On This Day / March 31, 1921
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
19210331
Reference Date
19210331
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 31st March 1921, sectarian violence claimed lives in Monaghan, cross-border raids by Specials were reported and the Ancient Order of Hibernians was active in Co Down. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Protestant Murdered | On This Day – 31st March 1921
EARLY yesterday morning forty armed civilians visited the home of William Fleming, a Protestant farmer at Drumgarra, County Monaghan, and called on Fleming and his son, Robert to come out and hand over a gun.
The men refused and the house was set on fire. The Flemings were taken to the main road and shot.
Robert (25) was killed instantly and his father badly wounded in the stomach and back. The Fleming house was set on fire.
When this occurred there were present, in addition to the father and son, William Fleming’s mother, a woman of over eighty years of age and two grandchildren aged nine and eleven.
They remained in an outhouse with the wounded man until the police arrived.
Robert Fleming was a quiet man and popular with his neighbours. He spent some years in America, returning home to manage the farm.
Extensive raids for arms were made in the district last September and Fleming’s house was visited and the gun demanded.
The Flemings refused to surrender the weapon and firing took place between the raiders and the occupants.
It is believed that in that fight a young civilian from Castleblayney was shot dead. Fleming Senior was wounded on that occasion.
Specials Raids
A NEWBLISS [County Monaghan] report states that serious complaints were made regarding the conduct of armed men who are alleged to have searched houses and threatened people in the neighbourhood of Clones.
The raiders were attired partly in mufti, some wearing RIC caps and portion of military uniforms.
They are believed to have been Specials from the Newtownbutler district who had crossed the boundary into County Monaghan where they had no right to go on duty.
Down AOH Hall
UNDER the auspices of Division 661, AOH, a high-class concert and dance was held on Easter Monday in the new AOH Hall, Ballycran, Kircubbin, County Down.
The concert opened with a selection of Irish airs by the Portaferry Pipers (AOH) while Mr P McLaughlin, comedian, kept the company in roars of laughter with his sketch, ‘The Dentist’s Room’ evoking much applause.
Miss Maggie Curley, Belfast’s leading soprano, sang ‘Ireland, I Love Thee’. The social programme concluded with the singing of ‘God Save Ireland’.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: UNDER their terms of reference the Ulster Special Constabulary were confined to the six counties though they made regular forays into neighbouring areas.
Sectarian attacks continued along the Fermanagh-Monaghan border Involving the IRA and B Specials.
While a majority of northern nationalists supported Sinn Fein after 1916, Devlin’s Ancient Order of Hibernians remained a significant force in Belfast and east Ulster until the 1950s.)
On This Day – 31st March 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210331
Reference Date
19210331
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 31st March 1921, sectarian violence claimed lives in Monaghan, cross-border raids by Specials were reported and the Ancient Order of Hibernians was active in Co Down. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Protestant Murdered | On This Day – 31st March 1921
EARLY yesterday morning forty armed civilians visited the home of William Fleming, a Protestant farmer at Drumgarra, County Monaghan, and called on Fleming and his son, Robert to come out and hand over a gun.
The men refused and the house was set on fire. The Flemings were taken to the main road and shot.
Robert (25) was killed instantly and his father badly wounded in the stomach and back. The Fleming house was set on fire.
When this occurred there were present, in addition to the father and son, William Fleming’s mother, a woman of over eighty years of age and two grandchildren aged nine and eleven.
They remained in an outhouse with the wounded man until the police arrived.
Robert Fleming was a quiet man and popular with his neighbours. He spent some years in America, returning home to manage the farm.
Extensive raids for arms were made in the district last September and Fleming’s house was visited and the gun demanded.
The Flemings refused to surrender the weapon and firing took place between the raiders and the occupants.
It is believed that in that fight a young civilian from Castleblayney was shot dead. Fleming Senior was wounded on that occasion.
Specials Raids
A NEWBLISS [County Monaghan] report states that serious complaints were made regarding the conduct of armed men who are alleged to have searched houses and threatened people in the neighbourhood of Clones.
The raiders were attired partly in mufti, some wearing RIC caps and portion of military uniforms.
They are believed to have been Specials from the Newtownbutler district who had crossed the boundary into County Monaghan where they had no right to go on duty.
Down AOH Hall
UNDER the auspices of Division 661, AOH, a high-class concert and dance was held on Easter Monday in the new AOH Hall, Ballycran, Kircubbin, County Down.
The concert opened with a selection of Irish airs by the Portaferry Pipers (AOH) while Mr P McLaughlin, comedian, kept the company in roars of laughter with his sketch, ‘The Dentist’s Room’ evoking much applause.
Miss Maggie Curley, Belfast’s leading soprano, sang ‘Ireland, I Love Thee’. The social programme concluded with the singing of ‘God Save Ireland’.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: UNDER their terms of reference the Ulster Special Constabulary were confined to the six counties though they made regular forays into neighbouring areas.
Sectarian attacks continued along the Fermanagh-Monaghan border Involving the IRA and B Specials.
While a majority of northern nationalists supported Sinn Fein after 1916, Devlin’s Ancient Order of Hibernians remained a significant force in Belfast and east Ulster until the 1950s.)
On This Day – 31st March 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210331
Reference Date
March 31, 2021
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 31st March 1921, sectarian violence claimed lives in Monaghan, cross-border raids by Specials were reported and the Ancient Order of Hibernians was active in Co Down. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Protestant Murdered | On This Day – 31st March 1921
EARLY yesterday morning forty armed civilians visited the home of William Fleming, a Protestant farmer at Drumgarra, County Monaghan, and called on Fleming and his son, Robert to come out and hand over a gun.
The men refused and the house was set on fire. The Flemings were taken to the main road and shot.
Robert (25) was killed instantly and his father badly wounded in the stomach and back. The Fleming house was set on fire.
When this occurred there were present, in addition to the father and son, William Fleming’s mother, a woman of over eighty years of age and two grandchildren aged nine and eleven.
They remained in an outhouse with the wounded man until the police arrived.
Robert Fleming was a quiet man and popular with his neighbours. He spent some years in America, returning home to manage the farm.
Extensive raids for arms were made in the district last September and Fleming’s house was visited and the gun demanded.
The Flemings refused to surrender the weapon and firing took place between the raiders and the occupants.
It is believed that in that fight a young civilian from Castleblayney was shot dead. Fleming Senior was wounded on that occasion.
Specials Raids
A NEWBLISS [County Monaghan] report states that serious complaints were made regarding the conduct of armed men who are alleged to have searched houses and threatened people in the neighbourhood of Clones.
The raiders were attired partly in mufti, some wearing RIC caps and portion of military uniforms.
They are believed to have been Specials from the Newtownbutler district who had crossed the boundary into County Monaghan where they had no right to go on duty.
Down AOH Hall
UNDER the auspices of Division 661, AOH, a high-class concert and dance was held on Easter Monday in the new AOH Hall, Ballycran, Kircubbin, County Down.
The concert opened with a selection of Irish airs by the Portaferry Pipers (AOH) while Mr P McLaughlin, comedian, kept the company in roars of laughter with his sketch, ‘The Dentist’s Room’ evoking much applause.
Miss Maggie Curley, Belfast’s leading soprano, sang ‘Ireland, I Love Thee’. The social programme concluded with the singing of ‘God Save Ireland’.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: UNDER their terms of reference the Ulster Special Constabulary were confined to the six counties though they made regular forays into neighbouring areas.
Sectarian attacks continued along the Fermanagh-Monaghan border Involving the IRA and B Specials.
While a majority of northern nationalists supported Sinn Fein after 1916, Devlin’s Ancient Order of Hibernians remained a significant force in Belfast and east Ulster until the 1950s.)
On This Day – 31st March 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.