British Forces in Ireland

Article published in the Irish Nationalist weekly newspaper, Old Ireland Vol II No. 13 May 1st 1920

Dáil Éireann continued to operate underground following its banning the previous year, with the IRA effectively its official army. At the same time the Crown forces, with altered structures, attempted to stop the erosion of British authority in Ireland. Those factors produced a year of heighted armed conflict with no clear winner, but a number of important occurrences boosted the Irish republican cause in the increasingly important propaganda war.

New British arrivals proved to be a major game changer. A group of former British troops known as “The Black and Tans” were followed by former officers known as “The Auxiliaries” and those developments produced deaths, injuries, attacks and destruction of property on an unprecedented scale. There was much destruction of RIC stations and attacks on other utilities such as masts, coastguard stations and lighthouses. Engagements between Crown forces and republicans became increasingly brutal as indicated by figures released in October carried over from the previous year: 40 policeman had been killed and 117 wounded. The corresponding figures for the military were 32 and 83 respectively and there were significant civilian casualties too.  

A standard British reprisal was the sacking of towns. Balbriggan, Trim, Mallow, Rineen, Ballinalee and Tubbercurry were among the many set alight before the infamous “Burning of Cork” on December 11th. Following an IRA ambush at Dillon’s Cross near Victoria Barracks Cork City, rampaging Auxiliaries and Black and Tans later torched much of the city centre, destroying many business premises and terrorising civilians. Though the authorities claimed that the arson was inflicted by the citizens of Cork, they later payed £3 million in compensation. Four days later, the Auxiliaries struck again in Dunmanway in West Cork when Canon Magner PP and young parishioner Timothy Crowley were shot dead. Those events kept Cork in the headlines where it had been for most of that year.