"It was agreed that the ultimate aim of the (British) Government's policy in Ireland was a united Ireland with a separate parliament of its own, bound by the closest ties to Great Britain, without offending the Protestants of Ulster (sic)..."
- a statement issued by the British cabinet, on the 3rd December 1919, after those politicians had had a discussion on 'the Irish Question'.
Needless to say, "the Protestants of Ulster" (sic) or, at least, the political leadership of same, were practically up in arms when they heard about the "separate parliament" discussions and, on the 15th December, that cabinet stated that they had held meetings with (Six County) Unionist leadership figures and agreed with the Unionists, who were "doubtful whether a Northern Parliament (sic) of Ireland would be able effectively to govern three Ulster counties - Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan - where there was a Nationalist majority".
Of the remaining six counties - Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Derry and Tyrone - Fermanagh and Tyrone also had Nationalist majorities but, with the aid of a manipulated vote (ie a gerrymandering protocol) and supine Free State politicians in the Twenty-Six Counties, the London politicians and the Ulster Unionists knew they could enforce their illegitimate writ in those two Irish counties.
And so it remains today.
"Any attempt at secession (by the Staters) will be fought with the same determination, with the same resources, with the same resolve as the Northern States of America put into the fight against the Southern States. It is important that that should be known, not merely throughout the world, but in Ireland itself..."
- Mr David Lloyd George (the British PM at the time), 22nd December, 1919.
Before and after the 15th December "Doubtful" statement and between then and the 22nd, the British Government and Unionists in Ireland cobbled-together a plan which they themselves, in-house, referred to as 'The Fourth Home Rule Bill' but were devious enough to call, in public, 'The Better Government of Ireland Bill'.
The pro-British political boss in Ulster, a Mr James Craig (the '1st Viscount Craigavon'!) knew the score and convinced the others that a Six County 'State' within the Nine-County Ulster would be easier to gerryman...manage... (!) and, on the 23rd December, 1920, 'The Fourth Home Ru... (oops!) - 'The Better Government of Ireland Bill'...received 'Royal Assent', meaning it became 'law'.
That new 'law' introduced two 'parliaments' - one for the six-north eastern counties of Ireland and one for the other twenty-six counties - which sounds, and IS, equally as ludicrous today as it was then!
The London political boss, Mr David Lloyd George, also knew the score ; when introducing the new 'law', he declared -
"There is a path of fatality which pursues the relations between the countries and makes them eternally at cross purposes..."
And - again - so it remains today...
==========================
ON THIS DATE (3RD DECEMBER) 48 YEARS AGO : STATE MEDIA REPORT THAT AN ESCAPED IRA LEADER HAD BEEN CAPTURED AFTER 50 MONTHS ON THE RUN.
In March 1973, IRA leader Joe Cahill was arrested by the Free State Navy in Waterford, aboard the Claudia, a ship from Libya loaded with five tons of weapons, and was sentenced to three years imprisonment, and another IRA leader, Seamus Twomey (pictured), was appointed IRA Chief of Staff.
In early October that year, Twomey was caught and arrested by the Free Staters and imprisoned in Mountjoy Jail, which meant that three top IRA operatives (Twomey, J.B. O'Hagan and Kevin Mallon) were now housed in the one location - and the IRA wanted them back!
An 'American businessman', a 'Mr. Leonard', approached the manager of the 'Irish Helicopters' company at Dublin Airport and discussed hiring a helicopter for an aerial photographic shoot in County Laois and, after being shown the company's fleet of helicopters, this 'businessman' booked a five-seater Alouette II helicopter for October 31st.
'Mr Leonard' arrived at Irish Helicopters on the day and was introduced to the pilot of the helicopter, a Captain Thompson Boyes, who was instructed to fly to a field in Stradbally, County Laois, to pick up photographic equipment.
After landing, the pilot saw two armed and masked men approaching the helicopter from nearby trees and he was held at gunpoint and told he would not be harmed if he followed instructions.
'Mr Leonard' left the area with one gunman, while the other gunman climbed aboard the helicopter armed with a pistol and an Armalite rifle. Captain Boyes was told to fly towards Dublin following the path of railway lines and the Royal Canal, and was ordered not to register his flight path with Air Traffic Control.
As the helicopter approached Dublin, Captain Boyes was informed of the escape plan and instructed to land in the exercise yard at Mountjoy Prison.
On Wednesday, 31st October 1973, at 3.40pm in the afternoon, the Alouette II helicopter landed in the 'D Wing Exercise Yard' of Mountjoy Prison in Dublin, when a football match was taking place between the prisoners, and Twomey, O'Hagan and Mallon jumped aboard, but were quickly spotted (!) by an alert (!) prison screw who used his training and power of intuition to take immediate action - he *called on the screws at the gate to close them over as he feared the helicopter was trying to escape (*according to the RTE 'Scannal - Prison Break' programme!).
Another IRA prisoner who was in the yard at the time recalled how an embarrassed screw told him that he had apologised to the prison governor in relation to the incident, saying that he thought the helicopter contained a visiting (Free State) Minister for Defence (and well-known publican) Paddy Donegan : the IRA prisoner replied that, in fact, "..it was our Minister of Defence leaving...!"
All three men reported back to the IRA and continued their work for the Movement but, after a few weeks of freedom, Kevin Mallon was recaptured at a GAA Dance in the Montague Hotel in Co. Laois on 10th December 1973, J.B.O'Hagan was recaptured in Dublin in early 1975 and Seamus Twomey managed to remain uncaptured until December 2nd, 1977, after the Special Branch came across him in a 'suspicious car' parked in Sandycove, in Dublin.
He had managed to evade the forces of 'law and order', North and South, for fifty months, despite been hunted by the best that Leinster House and Westminster could throw at him!
GAS LADS...
The massive finds of oil and gas on our western seaboard could ensure Ireland's financial security for generations.
Wealth approximating that of the Arab countries is within our grasp, but the Irish government seems content to sell off our birthright for a handful of votes and a few dollars.
In a special 'Magill' report, Sandra Mara investigates just what we are giving away, and why.
From 'Magill' magazine, March 2002.
Noel Tracey, (State) Minister for Science, Technology and Commerce, told the gathering at the annual dinner of the Institute of Petroleum in November last -
"The Tosco transaction represents an excellent deal for Ireland.
It radically improves the situation for both the refinery and the terminal by placing them squarely within the fold of a major integrated oil business, where opportunities for profitable trading are maximised and a culture of investment in both plant and people predominates."
Joe Higgins, though, condemned the sale of INPC in the Dail (sic), saying that it was "a policy which has been dictated not by the interests of working or ordinary people, but by the interests of multinational corporations exerting huge pressure on governments."
Industry experts say that INPC, which dealt with the retail end of the business, was well placed to win contracts from organisations such as the ESB, Iarnrod Eireann and other State agencies for the supply of fuel, and at the time of the sale already had a substantial turnover...
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (3RD DECEMBER) 138 YEARS AGO : EVE OF THE BIRTH OF A 'TROUBLESOME WOMAN'.
'4th December 1887 - Winifred Carney, trade unionist and revolutionary, is born in Bangor, Co. Down.
Winifred Carney was a suffragist and an advocate for trade unions. She was an activist in the Irish Textile Workers Union and became James Connolly's personal secretary while he was based in Belfast in 1912. She was active in organising solidarity work for workers during the Dublin Lockout and she joined Cumann na mBan.
She became involved in the Easter Rising when Connolly asked her to come to Dublin to work for him. She was the only woman who participated in the initial occupation of the GPO where the Irish Citizen Army set up its headquarters. She was armed with a typewriter and a revolver.
Winifred was well known for her reputation of being a crack shot. She was among the final group to leave the GPO (along with Elizabeth O’Farrell and Julia Grennan) as she would not leave the wounded Connolly. She was arrested and taken to Kilmainham Gaol and later Aylesbury prison and was released in December 1916. Winifred died in 1943 and is buried in Belfast...' (From here.)
"The conditions of your toil are unnecessarily hard, that your low wages do not enable you to procure sufficiently nourishing food for yourselves or your children, and that as a result of your hard work, combined with low wages, you are the easy victims of disease, and that your children never get a decent chance in life, but are handicapped in the race of life before they are born.."
- part of the speech which Winifred Carney and James Connolly prepared for his speech to millworkers in Belfast in late 1911. Connolly was the Belfast Organiser for the ITGWU at the time, and Carney was just a few weeks away from becoming the full-time Secretary of the then newly-formed 'Irish Textile Workers' Union'.
On the 4th of December 1887, Alfred and Sarah Carney welcomed the birth of their sixth child, Winifred, into their existing family - three boys (Ernest, Louie and Alfred) and two girls ( Maud and Mabel).
The family were then living in Bangor, County Down but, not long after Winifred was born, the marriage broke down and Sarah moved with the children to Carlisle Circus in Belfast, where she started a small shop.
Winifred found work as a teacher and developed a love for the Irish language, joining the Gaelic League to further her interest and, at 27 years of age, she joined (membership number 56077) the then newly-formed 'Cumann na mBan' organisation and, indeed, was present in Wynn's Hotel in Dublin in April 1914 when that organisation was founded.
Her duties included teaching first aid to the other members as well as training in the use of weapons, as she was known to be proficient in that particular field (a skill no doubt learned due to her activity with the 'Irish Citizens Army', which she joined on its formation in 1913).
This was two years before the (1916) Easter Rising and, due to her connection with James Connolly and her membership of various republican/nationalist organisations, Winifred Carney knew that an action against British interference in Ireland was being discussed and she was determined to play her part in any such blow against the 'empire' and said as much to Connolly, who by then had stationed himself in Dublin to assist the workers there in what became known as 'the great lock out'.
Winifred Carney stayed in Belfast, collecting whatever money she could for the Dublin strikers and billeting as many families of the strikers as she could. Connolly kept her up to date on developments and, when the time came - April 1916 - he asked her to come to Dublin to help with the preparations for a rising against Westminster, which she did.
At first she was 'jobbed' in Liberty Hall, writing dispatches and mobilisation orders etc but, on the day the rising began - 24th April 1916 - as an Adjutant in the Irish Citizen Army, she carried both 'tools of her trade' into the GPO : a typewriter and a revolver.
During the early stages of the week-long battle she was the only female in the building and, towards the end of that particular battle (..but not the end of the fight itself!) she refused orders at the time to leave the premises, as did her two colleagues, Julia Grenan and Elizabeth O'Farrell.
Altogether, there was a total of thirty-four women in the GPO at the time, members of the 'Irish Citizens Army' and 'Cumann na mBan', thirty-one of whom followed orders and vacated the building, with the wounded.
The female Volunteers were also tasked with carrying military instructions around the city during which trips they gathered intelligence on the strength and locations of the enemy and carried as much food and ammunition as they could safely deliver to their comrades.
The Rising ended when Winifred Carney, Nurse Elizabeth O'Farrell and Julia Greenan, who were by now based in the Moore Street Headquarters as there was no safety or shelter to be had in the remains of the GPO, were instructed to deliver a surrender notice to British General Lowe, stating the following -
'In order to prevent further slaughter of the civil population and in the hope of saving the lives of our followers, the members of the Provisional Government present at headquarters have decided on an unconditional surrender, and commandants or officers commanding districts will order their commands to lay down arms.
P.H. Pearse, Dublin, 30th April 1916.'
Winifred Carney, Brigid Foley, Maire Perolz, Nell Ryan and Helena Moloney were the five female Volunteers that were deported to prisons and internment camps in England and Wales, following the surrender, as were 1,836 male Volunteers, and approximately 80 other female Volunteers were taken, firstly, to Richmond Barracks and then to Kilmainham Jail and, although most were released within a week, Winifred Carney, Helena Moloney and Nell Ryan were held captive in Aylesbury Prison in Buckinghamshire in England until the 24th December (1916).
They had been offered early release if they signed an undertaking "...not to engage in any act of a seditious character.." but they had refused to do so.
She maintained her republican principles in the years that followed, despite being targeted repeatedly by agents of the State and, despite many personal setbacks (most of which were related to her strong political beliefs) she never compromised her republicanism.
When ill health forced her off the picket and protest lines she continued to verbally challenge the State at every opportunity until even that became too much for her : she died at fifty-five years of age on the 21st November 1943, just as opposed to Free Staters and partition as she had always been, and is buried in Milltown Cemetery in Belfast.
On the 3rd December, 1920, Galway County Council discussed and agreed a 'Peace Resolution' which called on the Irish republican, 32-County Dáil Éireann to negotiate a truce with the British.
Pro-British presstitute 'journalists' in England and in Ireland reported, gleefully, that the resolution was bitterly criticised by the Republican Movement, including (ironically) by Michael Collins, and newspaper reports mentioned that the British took it as an indication that rebel resolve was weakening.
However, on closer examination, the truth emerged later but, as usual with all things spun by politicians and their hirelings in the media, it didn't receive the same coverage as the original article.
Six members out of the 32 members of Galway County Council turned up for the meeting (six not being a quorum), as the other 26 were 'on the run' from foreign gunmen, and those six elected reps did indeed discuss a 'Peace Resolution' but did not pass it as an agreed motion.
But the lie was half way around the world before the truth even got its trousers on / falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it / a lie will go round the world while truth is pulling its boots on...!
On the same date that six Galway political sleveens were sleveening their way into notoriety, IRA GHQ issued 'General Order No.15 [New Series]', authorising IRA Brigade Commanders to collect funds in their area to financially support the Movement.
The Commanders were told to be thorough in their endeavours and to approach everyone "except declared enemies", and leaflets were drawn-up, printed and distributed, similiar to this one which was delivered practically door-to-door in the Cork IRA Brigade No.3 area -
'A collection is being made in this area, by authority of the General Head Quarters of our Army, to enable me to carry on the work of arming the Volunteers in this Brigade, and so sustaining and increasing the fight waged against the enemy here.
You are asked to subscribe a fair amount.
It is for your own protection as well as for the national good.
The enemy forces are running loose whenever they get an opportunity.
They are murdering defenceless people.
They are pillaging, burning, outraging, wherever they go.
Arms are needed to meet them and to beat them.
Money is required to get the arms.
That is the plain statement of the case.
It is no appeal ; it is just a request to every man and every woman who believes in Ireland to help the Army of Ireland to carry on the fight.
During the next week collectors appointed by the Officer-in-charge of the area will call on you...'
The IRA Brigade Commander for the 3rd (West) Cork area, Volunteer Tom Barry, later reported back to GHQ that over £5,000 had been collected in three nights in his area - the citizens were willing, as was their army!
On the same date that IRA GHQ issued 'G Order 15 [NS]', Archbishop Patrick Joseph Clune (pictured) was visiting Arthur Griffith and Eoin MacNeill (Irish-republican-gamekeepers-turned-Free State poachers) in Mountjoy Jail in Dublin.
Two days previously, Mr Clune had had a chat 'about peace in Ireland' with a Mr David Lloyd George and he was due to meet with Michael Collins (another republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State-poacher) the next day (4th).
However, the British demand that the IRA must surrender their arms meant that nothing came from those talks.
As Mr Clune was visiting the poachers in the 'Joy (!), the then ten-year-old 'Church of England Peace League' issued a statement in London condemning reprisals in Ireland which they said undermined "the very foundations of justice and order..."
A purposely ambiguous position, as it's not clear whether that church grouping were referencing British Army revenge attacks on civilians or IRA attacks on the British military...?!
On the same date that that church body were formulating their murky statement, a patrol of five RIC members, led by a Mr Daniel McMorrow ('Service Number 60344') were leaving their barracks in the town of Youghal, in County Cork, and were crossing the old metal 'Blackwater Bridge' when shots were fired at them.
An IRA ASU, with Volunteer James Mansfield (3rd Battalion, West Waterford Brigade) in command, had established an ambush position and the RIC members were now in the middle of it.
One of the RIC members was hit and fell to the ground ; his colleagues took whatever cover they could find as bullets bounced off the ground beside them.
Job done, the rebels returned to base.
The wounded RIC man, a Mr Maurice Prendiville (/Prenderville, 46, 'Service Number 57219'), a married man with six children, from Kerry, was carried by his buddies to nearby Torrens Chemist shop where he died from his wounds.
Mr Prendiville had 26 'years of service' with that paramilitary grouping, and two of his brothers - James and Edmund - were also tied-up with it.
Incidentally, Mr Prendiville and one of his RIC pals, a Mr Peter Ryan ('Service Number 62404') had been captured by the IRA during an ambush at Piltown Cross, Waterford, on the 1st November (1920) but both were released unharmed on the understanding that they would resign from the RIC.
Neither of them did.
Also incidentally (!) -
The family which owned the chemist shop, the Torrens, had come to the attention of the rebels before the 3rd December 1920 -
'Notice to quit Ireland within 7 days or die -
We hereby give you solemn notice to leave this country within 7 days or forfeit your life.
So take your choice.
It's up to yourself, beware, for this is no idle threat.
Signed J.K.A.'
- a note delivered to John Morrison Torrens from the IRA in that area, after Mr Torrens and his family had again given assistance to enemy forces.
Indeed, a letter dated December 1920, and signed by a 'JJ Carroll, Captain, County Inspector's Office', surfaced afterwards, in which Mr Torrens was thanked.. "..for kindness to wounded officers on two recent occasions, on behalf of the Royal Irish Constabulary..."
The Torrens family duly left Ireland.
On the 3rd December, 1920, 'The Spectator Magazine' in London claimed that the British Government's failure to enlist the support of Britsh public opinion for its policies (!) in Ireland was the result of its failure to use its propaganda resources to the fullest.
Looking for extra ad revenue, perhaps...?!
==========================
THE MONTH UNSPUN...
The stories that hit the headlines.
From Magill magazine, August 2002.
In general, it was welcomed among the major parties, although David Trimble was extremely cautious in his optimism.
Trimble had questioned in the House of Commons what role Sinn Féin should play in the Executive in the absence of concrete evidence of a republican transition from violence to democracy.
The fact that the timing of the statement strengthened Sinn Féin's position in that discussion was hardly coincidental, 'The Irish Times' newspaper believed.
The 'paper argued that the statement, along with two acts of decommissioning and Alex Maskey's recent Somme commemoration, could be used to allay unionist anger over violence in Belfast, the murder (sic) of alleged drug dealers and the events in Colombia - all indications, it would seem, that the IRA ceasefire is not being maintained...
(MORE LATER.)
On the 3rd December, 1921, in a show of strength in the days before the 'Treaty of Surrender' was signed (6th December, 1921, at 10 Downing Street in London, England), about 2,000 IRA Volunteers held a parade through the town of Kilreekil, in County Galway.
The rebels were inspected by Volunteer leadership figures Richard Mulcahy and Michael Brennan : two Irish republican-gamekeepers-turned-Free State-poachers.
The irony, for shame.
==========================
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 Maltese Report fails to note, however, that the wife and children of Carmelo Bartolo publicly stated, through their lawyer, in 'The Times' newspaper, Malta, on the 23rd April 1999, that they did not recognise the voice on the tape as that of their loved one.
Paul Lehman, the Piper Corporation Senior Accident Investigator, told the Maltese Board of Inquiry that following his examination of the recovered wreckage he was satisfied it belonged to Piper Lance 9H-ABU and that it was his expert opinion the aircraft had crashed into the sea.
On Thursday June 14th 2001, Cormac Boomer telephoned Mr. Lehman at the Piper Corporation headquarters in Florida.
A number of telephone calls were made before he was eventually put through to a woman who identified herself as a lawyer who was in the presence of Paul Lehman. Lehman and the lawyer conducted the telephone conversation by conference.
Boomer asked Lehman if he would be willing to give an interview for a television documentary, and his lawyer replied that questions would need to be forwarded in advance before a decision could be taken.
Then he asked Lehman if he was satisfied the aircraft had crashed into the sea...
(MORE LATER.)
As a 14-years-young teenager, John Dooley from Loughbrown, Newbridge, in County Kildare, joined Na Fianna Éireann and, shortly afterwards, started work in a gravel pit in Knockbrown, County Wexford, which was owned by the Great Southern and Western Railway Company.
He stayed with NFÉ and the gravel pit job for five years, then abandoned the NFÉ, the gravel pit job and his principles for a 'career as a soldier' with the newly-spawned Free State Army (which he joined on the 4th July, 1922, 'Service Number 401').
He was part of an FSA military convoy (he was driving one of the trucks) which, on the 1st December 1922, was travelling from the village of Wellington Bridge, in the south of County Wexford (about fifteen miles west of Wexford Town) into Wexford Town when an IRA landmine exploded under the lorry.
The young Mr Dooley was seriously injured and died from his wounds on the 3rd December.
One of his Stater comrades, a Mr Washington, also from Newbridge, was actually blown out of the truck and into the air by the explosion but, when he landed, his only injury was a sprained ankle.
'Tugann an Diabhal aire dá mhuintir féin' ('The Devil looks after his own').
As Mr Washington was landing on his arse in County Kildare, 250 km (about 155 miles) away, across the country and down the road a bit in Castleisland, County Kerry, a 26-year-old man, Mr William Brosnan, who kept himself to himself, had locked-up his butchers shop on Main Street and was walking home.
It was his usual routine - doors closed to the public at about 8.30pm, sweep the floor, lights off, close door and lock it, walk home.
As he was walking down Main Street he was shot dead.
The Free State Army had declared a 9pm curfew for that night and a motorised FSA patrol passed him on the street, no questions, no warning - one of the State gunmen simply shot him dead.
They at least had the decency not to plant a firearm on him.
Marbhfháisc air!
RIP Mr William Brosnan.
At about the same time that poor Mr Brosnan was locking-up his shop, 100 km (about 62 miles) away across the country, in County Cork, a Free State Army member, a Mr George McGlynn, and his colleagues, were trying to escape from an IRA ambush in the village of Ballyvourney.
Mr McGlynn was badly wounded and died from his injuries the next day.
The Stater Army had him on their books as a 'Sergeant' ('Service Number 20743') and a 'Corporal' ('Service Number 56600').
He was from Forge, New Row, Naas, County Kildare, and died on the 4th December 1922 in the Mercy Hospital in Cork.
==========================
ON THE 2ND DECEMBER 105 YEARS AGO - QUESTIONS ASKED IN WESTMINSTER RE 'ESCAPING' IRISH PRISONERS BEING SHOT BY BRITISH FORCES IN IRELAND ARE SIDE-STEPPED, BUT COVERED BY SOME NEWSPAPERS ON THE 3RD.
Ireland, 1920 : a flavour of the chaos inflicted here by the British political and military presence : in January that year, the 1st Cork Brigade of the IRA captured Carrigtwohill 'Royal Irish Constabulary' (RIC) barracks.
In February, the 'Home Rule Bill' was published, in which Westminster voiced its intention to establish a 128-member 'parliament' in Dublin and a 52-member 'parliament' in Belfast despite knowing, from previous partition experiments, that two 'parliaments' in one country was a receipe for political disaster.
Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork, Tomás Mac Curtain, was murdered in his house by British forces in March.
In April, a hunger-strike began in Mountjoy Prison in Dublin by IRA prisoners who were demanding POW status.
In May that year, forty IRA prisoners who were on hunger-strike in Wormwood Scrubs in London, England, were released and in June an armed British militia in Ireland, the RIC, got the go-ahead from Westminster to'officially' shoot republicans dead.
In July 1920, those deemed not fit for the regular British forces in Ireland were given a new home in the 'ADRIC' ('Auxiliary Division Royal Irish Constabulary') and in August Terence MacSwiney went on hunger-strike in Brixton Prison in England.
In September the 'Black and Tans' destroyed more than fifty properties in Balbriggan town in Dublin, a British militia, the 'USC', was established in October, in November fourteen British spies were executed in Dublin by the IRA and in December 1920 Westminster declared 'Martial Law' in Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Tipperary.
Questions re 'the Irish situation' surfaced occasionally in the grand halls of Westminster and, on the 2nd December 1920 (covered by some newspapers on the 3rd), the following exchange took place in that venue but was dismissed by the chairperson as 'the wrong question having been asked' :
Lieut-Commander KENWORTHY asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland how many prisoners in Ireland have been shot dead while trying to escape, according to police reports, up to the end of November of this year and during the present year; how many have been wounded; and how many of these were handcuffed at the time of their death or wounding?
Mr. GALBRAITH asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland what is the total number of persons who have been shot at in Ireland when attempting to escape from custody; and how many of such persons have been wounded and killed, respectively?
Mr. HENRY : According to the police reports the number of prisoners fired at while attempting to escape from custody within the period from 1st January to 30th November, 1920, is 11. Of these nine were killed and two wounded. One of the prisoners killed and one of those wounded are stated to have been handcuffed while attempting to escape.
Lieut-Commander KENWORTHY : Is the right hon. and learned Gentleman aware that when the bodies have been given to the relatives that in many cases those men have been found to be riddled with bullets through the head: how does he think that men can try to escape from police lorries; and can he inform me if all these cases have been investigated by a court of inquiry?
Mr. HENRY : I must have notice of that question.
Mr. MacVEAGH : Can the Attorney-General say whether the figure he has quoted includes those shot dead on the allegation that they were attempting to resist arrest?
Mr. HENRY : The question put to me was as to the number of men shot whilst attempting to escape from custody.
Lieut-Commander KENWORTHY : Surely the right hon. and learned Gentleman can say whether there has been an inquiry into these cases, in view of the very serious allegations made and reported in the newspapers throughout the country?
Major O'NEILL : Is the right hon. and learned Gentleman aware that when General Lucas was captured, the officer who was captured with him attempted to escape, and was shot by the Sinn Feiners?
Mr. MacVEAGH : Also does the right hon. and learned Gentleman know that when General Lucas was released he stated that he had been treated with the greatest consideration by his captors?
Mr. SPEAKER : We are getting a long way from the question on the Paper...
(HANSARD 1803–2005 ? 1920s ? 1920 ? December 1920 ? 2 December 1920 ? Commons Sitting ? IRELAND.
ESCAPING PRISONERS [SHOOTING]. HC Deb 02 December 1920 vol 135 cc1410-1 1410.)
That was 105 years ago and shows that those political defenders of British imperialism were as quick then as they are now to use obfuscation in an attempt to 'neutralise' an embarrassing situation.
But Irish republicans had been fighting the British writ in Ireland centuries before the Westminster parliament was established and - no obfuscation here - will continue to do so, in one form and/or another, until they remove themselves, politically and militarily, from our country!
As a teenager, James Woods (pictured), who was born in March 1900, from Ballyreen, Lisdoonvarna, County Clare, studied to be a teacher and acquired a position as a trainee teacher, but left after one year and joined the Volunteer Movement.
When the Free State 'An Garda Síochána' was established in February 1922, he showed an interest in that grouping and, in November that year, he paid a visit to their recruitment office at Ship Street Barracks in Dublin and joined up ('Service Number 2358'), as did two of his brothers.
Young James (23) was sent to 'do his duty' in Bantry Garda Barracks in County Cork and, six months later, he was promoted to the rank of sergeant and, within weeks, he was transferred to Scartaglen Garda Barracks in the Sliabh Luachra area of County Kerry.
On the night of the 3rd December, 1923, six armed and masked men entered the barracks and took control of it, holding the occupants - Sergeant Woods and one other Garda member - at gunpoint ; they were there to confiscate weapons, uniforms and any other material they deemed useful.
The armed men ordered Sergeant Woods to hand over his weapons and his uniform and, when he resisted them, he was shot and died instantly.
Mr Woods is the first State cop to have died 'in the line of duty'.
==========================
ON THIS DATE (3RD DECEMBER) 54 YEARS AGO : NEWS BREAKS THAT THREE IRA PRISONERS HAD JOINED NINE OF THEIR COMRADES!
Crumlin Road Jail, Belfast (pictured) - known for its good quality bed sheets...
In November 1971, there were more than 700 IRA prisoners being held in Crumlin Road Jail in Belfast, with at least the same number again 'housed' in Long Kesh and other prisons.
All had access to an exercise yard and, in Crumlin Road Jail, the escape committee decided to use that yard as part of their plan to free three of their number - Martin Meehan, Anthony 'Dutch' Doherty and Hugh McCann.
The plan was for the three men to hide themselves under a sewer manhole in about two feet of water, which they did, for about five hours.
As luck would have it, when they eventually let themselves out, a thick fog had settled in the area, giving good cover. They ran for the prison wall and, using bed sheets which they had roughly fashioned into a rope ladder, with a home-made 'hook' tied to the top of the 'ladder', they managed to scale the wall.
Within hours, Martin Meehan and Hugh McCann were in a safe house in the Free State and their comrade, Anthony Doherty - who stayed in Belfast following the escape - joined them two weeks later.
Incidentally, on the 17th November 1971 - about two weeks before the above-mentioned 'rope ladder' escape - nine other IRA prisoners had also escaped from that same prison with the use of rope-ladders!
The nine were Thomas Kane, Seamus Storey, Bernard Elliman, Danny Mullan, Thomas Fox, Tom Maguire, Peter Rogers, Christy Keenan and Terrence 'Cleaky' Clarke and all of them escaped in two cars which were waiting for them on the near-by Antrim Road.
To add further to the distress caused to the then British 'Home Affairs Minister', Brian Faulkner, and his side-kick, 'Sir' Edmund Compton ("...torture would never happen in a British jail..") by those jail breaks, they were referenced in a popular song of the time -
OVER THE WALL.
In Crumlin Road Jail all the prisoners one day
took out a football and started to play,
and while all the warders were watching the ball
nine of the prisoners jumped over the wall!
Over the wall, over the wall,
who would believe they jumped over the wall?
over the wall, over the wall,
It's hard to believe they jumped over the wall!
Now the warders looked on with the greatest surprise
and the sight that they saw brought tears to their eyes,
for one of the teams was not there at all
they all got transferred and jumped over the wall!
Now the governor came down with his face in a twist
and said "Line up those lads while I check out me list,"
but nine of the lads didn't answer at all
and the warder said "Please Sir, they're over the wall."
The 'security forces' were shook to the core
so they barred every window and bolted each door,
but all their precautions were no use at all
for another three prisoners jumped over the wall!
Then the news reached old Stormont, Brian Faulkner turned pale
when he heard that more men had escaped from his jail,
said he - "Now we'll have an enquiry to call, and we'll get Edmund Compton to whitewash the wall."
Ah, whitewash : the second-favourite liquid used in Westminster, after Earl Grey, of course!
The newspapers made for good reading on the 3rd December, 1971...!
The much vaulted and 'Establishment'-lauded so-called 'Tripartite Agreement' was agreed to and signed on the 3rd December, 1925, by representatives from the Westminster, Leinster House and Stormont administrations.
In effect, by agreeing to the document, and signing it, the Staters were 'officially' accepting the enforced partition of Ireland.
The three political entities consented to suppress the report of the 'Boundary Commission' (that report was suppressed for 44 years ie it wasn't released until 1969!), that the partition/border between the Free State and the Occupied Six Counties was to remain unchanged, that issues regarding republican prisoners held in those Six Counties would be the imprimatur of Westminster (and Stormont would accept that that is the case ; Leinster House not even mentioned), that the Staters would be freed from 'Article 5'* financial penalties, that the powers (!) granted to the so-called 'Council of Ireland' (a GONGO agency/talking shop, which never even held one meeting!)) would be transferred to Stormont and, finally, that "the two Irish governments (sic - Stormont and Leinster House were being referenced ie two 'governments' actually spawned by the British!) would meet together, as and when necessary, for the purpose of considering matters of common interest..." (the actual 'common interest' that both entities shared was to maintain the imposed border ie to keep the country partitioned).
That last clause ("common interest") was never invoked and Mr Cosgrave and Mr Craig were never to meet again!
The Irish historian, Maureen Wall (pictured, née McGeehin), summed-up the farce by declaring -
"Ambiguities were now at an end ('1169' comment - verbally, at least!).
This time the unionists had got all they wanted, and the agreement bore the signatures not only of the British and Free State representatives but, for the first time, the signatures also of the representatives of Northern Ireland (sic)..."
The British civil servant and 'Irish Under-Secretary' in Westminster, a Mr James McMahon, stated -
"The Boundary Commission crisis was resolved surprisingly easy when British financial generosity allowed the three governments (sic) to come to an agreement that buries the commission’s findings..."
A Mr FE Smith (the '1st Earl of Birkenhead'), a prominent British politician who had involved himself in the various 'Treaty of Surrender' events, in a letter he wrote to one of his political buddies, 'Lord Reading', the British 'Lord Lieutenant of Ireland', said -
"...both the Northern Ireland and Free State governments (sic) developed a friendly and competitive enthusiasm in the task of plundering us..." (pot calling the kettle black right there!).
And, finally, speaking in Westminster about the Boundary Commission plunder (!), the then British 'Chancellor of the Exchequer', a Mr Winston Churchill stated -
"The Irish question will only be settled when the human question is settled..."
The so-called 'Irish question' will only ever be properly settled when the British finally withdraw, politically and militarily, from Ireland.
(*'Article 5' left the Staters liable for a share of British public debt and, under that Article, Leinster House had actually agreed [!] to repay compensation payments it got from Westminster for damage etc done here between July 1914 and November 1918 during 'World War 1'...!)
==========================
Thanks for the visit, and for reading - appreciated.
Sharon and the team.
(We'll be back on Wednesday, 17th December, 2025, which will be our last post for this year.)
Ireland, late 19th Century - this astute young girl witnessed the suffering around her, in her family and in her neighbourhood but she couldn't just accept it as her lot.
The astute young girl grew into a questioning teenager and, finally, into a "troublesome woman", which she remained for the rest of her life, working in the rebel movement alongside other "troublesome women..."
We'll be posting the details of that "troublesome woman" and her equally troublesome (!) colleagues on Wednesday, 3rd December 2025, along with about eighteen other pieces, all connected with Irish history and Irish politics, from today and yesterday - all 32 Counties!
And if yer not interested in troublesome Irish women (...but ya are, aren't ya..?!), then what about this -
Westminster, 1900's - "Two separate parliaments" for Ireland was brought up in a discussion that British politicians were having about Ireland. The Loyalists in Ireland 'boxed clever' and turned the conversation into one about three particular counties in Ireland which would more than likely scupper that plan...
...but if that doesn't whet yer appetite..well, there's somethin' major wrong with ya - sure who, with an interest in our history, wouldn't want to know which three Irish counties were deemed troublesome (see wha' I done there?!) by Irish people who supported a foreign political entity?!
However...if yer still hesitant about checking back with us on Wednesday, 3rd December 2025, then maybe this will entice ya -
"The West's Awake..." - awake, that was, to the scheme attempted, in the early 1900's by local politicians in the west of Ireland, to spike the freedom struggle and sow dissent within the Republican Movement. But when the facts and figures were revealed, the scheme collapsed...
...and if that doesn't do it for ya, we'll also be writing about bombs, bullets and bucks -
1920's, funding the fight - the call from the rebels for 'munition money' was sent out verbally and in leaflets around the country and it was gladly acceded to by a willing public who were being trashed by armed, foreign thugs...
So do, please, give us a shout on the 3rd - 'cause I'm one troublesome young wan ya don't wanna have to apologise to for yer absence..!
Thanks for the visit, for reading, and for puttin' up with me auld guff - appreciated.
Sharon and the team.
(...and we'll appreciate it all the more if ya DO call back on Wednesday the 3rd - but ya know ya will!)
On the 19th November, 1919, the newspapers in Ireland carried a piece about an event which took place the previous day, concerning the 'arrest' of an IRA Volunteer by the Crown Forces.
Volunteer Edward Malone, from the village of Dún Brinn (Dunbrin), near Athy, in County Kildare, had been hunted by the British since April that year and, on the 18th, was staying in the house in Ballycullane, County Kildare (about 7km [4.50 miles] from his own village) of his cousin, Volunteer Michael Malone, who was the Captain of 'A Company, 3rd Battalion, Carlow-Kildare Brigade IRA'.
British Army soldiers raided the house and captured Volunteer Edward Malone : early in 1920, Volunteer Malone and other POW's went on hunger-strike and, following a massive general strike and public protests, the POW's were released in April that year.
His own house in Dún Brinn had been raided and searched by the British on the 31st October, 1918 (IRA documents were found), and again on the 13th February, 1919, and a rifle was found.
Incidentally, when the split in the IRA occurred in January 1922 over the 'Treaty of Surrender', those who remained true to the Cause included Volunteers Patrick Mullaney (the Commander of the IRA Eastern Division's 1st Brigade), Edward Malone, James Farrell, Jim Farrell, Thomas Farrell, John Farrell, Michael O'Neill, Diarmuid O'Neill, Robert Crone, Jack O'Connor, William Kearney, Jack Dempsey, John Byrne, Pat Holmwood, Paddy Campbell, Pat Nolan and at least six other brave men - including five Free State Army soldiers who were operating with the IRA.
The Free Staters referred to that IRA Unit as 'Mullaney's Men'...
==========================
"MURDER BY A PERSON OR PERSONS UNKNOWN..."
Theobald Wolfe Tone was born on the 20th June, 1763 - the exact time and date of his death are unknown.
He was sentenced to death on the 10th November 1798 and, on the 11th November, he was informed by his gaolers that he would be publicly hanged on the following day, Monday, at one o'clock.
It is generally accepted that Wolfe Tone died on the 19th November 1798 but, in fact, he could have been murdered at any time during the previous week, and there is no doubt, and none of us should be in any doubt, of his murder by British Crown agents.
It is time now, once and for all, to bury the lie that Wolfe Tone took his own life.
These false stories were put out at the time not just to cover up the murder but also as black propaganda to denigrate Tone and the Cause he cherished with all his being. The proof of their successes in trying to destroy Wolfe Tone's character is still evident today over 200 years later.
Yes, the British establishment was expert at that time at covering up their crimes, even more successful than they are today. Many historians to this day trot out the same British lies, as if they were gospel, that Tone committed suicide ; they quote all sorts of stories to 'back-up' their claims.
They use the most abominable argument that especially as Wolfe Tone was of the Protestant faith it would not be repugnant for him to take his own life : I say here and now that this was and is the most objectionable of arguments. It was against everything Tone dedicated and gave his life for, namely, to substitute the common name of Irishman for the religious denominations.
To spread the lie and imply that somehow being a Protestant made it acceptable to commit suicide is to be against all Wolfe Tone stood for.
The argument is still going on with new books being written about Tone and praised and published by the present establishment who are as much against what Tone stood for as were the British establishment of the time, and as they still are today.
Why do the establishment, British and Irish, make such a case for Wolfe Tone's suicide?
Because to face the truth might make people today see the light and not just follow Tone's teachings but practice them.
It is often quoted also that Tone's son accepted his father's suicide ; even if this were true it is of no consequence as what he thought one way or the other has no bearing on the facts. How did Tone's son know how long his father lay dying? There was no way he could know, no more than anyone else - at no time were any visitors allowed into see Wolfe Tone.
Tone's father tried every possible move through the courts to get his son free.
His lawyer applied for and was immediately granted a writ of Habeas Corpus by Chief Justice Lord Kilwarden. Major Sandy, in charge of the barracks, was recognised generally as being a man with scant regard for justice or truth.
It has been stated as proof of Tone's suicide that a man of Sandy's calibre and his hirelings wouldn't do such a botched murder that would take eight days for the victim to die. But how do we know how long Wolfe Tone took to die? It could very well have been eight minutes, not eight days.
The only evidence ever produced to support the suicide verdict is an account from a French royalist, a Doctor Lentaigne, of whom little is known. This same doctor was by his being a royalist first, and working for the British Army, doubly opposed to all Wolfe Tone would stand for.
How anyone with the remotest feeling for justice or truth could accept the word of such a man under the circumstances at the time is an insult to ordinary intelligence. But then as the old cliche says - 'where ignorance is bliss it's folly to be wise.'
The secrets of a state prison at that period in history are seldom penetrated and even today would be virtually impossible.
Abundant proof is available even today if a thorough search was to take place but we who wish to know the truth have only to know the man : he had dedicated himself to his principles and had seen his friends and compatriots, including his brother, hanged, and he would not let them or his country down by taking his own life.
Without knowing the man, even reading his last letters is enough to disprove the abominable lie that he committed suicide.
Did he not write to his wife -
"My mind is as tranquil this moment as at any period in my life."
One only has to read his last speech from the dock at his trial to see and understand the character of the man. Just to quote a few lines is enough to convince any fair mind of the impossibility of Wolfe Tone committing suicide ; only the avowed enemies of truth and justice could dare say otherwise -
"Mr. President and gentlemen of the Court Martial : I mean not to give you the trouble of bringing judicial proof to convict me legally to having acted in hostility to the government of his Britannic Majesty in Ireland. I admit the fact from my earliest youth, I have regarded the connection between Ireland and Great Britain as the curse of the Irish nation and felt convinced that, whilst it lasted, this country could never be free nor happy."
Regarding the French, Wolfe Tone said -
"Attached to no party in the French Republic, without interest, without money, without intrigue, the openness and integrity of my views raised me to a high and confidential rank in its armies ; under the flag of the French Republic, I originally engaged with a view to save and liberate my own country. For that purpose, I have encountered the chances of war, amongst strangers.
For that purpose, I have repeatedly braved the terrors of the ocean, covered as I knew it to be, with the triumphant fleets of that power, which it was my glory and my duty to oppose. I have sacrificed all my views in life ; I have courted poverty, I have left a beloved wife, unprotected children I adored, fatherless.
After such sacrifices, in a cause which I have always conscientiously considered as the cause of justice and freedom - it is no great effort, at this day, to add the sacrifice of my life.
To the eternal disgrace of those who gave the order, I was brought hither in irons, like a felon.."
During his last speech from the dock, Wolfe Tone stated -
"I mention this for the sake of others, for me I am indifferent to it. I am aware of the fate which awaits me, and scorn equally the tone of complaint and that of supplication. Whatever be the sentence of this court, I am prepared for it. Its members will surely discharge their duty ; I shall take care not to be wanting in mine."
Tone's use of the word 'eternal' and 'his duty' are obvious references to God and posterity and he would have been fully aware and very careful about their use. Any study of the man and any understanding of him as a person to those who wish to see the truth can only draw the one conclusion.
To quote just a line or two from his last letters to his wife : "..be assured I will die as I have lived, and that you will have no cause to blush for me. Adieu, dearest love, keep your courage as I have kept mine. My mind is as tranquil this moment as at any period of my life."
Are these the words of a man contemplating suicide?
No!
Wolfe Tone knew that suicide would have damned his reputation irreparably and consequently the cause he dedicated his life to. There is only one conclusion to be drawn, knowing the man - 'murder by a person or persons unknown.'
(The above is an edited version of a lecture delivered to Dublin republicans by Joe Egan in November 1989. Joe was a member of the RSF Education Department at the time.)
GAS LADS...
The massive finds of oil and gas on our western seaboard could ensure Ireland's financial security for generations.
Wealth approximating that of the Arab countries is within our grasp, but the Irish government seems content to sell off our birthright for a handful of votes and a few dollars.
In a special 'Magill' report, Sandra Mara investigates just what we are giving away, and why.
From 'Magill' magazine, March 2002.
In a sale which appeared to net the State €126 million, the real gain is another matter.
The State agreed to write off over €101 million in debts, believed to have been incurred in the refurbishment of INPC just prior to the sale.
In terms of guarantees, INPC gave an undertaking that it will underwrite any claims for environmental damage or pollution up to €95, and provide an open-ended guarantee in regard to any claims in respect of the Whiddy Island incident, where the oil tanker 'Betelgeuse' exploded some years ago.
These guarantees and undertakings could potentially not alone wipe out any perceived gains, but leave the State in a negative-equity position...
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (19TH NOVEMBER) 105 YEARS AGO : 'HANSARD' TRANSCRIPT OF DEBATE ON CAPTURE OF FOUR ENGLISH OFFICERS IN CORK BY REBELS MAKES THE HEADLINES.
(Or - 'Rebel motor cars? - BAN THEM!')
This discussion in the British 'House of Commons' on the 18th November, 1920, was commented on in the newspapers of the day on the 19th November -
HANSARD 1803–2005 - 1920s - 1920 - November 1920 - 18 November 1920 - Commons Sitting - IRELAND.
OFFICERS CAPTURED.
HC Deb 18 November 1920 vol 134 cc2072-4
Mr. PENNEFATHER (by Private Notice) asked the Secretary of State for War whether he had any information to impart relating to the four officers taken by force out of a train at Waterfall, County Cork, the day before yesterday, and carried off in rebel motor cars, and whether, in view of this further proof of the assistance to crime afforded by privately-owned motor cars, the Government would at once prohibit their use in the disturbed areas?
Mr. DEVLIN : "What is a "rebel motor car"?
The SECRETARY of STATE for WAR (Mr. Churchill): "The only information which I have at present is that two Education Officers, Captain M. H. W. Green, Lincolnshire Regiment, and Captain S. Chambers, Liverpool Regiment, and an officer of the Royal Engineers, Lieut. W. Spalding Watts, were captured by the rebels.
I understand that Captain Green and Lieutenant Watts might have been witnesses of a murder of a police sergeant and that Captain Chambers was the principal witness against Father O'Donnell, who was arrested in October, 1919, for seditious speeches.
Presumably, these are the reasons why they were kidnapped, but I do not know the circumstances of their capture. With regard to the last part of the hon. Member's question, I think ample powers already exist under the Restoration of Order in Ireland Regulations.
Certain restrictions regarding the use of motor vehicles are already in force, and I understand that further drastic restrictions will come into operation on 1st December."
Mr. TERRELL : "Have these officers been released?"
Mr.CHURCHILL : "No."
Mr. DEVLIN : "The right hon. Gentleman brings in the trial, and the statement that Father O'Donnell was arrested for seditious language. For what reason ho dons (sic - 'he done'?) that, I do not know. Will he state that the court-martial acquitted him of that charge?"
Mr. CHURCHILL : "I did not attach importance to that. I have given the answer specially framed for me in answer to this question."
Mr. DEVLIN : "Who framed it for you?"
Mr. CHURCHILL "I had no communication whatever with the hon. Member (Mr. Pennefather), and there is no ulterior design behind the framing of the answer." (From here.)
We also found the following information in relation to this incident :
Capt M H W Green - removed and shot. Capt S Chambers - removed and shot. Lt W S Watts - removed and shot...there were 4 officers in mufti in a 3rd class compartment travelling from Cork (they thought it less conspicuous to travel 3rd class). There were 10 people in the compartment. The officers were en route to Bere Island. The soldiers were Lt R R Goode (inspector of Army Schools), Capt Reedy R.E., Chambers and Green.
The train stopped at Waterfall, 6 miles from Cork.
Three armed civilians entered their compartment. Looking at Chambers one of these armed men said "That is one of them" and looking at Green said "That is the other".
Chambers and Green were then marched out with their hands up and were last seen at the bridge over the railway....In 'The Year of Disappearances' (link here) the author makes a case for mistaken identity, for the Green the IRA wanted being George Edward Green, and not MHW Green...Watts had decided to travel First Class and was by himself.
Reedy only realised Watts was missing when the train got to Kinsale Junction and he could not find Watts...Goode added to his statement that he knew that Chambers had been responsible for the arrest of Father O'Donnell (Chaplin to the Australian Forces) in Oct 1919 for seditious language....Goode also said that Chambers and Green had the previous week been witnesses to the murder of 2 RIC constables at Ballybrack in the course of a railway journey.
Goode believed that Green was carrying an automatic pistol, but believed that the others were unarmed...1921 Nov 29- The IRA confirm that the men were executed, but details of their burial place did not emerge... (from here) and these British Army documents also make for interesting reading.
The lesson, whether it should have been learned in 1920 (if not centuries earlier!) or will be learned even at this late stage by those who think they have secured their political future and that of this Free State, is a simple one : 'Ireland unfree shall never be at peace'.
On the 19th November, 1920, 'The American Commission on Conditions in Ireland' held its first public hearing in Washington, America.
That organisation was established chiefly by the New York newspaper 'The Nation' and US Senators, Congressmen, Mayors, and other activists were quick to get involved, as the British military and political presence in Ireland was making world headlines at the time.
It's work included collecting first-hand accounts of British violence and atrocities in Ireland to maintain international attention on the situation and to further inform public and political opinion. The official 'ACCI' reporter, Albert Coyle, published over 1,100 pages of testimonies that documented the conflict.
Despite receiving invitations to attend, both Field Marshal 'Lord' John French, the '1st Earl of Ypres' who, as the '(British) King's Representative in Ireland', was their 'Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Forces' and, as such, their 'Lord Lieutenant' in this country, and 'Sir' Hamar Greenwood, who was the (British) 'Chief Secretary for Ireland' and, according to Westminster, was "responsible for the administration of the country (Ireland) and the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)...", refused to attend.
And, actually, no-one from 'the British side' turned up...!
"You have killed one of my sons but I have more that will take up the fight..."
- Mr Martin Clancy, November 1920, speaking to the Black and Tans and RIC members who were harassing the mourners at the funeral of his son, Volunteer Second Lieutenant Patrick Clancy (19), Drangan Company, 7th Battalion, Third Tipperary Brigade IRA.
On the same date that the British shunned the Washington meeting, one of their Army Lieutenants in Ireland, a Mr Edward Litchford (aka 'Edward Litchfield', Lincolnshire Regiment, pictured) was in the vicinity of Corbally/Ballylusky, near Newton, Drangan, in County Tipperary, when he spotted Lieutenant Patrick Clancy, pulled out his pistol and shot Volunteer Clancy dead.
The British Army shooter was put on an IRA 'shoot-on-sight' list and his name came up in an 'IRA Witness Statement' about operations which took place in late 1920 -
"I was 'on the run' and spent practically all my time with Volunteer Donovan and some others who were also 'on the run' in the 7th Battalion area.
I remember Volunteer Donovan telling us that he had orders from G.H.Q. to shoot a Lieutenant Litchford (/field) of the British Army who was then stationed in (the village of) Killenaule, and Volunteer Donovan in turn gave us orders that if the opportunity ever came our way we were to shoot Litchfield on sight.
On a few occasions we went into Killenaule at night and patrolled the streets there but failed to see Lieutenant Litchfield.
In the search of the (confiscated) mails (page 38, here) afterwards we found three silver medals - one which I possess now. It is inscribed - 'To Lieutenant E.R. Litchford, Lincolnshire Regiment, for gallant conduct in Ireland, 19th November, 1920'..."
On the 20th March, 1921, Volunteers attached to the ASU of the 7th (Callan) Battalion, Kilkenny Brigade, acting on information supplied to them, took up an ambush position at the back gate of a lodging house in Mullinahone, County Tipperary, where an RIC member, a Mr William Campbell, was staying.
Mr Campbell was 'on sick leave' and was apparently expecting a visit from Mr Litchford, who never showed.
When Mr Campbell stepped out into the backyard of the premises, the Volunteers shot him dead.
Also, in early July 1921, the IRA received information that Mr Litchford would be 'out and about' in the village of Mulliahone (County Tipperary) on the 10th of that month, showing a BA sergeant, a Mr John William Reynolds, the lie of the land.
An ambush position was established and, when two British Army men in Lincolnshire Regiment attire entered the ambush position, IRA Volunteers opened fire on them.
The sergeant died at the scene, the other foreign soldier - a Lieutenant Rowles, not the man they were after - was seriously injured.
Incidentally, four months after Volunteer Patrick Clancy was buried, one of his brothers, Martin (Jnr), an IRA Volunteer himself, was attending an IRA Battalion meeting (of the IRA No. 3 Brigade) with eleven of his comrades, in a venue in Knockroe, in County Tipperary, when British Army soldiers from the Lincolnshire Regiment, under the command of a Lieutenant Ormond, stormed the venue.
In the melee that followed, two IRA Officers - Volunteer Patrick Hackett and Volunteer Richard Fleming - were shot dead, and Volunteer Martin Clancy was wounded and placed under 'arrest' but, rather than be burdened with a wounded man, a British soldier shot him dead.
Mr Martin Clancy Snr buried another son.
(Note - a sister to Volunteers Patrick and Martin (Jnr) Clancy, Josephine [Kiely], was a member of Cumann na mBan // - and, somehow, Mr Litchford survived until 1984, and is buried in his own country, in Saint Edmonds, in Suffolk, England. Droch chrích ort...)
RIP Volunteers Patrick Clancy, Martin Clancy Jnr, Patrick Hackett and Richard Fleming.
On the same date that Volunteer Patrick Clancy was shot dead (19th November 1920), British Army Intelligence operatives were searching through files and other paperwork that had been taken in house raids on the 26th October and the 10th, 17th and on that same date, the 19th, of November.
Liam Hayes (pictured, a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State-poacher), at that time an IRA Volunteer who was working within the 'Republican Loan Department' in the Movement, lived at No. 49 Longwood Avenue in Portobello, in Dublin and, on the 10th November (1920), the British Army raided the house.
The IRA Chief of Staff at that time, Volunteer Richard Mulcahy (another republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State poacher), was in the house at time of the raid, but he managed to escape (..luckily enough...?!) .
But CoS Volunteer Mulcahy left his files and paperwork in the house and, on the 19th of that month, while they were sifting throught the paperwork they had removed earlier during the various raids, British operatives came across the names and locations of about 200 IRA Officers/Volunteers, all of whom had to go 'on the run'.
They also came across detailed plans for attacks on infrastructural plants in England which, obviously, had to be abandoned.
As the British sifters of papers were sifting papers in their then Dublin Castle HQ, 260km (about 160 miles) away down the country, in the village of Dúras (Durrus) in West Cork (about 10km/6 miles from the town of Bantry) their comrades in the RIC were, as ever, getting rowdy with four IRA Volunteers they had captured and placed under 'arrest'.
The four rebels - Volunteer Maurice Donnegan (Officer Commanding 5th Battalion, Cork No.3 Brigade), Volunteer Captain Ralph Keyes (Bantry Company), Adjutant Seán Cotter (5th Battalion) and Volunteer Cornelius O'Sullivan - were each given the digs and were more than likely about to be executed on the spot by the RIC.
A British Army Colonel, a Mr Percy Hudson, attached to the 'King's Liverpool Regiment' (who was a Lieutenant-Colonel around the time of the 1916 Rising and was eventually promoted to the position of Major) and some of his soldiers, who were on that 'seek and detain' operation with the RIC, intervened, and more than likely literally saved the lives of the four Volunteers.
Credit where it's due - fair play to Mr Hudson for that!
==========================
THE MONTH UNSPUN.
The stories that hit the headlines.
From Magill magazine, August 2002.
An Apology Of Sorts.
The IRA released a statement four days before the 30th anniversary of 'Bloody Friday' apologising for the "deaths and injuries on non-combatants" which they had caused over the course of their campaign, and acknowledged the "grief and pain of their relatives."
Nine people were killed and more than 100 injured on 'Bloody Friday', 21st July 1972, when the IRA exploded over 20 bombs around Belfast.
According to the statement... "..the process of conflict resolution requires the equal acknowledgement of the grief and loss of others..", and the IRA is... "..totally committed to the peace process* and to dealing with the challenges and difficulties which this presents.".
The IRA has never apologised for its actions before, so the value of the statement to the peace process* should not be underestimated, the newspapers believed...
(*)
(MORE LATER.)
'West Belfast erupted.
Bullets raked the city’s trams.
Rival nationalist and loyalist snipers traded shots from rooftops.
Mobs burned rows of houses, especially along the unofficial frontier between catholic and protestant neighbourhoods...'
"We turned a corner then a shout in a Southern brogue - 'Halt, hands up!'
Jack Donaghy was using a Peter Painter 12 rounder (Mauser C96 automatic pistol). He opened fire, three policemen fell, one killed, two wounded."
'The dead policeman was Constable Thomas Conlon, based in Springfield Road barracks ; the two wounded were Constable Edward Hogan and the driver of the Crossley tender, Special Constable Charles Dunne.
Conlon, a catholic policeman originally from Roscommon, was viewed by the IRA as being sympathetic – according to Montgomery, "he was good at giving tips of police raids."
The most immediate response to the ambush was that a GAA club hall was burned down in Raglan Street that night, where it was stated that "a German rifle and a thousand rounds of ammunition" were found by police during a follow-up search. As no loyalists could have penetrated so deep into the Lower Falls, the hall must have been burned by the police. This was merely a foretaste of what was to come...' (From here.)
The disturbances detailed above began on the 10th July 1921 and lasted until the 15th July, and resulted in the deaths of at least 20 people with injuries to many more, with over 200 houses destroyed.
Small(ish) skirmishes followed until, on the 19th November that year, nationalists were again put in a position where they had to defend themselves - riots broke out in the east side of Belfast and in the York Street area (and in the townland of Baile Mhic Gearóid [Ballymacarrett], Knockbreda area, the following day), which lasted into the night of the 25th (November 1921), during which at least 30 people lost their lives.
North, South, East or West in Ireland or any other country that they have 'kept the peace in' - the British political and military presence leaves bloodshed behind it...
==========================
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 Tunisian authorities made a copy (not the original) of the alleged recording of the communication between Captain Bartolo and Djerba ATC available in December 1998, three years after the incident.
The Maltese inquiry report states..."..a copy of the original tape was eventually sent by the Board for examination at Farnborough by the UK Accident Investigation Branch."
Farnborough concluded that... "..the tone of the pilot's voice appeared to change slightly and the conversation from him appeared somewhat clipped.
The content of the voice appeared to contain over this period more high frequencies, giving an indication of some degree of stress or anxiety..."
(MORE LATER.)
On the 19th November, 1922, the newspapers in the Free State (and some newspapers further afield) all carried the same front page - that four IRA Volunteers had died the previous day in Dublin when the landmine they were working on exploded.
The Volunteers - Captain Thomas Maguire (Dublin), Lieutenant Patrick Egan (Limerick), Thomas S. Whelan (Limerick) and Bernard Curtis (pictured, Dublin) - were preparing an ambush position on the Naas Road (beside Lansdowne Valley, near Inchicore) for FSA members who were driving back to their Baldonnel base from guard duty in Kilmainham Jail.
RIP Volunteers Thomas Maguire, Patrick Egan, Thomas S. Whelan and Bernard Curtis.
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ON THIS DATE (19TH NOVEMBER) 105 YEARS AGO : NEWS BREAKS OF AN IRA SHOPPING TRIP FOR AIRPLANE PARTS...
On the 18th November 1920, an aeroplane made an emergency landing in a field near Punches Quarry in Cratloe, County Clare, and word quickly spread in the area that the craft was fitted-out with a machine gun.
The British 'authorities' heard about the incident, as did the local IRA unit, and the former ordered their man in the area, 2nd Lieutenant MH Last, to organise a platoon from 'C' Company, 'Oxon and Bucks' (the 'Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry' regiment) and get to the site to guard the wreck, which they did and, in an act of bravado (given the times that were in it!) the British forces apparently posted no sentries and built and lit a large fire to make themselves comfortable.
The IRA, too, had arrived on site, with Volunteer Joe Clancy in command, and a gun battle ensued -
'1920 Nov 18. A platoon from "C" Company, 1st Battalion of the Ox and Bucks were guarding the crashed RAF plane near Punches Quarry, Cratloe area. They were under the command of 2nd Lieutenant M.H.Last. A group of I.R.A. volunters led by Joe Clancy (Brigade Training Officer East Clare Brigade) had seen the plane come down and got together an attacking group from IRA men hiding out at Hogans house in Cratloe.
Their objective was to capture the aeroplane's machine gun.
After dusk Clancy and his group climbed to the top of Punches Quarry and opened fire at 17.30 on the unsuspecting Ox and Bucks troops who were grouped round a large bonfire that they had lit to keep themselves warm. The IRA said that there were no sentries posted...'- more here.
ON THIS DATE (19TH NOVEMBER) 105 YEARS AGO : NEWS OF BRITISH REPRISAL KILLINGS IN CORK.
On the 17th November 1920, a 46-year-old Kerry-born RIC Sergeant, a Mr James O'Donoghue, who had 22 years 'service' in that particular 'police force' and was about to be promoted to Head Constable, was shot dead in White Street in Cork city by three IRA men (Charlie O'Brien, Willie Joe O'Brien and Justin O'Connor) , who were standing in a gateway, waiting for a target that never showed.
The IRA unit were about to leave the area when they were spotted by O'Donoghue, who had just left his home at Tower Street, in full uniform, to make his way to the RIC barracks at Tuckey Street, about a half-mile of a walk from his house.
According to reports of the incident, the RIC man "came upon" the IRA men and he was shot dead as a result.
The next day - the 18th November (1920), a gang of masked men, believed to be RIC and/or Black and Tans from the Tuckey Street barracks, forced their way in to the O'Brien house, looking for Charlie and Willie Joe ; they shot Charlie, leaving him for dead, and then shot his brother-in-law, Eugene O'Connell, who died at the scene.
The British execution gang then broke into the near-by home of Patrick Hanley and shot him dead, and then turned their guns on his friend, Stephen Coleman, severely wounding him, and a James Coleman was also attacked by the gang and shot dead.
An IRA investigation into how the IRA unit had been exposed led the organisation to believe that informers had been at work and three men were shot dead as a result - John Sherlock, 'Din-Din' O'Riordan and Eddie Hawkins (whose father, Dan, was seriously wounded in that action).
Incidentally, a week after they killed the RIC man, the Cork Command IRA officially apologised in writing to his family and let it be known that they were 'furious' that their Volunteers had taken it on themselves to carry-out that operation.
No such apology was issued by the RIC or the Black and Tans.
And, in our opinion, no such apology should have been issued by the Cork Command.
ON THIS DATE (19TH NOVEMBER) 152 YEARS AGO : 'HOME RULE' ISSUE MAKES THE HEADLINES AGAIN.
'ISAAC BUTT (1813-1879) POLITICIAN, BARRISTER AND PHILOSOPHER (pictured).
Isaac Butt was born in Glenfin, Donegal, on the 6th September 1813. His father, the Reverend Robert Butt, became Rector of St. Mary's Church of Ireland, Stranorlar, in 1814, and Isaac spent his childhood years in Stranorlar.
His mother's maiden name was Berkeley Cox and she claimed descendency from the O'Donnells.
When Isaac was aged twelve he went as a boarder to the Royal School Raphoe and at the age of fifteen entered Trinity College Dublin.
He trained as a barrister and became a member of both the Irish Bar and the English Bar.
He was a conservative lawyer but after the famine ('1169' comment - it was an attempted genocide) in the 1840s became increasingly liberal. In 1852 he became Tory MP at Westminster representing Youghal, Co. Cork and in 1869 he founded the Tenant League to renew the demand for tenant rights.
He was a noted orator who spoke fervently for justice, tolerance, compassion and freedom, and always defended the poor and the oppressed.
He started the Home Rule Movement in 1870 and in 1871 was elected MP for Limerick, running on a Home Rule ticket.
He founded a political party called 'The Home Rule Party' in 1873. By the mid 1870s Butt's health was failing and he was losing control of his party to a section of its members who wished to adopt a much more aggressive approach than he was willing to accept.
In 1879 he suffered a stroke from which he failed to recover and died on the 5th May in Clonskeagh, Dublin. He was replaced by William Shaw who was succeeded by Charles Stewart Parnell in 1880. Isaac Butt became known as "The Father of Home Rule in Ireland".
At his express wish he is buried in a corner of Stranorlar Church of Ireland cemetery, beneath a tree where he used to sit and dream as a boy.' (from here.)
On the 18th November, 1873, a three-day conference was convened in Dublin to discuss the issue of 'home rule' for Ireland and, it being such an outrageous notion (!) at the time, its first day received massive media coverage the following day, 'Day 2' of the conference, the 19th November, 1873 - 152 years ago on this date.
The conference had been organised, in the main, by Isaac Butt's then 3-year-old 'Home Government Association', and was attended by various individuals and small localised groups who shared an interest in that subject.
Isaac Butt was a well-known Dublin barrister who was apparently viewed with some suspicion by 'his own type' - Protestants - as he was a pillar of the Tory society in Ireland before recognising the ills of that creed and converting, politically, to the 'other side of the house' - Irish nationalism, a 'half way house', if even that - then and now - between British imperialism and Irish republicanism ie Isaac Butt and those like him made it clear that they were simply agitating for an improved position for Ireland within the 'British empire', as opposed to Irish republicans who were demanding then, and now, a British military and political withdrawal from Ireland.
Over that three-day period the gathering agreed to establish a new organisation, to be known as 'The Home Rule League', and the minutes from the conference make for interesting reading as they highlight/expose the request for the political 'half way house', mentioned above -
'At twelve o'clock, on the motion of George Bryan, M.R, seconded by Hon. Charles Ffrench, M.P., the Chair was taken by William Shaw, M.R.
On the motion of the Rev. P. Lavelle, seconded by Laurence Waldron, D.L., the following gentlemen were appointed Honorary Secretaries : — John O.Blunden, Philip Callan M.P, W.J.O'Neill Daunt, ER King Harman and Alfred Webb. ER King Harman read the requisition convening the Conference, as follows : —
We, the undersigned feel bound to declare our conviction that it is necessary to the peace and prosperity of Ireland, and would be conducive to the strength and stability of the United Kingdom, that the right of domestic legislation on all Irish affairs should be restored to our country and that it is desirable that Irishmen should unite to obtain that restoration upon the following principles : To obtain for our country the right and privilege of managing our own affairs, by a Parliament assembled in Ireland, composed of her Majesty the Sovereign, and the Lords and Commons of Ireland.
To secure for that Parliament, under a Federal arrangement, the right of legislating for, and regulating all matters relating to the internal affairs of Ireland, and control over Irish resources and revenues, subject to the obligation of contributing our just proportion of the Imperial expenditure.
To leave to an Imperial Parliament the power of dealing with all questions affecting the Imperial Crown and Government, legislation regarding the Colonies and other dependencies of the Crown, the relations of the United Empire with Foreign States, and all matters appertaining to the defence and the stability of the Empire at large...' (from here.)
The militant 'Irish Republican Brotherhood' (IRB) was watching those developments with interest and it was decided that Patrick Egan and three other members of the IRB Supreme Council - John O'Connor Power, Joseph Biggar and John Barry - would join the 'Home Rule League' with the intention of 'steering' that group in the direction of the IRB.
Other members of the IRB were encouraged to join the 'League' as well, and a three-year time-scale was set in which to completely infiltrate that grouping.
However, that decision to infiltrate Isaac Butt's organisation was to backfire on the 'Irish Republican Brotherhood' : the 'three-year' period of infiltration ended in 1876 and in August 1877 the IRB Supreme Council held a meeting at which a resolution condemning the over-involvement in politics (ie political motions etc rather than military action) of IRB members was discussed.
After heated arguments, the resolution was agreed and passed by the IRB Council, but not everyone accepted that decision and Patrick Egan, John O'Connor Power, Joseph Biggar and John Barry refused to accept it and all four men resigned from the IRB ; they had become 'comfortable' in the political arena.
Charles Stewart Parnell was elected as leader of the 'Home Rule League' in 1880 and it became a more organised body - two years later, Parnell renamed it the 'Irish Parliamentary Party' and the rest, as they say, is history...
On the 19th November, 1924, the British Government agreed to hand £1 million over the following twelve months to finance the 'Ulster Special Constabulary' ('USC' - A, B and C Specials), three of its paramilitary groupings in Ireland.
It was also agreed that Mr Winston Churchill, the British 'Chancellor of the Exchequer' (and future British PM) should hold on to an extra £250,000 to spend on the 'Specials' at his own discretion ie recruitment, bullets and bribes etc.
And that government also approved Mr Churchill as the only conduit between the British Exchequer and Mr James Craig, the 'the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland' ie "...listen, James, if ya need a few extra shillings for recruitment, bullets and bribes, just gimme a shout..".
In October the following year (1925), Mr Churchill told Mr Craig that he had an extra £500,000 to give him for the 'USC' : recruitment, bullets and bribes don't come cheap, ya know...
On the same date that the Brits had agreed to hand over the big money to their surrogates in the Occupied Six Counties, a delegation of concerned nationalists from Tyrone, Strabane and Keady (all areas in the O6C) was meeting with Mr William T. Cosgrave, the 'President of the Free State Executive Council' ('Head of Government', or the equivalent of 'Taoiseach') in Dublin -
"If it's a bad report, (Eoin) MacNeill should not sign. This view is generally held..."
- the advice offered to Mr Cosgrave, from the delegation, in relation to the findings of the Boundary Commission which, the delegation stated, should not issue any report at all rather than issue a 'border-remains-as-is' report!
In other words - 'if it's a bad-news report, bury it...' - and the Staters have been burying that particular issue re the O6C, among others, ever since...
And, as that delegation were offering their 'bury it' advice, the politicians in Leinster House voiced approval for the notion that acceptance of the Treaty (of Surrender) must not be construed by Westminster as there being even more Irish territory to be had ie "Ah Jaze, Mr Churchill, leave us something here that we can tax, will ya..."
Disgusting cockroaches, all of them, filled with void.
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Thanks for the visit, and for reading - appreciated.
Sharon and the team.
(We'll be back on Wednesday, 3rd December, 2025.)
