On This Day / November 18, 1920
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
19201118
Reference Date
19201118
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 18th November 1920, the abduction of Galway priest Fr Michael Griffin shocked Ireland amid escalating tit-for-tat violence. In Cork, three British officers were seized from a train, while at Westminster, Winston Churchill denied “reprisals” despite mounting attacks and deaths. Edited by Dr Éamon Phoenix.
Galway Priest Disappears | On This Day – 18th November 1920
REV Michael Griffin, junior curate at Barna, Galway, was asked to attend a sick call on Sunday night and has not since been heard of.
Three men wearing trench coats and, it is said, rubber boots called on Fr Griffin who accompanied them.
Mr Cruise, Divisional Commissioner of the RIC, declares he is confident no member of Crown forces had anything to do with his abduction.
Rev Peter Davis, P.P. maintains that no Irishman would touch a hair of Fr Griffin’s head. Fr Griffin was an ardent Gaelic Leaguer.
Signboards in Irish
IN the House of Commons yesterday, Mr Jeremiah MacVeagh [Nationalist] asked the Chief Secretary on what authority the police in Listowel, County Kerry had ordered all shopkeepers in that town to withdraw or delete all signboards in the Irish language.
Sir Hamar Greenwood: It is not the case that the police in Listowel have ordered all shopkeepers to withdraw or delete all signboards containing names in Irish, but where owners of licensed premises have their names in Irish characters only over their premises, they have been ordered to affix their names in English in compliance with the Excise Licences Act, 1825 and the Licensing Act, 1872.
Repeated efforts have been made in Listowel by persons signing themselves the Irish Republican Police to compel shopkeepers to put their names in Irish.
Officers Abducted from Train
A SENSATIONAL incident occurred on Monday when the 10 a.m. train from Cork to Skibbereen arrived at Waterfall Station.
Six men suddenly covered the engine-men with revolvers while others dragged three men from their seats onto the platform. These were driven away in motorcars to an unknown destination.
It is stated that the three abducted men were junior [British] officers.
Churchill Denies ‘Reprisals’
MR WINSTON Churchill [Secretary of State for War] stated at Westminster that since June 30 last, soldiers on military duty in Ireland in motorcars and lorries have been attacked by men in ambush on 99 occasions. Thirty soldiers have been killed, 90 wounded and 98 captured or disarmed.
Mr Churchill said that it had never been proved that any individual soldier had been engaged in reprisals.
(Eamon Phoenix editor’s note: as the War of Independence moved towards its climax, Churchill charted the ratcheting-up of IRA attacks while cynically denying the official Reprisals policy he had personally advocated in Cabinet.
In the North, local tensions persisted between republicans and Joe Devlin’s A.O.H.)
On This Day – 18th November 1920
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19201118
Reference Date
19201118
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 18th November 1920, the abduction of Galway priest Fr Michael Griffin shocked Ireland amid escalating tit-for-tat violence. In Cork, three British officers were seized from a train, while at Westminster, Winston Churchill denied “reprisals” despite mounting attacks and deaths. Edited by Dr Éamon Phoenix.
Galway Priest Disappears | On This Day – 18th November 1920
REV Michael Griffin, junior curate at Barna, Galway, was asked to attend a sick call on Sunday night and has not since been heard of.
Three men wearing trench coats and, it is said, rubber boots called on Fr Griffin who accompanied them.
Mr Cruise, Divisional Commissioner of the RIC, declares he is confident no member of Crown forces had anything to do with his abduction.
Rev Peter Davis, P.P. maintains that no Irishman would touch a hair of Fr Griffin’s head. Fr Griffin was an ardent Gaelic Leaguer.
Signboards in Irish
IN the House of Commons yesterday, Mr Jeremiah MacVeagh [Nationalist] asked the Chief Secretary on what authority the police in Listowel, County Kerry had ordered all shopkeepers in that town to withdraw or delete all signboards in the Irish language.
Sir Hamar Greenwood: It is not the case that the police in Listowel have ordered all shopkeepers to withdraw or delete all signboards containing names in Irish, but where owners of licensed premises have their names in Irish characters only over their premises, they have been ordered to affix their names in English in compliance with the Excise Licences Act, 1825 and the Licensing Act, 1872.
Repeated efforts have been made in Listowel by persons signing themselves the Irish Republican Police to compel shopkeepers to put their names in Irish.
Officers Abducted from Train
A SENSATIONAL incident occurred on Monday when the 10 a.m. train from Cork to Skibbereen arrived at Waterfall Station.
Six men suddenly covered the engine-men with revolvers while others dragged three men from their seats onto the platform. These were driven away in motorcars to an unknown destination.
It is stated that the three abducted men were junior [British] officers.
Churchill Denies ‘Reprisals’
MR WINSTON Churchill [Secretary of State for War] stated at Westminster that since June 30 last, soldiers on military duty in Ireland in motorcars and lorries have been attacked by men in ambush on 99 occasions. Thirty soldiers have been killed, 90 wounded and 98 captured or disarmed.
Mr Churchill said that it had never been proved that any individual soldier had been engaged in reprisals.
(Eamon Phoenix editor’s note: as the War of Independence moved towards its climax, Churchill charted the ratcheting-up of IRA attacks while cynically denying the official Reprisals policy he had personally advocated in Cabinet.
In the North, local tensions persisted between republicans and Joe Devlin’s A.O.H.)
On This Day – 18th November 1920
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19201118
Reference Date
November 18, 2020
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 18th November 1920, the abduction of Galway priest Fr Michael Griffin shocked Ireland amid escalating tit-for-tat violence. In Cork, three British officers were seized from a train, while at Westminster, Winston Churchill denied “reprisals” despite mounting attacks and deaths. Edited by Dr Éamon Phoenix.
Galway Priest Disappears | On This Day – 18th November 1920
REV Michael Griffin, junior curate at Barna, Galway, was asked to attend a sick call on Sunday night and has not since been heard of.
Three men wearing trench coats and, it is said, rubber boots called on Fr Griffin who accompanied them.
Mr Cruise, Divisional Commissioner of the RIC, declares he is confident no member of Crown forces had anything to do with his abduction.
Rev Peter Davis, P.P. maintains that no Irishman would touch a hair of Fr Griffin’s head. Fr Griffin was an ardent Gaelic Leaguer.
Signboards in Irish
IN the House of Commons yesterday, Mr Jeremiah MacVeagh [Nationalist] asked the Chief Secretary on what authority the police in Listowel, County Kerry had ordered all shopkeepers in that town to withdraw or delete all signboards in the Irish language.
Sir Hamar Greenwood: It is not the case that the police in Listowel have ordered all shopkeepers to withdraw or delete all signboards containing names in Irish, but where owners of licensed premises have their names in Irish characters only over their premises, they have been ordered to affix their names in English in compliance with the Excise Licences Act, 1825 and the Licensing Act, 1872.
Repeated efforts have been made in Listowel by persons signing themselves the Irish Republican Police to compel shopkeepers to put their names in Irish.
Officers Abducted from Train
A SENSATIONAL incident occurred on Monday when the 10 a.m. train from Cork to Skibbereen arrived at Waterfall Station.
Six men suddenly covered the engine-men with revolvers while others dragged three men from their seats onto the platform. These were driven away in motorcars to an unknown destination.
It is stated that the three abducted men were junior [British] officers.
Churchill Denies ‘Reprisals’
MR WINSTON Churchill [Secretary of State for War] stated at Westminster that since June 30 last, soldiers on military duty in Ireland in motorcars and lorries have been attacked by men in ambush on 99 occasions. Thirty soldiers have been killed, 90 wounded and 98 captured or disarmed.
Mr Churchill said that it had never been proved that any individual soldier had been engaged in reprisals.
(Eamon Phoenix editor’s note: as the War of Independence moved towards its climax, Churchill charted the ratcheting-up of IRA attacks while cynically denying the official Reprisals policy he had personally advocated in Cabinet.
In the North, local tensions persisted between republicans and Joe Devlin’s A.O.H.)
On This Day – 18th November 1920
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.