February
1919
|
Feb-01-19/1 |
The Irish Volunteers carry out a major raid
for arms on the home of Lord Arran in Ravensdale, Co. Louth but it yields
very little. |
Hall (2019), pg 64 |
|
Feb-01-19/2 |
James Down gets involved in a drunken brawl with ex-BA soldiers in Patrick St in Cork and dies from his injuries on February 11th. |
O’Halpin
and Ó Corráin (2020), pg
108 |
|
Feb-03-19/1 |
Eamon de Valera escapes from Lincoln jail
along with Sean McGarry and Sean Milroy - escape masterminded by Boland and
Collins with help from Peter DeLoughrey who is
inside the prison. |
Curran J M (1980), pg25; Walsh (2018); pg 59 & Hopkinson (2002), pg
39; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pgs 63-66 |
|
Feb-03-19/2 |
Colour-Sergeant David McKay of the BA’s Royal
Marine Light Infantry dies from self-inflicted wounds in Haulbowline
in Co. Cork. |
O’Halpin
and Ó Corráin (2020), pg
108 |
|
Feb-03-19/3 |
Cathal O’Shannon and
Thomas Johnson represent Ireland at International Labour and Socialist
Conference in Berne, Switzerland. They succeed in being accorded the status of
national representatives and also get two motions passed. One supports self-determination for Ireland
“in choosing the sovereignty and form of government under which it will live”
and that this choice should be exercised “without any military, political or
economic pressure from outside”. The
second motion urges the Paris Peace Conference to “make good the rightful
claim of the Irish people”. |
O’Farrell (1997), pg 48; Mitchell (1995), pgs 25-26; Kissane (2005), pgs 42-43 |
|
Feb-03-19/4 |
RAF man James Littley dies as a result of a flying accident in Cellbridge, Co. Kildare. |
O’Halpin
and Ó Corráin (2020), pg
549 |
|
Feb-04-19/1 |
The
British House of Commons meets at Westminster The Sinn Féin MPs do not attend but the 26
Unionist MPs and the 7 Nationalist MPs (including T.P. O’Connor, Nationalist
MP for Liverpool) do attend. Horation
Bottomley MP proposed that the missing Sinn Féin members be forced to attend
by using the device of ‘the call of the house’ (last used in 1836) but Bonar
Law replied that the “Government did not propose to take any action in the
matter”. |
Macardle (1999), pg 277; Mitchell (1995), pg 23 |
|
Feb-06-19/1 |
The new British cabinet discusses the release
of the remaining Sinn Féin internees (thirty-four of whom were now MPs/TDs). Their release is backed by Macpherson and Shortt. However,
under pressure from right wing ministers, such as Long and Curzon, they
decide not to release them. But see Mar-06-19/1. |
O’Halpin (1987), pg 186 |
|
Feb-07-19/1 |
Royal Navy Reserve man, Arthur Young, drowns
in Alexander Basin in Dublin. |
O’Halpin
and Ó Corráin (2020), pg
549 |
|
Feb-10-19/1 |
Sean T. O’Kelly arrives in Paris as Dáil Éireann’s representative to the Peace Conference. (He is accompanied by Michael MacWhite – an ex-French Army soldier.) O’Kelly writes to the leaders of the
conference saying that he has been appointed by the Provisional Government of
the Irish Republic to be their representative in Paris. He receives no replies. O’Kelly also writes to President Wilson
seeking support for the Irish cause but he does not receive a reply for two
months and, when he does receive a reply, it is non-committal. O’Kelly is later joined by Charles Gavan
Duffy. |
Macardle
(1999), pgs 277-278; Mitchell (1995), pg 27 & 38 |
|
Feb-13-19/1 |
Patrick Gavin from Maddenstown,
Curragh, Co. Kildare dies after he was shot dead by a BA sentry (Private
Arthur Gay from the Duke of Wellington Regiment) as he was on his way to the
fair in Newbridge with a cow. Despite criticism by the jury of the use of
inexperienced soldiers as sentries, Private Gay was discharged by the court. |
O'Farrell P (1997), pg
108; Macardle (1999), pg
292; Durney (2013), pgs
79-81; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin
(2020), pg 108 |
|
Feb-20-19/1 |
De Valera (who is on-the-run after his escape from Lincoln Prison) arrives back in Dublin. Met by Harry Boland and brought to Dr Robert Farnan’s home at 5 Merrion Sq. Gives a widely syndicated interview to American journalist Ralph Couch. On February 23rd, de Valera goes to see the RC Archbishop of Dublin. |
Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pgs
67-68; Mitchell (1995), pg 30 |
|
Feb-21-19/1 |
220 workers strike at Fulton’s Woolen Mill in
Caledon, Co. Tyrone. Even though the
majority of the workers are unionist, they join the ITGWU and the strike is
led by Peadar O’Donnell. After four weeks, with 130 workers still on
strike, the owner brings in ‘blacklegs’ from the Carsonite
Ulster Workers Union and re-admits workers on a sectarian basis. The strike eventually collapses in
July. |
O’Drisceoil
(2001), pg 14; McCluskey (2014), pgs 83-84 |
|
Feb-22-19/1 |
John Sheehan is hit by an RAF lorry when dismounting a trap at Drimnagh in Dublin. He dies in the Meath Hospital on April 11th. |
O’Halpin
and Ó Corráin (2020), pg
110 |
|
Feb-22 to
23-19/1 |
Irish Race Convention meets in Chicago.
They call upon President Wilson to support Irish self-determination in the
Paris Peace talks and appoints three delegates to go to see the President.
See Mar-04-19/1. This convention was organised by Friends of
Irish Freedom which was a front organisation for the Clan na
Gael (which is the American counterpart of the IRB). Clan na Gael is
led by the veteran Fenian John Devoy. Friends of Irish Freedom is led by Daniel
F. Cohalan and Diarmuid Lynch, allies of Devoy. |
Macardle
(1999), pg 279; Mitchell (1995), pgs 39 & 110-1112 |
|
Feb-23-19/1 |
Officers of the South Tipperary brigade of the
Irish Volunteers, meeting at Donnolly's, Nodstown, Cashel, draw up a proclamation (signed by
Seamus Robinson as O/C) ordering all British military and police forces out
of South Tipperary and, if they stayed they would be
held to have "forfeited they lives". GHQ refused to sanction
this proclamation or to give permission to the Tipperary men to carry out
their threats. It was still posted up in Tipperary. |
Ryan (1945), pg 87;
Hughes (2016), pg 24 |
|
Feb-23-19/1 |
Patrick Casey, Captain of the Blackwater Company, 4th Battalion, Kerry No. 2 Brigade, Irish Volunteers is shot and killed in a tussle with John Lyne (a gamekeeper on the Kenmare Estate) over a rifle. A comrade of Casey’s shoots Lyne in both thighs with a shotgun. |
O’Halpin
and Ó Corráin (2020), pg
108 |
|
Feb-26-19/1 |
Robert Barton is arrested. |
Gallagher (1953), pg
64 |
|
Feb-26-19/2 |
An t-Óglach states that “Any policeman, warder, judge or official must be made to realise that it is not wise for him to distinguish himself by undue zeal in the service of England”. |
Mitchell (1995), pg
69 |
|
Feb-28-19/1 |
A pensioner, Thomas Meehan, dies after being
struck by a BA vehicle in Dublin. |
O’Halpin
and Ó Corráin (2020), pg
108 |
|
Feb-28-19/2 |
RAF man, Llyod Lyon, dies as a result of a
flying accident in Dublin Bay. |
O’Halpin
and Ó Corráin (2020), pg
549 |
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