On This Day / September 28, 1920

Summary: On This Day – 28th September 1920, Major General Sir F Maurice, writing in the Liberal Daily News, condemned the Black and Tans as a brutal, unaccountable force, whose reprisals were disgracing Britain’s name at home and abroad. Edited by historian Dr Éamon Phoenix.

‘Tans Disgracing Britain’s Name – Major General

Major General Sir F Maurice in the [Liberal] Daily News: ‘…For all practical purposes the Army, the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Auxiliary Police Force, popularly known as the “Black and Tans”, are one.

‘This, seeing that Ireland is under Martial Law, is perhaps a natural mistake, but it is a serious mistake.

‘The relations between the Army and the police are well illustrated by what has just happened in County Clare.

‘A party of police – mainly “Black and Tans” – on patrol in a motor-lorry were ambushed and five of their number were killed.

‘Soldiers came up in other motor-lorries and drove off the Sinn Feiners.

‘That night the “Black and Tans” invaded three villages, looting and burning houses, killing innocent persons and terrorising women and children.

‘The soldiers under their officers turned out and helped to rescue the women and children…

‘The Army has made mistakes because it is asked to do an impossible job but it is a gross libel on the Army to say that it is responsible for outrages which are only distinguishable from many outrages carried out also in the form or reprisals by the German Army in Belgium…

‘The reports usually say that these barbarities are perpetrated by “armed and uniformed men”. So they are, for the “Black and Tans” wear khaki and are armed, but they are not soldiers…

‘The purpose of this auxiliary police force is to reinforce the depleted ranks of the RIC.

‘It is recruited mainly from young demobilised officers who receive a pound a day, who are dressed in khaki and armed with rifles and revolvers but have not the smallest experience of police duties.

‘These young men joined at a time when the nerves of the regular Constabulary were very highly tried by the long series of murders that had been perpetrated upon their comrades.

‘The RIC had, in self-defence, begun to carry out reprisals when policemen were shot.

‘The police authorities were afraid to punish the Constabulary for such outbursts lest the whole body should resign.

‘Introduced into this atmosphere, the “Black and Tans” soon became a law onto themselves.

‘They believe that reprisals are a part of their business. The net result is that they are acquiring a reputation in Ireland akin to the Bashi-Bazouks of the Bulgarian atrocities and they are ruining Britain’s good name abroad…’

[Editor’s note: Six months after their arrival in Ireland, the Black and Tans had become synonymous with the government’s Reprisals policy.

In this damning indictment, General Maurice depicts them as an undisciplined, unaccountable force whose brutal activities were blackening Britain’s name.]

Further Reading:

List of other On This Day columns

Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive