On This Day / June 2, 1921
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
19210602
Reference Date
19210602
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 2nd June 1921, MPs clashed over the killing of a child in Cork while sectarian tensions deepened after violence linked to a Unionist rally in Belfast. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
MPs Talk of Murder | On This Day – 2nd June 1921
IN THE House of Commons yesterday, Mr [Oswald] Mosley [Labour] asked the Chief Secretary as to the fatal wounds of Patrick Goffin, aged seven years, of Ballinagree, County Cork by a shot fired by a soldier.
Sir Hamar Greenwood said this very sad case was the result of a very tragic mistake. Troops were patrolling rough ground in the mountainous country where a flying column of rebels were supposed to be operating.
Captain Wedgwood Benn [Liberal] – Will any compensation be paid to the relatives of the infant boy shot by your agents? This was followed by uproar.
‘Christian’ MP Advocates Murder
SPEAKING at a Unionist demonstration at Dungannon, Mr William Coote, MP said that, although they were in a minority in those counties, they had beaten the combined Sinn Féin and Nationalist forces. He said the operations of the murderer would have to stop.
They would not allow the Constabulary to be shot from behind hedges.
Where one USC constable was shot down they would put down three Sinn Féiners. (Loud cheers). He was speaking as a Christian.
Man Shot Dead from Crowd Leaving Craig Meeting
EVIDENCE of a remarkable character was given by police at a Coroner’s Inquiry into the circumstances attending the death of John Smith (29) of Seaforde Street who was fatally shot during disturbances on the Newtownards Road.
Mr Smith, a decorated ex-soldier, was proceeding home.
It was shown that part of an Orange procession returning from Sir James Craig’s meeting at the Oval, in defiance of police warnings, proceeded through the Catholic district.
According to a constable, members of this mob acted in a disorderly manner and in the course of a riot a Special Constable was arrested for firing a revolver.
The Coroner strongly denounced the action of the Unionist crowd.
District Inspector Speers [RIC] said that the deceased was standing on Mountpottinger Road when he received a bullet wound in the head.
The police observed a man firing in the crowd and he was taken into custody.
He was in plainclothes and it subsequently transpired that he was a Special Constable on duty.
Head Constable Johnstone said as the Unionist crowd of 200 or 300 came towards Bridgend they broke into a rush. He noticed men rushing out of houses, some carrying sticks.
The foreman said he knew the deceased to be an inoffensive young man.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: As the violence rumbled on, the Unionist Premier had no words of condemnation for his supporters who left his meeting to invade a neighbouring Catholic district nor for the sectarian rhetoric of his Orange colleague from South Tyrone.)
On This Day – 2nd June 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210602
Reference Date
19210602
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 2nd June 1921, MPs clashed over the killing of a child in Cork while sectarian tensions deepened after violence linked to a Unionist rally in Belfast. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
MPs Talk of Murder | On This Day – 2nd June 1921
IN THE House of Commons yesterday, Mr [Oswald] Mosley [Labour] asked the Chief Secretary as to the fatal wounds of Patrick Goffin, aged seven years, of Ballinagree, County Cork by a shot fired by a soldier.
Sir Hamar Greenwood said this very sad case was the result of a very tragic mistake. Troops were patrolling rough ground in the mountainous country where a flying column of rebels were supposed to be operating.
Captain Wedgwood Benn [Liberal] – Will any compensation be paid to the relatives of the infant boy shot by your agents? This was followed by uproar.
‘Christian’ MP Advocates Murder
SPEAKING at a Unionist demonstration at Dungannon, Mr William Coote, MP said that, although they were in a minority in those counties, they had beaten the combined Sinn Féin and Nationalist forces. He said the operations of the murderer would have to stop.
They would not allow the Constabulary to be shot from behind hedges.
Where one USC constable was shot down they would put down three Sinn Féiners. (Loud cheers). He was speaking as a Christian.
Man Shot Dead from Crowd Leaving Craig Meeting
EVIDENCE of a remarkable character was given by police at a Coroner’s Inquiry into the circumstances attending the death of John Smith (29) of Seaforde Street who was fatally shot during disturbances on the Newtownards Road.
Mr Smith, a decorated ex-soldier, was proceeding home.
It was shown that part of an Orange procession returning from Sir James Craig’s meeting at the Oval, in defiance of police warnings, proceeded through the Catholic district.
According to a constable, members of this mob acted in a disorderly manner and in the course of a riot a Special Constable was arrested for firing a revolver.
The Coroner strongly denounced the action of the Unionist crowd.
District Inspector Speers [RIC] said that the deceased was standing on Mountpottinger Road when he received a bullet wound in the head.
The police observed a man firing in the crowd and he was taken into custody.
He was in plainclothes and it subsequently transpired that he was a Special Constable on duty.
Head Constable Johnstone said as the Unionist crowd of 200 or 300 came towards Bridgend they broke into a rush. He noticed men rushing out of houses, some carrying sticks.
The foreman said he knew the deceased to be an inoffensive young man.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: As the violence rumbled on, the Unionist Premier had no words of condemnation for his supporters who left his meeting to invade a neighbouring Catholic district nor for the sectarian rhetoric of his Orange colleague from South Tyrone.)
On This Day – 2nd June 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210602
Reference Date
June 2, 2021
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 2nd June 1921, MPs clashed over the killing of a child in Cork while sectarian tensions deepened after violence linked to a Unionist rally in Belfast. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
MPs Talk of Murder | On This Day – 2nd June 1921
IN THE House of Commons yesterday, Mr [Oswald] Mosley [Labour] asked the Chief Secretary as to the fatal wounds of Patrick Goffin, aged seven years, of Ballinagree, County Cork by a shot fired by a soldier.
Sir Hamar Greenwood said this very sad case was the result of a very tragic mistake. Troops were patrolling rough ground in the mountainous country where a flying column of rebels were supposed to be operating.
Captain Wedgwood Benn [Liberal] – Will any compensation be paid to the relatives of the infant boy shot by your agents? This was followed by uproar.
‘Christian’ MP Advocates Murder
SPEAKING at a Unionist demonstration at Dungannon, Mr William Coote, MP said that, although they were in a minority in those counties, they had beaten the combined Sinn Féin and Nationalist forces. He said the operations of the murderer would have to stop.
They would not allow the Constabulary to be shot from behind hedges.
Where one USC constable was shot down they would put down three Sinn Féiners. (Loud cheers). He was speaking as a Christian.
Man Shot Dead from Crowd Leaving Craig Meeting
EVIDENCE of a remarkable character was given by police at a Coroner’s Inquiry into the circumstances attending the death of John Smith (29) of Seaforde Street who was fatally shot during disturbances on the Newtownards Road.
Mr Smith, a decorated ex-soldier, was proceeding home.
It was shown that part of an Orange procession returning from Sir James Craig’s meeting at the Oval, in defiance of police warnings, proceeded through the Catholic district.
According to a constable, members of this mob acted in a disorderly manner and in the course of a riot a Special Constable was arrested for firing a revolver.
The Coroner strongly denounced the action of the Unionist crowd.
District Inspector Speers [RIC] said that the deceased was standing on Mountpottinger Road when he received a bullet wound in the head.
The police observed a man firing in the crowd and he was taken into custody.
He was in plainclothes and it subsequently transpired that he was a Special Constable on duty.
Head Constable Johnstone said as the Unionist crowd of 200 or 300 came towards Bridgend they broke into a rush. He noticed men rushing out of houses, some carrying sticks.
The foreman said he knew the deceased to be an inoffensive young man.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: As the violence rumbled on, the Unionist Premier had no words of condemnation for his supporters who left his meeting to invade a neighbouring Catholic district nor for the sectarian rhetoric of his Orange colleague from South Tyrone.)
On This Day – 2nd June 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.