In October 1921, a British Army intelligence officer in Berlin, Germany, a 'Sir' John Arnold Wallinger (KBE, DSO, CIE, KPM ETC ETC!) reported to his army superiors about IRA gunrunning activities in Germany, and they, in turn, tipped off the German police ('Hamburger Polizei'), who, on the 21st October (1921) searched a ship called 'The Anita', in the port of Hamburg.
On board, they found a large quantity of arms due to be shipped to Ireland (and crewed by German Communists) and IRA Volunteer Charlie McGuinness was arrested but eventually got off with a light fine.
In his (accurate) report, Mr 'Sir' John Arnold Wallinger provided scripture and verse on how a 'Mr Thompson' (Charles John McGuinness, aka 'Charles T. Hennessey', 'Nomad', 'Charlie', 'Night-Hawk') and another IRA Volunteer, William Beaumont (a 'Crossover' ie an ex-British Army man) had been sent to Germany by IRA GHQ with two million German Marks to make further contact with the far-right, fascist 'Orgesch' organisation, to purchase weapons from them, which they succeeded in doing.
IRA conduits in Germany, Robert Emmet Briscoe and John T. Ryan, assisted in putting the deal together.
Mr Wallinger, somewhat exasperated, we imagine (!), also reported that the IRA Unit was also dealing with the German Communist Party to secure boats to transport the purchased weapons to Ireland!
So there ya have it - in short, in 1921, Irish republicans worked hand-in-glove with fascists and communists when the need and the opportunity to do so presented itself, for the objective of fighting for an Ireland for the Irish.
'Any port in a storm', as the saying goes, if the end result means the removal of the foreigners...
Incidentally, Volunteer Charles McGuinness, who was arrested by the 'Hamburger Polizei', was eventually fined a sum of money and then released ; the ship was by all accounts rather worn but was up to the task, the weapons had been purchased by IRA GHQ from the fascist Orgesch organisation (also mentioned here) and, at his trial, the judge privately wished Volunteer McGuinness better luck next time!
Also - incidentally again! - in a related incident, Volunteers Robert Briscoe and Charles McGuinness left the port of Hamburg, again, in a small tug called 'The Frieda' on the 28th October that same year (1921) with a German crew supplied, this time, by the Orgesch organisation.
The tug was carrying about 300 guns and 80,000 rounds of ammunition for those weapons (some reports state 200 rifles and 10,000 rounds of ammunition), destined for the IRA.
Just before they set sail, Volunteer Briscoe sent a pre-arranged 'Thumbs Up!' telegram to Volunteer Liam Mellows, in Ireland, who was the IRA's Director of Purchases, and then Volunteer Pax Whelan, Officer Commanding of the Waterford Brigade IRA, was notified to prepare for 'The Frieda' landing on the shores of Helvick Head, in Waterford.
The tug got delayed by rough weather at sea and even worse weather made them take shelter behind a small island near Helvick Head, so Volunteer McGuinness and a few crew members decided to row a lifeboat ashore, and they then made to way to the house of a local Sinn Féin member, a Dr Vincent White (a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State-poacher).
Between Mr White and Volunteer Whelan, transport was arranged, the cargo was safely unloaded from 'The Frieda' and taken to Keatings of Kilrossanty in the Comeragh Mountains, on the Waterford/Tipperary border, a republican owned and operated business and, from there, the goods were distributed between the Southern and Midlands Divisions of the IRA.
That gunrunning operation was successfully completed because of cooperation between Irish republicans, fascists and communists, an unlikely combination, but one that was deemed necessary by Irish republicans to help free Ireland from the foreigners.
But here we are, 105 years later, and still troubled by foreigners...
"Sixty-one persons have been convicted since 1st January last for complicity in attacks on military or police (sic), or on police barracks (sic).
In 21 cases, sentences of penal servitude for periods exceeding two years have been inflicted, and there have been 20 cases of sentences of imprisonment with hard labour for periods of two years.
In the remaining 20 cases, sentences ranging from 18 months to one months imprisonment with or without hard labour were imposed.
There has been no case in which capital punishment has been inflicted..." (*)
(* Not 'officially', anyway.)
- the words of the British 'Chief Secretary for Ireland', a Mr 'Sir' Thomas Hamar Greenwood (pictured), 1st Viscount Greenwood, PC, KC ETC ETC in the British 'House of Commons', on the 21st October, 1920.
Mr Greenwood also stated that, between the months of January 1919 and the 21st of October 1919, about 127 (political) meetings had been prohibited, 22 newspapers suppressed, 16 creameries had been totally destroyed and 11 creameries had been partially destroyed or damaged.
So - a perfectly normal ten month period in British-occupied Ireland, then...
==========================
A Mr Patrick Moylett (pictured), from Crossmolina, in the county of Mayo, was a successful farmer and grocery store owner with business interests in Mayo, Galway, Dublin and London and, in those locations (and others) was equally as active in his work for the Republican Movement.
He used his businesses and his work travels to quitely transport equipment for the IRB and, later, the IRA, and gathered information for the Cause.
He was a recognised conduit by Westminster to the Irish rebels, politically, and that role brought him into contact with, among others at the British military/political 'Top Table', a British Army Brigadier General and MP (politician), a Mr 'Sir' George Kynaston Cockerill.
In October, 1920, Mr Cockerill had a letter published in 'The London Times' newspaper suggesting a meeting of plenipotentiaries from Britain and Ireland to discuss a settlement, to be preceded by a truce and amnesty, with any resulting agreement to be submitted to both Dublin and London for acceptance or rejection (but not amendment).
Also, Mr Moylett had at that same time met with a Mr Herbert Albert Laurens Fisher (pictured), the British Minister for Education (that meeting had been arranged by an American journalist, a Mr John Steele, the London Correspondent of 'The Chicago Tribune' newspaper) and he left that meeting with the conclusion that, between Mr Cockerill and Mr Fisher, the British were putting out feelers for a settlement with the Irish rebels.
Mr Moylett brought 'The London Times' letter-to-the-editor and his own conversation with Mr Fisher to the attention of the republican leadership in Dublin and Mr Moylett was then authorised to contact Mr 'Sir' Cockerill and request him to contact his political (and military) boss, a Mr David Lloyd George (the then British 'Prime Minister of the United Kingdom' [the future 'Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor'!]) and let him know that the Irish rebels felt that they could do business with him and his leadership on the basis of that letter and, on the 21st October (1920), Mr Moylett did that.
In short, Mr George was told that he could have peace whenever he wished ("a truce and direct negotiations with no preconditions") on the basis of Mr Cockerill's letter.
The 'peace whenever you wished' offer from the rebels was in the form of a letter from Mr Arthur Griffith, the then Acting President of Dáil Éireann, Minister for Home Affairs and Vice President of Sinn Féin (Mr Griffith at the time occupied the second-highest leadership role within the Irish republican leadership ; Éamon de Valera was 'Top Dog' but was in America, on a fundraising and promotional mission).
Mr George is said to have let Mr Moylett know of his thoughts on some British agents who had recently been shot dead in Dublin - "...they got what they deserved - beaten by counter-jumpers..."!
Those discussions came or were brought to the attention of other interested parties and the then American consul in Dublin, a Mr Frederick Dumont, a British Army officer, a Mr John Edward Spencer Brind and a British 'Sir', a Mr John Anderson (the '1st Viscount Waverley' and the British 'Joint Under-Secretary for Ireland', based in Dublin Castle) arranged for Mr Moylett (with the acquiescence of Mr de Valera and a Mr William Thomas Cosgrave [elected representative in the 32-County Dáil Éireann, Minister for Local Government and Dublin Corporation Alderman]) to meet with a British 'Sir', a Mr Alfred 'Andy' Cope, who operated from Dublin Castle as the British 'Assistant Under-Secretary for Ireland'.
Mr Moylett said later that Mr Cope stated that the British were willing to admit defeat in Ireland, telling him -
"There is nothing else for us to do but to draft into this country four hundred thousand men and exterminate the whole population of the country, and we are not willing to do that..."
According to himself, Mr Moylett replied -
"You would do it if you thought the world would stand for it. What proposition have you to make...?"
...to which Mr Cope declared -
"We are willing to withdraw our whole establishment, from the lowest policeman to the highest judge."
Mr Moylett then stated...
"...Mr Cope told me that he had superseded both the Lord Lieutenant and the Chief Secretary. They were the direct representatives of Lloyd George in this country, and he said that although he was only an ordinary civil servant he was here to make peace..."
Mr Cope's comments soon became known to his own military and intelligence officers and networks and they were none to happy, to put it mildly ; indeed, British Major Hervey Guy Francis Edward de Montmorency (! - pictured, a 'Class II Special Appointment' to Dublin, by Westminster), a British intelligence officer attached to the staff of a Mr Ormonde Winter (the 'Chief of [British] Intelligence' at Dublin Castle) publicly declared that Mr Cope... "..was universally detested by everyone in the Castle, it being generally supposed that he was going to sell us to the rebels..".
Also, British Army General 'Sir' Nevil Macready, the 'General Officer Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces in Ireland', demanded that Mr Winston Churchill, the British 'Secretary of State for War and Air', sack Mr Cope because... "..he is out of place and a danger to Ireland at the present moment..." (he thought Mr Cope couldn't cope...I'll get me coat and let meself out..!)
Mr Cope was apparently of the opinion that, if the Irish rebels stayed united, they could win the conflict, whereas Mr Macready (who had military experience from his 'adventures' in Egypt/North Africa, India, Ceylon/South Asia, South Africa, and in World War I) knew that the rebels, when split, could be turned on each other, which is exactly what happened in Ireland.
Incidentally, Mr Churchill rejected Mr Macready's 'request' to sack Mr Cope and nothing came of the 1920 'letters/meetings' initiative (except the sowing of discord in British ranks - a win of sorts!).
==========================
On the same day that Mr Moylett contacted Mr George (21st October 1920) in London, England, about 630km (390 miles) away, across the Irish Sea, in the townland of Gurran(/'Garraun/Gurraun') in the village of Oranmore in the county of Galway, in Ireland, a Mr Roger Furey and two of his sons were in their house, preparing to have supper.
Without warning, the front door was kicked off its hinges and armed British soldiers rushed in.
The armed intruders pushed the man of the house, Mr Roger Furey, out of their way and forced his two sons outside "for questioning".
The foreign gunmen shot one of the young men, Michael, in the leg, then regrouped and left the scene.
But they didn't go far - they went straight to where Mr Roger Furey's brother, Thomas, lived, forced their way in, took three of his sons out of the house "for questioning", beat them unconscious and left the area.
But, again, they didn't go far - they raided the near-by home of a Mr Martin King, forced entry, smashed all the house windows, dragged two of his sons out of the wrecked house and beat them unconscious.
The raids were carried out by thugs from 'D Company Auxiliary Division (ADRIC)', assisted by their Black and Tan colleagues, who were stationed at Lenaboy Castle in Salthill, County Galway ; unfortunately, that particular thug Company didn't suffer too many casualties during their time in Ireland, but gained a reputation for inflicting violence.
(Note : the historian, Mr William Henry, in his book 'An Ordinary Irish Boy' [2012], dates the above-mentioned outrages as having happened on the 21st October, 1920, while another historian, Mr David Matthew Leeson, gives the date as the 14th. Our information suggests the raids happened on the 21st.)
==========================
At the same time as the foreign thugs from 'D Company Auxiliary Division (ADRIC)' were shouting and shooting at Irishmen in Galway, about 90km (55 miles) down the road in the townland of Breffa North (/'Breaffy North'), in the county of Clare, two British soldiers, attached to the '2nd Battalion Royal Scots Lothian Regiment', a (Lance-Corporal) by the name of Alexander McPearson and a (Corporal) called Norman Buchanan, left one of the pubs they had been drinking in all day.
They were drunk and wanted more money so, as ya do if you're a well-practiced oxygen thief, versed in running a highly aggressive, uniform-clad import-export business (of stolen goods, mostly), the two wasters went on a looting and burglary spree in houses in the Breffa North area, under the false pretence of searching for rebel weapons.
At about 5pm on the 21st, the two drunkards hammered on the front door of the house where IRA Volunteer Edward Lynch lived ('G Company', 4th Battalion, Mid-Clare Brigade) and, when the door was unlocked from the inside, they attempted to force their way in.
Volunteer Lynch's father, Charles, stood in their way.
They went to push past him, and Lance-Corporal McPearson told him to stand aside, they were searching for weapons...and Mr Charles Lynch punched him, knocking the revolver out of his hand.
The 'revolver' fell to the ground, landing on the doorstep - and it shattered to pieces.
It was made of glass, painted black - it was a toy gun, known in the pub it was housed in as a 'shot of malt' : the Scots thug had robbed it from a display case in Blake's Pub, in Milltown, earlier on that day.
Before either party could react to that incident, a neighbour arrived on the scene, shouting that the two BA soldiers had just raided his house and had robbed him of £10 ; the men put the Lance-Corporal on the ground, held him down and emptied his pockets - trinkets from other houses were recovered, but not the tenner.
The two Irishmen then turned their attention to Corporal Norman Buchanan, who was disgruntled about being searched but didn't physically resist and, following the search, he turned on his heels and ran off!
Lance-Corporal McPearson was still on the ground, dizzy from the punching and the drinking, when Corporal Norman Buchanan returned with a few other BA soldiers ; Mr McPearson got a gun from one of them and shot Mr Charles Lynch (75) point-blank in the heart, killing him instantly.
They then set the haystacks in the Lynch family field on fire, before returning to their barracks.
A chladhaire gun mhisneach!
Gu tuit an t-eagal ort nuair as motha a bhios feum agad air misneach.
'I curse them going and I curse them riding ; I curse them standing and I curse them sitting. May the earth open, split and cleave, and swallow them straight to hell.'
Scottish couchers.
==========================
A rare breed - a British journalist in Ireland who worked for a British newspaper who was respected by the Irish people but disliked by the British press and their politicians.
On the 21st October (1920), a Mr Hugh Martin, who wrote for 'The Daily News' newspaper, had an article published in which he highlighted "the British Auxiliaries habit of whipping, kicking and otherwise instructing [young Irish men] in the elements of British citizenship..."
Employed as a 'special correspondent' for 'The (London-based) Daily News', he was one of the few British reporters who courageously exposed the violent atrocities committed by British forces in Ireland, specifically the Black and Tans and the Auxiliaries.
From practically even before the 1803 Uprising to the present day (and more so in the mid-to-late 1900's to the early 1920's), Westminster and its journalistic goons were actively covering up its policy of official and unofficial reprisals against nationalists and republicans in Ireland, Mr Martin traveled across Ireland, often under an assumed name, to investigate the burning of towns, the destruction of local creameries, and the extrajudicial killing of civilians by British and pro-British forces.
He was knowingly marking himself out as 'an enemy of the (British) State' but his principles and moral standards guided his pen and typewriter and he reported the facts of the political and military situation in Ireland and, even as the Westminster-promoted whispers that he was 'anti-British and pro-rebel' grew, he was undeterred in his reporting.
In November, 1920, while reporting with other journalists from the county of Kerry, about the 'Siege of Tralee', armed and uniformed members of the Black and Tans approached them looking for "that bastard Martin", demanding to know "...is there a Hugh Martin among you..?", but Mr Martin had 'signed in' to the press corps under an assumed name, and survived the encounter.
The threats against him were so severe and constant that they sparked fierce debates in the British 'House of Commons', with the 'Chief Secretary for Ireland' a Mr 'Sir' Hamar Greenwood, downplaying the danger and mockingly accusing Mr Martin of trying to "become a hero," but a few of the representatives in that institution defended 'the honor of the press and the exposing of the truth' (...rather than speak-up for Mr Martin himself).
In 1921, Mr Martin compiled his powerful eyewitness dispatches into a seminal book entitled 'Ireland in Insurrection : An Englishman's Record of Fact', which heavily influenced British public opinion against the British military and political presence in Ireland.
He was in his late 20's/early 30's during his time in Ireland and, in the late 1920's, he transferred to East Asia to cover other troubled countries, reporting on the ground during conflict eras from Shanghai, China etc.
Mr Hugh Martin lived out his final years as a widower before passing away in Edinburgh, in Scotland, on the 6th January, 1970, at 81 years of age.
RIP Mr Hugh Martin.
==========================
On the same day that Mr Hugh Martin's piece was published in 'The Daily News' newspaper, three RIC members left their barracks in the village of Leap, in the townland of Kilmacabea, in the county of Cork, to 'arrest' an Irishman in the village of Glandore, West County Cork, a distance of about two km (a little over one mile).
But the house they called to was empty, so they turned around and began the short journey back to their barracks.
As they were passing through Glandore, an IRA ASU opened fire on them ; they returned fire but were outnumbered and outgunned and the three of them fell to the ground, wounded.
One of the RIC members, a Mr Bert Rippingale, an Englishman, died from his wounds the following day, and one of his colleagues, a Mr Albert Edward Rundle (26), also an Englishmen, died from his wounds on the 4th November (1920).
The third RIC member survived.
Both of the dead men had only joined the RIC three months earlier.
==========================
At the same time as the lads in Glandore were explaining the lay of the land to a few Englishmen (!), a 39-year-old Irishman, a Mr Michael Dwyer, was driving his motorbike and sidecar, with a passenger in it, a priest - the Reverend John M. (Marshall/Moore) Clarke, from the townland of Kilbride - in the Saggart, Dublin, area, about 315km (195 miles) up the country and over on yer right!
Mr Dwyer worked as a grocer in Brittas, Dublin, and had recently purchased a 109-acre farm named Newton Park just outside Wicklow, and had talked about his excitement about soon being able to grow his own produce and sell it.
As he and Reverend Clarke were travelling down the road, a British Army lorry slammed into them from behind.
Mr Dwyer died soon afterwards from his injuries, Reverend Clarke recovered from his broken bones and bruising.
A Coroner's Court later officially returned a verdict of 'reckless driving' against the British military.
Following a funeral mass in Stillorgan, Mr Dwyer was buried at Deansgrange Cemetery, Dublin.
RIP Mr Michael Dwyer.
==========================
FAILING THE CHILDREN...
In every county in Ireland, children must put up with woefully inadequate school buildings.
The government says it is doing its best to improve the situation, but parents and teachers complain that the State's attitude is bureaucratic, secretive and uncaring.
Niall Stanage investigates.
From 'Magill Magazine', March 2002.
While the national political debate continues, the situation on the ground remains grim.
'Magill' magazine recently visited three primary schools across the country, and all three faced major problems and are dissatisfied with the way they have been treated.
A patch of green slime dominates one wall of the boys' toilets in Ardkeeran National School, County Sligo, the lavatories smell foul, and one of the two tiny sinks is blocked.
A bright poster attached to a cubicle door encourages the children to 'Wash Your Hands!', but the message seems pointless and forlorn in the midst of the feculent surroundings.
Ardkeeran National School was built in 1900 as a two-classroom school, and a small third classroom was created decades ago by the use of partitioning, and a fourth by the addition of a prefab hut in September 2000.
The co-ed school currently has 93 pupils, and Jim Higgins has been principal since 1977 -
"We break all health and safety regulations left, right and centre.." he says with forced bravado, "..but if I worried about that, I'd never come in."
Ardkeeran National School is badly overcrowded...
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (21ST OCTOBER) 147 YEARS AGO : 'FAIR RENT, FIXITY OF TENURE, FREEDOM OF SALE'.
On the 21st October 1879 - 147 years ago on this date - a meeting of concerned individuals was held in the Imperial Hotel in Castlebar, County Mayo, to discuss issues in relation to 'landlordism' and the manner in which that subject impacted on those who worked on small land holdings on which they paid 'rent', an issue which other groups, such as tenants' rights organisations and groups who, confined by a small membership, agitated on land issues in their own locality, had voiced concern about.
Those present agreed to announce themselves as the 'Irish National Land League' (which, at its peak, had 200,000 active members) and Charles Stewart Parnell (who, at 33 years of age, had been an elected member of parliament for the previous four years) was elected president of the new group, with Andrew Kettle, Michael Davitt, and Thomas Brennan being appointed as honorary secretaries.
The leadership had 'form' in that each had made a name for themselves as campaigners on social issues of the day and were, as such, 'known' to the British authorities ; for instance, Michael Davitt, who was born into poverty in Straide, in the county of Mayo, on the 25th of March, 1846 - at the time of the attempted genocide - was the second of five children, and was only four years of age when his family were evicted from their home over rent owed and his father, Martin, was left with no choice but to travel to England to look for a job.
Martin's wife, Sabina, and their five children, were given temporary accommodation by the local priest in Straide.
The family were eventually reunited, in England, where young Michael attended school for a few years. His family were struggling, financially, so he obtained work, aged 9, as a labourer (he told his boss he was 13 years old and got the job - working from 6am to 6pm, with a ninty-minute break and a wage of 2s.6d a week) but within weeks he had secured a 'better' job, operating a spinning machine but, at only 11 years of age, his right arm got entangled in the machinery and had to be amputated.
There was no compensation offered, and no more work, either, for a one-armed machine operator, but he eventually managed to get a job helping the local postmaster. He was sixteen years young at that time, and was curious about his Irish roots and wanted to know more - he learned all he could about Irish history and, at 19 years young, joined the Fenian movement in England.
Two years afterwards he became the organising secretary for northern England and Scotland for that organisation and, at 25 years of age, he was arrested in Paddington Station in London after the British had uncovered an IRB operation to import arms. He was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, on a 'hard labour' ticket, and served seven years in Dartmoor Prison in horrific conditions before being released in 1877, at the age of 31, on December 19th.
Almost immediately, he took on the position as a member of the Supreme Council of the IRB and returned to Ireland in January 1878, to a hero's welcome.
At the Castlebar meeting he spoke about the need "...to bring out a reduction of rack-rents..to facilitate the obtaining of the ownership of the soil by the occupiers...the object of the League can be best attained by promoting organisation among the tenant-farmers; by defending those who may be threatened with eviction for refusing to pay unjust rents; by facilitating the working of the Bright clauses of the Irish Land Act during the winter; and by obtaining such reforms in the laws relating to land as will enable every tenant to become owner of his holding by paying a fair rent for a limited number of years..."
The new organisation realised that they would be well advised to seek support from outside of Ireland and, under the slogan 'The Land for the People' , Michael Davitt toured America, being introduced in his activities there by John Devoy and, although he did not have official support from the Fenian leadership (some of whom were neutral towards him while others were suspicious and/or hostile of and to him) he obtained constant media attention and secured good support for the objectives of the Land League.
At a meeting in Ennis, County Clare, on the 19th September 1880, Charles Stewart Parnell (whom the British described as "..combining in his person all the unlovable qualities of an Irish member with the absolute absence of their attractiveness...something really must be done about him...he is always at a white heat or rage and makes with savage earnestness fancifully ridiculous statements..") but who was also looked at in a wary fashion by some of his own people as he was a Protestant 'Landlord' who 'owned' about 5,000 acres of land in County Wicklow and his parents were friends of and, indeed, in some cases, related to, the local Protestant 'gentry', stated -
"Now what are you to do with a tenant who bids for a farm from which his neighbour has been evicted? Now I think I heard somebody say 'Shoot him!' , but I wish to point out a very much better way, a more Christian and more charitable way...when a man takes a farm from which another had been evicted you must shun him on the roadside when you meet him, you must shun him in the streets of the town, you must shun him in the shop, you must shun him in the fairgreen and in the marketplace, and even in the place of worship, by leaving him alone, by putting him in a moral Coventry, by isolating him from the rest of his country as if he were the leper of old, you must show your detestation of the crime he has committed.."
Another man in the leadership of the 'League', John Blake Dillon (who was also a member of 'The Young Irelanders' War Council) will forever be associated with introducing the word 'boycott' into the English language as it was Dillon who was the most active in organising such campaigns.
Two years after the 'Irish National Land League' was founded (by "men of no consequence", according to the catholic church, which opposed the League with all its might) Charles Stewart Parnell's sisters, Anna and Fanny (pictured), established a 'Ladies Land League' (on the 31st January 1881) which, at its full strength, consisted of about five hundred branches and didn't always see eye-to-eye with its 'parent' organisation but, in its short existence, it provided assistance to about 3,000 people who had been evicted from their rented land holdings.
It seemed certain that the 'parent' body was going to be outlawed by the British and, sure enough, the British Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone, introduced and enforced a 'Crimes Act' that same year, 1881, (better known as the 'Coercion/Protection of Person and Property Act') which made it illegal to assemble in relation to certain issues and an offence to conspire against the payment of rents 'owed' which, ironically, was a piece of legislation condemned by the same catholic church which condemned the 'Irish National Land League' because that Act introduced permanent legislation and did not have to be renewed on each political term.
And that same church also condemned the 'Ladies Land League' to the extent that Archbishop McCabe of Dublin instructed priests loyal to him "..not to tolerate in your societies (diocese) the woman who so far disavows her birthright of modesty as to parade herself before the public gaze in a character so unworthy of a Child of Mary..." - the best that can be said about that is that that church's 'consistency' hasn't changed much over the years!
The 'Ladies Land League' was acrimoniously dissolved on the 10th August 1882, 19 months after it was formed.
It should be noted that the anti-republican State parliament in Dublin, which was created by a British act of parliament, is still involved in the business of landlordism...
(Incidentally, Davitt died at 60 years of age in Elphis Hospital in Dublin on the 30th of May 1906, from blood poisoning - he had a tooth extracted and contracted septicaemia from the operation. His body was taken to the Carmelite Friary in Clarendon Street, Dublin, then by train to Foxford in Mayo and he is buried in Straide Abbey, near where he was born.)
On the 21st October, 1921, at 12 Noon, the '6th Plenary Session' to discuss political and military issues, including 'The Treaty of Surrender', took place in Number 10 Downing Street in London between British and (then) republican representatives from Ireland.
Breaches of the so-called 'truce' was the first issue on the agenda, with the British announcing their displeasure at having 'found a bomb factory' on the 13th October in Cardiff, Wales, at which an ISDL operative (a Mr Joseph Patrick Connolly) was arrested - a "substantial cache" of gelignite, blasting cartridges, and detonators were discovered in the premises (a lodging house on Smith Street in Cardiff), as were 25 revolvers, 5 automatic pistols and ammunition and diagrams of bombs, along with operational instructions for their assembly and use.
Westminster considered the 'ISDL' to be a support network for the IRA.
Mr Arthur Griffith replied for the Irish side -
"My conception is that the Truce does not mean that your military should prepare during the Truce, and that we should not. We have done nothing since the Truce which was not being done before the Truce..." but Mr Lloyd George, speaking for the British side, to all intent and purpose cut him off, telling Mr Griffith that the British would not accept that interpretation of the 'Truce' (in our opinion, demonstrating how vague the terms of the 'Truce' document were and how it was open to widely different interpretations as, indeed, it had to be, to ensure that it was 'bought' by both sides - much like the 1998 Treaty).
Mr George then quickly referenced the Hamburg, Germany, 'gunship' incidents (which we have mentioned elsewhere in this post), and referred to a letter which (the then half-in, half-out Irishman) Mr Éamon de Valera had sent to Pope Benedict XV (aka Mr Giacomo della Chiesa) in which Mr de Valera had stated that the Irish people owed no allegiance to Britain's 'king'...to which Mr Griffith declared -
"Mr de Valera only stated public facts. I should say that the message was called for by the phrase in King George's letter in which he refers to troubles in Ireland. This could be taken to mean a fight between Irishmen. The trouble is not a trouble in Ireland, but is one between Ireland and Great Britain..." That didn't go down too well with the British side of the 'Truce Table', but Mr Michael Collins stood up and insisted the meeting discuss his paper on Irish neutrality to which a Mr Churchill stated that Britain could not be sure that Ireland would remain neutral and that, even if it did, it would pose great problems for Britain in wartime and Mr Collins replied that a friendly and neutral Ireland would be better for Britain than a hostile one...
...to which a Mr 'Sir' Austen Chamberlain (the British 'Lord Privy Seal' and Leader of the Conservative Party) stated that neutrality would put Ireland outside the 'Empire' but Mr Collins contended that that 'Empire' was developing into a nation of free and independent states without centralised control, and Mr Lloyd George admitted this but said that Britain could still not be sure of Irish neutrality - that, in the future, Ireland might move towards full Dominion Status but that he would consider it irresponsible for Britain to give Ireland the neutrality option at this stage...!
The groups then took a break for a cup of tea (or whatever!) and, when they came back to continue the meeting, Mr Lloyd George said that their next meeting would be held on Monday, 24th, and that he looked forward to reading whatever new documents the Irish presented to him, adding that it was essential that the documents should define the Irish position on allegiance to the Crown, entry into the Empire "freely and of her own accord" and concessions of the necessary facilities to secure the "immunity of [British] shores from attack by sea..."!
In other words - 'Listen up, Paddy, we're calling the shots here...'
(Incidentally - as that very meeting was taking place [21st October 1921], the British Military Command issued a new codeword to their command structure in Ireland which, when signalled to their military leadership groupings in Ireland, meant "prepare for an imminent resumption of hostilities..." : the snake head was talking, but it's rattle was poised...)
==========================
At the same time as those lads were in Downing Street discussing (with...!) snake heads and rattles, 'The Derry Journal' newspaper carried a report on the destruction of about forty poitín stills (pictured) over the previous two weeks by the IRA, mostly in the Inishowen Penninsula of the county of Donegal.
Other areas of Ulster were also paid a visit, as were 'mountain brew' operations in Galway, Mayo and Kerry.
When the IRA discovered a 'brew house', they did not just dump the 'wash' (ie water with fermentable starches and sugars — most historically malted barley, potatoes, sugar beets, or molasses which, with added yeast, converts those sugars into alcohol and flavour compounds over several days) the capture was used as a public spectacle ; offenders (!) were brought before Republican Courts, heavily fined, and made to stand outside the church gates during Sunday Mass while their confiscated copper stills were publicly smashed to pieces in front of the congregation.
Those deeds were carried out to enforce republican law and order and, t'is said, to help ensure its own fighters didn't present to the enemy worse for wear...!
==========================
THE MONTH UNSPUN...
The stories that hit the headlines.
From Magill magazine, August 2002.
Kildare county secretary Richie Whelan was baffled by the decision, saying in 'The Irish Times' newspaper that...
"..we are mystified now as to how the same rules can be interpreted for different counties.
We would like to know why there wasn't a consistent ruling on it, whichever way it's going to be."
He added that Kildare had been told the rules were clearcut on this issue, but..."...if you want to find a way around these things then you find a way around them."
'The Irish Independent' newspaper explained the decision by saying Cork had "crucially convinced the Munster Athletic Committee that there is actually no stated punishment for this breach in the GAA's own rule book...", effectively saying that Cork had been let off on a technicality...
(MORE LATER.)
A young Dublin man, a Mr John Joseph Corcoran (24), from the North Circular Road in Dublin, worked for the 'Midland Great Western Railway Company' as a labourer, but yearned for a more exciting job, and life, as young men do.
On the 17th July, 1922, he joined the Free State Army and, within months, had been promoted to the rank of Corporal in the 'Dublin Guards' of that entity ('A Company, 3rd Battalion' - this Unit was 'unofficially formed' in May 1921 by amalgamating the IRA's Dublin Brigade's Active Service Unit (ASU) and 'The Squad', under the command of a Mr Paddy Daly and, in January 1922, that Unit joined the then newly-established FSA).
On the 21st October, 1922, Mr John Joseph Corcoran was 'on duty' in the Killarney area of the county of Kerry when the lorry he and his FSA colleagues were travelling in came under fire from an IRA Unit at Lawlor's (/Tower's) Cross, in the townland of Rockfield.
Three of the occupants of the lorry were hit - two of them recovered from their wounds, the third - Mr John Joseph Corcoran - didn't. He died from his wounds later that same day.
==========================
In one of the many encounters between the IRA and the Free State Army in 1922, a Sergeant in the Stater army, a Mr James Marum (age 36, from Moneycleare, near Ballinakill, 'Queen's County' [County Laois], 'Service/Reference Number VR2917'), was wounded on the 21st October, 1922, in Charleville, County Cork.
Mr Marum died from his wounds ('fracture of femure, internal haemorrhage, cardiac failure') in the Mercy Hospital in Cork City two days later (23rd October 1922), and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, in Dublin, on the 27th October.
He had been a Sergeant in the 'Machine Gun Corps' of the British Army, after 'serving' in that grouping for eleven-and-a-half years, following which he worked as an agricultural labourer/gardener in Ireland (employed by a Mr Harman, in Blackrock, County Dublin) before joining the then newly-minted FSA in May 1922.
After his death, his wife, Isabella, and children, moved to Wicklow and lived in Number 12 Prince of Wales Terrace in Bray, from where she applied for a military pension/allowance, as her late husband was the main bread-winner and, between the 24th December 1922 and the 3rd April 1923, she received £1 18 shillings and 6 pence a week then, from the 4th April 1923 to the 31st March 1924, she received £1 and 8 shillings a week.
Apparently, from that date on - as long as she didn't re-marry - she received 17 shillings and 6 pence a week.
Mr Marum's mother, Ellen, also applied for a financial 'stipend' from the Free Staters and, on the 17th June, 1925, she was awarded "a gratuity of £40".
Cheap at the price, no doubt...
==========================
DEATH IN THE MEDITERRANEAN...
Desmond Boomer, a Belfast engineer working in the Libyan oil-fields, disappeared seven years ago.
Officially, the plane on which he was a passenger crashed as a result of mechanical failure and pilot error.
But is that the real story?
Or were the Irishman and his fellow passengers unwitting victims of the shady war between Islamic fundamentalism and Mossad, Israel's intelligence network?
A special 'Magill' investigation by Don Mullan, author of 'Eyewitness Bloody Sunday'.
From 'Magill' magazine, January 2003.
The Private Secretary, however, concluded his letter with a suggestion from Mr Brian Cowen, the State Minister for Foreign Affairs, that -
"You consider taking legal advice as to the possibility of challenging in the Maltese courts what you see as omissions from the matters investigated by the Board of Inquiry or shortcomings in its procedures or its report."
It's a good suggestion but, without official funding, an insensitive one.
To date, the financial cost of Cormac Boomer's search for his son has been considerable - it is a search that he and his wife Alice have carried out at their own expense.
The Boomers would be quite prepared to respond positively to the Minister's suggestion but, as senior citizens in their mid-70's, they have all but exhausted their resources...
(MORE LATER.)
In October, 1923, between 400 and 500 IRA prisoners were held in Mountjoy Prison in Dublin by the Staters, and they wanted out!
Hundreds of those Mountjoy POW's went on hunger-strike (actually, between 7,000 and 8,000 IRA POW's country-wide joined the hunger-strike) and, at the same time, others among them in the 'Joy carried-on working on a five-month old escape tunnel which, unfortunately, became flooded, drawing the screws attention to it.
The prison 'authorities', worried about the protest and the tunnel, decided to remove the prison IRA leadership and thereby, they believed, weaken the protest, so they placed three Volunteers (the 'ringleaders', according to the Staters) - Seán MacBride, Michael Price and Daithí (Darragh) O'Donnoghue - into the back of a FSA military lorry on the 20th October (1923) with an armed guard and instructed the driver to take them to St Bricin's Hospital (a distance of about only 1.5 miles/2 km) under cover of a so-called 'mercy mission'.
But didn't the bleedin' driver only get lost along the way!
Yep! Hadn't a notion where he was, pulled in by the side of the road, the armed guard got out of the back of the lorry to see if he could get his bearings...and the three Volunteers stepped down from the back of the lorry and legged it!
There was severe embarrassment (and uproar!) among the Staters on the 21st when the newspapers reported on the escape and, true to form, Leinster House attempted to minimise the negligence of their own troops and also played down the prominent IRA positions held by the three escapees!
They framed the transfer of the three men as some type of 'medical humanitarianism' on their part, and the FSA military lorry was presented by them as some type of an 'ambulance'!
Scarlet for them...
Anyway - once away from the lorry ('/ambulance'!), the three men split up and each of them made their way to a safehouse and, from their, to other safehouses, and each of them, between the duckin' and the divin', remained free men for years!
==========================
ON THIS DATE (21ST OCTOBER) 223 YEARS AGO : HANGED AND BEHEADED BY THE BRITISH.
'By Downpatrick goal I was bound to fare
on a day I'll remember, feth;
for when I came to the prison square
the people were waitin' in hundreds there
an' you wouldn't hear stir nor breath!
For the sodgers were standing, grim an' tall,
round a scaffold built there foment the wall,
an' a man stepped out for death!' (from here.)
Thomas Paliser Russell (pictured) was born in Cork, to an Anglican family (his father was a British Army Officer), on the 21st of November, 1767 and, at just 16 years of age, he joined the British Army and fought under the Butchers Apron in India for about five years, but resigned because of '...the disgust and indignation which filled him on witnessing the extortions, the cruelties, the usurpations and brutalities which were carried out and sanctioned by the government under which he served..' and he returned to Ireland. In the late 1780's he schooled himself in science, philosophy and politics.
In 1791, at 24 years of age, Thomas Russell and a group of like-minded individuals - Protestants, Anglicans and Presbyterians - held a public meeting in Belfast, out of which was formed 'The Belfast Society of United Irishmen' (the organisation became a secret society three years later), and one of his colleagues, Sam McTier, was elected as 'President of the Society'.
Also present were Theobald Wolfe Tone (who gave Robert Simms his nickname, 'Tanner'), William Sinclair, Henry Joy McCracken, Samuel Neilson, Henry Haslett, Gilbert McIlveen, William Simms (Robert's brother), Thomas McCabe, Thomas Pearce and Samuel McTier, among others.
He and his comrades set about organising a militant resistance to the English political and military presence in Ireland and his actions brought him to the attention of Westminster and, in 1796, at 29 years of age, he was 'arrested' and imprisoned in Dublin before being transported to Fort George, near Inverness, in Scotland, where he was held until 1802 (forcing him to miss the 1798 Rising).
He took a leadership role in the 1803 Rising and was again imprisoned by the English for same, this time in Downpatrick Jail ; he was 'tried for High Treason', found 'guilty', hanged and then beheaded at the gate of that prison on the 21st October, 1803 - 223 years ago on this date. He was 36 years of age.
His last words were "I forgive my persecutors. I die in peace with all mankind, and I hope for mercy through the merits of my Redeemer Jesus Christ."
His body lies in Downpatrick Churchyard.
'Into our townlan' on a night of snow,
rode a man from God knows where...'
Thanks for the visit, and for reading our 'lil offering - appreciated!
We'll be back on Wednesday, 4th November 2026 and, between this and then, I'll still be voicing me opinion on 'X' and 'Facebook' as well, if yer missing me that much!
Sharon and the team.
Slán go fóill anois!
