On This Day / October 20, 1920
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
19201020
Reference Date
19201020
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 20th October 1920, Liberal Sir John Simon condemned reprisals at a London meeting, as Irish bishops denounced British ‘atrocities’. Edited by historian Dr Éamon Phoenix.
Outrage over ‘Reprisals’ | On This Day – 20th October 1920
SIR John Simon [former Liberal Minister] and Sir Horace Plunkett were the principal speakers at a meeting at the Central Hall, Westminster last night under the auspices of the London Liberal Federation.
The object of the meeting was ‘to protest against the present methods of Irish administration’ and a resolution was submitted protesting against the whole policy of the Government in Ireland and especially against ‘the methods of indiscriminate murder and destruction adopted by the armed forces of the Crown’.
The motion called upon the Government to put an immediate stop to ‘these acts of terrorism and violence’.
Among those present were Lord MacDonnell [former Irish Under-Secretary], Sir Donald MacLean, MP [Liberal] and Mr G K Chesterton.
Proposing the resolution, Sir John Simon said the Prime Minister at Carnarvon had the audacity to pretend that reprisals in Ireland were nothing more than a kind of spontaneous self-defence – a sort of irregular unauthorised vengeance.
He [Sir John] deliberately called it a policy of reprisals and the expression came from the interview which General Macready [the Irish GOC] gave to the American press. ‘Soldiers and Constabulary are not responsible for the policy of a country,’ added Sir John. ‘It comes from their superiors.’
‘In a single word, reprisal is frightfulness,’ Sir John continued. ‘To answer murder with murder, to answer outrage with terrorism, is not government – it is anarchy.’
He recalled the recent events at Balbriggan, Trim and Mallow and said the most sinister fact was that motor lorries of armed men descended upon a town within a few hours of some Republican outrage.
Did this not suggest that this was all part and parcel of an organised scheme? (Hear, hear.)
Bishops on British ‘Atrocities’
THE Catholic hierarchy of Ireland yesterday issued a strong pronouncement on the state of the country.
They declared that oppression was rampant and terrorism and partiality were the characteristics of the government.
‘The flogging and massacre of civilians was rife and all this was perpetrated by the forces of the Crown who had established a reign of frightfulness which, for murdering the innocent and destroying their property, had only a parallel in the horrors of Turkish atrocities.’
(Editor’s note: By October 1920 the unbridled use of reprisals by the forces of the crown outraged opinion on both sides of the Irish Sea.
At this London meeting Lloyd George’s policy was denounced by the Liberal stateman, Sir John Simon and leading public figures.
Their anger was matched by the condemnation of the Irish hierarchy who linked the policy to the toleration of anti-Catholic riots in the north and expulsion of 6,000 Catholic workers.)
On This Day – 20th October 1920
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19201020
Reference Date
19201020
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 20th October 1920, Liberal Sir John Simon condemned reprisals at a London meeting, as Irish bishops denounced British ‘atrocities’. Edited by historian Dr Éamon Phoenix.
Outrage over ‘Reprisals’ | On This Day – 20th October 1920
SIR John Simon [former Liberal Minister] and Sir Horace Plunkett were the principal speakers at a meeting at the Central Hall, Westminster last night under the auspices of the London Liberal Federation.
The object of the meeting was ‘to protest against the present methods of Irish administration’ and a resolution was submitted protesting against the whole policy of the Government in Ireland and especially against ‘the methods of indiscriminate murder and destruction adopted by the armed forces of the Crown’.
The motion called upon the Government to put an immediate stop to ‘these acts of terrorism and violence’.
Among those present were Lord MacDonnell [former Irish Under-Secretary], Sir Donald MacLean, MP [Liberal] and Mr G K Chesterton.
Proposing the resolution, Sir John Simon said the Prime Minister at Carnarvon had the audacity to pretend that reprisals in Ireland were nothing more than a kind of spontaneous self-defence – a sort of irregular unauthorised vengeance.
He [Sir John] deliberately called it a policy of reprisals and the expression came from the interview which General Macready [the Irish GOC] gave to the American press. ‘Soldiers and Constabulary are not responsible for the policy of a country,’ added Sir John. ‘It comes from their superiors.’
‘In a single word, reprisal is frightfulness,’ Sir John continued. ‘To answer murder with murder, to answer outrage with terrorism, is not government – it is anarchy.’
He recalled the recent events at Balbriggan, Trim and Mallow and said the most sinister fact was that motor lorries of armed men descended upon a town within a few hours of some Republican outrage.
Did this not suggest that this was all part and parcel of an organised scheme? (Hear, hear.)
Bishops on British ‘Atrocities’
THE Catholic hierarchy of Ireland yesterday issued a strong pronouncement on the state of the country.
They declared that oppression was rampant and terrorism and partiality were the characteristics of the government.
‘The flogging and massacre of civilians was rife and all this was perpetrated by the forces of the Crown who had established a reign of frightfulness which, for murdering the innocent and destroying their property, had only a parallel in the horrors of Turkish atrocities.’
(Editor’s note: By October 1920 the unbridled use of reprisals by the forces of the crown outraged opinion on both sides of the Irish Sea.
At this London meeting Lloyd George’s policy was denounced by the Liberal stateman, Sir John Simon and leading public figures.
Their anger was matched by the condemnation of the Irish hierarchy who linked the policy to the toleration of anti-Catholic riots in the north and expulsion of 6,000 Catholic workers.)
On This Day – 20th October 1920
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19201020
Reference Date
October 20, 2020
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 20th October 1920, Liberal Sir John Simon condemned reprisals at a London meeting, as Irish bishops denounced British ‘atrocities’. Edited by historian Dr Éamon Phoenix.
Outrage over ‘Reprisals’ | On This Day – 20th October 1920
SIR John Simon [former Liberal Minister] and Sir Horace Plunkett were the principal speakers at a meeting at the Central Hall, Westminster last night under the auspices of the London Liberal Federation.
The object of the meeting was ‘to protest against the present methods of Irish administration’ and a resolution was submitted protesting against the whole policy of the Government in Ireland and especially against ‘the methods of indiscriminate murder and destruction adopted by the armed forces of the Crown’.
The motion called upon the Government to put an immediate stop to ‘these acts of terrorism and violence’.
Among those present were Lord MacDonnell [former Irish Under-Secretary], Sir Donald MacLean, MP [Liberal] and Mr G K Chesterton.
Proposing the resolution, Sir John Simon said the Prime Minister at Carnarvon had the audacity to pretend that reprisals in Ireland were nothing more than a kind of spontaneous self-defence – a sort of irregular unauthorised vengeance.
He [Sir John] deliberately called it a policy of reprisals and the expression came from the interview which General Macready [the Irish GOC] gave to the American press. ‘Soldiers and Constabulary are not responsible for the policy of a country,’ added Sir John. ‘It comes from their superiors.’
‘In a single word, reprisal is frightfulness,’ Sir John continued. ‘To answer murder with murder, to answer outrage with terrorism, is not government – it is anarchy.’
He recalled the recent events at Balbriggan, Trim and Mallow and said the most sinister fact was that motor lorries of armed men descended upon a town within a few hours of some Republican outrage.
Did this not suggest that this was all part and parcel of an organised scheme? (Hear, hear.)
Bishops on British ‘Atrocities’
THE Catholic hierarchy of Ireland yesterday issued a strong pronouncement on the state of the country.
They declared that oppression was rampant and terrorism and partiality were the characteristics of the government.
‘The flogging and massacre of civilians was rife and all this was perpetrated by the forces of the Crown who had established a reign of frightfulness which, for murdering the innocent and destroying their property, had only a parallel in the horrors of Turkish atrocities.’
(Editor’s note: By October 1920 the unbridled use of reprisals by the forces of the crown outraged opinion on both sides of the Irish Sea.
At this London meeting Lloyd George’s policy was denounced by the Liberal stateman, Sir John Simon and leading public figures.
Their anger was matched by the condemnation of the Irish hierarchy who linked the policy to the toleration of anti-Catholic riots in the north and expulsion of 6,000 Catholic workers.)
On This Day – 20th October 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.