On This Day / April 1, 1921
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
19210401
Reference Date
19210401
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 1st April 1921, nurse Linda Kearns was sentenced to ten years while courtmartials intensified and a leading Irish News journalist departed for Westminster. Edited by Éamon Phoenix
Nurse Gets 10 Years | On This Day – 1st April 1921
MISS Linda Kearns, Sligo, has been sentenced to ten years’ penal servitude after trial by courtmartial in Belfast. Miss Kearns, who is a nurse, lived near Sligo with her father.
On November 30th she was arrested in Sligo when driving a motorcar containing arms.
She was tried by courtmartial in Belfast in March and since then has been imprisoned in Armagh Gaol.
The following sentences by Field General Courtmartial in Derry are announced: James Leonard, Belcoo, County Fermanagh received two years’ hard labour.
Accused, who declined to recognise the court, was charged with having seditious literature.
William John Armstrong, Donaghmore, County Tyrone, charged with having firearms and ammunition, was sentenced to five years’ penal servitude.
The evidence against him was that during a raid by the Special Constabulary on 10th January a rifle and cartridges, fifteen of which were flat-nosed, were found at the accused’s premises.
At his trial he declined to recognise the Court, declaring that, as a soldier of the Irish Republic, he claimed the right to hold firearms until ordered to hand them over by the Government of his country which he considered was Dail Eireann.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: Educated in Belgium, Linda Kearns (1888-1951) joined Cumann na mBan and operated a Red Cross field hospital during the 1916 Rising.
Like most of her organisation, she took the Republican side in the Civil War and was imprisoned by the Free State, later joining Fianna Fail.)
Irish News Reporter Appointed to Westminster Post
MR Thomas H O’Donoghue, Chief Reporter of The Irish News, has been presented with gifts by his colleagues on the occasion of his departure to take up an important position on the Official Debate Staff of the House of Commons.
The ceremony took place in the Board Room and amongst those present were Mr T McCarthy, editor; Mr P J Magauran; Mr W J Flannagan, BA; Mr P J Kelly; R Hayes; W Duggan; W Smith and Mr T Whyte, Manager.
Mr McCarthy spoke of the sense of loss which would be occasioned by Mr O’Donoghue’s departure from our midst.
His talents as a journalist were recognised and appreciated all over Ireland and, in his opinion, there was not in the country a better reporter.
The Editor concluded by presenting Mr O’Donoghue with a silvermounted wallet of Treasury notes.
Later at the National Club Mr Joseph Devlin, MP paid tribute to Mr O’Donoghue’s high intellectual qualities and keen journalistic instinct.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: Despite the rise of Sinn Fein, The Irish News, controlled from 1905 by Joe Devlin and edited by his ally, Co Cork-born Tim McCarthy, continued to advocate Home Rule and oppose abstention-ism.)
On This Day – 1st April 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210401
Reference Date
19210401
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 1st April 1921, nurse Linda Kearns was sentenced to ten years while courtmartials intensified and a leading Irish News journalist departed for Westminster. Edited by Éamon Phoenix
Nurse Gets 10 Years | On This Day – 1st April 1921
MISS Linda Kearns, Sligo, has been sentenced to ten years’ penal servitude after trial by courtmartial in Belfast. Miss Kearns, who is a nurse, lived near Sligo with her father.
On November 30th she was arrested in Sligo when driving a motorcar containing arms.
She was tried by courtmartial in Belfast in March and since then has been imprisoned in Armagh Gaol.
The following sentences by Field General Courtmartial in Derry are announced: James Leonard, Belcoo, County Fermanagh received two years’ hard labour.
Accused, who declined to recognise the court, was charged with having seditious literature.
William John Armstrong, Donaghmore, County Tyrone, charged with having firearms and ammunition, was sentenced to five years’ penal servitude.
The evidence against him was that during a raid by the Special Constabulary on 10th January a rifle and cartridges, fifteen of which were flat-nosed, were found at the accused’s premises.
At his trial he declined to recognise the Court, declaring that, as a soldier of the Irish Republic, he claimed the right to hold firearms until ordered to hand them over by the Government of his country which he considered was Dail Eireann.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: Educated in Belgium, Linda Kearns (1888-1951) joined Cumann na mBan and operated a Red Cross field hospital during the 1916 Rising.
Like most of her organisation, she took the Republican side in the Civil War and was imprisoned by the Free State, later joining Fianna Fail.)
Irish News Reporter Appointed to Westminster Post
MR Thomas H O’Donoghue, Chief Reporter of The Irish News, has been presented with gifts by his colleagues on the occasion of his departure to take up an important position on the Official Debate Staff of the House of Commons.
The ceremony took place in the Board Room and amongst those present were Mr T McCarthy, editor; Mr P J Magauran; Mr W J Flannagan, BA; Mr P J Kelly; R Hayes; W Duggan; W Smith and Mr T Whyte, Manager.
Mr McCarthy spoke of the sense of loss which would be occasioned by Mr O’Donoghue’s departure from our midst.
His talents as a journalist were recognised and appreciated all over Ireland and, in his opinion, there was not in the country a better reporter.
The Editor concluded by presenting Mr O’Donoghue with a silvermounted wallet of Treasury notes.
Later at the National Club Mr Joseph Devlin, MP paid tribute to Mr O’Donoghue’s high intellectual qualities and keen journalistic instinct.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: Despite the rise of Sinn Fein, The Irish News, controlled from 1905 by Joe Devlin and edited by his ally, Co Cork-born Tim McCarthy, continued to advocate Home Rule and oppose abstention-ism.)
On This Day – 1st April 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210401
Reference Date
April 1, 2021
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 1st April 1921, nurse Linda Kearns was sentenced to ten years while courtmartials intensified and a leading Irish News journalist departed for Westminster. Edited by Éamon Phoenix
Nurse Gets 10 Years | On This Day – 1st April 1921
MISS Linda Kearns, Sligo, has been sentenced to ten years’ penal servitude after trial by courtmartial in Belfast. Miss Kearns, who is a nurse, lived near Sligo with her father.
On November 30th she was arrested in Sligo when driving a motorcar containing arms.
She was tried by courtmartial in Belfast in March and since then has been imprisoned in Armagh Gaol.
The following sentences by Field General Courtmartial in Derry are announced: James Leonard, Belcoo, County Fermanagh received two years’ hard labour.
Accused, who declined to recognise the court, was charged with having seditious literature.
William John Armstrong, Donaghmore, County Tyrone, charged with having firearms and ammunition, was sentenced to five years’ penal servitude.
The evidence against him was that during a raid by the Special Constabulary on 10th January a rifle and cartridges, fifteen of which were flat-nosed, were found at the accused’s premises.
At his trial he declined to recognise the Court, declaring that, as a soldier of the Irish Republic, he claimed the right to hold firearms until ordered to hand them over by the Government of his country which he considered was Dail Eireann.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: Educated in Belgium, Linda Kearns (1888-1951) joined Cumann na mBan and operated a Red Cross field hospital during the 1916 Rising.
Like most of her organisation, she took the Republican side in the Civil War and was imprisoned by the Free State, later joining Fianna Fail.)
Irish News Reporter Appointed to Westminster Post
MR Thomas H O’Donoghue, Chief Reporter of The Irish News, has been presented with gifts by his colleagues on the occasion of his departure to take up an important position on the Official Debate Staff of the House of Commons.
The ceremony took place in the Board Room and amongst those present were Mr T McCarthy, editor; Mr P J Magauran; Mr W J Flannagan, BA; Mr P J Kelly; R Hayes; W Duggan; W Smith and Mr T Whyte, Manager.
Mr McCarthy spoke of the sense of loss which would be occasioned by Mr O’Donoghue’s departure from our midst.
His talents as a journalist were recognised and appreciated all over Ireland and, in his opinion, there was not in the country a better reporter.
The Editor concluded by presenting Mr O’Donoghue with a silvermounted wallet of Treasury notes.
Later at the National Club Mr Joseph Devlin, MP paid tribute to Mr O’Donoghue’s high intellectual qualities and keen journalistic instinct.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: Despite the rise of Sinn Fein, The Irish News, controlled from 1905 by Joe Devlin and edited by his ally, Co Cork-born Tim McCarthy, continued to advocate Home Rule and oppose abstention-ism.)
On This Day – 1st April 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
On This Day is a daily column in the Irish News looking back either 50 or 100 years. The column was compiled by Dr Éamon Phoenix from the mid 1980s until autumn, 2022. The Foundation is very grateful to the Irish News for giving permission to reproduce Eamon’s columns. Funding gratefully received from Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and the Magill Trust.
* The Foundation has worked hard to recreate Eamon’s distinctive voice through AI. Since this is an emerging technology, occasional imperfections may be audible.