December
1919
|
Dec-19/1 |
Early in December, the IRA call off intended
National Convention (to be held in UCD's playing grounds in Terenure, Dublin)
when they find out that it has become known to British. |
Deasy (1973), pg 84 |
|
Dec-02-19/1 |
IRA ambush a hunting party at Carron, Co.
Clare in an attempt to obtain their arms.
However, while a number of the hunting party are wounded, the IRA do
not succeed in obtaining any arms. |
Ó Ruairc (2009), pg 102 |
|
Dec-02-19/2 |
National Land Bank formally registered under
the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1983. Barton was the main mover
behind the bank with Lionel Smith-Gordon as manager designate. He was assisted by Edwards Stephens. Registered Office was given as 5 Harcourt
Terrance – home of Smith-Gordon. |
O’Sullivan Greene (2020), pgs
68-70 |
|
Dec-03-19/1 |
After a discussion at the British cabinet, it
was agreed that “the ultimate aim of the Government’s policy in Ireland was a
united Ireland with a separate parliament of its own, bound by the closest
ties to Great Britain … without offending the Protestants of Ulster”. See Dec-15-19/1. |
Matthews (2004), pg
17 |
|
Dec-05-19/1 |
Reporting to IRA GHQ, Ernie O’Malley says of
the IRA in the area which he had been sent to “Officers and men have not the
faintest idea … of military work in general.
They know very little of the organization and systematic training
necessary to turn out an efficient soldier”. |
Townshend (2014), pg
116 |
|
Dec-05-19/2 |
BA soldier, John L. Hay, drowns in Athlone,
Co. Westmeath. |
O’Halpin
and Ó Corráin (2020), pg
552 |
|
Dec-06-19/1 |
John Jameson (whose real name was John Charles
Byrne) arrives in Dublin posing as an agent of a theatre ticket or piano
company called Keith Prowse. He was a
former BA soldier who have been recruited by Basil Thomson of the London
Metropolitan Police into British Intelligence. He had been in contact with Art O’Brien in
London and convinced him that he could provide arms for the IRA. O’Brien had provided Jameson with a letter
of introduction to Collins. See Dec-19-19/2. |
O’Sullivan Greene (2020), pg 105; McMahon (2008), pg 30 |
|
Dec-07-19/1 |
French had set up a committee with the
objective of placing political detective and intelligence work in “Dublin and
the country on a proper footing”.
They report on this day. See Jan-03-20/4. |
O’Halpin (1987), pgs 198-199; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pg 144; Hart (2002), pg 19; O’Sullivan Greene (2020), pgs 77-78 |
|
Dec-07-19/2 |
BA soldier, Hebert Rose, dies as the result of
a gun accident in Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo. |
O’Halpin
and Ó Corráin (2020), pg
552 |
|
Dec-10-19/1 |
BA soldier, Alfred Pile, dies after falling
accidently from a window in Belfast. |
O’Halpin
and Ó Corráin (2020), pg
552 |
|
Dec-11-19/1 |
Writing to Macpherson about the on-going
problems in Dublin Castle between Under Secretary McMahon (see Jul-1918/1)
and Assistant Under Secretary Taylor, French says that “The anomalous
situation of McMahon and Taylor is causing me a great deal of worry. Efficient government is quite impossible as
things are at present, and steps must be taken at once to cut McMahon off
from any access to papers or documents which really matter … The place seems
to be honeycombed with spies and informers and men who cannot be
trusted”. Macpherson subsequently put Taylor in charge
of local magistracy, police, crime and prisoners and McMahon was given the
administration of routine matters – the opposite to the normal duties of
Under Secretary and Assistant Under Secretary. |
McBride (1991), pg
270 |
|
Dec-11-19/2 |
Fifteen-year-old, Jane Pearson of 105 South
Circular Road in Dublin, is knocked of her bike and killed by a British Army
lorry which is being towed by another lorry. |
O’Halpin
and Ó Corráin (2020), pg
116 |
|
Dec-12-19/1 |
The Dungloe company
of Donegal No. 1 Brigade IRA, led by Joe Sweeney and Patrick Breslin, ambush
a party of RIC men at the Rampart, about two miles outside Dungloe. One RIC
man is seriously wounded (Sgt Farrell) and two others slightly wounded. This was the first action of the Donegal
No. 1 Brigade. |
Ó Duibhir (2009), pgs 115-116; Ozseker (2019), pgs 114-115 |
|
Dec-13-19/1 |
After writing a series of articles on Ireland, a special correspondent for the London Times concluded that there were two coercions operating in Ireland and “the serious part is that on the whole Sinn Féin has more moral authority”. |
Mitchell (1995), pgs 126-127 |
|
Dec-14-19/1 |
RIC Constable Edward Bolger is killed by IRA in Kilbrittain, Co. Cork – he was unarmed at the time of his killing. First RIC man to be killed in Cork. He had been involved in arresting seven IRA men and had been the principal witness against them at their trial in November. |
Hart (1998), pg 70; Abbott (2000), pgs 47-48; Deasy (1973), pg 86; Abbott (2019), pg 59; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pgs 116-117 |
|
Dec-15-19/1 |
British cabinet informed that discussions with
the Ulster Unionist leaders “had confirmed that they were doubtful whether
the Northern Parliament of Ireland would be able effectively to govern the
three Ulster counties [Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan] where there was a
Nationalist majority”. It is worth noting that of the remaining six counties of Ulster [Fermanagh and Tyrone] had nationalist majorities as could be seen from the 1918 general election. In the two Fermanagh constituencies, the Nationalists and Sinn Féin got 53.6% of the votes and in the three Tyrone constituencies the Nationalists and Sinn Féin got 54.6% of the vote. This would have been known to the British cabinet. See Dec-22-19/1. |
Boyce (1972), pg
109; Walker (1992), pgs 7 & 9 |
|
cDec-15-19/1 |
The DMP, under Detective Inspector John
Bruton, raid the Munster Hotel in Mountjoy St. in Dublin. This was where Collins frequently stayed. Apparently, information that this was one of
the places in which Collins stayed was given to the DMP by Harry
Quinlisk. See Feb-19-20/1. |
Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pgs 145-146 |
|
Dec-17-19/1 |
In a memo, French says that Sinn Féin had
reached its zenith at the December 1918 election and that “the real feeling …
was never in favour of a Republic, or indeed, of any form of complete
separation”. He goes on to say that
“the Irish are an impulsive and quick-witted, but not a deep-thinking,
people”. |
O’Halpin (1987), pg 193 |
|
Dec-17-19/2 |
IRA Volunteer, John Mahon, is accidently shot
dead by fellow Volunteer Peter Nolan in the Sinn Féin Hall in Briskil, Newtownforbes, Co.
Longford. |
O’Halpin
and Ó Corráin (2020), pg
117 |
|
Dec-18-19/1 |
BA soldier, John Copp, commits suicide in Co.
Londonderry. |
O’Halpin
and Ó Corráin (2020), pg
552 |
|
Dec-19-19/1 |
At Ashtown, Dublin
the IRA ambushes the Lord Lieutenant, Lord French. One IRA man is
killed (Martin Savage) and French escapes. |
O'Farrell P (1997), pg xv; Breen (1989), pgs 85-92; Ryan (1945), pgs 117-122; Breen in The Kerryman (1955), pgs 43-46; Price (2017), pgs 97-99; Townshend (2014), pg 107; Leeson (2012), pg 15; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 117; Boyce (1972), pgs 44-45; O’Halpin (1987), pg 200; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pgs 146-157 |
|
Dec-19-19/2 |
Basil Thomson, head of the Directorate of
Intelligence (in Scotland Yard/Metropolitan Police in London) writes to
French identifying Collins as a key man within the IRA. He writes that he had “definite and
trustworthy information that Michael Collins is directing the murders of
Policemen; that he has attained such a position that his friends say that the
Police dare not touch him”. The
information probably came from Jameson. See Jan-09-20/1. |
O’Sullivan Greene (2020), pg
105; McMahon (2008), pg 30 |
|
Dec-20-19/1 |
RIC Detective Inspector Redmond arrives in Dublin to take over as head of the DMP’s G Division. He had been head of the RIC’s detective division in Belfast and was to be also officially appointed Assistant Commissioner of the DMP on January 5th 1920. He brought with him a number of RIC officers from Belfast. McMahon refers to this as “the ‘Ulsterisation’ of the Irish police’. He takes up residence in the Standard Hotel in
Harcourt St while accommodation is prepared for him in Dublin Castle. At his first meeting with the G Division
detectives, he told them that they had one month to get Collins or else he
would order them to resign. He also
told them that he was bringing in some of his old RIC colleagues from
Belfast. See Jan-09-20/1. |
O’Sullivan Greene (2020), pgs
85 & 104; McMahon (2008), pg 29 |
|
Dec-21-19/1 |
Angered by their coverage of the Ashtown ambush, 20 to 30 IRA men lead by Paddy Clancy entered the building of the Irish Independent newspaper and smashed their printing machinery. (Breen and Molyneux & Kelly say that this
attack was led by Claney but Price says that this was carried out under the
leadership of Gearṍid Ua
hUallachain – head of Na Fianna.) |
Breen (1989), pgs 93-94; Price (2017), pg 101; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pgs 162-164 |
|
The ‘Better Government of Ireland Bill’ is introduced into the British House of Commons – it proposes two parliaments, one of the six counties of north-east Ireland and one for the other twenty-six. Also, proposes a Council of Ireland made up of twenty members of each parliament with initially few powers but with the hope that it would evolve into and all-Ireland Parliament. Llyod George says that “any attempt at
secession [by Ireland] will be fought with the same determination, with the
same resources, with the same resolve as the Northern States of America put
into the fight against the Southern States.
It is important that that should be known, not merely throughout the
world, but in Ireland itself.” See Feb-04-20/3. |
Macardle (1999), pg 321; Phoenix (1994), pgs 71-72; O’Sullivan Greene (2020), pgs 76-77 |
|
|
cDec-22-19/1 |
Raid on Limerick GPO by IRA men from East
Clare led by Michael Brennan nets £1,500. |
Brennan (1980), pg 41 |
|
Dec-23-19/1 |
Commenting in his diary on the Better
Government of Ireland Bill, Maurice Hankey (British cabinet secretary) says
“It is a very ingenious scheme, but, as I anticipated has not been well
received in Ireland, nor as well as had been expected in the U.S.A. In these circumstances I doubt if any good
will come of it”. |
Roskill (1972), pg
137 |
|
Dec-26-19/1 |
RIC Constable William Murtagh is accidentally
shot dead at Clonoulty police hut in Co. Tipperary. |
Abbott (2019), pg 411; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pgs 117-118 |
|
Dec-26-19/2 |
Corporal Harry Corless of the BA’s Royal
Engineers dies after falling from a high window in Victoria Barracks in
Cork. He “had a few drinks, but was
not drunk”. |
O’Halpin
and Ó Corráin (2020), pg
118 |
|
Dec-27-19/1 |
Formal issuing of order to permit recruitment
of non-Irish men to the RIC.
Advertisements soon appear in British newspapers. See Jan-02-20/1. |
Lesson (2012), pg
24; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pg 166; |
|
Dec-28-19/1 |
According to O’Halpin
and Ó Corráin, Lawrence Kennedy (who worked in
Monks Bakery in Dublin) is shot by BA soldiers for ‘failing to halt when
ordered to do so’ in the Phoenix Park.
Kennedy was deaf in on ear. They also say that Lieutenant Frederick
Boast of the BA’s Prince of Wales’s Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment) is
also “accidently killed by … one of his own party” in this incident
(according to the inquest). However,
according to Molyneux and Kelly, Kennedy and Boast kill each other. |
O’Halpin
and Ó Corráin (2020), pg
118; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pg 166 |
|
Dec-29-19/1 |
Private Joseph Heap of the BA’s Border
Regiment is accidently shot dead by a fellow BA soldier while on sentry duty
at the Aerodrome in Castlebar, Co. Mayo. |
O’Halpin
and Ó Corráin (2020), pg
118 |
|
Dec-30-19/1 |
French had asked resident magistrate Alan Bell
to set up a special inquiry into the attempt on his life at Ashtown (See Jan-19-19/1). On this day, Bell set up his inquiry under
Section 1 of the Crimes Act. Under this type of inquiry (usually referred
to a ‘Star Chamber’) a single magistrate could examine under oath anybody who
the magistrate thought could provide evidence. The inquiry would be held in
private with no legal representation for witnesses. Witnesses could be
committed to prison for refusing to answer.
This inquiry ran into the sand after the
killing of Redmond (See Jan-21-20/1) as Bell did not trust the other
detectives of the DMP’s G Division to carry out sensitive inquiries. However, French subsequently asked Bell to set
up a ‘Star Chamber’ inquiry into where the money collected for the Dáil Loan
was being deposited – See Feb-27-20/1. |
O’Sullivan Greene (2020), pgs 23 & 86
& 115 & 120 |
|
Dec-31-19/1 |
RIC Constable Maurice Keough dies after being accidentally shot by a colleague on December 24th in Killarney, Co. Kerry. |
Abbott (2019), pg
408; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin
(2020), pg 118 |