On This Day / May 17, 1921
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
19210517
Reference Date
19210517
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 17th May 1921, violence intensified across Munster with a horrifying series of deaths, an armoured car was seized in Dublin and prominent nationalist lawyer Vesey Knox died. Edited by Éamon Phoenix
Ghastly Weekend | On This Day – 17th May 1921
THE weekend has been a bloody and lurid one in the South of Ireland. Tragedy followed tragedy with appalling rapidity and there is scarcely a town in Munster but has a terrible story. In all there were about ten deaths.
Following the ambush of a party of police at Blackpool on Saturday evening, a body of armed men entered the house of Mr Liam de Róiste, the newly-elected [Sinn Fein] at an early hour yesterday morning and fired at Rev James O’Callaghan who was lodging there. Fr O’Callaghan succumbed later in the Infirmary.
A daughter of Sir Charles Barrington, DL, Glenstal Castle, Limerick, District Inspector Major Biggs, two other ladies and a military officer were motoring on Saturday evening between Glenstal and Newport in County Limerick when they were fired at by a party of armed men.
Miss Barrington and the district inspector were shot dead.
Prison Raid in Captured Armoured Car
ONE of the most daring episodes in the present extraordinary struggle occurred in Dublin on Saturday. Dublin Castle states: When an armoured car when at the Abbatoir, North Circular Road, Dublin, it was attacked by a party of about thirty armed civilians.
One soldier was wounded and the car was captured. Two of the civilians, dressed in military officers’ uniform, then entered the car and proceeded to Mountjoy Prison.
The gaol was entered by the two bogus officers who proceeded to the Governor’s room and demanded the release of a certain prisoner.
This was refused by the Governor who doubted the bona fides of the officers. The civilians fled back to the armoured car and escaped.
Death of Protestant Nationalist
WE REGRET to announce the death of Mr E F Vesey Knox, KC, once a prominent member of the Irish National Party in Parliament and an eminent Ulster lawyer.
The sad event took place at his residence, Shimna House, Newcastle, County Down.
The late Mr Vesey Knox was born in 1865 and educated at Oxford.
Called to the Bar in 1889, he was elected MP for West Cavan in 1890 and in 1896 fought Derry City and won it for the Nationalists after one of the most arduous contests in parliamentary history.
He acted as London correspondent for the Irish News while he sat in the House of Commons.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: Tim Healy, KC, the former maverick Nationalist MP, who attended Knox’s funeral in Newcastle, noted the security build-up of the USC in the north:
‘The whole area was full of Ulster Specials. There was a meeting of Sir James Craig’s in Newry and the armoured cars to protect him were at least 20.’)
On This Day – 17th May 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210517
Reference Date
19210517
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 17th May 1921, violence intensified across Munster with a horrifying series of deaths, an armoured car was seized in Dublin and prominent nationalist lawyer Vesey Knox died. Edited by Éamon Phoenix
Ghastly Weekend | On This Day – 17th May 1921
THE weekend has been a bloody and lurid one in the South of Ireland. Tragedy followed tragedy with appalling rapidity and there is scarcely a town in Munster but has a terrible story. In all there were about ten deaths.
Following the ambush of a party of police at Blackpool on Saturday evening, a body of armed men entered the house of Mr Liam de Róiste, the newly-elected [Sinn Fein] at an early hour yesterday morning and fired at Rev James O’Callaghan who was lodging there. Fr O’Callaghan succumbed later in the Infirmary.
A daughter of Sir Charles Barrington, DL, Glenstal Castle, Limerick, District Inspector Major Biggs, two other ladies and a military officer were motoring on Saturday evening between Glenstal and Newport in County Limerick when they were fired at by a party of armed men.
Miss Barrington and the district inspector were shot dead.
Prison Raid in Captured Armoured Car
ONE of the most daring episodes in the present extraordinary struggle occurred in Dublin on Saturday. Dublin Castle states: When an armoured car when at the Abbatoir, North Circular Road, Dublin, it was attacked by a party of about thirty armed civilians.
One soldier was wounded and the car was captured. Two of the civilians, dressed in military officers’ uniform, then entered the car and proceeded to Mountjoy Prison.
The gaol was entered by the two bogus officers who proceeded to the Governor’s room and demanded the release of a certain prisoner.
This was refused by the Governor who doubted the bona fides of the officers. The civilians fled back to the armoured car and escaped.
Death of Protestant Nationalist
WE REGRET to announce the death of Mr E F Vesey Knox, KC, once a prominent member of the Irish National Party in Parliament and an eminent Ulster lawyer.
The sad event took place at his residence, Shimna House, Newcastle, County Down.
The late Mr Vesey Knox was born in 1865 and educated at Oxford.
Called to the Bar in 1889, he was elected MP for West Cavan in 1890 and in 1896 fought Derry City and won it for the Nationalists after one of the most arduous contests in parliamentary history.
He acted as London correspondent for the Irish News while he sat in the House of Commons.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: Tim Healy, KC, the former maverick Nationalist MP, who attended Knox’s funeral in Newcastle, noted the security build-up of the USC in the north:
‘The whole area was full of Ulster Specials. There was a meeting of Sir James Craig’s in Newry and the armoured cars to protect him were at least 20.’)
On This Day – 17th May 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210517
Reference Date
May 17, 2021
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 17th May 1921, violence intensified across Munster with a horrifying series of deaths, an armoured car was seized in Dublin and prominent nationalist lawyer Vesey Knox died. Edited by Éamon Phoenix
Ghastly Weekend | On This Day – 17th May 1921
THE weekend has been a bloody and lurid one in the South of Ireland. Tragedy followed tragedy with appalling rapidity and there is scarcely a town in Munster but has a terrible story. In all there were about ten deaths.
Following the ambush of a party of police at Blackpool on Saturday evening, a body of armed men entered the house of Mr Liam de Róiste, the newly-elected [Sinn Fein] at an early hour yesterday morning and fired at Rev James O’Callaghan who was lodging there. Fr O’Callaghan succumbed later in the Infirmary.
A daughter of Sir Charles Barrington, DL, Glenstal Castle, Limerick, District Inspector Major Biggs, two other ladies and a military officer were motoring on Saturday evening between Glenstal and Newport in County Limerick when they were fired at by a party of armed men.
Miss Barrington and the district inspector were shot dead.
Prison Raid in Captured Armoured Car
ONE of the most daring episodes in the present extraordinary struggle occurred in Dublin on Saturday. Dublin Castle states: When an armoured car when at the Abbatoir, North Circular Road, Dublin, it was attacked by a party of about thirty armed civilians.
One soldier was wounded and the car was captured. Two of the civilians, dressed in military officers’ uniform, then entered the car and proceeded to Mountjoy Prison.
The gaol was entered by the two bogus officers who proceeded to the Governor’s room and demanded the release of a certain prisoner.
This was refused by the Governor who doubted the bona fides of the officers. The civilians fled back to the armoured car and escaped.
Death of Protestant Nationalist
WE REGRET to announce the death of Mr E F Vesey Knox, KC, once a prominent member of the Irish National Party in Parliament and an eminent Ulster lawyer.
The sad event took place at his residence, Shimna House, Newcastle, County Down.
The late Mr Vesey Knox was born in 1865 and educated at Oxford.
Called to the Bar in 1889, he was elected MP for West Cavan in 1890 and in 1896 fought Derry City and won it for the Nationalists after one of the most arduous contests in parliamentary history.
He acted as London correspondent for the Irish News while he sat in the House of Commons.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: Tim Healy, KC, the former maverick Nationalist MP, who attended Knox’s funeral in Newcastle, noted the security build-up of the USC in the north:
‘The whole area was full of Ulster Specials. There was a meeting of Sir James Craig’s in Newry and the armoured cars to protect him were at least 20.’)
On This Day – 17th May 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.