On This Day / February 18, 1921
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
19210218
Reference Date
19210218
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 18th February 1921, wealthy widow Mrs Lindsay was kidnapped in Cork, prisoners escaped from Kilmainham Gaol, Belfast rioted in Corporation Street, and arrests followed the Carnlough coastguard raid. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Cork Lady Kidnapped | On This Day – 18th February 1921
FOUR armed men raided Leemount House, Coachford, County Cork, the residence of Mrs J W Lindsay, at three o’clock yesterday morning and carried her off, together with her chauffeur, Clarke, to an unknown destination.
Nothing has since been heard of them and the occurrence had caused consternation in the district. Mrs Lindsay’s late husband was a well-known landholder.
Leemount House is in the vicinity of the scene of the Dripsey battle as a result of which eight men were captured by military and two killed.
Kilmainham Escape Sensation
THE following was issued from Military General Headquarters in Dublin last night: A Military Court of Inquiry has been held on the escape of three prisoners from Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin on the night of February 14.
As a result, disciplinary action is contemplated against certain of those believed to be responsible.
Riot in Belfast Street
A RIOT, which lasted for over an hour but was fortunately not attended with serious consequences, broke out in Belfast’s Corporation Street last evening.
The disturbance originated during the passage of tramcars containing workers from Messrs Workman, Clark’s shipyard at about six o’clock when it appears that, arising out of a verbal altercation between workmen and a number of persons standing near New Dock Street, iron nuts and bolts and stones were exchanged between the opposing sections.
Soon the outbreak developed into a serious riot and revolvers were used indiscriminately on each side. The arrival of the RIC and military compelled the rioters to retreat.
Sequel to Glens Raid
THE daring raid on Carnlough Coastguard Station on Sunday night has had a sequel in the arrest by the Cushendall police of three young men – all respectable farmers’ sons – residing in the townland of Lenny, near Cushendall.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: The dramatic escape of Ernie O’Malley and two comrades from Dublin’s Kilmainham Jail coincided with the IRA kidnapping of Mrs Lindsay, an aristocratic Unionist lady who had alerted the authorities to an ambush being prepared in her locality. As a result, six young men were executed in Cork.
Held as a hostage by the IRA, she was later shot dead in reprisal. By this stage – the last phase of the war – five southern counties had been placed under martial law.
Belfast had been enjoying a welcome respite from the bitter sectarian disturbances of the previous year. However, a violent confrontation between Catholic crowds and Protestant shipyard workers in the nationalist Docks area showed how just fragile this “peace of exhaustion’ was in the polarised city.
On This Day – 18th February 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210218
Reference Date
19210218
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 18th February 1921, wealthy widow Mrs Lindsay was kidnapped in Cork, prisoners escaped from Kilmainham Gaol, Belfast rioted in Corporation Street, and arrests followed the Carnlough coastguard raid. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Cork Lady Kidnapped | On This Day – 18th February 1921
FOUR armed men raided Leemount House, Coachford, County Cork, the residence of Mrs J W Lindsay, at three o’clock yesterday morning and carried her off, together with her chauffeur, Clarke, to an unknown destination.
Nothing has since been heard of them and the occurrence had caused consternation in the district. Mrs Lindsay’s late husband was a well-known landholder.
Leemount House is in the vicinity of the scene of the Dripsey battle as a result of which eight men were captured by military and two killed.
Kilmainham Escape Sensation
THE following was issued from Military General Headquarters in Dublin last night: A Military Court of Inquiry has been held on the escape of three prisoners from Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin on the night of February 14.
As a result, disciplinary action is contemplated against certain of those believed to be responsible.
Riot in Belfast Street
A RIOT, which lasted for over an hour but was fortunately not attended with serious consequences, broke out in Belfast’s Corporation Street last evening.
The disturbance originated during the passage of tramcars containing workers from Messrs Workman, Clark’s shipyard at about six o’clock when it appears that, arising out of a verbal altercation between workmen and a number of persons standing near New Dock Street, iron nuts and bolts and stones were exchanged between the opposing sections.
Soon the outbreak developed into a serious riot and revolvers were used indiscriminately on each side. The arrival of the RIC and military compelled the rioters to retreat.
Sequel to Glens Raid
THE daring raid on Carnlough Coastguard Station on Sunday night has had a sequel in the arrest by the Cushendall police of three young men – all respectable farmers’ sons – residing in the townland of Lenny, near Cushendall.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: The dramatic escape of Ernie O’Malley and two comrades from Dublin’s Kilmainham Jail coincided with the IRA kidnapping of Mrs Lindsay, an aristocratic Unionist lady who had alerted the authorities to an ambush being prepared in her locality. As a result, six young men were executed in Cork.
Held as a hostage by the IRA, she was later shot dead in reprisal. By this stage – the last phase of the war – five southern counties had been placed under martial law.
Belfast had been enjoying a welcome respite from the bitter sectarian disturbances of the previous year. However, a violent confrontation between Catholic crowds and Protestant shipyard workers in the nationalist Docks area showed how just fragile this “peace of exhaustion’ was in the polarised city.
On This Day – 18th February 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210218
Reference Date
February 18, 2021
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 18th February 1921, wealthy widow Mrs Lindsay was kidnapped in Cork, prisoners escaped from Kilmainham Gaol, Belfast rioted in Corporation Street, and arrests followed the Carnlough coastguard raid. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Cork Lady Kidnapped | On This Day – 18th February 1921
FOUR armed men raided Leemount House, Coachford, County Cork, the residence of Mrs J W Lindsay, at three o’clock yesterday morning and carried her off, together with her chauffeur, Clarke, to an unknown destination.
Nothing has since been heard of them and the occurrence had caused consternation in the district. Mrs Lindsay’s late husband was a well-known landholder.
Leemount House is in the vicinity of the scene of the Dripsey battle as a result of which eight men were captured by military and two killed.
Kilmainham Escape Sensation
THE following was issued from Military General Headquarters in Dublin last night: A Military Court of Inquiry has been held on the escape of three prisoners from Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin on the night of February 14.
As a result, disciplinary action is contemplated against certain of those believed to be responsible.
Riot in Belfast Street
A RIOT, which lasted for over an hour but was fortunately not attended with serious consequences, broke out in Belfast’s Corporation Street last evening.
The disturbance originated during the passage of tramcars containing workers from Messrs Workman, Clark’s shipyard at about six o’clock when it appears that, arising out of a verbal altercation between workmen and a number of persons standing near New Dock Street, iron nuts and bolts and stones were exchanged between the opposing sections.
Soon the outbreak developed into a serious riot and revolvers were used indiscriminately on each side. The arrival of the RIC and military compelled the rioters to retreat.
Sequel to Glens Raid
THE daring raid on Carnlough Coastguard Station on Sunday night has had a sequel in the arrest by the Cushendall police of three young men – all respectable farmers’ sons – residing in the townland of Lenny, near Cushendall.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: The dramatic escape of Ernie O’Malley and two comrades from Dublin’s Kilmainham Jail coincided with the IRA kidnapping of Mrs Lindsay, an aristocratic Unionist lady who had alerted the authorities to an ambush being prepared in her locality. As a result, six young men were executed in Cork.
Held as a hostage by the IRA, she was later shot dead in reprisal. By this stage – the last phase of the war – five southern counties had been placed under martial law.
Belfast had been enjoying a welcome respite from the bitter sectarian disturbances of the previous year. However, a violent confrontation between Catholic crowds and Protestant shipyard workers in the nationalist Docks area showed how just fragile this “peace of exhaustion’ was in the polarised city.
On This Day – 18th February 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.