On This Day / January 20, 1921
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
19210120
Reference Date
19210120
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 20th January 1921, two internees were shot dead by a sentry at Ballykinlar camp, while a Labour investigation concluded that Crown forces were responsible for the burning of Cork city. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
2 shot dead at Ballykinlar | On This Day – 20th January 1921
IT IS reported that two prisoners whose names have not been released were shot dead in Ballykinlar internment camp [Co Down] on Monday.
It was learned yesterday from General Headquarters, Dublin that no official report will be issued until after a Court of Inquiry.
The victims are believed to belong to the Moate district of Co Westmeath. A report states that an internee refused to obey the command of a sentry though four times called upon to do so.
The sentry then fired and the bullet also killed a prisoner standing behind the man as well as the man who was fired at.
‘Auxiliaries burned Cork’
THE Irish Labour Party and Trade Union Congress, Dublin have just issued a pamphlet bearing the title: ‘Who Burnt Cork City? A tale of arson, loot and murder. The evidence of over seventy witnesses.’
It features an investigation in Ireland by the British Labour Party Commission who visited the country for that purpose.
‘According to Sir Hamar Greenwood [Chief Secretary or Ireland] the great conflagration in Cork [November 1920] was the work of Sinn Feiners who, being short of argument …burnt their own city.’
The Government had refused a universally-demanded impartial civilian inquiry into the burning of Cork ‘but, professing a desire to discover the perpetrators of the outrage, handed in the inquiry over to those who were publicly accused of being the perpetrators – and indeed, by the evidence collected by the Labour Commission, were proved to have been so’.
It is claimed that the Labour investigation has succeeded in finding the perpetrators of the outrage – who, it is alleged, were Crown forces.
‘It was while the military had sole and complete charge of the streets, while no civilian might be abroad without a permit, that Cork city was burned and looted. …
‘Although the outrages took place under Martial Law, no-one was punished for burning Cork.
‘The Auxiliaries were alleged to have been the leaders in the destruction and looting and made no secret of it.’
(Eamon Phoenix editor’s note: Opened in December 1920 in a former Ulster Division training camp on the Down coast, Ballykinlar was the first mass internment camp established by the British government during the War of Independence.
It was a damp, windswept site where conditions were harsh. Among the hundreds of IRA suspects held there were future taoiseach Sean Lemass and Co Antrim lawyer Louis J Walsh.
The military had issued a warning to internees not to approach the wire.
On January 17 1921 two young men, speaking through the wire to colleagues in the adjoining compound, were shot dead by a sentry.)
On This Day – 20th January 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210120
Reference Date
19210120
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 20th January 1921, two internees were shot dead by a sentry at Ballykinlar camp, while a Labour investigation concluded that Crown forces were responsible for the burning of Cork city. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
2 shot dead at Ballykinlar | On This Day – 20th January 1921
IT IS reported that two prisoners whose names have not been released were shot dead in Ballykinlar internment camp [Co Down] on Monday.
It was learned yesterday from General Headquarters, Dublin that no official report will be issued until after a Court of Inquiry.
The victims are believed to belong to the Moate district of Co Westmeath. A report states that an internee refused to obey the command of a sentry though four times called upon to do so.
The sentry then fired and the bullet also killed a prisoner standing behind the man as well as the man who was fired at.
‘Auxiliaries burned Cork’
THE Irish Labour Party and Trade Union Congress, Dublin have just issued a pamphlet bearing the title: ‘Who Burnt Cork City? A tale of arson, loot and murder. The evidence of over seventy witnesses.’
It features an investigation in Ireland by the British Labour Party Commission who visited the country for that purpose.
‘According to Sir Hamar Greenwood [Chief Secretary or Ireland] the great conflagration in Cork [November 1920] was the work of Sinn Feiners who, being short of argument …burnt their own city.’
The Government had refused a universally-demanded impartial civilian inquiry into the burning of Cork ‘but, professing a desire to discover the perpetrators of the outrage, handed in the inquiry over to those who were publicly accused of being the perpetrators – and indeed, by the evidence collected by the Labour Commission, were proved to have been so’.
It is claimed that the Labour investigation has succeeded in finding the perpetrators of the outrage – who, it is alleged, were Crown forces.
‘It was while the military had sole and complete charge of the streets, while no civilian might be abroad without a permit, that Cork city was burned and looted. …
‘Although the outrages took place under Martial Law, no-one was punished for burning Cork.
‘The Auxiliaries were alleged to have been the leaders in the destruction and looting and made no secret of it.’
(Eamon Phoenix editor’s note: Opened in December 1920 in a former Ulster Division training camp on the Down coast, Ballykinlar was the first mass internment camp established by the British government during the War of Independence.
It was a damp, windswept site where conditions were harsh. Among the hundreds of IRA suspects held there were future taoiseach Sean Lemass and Co Antrim lawyer Louis J Walsh.
The military had issued a warning to internees not to approach the wire.
On January 17 1921 two young men, speaking through the wire to colleagues in the adjoining compound, were shot dead by a sentry.)
On This Day – 20th January 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210120
Reference Date
January 20, 2021
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 20th January 1921, two internees were shot dead by a sentry at Ballykinlar camp, while a Labour investigation concluded that Crown forces were responsible for the burning of Cork city. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
2 shot dead at Ballykinlar | On This Day – 20th January 1921
IT IS reported that two prisoners whose names have not been released were shot dead in Ballykinlar internment camp [Co Down] on Monday.
It was learned yesterday from General Headquarters, Dublin that no official report will be issued until after a Court of Inquiry.
The victims are believed to belong to the Moate district of Co Westmeath. A report states that an internee refused to obey the command of a sentry though four times called upon to do so.
The sentry then fired and the bullet also killed a prisoner standing behind the man as well as the man who was fired at.
‘Auxiliaries burned Cork’
THE Irish Labour Party and Trade Union Congress, Dublin have just issued a pamphlet bearing the title: ‘Who Burnt Cork City? A tale of arson, loot and murder. The evidence of over seventy witnesses.’
It features an investigation in Ireland by the British Labour Party Commission who visited the country for that purpose.
‘According to Sir Hamar Greenwood [Chief Secretary or Ireland] the great conflagration in Cork [November 1920] was the work of Sinn Feiners who, being short of argument …burnt their own city.’
The Government had refused a universally-demanded impartial civilian inquiry into the burning of Cork ‘but, professing a desire to discover the perpetrators of the outrage, handed in the inquiry over to those who were publicly accused of being the perpetrators – and indeed, by the evidence collected by the Labour Commission, were proved to have been so’.
It is claimed that the Labour investigation has succeeded in finding the perpetrators of the outrage – who, it is alleged, were Crown forces.
‘It was while the military had sole and complete charge of the streets, while no civilian might be abroad without a permit, that Cork city was burned and looted. …
‘Although the outrages took place under Martial Law, no-one was punished for burning Cork.
‘The Auxiliaries were alleged to have been the leaders in the destruction and looting and made no secret of it.’
(Eamon Phoenix editor’s note: Opened in December 1920 in a former Ulster Division training camp on the Down coast, Ballykinlar was the first mass internment camp established by the British government during the War of Independence.
It was a damp, windswept site where conditions were harsh. Among the hundreds of IRA suspects held there were future taoiseach Sean Lemass and Co Antrim lawyer Louis J Walsh.
The military had issued a warning to internees not to approach the wire.
On January 17 1921 two young men, speaking through the wire to colleagues in the adjoining compound, were shot dead by a sentry.)
On This Day – 20th January 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.