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Grayson, Richard S.
2018.
Dublin's Great Wars.
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Sectarianism and Irish Republican Violence on the South-East Ulster Frontier, 1919–1922
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 April 2016
Abstract
Focusing on events on the south-east Ulster frontier, this article seeks to think afresh about the sectarian dimensions of republican violence on the Irish border amid the twin upheavals of revolution and partition. Drawing on a variety of primary sources, it questions a number of the intuitive notions that surround the phenomenon. In doing so, it highlights the limitations of the current discourse on sectarian violence and aims to encourage a more nuanced appreciation of the complex processes and behaviours that both facilitated and limited such violence at a grassroots level.
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References
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18 Based on figures from PRONI Ulster Covenant database, available at http://applications.proni.gov.uk/UlsterCovenant/Search.aspx, (last visited 27 Dec. 2013). The covenant is an imperfect measure of unionism in north Louth, which is in Leinster. Nevertheless, forty-two local residents did sign the covenant there.
19 For the area's history of intercommunal conflict, see Madden, Kyla, Forkhill Protestants and Forkhill Catholics, 1787–1858 (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2006), 10–27 Google Scholar, 82–120; Farrell, Sean, Rituals and Riots: Sectarian Violence and Political Culture in Ulster, 1794–1886 (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2000), 10–31 Google Scholar; Harnden, Bandit Country, 131–41, 181–95.
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21 Lewis, Frank Aiken's War, 23–61; for similar tensions in Louth see Natasha Grayson, ‘The Quality of Nationalism in Counties Cavan, Louth and Meath during the Irish Revolution’, Ph.D. Thesis, Keele University, 2007, 170–1.
22 RIC County Inspector Reports (hereafter CI), Armagh, Jan. 1919, TNA, CO 904/108; CI, Louth, Feb. 1919, TNA, CO 904/108; CI, Down, May 1919, TNA, CO 904/109; CI, Armagh, Aug. 1919, TNA, CO 904/109.
23 CI, Armagh, Nov. 1919, TNA, CO 904/110. Local IRA leaders denied republican involvement: see Rankin to Collins, 7 Nov. 1919, Irish Military Archives, Dublin (hereafter IMA), Collins papers, A/0314 VIII (I).
24 Rev. E. A. Foy Action for Damages, PRONI, D1616/14/9.
25 Wilson, Frontiers, 17, 192–3, 196–7.
26 For unionist patrols see, John Webster Statement, PRONI, D1290/66; ‘Orange patrols’, Freeman's Journal, 9 Nov. 1920, 5; Timothy Bowman, Carson's Army: The Ulster Volunteer Force, 1910–1922 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2007), 190–201. In September 1920, a wide-spread arms raid took as part of a nation-wide initiative; see ‘The swoop for arms’, Irish Independent, 6 Sept. 1920, 5; Peadar Barry, IMA, Bureau of Military History Witness Statements, BMH WS 853; John Grant, IMA, BMH WS 658.
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34 John Grant, IMA, BMH WS 658.
35 See, for example, ‘Hundred armed raiders’, Irish Independent, 14 May 1921, 7; ‘Items of interest’, Irish Independent, 4 Apr. 1922, 6.
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37 Grayson, ‘The Quality of Nationalism’, 223.
38 ‘Public meeting’, Freeman's Journal, 28 Aug. 1920, 6.
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40 Seven of the victims were identified as members in at least two republican sources, including BMH statements, IRA company rolls and a list of dead and wounded compiled by Fourth Northern Division veterans in later years. See ‘Volunteers, killed in action, executed or died of wounds’, McCann Cell Collection, Kilmainham Gaol Museum, Dublin (hereafter KGM), 20/M5/IP41/12; Fourth Northern Division Company Roles, University College Dublin Archive Department (hereafter UCDAD), Aiken papers, P104/1295.
41 It was initially alleged that Hickey was killed by the IRA as a spy, but in the aftermath this was publicly contested. The scant available evidence suggests that he was killed by members of the RIC or USC: see ‘Newry man's fate’, Irish Independent, 2 July 1921, 5; ‘Refuting a slander’, Freeman's Journal, 5 July 1921, 4; Edward Fullerton, IMA, BMH WS 890.
42 John McCoy, IMA, BMH WS 492.
43 John T. Connolly, IMA, BMH WS 598.
44 Thomas McCrave, IMA, BMH WS 995; ‘Special shot dead’, Freeman's Journal, 11 Apr. 1921, 5.
45 CI, Armagh, Apr. 1921, TNA, CO 904/115; Charles McGleenan, IMA, BMH WS 829; John Cosgrove, IMA, BMH WS 605.
46 Proceedings of a court of inquiry in lieu of inquest on Patrick Quinn, John O'Reilly, Thomas O'Reilly and Peter McGinnity, TNA, WO 35/158. The men are acknowledged as members of the IRA in multiple republican sources. See, for example, Fourth Northern Division Company Roles, UCDAD, Aiken papers, P104/1295.
47 John Grant, IMA, BMH WS 658. See also, ‘Another Newry tragedy’, Freeman's Journal, 11 July 1921, 6.
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54 For a detailed discussion, see Lewis, Frank Aiken's War, 119–23.
55 John Cosgrove, IMA, BMH WS 605; ‘Northern proclamations’, Irish Times, 24 May 1922, 5.
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57 Murdock to Fisher, 5 June 1922, PRONI, HA/5/236; Macintosh to his mother, 6 June 1922, PRONI, HA/5/228.
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59 ‘Big Newry fire’, Freeman's Journal, 6 June 1922, 4.
60 He was convicted of an arms offence after an affray between republicans and constitutional nationalists in 1918; Prosecution of Patrick Creegan [sic], TNA, WO 35/158.
61 Murders of Patrick Creggan and Thomas Crawley, PRONI, HA/5/239.
62 Aiken to O'Duffy, 15 June 1922, NAI, Department of Taoiseach Records, TSCH/S5462; Dáil Éireann Debates, 32, 1 (1929), col. 147, available at http://debates.oireachtas.ie/dail/1929/10/23/00032.asp (last visited 21 July 2015); Raid on house of James McGill/McGuill, Dromintee, PRONI, HA/5/249; McGuill Grant from the Dáil Special Fund, NAI, TSCH/S8451.
63 Wilson, Frontiers, 170, 216.
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67 See Hart, The IRA at War, 241–58; Parkinson, Belfast's Unholy War, 308–16.
68 John McCoy, IMA, BMH WS 492.
69 Dáil Éireann Debates, 32, 1 (1929), col. 147, available at http://debates.oireachtas.ie/dail/1929/10/23/00032.asp (last visited 21 July 2015).
70 Johnnie McKay [McCoy], UCDAD, O'Malley notebooks, P17b/90.
71 Head Constable Duffy to Armagh County Inspector, 21 June 1922, PRONI, HA/5/925.
72 Jack McElhaw, IMA, BMH WS 634; Prosecution of George McCambridge and Michael Creggan, TNA, WO 35/114/23.
73 The three suspects in question were Michael Creggan, William McQuaid and Bernard Kelly. See Michael Creggan, PRONI, HA/5/380; Bernard Kelly, PRONI, HA/5/2426; Raids by armed men in Bessbrook, 17 June 1922, PRONI, HA/5/925; Fourth Northern Division Company Roles, UCDAD, Aiken papers, P104/1295.
74 ‘Series of appalling murders at Altnaveigh’, Newry Telegraph, 20 June 1922, 5.
75 See deaths of William Hickey (detailed above) and Teresa McAnuff, who was accidentally shot dead in her family home by a party of B Specials as they compelled her brother to sign a spurious declaration promising not to attack the police; see Fatal Shooting of Teresa McAnuff, PRONI, HA/5/550. For the killings that followed the Altnaveigh massacre see, ‘Labourer's death’, Irish Independent, 19 June 1922, 5; ‘Two more dead’, Irish Independent, 21 June 1922, 5.
76 See above.
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78 Donal Hall, ‘Violence and Political Factionalism and Their Effects on North Louth, 1874–1943’, Ph.D. thesis, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, 2009, 157; ‘A Dundalk notice’, Freeman's Journal, 28 Mar. 1922, 6; ‘Ravensdale boys prosecuted’, Frontier Sentinel, 15 Apr. 1922, 5.
79 ‘Shots into dwellings’, Irish Times, 22 June 1922, 6; Brigade O/C to Chief of Police, 7 Feb. 1922, NAI, Department of Justice Records, H5/235. For the strike see Charles Townshend, ‘The Irish Railway Strike of 1920: Industrial Action and Civil Resistance in the Struggle for Independence’, Irish Historical Studies, 22, 83 (1979), 265–82.
80 Fourth Northern Division Report, 26 June 1922, NAI, NEBB/1/1/7.
81 Fourth Northern Division Circular, c. 24 June 1922, NAI, NEBB/1/1/7.
82 Based on an evaluation of incidents recorded in the local and national press, military records and IRA reports; see, in particular, ‘Fourth Northern Division Correspondence’, 1922–23, UCDAD, Twomey papers, P69/35; Dublin Command, 1922–23, IMA, Civil War Operation and Intelligence Reports Collection, CW/OPS/7. For the incidents mentioned see, ‘House raided’, Dundalk Examiner, 5 Aug. 1922, 4; Lewis, Frank Aiken's War, 192–3.
83 Hart, IRA at War, map 6.
84 John Grant, IMA, BMH WS 658.
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88 See above. For further attacks on nationalists in 1922 see ‘Orange hooliganism’, Freeman's Journal, 9 Dec. 1922, 6; ‘Shower of bullets’, Freeman's Journal, 11 Dec. 1922, 5.
89 John ‘Ned’ Quinn interview transcript, LOK/IV/B.14.0002.10, Louis O'Kane papers, Cardinal Ó Fiaich Memorial Library, Armagh; Kidnap and Murder of William Frazer, PRONI, HA/5/253.
90 ‘Chronology’, c.1933, IMA, Bureau of Military History Contemporary Documents, BMH CD 6/36/22; see also Jack McElhaw, IMA, BMH WS 634.
91 County Inspectors Reports on the State of Northern Ireland, Sept. 1922, PRONI, HA/32/1/290.
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