September
1920
|
cSep-01-20/1 |
After being interviewed in early September by Brigade O/C Charlie Hurley and Brigade V/C Ted O'Sullivan, Tom Barry is made Brigade Training Officer of the Cork No. 3 Brigade IRA on October 1st. See Sep-26-20/2. |
Deasy (1973), pgs 141 & 319 |
|
Sep-01-20/2 |
Five RIC men on bicycles were attacked at
Rathmacross (or Ratra Crossroads), Co. Roscommon (between Ballaghdereen and
Frenchpark) resulting in the deaths of two RIC men (Constables Edward Murphy
and Martin McCarthy) and one IRA man (Captain Tom McDonagh from the South
Sligo Brigade). The IRA ambush party of about 25 men are led
by Jim Hunt and Michael Marren from the East Mayo Brigade. McDonagh’s body was dragged by Crown Forces
through the streets of Ballaghdereen and put on public display. Also, a
number of buildings and businesses are burnt or blown up in Ballaghdereen
that night in a major reprisal by the RIC. |
Abbott (2000), pg 119; O'Farrell P (1997), pg 60 & 112; Farry (2012), pg 58; Price (2012), pg 94; O’Callaghan (2012), pgs 60-68 & 192; Lesson (2012), pgs 154-155; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pgs 171-172 |
|
Sep-01-20/3 |
Writing to the War Office in London, Macready
acknowledges that the RIC engage in retaliations “especially by the “Black
& Tan” contingent”. He also acknowledged retaliatory action by the
British Army such as Fermoy (see Jun-28-20/1) and Cobh (see
Aug-28-20/3). He goes on to say that “any attempt to punish
troops concerned in retaliations … might break the bonds of discipline
altogether”. He adds that “The fact is that the human endurance of the troops
is rapidly reaching a point where restraint will be impossible.” Comment: There would seem to
be no acknowledgement by Macready that part of his job, as head of the
British Army in Ireland, was to maintain the discipline of his troops and, in
particular, to ensure that innocent civilians not were killed or injured
during operations being carried out by British Army soldiers or that their
property was destroyed. |
Kautt (2014), pgs 228-229 |
|
Sep-01-20/4 |
Writing to Bonar Law, Craig says that Sinn Féin
had already established its dominance over a considerable portion of Ulster
and that “rebel influences were spreading”.
See Sep-02-20/1. |
Matthews (2004), pg 23 |
|
Sep-01-20/5 |
Ambush by 6th Battalion, Cork No. 1 Brigade on British forces at Inniscarra. The British got away and there were no casualties on either side. |
O'Callaghan (1974), pg 35 |
|
Sep-01-20/6 |
Thomas Maher answers the door of his home, in
Knockgraffon near Cahir in Co. Tipperary, in the early hours of the
morning. He is shot is the chest and
dies immediately. The RIC think it is
a raid for arms [by the IRA] that went wrong.
|
O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 171 |
|
Sep-02-20/1 |
Following the severe disturbances in Belfast
(see Aug-22 to Sep-01-20/1), at a meeting in London, James Craig presses
Bonar Law, Lord Privy Seal, and two other British ministers to create a
special constabulary of full-time and part-time men. He proposed the establishment of a 2,000 strong full time force and a “reserve of Special Constabulary should be raised from the loyal population which would only be called out for duty in case of emergency. The organisation of the UVF should be used for this purpose, as was done for raising the 36th Ulster Division when the war broke out”. Craig told Bonar Law that loyalists were “losing faith in the government’s determination to protect them and were threatening an immediate recourse to arm, which would participate a civil war”. The two other British cabinet members present
at this meeting were ‘hawks’ – Balfour and Richard Horne (President of the
Board of Trade). Craig also wanted the appointment of an
under-secretary in Belfast in Belfast so that the six counties no longer is
governed from Dublin Castle. Balfour
agreed with the latter proposal and Horne with the creation of a special
constabulary. Bonar Law writes to Llyod George echoing
Craig’s words saying that unless the British government acted promptly there was
a danger of “Orangemen getting completely out of hand and something like a
general massacre happening in Belfast”. See Jul-23-20/3 and Jul-29-20/5 above. Also, Sep-08-20/4 below. |
Parkinson (2004), pg 84; Abbott (2019), pg 186; Fanning (2013), pg 234; Matthews (2004), pg 23; Parksinson (2020), pg 63 |
|
Sep-02-20/2 |
A four-man RIC bicycle patrol is ambushed by
the IRA at Crimlin, Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim.
The IRA open fire prematurely and there are no casualties on either
side. |
McGarty (2020), pg 84 |
|
Sep-03-20/1 |
Two or seven RIC men were cycling from Portland to Leamybrien when they are ambushed by the IRA led by Pat Keating, at Kilmacthomas, Co. Waterford resulting in the serious wounding of Sgt Martin Morgan. He dies on September 27th. Another RIC man is captured but later released. One of the IRA men present said the RIC men were unarmed. (O’Halpin and Ó Corráin say that there were seven RIC men in the patrol but Abbott and McCarthy say that there were only two.) See Mar-19-21/4. |
Abbott (2000), pg 119; Abbott (2019), pg 150; McCarthy (2015), pg 71; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pgs 184-185 |
|
Sep-03-20/2 |
Neil Kerr originally from Pigeon House Rd., Ringsend, Dublin is accidently shot dead in 93 Scotland St, Liverpool. The Kerr family were prominent IRA arms smugglers. |
O’Farrell (1997), pg 110; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 173 |
|
Sep-03-20/3 |
The cashier of the large Dunbar McMaster &
Co thread-spinning mill in Giford, Co. Down was returning in a taxi from the
Northern Bank in Banbridge with the wages for the workers in the mill
(£1,300) when they meet a car broken down on the road. The taxi driver, William McDowell, gets out of
his car to see if he can help but is shot and killed by one of the men in the
broken down car. The cashier is
bundled out of the car and the men make their getaway with the wages. Despite there being no evidence of any political connection to the robbery, the following morning the Banbridge Chronicle has the headline ‘Gilford man shot by Sinn Féin Raiders’. This inaccurate headline led to further reprisals against the local Catholic population with about 1,000 Catholic workers expelled from their place of work in the Bann Valley. |
Lawlor (2009), pgs 78-81; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 173 |
|
Sep-04-20/1 |
IRA men from the Letterkenny and Fanad
companies, led by Dr JP McGinley, attack the coast guard station at Fanad,
Co. Donegal. After a period of firing,
the coast guards surrender and the IRA take away eleven revolvers, ammunition
and some gelignite. |
Ó Duibhir (2009), pgs 171-172 |
|
Sep-04-20/2 |
Writing to Bonar Law from Lucerne about the
on-going hunger strike of Terence MacSwiney and the large amount of publicity
that it is receiving, Llyod George says that his release would “completely
disintegrate and dishearten the Police Force in Ireland and the Military … We
might as well give up attempting to maintain law and order in Ireland”. Also, around this time, three IRA men (Patrick
‘Pa’ Murray; Jerry Dennehy and Jack Cody) are sent to London to plan the
assassination of a senior British government minister in the event of death
of MacSwiney. See Oct-23-20/4. |
Roskill (1972), pg 189; Borgonovo (2007), pg 87 |
|
Sep-04-20/3 |
Acting Sgt Percy Turner of the BA’s The
Queen’s Regiment dies in the Military Hospital, Victoria Barracks, Belfast
from a leg wound. [It is not stated in
the source how he got this leg wound.] |
O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 173 |
|
Sep-05-20/1 |
IRA man Liam Hegarty, who was QM of the Ballyvourney Company, 8th Battalion, Cork No. 1 Brigade of the IRA, is killed by British forces at Ballymakeera outside Ballyvourney, Co Cork. Hegarty, along with a local man, approached a
British Army lorry which appeared as if it was broken down and
abandoned. However, he was shot by
soldiers concealed inside the lorry and, according to O’Halpin and Ó Corráin,
“apparently, finished off at close range by a shot to the head”. The BA soldiers concealed inside the lorry were from the Hampshire Regiment and led by Lieutenant Frederick Hook. This could have been one of the staged “accidents” which Macready mentioned to Wilson – See Aug-31-20/4. Also, a young man, Michael Lynch from
Ballymakeera was shot at the gate of his house and dies a few hours
later. Two of his older brothers
served in the RIC. (The Memorial says September 5th as do O’Halpin and Ó Corráin. The BA’s Record of the Rebellion for the 6th Division gives a date of September 28th but Sheehan says September 6th. He also says “The 6th Division History records the death of two rebels in the ambush, but in reality only one member of the IRA died”.) |
O’Farrell (1997), pg 109 & 111; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pgs 173-174; Sheehan (2017), pgs 134-135; Cork Fatality Register |
|
Sep-05-20/2 |
IRA raid on Belleek RIC barracks in Co.
Fermanagh led by Frank Carney, O/C Fermanagh Brigade. Carney gains entrance to the barracks as he
is dressed as a British officer, the IRA make away with a quantity of weapons
and the barracks is burnt down. |
Hutton (2019), pg 28; Ó Duibhir (2009), pgs
173-174; Ozseker (2019), pg 118 |
|
Sep-05-20/3 |
Seventeen-year-old Thomas Moriarty, who was a
member of Fianna Éireann, is shot dead at Cloghane, Co. Kerry. He may have been accidently shot by his
comrades who were attempting to capture two RIC men who were brothers and who
had returned to the area for a funeral. Alternatively, he may have been
helping the two RIC men to escape. |
O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 174 |
|
Sep-08-20/1 |
A four-man RIC patrol is ambushed near Tullow, Co. Carlow resulting in the deaths of two RIC men (Constable Timothy Delaney and Constable John Gaughan) and another is seriously wounded. |
Abbott (2000), pg 119; Leeson (2012), pg 138; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 174 |
|
Sep-08-20/2 |
Galway
Rail Station Incident and Aftermath RIC driver, Constable Edward Krumm, and IRA
volunteer, Sean Mulvoy, are killed in the Railway Station in Galway
City. In the aftermath of these
killings, the RIC engage in reprisals in Galway City including the killing of
one man (Seamus Quirke). |
Abbott (2000), pg 119; McNamara (2017), pg 615; McNamara (2018), pg 144; Henry (2012), pgs 88-109; Leeson (2012), pgs 45-46 & 163 & 195; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pgs 174-175 |
|
Sep-08-20/2 |
The BA orders all guns to be collected from civilians for which permits had been issued. According to the official history of the BA’s 5th Division “there resulted a great race between the IRA and the [British] troops to see who could collect most”. |
Sheehan (2009), pgs 55-56 |
|
Sep-08-20/3 |
Attempted ambush on British Army cycle patrol by men from the Cork No. 3 brigade IRA (led by Liam Deasy) at Manch on the Dunmanway-Ballineen road fails due to incorrect information and one IRA man is captured. |
Deasy (1973), pgs 136-139 |
|
Sep-08-20/4 |
Birth
of the Specials British ministers, after meeting with a UUC delegation the previous day and the meeting with Craig on September 2nd (see Sep-02-20/1) agree to the setting up of a force of special constables made up of loyalists in the six counties. There were strong objections from General Nevil Macready who said that it would sow the seeds of civil war. There were also very pertinent objections from Under Secretary John Anderson – see Oct-22-20/7. Hamar Greenwood, Chief Secretary for Ireland, was given the task of setting up the Special Constabulary. Decision made public on October 22nd – See Oct-22-20/6. It was also decided to appoint a Permanent Under-Secretary in Belfast (who was to be Ernest Clark appointed September 15th – see Sep-15-20/5) and to appoint Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Wickham as divisional commissioner of the RIC. The appointment of Clark and Wickham signalled de facto partition even before the Government of Ireland Act was passed. The British government had given Craig all he asked for. |
McDermott (2001), pg 57; McCluskey (2014), pg 95; Lawlor (2009), pg 162; Abbott (2019), pg 186; Fanning (2013), pgs 235-238; Matthews (2004), pg 24; Parksinson (2020), pg 35; McMahon (2008), pg 151 |
|
Sep-09-20/1 |
RIC Constable John Denham is accidently shot dead in the RIC barracks in Glenbower, Co. Tipperary. (Abbott says September 9th but O’Halpin and Ó Corráin say September 20th.) Also, Constable Edward Morley commits suicide
in Clonbullogue, Co. Offaly. |
Abbott (2019), pgs 404 & 410; O’Halpin and
Ó Corráin (2020), pgs 175 &178-179 |
|
Sep-09-20/2 |
The Cork Examiner quotes Llyod George on the hunger strikers as saying “these men … were arrested either in the act of making murderous attacks on police or soldiers, or upon direct and clear evidence or other such serious offenses”. |
Sheehan (2017), pg 96 |
|
Sep-10-20/1 |
The Irish Bulletin issues captured British documents written on January 15th 1920 and April 8th1920 which were written on Dáil notepaper. This calls into question the statement from the Chief Commissioner of the DMP (issued on the 27th May – See May-27-20/1) that no Dáil notepaper had been seized by detectives in their raid on Dáil HQ the previous November. More significantly, the Bulletin also
published a report from Capt F. Harper-Shove of the British Army General
staff and in charge of Intelligence in the Dublin district and claimed that
an expert was prepared to swear that the typewriter on which this report was
typed was the same typewriter on which the death notices were typed which
were sent to Dáil members the previous May. Finally, the Bulletin published a letter from F. Harper-Stove from St. Andrew’s Hotel, Exchequer St., Dublin to “Dear Hardy” saying that “Have been given a free hand to carry on, and everyone has been charming. Re our little stunt, I see no prospects until I have things on a firmer basis, but still hope and believe there are possibilities”. The Bulletin claims that the little stunt is the assassination of leaders of Sinn Féin. |
Gallagher (1953), pgs 91-93 |
|
Sep-10-20/2 |
Bobby Bruce, a GNR train driver from Donegall Road
in Belfast, drove the normal morning train from Belfast to Dublin. On arrival in Dublin, he went to a public
house. On leaving the public house, he was accosted
by three men carrying revolvers. They
tied him to a pole in Talbot St with an iron chain and padlock. A notice is placed on him saying; “SCAB.
This is Robert Bruce who continued to drive munitions trains on the GNR while
his comrades are being DISMISSED.” After being released by the DMP, Bruce is
taken to Store St DMP barracks. After he leaves Store St, he drives the 3pm
Dublin train to Belfast. He is warmly greeted by his colleagues on his
arrival back in Belfast. |
Lawlor (2011), pgs 60-62 |
|
Sep-10-20/3 |
Pat Gill, a 60-year (or 50-year) old farmer
from Corlara, Co. Roscommon is walking down the street in Drumsna, Co.
Leitrim with two female companions when he is fired on by Crown Forces sitting
in a lorry nearby. He dies
immediately. The inquest returns a
verdict that his death was caused by a ‘shooting by persons unknown’. O’Halpin and Ó Corráin do not identify Gill as
a member of the IRA but McGarty says that Gill was a member of the IRA. McCarty also says that his inquest heard
from Lieut Wallace of the East Yorkshire Regiment of the British Army that
Gill was requested to stop three times before being shot. Nevertheless, the inquest jury return a
verdict of murder. |
O’Callaghan (2012), pg 102; O'Farrell P (1997), pg 108 & 114; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 175; McGarty (2020), pgs 85-86 |
|
Sep-11-20/1 |
John Toner (50 or 51), a Catholic carter, is
shot by a BA military patrol close to his home in Cable St., Belfast. The BA say that he was in breach of curfew
regulations and that he failed to stop when requested. His brother said
that he was hard of hearing from working in the shipyards for 30 years.
|
Parkinson (2004), pg 50; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 175 |
|
Sep-11-20/2 |
A number of men with blackened faces enter the
Kilkenny Post Office yard, they beat up a driver and steal eleven post office
bags. It later transpires (after the resignation of
the Commander of the Auxiliaries - see Feb-09-21/1) that the thieves were
members of the Auxiliary Division of the RIC based in Woodstock House,
Inistioge, Co. Kilkenny – see Oct-10-20/2. |
Walsh (2018), pg 267 |
|
Sep-12-20/1 |
A Brigade Council of the 3rd South Tipperary Brigade of the IRA was taking place at Blackcastle (each battalion was represented three officers as well as all the brigade officers) when it was raided a party of mounted Lancers from the BA. Three IRA men are captured. The dispersion of the Brigade Council became known as the "Blackcastle Races". |
Ryan (1945), pgs 144-146 |
|
Sep-12-20/2 |
Private Frank Catchpole of the BA’s Norfolk
Regiment is accidently killed by a fellow BA soldier in Cavan. |
O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 175 |
|
Sep-14-20/1 |
Three IRA men are killed in South Roscommon by the 9th Lancers of the BA. They are Michael Glavey (Cloonan, Ballinlough), Patrick Glynn (Aughaderry, Loughglynn) and Michael Keane (Ballinlough). The three IRA men, along with others, were in the act of burning Ballinlough barracks which had been evacuated earlier in the day. What they didn’t know was that the 9th Lancers of (who had been billeted in the barracks) had laid a trap for them and hidden until the IRA men came back to burn the barracks. The ambushers were led by Lieutenant Allfrey. They had been ordered to carry out the ambush by the O/C of the 7th Lancers, Lieutenant Colonel Cavendish. Allfrey’s report is given in Sheehan. Patrick Glynn was O/C 1st Battalion (Castlerea) of the South Roscommon Brigade. |
O’Farrell (1997), pg 84; O’Callaghan (2012), pgs 70-75; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 176; Sheehan (2009), pgs 65-66 & 199-200 |
|
Sep-14-20/2 |
Members of the RIC and Britsh Army raid the
home of James Connolly, captain of the IRA’s Kinlough Company in Tullagahan,
Kinlough, Co. Leitrim. When they do not find him at home, they take his
father (also called James) outside and kill him. First ‘extra-judicial’ killing by Crown
Forces in Donegal area. (Kinlough Company is attached to the South Donegal
Brigade.) O’Halpin and Ó Corráin say that he may have
been shot accidently. McGarty says
that the RIC claimed that Connolly was shot when he refused to put up his
hands and ran towards another room.
The jury at his inquest found that the British Army were “guilty of
wilful murder of a revolting and brutal character”. No BA soldiers appeared at the inquest. (James Connolly, son of the man killed, was
arrested during the raid. See Jun-29-22/12.) |
O’Farrell (1997), pg104; Ó Duibhir (2009), pg 177; Ozseker (2019), pgs 118-119; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pgs 175-176; McGarty (2020), pg 86 |
|
Sep-14-20/3 |
The London Times reproduces most of the Irish Bulletin of September 10th (see Sep-10-20/1) but says that it failed to prove an actual plot of assassination of public representatives. |
Gallagher (1953), pg 94 |
|
Sep-14-20/4 |
A meeting of Dublin Corporation sets up a committee to put the Belfast Boycott into immediate effect. |
Macardle (1999), pg 387 |
|
Sep-14-20/5 |
RIC Constable William Carroll is driving a
timber lorry when it hits a telegraph pole.
Constable Carroll is thrown through the window screen and killed. |
O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 176; Cork
Fatality Register |
|
Sep-15-20/1 |
Ernie O'Malley (GHQ Staff Captain) starts a two-week training course for 19 members of the Cork No. 1 Brigade (and one member of the Waterford Brigade) at Badger's Hill, Glenville, Co. Cork. |
O’Donoghue (1986), pg7 |
|
Sep-15-20/2 |
RIC man (Constable Terence Wheatly) is shot in
Market Sq., Dundalk - it is unclear as to what happened but it would seem
that the IRA were not involved. He died three days later in Louth
Hospital. (Hall suggests that he may have been involved
in a robbery on a shop during which an accomplice shot him. Abbott would seem to support this
suggestion.) |
Abbott (2000), pgs 120-121; Lawlor (2011), pgs 58-59; Hall (2019), pg 76; Abbott (2019), pgs 152-153; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 177 |
|
cSep-15-20/3 |
D Company of the Auxiliaries arrive in Galway
City. Also, around this time, M Company is deployed
to Longford and E Company to Boyle in Co. Roscommon. According to the official history of the 5th Division British Army in Ireland “These companies … soon made their presence felt against the rebels … Nominally they acted under the orders of the County Inspector, RIC; but in practice they worked very much on their own or in co-operation with nearest troops”. For one of the first actions of D Company, see
Oct-02-20/1. |
Leeson (2012), pg 47; Sheehan (2009), pg 59-60 |
|
Sep-15-20/4 |
In an interview given to a French newspaper,
Macready says that “We have most of their names, and the day may come when we
shall be able to make a definite clearance of them”. |
|
|
Sep-15-20/5 |
Ernest Clarke [or Clark], a leading civil servant, is
appointed as an additional Under-Secretary in Belfast in anticipation of the
changes that the setting up of a Northern Ireland parliament would
bring. This had been requested by Craig from the British cabinet. His job was to provide a framework for the forthcoming administration. Greenwood pushes him to work on the restoration of expelled workers but this fails mainly due the insistence of the UULA and the Loyalist Vigilante Committee that returning workers should sign a declaration of loyalty to the Crown and renounce support for Sinn Féin. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 93; Parkinson (2004), pg 40; Parksinson (2020), pg 36 |
|
Sep-15-20/6 |
In the United States, on the initiative of Dr
W. J. Maloney (and with the help of Frank P. Walsh) a committee of prominent
people was set up to investigate conditions in Ireland. (It included 11
Senators, 13 Congressmen, 5 Governors, prominent clergy from a number of
denominations, college presidents, etc.) It decided to hold hearings in Washington by five of its members. See Nov-19-20/1. |
Macardle (1999), pg 407 |
|
Sep-15-20/7 |
An ex-British Army soldier, Sean (John)
O’Callaghan, who was working as a clerk in Victoria barracks in Cork City, is
abducted by Patrick Collins and Jeremiah Keating from G Company, 2nd
Battalion, Cork No. 1 Brigade, IRA. He
is taken to the Farmer’s Cross area of the city and shot dead. His remains were never recovered. According to Connie Neenan, O’Callaghan was
identified as an informer when he made a panicked phone call to Captain Kelly
who was the I/O of the British Army’s 6th Division. The IRA in
Cork had taps on the phones. |
O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 176; Borgonovo (2007), pgs 51 & 142; Cork Fatality Register |
|
Sep-16-20/1 |
Joseph Athy from Maree, Oranmore, Co. Galway
is in a cart, along with other men making their way from Oranmore to Maree,
when they are shot at by men from behind a hedge. Eyewitnesses report seeing gunmen in army fatigues fleeing the scene. This killing was seen as a retaliation for the ambush at Red Bridge on August 21st – see Aug-21-20/3. Athy was a “well known republican” but not a
member of the IRA. |
O’Farrell (1997), pg 102; McNamara (2018), pg 124 & pgs 148-149; Henry (2012), pgs 114-115; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 176 |
|
Sep-16-20/2 |
Griffith assembles a number of press correspondents at which he exposes a British spy called John Henry Gooding (alias Frank Digby Hardy). (Full report contained in Irish Independent of September 17th given in Brennan.) The official A Report of the Intelligence Branch of the Chief of Police, Dublin Castle from May 1920 to July 1921 (written by Ormonde Winter) says that “Mr. Digby Hardy, proved himself a villain of the first water” and tried to betray the organisation which employed him.
|
Brennan (1950), pgs 275-283; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pgs 281-282; Hart (2002), pg 79; McMahon (2008), pgs 39-40 |
|
Sep-17-20/1 |
Dublin Castle agrees that RIC barracks should
have at least 20 men (and all others closed).
This decision was to have far-reaching effects as it ‘ceded’
considerable territory to the IRA. |
Sheehan (2009), pg 60 |
|
Sep-17-20/2 |
Tenth
Session of the First Dáil Held in secret in Fleming’s Hotel in
Dublin. Among the many issues dealt
with are the recommendations from the Commission on Local Government. The proceedings of the Tenth session of the First Dáil are available at: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1920-09-17 See Jan-21-21/2 for 11th session of the First Dáil. |
Macardle (1999), pg 387; O’Sullivan Greene (2020), pg 160 & 181 |
|
Sep-17-20/3 |
The Shannon family farmhouse in Lissaclarig,
Aghadown, Skibereen, Co. Cork is raided by the IRA. The Shannons beat the IRA back only with
sticks but Samuel Richard Shannon is wounded.
He dies two weeks later.
Shannon’s father had already sold the farm. The Shannon family were
Protestant. |
O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 187; Cork Fatality Register |
|
Sep-18-20/1 |
An attack by the East Clare Brigade of the IRA
on the Scariff RIC barracks (led by Michael Brennan) fails because bombs
(made by the IRA in Dublin) fail to explode.
A large number of IRA men take part in this
attack including Alphie Rodgers, Michael ‘Brud’ McMahon and Martin Kildea –
see Sep-29-20/2 and Nov-17-20/1. Tomas Malone (alias Sean Forde) was also
present. The barracks is vacated two days later. |
Brennan (1980), pgs 56-58; Ó Ruairc (2009), pgs 148-152; Mac Conmara (2021), pgs 80-94 |
|
Sep-18-20/2 |
Maurice Hankey writes in his diary that Llyod
George’s policy towards Ireland at this point is “to pass the Irish Bill,
establish a parliament in Ulster; and, if Southern Ireland refuses to
establish a parliament, withdraw from the interior, occupying the posts
only”. |
Roskill (1972), pg 190 |
|
Sep-18-20/3 |
Lance Corporal Robert Clout of the BA’s Prince
Consort’s Own (Rifle Brigade) is accidently shot dead by a fellow BA soldier
in Finner Camp, Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal. |
O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 177 |
|
Sep-18-20/4 |
A gang of young men enter J. Redmond’s house
near Gorey in Co. Wexford. He is badly
beaten and his face and clothes are tarred.
His ‘crime’ was that he had driven RIC men in his car. The following night, another Wexford man,
Patrick Cullen is taken to a grave yard where he is tried for being friendly
with the RIC. Despite a grave being dug for him, he is not killed. |
Leeson (2012), pg 209 |
|
Sep-18-20/5 |
Writing to Churchill, Wilson say that “I see
no reason why, with patience and firmness, we may not wear the trouble down
in the course of a few years”. |
Sheehan (2017), pg 166 |
|
Sep-18-20/6 |
A woman called Eileen Baker had given evidence to the Military Court of Inquiry held after the events in Galway City on September 8th – see Sep-08-20/2. On this morning, a number of IRA men attacked
Baker and cut off her hair. In
retaliation, that night RIC men and British soldiers attack and cut off the
hair of five Cumann na mBan women. |
Leeson (2012), pg 46 |
|
Sep-19-20/1 |
A joint RIC/Military patrol is ambushed by the
Flying Column of the West Limerick Brigade at Mountmahon, Co. Limerick
(between Abbeyfeale and Limerick City) - two RIC men (Constable James
Donohoe and Constable John Mahony) later die from wounds
received. (It was later said that Mahony was an IRA informant.) As usual by this stage, reprisals follow. Toomey says that the target of the ambush was a Black and Tan called Constable Thomas Huckerby – see Sep-20-20/2. |
Abbott (2000), pg 121-122; Harnett (2002), pgs 65-66; Toomey (2008), pg 64; O’Callaghan (2018), pg 82; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 179 |
|
Sep-19-20/2 |
IRA Volunteer Sean Doyle from 159 Emmet Rd.,
Inchicore, Dublin is killed by Auxiliaries under Major John Vernon Dudley at
Kilmashogue in the Dublin mountains. The IRA were conducting camps and testing explosives in the area. Forty-three (or thirty-five) IRA men are arrested in the follow-up operation. |
O’Farrell (1997), pg 106; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 177; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pgs 282-283; Kautt (2014), pg 88 |
|
Sep-19-20/3 |
Two men in the uniforms of British Army
officers arrive at the home of James Doyle in Templeshambo, Enniscorthy, Co.
Wexford. However, the two men are IRA
Volunteers (James Whelan and Tom Roche).
Doyle is alleged to have given the two men
information on local IRA Volunteers.
Doyle is taken away and court martialled with Phil Lennon, O/C North
Wexford Brigade presiding. Doyle is found guilty. He is executed the following day at
Knockroe, Rathanna on the Carlow-Wexford border. |
O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 180 |
|
Sep-19-20/4 |
Two British army officers – Captain MacLean
and Captain Collins or Collis – who were travelling in mufti in the north
Clare area are captured by the East Clare Brigade of the IRA. They were released after interrogation on
the assurance that they would leave Ireland immediately. (MacLean did not leave Ireland and he was
killed on Bloody Sunday – see Nov-21-20/8.) |
Ó Ruairc (2009), pg 154-155; O’Halpin and Ó
Corráin (2020), pg 226 |
|
Sep-19-20/5 |
The IRA in Pallaskenry, Co. Limerick take two
revolvers from Peter Switzer as he is going to church. See Apr-18-20/3 above and Jan-10-22/4 below. |
O’Callaghan (2018), pg 117 |
|
Sep-20-20/1 |
Sack
of Balbriggan RIC Head Constable Peter Burke and his
brother, Sgt Michael Burke are attacked by the IRA in Mrs Smith's (or
Smyth’s) public house on The Square, Balbriggan, Co. Dublin. Peter
Burke was to die from his wounds. The RIC carry out major reprisals in
Balbriggan including killing two members of the IRA – Seamus (James) Lawless
and Sean (John) Gibbons. See Sep-09-21/2. |
Townshend (1975), pg 115; Gleeson (1962), pg 84; Abbott (2000), pgs 122-123; Hopkinson (2002), pg 80; Fanning (2013), pg 240; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 178-180; Boyce (1972), pgs 52-53; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pgs 288-294 |
|
Sep-20-20/2 |
Kevin
Barry Sixteen members of the 1st Battalion of the Dublin Brigade of the IRA hold up of a ration party of British Army outside Monks’ Bakery on Upper Church St, Dublin at the junction of North King St. and Church St. In the raid, one British soldier is killed (15-year-old Private Harold Washington from Yorkshire) and two others later die from wounds. They were Private Thomas Humphries (19) and Private Marshall Whitehead (20) from the Duke of Wellington's West Riding Regiment. (Washington was only 15 – although the British Army thought he was 19). In the aftermath of this hold up, Kevin Barry
is found under a lorry and arrested. Barry had been on holidays in Carlow and
had come back to Dublin to repeat his first year medical examinations.
(The raid took place in the morning at 11.00am and he was due to sit his last
exam in the afternoon.) After his
arrest, Barry was taken to the British Army base in the North Dublin Union
and maltreated. See Oct-20-20/5. |
Townshend (1975), pg 115; Carey (2001), pgs 15-17; Hopkinson (2002),pg 87; Townshend (2014), pgs 196-197; O’Halpin (2020), pgs 6-7; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pgs 178 & 180; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pgs 284-288 |
|
Sep-20-20/3 |
Pat Hartnett and Jeremiah Healy from
Abbeyfeale, Co. Limerick are shot dead by Constable Thomas Huckerby (See
Sep-19-20/1). When the death certificates were issued by a Military Court of Inquiry, the cause of death was put down as ‘Shot by revolver shots fired by T. D. Huckerby’. (This was highly unusual.) Neither man killed by Huckerby had any involvement with the IRA. Huckerby was transferred to Limerick or Cork City – see Nov-20-20/1. (O’Halpin and Ó Corráin say September 22nd.) |
O’Farrell (1997), pgs 45 &109; Toomey (2008), pg 64; O’Callaghan (2018), pg 83; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 182 |
|
Sep-20-20/4 |
During an attempt to assassinate General Strickland, O/C of the BA’s 6th Division, at Kilacloyne Bridge, Carrigtwohill in Co. Cork, IRA Volunteer Sean Deasy is wounded and later dies of his wounds. |
Kautt (2014), pg 89; Hart (2009), pgs 228-229 |
|
Sep-20-20/5 |
British forces wreck houses and businesses in
Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim and Tuam. Co. Galway. In Carrick, a number of
men were marched through the town, had shots fired around them and were
threatened with being killed. |
Macardle (1999), pg 388; McGarty (2020), pg 87 |
|
Sep-20-20/6 |
Sgt George Pollington of the BA’s
Worcestershire Regiment kills two fellow BA soldiers (Sgt Albert Sweeney of
the King’s Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) and Sgt Thomas Downton of the
Worcestershire Regiment) in Richmond Barracks in Dublin. The two dead sergeants had intervened when
Pollington tried to kill a woman who had stayed with him in Richmond Barracks
for two days. The woman escaped by
jumping out a window as Pollington fired at her. In a court martial in November, Pollington
was found guilty but insane. (The
prosecutor in the court martial was Capt William Newberry – see Nov-21-20/8.)
|
O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pgs 178-179 |
|
cSep-21-20/1 |
William ‘Jack’ Straw from Ballyboughal, Co.
Dublin is shot as a spy by the IRA. He
was charged with identifying houses of Sinn Féin supporters for the RIC and
Auxiliaries during the ‘Sack of Balbriggan’ – See Sep-20-20/1. |
O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pgs 180-181 |
|
Sep-21-20/2 |
Crown Forces wreck homes and businesses in Drumshambo, Co. Leitrim. |
Macardle (1999), pg 388; McGarty (2020), pg 87 |
|
Sep-21-20/3 |
RIC Sgt Denis Maguire is shot and killed during the search of a house in Ferbane, Co. Offaly. He was could have been shot by a fellow member of the Crown Forces but the IRA later claimed responsibility. |
Abbott (2000), pg 123; Abbott (2019), pg 155; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 186 |
|
Sep-22-20/1 |
Rineen
Ambush An RIC tender is ambushed at Rineen, Co Clare
(between Ennistymon and Milton Malbay) by the Mid-Clare of the IRA. The ambush leads to the
deaths of six members of the RIC. Earlier Resident Magistrate Alan Cain Lendrum
was shot by the IRA at Doonbeg, Co. Clare. |
Townshend (1975), pg 115; Abbott (2000), pgs 123-126 and pg 273 & Hopkinson (2002),pg 130; O'Malley (2001), pgs 64-90; Lynch in The Kerryman (1955), pgs 67-77; O'Farrell (1997), pg 83; Ó Ruairc (2009), pgs 156-166; Townshend (2014), pg 164; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pgs 181-182 and 187; Kautt (2014), pgs 88-89; Shanahan (2010), pgs 36-37 |
|
Sep-22 to 23-20/1 |
In
the aftermath of the Rineen, there are major reprisals by Crown Forces in the
villages of Ennistymon, Lahinch and Miltown Malby in Co. Clare. As well as the burning and looting of many
houses and premises, these reprisals result in the deaths of, at least, six
people (all but one of the victims of these reprisals are civilians). |
Townshend (1975), pg 115; O'Malley (2001), pgs 77-82; Hopkinson (2002), pg 130; Lynch in The Kerryman (1955), pgs 74-77; O’Farrell (1997), pg 92 & 111; Ó Ruairc (2009), pgs 166-170; Townshend (2014), pg 164; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pgs 182-183 & 187 ; Mac Conmara (2021), pg 97 |
|
Sep-22-20/2 |
Major Charles Grieve of the BA’s Cameron
Highlanders dies in Cork after an accidental fall. |
O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 183 |
|
Sep-23-20/1 |
Sinn Féin County Councillor and solicitor John
Aloysius Lynch from Kilmallock, Co Limerick is shot dead by British soldiers
in Room 6 of the Exchange Hotel, Parliament St., Dublin. The British claim
that Lynch was armed but it is highly unlikely that this was the case. O’Donoghue, Neligan & Dalton indicate that
the British may have thought that they were shooting Liam Lynch. Two of the British Army soldiers involved in
this killing (Capt G. T. Baggally and Lieut Henry Angliss) were themselves to
be killed by the IRA on Bloody Sunday – see Nov-21-20/8. It is claimed that it was Angliss who did
the actual shooting of Lynch. Others
involved were Lieut Charles Peel and Major George Osbert Smyth. Peel was in the same house (22 Mount St) as
Angliss on Bloody Sunday but survived. For Smyth - see Oct-11 to
12-20/1. Lynch was Honorary Secretary of Limerick Sinn
Féin. Gallagher says that Lynch was also a District Judge in the Republican
Courts. Among a long list of tasks
Lynch was carrying out in Dublin was giving £23,000 raised in Limerick for
the National Loan to Collins. All the BA soldiers involved in Lynch’s killing were based in Dublin Castle. Using his spies within Dublin Castle, Collins soon discovered who was involved in Lynch’s killing. |
O’Donoghue (1986), pg 93; O’Farrell (1997), pg 56; Gallagher (1953), pgs 81 & 94 & 109-110; Dalton (1929), pg 101; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 181; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pgs 296-298 |
|
Sep-23-20/2 |
CIGS Henry Wilson makes an entry in his diary
saying that Sinn Féiners were being shot by the RIC. "At Balbriggan,
Thurles and Galway yesterday the local police marked down certain SFs as in
their opinion the actual murderers or instigators and then coolly went and
shot them without question or trial. Winston saw very little harm in this but
it horrifies me". He also noted that "Tudor made it very
clear that the police and the Black and Tans and the 100 Intell[igence]
officers are all carrying out reprisal killings". On September 24th/25th, Wilson notes in his diary that he and Churchill had a long conversation with a Captain Shore from Tudor’s staff saying “Shore talks in the calmest way of murdering the S.F.s. He told us that he had certain S.F.s marked down and at the slightest show of resistance they will be shot. Many amazing stories.” Further, he said that Churchill told him that Llyod George had given Tudor his full support and “that he (Tudor) could rely on LG to back him”. |
Townshend (1975), pg 116; Fanning (2013), pg 239; Jeffrey (2006), pg 266 |
|
Sep-23-20/3 |
Brigadier-General J. Brind of the general staff
of the BA in Ireland sends a secret memo in which he claims that the fight
against the IRA was going better. |
Mitchell (1995), pg 209 |
|
Sep-24-20/1 |
H.A.L. Fisher records a conversation with
Llyod George in his diary on the issue of reprisals. He says that Llyod George remarked “you
cannot in the existing state in Ireland punish a policeman who shoots a man
whom he has every reason to suspect is concerned in police murders. The kind
of thing can only be met by reprisals.” |
Boyce (1972), pg 55 |
|
Sep-24-20/2 |
Private Henry Owens of the BA’s Royal Welch
Fusiliers is accidently shot by a fellow BA soldier in the New Barracks in
Limerick. He dies shortly afterwards. |
O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 183 |
|
Sep-25-20/1 |
The Kerry People report that “a young man in the Milltown district [of Co. Kerry] was tarred and a young lady a short time earlier had her hair cut”. |
O’Shea (2021), pg 50 |
|
Sep-25-20/2 |
Greenwood tells Bonar Law “The tide has turned
… the hostiles are getting frightened and … the mass of Irishmen are losing
faith in Sinn Féin as a winning side”. |
Fanning (2013), pg 240 |
|
Sep-25-20/4 |
A five man RIC patrol is ambushed in the
village of Broadford, Co. Clare resulting in the death of one RIC man
(Constable Michael Brogan) and the wounding of another
(Constable Brennan). The IRA party was led by Michael Brennan and
included James Hogan (later a professor in UCC). (Abbott says there was a five man RIC patrol but Brennan says that there were only two men in the patrol.) |
Abbott (2000), pg 126; Brennan (1980), pgs 59-60; Ó Ruairc (2009), pgs 172-173; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 183; Mac Conmara (2021), pgs 99-105 |
|
Sep-25-20/5 |
Two RIC men (Constable Thomas Leonard and
Constable Thomas Carroll) are shot on the Falls Road in Belfast.
Constable Leonard later dies from his wounds. He is the first RIC man
killed in Belfast (even though over 50 people had died in Belfast since
July). Riots break out afterwards. See
Sep-26-20/1. |
Abbott (2000), pg 126; O’Farrell (1997), pg 98; Macardle (1999), pg 386; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pgs 183-184 |
|
Sep-25-20/6 |
Arva RIC barracks in
Co. Cavan is attacked by Longford IRA under Sean MacEoin. The RIC surrendered quickly and the IRA
took away 10 rifles, many rounds of 303 ammunition and one pistol with
ammunition. One of the IRA men who
took part in this attack (Seamus Conway) later said that the RIC Sergeant
asked MacEoin to burn the barracks so that his superiors would not see that
he surrendered without a fight. |
Coleman (2003), pg 122; Hughes (2016), pg 102 |
|
Sep-26-20/1 |
In what is taken as a reprisal for the
shooting of the two RIC men (see Sep-25-20/5), early on the morning of September
26th, IRA and IRB man, Eamonn Trodden, is taken from his home
at 68 Falls Road into his back yard and shot dead. Later two Sinn Féin members James (Sean)
Gaynor (24) and John (Sean) McFadden (24) are shot in their homes – their
homes were 236 and 54 Springfield Rd., Belfast respectively. The latter
two were given IRA funerals. It is suspected that there was RIC involvement
in these killings – nationalists came to view them as the first killings
masterminded by RIC men District Inspector Nixon and Chief Inspector
Harrison. It is claimed that Harrison and Head Constable
Giff were actually involved in the killings with other members of the gang
such as Sgt C. Clarke, Sgt Hicks and Sgt Glover and Constables Golding,
Caldwell, Sterrit, Gorden, Cooke, Packenham and Norton also likely to be
involved. This information comes from a confidential memo compiled by
the Belfast IRA with the help of sympathetic members of the RIC. It is
in the Blythe papers in UCD. According to McDermott, Gaynor was the
brother of IRA officer Liam Gaynor who was probably the intended victim. The Daily Express
praised the RIC for “acting with promptitude”. See Sep-27-20/2. |
O'Farrell P (1997), pg 108 & 112; Parkinson (2004), pgs 70-71 & 331; McDermott (2001), pgs 46 & 60-61; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 184; Parkinson (2020), pg 163 |
|
Sep-26-20/2 |
Week long training camp starts for 36 men of
the Cork No. 3 Brigade (mostly Bandon Battalion) at Clonbouig led by Tom
Barry. See Oct-24-20/1. |
Deasy (1973), pg 142 |
|
Sep-26-20/3 |
Possible meeting between Arthur Griffith and
Sir John Anderson in the offices of Corrigan's Solicitors, St Andrew's St.,
Dublin. |
Townshend (1975), pg 116 |
|
Sep-26-20/4 |
Notices put up in Kilkee, Co. Clare that if Capt Lendrum (See Sep-22-20/1) was not returned by September 29th, then the villages of Kilkee, Kilrush, Carrigaholt, Kilmill and Doonbeg would be burned. On October 1st, Lendrum body is found in a coffin on the railway line near Craggknock station.
|
O'Malley (2001), pg 83; O’Farrell (1997), pg 111; Ó Ruairc (2009), pg |
|
Sep-26-20/5 |
Macready informs British cabinet that there
had been an improvement in army and police morale (in Ireland) and that there
was an increase in IRA casualties. He also predicted that the IRA would feel
that “desperate measures are necessary. We may therefore expect to see a
temporary increase of murder and outrage”. On September 27th, Macready writes a memorandum to Greenwood, and according to the BA’s The Record of the Rebellion, says that the discipline of his young soldiers was being tested by “the inadequate measures adopted by the [British] Government for dealing with the rebels”. He went on to say that “Although retaliation could not be tolerated, the fact remained that the effect on the rebels was most marked, and that, for the most part the sufferers from retaliation were instigators or abettors, if not perpetrators, of the outrages”. See Sep-27-20/8. Macready also called for the official reprisals -. See Sep-27-20/8 – and is supported by Wilson – See Sep-28-20/5. As no answer was received to the above memorandum, Macready writes to CIGS Wilson on October 17th – see Oct-17-20/2. |
Fanning (2013), pg 240; Jeffrey (2006), pg
267; Kautt (2014), pgs 90-93 |
|
Sep-26-20/6 |
Following Sunday mass in Moycullen, Co.
Galway, the congregation is marched into a field by Crown Forces. They are told that a local land agent
(Richard Abbott) is going to the brought back to the area and “if a hair on
his head was touched, six republicans would be killed”. |
McNamara (2018), pg 142; Henry (2012), pg 111 |
|
Sep-27-20/1 |
The Cork Examiner reports an interview with Macready in which he says “Formerly in Ireland, if police officer was murdered there was no thought of reprisals in the mind of the RIC. They thought only of justice, … But now that the machinery of the law having been broken down, they feel there is no certain means of redress and punishment, and it is only human that they should act on their own initiative.” |
Sheehan (2017), pg 102 |
|
Sep-27-20/2 |
After the killing of Gaynor, Trodden and
McFadden (see Sep-26-20/1), nationalists attack returning shipyard workers in
the Marrowbone district of Belfast, sniping breaks out and two Protestants –
Frederick Barr or Blair (44) and John Lawther (19) – received fatal
wounds. (Parkinson says both were hit by IRA snipers on September 27th; McDermott says Lawther was shot by Catholic gunmen on September 29th. O’Halpin and Ó Corráin say both Blair and Lawther were shot on September 28th and Lawther dies on September 29th.) |
Parkinson (2004), pg 71; McDermott (2001), pg 63; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 185 |
|
Sep-27-20/3 |
A large bomb wrecks the Castle & Co. shop
near the Arcade in Cork City. Crown
Forces blame the IRA but this is disputed by witnesses. Borgonovo comments
“Circumstantial evidence implicates the Crown Forces in the bombing.” |
Borgonovo (2007), pg 12 |
|
Sep-27-20/5 |
RIC reprisals in Trim, Co Meath. According to Lesson, “the police mob ‘singled
out the shops and business establishments of those residents alleged to be in
sympathy with Sinn Fein, and ransacked, pillaged, and burned all’ ” Molyneux and Kelly say that the reprisals were
triggered by the burning of the Trim RIC barracks by the South Meath Brigade
of the IRA in which a Head Constable was badly wounded. But see Sep-30-20/3. |
Hopkinson (2002), pg 80; Hall (2019), pg 76; Leeson (2012), pg 174; Molyneux and Kelly (2020), pgs 294-295 |
|
Sep-27-20/6 |
Writing in his diary, Fred Crawford (former
UVF leader and now leader of the Specials in Co. Tyrone – See Sep-08-20/4)
says “There is only one way to deal with the current campaign of murder that
the rebels are pursuing … where the murder of a policeman or other official
takes place, the leading rebel in the district ought to be shot or done away
with”. |
McCluskey (2014), pg 93 |
|
Sep-27-20/7 |
Capture
of Mallow BA Barracks IRA men from the Cork No. 2 Brigade, led by
Liam Lynch and Ernie O'Malley, capture the only BA barracks to be captured
during the War of Independence at Mallow, Co Cork. |
O'Farrell P (1997), pg xvii; O’Donoghue (1986), pg98-101 & Hopkinson (2002), pg 80; Lynch in The Kerryman (1955), pgs 77-85; O’Malley (1990), pgs 183-187; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pgs 185 & 194 & 215; Sheehan (2017), pgs 36-37; Cork Fatality Register |
|
Sep-27-20/8 |
At a time that Greenwood was telling the House
of Commons that British forces were not carrying out reprisals, he is
reporting to cabinet that the upsurge in retaliation is “unfortunate” but
that it needed “very delicate and sympathetic handling in view of the
provocation that the police have received”.
On September 28th, Macready writes to Wilson outlining a plan for official reprisals saying that "Where reprisals have taken place, the whole atmosphere of the surrounding district has changed from one of hostility to one of cringing submission." Macready, in his memo to Wilson, argues for official reprisals in the area near ambushes – See Sep-28-20/5. (These contradictory statements from members of the British Establishment is satirised by Lord Hugh Cecil as "It seems to be agreed that there is no such thing as reprisals, but they are having a good effect.") |
Townshend (1975), pgs 116 & 120; Abbott (2000), pg 176; Townshend (2014), pg 164; Boyce (1972), pg 100 |
|
Sep-28-20/1 |
The Deputy Inspector General of the RIC (C. A. Walsh) issues a circular on Alleged Acts of Reprisals by Police and Soldiers saying that it deprecated the destruction of buildings and also said that “reprisals will ruin the discipline of the Force and cannot be countenanced by those in authority. Walsh goes on to say that “It must, however, be made clear to all ranks that the effective use of weapons when threatened or attacked is only legitimate self-defence and that it is their duty to hunt down murderers by every means in their power”. The memo goes onto say that "The police will be fully supported and protected in the discharge of their duties by every means available". Townshend calls the RIC order "positively
ambiguous".
|
Townshend (1975), pg 120; Abbott (2000), pgs 173-174; Townshend (2014), pg 216; Abbott (2019), pgs 219-220 |
|
Sep-28-20/2 |
Francis O’Hara shot by unionists on the
Carlisle Road in Derry City. |
Gallagher (2003), pg 32 |
|
Sep-28-20/3 |
RIC reprisals in Listowel, Co. Kerry. |
Townshend (2014), pg 165 |
|
Sep-28-20/4 |
Edward O’Brien is killed when his motorbike in
in collision with a speeding RIC vehicle in the Curragh area of Co.
Kildare. |
O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 185 |
|
Sep-28-20/5 |
GIGS Wilson puts Macready’s idea of official reprisals (see Sep-27-20/8) to Lloyd George and argues for the “substitution of regular, authorised and legalised reprisals for the unauthorised reprisals by the police and soldiers”. However, according to Wilson’s diary Llyod
George “danced” and said no government could not take responsibility for
burnings. In fact, at a cabinet conference on October 1st (see Oct-01-20/3), the British cabinet said that reprisals by burning should cease (because, according to Townshend, they “too often affected landlords as much as rebels”). Nevertheless, according to Townshend, “Llyod George made it clear to Macready that he still favoured 'gunning', and he evidently believed that the indiscipline of the R.I.C. could be channelled in this desirable direction”. (Unfortunately, Townshend does not give a reference for when Llyod George said this to Macready.) Writing to Macready, Wilson says that he
continues to press for “Martial Law and shoot by roster, seeing that we
cannot get evidence”. See Oct-17-20/2. |
Townshend (1975), pg 120; Macardle (1999), pg 390; Jeffrey (2006), pg 267; Sheehan (2017), pg 103; Pakenham (1967), pg 54 |
|
Sep-28-20/6 |
The US Consul is Ireland, Frederick Dumont,
writes to the US Secretary of State saying “both the Government and Sinn Féin
act with vindictiveness” and the latter “take great delight in acts that
tantalize the Government”. |
Mitchell (1995), pg 208 |
|
Sep-29-20/1 |
A four man RIC patrol is ambushed at
Killoskehane, Co. Tipperary (four miles from Templemore) resulting in the
deaths of two RIC men (Constable Terence Flood and Constable Edward Noonan)
and the wounding of one other (Constable Ferris). The ambushers were from the Borrisoleigh
Company, 2nd Tipperary Brigade led by Jim Stapleton. |
Abbott (2000), pg 127; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pgs 185-186 |
|
Sep-29-20/2 |
Two RIC men (Constable John Downey and
Constable John O’Keeffe) were in John Ryan's pub in O'Brien's Bridge, Co
Clare when they were shot and killed. They were killed by Michael Brennan (O/C East
Clare Brigade) and he was wounded in the exchange of fire. Also,
present were Alphie Rodgers, Michael ‘Brud’ McMahon and Martin Kildea - see
Nov-17-20/1. |
Abbott (2000), pg 127; Brennan (1980), pgs 59-62; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 186; Mac Conmara (2021), pgs 105-108 |
|
Sep-29-20/3 |
In riots following the targeted killing of the
three IRA men in Belfast by the RIC (see Sep-26-20/1), four Catholics are
shot dead by the British Army in the Falls Road area of Belfast. The four men were Robert Gordon (18), Thomas
Barkley (32), James Shields (19) and William Teer (30). At the coroner’s inquest into their deaths, it
was stated that the BA had been “justified in firing on the crowd” but Robert
Gordon’s brother stated that the British military had fired on bystanders
without provocation. |
Parkinson (2004), pgs 71-72; McDermott (2001), pg 63; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 186 |
|
cSep-30-20/1 |
A notice appears on the streets of Drogheda signed by The Black and Tans saying if a policeman is shot, five Sinn Féin leaders would be shot without trial. It goes on to state “It is not coercion. It is an eye for an eye … we have restrained ourselves too long.” |
Hall (2019), pg 76 |
|
Sep-30-20/2 |
RIC District Inspector James Joseph Brady is
killed in an ambush by the Sligo IRA (led by Frank Carty) at Chaffpool
between Bunnadden and Tubbercurry.
There were nine-men in the RIC patrol and they were in a Crossley
tender. Sgt O'Hara also seriously injured. It is alleged that the attackers used
‘dum-dum’ bullets. There are major reprisals by Crown Forces in
Tubbercurry, Co Sligo after this ambush including the burning of two
creameries (Rathscanlon and Achonry) and at least fourteen shops and a number
of houses, According to the RIC County Inspector “The
reason these particular houses were attacked appears to have been because
either the owner or the shop boys employed by him were active Sinn
Feiners”. Lesson notes that, it would
seem, no Black and Tans (i.e. British recruits to the RIC) were involved in
these reprisals. In an unprecedented step, Dublin Castle issues
a statement - See Oct-06-20/2 - admitting that RIC men had in engaged in
reprisals which “continued till early morning, despite the efforts of the
officers”. However, the RIC men who
carried out these reprisals were under the command of RIC DI Russell. See also Oct-20-20/3. |
Townshend (1975), pg 120; Abbott (2000), pgs 128-129; Breathnach (2017), pg 557; Farry (2012), pg 59; Lawlor (2011), pgs 67-71; Abbott (2019), pg 220; Leeson (2012), pg 160 & 166-170 & 174 & 195-195; Townshend (2014), pgs 166-167; O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 187 |
|
Sep-30-20/3 |
Trim RIC barracks is attacked and captured by Meath
Brigade IRA (including Sean Boylan) early on a Sunday morning. Twenty
rifles, twenty shotguns, six revolvers, a box of grenades and ammunition for
all arms taken. A large number of houses and shops in Trim are
subsequently burned and a number of people ill-treated by the RIC. Kit Lynam, O/C 1st (Dunboyne) Battalion, Mick Hynes and Patrick Mooney (V/C and O/C 2nd (Trim) Battalion respectively) also involved in attack. See Sep-27-20/5 above – These two incidents are almost definitely the same. |
Finn in The Kerryman (1955), pgs 85-91; O’Farrell (1997), pg 8 & 31 & 70; Leeson (2012), pg 171; Sheehan (2007), pg 25 |
|
Sep-30-20/4 |
Writing to Walter Long, Bonar Law says “I feel certain
that at the moment it is not possible to have any sort of understanding with
the Sinn Feiners; that such an understanding may be possible later but, if
so, the fewer concessions we make now the better for whatever we give at
present would not be looked upon as final but would be regarded as a jumping
off ground for further concessions”. |
Matthews (2004), pg 25 |
|
Sep-30-20/5 |
‘Little Tommy’, a British spy dressed as a tramp, is
captured by the IRA and killed at Knockmore, Co. Carlow. No other source confirms this killing. |
O’Farrell (1997), pg 55 |
|
Sep-1920/1 |
At the end of September, the New Statesman states that, with regard to reprisals, there is a difference between the spontaneous outburst of ordinary troops or policemen responding to provocation and the Auxiliaries. With regard to the latter “there is clear evidence that methods of terrorism are adopted less from passion than from policy”. |
Townshend (2014), pg 168 |
|
Sep-1920/2 |
The IRA’s West Waterford
Brigade form an ASU with George Lennon as O/C, George Kiely as vice O/C and
Andrew Kirwan as Transport Officer. A levy was imposed
throughout the county to support the ASU, buy arms and support prisoner
families. “Most people paid up whether
through conviction or fear.” |
McCarthy (2015), pg 73 |