On This Day / July 13, 1921
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
July 13, 2021
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 13th July 1921, Belfast descended into one of its bloodiest outbreaks despite the Truce, leaving at least twelve people dead and hundreds displaced. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Belfast’s Bloody Sunday | On This Day – 13th July 1921
A REIGN of terror and alarm, such as never before experienced in the history of the city, prevailed over a wide area of Belfast during Saturday night and Sunday.
As a result of the appalling conditions of the night and day, no less than 11 persons are known to have been shot dead.
Well over 100 persons were wounded.
The entire Nationalist district from the Grosvenor Road right up to the Shankill Road was practically in a state of siege.
In the afternoon similar conditions prevailed over a wide area from the Old Lodge Road to North Queen Street and right down York Street which is almost entirely inhabited by Catholics.
Rival snipers kept pitting away at each other with almost ceaselessly energy while armoured lorries patrolled the streets firing indiscriminately.
Military armoured cars were also on patrol but their presence did not create the same alarm as was occasioned by the frequent passing of the cage lorries which were manned principally by the Special Constabulary.
In certain districts the streets were literally swept by the fire of the rival snipers and Crown forces and it was absolutely unsafe for anyone to be out of doors.
Many of the victims were shot in the vicinity of their own doors.
After Curfew the portion of the district embracing Albert Street and Falls Road were surrounded by a cordon of police armed with rifles and civilians were prevented from leaving the area.
Unionist snipers kept firing continuously towards the Falls Road.
Police Patrol Ambushed on Falls
THE disastrous outbreak originated with a tragic incident in Raglan Street on Saturday night when Constable Thomas Conlon of Springfield Road barracks was shot dead and a comrade, Constable Edward Hogan, a native of Derry, as well as a Special Constable, were seriously wounded.
The official version of the affair is that the police went to conduct a raid when they were ambushed.
The account given by the local people, however, throws a different light on the matter.
They state that around midnight the street was entered by a lorry containing Crown forces who were singing as they approached.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: THE all-Ireland Truce of July 11 1921 did not prevent a massive upsurge of violence in Belfast.
The local IRA claimed that they had successfully ambushed a police raiding party on the Falls Road.
Twelve people were killed by gunfire and 150 Catholic houses burned by mobs over the Truce weekend.
Following this ‘Bloody Sunday’, Hamar Greenwood announced that ‘armed semi-civilians known as B Specials’ would be removed from the streets while the A (full-time) Specials were disarmed.)
On This Day – 13th July 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.