January 1919
|
Jan-05 |
Sinn Féin hold a
large number of meetings around the country focusing on their demand for the
release of all political prisoners. |
Gallagher (1953),
pg 56 |
|
Jan-05 |
Following an
earlier decision to break the large Cork Brigade of the Irish Volunteers
(which covered all of Co Cork) into three brigades, on this night the (West)
Cork No. 3 Brigade was formed at a meeting Kilnadur, Dunmanway presided over
by Michael Collins. More Detail |
O'Donnoghue (1986),
pg 35; Deasy 1973, pgs 58 & 319 |
|
Jan-06 |
Meeting held in
house of Batt Walsh, Glashbee, Mallow to form (North) Cork No. 2 Brigade
presided over by Tomás MacCurtain. More Detail |
O'Donnoghue (1986),
pg36 |
|
Jan-06 |
Joe Devlin, the
Nationalist MP for the Falls in Belfast, writes of his strong inclination
against attending Westminster. However, eventually, he and other five
Irish Party (Nationalist) MPs do attend. |
Phoenix (1994), pgs
59-61 |
|
Jan-07 |
26 Sinn Féin MPs
met in the Mansion House and agree to convene Dáil Eireann as an independent
Constituent Assembly of the Irish Nation. Sean T. O’Kelly, George Gavan
Duffy and Piaras Béaslaí are among the members of the committee appointed to
prepare for the opening and invitations are sent to all elected MPs in the
name of Count Plunkett (as Chairman of the meeting of Republican
Representatives). Count Plunkett had just been released after seven months in
jail. |
Macardle (1999), pg
272; Gallagher (1953), pg 56 |
|
Jan-10 |
The Chief Secretary
for Ireland, Edward Shortt is replaced by Ian Macpherson. (Shortt is
promoted to Home Secretary.) Macpherson was Highland Presbyterian Scot
and Liberal MP. This appointment made a meeting of the new British
Cabinet headed by Llyod George. |
Townshend (1975),
pg 20; Macardle (1999), pg 272 |
|
Jan-14 |
Belfast ship
workers call a strike in support of a forty-hour week. The strike becomes general and paralyses
the city for almost a month. |
Grant (2018), pg 87 |
|
Jan-18 |
The Versailles
Peace Conference starts in Paris. |
Gallagher (1953),
pg 56 |
|
Jan-21 |
First meeting of
Dáil Eireann in Round Room, Mansion House, Dublin. Of the 73 Sinn Féin
MPs elected only 27 TDs present, 36 were “Fé ghlas an Gallaibh” including De
Valera and Griffith. Cathal Brugha elected Acting President of the Ministry
pro tempore and Sean T. O'Kelly as Ceann Comhairle (Speaker).
More Detail Comment |
Curran J M (1980),
pg23; MacEoin in The Kerryman (1955), pg 14; Figgis (1927), pgs 229-233;
Macardle (1999), pgs 271-277; Gallagher (1953), pgs 56-62; Daly (2017), pgs
334-339; Doyle (2008), pg 29; O’Callaghan (2012), pg 36 |
|
Jan-21 |
Ambush at
Soloheadbeg, Co Tipperary. In what is normally given as the first act of the
War of Independence, an ambush is carried out by members of the South
Tipperary Brigade of the Irish Volunteers on a cart carrying gelignite for a
quarry in the Soloheadbeg area (about four miles from Tipperary Town and
about one mile from Limerick Junction). In the ambush, the two RIC
men, guarding the consignment of gelignite, Constables James McDonnell and
Patrick O'Connell, are killed. More Detail |
Breen (1989),
pg33; Abbott (2000), pgs 30-42; Ryan (1945), pgs 56-68 |
|
Jan-21 |
Escape of four IRA
prisoners from Usk Prison. They were
Joseph McGrath TD, Barney Mellows, Frank Shouldice and George Geraghty. (Coogan says 21st; Murphy says
22nd) |
Coogan (1990), pg
90; Murphy (2017), pg 439 |
|
Jan-22 |
Opening of the Irish
Race Convention in Philadelphia - lasted two days and attended by 5,000
delegates. They appoint three-man commission to present the
Irish-American cause at the Paris (Versailles) Peace conference. (But see February 22/23.) |
Hopkinson (2002),
pg xiv & pg 166 |
|
Jan-24 |
South Tipperary
declared a military area |
Hopkinson (2002),
pg xiv |
|
Jan-23 |
Staff at the
Monaghan Asylum go on strike with newly appointed ITGWU official, Peadar
O’Donnell, as organiser. On the 28th, the strikers take over
the asylum and run in as a ‘soviet’ with O’Donnell as ‘governor'. They
raise the red flag and are surrounded by armed police. Negotiations
take place, resulting in victory for the workers. |
O’Drisceoil (2001),
pgs 12 & 13 |
|
Jan-23 |
Kilkenny City
Council elect Peter DeLoughrey as Mayor.
DeLoughrey is a prisoner in Lincoln prison. |
Walsh (2018); pg 59 |
|
Jan-24 |
Two RIC men – Sgt
Barney Oates and Con Francis O’Connell are on a routine patrol near
Castlegregory, Co. Kerry when they are ambushed by seven men from the 4th
Battalion, Kerry No. 1 Brigade of the Irish Volunteers. Sgt Oates is wounded during the ambush. |
Horgan
(2018), pg 76 |
|
Jan-25 |
In a raid for arms
on the house of local JP, Andrew Wilkinson in Creeslough, Co. Donegal, the captain
of the Cresslough company of the Irish Volunteers, James McNulty, is
wounded. He is later taken to the
Mater Hospital in Dublin to have a bullet removed. |
Ó Duibhir (2009),
pg 104 |
|
Jan-27 |
A grenade is thrown
into Derry jail. |
Grant (2018), pg 88 |
|
Jan-31 |
Following a meeting
of the Executive of the Irish Volunteers earlier in the month, the editorial
of An t-Óglach (the official publication of the Irish Volunteers)
states that the new situation after the forming of Dáil Eireann “justifies
Irish Volunteers in treating the armed forces of the enemy – whether soldiers
or policemen – exactly as a National Army would treat the members of an invading
army” and entitles Volunteers to use “all legitimate methods of warfare
against the soldiers and policemen of the English usurper, and to slay them
if necessary to overcome their resistance”. |
Macardle (1999), pg
291; Grant (2018), pg 87 |