January
1919
|
Jan-03-19/1 |
Over 10,000 soldiers in the British army, who had been home over Christmas, refuse to embark for France on this day and, the following day, some 2,000 men similarly refused in Dover. There were other protests against the slow rate of demobilisation which Churchill tackled when he was appointed (on January 15th) Secretary of State for War and Air in Llyod George’s new cabinet. This leads to a substantial reduction in the number of men in the British army – for background, see Dec-05-18/1. See May-03-19/1 |
Jeffrey (2006), pg
230; Roskill (1972), pg 46 |
|
Jan-05-19/1 |
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-05-19/2 |
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. |
O'Donnoghue (1986), pg 35; Deasy 1973, pgs 58 & 319 |
|
Jan-06-19/1 |
Meeting held in the house of Batt Walsh, Glashbee, Mallow to form (North) Cork No. 2 Brigade
presided over by Tomás MacCurtain. |
O'Donnoghue (1986), pg36 |
|
Jan-06-19/2 |
Joe Devlin, the Nationalist MP for the Falls
in Belfast, writes of his strong inclination against attending
Westminster. However, eventually, he and the other five Irish Party
(Nationalist) MPs do attend. |
Phoenix (1994), pgs 59-61 |
|
Jan-06-19/3 |
P S O’Hegarty writes in the Evening Telegraph that “Ulster will be Irish whether she liked it or did not like it”. |
Mitchell (1995), pg
166 |
|
Jan-07-19/1 |
26 or 29 of the victorious Sinn Féin
candidates at the recent general election (of the 35 who were not in the jail)
meet in private session in the Mansion House in Dublin with Count Plunkett in
the chair. They agree to convene Dáil
Eireann as an independent Constituent Assembly of the Irish Nation. Two committees are formed. One to prepare
proceedings and standing orders and the other to draft a declaration of
independence. Sean T. O’Kelly, George
Gavan Duffy, Con Collins, J.J. Walsh, James O’Mara and Piaras
Béaslaí are among the members of the two
committees. Invitations are sent to all elected Irish MPs
including unionist and nationalist 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. See Jan-11-19/2. |
Macardle (1999), pg 272; Gallagher (1953), pg 56; Townshend (2014), pg 65; Mitchell (1995), pgs 11-12 |
|
Jan-10-19/1 |
The New British Cabinet and Irish Chief Secretary The Chief Secretary for Ireland, Edward Shortt, is replaced by Ian Macpherson. (Shortt is promoted to Home Secretary.) Macpherson was a Highland Presbyterian Scot and Liberal MP. Although a Liberal MP, according to O’Halpin, Macpherson’s “views were indistinguishable from those of a unionist diehard”. This appointment was made at a meeting of the new British Cabinet headed by Lloyd George. Phoenix notes that the new British cabinet contains such “intractable unionists as Bonar Law, Walter Long and F. E. Smith (Birkenhead)”.
Walter
Long is made First Lord of the Admiralty and continued, as French described
him, to act as Dublin Castle’s “liaison officer with the [British] Cabinet”. |
Townshend (1975), pg 20; Macardle (1999), pg 272; Fanning (2013), pgs 191 and 196; O’Halpin (1987), pg 180; Hart (2007), pg 109; Phoenix (1994), pgs 57 & 61; |
|
Jan-11-19/1 |
The British delegation (including Llyod George
and Maurice Hankey) leaves for the Peace Conference in Paris. Curzon was to chair the British cabinet
when neither Llyod George or Bonar Law were present. |
Roskill (1972), pg 42 |
|
Jan-11-19/2 |
The DMP raid Sinn Féin headquarters and take away drafts of the Declaration of Independence and other documents on which the committees set up at the January 7th meeting were working. However, no one is arrested. See Jan-14-19/3. |
Mitchell (1995), pg 12 |
|
Jan-12-19/1 |
Writing to Viceroy French, Long says that when
the Sinn Féin candidates elected in December “find that they cannot draw
their salaries … and that they cannot do anything for Ireland “then they will
either “come over” or “resign”. See Jan-14-19/2. |
O’Halpin (1987), pg 180 |
|
Jan-14-19/1 |
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-14-19/2 |
French, the Viceroy, writes to Walter Long
saying that once the Sinn Féiners discovered that
they could not draw their salaries, “the end of it will be that these
seventy-three devils will very soon go bag and baggage to Westminster”. Comment: As on a number of issues over the coming
years, French (like Long) was to be proven wrong. See Jan-23-19/1. |
Matthews (2004), pg 16; O’Halpin (1987), pg 180 |
|
Jan-14-19/3 |
Sinn Féin MPs meet again to consider on-going work in an all-day meeting. They set another committee to “draw up a draft programme of constructive work on democratic lines in consultation with the Labour leaders”. Further preparatory meetings are held on January 17th and 19th. |
Mitchell (1995), pg
12 |
|
Jan-15-19/1 |
An eight-year old schoolgirl, Elizabeth Dunne,
dies after being stuck by a RAF tender driven by Private Charles Hopper in
Dublin. |
O’Halpin
and Ó Corráin (2020), pg
107 |
|
Jan-15-19/2 |
The Dublin correspondent of the [London] Times writes that Irish public sentiment is currently with Sinn Féin but he predicted that within six months “all the material interests in the country will be hostile to it”. He added that he thought that an attempt to create a parliament in Dublin would result in “a hopeless fiasco”. |
Mitchell (1995), pg
7 |
|
Jan-15-19/3 |
A special election is held for Sligo
Corporation. (The first election held
using proportional representation.)
There are 24 seats on the Corporation.
Sinn Féin get seven seats; the Ratepayers Association get eight seats;
Labour get five seats and independents get four seats. Sinn Féin and Labour, along with one
independent, control the Corporation. |
Farry (2012), pg 46; Mitchell (1995), pg 121 |
|
Jan-16-19/1 |
Sinn Féin announce that the first meeting of new national assembly will take place on the January 21st – see Jan-21-19/1. |
Mitchell (1995), pg
12 |
|
Jan-18-19/1 |
The Cork Weekly News reports that two BA soldiers (Privates Hardman and Perry) are shot and wounded at Monard Bridge near the railway station in Blarney, Co. Cork. |
Sheehan (2017), pg 116 |
|
Jan-18-19/2 |
The Versailles Peace Conference starts in Paris. |
Gallagher (1953), pg 56; Roskill (1972), pg 49; Kissane (2005), pg 45 |
|
Jan-19-19/1 |
Two RAF men, Alfred Ellis and Gordon Midgely,
die as a result of a flying accident at Collinstown
Aerodrome in Dublin. |
O’Halpin
and Ó Corráin (2020), pg
549 |
|
Jan-20-19/2 |
Dan McGandy, a
19-year old post office worker and member of the Irish Volunteers, goes
missing in Derry City. His coat, bag
and uniform cap are found on the quay of the River Foyle near the local
foundry along with a loaded revolver. His body was found on the river bank,
according to Grant, a month later.
According to O’Halpin and Ó Corráin, his body was found a week later. It is thought that he was involved in
smuggling Mills grenade casings out of the foundry when discovered by Crown
Forces. Private Arthur Henderson of the RASC went
missing the same night and his drowned body was found in March. (Grant gives the date as January 20th 1920; Ozseker does not give a date; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin give a date of January 20th 1919. From the sources that O’Halpin and Ó Corráin quote, the latter date would seem to be the correct date.)
|
Grant (2018), pgs
88-89; Ozseker (2019), pg
155; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin
(2020), pg 107 |
|
Jan-21-19/1 |
First
Meeting of Dáil Éireann The first meeting of Dáil Éireann
takes place in the Round Room of the Mansion House in Dublin. Of the 69
Sinn Féin MPs elected only 27 TDs were present. 36 MPs were “Fé ghlas an Gallaibh” (including
de Valera and Griffith) and another 4 were “Ar díbirt ag Gallaibh”. Cathal Brugha is
elected Acting President of the Ministry pro tempore and Sean T.
O'Kelly as Ceann Comhairle
(Speaker). Dáil meets again the following day. The proceedings of the
first day of the first session of the First Dáil are given here: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1919-01-21/ The proceedings of the
second day of the first session of the First Dáil are given here: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1919-01-22/
See Apr-01 to 04-19/1 for the first day of the second session of the First Dáil. |
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; Townshend (2014), pgs 65-66; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pg 61; Mitchell (1995), pgs 12-18; Kissane (2005), pg 42 |
|
Jan-21-19/2 |
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. |
Breen (1989), pg33; Abbott (2000), pgs 30-42; Ryan (1945), pgs 56-68; Townshend (2014), pgs 78-80; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pgs 107-108 |
|
Jan-21-19/3 |
Four Irish prisoners escape from Usk Prison in Wales.
They were Joseph McGrath TD, Barney Mellows, Frank Shouldice and
George Geraghty.
|
Coogan (1990), pg 90; Murphy (2017), pg 439 |
|
Jan-22-19/1 |
Opening of the Irish Race Convention in
Philadelphia. It lasted two days and attended by 5,000 delegates. They
appoint three-man commission to present the Irish cause at the Paris
(Versailles) Peace conference. There
was a follow-up Convention in Chicago in February -see Feb-22 to 23-19/1. |
Hopkinson (2002), pg xiv & pg 166 |
|
Jan-22-19/2 |
Press
Reaction to the First Meeting of Dáil Éireann Commenting of the opening of Dáil Éireann, the Irish Times said that it was “futile and unreal” and that it constituted a “solemn act of defiance of the British Empire, by a body of young men (sic) who do not have the slightest notion of that Empire’s power and resources and not a particle of experience in the conduct of public affairs”. The Irish Independent warned that the fledgling government that “to draft and pass measures which it could not enforce would be to risk ridicule which would be more fatal then opposition”. The Freeman’s Journal said that “If the proceedings were seriously meant and if there was any attempt to carry the decisions into effect, we greatly fear that we are on the eve of one of the most tragic chapters in the history of Ireland.” The Manchester Guardian found the whole episode utterly ridiculous. The [London] Times considered it “a stage play at the Mansion House”. Another London-based newspaper, the Daily Mail, wrote “Whether Sinn Féin will perish in a shriek of laughter or in a De profundis for the dead in a country where comedy and tragedy walk hand in hand none may prophesy”. |
Mitchell (1995), pgs 19-20; Pakenham (1967), pg 34 |
|
Jan-23-19/1 |
Writing to Walter Long, Viceroy John French
calls the setting up of the Dáil “a ludicrous farce”. |
O’Halpin (1987), pg 185 |
|
Jan-23-19/2 |
Griffiths smuggles a long memorandum out of
Gloucester Prison with detailed advice on work which Dáil Éireann
should (and should not) be doing. |
Mitchell (1995), pg
22 |
|
Jan-23-19/3 |
Staff at the Monaghan Asylum go on strike with newly appointed ITGWU official, Peadar O’Donnell, as organiser. On January 28th, the strikers take over the asylum and run it 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-23-19/4 |
Kilkenny City Council elect Peter DeLoughrey as Mayor.
DeLoughrey is a prisoner in Lincoln prison. |
Walsh (2018); pg 59 |
|
Jan-24-19/1 |
South Tipperary declared a Special Military
Area under DORA (Defence of the Realm Act) by Dublin Castle (ordered by
French). This included a prohibition
on fairs and markets and restrictions on the movement of goods into and out
of the area. Dublin Castle hoped that due to the burden
placed on the whole population of South Tipperary, the local people would
turn against those who carried out the Soloheadbeg
ambush. However, what would seem to
have happened is that the people of South Tipperary grew more hostile to
Dublin Castle which they seen as engaging in collective punishment because of
the actions of the few. |
Hopkinson (2002), pg xiv; O’Halpin (1987), pgs 185-186; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pg 62 |
|
Jan-24-19/2 |
Two RIC men – Sgt Barney Oates and Constable 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-25-19/1 |
In a raid for arms on the house of local
Justice of the Peace, 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-26-19/1 |
Five BA soldiers are disarmed in Macroom, Co. Cork. |
Sheehan (2017), pg 117 |
|
Jan-27-19/1 |
A grenade is thrown into Derry jail. |
Grant (2018), pg 88 |
|
Jan-31-19/1 |
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; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pg 62 |
|
Jan-31-19/2 |
The Irish Times says that Sinn Féin had “not the slightest chance” of gaining a hearing at the Paris Peace Conference but that it could summon its proposed constituent assembly and by strikes, disorder and lawlessness “do its best to convince the world that British government is impossible in Ireland”. |
Mitchell
(1995), pg 6 |
|
Jan-31-19/3 |
Writing to Macpherson, French says that the
killing of the two RIC men at Soloheadbeg had
“caused a tremendous sensation throughout the country … the commission of
this crime has dealt a severe blow at the Sinn Fein organisation”. |
O’Halpin (1987), pg 185 |
|
Jan-31-19/4 |
Industrial unrest breaks out on Clydeside in Scotland. |
Roskill (1972), pg
55 |
|
Jan-1919/1 |
In his monthly report for January, the
Inspector General of the RIC states that “There is no improvement in the
attitude of the people towards the RIC who, in the disaffected counties are
treated with bitter hostility and boycotted in various ways”. Hostility towards the RIC had been reported by
a number of RIC County Inspectors since 1917. However, it seems like it was
sporadic and confined mostly to Connaught and Munster. |
Hughes (2016), pg 23; Sheehan (2017), pg 92 |
|
Jan-1919/2 |
The Catholic Bulletin states that “Ireland has just signalled the passing of the historic year just closed by deliberately turning its back for ever on London of the cocaine and drugs, nursery of hypocrisy and infamy and of corruption that knows no end”. |
Mitchell (1995), pg
5 |