September 1919

Sep-02-19/1

An RIC cycle patrol is ambushed between Lorrha and Carriguhorig in Co Tipperary resulting in the death of one RIC man (Sgt Philip Brady) and the serious wounding of another (Constable Foley). 

According to Abbott, the IRA men who took part in the ambush were John Madden, Michael Hogan, John Gilligan and James Carroll.

O’Halpin and Ó Corráin name a different set of attackers. They name Felix Cronin, Jack and Michael Joyce, James Carroll, Tim Haugh, William Bouchier and Martin Needham – all Volunteers from the Lorrha Company. (Only James Carroll overlaps the two lists.)

John (Joe) Madden was later tried for the murder of Sgt Brady but acquitted.  Abbott says that he took part in the ambush but O’Halpin and Ó Corráin do not name him in their list of participants in the ambush.

After this ambush, various prohibitions are placed on Tipperary by the British – such as no fairs, markets or processions. 

 

Abbott (2000), pg 44-45; Abbott (2019), pgs 54-46; Dooley (2015), pg 50; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 114

Sep-07-19/1

Ambush in Fermoy – the Wesleyan Raid

Attack by the IRA on British Army soldiers on route to church in Fermoy, Co. Cork – one BA soldier (Private William Jones) is killed. 

More Detail

O'Donnoghue (1986), pg50; Townshend (1975), pg 30; Townshend (2014), pg 105; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 114; Sheehan (2017), pgs 24-25

Sep-07-19/2

BA soldier, Francis Dunne, dies in the Belfast Military Hospital as a result of a climbing accident.

O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 551

Sep-08-19/1

BA soldiers sack Fermoy in retaliation for the attack of the previous day.  (Breen says it was mainly Buffs and Royal Flying Corps; O’Donnoghue says East Kent Regiment; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin say King’s (Shropshire Light Infantry).) 

The Cork Examiner says that the BA soldiers were an “organized window smashing party” who were followed by a mob “the members of which looted everything that they could lay their hands on”.

Townshend says that this was the first serious reprisal of the conflict and occurred after the jury at the coroner’s inquest refused to bring in a verdict of murder. O’Halpin and Ó Corráin say that 150 to 200 members of the BA’s King’s (Shropshire Light Infantry) and the RGA wrecked or looted over 50 shops at an estimated cost of £3000.

The response of Dublin Castle was to prohibit Sinn Féin in Cork City and County.

 

O'Donnoghue (1986), pg53; Breen (1989), pg 105; Townshend (2014), pg 105; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 114; Sheehan (2017), pg 34; O’Sullivan Greene (2020), pg 20

Sep-09-19/2

Brian Crowley suffers a fractured skull, from which he dies, after he is hit by a BA lorry on Patrick St in Cork City.

 

O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 115

Sep-09-19/3

Reacting to Shaw's memo of August 27th (See Aug-27-19/1), RIC Inspector General Byrne writes to the Under Secretary of State saying that British Army withdrawal of outpost detachments will result in the widespread withdrawal of RIC from smaller barracks by Christmas.  From the autumn, police barracks in large parts of the south and west of Ireland, particularly in remote rural areas, were progressively evacuated. 

See Sep-19-19/2.

 

Townshend (1975), pg 29; Hopkinson (2002), pg 27; O’Halpin (1987), pg 192

Sep-09-19/4

BA soldier, Alexander Stewart, is killed in a motorcycle accident in Drumcondra, Dublin.

O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 551

Sep-10-19/1

Dáil Éireann is Suppressed  by the British

The proclamation is signed by John French, the British Viceroy for Ireland, and General Shaw, the commander of the British army in Ireland.

 

More Detail and Comment

 

Townshend (1975), pg 31; Macardle (1999), pg 308 & 317; Gallagher (1953), pg 68; Townshend (2014), pg 100-101; Fanning (2013), pg 201; Curran J M (1980), pg 26; Hopkinson (2002), pg 40; Boyce (1972), pg 44; O’Halpin (1987), pg 190 & 194; McBride (1991), pg 267; Mitchell (1995), pgs 53-54 & 123; Sheehan (2017), pg 94;  O’Sullivan Greene (2020), pgs 19-21

Sep-11-19/1

King George V of England asks Bonar Law what measures his government is going to take to protect “the lives of unoffending [or suffering] people in Ireland and what measures were to be brought into parliament for the government of the country”.

 

Boyce (1972), pg 51; O’Sullivan Greene (2020), pg 20

Sep-11-19/2

BA soldier, Samuel Morley, commits suicide in the Curragh, Co. Kildare.

O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 551

Sep-12-19/1

Crown Forces (DMP and British Army) carry out a large raid on Sinn Féin HQ, 6 Harcourt St., Dublin.  Michael Collins, Diarmaid O’Hegarty and Jerimiah J O’Connell were in the building but escape arrest.  Patrick O’Keefe and Ernst Blythe (both TDs) are arrested.

One of the DMP men who led this raid was Detective Constable Daniel Hoey – See Sep-12-19/2.

Many other raids are carried out on this day around the country.

 

Abbott (2000), pg 45; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pgs 115-117; O’Sullivan Greene (2020), pgs 24-27

Sep-12-19/2

Detective Constable Daniel Hoey of the G Division DMP is shot dead in Townsend St, rear of the Central Police Station in Brunswick St. - second 'G man’ to be killed. (See Jul-30-19/1for the first.) 

Abbott indicates that he was targeted as he may have identified Sean MacDiarmada in Richmond Barracks after the 1916 Rising.

The IRA assassination team were Mick McDonnell, Jim Slattery and Tom Ennis.

See Nov-10-19/1.

 

Hopkinson (2002), pg 100;  Abbott (2017), pg 56; Price (2017), pg 81; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pgs 117-120; Sheehan (2007), pgs 7-8; O’Sullivan Greene (2020), pgs 27-28

Sep-12-19/3

A full page advertisement appears in the Cork Examiner for the Dáil Loan.  Five days later the paper was suppressed – see Sep-17-19/1.  

Collins had sent the adverts on September 6th.  When the manager of Independent Newspapers saw the advert, he contacted Dublin Castle looking for guidance on the legality of publishing the advert.  On September 11th, he was told that publication was “illegal, and that if published your company must take the consequences”.  The Freeman’s Journal was similarly ‘warned off’.

The Cork Examiner is allowed to resume publication on September 22nd.  See Sep-19-19/3.

 

O’Sullivan Grenne (2020), pgs 19 & 28

Sep-13-19/1

Along with other local newspapers, the Dundalk Examiner is suppressed by the Dublin Castle Authorities. Also, a number of ‘subversive’ newspapers are closed around this time by Crown Forces by smashing their machinery.  See Sep-19-21/3.

 

Hall (2019), pg 66; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pgs 121

Sep-13-19/2

Writing to Bonar-Law, French says “Whilst we call such a population cowardly and pusillanimous we must remember that they have a certain amount of reason on their side”. However, he also says “we are really at war”.

 

Sheehan (2017), pg 62; O’Sullivan Greene (2020), pg 76

Sep-14-19/1

BA soldier, Charles Perkins, dies as the result of head trauma in Dublin.

O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 551

Sep-15-19/1

Private William Booth of the BA’s Yorkshire Regiment is accidently shot by Private Pagan in Hut 12 of the hutments in Tipperary, Co. Tipperary.

 

O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pgs 115 & 551

Sep-17-19/1

In a letter to the [London] Times, Roger Sweetman, Sinn Féin TD for Wexford North, says “Ireland was fighting the moral case for the freedom of nations” and those who supported this cause should not degrade it by employing violence.

 

Mitchell (1995), pg 71

Sep-19-19/1

Following on the killing of Detective Hoey (see Sep-12-19/2), Collins, Brugha, Mulcahy and some IRA GHQ officers meet.  They decide to form a fulltime squad of IRA men “to deal with spies, informers and G-men”.  It is answerable to Collins as Director of Intelligence.  The IRA Intelligence Department is to identify targets and send them to Brugha for sanction who would send approved targets to McKee. 

This day sees the official founding of the Squad at a meeting in 46 Parnell Sq.  The Squad already had two assassinations to its name (Smyth and Hoey).  To the existing three ‘veterans’ of Ennis, Slattery and Keogh, the following were added: Paddy [O’]Daly, Joe Leonard, Ben Barrett and Sean Doyle.  They are addressed by Mulcahy, McKee and Collins.

Price says that, rather than the setting up of the Squad, this date seen the setting up a ‘special services’ group under Paddy [O’]Daly and included Joe Leonard, Ben Barrett and Sean Doyle (all from B Company, 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade, IRA).  They were to leave their employment and their base was 10 Bessborough Avenue off the North Strand in Dublin. Ennis, Slattery and Keogh were to stay in their employments and await future instructions.

McDonnell was designated for a special job – going to London with Liam Tobin to investigate the possibility of wiping out the British cabinet – See Oct-1920/1.

 

Coogan (1990) pg 116; Price (2017), pg 84; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pgs 120-121;

Sep-19-19/2

Writing to Macpherson, General Shaw (Commander of the BA in Ireland) says “the military necessity for concentration and training is diametrically opposed to the Police demands for dispersion and local support”.  This was in response to Byrne’s request for the British Army to be dispersed in small units to work along the RIC throughout the country.  He also suggested that, since Byrne seems unwilling to recruit non-Irishmen to the RIC a special force of ex-soldiers might be raised. 

See Sep-30-19/1.

O’Halpin (1987), pgs 191-192; Townshend (1975), pgs 29-30; McBride (1991), pg 268; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pg 113

Sep-19-21/3

A number of local newspapers carry advertisements for the Dáil Loan.  Following the suppression of the Dáil (See Sep-10-19/1), Collins had changed what the loan was referred from Dáil Loan to National Loan.  However, this did not work. 

Starting the following morning, Crown Forces entered the offices of various newspapers around the country and issued formal notices of suppression.  By September 23rd, 35 newspapers were suppressed – they were mostly local newspapers but also smaller nationalist papers. According to O’Sullivan Greene: “Across the country, printing was stopped, machinery dismantled and components confiscated”.

Most local newspapers were permitted to resume publication within a few weeks when proprietors and printers gave signed personal declarations not to publish seditious literature.  However, seven pro-Sinn Féin journals were permanently suppressed including Arthur Griffith’s Nationality and Darrell Figgis’s Republic.

Denied access to newspapers, Collins resorted to more ‘direct marketing’ methods to advertise the Loan.  For example, he increased the print run of the prospectus to 400,000 and printed 3 million promotional leaflets.  He had this material couriered to the loan committees in every constituency.  He also increased the staff to manage the loan. 

See Oct-05-19/2.

 

O’Sullivan Greene (2020), pgs 28-32; Hall (2019), pg 66; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pgs 121

Sep-21-19/1

First meeting of Commission of Inquiry into the Industry and Resources of Ireland

This Commission was set up in June by the Dáil (See Jun-18-19/1). 

More Detail

 

Figgis (1927), pg 267-268; Macardle (1999), pg 318; Townshend (2014), pg 93; Mitchell (1995), pg 82; O’Sullivan Greene (2020), pg 47

Sep-23-19/1

A strike is called by railwaymen in Britain.  British soldiers are deployed to keep the trains running. 

See Oct-05-19/1.

 

Jeffrey (2006), pg 244; Roskill (1972), pg 121

Sep-25-19/1

It is noted, at a meeting of the British cabinet, that “unless legislation was previously enacted the Government of Ireland Act [1914] would come into operation on the ratification of the last of the Peace Treaties, which is likely to be the Treaty of Peace with Turkey”. 

This gives some impetus to the British Government’s (rather distant) desire to deal with the situation in Ireland and leads to the setting up of a committee under the die-hard unionist Walter Long - See Oct-07-19/1.

 

Boyce (1972), pg 44

Sep-25-19/2

An accident in the explosives store of Castlecomer Collieries in Co Kilkenny leads to the deaths of three British Army soldiers of the Yorkshire Regiment (Private Frank Lord; Private George Frederick Heppenstall and Lance Corporal Andrew Walsh) and the injury of two others.

 

Walsh (2018); pg 61; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pgs 551-552

Sep-28-19/1

Two RIC men are attacked on leaving a church in Berrings, near Blarney, Co, Cork.

 

Hopkinson (2002), pg 49

Sep-30-19/1

Reacting to Shaw’s proposal (See Sep-19-19/2) for a special force of ex-BA soldiers to supplement the work of the RIC and DMP, the Chief Commissioner of the DMP, Johnstone, writing to the Under Secretary of State in Dublin Castle, says that such a force was not needed in Dublin and that the certainty of disharmony and indiscipline meant that the proposal had “nothing to recommend it to either police or citizens”.

See Oct-04-19/1.

 

Townshend (1975), pg 30

Sep-1919/1

The Constitution of the IRB amended to recognise the position of the Republic as ratified by Dáil Éireann.

(Prior to this amendment, the constitution of the IRB claimed that the Supreme Council of the IRB was the legitimate government of the Irish Republic.)

 

Mitchell (1995), pgs 230-231

Sep-1919/2

Curran says Collins made Director of Intelligence of IRA but Doyle says June.

See Sep-1919/4.

Curran J M (1980), pg26; Doyle (2008), pg 32

Sep-1919/3

Reported that number of raids by Crown Forces on private houses in previous nine months was 5,588 and Macardle claims that actual figure was much higher.

Macardle (1999), pg 316;

Sep-1919/4

After working informally for some time, around the end of September, Collins sets up an IRA Intelligence Department with Liam Tobin as his Deputy Director of Intelligence and Tom Cullen as Assistant Director.  Over the coming period, Frank Thornton, Frank Saurin, Charlie Dalton, Joe Dolan and Joe Guilfoyle will join.  (They work mostly out of 3 Crow St, off Dame St. in Dublin in offices disguised as Irish Products Company.) 

A key agent was Lily Merlin who worked as a shorthand typist for the British Army in Dublin Castle. Another was Nancy O’Brien (Collins’s second cousin) who also worked in Dublin Castle. Along with Merlin and O’Brien, other key agents working within the Crown forces were Ned Broy (see Apr-07-19/1), James McNamara, David Neligan and Sean Kavanagh.

 

Price (2017), pgs 88-89;

Foy (2017), pg 420; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pg 84; O’Sullivan Greene (2020), pg 79

 

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