The Altnaveigh and Lisdrumliska Killings

Introduction from Chronology

IRA men from Frank Aiken’s 4th Northern Division carry out a sectarian attack on Protestant farming families in the townlands of Altnaveigh and Lisdrumliska outside Newry in South Armagh killing six, wounding four others and burning or bombing twelve houses. 

More Detail

The IRA worked in small groups and attacked a number of houses simultaneously.

The Heslip family from Lisdrumliska were taken from their house and it was set on fire.  John Heslip (54) and his son Robert (19) were shot dead.   Their next door neighbours, the Grays also had their house burnt down and Joseph Gray (20) was shot dead.  Next the Volunteers turned their attention to the Croziers.  Both Thomas Crozier (67) and his elderly wife Elizabeth were shot dead. 

A little distance away in Altnaveigh, the homes of the Littles and Lockharts were attacked.  James Lockhart (23) was shot dead.  Five other unionist homes were also attacked.  The attacks lasted about forty minutes and all the houses attacked were within a 200 metre radius. 

These killings are highly controversial.  An RTE documentary was made on Frank Aiken in 2006 and it was highly critical of the killings.  According to this documentary, the attacks were retaliation for the killing of two Catholics – Pat Creggan and Thomas Crawley - in the neighbourhood a few days earlier (See Jun-13-22/3) and the brutal sexual assaults on Unah McGuill and one of her female servants by Special Constables (See Jun-14-22/1). 

Robert Lynch had a very good article in the journal Éire-Ireland in 2010 called “Explaining the Altnaveigh Massacre”.  In it, he argues that the Dromintee ambush (also on June 17th – see Jun-17-22/1) and led by Frank Aiken was designed to be in revenge for the physical and sexual assaults on Unah McGuill and her servant as the Special Constable patrol attacked was from Forkhill barracks where the McGuill rapists were stationed.  On the other hand, the Altnaveigh killings were in retaliation for the Creggan and Crawley killings as Altnaveigh and Lisdrumliska were close to where their bodies were found.  (Lynch also points out that there were almost three times as many IRA men at the Dromintee ambush as carried out the Altnaveigh/Lisdrumliska killings.)

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