On This Day / February 24, 1921
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
19210224
Reference Date
19210224
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 24th February 1921, Roslea’s burning was blamed on the UVF, Donegal reprisals followed an RIC ambush, and General Crozier resigned over indiscipline within the Auxiliaries. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Roslea: UVF Blamed | On This Day – 24th February 1921
LARGE forces of Special Constables arrived in Roslea (County Fermanagh) yesterday evening and commandeered the hotel and business establishment of Mr James Flynn.
Mr Flynn was obliged to clear out with his small family to a house at the other end of the village, leaving some thousands of pounds worth of provisions, drink, etc which he could not remove.
As to who was responsible of setting the village in flames, the general impression is that it was the Ulster Volunteers who started the nefarious work.
Every person in the village deplores the wounding of Mr Lester [Unionist shopkeeper] and no-one suggests that his assailants belong to the village.
Why then, people ask, should unauthorised persons, in possession of arms, be allowed to participate in an attempt to wipe out a small town?
A member of the Specials had denied to our correspondent that they were in any way responsible for the burnings. The town is now quiet and being patrolled by Specials
Donegal Reprisals
FOLLOWING the shooting of Constable Thomas Sachwell [RIC] in the ambush near the village of Mountcharles, County Donegal, several houses and shops in the village and in Donegal town were wrecked on Tuesday night.
Business was suspended yesterday, schools were closed and many people left the town.
A young woman named Mary Harley, aged twenty six, of Mountcharles was found dead, shot through the heart in the yard.
General Crozier Resigns Command of ‘Auxies’
GENERAL F P Crozier resigned his post as Colonel-Commandant of the Auxiliary Division [of the RIC] in Ireland because he was dissatisfied with the methods adopted by General Tudor who is Commander of all the forces classified as police in regard to an ‘incident’ at Trim [Co Meath].
The Trim incident is still sub judice but we can point out that some 30 Auxiliaries were accused of looting during a raid in County Meath; that General Crozier decided to hold five of the accused men – all ex-army officers – by trial by Courtmartial and to dismiss the others.
However, General Tudor overruled Crozier’s decision and as a result, Crozier resigned.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: By 1921 organised ‘reprisals’ by the Auxiliaries, Black and Tans and Ulster Specials were a daily occurrence with Dr James Gillespie, a coroner in Cookstown, protesting to de Valera about the ‘depredations’ of the USC in mid-Ulster.
He believed that the loyalist force were ‘trying to put down with the mailed fist’ all who opposed partition.
Crozier, the son of the Protestant archbishop of Armagh, resigned when Auxiliaries dismissed by him for indiscipline were reinstated.
Crozier’s resignation drew world attention to the lawlessness of the force.)
On This Day – 24th February 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210224
Reference Date
19210224
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 24th February 1921, Roslea’s burning was blamed on the UVF, Donegal reprisals followed an RIC ambush, and General Crozier resigned over indiscipline within the Auxiliaries. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Roslea: UVF Blamed | On This Day – 24th February 1921
LARGE forces of Special Constables arrived in Roslea (County Fermanagh) yesterday evening and commandeered the hotel and business establishment of Mr James Flynn.
Mr Flynn was obliged to clear out with his small family to a house at the other end of the village, leaving some thousands of pounds worth of provisions, drink, etc which he could not remove.
As to who was responsible of setting the village in flames, the general impression is that it was the Ulster Volunteers who started the nefarious work.
Every person in the village deplores the wounding of Mr Lester [Unionist shopkeeper] and no-one suggests that his assailants belong to the village.
Why then, people ask, should unauthorised persons, in possession of arms, be allowed to participate in an attempt to wipe out a small town?
A member of the Specials had denied to our correspondent that they were in any way responsible for the burnings. The town is now quiet and being patrolled by Specials
Donegal Reprisals
FOLLOWING the shooting of Constable Thomas Sachwell [RIC] in the ambush near the village of Mountcharles, County Donegal, several houses and shops in the village and in Donegal town were wrecked on Tuesday night.
Business was suspended yesterday, schools were closed and many people left the town.
A young woman named Mary Harley, aged twenty six, of Mountcharles was found dead, shot through the heart in the yard.
General Crozier Resigns Command of ‘Auxies’
GENERAL F P Crozier resigned his post as Colonel-Commandant of the Auxiliary Division [of the RIC] in Ireland because he was dissatisfied with the methods adopted by General Tudor who is Commander of all the forces classified as police in regard to an ‘incident’ at Trim [Co Meath].
The Trim incident is still sub judice but we can point out that some 30 Auxiliaries were accused of looting during a raid in County Meath; that General Crozier decided to hold five of the accused men – all ex-army officers – by trial by Courtmartial and to dismiss the others.
However, General Tudor overruled Crozier’s decision and as a result, Crozier resigned.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: By 1921 organised ‘reprisals’ by the Auxiliaries, Black and Tans and Ulster Specials were a daily occurrence with Dr James Gillespie, a coroner in Cookstown, protesting to de Valera about the ‘depredations’ of the USC in mid-Ulster.
He believed that the loyalist force were ‘trying to put down with the mailed fist’ all who opposed partition.
Crozier, the son of the Protestant archbishop of Armagh, resigned when Auxiliaries dismissed by him for indiscipline were reinstated.
Crozier’s resignation drew world attention to the lawlessness of the force.)
On This Day – 24th February 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210224
Reference Date
February 24, 2021
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 24th February 1921, Roslea’s burning was blamed on the UVF, Donegal reprisals followed an RIC ambush, and General Crozier resigned over indiscipline within the Auxiliaries. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Roslea: UVF Blamed | On This Day – 24th February 1921
LARGE forces of Special Constables arrived in Roslea (County Fermanagh) yesterday evening and commandeered the hotel and business establishment of Mr James Flynn.
Mr Flynn was obliged to clear out with his small family to a house at the other end of the village, leaving some thousands of pounds worth of provisions, drink, etc which he could not remove.
As to who was responsible of setting the village in flames, the general impression is that it was the Ulster Volunteers who started the nefarious work.
Every person in the village deplores the wounding of Mr Lester [Unionist shopkeeper] and no-one suggests that his assailants belong to the village.
Why then, people ask, should unauthorised persons, in possession of arms, be allowed to participate in an attempt to wipe out a small town?
A member of the Specials had denied to our correspondent that they were in any way responsible for the burnings. The town is now quiet and being patrolled by Specials
Donegal Reprisals
FOLLOWING the shooting of Constable Thomas Sachwell [RIC] in the ambush near the village of Mountcharles, County Donegal, several houses and shops in the village and in Donegal town were wrecked on Tuesday night.
Business was suspended yesterday, schools were closed and many people left the town.
A young woman named Mary Harley, aged twenty six, of Mountcharles was found dead, shot through the heart in the yard.
General Crozier Resigns Command of ‘Auxies’
GENERAL F P Crozier resigned his post as Colonel-Commandant of the Auxiliary Division [of the RIC] in Ireland because he was dissatisfied with the methods adopted by General Tudor who is Commander of all the forces classified as police in regard to an ‘incident’ at Trim [Co Meath].
The Trim incident is still sub judice but we can point out that some 30 Auxiliaries were accused of looting during a raid in County Meath; that General Crozier decided to hold five of the accused men – all ex-army officers – by trial by Courtmartial and to dismiss the others.
However, General Tudor overruled Crozier’s decision and as a result, Crozier resigned.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: By 1921 organised ‘reprisals’ by the Auxiliaries, Black and Tans and Ulster Specials were a daily occurrence with Dr James Gillespie, a coroner in Cookstown, protesting to de Valera about the ‘depredations’ of the USC in mid-Ulster.
He believed that the loyalist force were ‘trying to put down with the mailed fist’ all who opposed partition.
Crozier, the son of the Protestant archbishop of Armagh, resigned when Auxiliaries dismissed by him for indiscipline were reinstated.
Crozier’s resignation drew world attention to the lawlessness of the force.)
On This Day – 24th 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.