January 1921 • 1 January 1921: • The IRA ambushed an RIC patrol in
Ballybay,
County Monaghan, killing one officer and wounding others. A civilian was also killed when he ran to fetch reinforcements. The RIC attacked several homes in reprisal and twelve volunteers were later arrested. • Seven houses were burnt in Midleton, County Cork as a reprisal for the killing of three RIC officers. • 2 January 1921: • Two RIC men were shot dead by the IRA in a
Belfast hotel. • West Waterford Column under
George Lennon ambush a British patrol at the intersection outside
Cappoquin on the Cappoquin-Mt Mellary road. • 5 January 1921: Martial law was extended to Clare and Waterford. • 7 January 1921: The RIC raided a cottage near
Ballinalee, County Longford, looking for
Seán Mac Eoin, who fired from the cottage, killing District Inspector Thomas McGrath and wounding a constable, then escaping. • 8 January 1921: Thomas Kirby was abducted near
Golden, County Tipperary and shot dead by the IRA as an alleged spy and informer. His body was never recovered until 1990, some four miles from where he disappeared. • A British Army patrol was ambushed by a combined Waterford force at Pickardstown following a feint attack on the
Tramore RIC barracks. Present were W. Waterford O/C Pax Whelan, E. Waterford O/C Paddy Paul and Flying Column O/C George Lennon. Two IRA volunteers (Thomas O'Brien and Michael McGrath) were reportedly taken away and shot dead by members of the Devon Regiment. McGrath was the first Waterford City Volunteer killed in the War. • 12 January 1921: The IRA ambushed a British troop train carrying 150 soldiers at the
Barnesmore Gap, County Donegal. A number of soldiers were wounded. They returned fire with a Lewis machine gun mounted on the train. The IRA also fired on another troop train sent to recover the first. • 13 January 1921: • British troops manning a checkpoint at
O'Connell Bridge, Dublin, opened fire on a crowd of civilians, killing two - Martha Nowlan & James Brennan (aged 10) and wounding six. • Hunston House, Birr, County Offaly One British soldier of K.S.L.I. killed. • 15 January 1921: Private R.G. Brown 1165 Company, RASC, who had deserted at Doroughmore in Co.Cork on 13 January 1921, was captured at Ballyvalloon by the IRA and shot as a suspected spy. • 15–17 January 1921: British soldiers imposed a curfew in an area bounded by Capel, Church and North King Streets and the quays in Dublin's inner city, sealing them off, allowing no-one in or out. They then conducted a house-to-house search, but no significant arrests or arms finds were made. • 20 January 1921: The IRA in Clare, under Michael Brennan, ambush an RIC lorry at Glenwood, between
Sixmilebridge and
Broadford. Six constables were killed and two others wounded but escaped. The IRA took their weapons and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition before burning the lorry. Among the dead was RIC District Inspector William Clarke. In reprisals, British forces burned homes and business premises in the vicinity and arrested 22 people. • 21 January 1921: An abortive IRA ambush took place at Drumcondra. One IRA volunteer, Michael Francis Magee, was wounded and died the next day at
King George V Hospital. Five men were captured: Patrick Doyle, Francis X Flood, Thomas Bryan and Bernard Ryan, all of whom were hanged at
Mountjoy Prison on 14 March 1921. A fifth, Dermot O'Sullivan, was imprisoned. The last, Séan Burke, successfully escaped. • 22 January 1921: The IRA shot dead three RIC officers near Stranoodan RIC barracks, County Monaghan. • 23 January 1921: An
Ulster Special Constabulary officer was killed and another wounded after their 15-strong group fired on an RIC patrol which interrupted their looting of a pub in
Clones, County Monaghan. • 24 January 1921: The
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Tuam,
Thomas Gilmartin, issued a letter saying that IRA volunteers who took part in ambushes
"have broken the truce of God, they have incurred the guilt of murder". • January 1921: • IRA volunteer John Doran abducted from his home in
Camlough, South Armagh and killed by unknown gunmen. • An IRA ambush was mounted at Freeduff, County Armagh. Two RIC men killed and others injured. • K Coy, 3rd Battalion Dublin Brigade ambushed a number of lorries of British soldiers at the junction of
Merrion Square/Mount Street. IRA men were posted at various points along the route of the convoy (at Holles Street, midway along Merrion Square and from
Merrion Street). Clare St. was barricaded and a standing fight developed. The British withdrew after some time. British casualties were believed to be high. No IRA casualties (this was the only operation carried out in Dublin where all of the IRA involved were from a single company) • 2 February 1921: • Led by
Seán Mac Eoin, the North Longford IRA attacked two lorries of Auxiliaries at the
Clonfin Ambush. A
landmine was exploded under the lorries, followed by a two-hour firefight. Four Auxiliaries and a driver were killed and eight wounded. The IRA volunteers captured 18 rifles, 20 revolvers and a
Lewis gun. • Volunteers under the command of
Tom Barry occupied Burgatia House, a small country house owned by a loyalist family, and intended to use it as a staging point for an attack on the RIC barracks in
Rosscarbery. However, later that day, their position was given away after a postman had stumbled on them, leading to a contingent of Black and Tans being sent out to arrest them. The column managed to beat them back and successfully withdraw. • 3 February 1921: • The Limerick IRA ambushes an RIC patrol at
Dromkeen,
County Limerick, killing 11 constables. • An IRA volunteer is shot dead when British troops raided his safe house in west Cork. • 5 February 1921: • British Intelligence officer Lance Corporal MPC/MFP John Ryan is assassinated by IRA volunteers in a pub on Corporation Street in Dublin. • James (Shanker) Ryan, the one who allegedly betrayed
Peadar Clancy and
Dick McKee on the eve of
Bloody Sunday (1920) was killed in Dublin. • 6 February: There were two attacks on British soldiers at Merrion Square and
Camden Street, Dublin by the 3rd Battalion Dublin Brigade. • British army killed 14-year-old boy and wounds two other boys in
Knocknagree,
County Cork. • 9 February 1921: Irish republicans James Murphy and Patrick Kennedy were arrested by
Auxiliaries in Dublin. Two hours later,
Dublin Metropolitan Police found the two men shot in Drumcondra: Kennedy was dead and Murphy was dying when they were discovered. Murphy died two days later in
Mater Hospital, Dublin. Before the end, he declared that he and Kennedy were shot by their Auxiliary captors. A court of inquiry was held and Captain H L King, commanding officer of F Company ADRIC and two cadets, were tried for Murphy's murder but acquitted on 15 April 1921. • 11 February 1921: • 3rd Cork Brigade volunteers made an attack on a troop train at Drishabeg, near
Millstreet, County Cork. One British soldier is killed, five wounded and fifteen captured but later released. The IRA seized arms and ammunition. • 13 February 1921: Attacks on Crown forces at Merrion Square and Nassau Street, Dublin by 3rd Battalion Dublin Brigade volunteers. • Two IRA volunteers, the Coffey brothers, were assassinated in their beds by unknown gunmen in Enniskeane, Cork. • Pvt A. Mason of the
Manchester Regiment went missing near
Ballincollig. • 15 February 1921: •
Upton Train Ambush: an IRA column from the 3rd Cork Brigade, led by
Charlie Hurley mounts a disastrous attack on a train containing British soldiers at
Upton, Cork. Three volunteers are killed and three captured. Six civilian passengers are killed and ten wounded in crossfire. Six British soldiers are wounded, three seriously. • An IRA ambush position at
Mourne Abbey, County Cork, is allegedly betrayed by an informer, William Shields. Five IRA volunteers were killed by British troops, four more were wounded and captured. Two of the captured volunteers - Thomas Mulcahy and Patrick Ronayne were sentenced to death by court martial and shot by firing squad on 28 April 1921. • 16 February 1921: • Four unarmed IRA volunteers, who had been digging a trench at
Kilbrittain, County Cork, were arrested by troops of the
Essex Regiment and then shot dead. • British soldiers attacked at Lower Mount Street Dublin by 3rd Battalion Dublin Brigade volunteers. • 19 February 1921: Three British soldiers (privates) of the Oxford Regiment were found by IRA men, unarmed and wearing civilian clothes near
Feakle,
County Clare. The soldiers said they were deserters but the IRA suspected they were spies, shot them and dumped their bodies near
Woodford, County Galway. • 20 February 1921: • The
Clonmult Ambush – A dozen IRA volunteers were killed at Clonmult, County Cork, near
Midleton, after being surrounded in a house. The British alleged a false IRA surrender and killed all the IRA volunteers in the house. Four other IRA volunteers were wounded and another four were captured unscathed. Only one escaped. The IRA claimed an informer was to blame and a spate of shootings of six alleged informers ensued during the following week. • Pvt B. Tinehes of the Manchester Regiment went missing near
Ballincollig. • Two IRA volunteers were killed and two wounded in a failed ambush in Friary Street in
Kilkenny. • 22 February 1921: • The IRA ambushed a British Army/RIC group outside
Mountcharles, County Donegal, killing an RIC officer and wounding others. In reprisal, the RIC and Auxiliaries attacked and looted buildings in Mountcharles and Donegal. In Mountcharles, they shot dead a civilian woman and a drunken Auxiliary mistakenly shot dead an RIC sergeant. • The bodies of three British soldiers (Privates Williams, Walker and Morgan of the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry) were discovered by a farmer on the Woodford–Cahir road near
Lough Atorick by the Clare–Galway border. The three, who had said that they were deserting, were shot dead by the IRA's East Clare Brigade, which believed the three were spies not deserters. One of the victims had a label hung around his neck which read, "Spies. Tried by courtmartial and found guilty. All others beware". • 23 February 1921: • IRA volunteers from
The Squad, attacked RIC men returning from lunch to
Dublin Castle on Parliament street. The policemen were in Dublin to help identify suspects. Two policemen were killed, another was badly wounded and died later that night. • One RIC officer was killed, another wounded and two British soldiers of the Essex Regiment were killed in an IRA attack led by
Tom Barry in Bandon, County Cork. • 25 February 1921: • The IRA Cork Number One Brigade led by
Dan "Sandow" O'Donovan attacked a large convoy of mixed military and police at Coolavokig, County Cork (see
Coolavokig Ambush). Major James Grant, a British officer was killed. Several Auxiliaries and soldiers were wounded. • A British review stated that two British soldiers (excluding RIC personnel) had been killed in the preceding week, the lowest total so far for a week in 1921. The review listed ten ambushes in the preceding seven days. Seven people had been killed as spies by the IRA during the week. in
Tipperary Town, killed in
Cork on 28 February 1921. • 28 February 1921: • Sean (John) Allen, a 24 year old IRA man from Tipperary town was executed after a military court found him guilty of possession of a revolver. Allen was buried in
Cork Prison yard. • An IRA column led by
Seán Moylan ambushed an RIC patrol at Tureengariff, County Cork. Two RIC constables were killed and two rifles were taken. • Six IRA prisoners executed by Crown forces at
Cork County Gaol. • Attack on British soldiers at Camden Street, Dublin, by the 3rd Battalion Dublin Brigade. The British soldiers killed were John Beattie, Private Thomas Wise, Albert Whitear, G. Bowden, Corporal Corporal Hodnett and Private William Gill, L.D. Hodnett. • February 1921: • British soldiers were ambushed at the junction of
Aungier Street/Bishop Street by C Company, 3rd Battalion Dublin Brigade. • Attack on Crown forces at College Green Dublin by IRA volunteers from the 3rd Battalion Dublin Brigade. • 2 March 1921: • IRA fighters from the 2nd Cork Brigade and 2nd Kerry Brigade lay
landmines near
Millstreet. Thirteen British soldiers are killed and fifteen wounded when the mines explode under their lorry. • Attack on Crown forces at South Richmond Street Dublin by Volunteers from the 3rd Battalion Dublin Brigade. • 3 March 1921: A plan to hold up a train of jurors bound for the spring assizes in Waterford (and ambush the expected convoy of troops) by the West Waterford Column under
George Lennon, at Durrow/Ballyvoile. The resulting engagement at Durrow railway tunnel lasted most of the day and the IRA withdrew under the cover of darkness. One British soldier was seriously wounded and two others suffered minor wounds. • 4 March 1921: The South
Leitrim Brigade of the IRA ambush a Black and Tan Convoy, at the
Sheemore ambush, near
Carrick on Shannon. Several casualties result, including the death of a captain in the
Bedfordshire Regiment. Black and Tans later ran amok in Carrick, burning and looting, and burned both the premises of the Leitrim Observer newspaper and the local rowing club to the ground. • 5 March 1921: • An IRA column mounted an ambush at
Clonbanin, County Cork. A British general, Cumming, and three other soldiers were killed when their armoured car broke down and they were exposed to IRA fire. • Two ambushes took place in Dublin, one near present-day
Parnell Square, the other in
Clontarf, both in the north of the city. In both incidents, IRA volunteers threw hand grenades and exchanged fire with British troops. One civilian was killed and four wounded. No combatant casualties were reported. • 6 March 1921: The Limerick Curfew Murders. The
Mayor of Limerick,
George Clancy, former mayor Michael O'Callaghan and IRA volunteer Joseph O'Donoghue, were all shot dead in their homes at night after curfew by a British intelligence agent,
George Nathan, assisted by an Auxiliary from G Company ADRIC. • 7 March 1921: The South Mayo IRA flying column under
Tom Maguire surrounded a British army patrol at Kilfaul, near Partry between Ballinrobe and Castlebar, forcing it to surrender and give up its arms. Corporal Bell of The Border Regiment died the following day as a result of wounds. An innocent civilian, Thomas Horan (57 years) of Srah, Tourmakeady, was killed in reprisal when three men in police uniforms entered his home and shot him in the head. • 9 March 1921: A party of masked policemen entered the home of the Loughnane family in Mitchel St., Thurles. William Loughnane (23 years old) was shot dead in his bed. William, his father and 3 brothers were active members of local IRA company. The same night, Laurence Hickey (a well-known republican) was also shot in his home in Main St., Thurles. A third man, Denis Regan, prominent in the Thurles IRA, was shot several times the same night, by masked Auxiliary men, in a separate incident but survived the attempted killing. It is thought that the 3 attacks were reprisals for the IRA's execution of 2 informants in Thurles who were close friends of local RIC and Black and Tans on March, 1st, 1921. (For extra details see records from Commandant Leahy, No. 2 Mid-Tipp-Brigade. His details are present in the Irish Bureau of Military History statements: (See File No S.790. Document No. w.s. 1454. pp. 66–69.)) • 10 March 1921: A large British force carried out a large scale sweep at
Nad, County Cork (in the
Boggeragh Mountains). A house was raided with six members of the
Mallow IRA column asleep in it. Two made their escape (Joe Morgan and John Moloney) but the other four volunteers are shot dead. • 11 March 1921: • British troops in County Cork were tipped off by Mrs Mary (or Maria) Lindsay, a local Protestant, about an impending IRA ambush at
Dripsey, on 28 January 1921 to which she had somehow become privy. She first told the local Catholic priest who tried unsuccessfully to dissuade the IRA from the ambush. At the ambush eight Volunteers were captured, two IRA volunteers were killed and five IRA prisoners were later executed under martial law. On 11 March 1921 the IRA killed Mrs Lindsay and her chauffeur, James Clarke, and burned down her home, Leemount House, in reprisal. •
Dáil Éireann debated, resolved and finally on 11 March declared war on the British administration. • The North Longford IRA officer Seán Connolly and five other IRA volunteers were killed by British troops at the
Selton Hill ambush, near
Mohill,
County Leitrim when their ambush position was allegedly betrayed by a local
Orangeman. • 12 March 1921: A firefight took place between the Kilkenny IRA unit and British forces at Garryricken House on the
Clonmel-
Kilkenny road. One RIC constable was killed. • 13 March 1921: A
Moyasta farmer and Sinn Féin magistrate named Tom Shannon was murdered in his home by unknown assailants-suspected to be British Forces. • 14 March 1921: • Six IRA prisoners were hanged by the British in Mountjoy Prison including
Thomas Whelan and
Patrick Moran. • The Battle of Brunswick Street. An Auxiliary patrol of two lorries and an armoured car, which was on its way to raid St Andrews Club, 144 Brunswick Street, Dublin, was attacked on Brunswick Street (now Pearse Street) near the corner of Erne Street. In the gun battle that followed, three IRA volunteers and two policemen as well as two civilians were killed. A number of IRA volunteers were captured. One,
Thomas Traynor, was hanged on 25 April. • 16 March 1921: • The IRA in Galway attacked the RIC barracks in
Clifden, killing two constables. The Auxiliaries and Black and Tans burned and looted 16 buildings in Clifden in reprisal for the attacks. One civilian was shot dead during the reprisals. The IRA column retreated to the Maam valley, where they ambushed British reinforcements at Munterowan and Screebe. • Dublin: A troop lorry from Wellington Barracks, carrying British soldiers from the South Lancashire Regiment, was hit by two grenades hurled from overlooking buildings on
Wexford Street, killing two soldiers (Lance Corporal Jarvis and Private G. Thomas) and wounding six others, one of whom, Private Whiting, died from his wounds two days later. • 18–19 March 1921: •
Burgery ambush - West Waterford IRA under Pax Whelan,
George Lennon (Commander of the local
Flying column) and
George Plunkett from Dublin HQ, ambushed a convoy of Black and Tans returning to Dungarvan via the Burgery. One Black and Tan was killed along with two IRA volunteers (Pat Keating and Seán Fitzgerald). • An IRA firing squad killed a Dungarvan constable, Michael Hickey. Affixed to his tunic was the notation "police spy". He was later interred, upon the intercession of the parish priest, in an unmarked grave belonging to his fiancée's family at St Mary's Roman Catholic Church,
Dungarvan. • 19 March 1921: •
Crossbarry Ambush - The IRA Cork no. 3 Brigade under
Tom Barry fought an action against 1,200 British troops at
Crossbarry, County Cork. The IRA column, comprising roughly 100 men, escaped encirclement. One RIC constable and six soldiers killed. The British claimed six IRA volunteers were killed; however, the IRA claimed only three were killed and the other three were wounded. • An RIC Constable and a RIC Sergeant killed in IRA ambushes. • 21 March 1921: • The Kerry IRA
attacked a train carrying military personnel at Headford Junction near
Killarney. The IRA claimed twenty British soldiers were killed, as well as two IRA volunteers and three civilians. The British reported only 8 soldiers killed and 12 wounded. • In an ambush at
Lispole, County Kerry, three IRA volunteers were killed • The IRA attacked the homes of up to sixteen
Ulster Special Constabulary officers in the Roslea district of Fermanagh, killing three and wounding others. IRA volunteers were also wounded and one captured. • Attack on RIC patrol at Rosemount, Dundrum, County Dublin. Two RIC constables wounded. • Attack on Auxiliaries at the Royal Marine Hotel, Dún Laoghaire. 3 Auxiliaries killed and at least 1 wounded. One IRA volunteer (Lt. Jim McIntosh) was killed. • Six IRA volunteers of the Cork number 1 Brigade were captured Cork by British forces at Clogheen, County Cork and summarily shot. It was alleged that an ex-British soldier/informer Patrick Joseph "Cruxy" O'Conner from within the IRA provided the location of the IRA unit and then fled the country to New York. Over a year later on 13 April 1922 he was shot four times and seriously wounded on a New York City street by an IRA ASU squad but survived the murder/revenge attempt. O'Conner died in Canada in the 1950s. • 24 March 1921: IRA Volunteer
Louis Darcy was murdered (while being held prisoner) by Black and Tans. His body was dragged for several miles behind a lorry and dumped at Merlin Park, County Galway. • 24 March 1921: A bomb was thrown at a group of soldiers at
Westport, County Mayo. British reprisals took place that night throughout West Mayo. • 28 March 1921: Attack on mixed patrol of Auxiliaries and military on Marine Road, Dún Laoghaire. One lorry was hit by a grenade and sped away to George's Street, where it ran into a burst of fire from an IRA patrol. This convoy then proceeded to the Blackrock area where it was ambushed at Temple Hill. Tender disabled by bomb. Several auxiliaries and one IRA volunteer were wounded • March 1921: • The West Cork IRA column under
Tom Barry attacked the RIC barracks at Rosscarbery. • An informer (identified as Dan Shields) reportedly betrayed the position of an IRA column in
Nad, County Cork. Three IRA volunteers were killed in the subsequent British ambush. • 2 April 1921: An IRA informer,
Vincent Fovargue (aged 20) from Dublin, was shot dead at a golf course near London, England. A note was left saying, "let spies and traitors beware, IRA". The shooting was reported carried out by IRA Officer
Reginald Dunne, who was later be executed for the killing of British Field Marshall
Sir Henry Wilson, 1st Baronet. • 3 April 1921: The South Leitrim Brigade of the IRA hold up the
Cavan and Leitrim Railway and intercept the Mail Car. A letter implicates a local farmer, John Harrison, as an informer; he is later killed. • 6–7 April 1921: An RIC officer was killed and four wounded in an IRA ambush in
Dromore, County Tyrone. The next day, an RIC sergeant shot a Catholic girl on the main street in a sectarian attack. He was then shot dead by an IRA volunteer, the girl's brother. In reprisal, the
Ulster Special Constabulary kidnapped and killed three local IRA volunteers. • 9 April 1921: An abortive IRA ambush took place in Mullinglown,
County Carlow - no casualties resulted but several IRA volunteers are arrested including the Officer Commanding. • 10 April 1921: • The IRA ambushed
Ulster Special Constabulary (USC) officers outside a church in
Creggan, County Armagh, killing one and wounding others with gunfire and grenades. The IRA had evacuated civilians from the area. In reprisal, the USC attacked nationalists and burned their homes in
Killylea, where the officers came from. • Privates George Motley and John Steer, both of the East Lancashire Regiment, were captured by the IRA at Barraduff, County Kerry. Moved around the countryside for about six months before being shot, their bodies were dumped in Anablaha bog and not recovered until January 1927 when Motley was buried in Nab Wood Cemetery near his home town of
Shipley, West Yorkshire, and Steer in Immanuel Church,
Accrington, Lancashire, both with full military honours. • 13–15 April 1921: Captain W.L. King, commanding officer of F Company Auxiliary Division, RIC, was tried by court-martial for the murder of James Murphy on 9 February 1921. Murphy's dying declaration was ruled inadmissible. Two Auxiliaries provided alibis for Captain King at the time of the murder. King was acquitted. • 15 April 1921: Major McKinnon, an RIC Auxiliary officer, is shot dead by the IRA at
Tralee golf course, County Kerry. • 18 April 1921: Attack on Cabinteely RIC barracks in County Dublin. • A mixed patrol of British army and RIC came upon armed men drilling in a field in Mullannagaun, Ballymurphy, Borris,
County Carlow. Four IRA Volunteers were killed and six were wounded. One civilian was also killed by a stray bullet. • After a shootout near
Loughglynn, County Roscommon, Black and Tans killed two IRA volunteers, Sean Bergin (23) and Stephen McDermott (19), and injured two others, Joe Satchwell and Thomas Scally. One soldier was seriously injured during the gun battle. • Two RIC officers were taken from a train at
Ballysadare, County Sligo, and summarily killed by the IRA. • 23 April 1921: • In central Belfast, two IRA officers
Seamus Woods and
Roger McCorley shot dead two Black and Tans. They exchanged fire with other RIC men as they made their escape and two civilians were injured in the crossfire. Loyalist gunmen killed two Catholic civilians in reprisal. Uniformed RIC men assassinated two republicans, the Duffin brothers, in revenge. • The
Third Tipperary Brigade, IRA ambushed a small party of British soldiers accompanying two horse-drawn carts approached from
Clogheen, near Curraghcloney, close to the village of
Ballylooby. The IRA volunteers withdrew southwards towards the
Knockmealdown Mountains leaving one British soldier dead and two others wounded, one fatally. By chance, RIC District Inspector
Gilbert Potter was returning by car from police duties at
Ballyporeen, drove into a section of the withdrawing Column. Potter was held as a
hostage for the safe release of
Thomas Traynor, an IRA Volunteer under sentence of death. Following Traynor's hanging, Potter was shot dead by the IRA. • 26 April 1921: The IRA ambushed an
Ulster Special Constabulary patrol in Newry, killing one and wounding others. Some of the IRA unit were captured shortly after. • 28 April 1921: • IRA volunteers Patrick Ronayne of Greenhill, Mourneabbey,
Mallow, County Cork and Thomas Mulcahy were executed at Cork Military Detention Barracks for their involvement in the failed
Mourneabbey Ambush. Both men were buried in
Cork Prison yard. The number of volunteers killed/wounded in this action is unclear. • 29 April 1921: West Waterford Flying Column under
George Lennon ambushed a train carrying British troops at the Ballylinch level crossing. The exchange of gunfire continued for half an hour, one volunteer was wounded and two British military were killed in a fire-fight. • 30 April 1921: Major Geoffrey Lee Compton-Smith (DSO), of the 2nd Battalion
Royal Welch Fusiliers, shot dead by the IRA (captured 18 April in
Blarney,
County Cork, the IRA promised the Majors release in return for the release of IRA prisoners being held under the sentence of death. The request was refused and 6 prisoners were executed, in reprisal the IRA Volunteers killed the Major near
Donoughmore,
County Cork on 28 April 1921). • April 1921: • The Dublin IRA carried out 67 attacks on British forces in the city in the course of the month. • Road trenching by IRA party on Churchtown Road, Churchtown Park, County Dublin surprised by two parties of RIC and B&T's coming from two different directions. Running battle ensued for more than two hours and was eventually broken at Milltown. • 2 May 1921: An IRA column ambushed British troops near Lackelly,
County Limerick, but took heavy casualties in the ensuing fire fight. The IRA columns was itself ambushed another three times as it retreated during a five and a half-hour running fight. Between five and fourteen IRA volunteers were killed and up to thirty wounded. • 3 May 1921: The South Mayo IRA flying column under
Tom Maguire ambush British troops at
Tourmakeady, killing four RIC policemen (Sgt John Regan, Constable William Power, Constable Christopher O'Regan, Constable Herbert Oates). The IRA volunteers were then pursued across the
Partry Mountains. They managed to escape despite Maguire being badly wounded. Two IRA volunteers were killed in this engagement (Michael O'Brien and Patrick Feeney) and another died later in 1922 as a result of an infection picked up from lying in a ditch while on the run. • 4 May 1921: The Kerry IRA ambushed an RIC patrol. Eight out of nine constables were killed or died of their wounds. Five houses and a creamery were burned in reprisal. The IRA had left the body of an 80-year-old informer, Thomas Sullivan, whom they had killed, at the side of the road near
Rathmore, to lure the police into the ambush. • 8 May 1921: • An IRA training camp was surrounded by British troops and Auxiliaries in the Lappanduff Hills,
County Cavan, sparking a two-hour firefight. An IRA volunteer was killed and eleven captured, all of them from the Belfast Brigade. • British forces in Carrigtouhil, Cork, shot dead an IRA volunteer. • RIC Constable Frederick Sterland killed while leaving a hotel off duty by four men he befriended • RIC Head Constable William K. Storey Shot dead from behind while returning from church with his wife. • RIC Sgt Constable Thomas McCormack Fatally shot when the patrol he was part of was ambushed by a large IRA unit. • 9 May 1921: • In Kerry, near
Castleisland, two RIC men were shot by IRA volunteers on their way home from
Mass. One (RIC Constable Alexander Thomas Clark) was killed, the other saved when his wife covered him with her body. • Attack on Dundrum RIC barracks, County Dublin. When the IRA attacking party had withdrawn the RIC and B&T's came out of the Barracks presumably to search for the attackers. Some IRA men had remained hidden near to the barracks and threw two grenades into the middle of the assembled RIC and B&T's. One IRA volunteer was wounded. Number of constables and B&Ts killed unclear. The body of Clarke was washed up on the shore the next day, the other was reportedly buried in a bog. • RIC Constables James Cullen and Martin Fallon killed when shop was fired on and Bombed. Each Posthumously awarded Constabulary Medal for Gallantry. • 10 May 1921 • There was an attack on Cabinteely RIC barracks, County Dublin with grenades from a motor car at the front entrance and with rifles from the rear by IRA men from the 6th Battalion Dublin Brigade. Casualties were admitted by RIC but no number was given. • 12 May 1921: • A group of
Black and Tans travelling from
Listowel towards
Athea arrested three young men in Gortaglanna. Prior to this the barracks in
Listowel had been burnt out and the troops decided to execute the young men in revenge. One of the men, Dalton, attempted to free himself from captivity and escaped, though injured by a bullet. Both of the other two men are shot on the spot. • Attack on Cabinteely RIC barracks, County Dublin. One IRA volunteer was wounded and later died on 28 May. Over the next two days (14–15 May) the IRA killed fifteen policemen. • 14 May 1921: • IRA volunteers, led by
Paddy Daly and
Emmet Dalton seized an
armoured car on the North Circular Road in
Dublin, killing two British soldiers. The car was then used to gain entrance to
Mountjoy Prison in an effort to free Seán Mac Eoin. However, the plot was discovered and the IRA volunteers in the car had to shoot their way out of the prison. The car was later abandoned in
Clontarf. • IRA in
Castletownbere, led by Michael Óg O'Sullivan, kill four soldiers of the
King's Own Scottish Borderers and wound two others at Furious Pier. • RIC Head Constable Francis Benson Shot and killed by an IRA gang as he left his home in Tralee. • RIC Constable Peter Coghlan fatally wounded by the explosion of an IRA bomb thrown at the patrol he was part of. • RIC Constables Harold Thompson and Thomas Cornyn both Shot dead going to summon a priest after a colleague was shot by the IRA. • RIC Sgt Joseph E. Coleman Shot dead in a public house by the IRA. • RIC Constable Robert Redmond Fatally shot while off duty on leave. • RIc Constable John McKenna Shot dead in a field near his barracks by four IRA gunmen. • RIC Constable Thomas Bridges Attacked by IRA gunmen and shot dead as he went for provisions. • IRA volunteers in Tipperary assassinated an RIC Detective Inspector, Harry Biggs, and a local Protestant woman, Miss Barrington, sitting beside him in a police car. • IRA Volunteer Edward McCusker shot dead during an attack on RIC in Dromore, County Tyrone. • RIC Constable Peter Carolan Fatally wounded together with two constables who died on 15 and 24 May, by the explosion of an IRA bomb thrown at their patrol. • 15 May 1921: • Ballyturin House Ambush: An IRA unit in
County Galway ambushed a motor car as it left Ballyturin House near
Gort. Two Army officers were shot dead, along with an RIC District Inspector Cecil Arthur Maurice Blake and his wife. Margaret Gregory, daughter-in-law of
Lady Gregory, was unharmed. The RIC came under fire when they arrived at the scene; one constable was wounded and died six days later. • British forces in Carrigtouhil, Cork, shot three civilians dead. • Execution of Peter Grey (or Graham), a purported spy, at Killiney, County Dublin golf links by IRA Volunteers from the 6th Battalion Dublin Brigade. • 16 May 1921: Two IRA volunteers are killed in an attempted ambush of an RIC patrol at Barrowhouse, County Kildare. • 17 May 1921: Pvt of 8th Royal Marine Battalion RMLI was kidnapped and killed. • 18 May 1921: • An RIC officer was killed and another wounded in an IRA ambush in
Letterkenny, County Donegal. In reprisal, Black and Tans attacked several businesses and civilians in the town. • A British sergeant was taken from his home in Inchicore by members of the 4th Battalion Dublin Brigade IRA and killed near Crumlin. • Two RIC men were killed by IRA members in
Kinnitty, County Offaly. • Farmer Joseph Hayden shot to death in apparent reprisal for the earlier wounding of a RIC member. Haydens brother was wounded in the back with a bayonet. • 21 May 1921: • IRA ambush at Ballyvaughan of ten members of the British 8th Royal Marine Battalion RMLI (RMBs). At least two RMBs were killed and another two wounded. • Thomas McEver, a chemist in Dunmore, Co. Galway was abducted from his home in the middle of the night and murdered by crown forces. • 22 May 1921: Attack on military lorry at Foxrock, County Dublin. One soldier is wounded. claim to be deserters to the IRA near
Charleville, County Cork; however they are both killed as being suspected Intelligence operatives • 24 May 1921: Members of K Coy, 3rd Battalion Dublin Brigade IRA attacked Black and Tans on Merrion Row. Heavy Tan casualties. No IRA casualties. • 25 May 1921: • Dublin IRA units
occupied and burned the Custom House, centre of local government in Ireland in
Dublin city centre. The building and the IRA units were quickly surrounded by first two companies of Auxiliaries and then several hundred more British Army troops. Five IRA volunteers and three civilians were killed and about eighty volunteers were captured. Four Auxiliaries were wounded in the firing. The operation was a publicity coup but a military disaster for the Dublin IRA. • Attacks on Dundrum RIC barracks, Cabinteely RIC barracks (twice), Enniskerry RIC barracks, Military patrol on the Bray road at Stillorgan, Naval base and wireless station Dún Laoghaire, Military lorry, Alma Road, Monkstown. These attacks were carried out by IRA Volunteers from the 6th Battalion on orders from Dublin Brigade HQ to relieve pressure on the city Battalions as a result of the Customs House attack. • 27 May 1921: Cpt. Paddy Boland O/C Crossard Coy, Ballyhaunis IRA killed by Crown forces. • 29 May 1921: The IRA ambushed an
Ulster Special Constabulary patrol at Mullaghfad, County Fermanagh, killing two officers and wounding others. • 30 May 1921: • Volunteer Tommy Murphy was shot dead in his home in Foxrock, County Dublin, by British forces. Before leaving his house the raiders attached a label to Murphy's body "Executed by the IRA". This allegation was refuted in a subsequent issue of
An tÓglach. • May 1921: •
Pope Benedict XV issued a letter that encouraged the
"English as well as Irish to calmly consider ... some means of agreement". • Ulster Special Constable George Lynas is shot dead in
County Armagh; the B-Specials shot dead two local Catholics in reprisal. • Lt. Breeze of the Warwickshire Regiment is shot dead by IRA at Foxrock, County Dublin. Many of the locals went into hiding to avoid retribution from the Black and Tans. Volunteers went on the run throughout the region sheltering in safe houses. • 3 June 1921: IRA volunteers ambushed British troops at
Kylebeg near
Modreeny in
County Tipperary. Members of the IRA's Northern Tipperary Flying Column led by Sean Gaynor attacked a mixed group of 25 British soldiers, RIC policemen and Black & Tans, travelling from
Borrisokane to
Cloughjordan killing four RIC men and wounding 14. •
Chief Secretary for Ireland (
Hamar Greenwood) issues order that official reprisals are to cease. • 4–14 June 1921: Around 800 British troops swept the
Macroom area, of County Cork. • 5 June 1921: • Three members of
Manchester Regiment were killed at Kilcrea, Ovens, Cork. • The IRA ambushed
Ulster Special Constabulary officers outside their barracks in
Swatragh, County Londonderry, killing one. Shortly after, a Sinn Féin supporter was shot dead at Ballintemple, near
Garvagh. • 7 June 1921: • The
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland appoints
James Craig as the first
Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. Several other members of the new Northern government are also appointed. • Two republicans, Patrick Maher and Edmond Foley, are hanged at MountyJoy Prison after being found guilty of a killing of a Policeman during attempted rescue of an IrA prisoner by a military tribunal [Both men had been previously twice acquitted by Civilian Courts]. Also hanged is a Black and Tan Temporary Constable William Mitchell on a charge of being an accessory in the robbery-murder of
Dunlavin magistrate Robert Dixon in February 1921-although the prime suspect had committed suicide and apparently Mitchell's "guilt" was determined before his trial despite no evidence of his guilt in the original crime. • 8 June 1921: The IRA ambushed an
Ulster Special Constabulary (USC) patrol at Carrogs, near Newry, County Down. In reprisal, USC officers went to the nearest Catholic home and fatally shot two civilian men. The IRA fired on the USC from a nearby hill, killing one and forcing them to withdraw. • 10 June 1921: • Seven Waterford IRA men were captured when a party of Marines, having crossed from Youghal by boat to Ferrypoint by night, surprised them near
Piltown,
County Waterford. • Two Auxiliary Cadets were surprised by the IRA near Woodstock, County Kilkenny; one escaped. The Other Cadet Leonard French was missing but apparently killed. • 11 June 1921: Royal Scots Private George Duff Chalmers captured in West Clare while serving a summons and killed by IRA • 12 June 1921: Three RIC men were shot by the IRA on the Falls Road in Belfast. Two were wounded and one died. Uniformed RIC/Black & Tans including
DI Nixon arrested and murdered three Catholic male civilians in north Belfast. Over the following two days, loyalist gunmen killed six more Catholics and the IRA assassinated three Protestants in the city. • 15 June 1921: • Members of the East Clare Brigade IRA were ambushed by British soldiers at Woodcock Hill, Meelick, while attempting to raid the Limerick to Ennis train. Captain Christopher McCarthy of the IRA was wounded during the ambush and Captain Michael Gleeson returned under fire to rescue McCarthy. Both men were subsequently captured by British soldiers and killed. • 16 June 1921:
Rathcoole ambush – 2nd Cork Brigade ambushed a convoy of Auxiliaries near
Rathcoole, County Cork, killing two Auxiliaries and wounding fourteen others. • 17 June 1921: • Two brothers with republican links were taken from their home in Dundalk, County Louth, and summarily killed by Black and Tans. In reprisal, the IRA killed an RIC officer in the town. •
Ballyhaunis RIC barracks in County Mayo was attacked. • The 9th Battalion of the Kilkenny IRA ambushed a patrol of Black and Tans from Fiddown Barracks at Sinnotts Cross, near Clogga,
Mooncoin, County Kilkenny. One Black and Tan was killed and another injured. No volunteers captured or lost. • Three British officers, dressed in civilian clothes but carrying pistols, were captured near Fethard, County Tipperary, by IRA volunteers under
Ernie O'Malley. The three were shot by firing squad at dawn the next day in reprisal for the execution of captured IRA men by the British. , printed in the
Daily Mirror, 27 June 1921 • 19 June 1921: While escorting a coffin of a slain R.I.C. man by Devonshire Regiment, New Bridge, Carrick-on-Suir County Tipperary, ambushed by IRA; one British Soldier Pvt W. Smith killed • 20 June 1921: Group Returning from a tennis party at Benown House, Glasson about six miles from Athlone, County Westmeath ambushed by IRA. Colonel Commandant
Thomas Stanton Lambert [General Staff] dies of shotgun wounds • Over 1000 British troops mounted a sweep of
Millstreet, County Cork and environs. • An IRA column was encircled by British forces in
Ballycastle,
County Mayo; one IRA volunteer was killed and seven volunteers were captured. • The IRA derailed a British troop train with a bomb at
Adavoyle, County Armagh. It carried the king's armed escort, the
10th Royal Hussars, back from the opening of the Northern Ireland Parliament. Five soldiers and a civilian train guard were killed or fatally wounded, as were fifty horses. Some soldiers fired at civilians in surrounding fields, killing one. • 23 June 1921: an IRA unit in a car threw a number of bombs at an RIC post on
Grand Parade, Cork. The RIC returned fire, killing Josephine Scannell (19), a civilian who was working on a
sewing machine at her home in French's Quay. • 24 June 1921: • The British Coalition Government's Cabinet decided to propose talks with the leaders of
Sinn Féin. Coalition Liberals and Unionists agreed that an offer to negotiate would strengthen the Government's position if the revolutionaries refused.
Austen Chamberlain, the new leader of the Unionist Party, said that "the King's Speech ought to be followed up as a last attempt at peace before we go to full martial law". • The IRA mounted an attack on Grafton Street, central Dublin, killing two Auxiliaries. • 26 June 1921: IRA volunteers in Dublin killed RIC Auxiliary Division William F. H. Hunt (35) in the dining-room of the Mayfair Hotel on Baggot Street. Hunt was from Watford, England and had also been a British Army officer. • The Dublin IRA attacked a
cricket match involving British soldiers in
Trinity College Dublin. One woman spectator was killed in the crossfire. • 30 June 1921: In Coolacrease,
County Offaly (near
Cadamstown), Richard Pearson (aged 24) and his brother Abraham (aged 19) were
shot in their genitals and buttocks in front of their mother and sisters. It took 14 hours for the two brothers to slowly bleed to death from their groin injuries. The family home was later burned. There are conflicting versions of the incident. Some contend that the two were killed for sectarian reasons and to steal the family's property. Others claim the family were British informers and had fired at an IRA party some days before. • June 1921: • The Dublin IRA carried out 93 attacks on British forces in the city in the course of the month. • A reported deserter, Lt John Watts, is captured and killed by the IRA near Rivertown,
County Sligo.
July 1921 • 1 July 1921: Seven-man RIC patrol was ambushed by the IRA; the RIC had 4 casualties-2 wounded and two • 8 July 1921: IRA volunteer Dennis Spriggs taken from his home in Cork and killed by British forces. • 9 July 1921: • Truce terms were signed in Dublin, to be effective on 11 July. • Filling in a trenched area at Kilgobnet, just north of
Dungarvan, four civilians were killed when a secretly buried British mine exploded. • 4 British soldiers (Alfred Cannim, Albert Powell, Harold Daker and Henry Morris) were captured and shot dead at Ellis Quarry, Cork City by the IRA. • The IRA mistakenly killed Draper Holmes, a Protestant railway worker, during a reprisal attack in
Newry, County Down. The reprisal attack was in response to the four killings at Altnaveigh (see 6 July 1921). • IRA Volunteer James McSorley shot to death in an attack by
Ulster Special Constabulary near Dunteague, County Tyrone. • 10 July 1921: •
Belfast's Bloody Sunday The IRA mounted an ambush in Raglan Street in Belfast, killing two policemen. This sparked an outbreak of ferocious fighting between Catholics and Protestants in west Belfast in which 16 civilians (11 Catholics and 5 Protestants) lost their lives and 161 houses were destroyed. Of the houses destroyed, 150 belonged to Catholics. Four more civilians died in the shooting over the next two days. • The IRAs Kerry No. 2 Brigade attacked a British Army patrol in
Castleisland, County Kerry; three IRA volunteers and four British soldiers were killed. Three British troops were wounded in the action. • 11 July 1921:
The Truce: Actions commanded by IRA HQ ended outside
Northern Ireland at midday under the Truce. Violence in Northern Ireland and unofficial violence in the south and west continue. • Mary McGowan, aged 12 was shot and killed as she and her mother crossed the street in front of there home on Derby Street, Belfast. Shots were fired from an
Ulster Special Constabulary (USC) armoured car, her mother was also wounded. An inquest jury specified that USC members were responsible for her death. • 12 July 1921: The IRA shot dead Special Constable Thomas Sturdy at the junction of Dock and North Thomas streets in Belfast. Later that night, the USC took Patrick Milligan and Thomas Millar from their homes (on Dock Lane and New Dock Lane respectively) and shot them dead in the street. • July 1921: In County Kildare, an RIC constable was wounded and died of his wounds on 14 September 1922. • 27 August 1921: A house in Belfast was bombed by loyalists. Over the next two days, two Protestants are killed by republican snipers. • 30–31 August 1921: Eighteen people were killed during street battles in Belfast; nine Protestants and nine Catholics.
September 1921 • 7 September 1921: In a letter to de Valera regarding counties
Fermanagh and
Tyrone, Lloyd George acknowledged that his government had a very weak case on the issue of "forcing these two counties against their will" to be part of Northern Ireland. • 11 September 1921: De Valera received nationalist delegations from counties Down, Londonderry, Antrim and the city of Belfast who expressed anxiety at partition. Referring to the unionists, one Protestant member of the Belfast delegation (Councillor
James Baird - trade unionist and expelled workers' representative) said that "partition would place power in the hands of those responsible for the
pogroms". • During rioting in Belfast, a grenade was thrown at a loyalist mob advancing towards a nationalist area. Two were killed and more than twenty injured. • 11 October 1921: The first meeting of the British-Irish conference was held. Over the next two months there were seven plenary sessions, 24 sub-conferences and 9 meetings of special committees. • From July–October 1921, membership of the IRA's
Belfast Brigade had gone from 998 to 1,506. In addition it was bringing in a considerable number of weapons. • 21–25 November 1921: Thirty people (all civilians) were killed during violence in Belfast. • 28 November 1921: After Westminster decided to hand over responsibility for local government to Stormont,
Tyrone County Council pledged its allegiance to Dáil Éireann. Eight smaller public bodies followed. That same day a bill was introduced in Stormont which allowed it to dissolve any local authority. Offices of Tyrone County Council were subsequently raided by the police and their records seized on 2 December 1921. For Fermanagh statement see
Partition of Ireland and below - 21 December 1921. • 30 November 1921: • Speaking to the IRA's Mid Clare Brigade, de Valera said "We know the terrorism, we know the savagery that can be used against us, and we defy it". He and Cathal Brugha had spent a week reviewing IRA brigades in counties Galway, Clare and Limerick. Preparations were being made in case the negotiations broke down. • In the NI Parliament,
James Craig blamed Sinn Féin for the recent violence and stated that
700 A-Specials and 5,000 B-Specials would be enrolled immediately. Around this time, Divisional Commissioner of the RIC in the North ordered his men to regard the truce as non-existent. • 6 December 1921:
Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed between the British Government and the Irish delegation. It was signed in London. • 9 December 1921: IRA prisoners begin to be released. • As internees reach
Thurles railway station, a bomb is thrown at the train. Vol. Declan Hurton is injured and later dies of his wounds. • 10 December 1921: • At a meeting of the Supreme Council of the
IRB, 11 supported the Treaty and 4 opposed it. • In Belfast, nationalist areas came under sustained attack from loyalist gunmen. • 27 December 1921: In Belfast there was a shootout between an RIC patrol and an IRA unit, one RIC constable and one IRA volunteer were killed. ==1922==