an East Cavan Republican Court at Carrickallen, confiscated the briefs of the solicitors, and turned away judges, litigants and public. While a Republican Court was sitting in the town hall at Ballina, a detachment of English troops entered the building and arrested those present. A court at Ballinamore, County Leitrim, was “suppressed” in similar fashion, and on the same day a similar raid was made on Temperance Hall, Arva, where a Republican Court was sitting. "
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Any fair-minded Englishman who takes the trouble to travel through Ire land today, steering clear of British officials, and getting into touch “with all the Irish he can meet in towns and villages”, says E. N. Bennett, the well known English war correspondent, “will be convinced in three weeks that, with rare exceptions, our newspapers are deliberately concealing or misrepresenting the facts of the Irish position. What all these gentlemen (Englishmen who visit Ireland) and the British public as a whole fail to see is that the Irish Republic is already an accomplished fact. You may harass the Irish as you will, burn their homes, murder their leaders, but you cannot crush the spirit which is even now sending eleven men to voluntary death. The age-long struggle is nearing its close, and, from the present welter of devastation and misery, an independent Ireland will arise, friendly to our selves, if even now we seize the golden opportunity for reconciliation, but other wise forming one more of those hostile nations created by Lloyd George’s statesmanship, inspired from generation to generation with bitterness towards England and her people.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.18 Oct 30,1920. Lynch Family Archives
"It is amazing, in the face of the indisputable fact of the destruction of Irish creameries, of the railroad crisis precipitated by the English Army of Occupation and of the deliberate strangulation of Irish over-seas commerce by English ordnances, to find Sir Hamar Greenwood cheerfully making the pronouncement that the Irish people are themselves strangling the trade and industry of their country. Roughly speaking, twenty-two cooperative creameries in Ireland had been destroyed by English sabotage before the first of October. For the destruction of the single creamery at Newport £12,349 was awarded as an English compensation. In the case of the other establishments the damage undoubtedly varied, but it would be hard to exaggerate, certainly, the entire loss inflicted on the farming community of Ireland If the estimated damage done to other farm and industrial property in Ireland by the English troops in the course of the past three months alone were taken into consideration, the total would be an enormous one. In this connection, it should not be forgotten that industrial fairs and exhibitions throughout Ireland, except in the stronghold of English privilege in northeast Ulster, are considered “seditious” by the English Occupation, are practically never allowed to be planned and are invariably broken up when held. Ireland under English rule is a country where industry is treason and sabotage is a legitimate medium of oppression.
Lloyd George’s promise in the midst of the wild “khaki election” of not so long ago, that he would make England “a land fit for heroes to live in” is being strangely fulfilled. Lloyd George’s solicitude for the moral and physical welfare of the English heroes of French battlefields whose votes he sought has been content with allowing the body of unemployed ex-soldiers to grow to such tremendous proportions in London that it has actually attacked his own office in Downing Street. As a solution of this problem he has offered these “heroes” work to do in Ireland. To the men whom during the war he was not ashamed to invite to fight for those high principles which he took from the pen of Mr. Wilson he now offers the choice of starving in the streets of London or 1e-en listing to enforce his rule of blood in Ireland and in India."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.18 Oct 30,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Devoy in a letter from the United States Hotel in Boston, wrote a brief, terse note to Judge Cohalan:
"Dear C. Boland has given that letter of his to the press for publication. They mean war to the knife. Yours, J.D."
For more news clippings - click here
24
Terence McSwiney’s condition worsened and his brother Sean and Fr Dominic were allowed to stay overnight on the 24th October.
Shot by British forces - October 24: Charles Lynch, Miltown-Malbay, Michael Ryan, Curraghduff, Thurles, William Gleeson, Moher, Thurles, and Thomas Egan, Coshla, Athenry.
24
Terence McSwiney’s condition worsened and his brother Sean and Fr Dominic were allowed to stay overnight on the 24th October.
Shot by British forces - October 24: Charles Lynch, Miltown-Malbay, Michael Ryan, Curraghduff, Thurles, William Gleeson, Moher, Thurles, and Thomas Egan, Coshla, Athenry.
25
5.40am, as he was being given the Last Rites, the jailed Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence McSwiney died after a 74 days hunger strike in Brixton Prison, London. A few hours later, another prisoner in Cork Jail, Joseph Murray, died.
Later in the day, a simple press release was issued by McSwiney's wife: ‘Terence died this morning. Muriel.’
Some of McSwiney’s writings included comments on:
The Irish language
The language is at once our frontier and our first fortress, and behind it all Irishmen should stand, not because a particular branch of our people evolved it, but because it is the common heritage of all.
Neutrality
No one is so foolish as to suppose, being free, we would enter quarrels not our own. We should remain neutral. Our common sense would so dictate, our sense of right would so demand. The freedom of a nation carries with it the responsibility that it be no menace to the freedom of another nation. The freedom of all makes for the security of all.
Friendship with England
Strange as it may seem, separation from England will alone make for final friendship with England. For no one is so foolish as to wish to be for ever at war with England. It is unthinkable. Now the most beautiful motive for freedom is vindicated. Our liberty stands to benefit the enemy instead of injuring him.
The British Empire
The empire as we know it and deal with it, is a bad thing in itself, and we must get free of it and not be again trapped by it, but must rather give hope and encouragement to every other nation fighting the same fight all the world over.
Endurance
One armed man cannot resist a multitude, nor one army conquer countless legions; but not all the armies of all the empires of earth can crush the spirit of one true man. And that one man will prevail.
Moral courage can be acquired; acquire it, practice it, and your enemy may seize you, trample you, tear you to pieces, but her will never extract from you these two words: ‘I Surrender’.
Nationalism and Internationalism
If Ireland is to be regenerated, we must have internal unity; if the worlds is to be regenerated we must have worldwide unity - not of government, but of brotherhood. To this great end every individual, every nation has a duty; and that the end may not be missed we must continually turn for the correction of our philosophy to reflecting on the common origin of the human race, on the beauty of the world that is the heritage of all, our common hopes and fears, and in the greatest sense the mutual interests of the peoples of the earth.
Sturgis recorded the event faithfully in his diary: ‘This morning in Brixton prison died Terence McSwiney, Lord Mayor of Cork. Jonathan got the wire when we arrived from Dicky’s soon after 10. it will be interesting to see what the foe do by way of revenge. A month ago they would have raised hell – they have talked big and if they don’t do it now it would be a sign that the tail is down…Robinson ( Sir Henry Augustus Robinson 1857-1927 – VP Local Government Board for Ireland ) was in this morning full of information of the beaten state of the enemy. The Irish indeed a curious race, one thing he said that with lots of the peasants McSwiney lost favour when he fasted more than 40 days – they regarded the beating of Our Lord’s record as a blasphemous presumption….am told that the Mansion House is used for full meetings of Dial Eireann and MC often attends – perhaps we can catch him at it unless todays raid on the premises…doesn’t frighten them off…Coroner may have to order burial in England if verdict is suicide – Jonathan has wired that if possible funeral should be here in Cork, as more politic course.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 60
The British Labour Party demand for an independent enquiry into the conduct of British forces in Ireland was refused in the House of Commons.
The Freeman’s Journal carried a report on an alleged flogging of a prisoner in Portobello Barracks.
The American Bar Association, representing lawyers and attorneys through the country, commented in an issue of the ‘Journal’; ‘Give Ireland what she is entitled to, local self Government, and tell her firmly that is all she can have’
The Newsletter immediately called on lawyers to ‘protest against this attitude of a few men, who supervise this publication, committing a numerically great association to such an affront to thousands of American lawyers who believe Ireland is entitle to absolute independence.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 19 November 6, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Sergeant Samuel Lucas (47) from Tyrone was killed in an early morning raid on Tempo RIC Barracks, Co. Fermanagh. The raid had been planned by an ex-Constable, Bernard Conway who had earlier resigned from the force and joined the IRA. Using another contact within the force, the IRA entered the station, shooting Lucas and searching for weapons. Gunfire from the barracks alerted local Loyalists who armed themselves and opened fire on the raiders forcing their withdrawal.
Sergeant Patrick Perry (51) from Meath and Constables Patrick Keown (25) from Fermanagh, Patrick Laffey (41) from Galway and Patrick Lynch (33) from Cavan were killed when their police patrol was ambushed along with arms and ammunition taken at Moneygold, Co. Sligo. The attack was carried out under the command of Sligo Brigade’s William Pilkington * . At the funeral of two of the officers, a placard read ‘A Sinn Fein victory: three widows and seventeen orphans’.
* Pilkington became OC of the IRA’s Third Western Division and in 1924 joined the Redemptorist Order. Ordained a priest in 1931.
Shortly afterwards, as the arms and ammunition were being transported southwards, British forces intercepted the car, arresting three men and a woman. Linda Kearns had been a key figure in Collin’s communication newtwork in the West, received 10 years sentence and remained in jail until after the truce.
Sir Edward Carson in the House of Commons stated that ‘Irish policemen had been murdered with expanding bullets.”
Stories of expanding bullets which, according to some propagandist accounts, were used exclusively by the Sinn Fein in Ireland were occasionally commented on in the American press. The Newsletter commented on a later (undated) letter from G. A. Hinkson of Magdalene College, Cambridge, England, published in The Daily News (London), managed to throw some light on the situation.
“Sir—Allow me, in the public interest, to comment on a statement attributed to Sir Hamar Greenwood some weeks ago, and to Sir Edward Carson in the House of Commons on October 25, that ‘Irish policemen had been murdered with expanding bullets.” It is well known that a considerable quantity of the ammunition used by Sinn Fein in Ireland has been captured from forces of the Crown. Now, as those who have served with his Majesty’s forces are aware, all the revolver ammunition (as distinct from automatic pistol or rifle ammunition) issued by the Government to the forces of the Crown in Ireland and elsewhere contains a soft-nosed leaden bullet, without a covering of nickel-plate to prevent it from expanding. This bullet, on striking a hard object, such as a human bone, will expand, and as Sir Hamar Greenwood has said, will “cause horrible mutilation’. But this is the only ammunition supplied for revolvers by the Crown to its servants in Ireland. So it is not difficult to trace the origin of the expanding ammunition used by Sinn Fein. This is a very deplorable fact, and could very easily be remedied.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.21 Nov 20,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Below: facing a distinct threat from the AARIR, through attempts to incorporate the Friends of Irish Freedom title in various States, and facing potential investigation from the United States Government, the Friends examined in detail, the organisations Constitution and Articles of Incorporation. Legal advice was sought and this is one example from the AIHS Archives, New York:
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26
British Administration in Dublin Castle was curious as to the outcome of McSwiney’s death. Sturgis recorded:
‘A second of the Cork hunger strikers died last night, Murphy, said to be technically an American citizen; he is robbed even of a heroic advertisment as the papers this morning are full of McSwiney. So far no news of disturbances as a result of these deaths…I saw the Secretary of the YMCA this morning…a strong Protestant etc which may detract from the value of his testimony – but he confirms from his slum work that the Sinn Fein tail is properly down – he says that a month ago Dublin would have been thick with Republican flags at half mast – today not one. Still I can't think that the bolder spirits won't try something.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 60
The British Authorities had by now discovered one of the main bank accounts used by Sinn Fein. Metholds used to get the funds were farcical, take this entry from Mark Sturgis:
‘'O' ( Brig.Gen Ormonde Winter ) came in this evening in a chestnut moustache and wig, trench coat, flannel trousers an bowler hat – looking the most complete swine I ever saw – he had been pinching MC’s* ‘war chest’ from the Munster and Leinster bank – quite illegally I expect – brought in about £4,000, £15,000 more to come. Hardly his job? And a bad make up at that.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 60
MC - Michael Collins
The dead-lock in the Irish railway situation which has lasted now for some months with whatever advantage there may be, seemingly on the side of the Irish Republicans and the workers who have refused to transport British troops and munitions, is gradually approaching a crisis. In the past, the English Government has been in the habit of giving substantial exchequer grants in return for certain arrangements allowing the English Government priority for its freight and passenger transportation. Patriotic Irish railroad workers have, by their refusal to transport troops and munitions, rendered the return for the money thus given to Irish railroads practically nil. It is now reported in the English press that steps will be taken to bring this situation to an end. The English Government must either decide to withdraw these grants or itself run a train service operated by English soldiers.
In this situation, as in every other phase of its war on the Irish people, the English Government has not overlooked the opportunity of increasing its economic pressure on Ireland. It is allowing as few trains to be moved as possible, and is exerting every effort to make the stoppage of transport as complete as it can. Any new policy which it may adopt to bring an end to the present dead-lock will, one may be sure, be calculated not only as an attempt to facilitate the work of the English Occupation in Ireland, but to make the economic con dition of the Irish people as discouraging as possible.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.18 Oct 30,1920. Lynch Family Archives
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27
The British Coroner’s verdict on MxSwiney was death due to natural causes and the Government gave permission for burial in Ireland and allowed the body to be transferred by ordinary boat to Kingstown and through Dublin. Dublin Castle thought otherwise. ‘HM Government have sold us a pup it seems…it was contrary to ..Macready’s advice which was against allowing body to come to Dublin at all…Macready was cheerful and blasphemous and wired to Army Council did Cabinet realise danger of a riot…’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 61
McSwiney's body was now brought to St George’s Cathederal, Southwark.
The death of Terence MacSwiney led to major outbreaks of violence throughout Ireland. 2 British Army officers were killed during a house search in Dublin and 2 policemen killed in Co Roscommon. The Vatican received letters from Ireland calling on the Pope to praise the hunger strikers as martyrs and from the British, to condemn their deaths as self-inflicted murder.
The Newsletter reported the death on it’s front page ‘An International Sacrifice’
‘Terence MacSwiney, Michael Fitzgerald and Joseph Murphy have given their lives for the same ideal for which American soldeirs died in France. The Irish hunger strikers, like our own soldiers seek ‘the reign of law based upon the consent of the governed sustained by the organised opinion of mankind’ the sufferings of these three men and their comrades, the high loyalty with which they have been supported by the Irish people, have exalted the Irish struggle far above political intrigue – above the petty jealousies and ambitions of men and nations – and have made Ireland the sponsor of a holy war for international justice. Fitzgerald, Murphy and MacSwiney have been murdered by the nation which burned Joan of Arc at the stake and hung Oliver Plunkett from Tyburn tree – by the nation which was the executioner of Robert Emmett and the hangman of Nathan Hale. Other heoes will follow them, joining themselves to the great host of hero dead which is leading Ireland to victory. The Lord Mayor of Cork is an example for the whole world. He is the sort of martyr who burns with a very bright and steady flame.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 18 October 30, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Michael Fitzgerald's family cabled President de Valera, thanking him for his message of sympathy:
“We are confronted by the knowledge that Michael's life has been freely given to the sacred cause of liberty, that his struggles and principles have received the generous approval of his country, and that his expressed wish to be privileged to be the first of the Cork prisoners to make the supreme sacrifice was granted him.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.18 Oct 30,1920. Lynch Family Archives
De Valera issued his "Memorial Address Terence MacSwiney":
"England has killed another son for Ireland to mourn. She has robbed another woman of the joy of her life, and made another orphan sad for the father she must never know. And Lloyd George is proud of his work. Proud that he has given proof that the British Empire is not done for yet -- a proof that we do not gainsay, for it is truly a proof that convinces. In every generation for seven centuries Ireland's cry has necessarily been: it is a hard service they take that helps me. Many a child will be born, and there will be no father at the christening to give it a name. Many that have red cheeks now, will have pale cheeks for my sake. And our children have never once feigned to respond. They offer themselves gladly for the sacrifice. MacSwiney and his comrades gave up their lives for their country. The English have killed them. Tomorrow a boy, head and [body], they will hang, and [Hale-like], he will only regret that he has but one life to give. Oh God. For they shall be alive forever, they shall be speaking forever, they shall be remembered forever, the people will hear them forever. Ye mothers that are here, think that each one of these too had a mother who loved him as you love your sons. Ye wives that are here, think that MacSwiney too had a wife, and her love was no less than yours. Ye children that are here, think that he too had a child, and his love was as kind as your father's. And they are dead that men should be at peace, and war should be no more, and that a small nation that covets nothing from its neighbour should enjoy the right of its own freedom.
But Ireland dries her tears over the graves of her martyred ones. They have fought their fight and they shall reap the victory. Lloyd George has killed them, but their bodies only had they reached, their spirits he could not. He has [buried] them by the peck; they have not been found wanting. Fitzgerald's and MacSwiney's and Murphy's bodies are indeed in the clay, but it is the sacred bosom of the motherland they loved so well and served so nobly, and their godlike spirits are with us now to inspire, and to be at our side always with a legioned strength to help us. If God wills that the freedom of our country should thus come in our own rather than in the blood of our enemies, we too shall not hesitate at the price, or shrink at the sacrifice. Nor will those who come after us value less the heritage we shall thus have purchased for them. The glorious standards our comrades have set must be ours and in this last phase of Ireland's struggle, to which it has been their privilege to [lead the van], our motto must be theirs -- the motto of victory, liberty, or death."
The League of Nations moves its headquarters to Geneva, Switzerland.
The British Coroner’s verdict on MxSwiney was death due to natural causes and the Government gave permission for burial in Ireland and allowed the body to be transferred by ordinary boat to Kingstown and through Dublin. Dublin Castle thought otherwise. ‘HM Government have sold us a pup it seems…it was contrary to ..Macready’s advice which was against allowing body to come to Dublin at all…Macready was cheerful and blasphemous and wired to Army Council did Cabinet realise danger of a riot…’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 61
McSwiney's body was now brought to St George’s Cathederal, Southwark.
The death of Terence MacSwiney led to major outbreaks of violence throughout Ireland. 2 British Army officers were killed during a house search in Dublin and 2 policemen killed in Co Roscommon. The Vatican received letters from Ireland calling on the Pope to praise the hunger strikers as martyrs and from the British, to condemn their deaths as self-inflicted murder.
The Newsletter reported the death on it’s front page ‘An International Sacrifice’
‘Terence MacSwiney, Michael Fitzgerald and Joseph Murphy have given their lives for the same ideal for which American soldeirs died in France. The Irish hunger strikers, like our own soldiers seek ‘the reign of law based upon the consent of the governed sustained by the organised opinion of mankind’ the sufferings of these three men and their comrades, the high loyalty with which they have been supported by the Irish people, have exalted the Irish struggle far above political intrigue – above the petty jealousies and ambitions of men and nations – and have made Ireland the sponsor of a holy war for international justice. Fitzgerald, Murphy and MacSwiney have been murdered by the nation which burned Joan of Arc at the stake and hung Oliver Plunkett from Tyburn tree – by the nation which was the executioner of Robert Emmett and the hangman of Nathan Hale. Other heoes will follow them, joining themselves to the great host of hero dead which is leading Ireland to victory. The Lord Mayor of Cork is an example for the whole world. He is the sort of martyr who burns with a very bright and steady flame.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 18 October 30, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Michael Fitzgerald's family cabled President de Valera, thanking him for his message of sympathy:
“We are confronted by the knowledge that Michael's life has been freely given to the sacred cause of liberty, that his struggles and principles have received the generous approval of his country, and that his expressed wish to be privileged to be the first of the Cork prisoners to make the supreme sacrifice was granted him.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.18 Oct 30,1920. Lynch Family Archives
De Valera issued his "Memorial Address Terence MacSwiney":
"England has killed another son for Ireland to mourn. She has robbed another woman of the joy of her life, and made another orphan sad for the father she must never know. And Lloyd George is proud of his work. Proud that he has given proof that the British Empire is not done for yet -- a proof that we do not gainsay, for it is truly a proof that convinces. In every generation for seven centuries Ireland's cry has necessarily been: it is a hard service they take that helps me. Many a child will be born, and there will be no father at the christening to give it a name. Many that have red cheeks now, will have pale cheeks for my sake. And our children have never once feigned to respond. They offer themselves gladly for the sacrifice. MacSwiney and his comrades gave up their lives for their country. The English have killed them. Tomorrow a boy, head and [body], they will hang, and [Hale-like], he will only regret that he has but one life to give. Oh God. For they shall be alive forever, they shall be speaking forever, they shall be remembered forever, the people will hear them forever. Ye mothers that are here, think that each one of these too had a mother who loved him as you love your sons. Ye wives that are here, think that MacSwiney too had a wife, and her love was no less than yours. Ye children that are here, think that he too had a child, and his love was as kind as your father's. And they are dead that men should be at peace, and war should be no more, and that a small nation that covets nothing from its neighbour should enjoy the right of its own freedom.
But Ireland dries her tears over the graves of her martyred ones. They have fought their fight and they shall reap the victory. Lloyd George has killed them, but their bodies only had they reached, their spirits he could not. He has [buried] them by the peck; they have not been found wanting. Fitzgerald's and MacSwiney's and Murphy's bodies are indeed in the clay, but it is the sacred bosom of the motherland they loved so well and served so nobly, and their godlike spirits are with us now to inspire, and to be at our side always with a legioned strength to help us. If God wills that the freedom of our country should thus come in our own rather than in the blood of our enemies, we too shall not hesitate at the price, or shrink at the sacrifice. Nor will those who come after us value less the heritage we shall thus have purchased for them. The glorious standards our comrades have set must be ours and in this last phase of Ireland's struggle, to which it has been their privilege to [lead the van], our motto must be theirs -- the motto of victory, liberty, or death."
The League of Nations moves its headquarters to Geneva, Switzerland.
October 27, 1920
CONFIDENTIAL A Chara. We have definite information that in at least one State those who seek to disrupt the Friends of Irish Freedom and who have already refused to obey the Constitution and act in good faith with the National Council and National Executive, have taken steps to incorporate the Friends of Irish Freedom in their state. While it is probable that the National Organisation could through legal process prevent such people from arrogating to themselves the right to use the name Friends of Irish Freedom, it is incumbent on those who are loyal to the organisation and it's duly elected governing bodies to take steps so that similiar action on the part of disruptionists in other States may be headed off. We therefore ask you to immediately get in touch with five or more loyal members (whatever number is require by law) of the Friends of Irish Freedom in your State and duly appy for the incorporation of the F.O.I.F. therein. We suggest that you place the matters in the hands of an attorney at once. Kindly send me a copy of the application for incorporation (after the original has been duly filed), and instructions will subsequently be issued wherby the rights of the National Council may be safeguarded. For obvious reasons the matter should be kept strictly private until the ceritifcate of incorporation has been issued. We are dealing with reckless individuals whose antagonism to the National Organisation overrules all ideas of common sense and fair-play and it is therefore necessary that proper protective steps be taken immediately. Is mise le meas mor, National Secretary |
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28
American Consul Frederick Dumount met with Mark Sturgis in Dublin Castle: ‘He knows Arthur Griffith well and says the heads of Sinn Fein are not discouraged and anxious for peace but that the moderate element tend to go over more and more to the extremists. Agrees that the rank and file are sick of it…’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 62
Following a brief lying in state at Southwark Cathedral, Terence McSwiney’s body arrived in Holyhead as the Cabinet were debating whether to allow the body through to Dublin or send it direct to Cork. Eventually it was decided late in the afternoon to reroute a special boat, the Rathmore and take the Lord Mayor’s body directly to Cork.
The chief mourners intention was that McSwiney’s body be taken to Dublin and then on to Cork by train so as to allow for a political demonstration. There were ugly scuffles on the quay in Holyhead with the police pulling a group including his wife and family away from the coffin. It was then loaded onto the steamer and with a squad of British troops, sailed without the mourners. Muriel McSwiney and family members travelled onto Dublin via the mailboat.
Sturgis was angry that the decision took so long: ‘London has declined to inform the relatives of this change or make it public in London so we are not able to put anything in the evening papers here – the result will be stacks of people will be assembled before they can see the morning papers and I should think a row may ensue. One cannot resist the inference that London’s only care is to get rid of McSwiney without trouble there…even the Shinns are entitled to be told tonight if tomorrows circus is off … to rob them of their meat at the last minute may provoke a far bigger row than the funeral itself…anyway the papers tonight are full of elaborate plans for Dublin’s public funeral, this is an offence anyway.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 61-2
However, the head of the Castle’s News Bureau, Basil Clarke organised Dublin’s Evening Mail to get out a late edition with the latest news at 9pm with telegrams sent to the family and certain citizens.
Lord Henry Cavendish Bentinck, drew the attention of the English Commons to the fact that, "in Ireland during the years 1917 and 1918, 1,256 arrests, 1,244 sentences for political offenses, 115 deportations without trial or charge, 99 suppressions by military force of gatherings of unarmed men, women and children, 32 suppression of assemblies such as fairs and markets, and 12 suppressions of national newspapers were reported in the press, and that, during these two years, only one policeman lost his life in Ireland."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
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28
American Consul Frederick Dumount met with Mark Sturgis in Dublin Castle: ‘He knows Arthur Griffith well and says the heads of Sinn Fein are not discouraged and anxious for peace but that the moderate element tend to go over more and more to the extremists. Agrees that the rank and file are sick of it…’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 62
Following a brief lying in state at Southwark Cathedral, Terence McSwiney’s body arrived in Holyhead as the Cabinet were debating whether to allow the body through to Dublin or send it direct to Cork. Eventually it was decided late in the afternoon to reroute a special boat, the Rathmore and take the Lord Mayor’s body directly to Cork.
The chief mourners intention was that McSwiney’s body be taken to Dublin and then on to Cork by train so as to allow for a political demonstration. There were ugly scuffles on the quay in Holyhead with the police pulling a group including his wife and family away from the coffin. It was then loaded onto the steamer and with a squad of British troops, sailed without the mourners. Muriel McSwiney and family members travelled onto Dublin via the mailboat.
Sturgis was angry that the decision took so long: ‘London has declined to inform the relatives of this change or make it public in London so we are not able to put anything in the evening papers here – the result will be stacks of people will be assembled before they can see the morning papers and I should think a row may ensue. One cannot resist the inference that London’s only care is to get rid of McSwiney without trouble there…even the Shinns are entitled to be told tonight if tomorrows circus is off … to rob them of their meat at the last minute may provoke a far bigger row than the funeral itself…anyway the papers tonight are full of elaborate plans for Dublin’s public funeral, this is an offence anyway.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 61-2
However, the head of the Castle’s News Bureau, Basil Clarke organised Dublin’s Evening Mail to get out a late edition with the latest news at 9pm with telegrams sent to the family and certain citizens.
Lord Henry Cavendish Bentinck, drew the attention of the English Commons to the fact that, "in Ireland during the years 1917 and 1918, 1,256 arrests, 1,244 sentences for political offenses, 115 deportations without trial or charge, 99 suppressions by military force of gatherings of unarmed men, women and children, 32 suppression of assemblies such as fairs and markets, and 12 suppressions of national newspapers were reported in the press, and that, during these two years, only one policeman lost his life in Ireland."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.25 Dec 18,1920. Lynch Family Archives
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Morning papers were full of news of the re-routing. ‘Final Indignity’ etc.
Terence McSwiney’s body arrived back in Cork aboard the Rathmore at 1:45pm, transferred to the tug Mary Tavy which brought the coffin to the Custom House Quay at 4.15pm. At 9.30pm, the coffin was carried by members of the Irish Volunteers to the City Hall where it lay in state with thousands turning out to pay their respects.
In Belfast, Colonel Wilfrid Spender as Commander of the Ulster Volunteer Force, urged members to join newly formed ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ Specials as reserves to the Royal Ulster Constabulary ‘The Government has definitely recognised that there are two distinct elements among the population – those who are loyal to the British Crown and Empire and those who are not…there is no reason why the UVF should not furnish all the numbers required..’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.50
For more news clippings - click here
Morning papers were full of news of the re-routing. ‘Final Indignity’ etc.
Terence McSwiney’s body arrived back in Cork aboard the Rathmore at 1:45pm, transferred to the tug Mary Tavy which brought the coffin to the Custom House Quay at 4.15pm. At 9.30pm, the coffin was carried by members of the Irish Volunteers to the City Hall where it lay in state with thousands turning out to pay their respects.
In Belfast, Colonel Wilfrid Spender as Commander of the Ulster Volunteer Force, urged members to join newly formed ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ Specials as reserves to the Royal Ulster Constabulary ‘The Government has definitely recognised that there are two distinct elements among the population – those who are loyal to the British Crown and Empire and those who are not…there is no reason why the UVF should not furnish all the numbers required..’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.50
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30
The case of Kevin Barry was high on the agenda in Dublin Castle. ‘There is I believe no question of remitting the sentence. Two grim looking ropes arrived from Pentonville via the Home Office yesterday. The execution is fixed for Monday morning. Rather a pity nobody noticed it is All Saint’s Day. Great play will be made about Barry’s youth, 18 ½ . The Freeman calls him Master Barry of course, but he is quite as old as a large chunk of the British Army and the 3 soldiers he and his party killed were all under 19…I think the Shinns would gain more sympathy as ‘sportsmen’ if they were a little more logical about all this – they seem to see nothing absurd in making their proudest boast that they are a rebel army attacking a tyrant and yet using every sort of please for mercy whenever one of their brave soldiers is up against it.. I can't see any reason to let him off if we are ever going to execute anybody…’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 62-3
Dublin’s Archbishop and Lord Mayor visited Dublin Castle to pleading for a reprieve for Kevin Barry.
Constable Timothy Horan (40) from Kerry was killed when his cycle patrol was ambushed in Castledaly, Co. Galway.
“Anyone surveying events in Ireland for the past five years,” said Lord Mayor MacSwiney in his inaugural address at Cork, “must see that it is approaching a miracle how our country has been preserved during a persecution unexampled in history, culminating in the murder of the head of our great city. God has permitted this to be to try our spirit, to prove us worthy of a noble line, to prepare us for a great and noble destiny. You among us who have no vision of our future have been led astray by false prophets... The liberty for which we today strive is a sacred thing, inseparably intertwined with that spiritual liberty for which the Savior of Man died, and which is the inspiration and foundation of all just Government. Because it is sacred, and death for it is akin to the Sacrifice of Calvary, following far off but constant to that Divine example, in every generation our best and bravest have died. Sometimes in our grief we cry out foolish and unthinking words; “The sacrifice is too great’— but it is because they were our best and bravest they had to die. No lesser sacrifice would save us. Because of it our struggle is holy, our battle is sanctified by their blood, and our victory is assured by their martyrdom. We, taking up the work they left incomplete, confident in God, offer in turn sacrifice from ourselves. It is not we who take innocent blood, but we offer it sustained by the example of our immortal dead, and that Divine example which inspires us all, for the redemption of our country.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.18 Oct 30,1920. Lynch Family Archives
"No more awe-inspiring impeachment of deliberate misgovernment will be found in the annals of modern times than the pronouncement of the Irish Bishops on the state of their country under English oppression, where “terror ism, partiality, and failure to apply the principles which its members have pro claimed are the characteristics of government” rule. “Now, on a truly appalling scale the people have to endure countless indiscriminate raids and arrests in the depths of night; prolonged imprisonment without trial, savage sentences from tribunals that command and deserve no confidence; the burning of houses, town-halls, factories, creameries and crops; the destruction of industries to pave the way for famine—all done by men maddened with plundered drink and bent on loot. The flogging and massacre of civilians are perpetrated by the forces of the British Crown, who have established a reign of frightfulness, which, for murdering the innocent and destroying their property, has a parallel only in the horrors of Turkish atrocities.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.18 Oct 30,1920. Lynch Family Archives
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31
Requiem mass for Terence MacSwiney was celebrated by Bishop Coholan, four Irish Bishops & two Archbishops from Australia. The funeral procession took place to St Finbarr’s cemetery where he was buried not far from his friend and predecessor, Tomas MacCurtain. A day of national mourning was observed throughout Ireland.
Lord French met with Dublin Castle officials including Mark Sturgiss on Kevin Barry. The pleas from the Archbishop and Lord Mayor were examined along with comments from the Lord Chancellor reccomending a reprieve. In discussion it was agreed that Barry’s age would not have been a bar to execution in Britain. ‘Macready said that it was a clear case of the sort which the soldiers and police rightly expected us to exact the full penalty. His Ex said he entirely disagreed with the Lord C’s opinion and that his reasons seemed to him bad and he wrote on the papers ‘After a most careful and exhaustive examination of this case I can see no just reason to exercise the perogative and law must take its course – French 31/10/20 .’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 63
Sturgis while agreeing with French that Barry should be executed, neverthless suggested that Macready should ‘try and stop His Ex from rambling about the country on his horse, anyway for a few days’ and that of Kevin Barry ‘I hear Barry is quite calm and unrepentant, not at all like a boy driven into a deed by the orders of others. He will be hanged at 8 tomorrow morning’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 64
Sergeant Henry Cronin (47) was killed in Tullamore, Co. Offaly.
Detective Inspector Kelleher (23) was killed in Granard, Co. Longford. He had won the Military Cross during the war.
Florrie O’Donoghue writing years later of Terence MacSwiney, commented that he regarded him ‘as a gentle soul…it was part of our tragedy that he had to be a soldier. He never looked well in uniform.’ MacSwiney only took part in one action; a failed ambush.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p105
Constables Albert Caseley (24) from Kent and Herbert Evans (22) from Belfast were killed in Hillville, Co. Kerry as they returned to the barracks from leave. Constable Ernest Bright (34) from London along with another constable were taken by the IRA. Shortly afterwards, notices were posted in prominent places in Tralee by the military, warning ‘Take Notice – warning – unless the two Tralee policemen in Sinn Fein custody are returned before 10am on the 2nd inst, reprisals of a nature not yet heard of in Ireland will take place in Tralee and surroundings’. It was later reported that both missing policemen had been thrown alive into the furnace of the Tralee Gas Works.
Constables Robert Gorbey (23) from Limerick, William Madden (30) from Tipperary and George Morgan (23) from Mayo were killed in an IRA attack on the RIC Barracks at Ballyduff, Co. Kerry.
Constable Patrick Waters (24) from Galway was reported missing from the RIC Barracks in Tralee, Co. Kerry.
Dail operations since the summer had cost the alternative Government some £30,000. Financial demands were to double within the following 8 months.