November
1919
|
Nov-04-19/1 |
British Cabinet’s Irish Committee (chaired by
Walter Long – see Oct-07-19/1) presents its first report to the British
Cabinet. It proposes a policy of setting up two Home Rule
parliaments - one in Dublin and one in Belfast with a Council of Ireland
(made up of an equal number of members from North and South) which would
enable both parliaments to deal with matters of common concern and eventually
could provide a framework for possible unity (which would enable “Ireland to
work out her own salvation”). Extent
of territory under Belfast parliament not decided. The reason for recommending two parliaments
(rather than that of the territory under Belfast parliament remaining a fully
integrated part of the UK) was because, they said, otherwise it would be
impossible to “convince Irishmen themselves or Dominion or American opinion
that Great Britain was sincere in its policy of Home Rule unless it withdraws
its control from the domestic affairs of Ireland altogether”. (American opinion was important to the
Committee and the British Cabinet.) See
Nov-11-19/1. |
Townshend (1975), pg 34; Durney (2013), pg 88; Fanning (2013), pgs 206-209; Boyce (1972), pg 44 & 108-109; O’Sullivan Greene (2020), pg 75 |
|
Nov-06-19/1 |
RAF man, Richard Bourne, dies as a result of a
flying accident at Baldonnell, Co. Dublin. |
O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 552 |
|
Nov-07-19/1 |
Dáil cabinet approves setting up a national
court system but implementation was subject to costs. These costs are worked on and, in the new
year, the cost of a full court system was put at £112,000. (Part of the reasons that progress was so
slow was that Griffith was Minister of Home Affairs but also Acting President. The Dáil cabinet was also working
underground at this stage. Stack was
later appointed as Minister of Home Affairs – see Nov-1919/2.) |
Townshend (2014), pg 126; Mitchell (1995), pg
139 |
|
Nov-08-19/1 |
The RIC issue a Safety of Barracks circular
saying that as many barracks as needed should be shut to bring the remainder
up to a minimum of six men. This
number is subsequently doubled and leads to the closing to many small RIC
barracks. McMahon says that the RIC eventually vacated
434 isolated barracks (out of a total of 1,299). |
Leeson (2012), pg 22; Townshend (2014), pg
108; McMahon (2008), pgs 28-29 |
|
Nov-09-19/1 |
BA soldiers, mainly from the King’s Shropshire Light Regiment (who had been involved in reprisals in Fermoy – see Sep-08-19/1 - and who had been transferred to Victoria Barracks in Cork to defuse tensions in Fermoy) go on a rampage in Cork city centre on the nights of November 9th and 10th. Many civilians are attacked. |
O'Farrell P (1997), pg xv; Macardle (1999), pg 317; Sheehan (2017), pgs 37-39 |
|
Nov-09-19/2 |
BA soldier, Victor Gale, commits suicide in
Richmond Barracks in Dublin. |
O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 552 |
|
Nov-10-19/1 |
Detective Officer Wharton (G Division of the
DMP) is wounded by Paddy [O’]Daly at Harcourt St/Cuffe St junction in Dublin.
Wharton is badly injured but survives.
Joe Leonard also involved. A young student from Sligo, Gertrude O’Hanlon,
is also wounded in this attack. See Nov-14-19/1. |
Price (2017), pg 86; Molyneux and Kelly
(2020), pgs 128-130; O’Sullivan Greene (2020), pg 48 |
|
Nov-10-19/2 |
With the agreement of Long and Macpherson, French
writes to RIC IG Joseph Byrne ordering him to take a month’s leave as he was
under a lot of strain and needed rest. Byrne replied that he felt “perfectly
well”. (Apparently, this is the only
way that French could remove Byrne as to dismiss him would require approval
from the British Treasury.) When Byrne tried to resume his position in
December, he found that “desks containing his private papers had been sealed”
and that his deputy T.J. Smith had been installed in his place. See Nov-11-19/2. |
O’Halpin (1987), pg 194; McBride (1991), pg 268; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pg 146 |
|
Nov-11-19/1 |
British Cabinet accepts Irish Committee's
proposals for two Home Rule parliaments (See Nov-04-19/1) and goes on to
discuss (a) extent of territory under control of Belfast Parliament and (b)
extent of powers of the Parliaments.
The Irish Committee was asked to draft resolutions to be introduced in
the Westminster Parliament. (Matthews notes that “The paradox of asking a
lifelong opponent of Irish self-government [Long] to prepare Home Rule
legislation was not lost on Long”.) In the afternoon, cabinet member Herbert
Fisher meets Craig to brief him on the Cabinet’s decision. Craig wants only six of the nine counties
of Ulster (Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan to be excluded). According to Fanning, Craig’s reasoning was
that the six remaining Ulster counties were “the largest area with a decisive
Protestant majority in which Unionist power could be guaranteed in
perpetuity”. Fanning goes on to say
that “’Ulstercenticity was paramount. Sinn Féin’s aspirations figured not at
all and Nationalist aspirations only in some distant utopia” See Dec-03-19/1. |
Townshend (1975), pg 35-37; Fanning (2013),
pgs 211-214; Matthews (2004), pg 17 |
|
Nov-11-19/2 |
|
Townshend (1975), pg 45; Townshend (2014), pg
102 & 476; Lesson (2012), pg 24 |
|
Nov-11-19/3 |
First edition of Irish Bulletin produced by Dáil Eireann's Department of Publicity under Desmond Fitzgerald - it was to be produced five days a week from this date for the next 22 months and became very important in getting the Irish side of events known to a wide audience, especially overseas. |
Townshend (1975), pg 67; Augusteijn (2002), pg 234; Gallagher (1953), pgs 86-88; Brennan (1950), pgs 264-265; Townshend (2014), pgs 95-96; Boyce (1972), pgs 84-85; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pg 130; Mitchell (1995), pg 103 |
|
Nov-11-19/4 |
Failed attempt by the IRA to assassinate Lord French at Gratten Bridge, Dublin. This attempt involved Breen, Hogan and Tracey. This was one of a number of failed attempts to kill French culminating in the Ashtown ambush on December 19th (See Dec-19-19/1). |
Ryan (1945), pg 116; Molyneux and Kelly
(2020), pgs 135-136 |
|
Nov-11-19/5 |
Major raid by British forces on 76 Harcourt St,
Dublin – the HQ of the Dáil. Everything moveable was carried off,
including stacks of official Dáil notepaper.
Collins, who had his Department of Finance and
Dáil Loan offices in the building, escapes through a skylight. Among those arrested are Dick McKee and
Diarmuid O’Hegarty. Collins transfers
his offices to 5 Mespil Road and 22 Mary or Henry Street. |
Gallagher (1953), pg 90; Molyneux and Kelly
(2020), pgs 131-134; O’Sullivan Greene (2020), pgs 49-50 |
|
Nov-12-19/1 |
Reviewing the use of British troops to keep
the trains running during a railwaymen’s strike in Britain (see Oct-05-19/1),
CIGS Wilson states in a memo to the British cabinet that it was of paramount
importance that the British army “should only be used, except as a last
resort, in any future industrial disturbances, but be allowed to prepare
itself for its legitimate duties in the defence of the Empire”. A key reason for Wilson’s compliant is that he
had 100,000 men available to combat the railway strike but soon would only
have 40,000. |
Jeffrey (2006), pg 244 |
|
Nov-14-19/1 |
The Chief Commissioner of the DMP writes to
the British cabinet saying that while “the moral effect of [IRA] outrages on
the D.M.P. … on the whole force was negligible” but the effect on the G
Division has been “not surprising” given that it consisted of only ten men
and “out of this small number, two men had been killed, one dangerously
wounded, and two [others] had attacks made on them”. See Nov-29-19/1. |
Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pg 138; Townshend
(1975), pgs 41-42 |
|
Nov-17-19/1 |
Ten men from the 5th Battalion, Cork No. 3
Brigade, IRA (including Mossie Donegan, Sean Cotter, Ralph Keyes,
Constable Sullivan and Michael O'Callaghan) sneak on-board a British Navy
vessel anchored at Bantry, hold-up the crew and make away with ten rifles,
ten revolvers and ammunition. Regan, who was an RIC District Inspector in
Bantry at the time said “I rather felt that the Navy made a present of the
rifles [to the IRA], which is what their lack of care amounted to”. |
Crowley in The Kerryman (1955), pgs 36-43;
Deasy (1973), pgs 87-91; Regan (2007), pg 128 |
|
Nov-17-19/2 |
Two bank officials are robbed of £16,000 or
£18,000 in the Millstreet area of Co. Cork.
See Apr-24-20/3. |
Townshend (2014), pg ; Mitchell (1995), pg 150 |
|
Nov-17-19/3 |
BA soldier, George Smith, accidently drowns in
Larne, Co. Antrim. |
O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 552 |
|
Nov-19-19/1 |
James Hurley, a newspaper vendor and
ex-British Army soldier, is wrongly arrested for taking part in the attempted
killing of Detective Wharton (see Nov-10-19/1). The investigation led by Detective Sgt
Johnny Barton who had recently transferred from the B Division to the G
Division of the DMP (see Nov-29-19/1). Hurley was sentenced to 15 years’ penal
servitude and only released after the Truce.
(Subsequently, Hurley was killed assisting a wounded soldier at the
outbreak of the Civil War in 1922.) |
Price (2017), pgs 86-87; Molyneux and Kelly
(2020), pg 139 |
|
Nov-19-19/2 |
The Treaty of Versailles fails to get ratified
in the US Senate. |
|
|
Nov-21-19/1 |
A Liberal, Harry Barnes, notes that with their
overwhelming number of MPs in Westminster, the Conservatives set the
government’s agenda. “In Ireland, in
Egypt, at home and abroad, every indication exists they control policy”. |
Matthews (2004), pg 16 |
|
Nov-22-19/1 |
The Irish Times announces that French “has appointed Mr Alan Bell, RM, to be a Resident Magistrate for the County of Dublin. Bell’s background is given in pages 87 to 91 in O’Sullivan Greene. He had a background in opposing Irish nationalist organisations initially as a member of the RIC and subsequently as a Resident Magistrate. See Dec-07-19/1. |
O’Sullivan Greene (2020), pgs 87-88 |
|
Nov-25-19/1 |
Prohibition
of Nationalist Organisations Macardle says that Sinn Féin, Irish
Volunteers, Cumman na mBán and the Gaelic League are supressed in 27
counties. However, O’Sullivan Greene says that Sinn Féin is prohibited
throughout the country. French’s
Proclamation includes the 28 other counties to the four (Tipperary, Clare,
Cork and Dublin) in which Sinn Féin was already prohibited. See Sep-10-19/1. |
O’Sullivan Greene (2020), pg 75 |
|
Nov-29-19/1 |
Detective Sergeant John Barton (of the DMP’s
'G' Division) is shot on College St, Dublin and dies a short time
later. See Dec-07-19/1 |
Abbott (2000), pgs 46-47; Hopkinson (2002), pg
100; Price (2017), pg 87; Doyle (2008), pg 35; Abbott (2019), pg 61; Molyneux
and Kelly (2020), pgs 139-143; Sheehan (2007), pg 8; O’Sullivan Greene
(2020), pg 79; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 116 |
|
Nov-1919/1 |
British Army in Ireland is re-organised.
The only other major change in the structure
of the BA in Ireland during the WoI was the creation of the Dublin District –
see Jan-07-20/2. |
Townshend (1975), pgs 44 & 217-220 |
|
Nov-1919/2 |
Austin Stack made Minister for Home Affairs (as Griffith made Acting President while de Valera in US) but not confirmed by cabinet until January 16th 1920 (and not confirmed by Dáil until June 29th). Stack took over from Griffith responsibility
for setting up national court system. However, according to Mitchell, “he did
not possess the … organisational ability to direct successfully a vital
government activity”. |
Mitchell (1995), pg 139: Townshend (2014), pg
126; Mitchell (1995), pg 140 |
|
Nov-1919/3 |
Sean Etchingham made Minister of Fisheries and JJ O'Kelly (alias ‘Scelig’) made Minister for the National Language. O’Kelly was the president of the Gaelic League. |
Mitchell (1995), pgs 91 and 94 |
|
Nov-1919/4 |
Changes are made to the staff of the Cork No.
2 Brigade IRA. |
O'Donnoghue (1986), pg60 |