On This Day / February 4, 1921
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
19210204
Reference Date
19210204
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 4th February 1921, police suffered devastating losses in ambushes across Ireland, Edward Carson addressed Unionist fears in Belfast, and steps were taken to partition the all-Ireland court system. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Eleven Police Killed | On This Day – 4th February 1921
ELEVEN members of the police force were killed in ambushes throughout Ireland yesterday. Dublin Castle has stated: ‘Two police cars were ambushed at Pallasgreen, County Limerick. Nine police were killed and two dangerously wounded. There were no rebel casualties’.
Meanwhile, a police patrol of four constables was ambushed near the village of Ballinhassig, six miles from Cork city yesterday.
Fire was opened on them from behind the road fences. They returned the fire and during the exchange Constables Taylor and Carter were shot dead.
Carson ‘Ashamed to be an Irishman’
SIR Edward Carson, MP addressing a meeting of his constituents in Duncairn Unionist Club, Belfast last night, said that he was at home amongst them but he was afraid that the contemplation of Ireland as a whole was not a pleasant experience.
There were things being done in the South and West of Ireland which made a man ashamed of being an Irishman.
However, he was proud to be connected with Ulster but proudest of all to be a ‘Britisher’ (applause).
‘You may talk of Ireland a nation if you like’, said Sir Edward, ‘but I suggest to those who use that phrase to let it be a clean nation, if it is to be a nation at all.’
He hoped and he prayed that peace might soon come to Ireland. (Applause.)
All that was going on did no good to anybody. He said to Sinn Fein: ‘Call a halt and take confidence with your God’.
The Government of Ireland Bill had become law for good or evil. It was in the lap of the gods and they had got to make the best of it.
They, the Unionists of Ulster, said Sir Edward, had never asked for, never wanted and never believed in Home Rule. (Applause.)
Partition of Courts
THE following notice appears in yesterday’s Legal Diary: ‘Officers of the Supreme Court who wish to avail of Section 3(a) of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920 will kindly notify their desire without delay’.
This section provides all the existing judges of the Supreme Court in Ireland shall become Judges of the Supreme Court of Southern Ireland on the ‘appointed day’, but any judge who wishes to leave Dublin and get transferred to Northern Ireland will have his claim considered by the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland.
(Eamon Phoenix editor’s note: His central policy-safeguarding all Ireland under the Union in ruins, the elderly, neurotic Carson had no appetite for assuming the premiership of the new Northern Ireland.
Meanwhile, steps were being taken under the 1920 Act to partition the all-Ireland legal system.)
On This Day – 4th February 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210204
Reference Date
19210204
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 4th February 1921, police suffered devastating losses in ambushes across Ireland, Edward Carson addressed Unionist fears in Belfast, and steps were taken to partition the all-Ireland court system. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Eleven Police Killed | On This Day – 4th February 1921
ELEVEN members of the police force were killed in ambushes throughout Ireland yesterday. Dublin Castle has stated: ‘Two police cars were ambushed at Pallasgreen, County Limerick. Nine police were killed and two dangerously wounded. There were no rebel casualties’.
Meanwhile, a police patrol of four constables was ambushed near the village of Ballinhassig, six miles from Cork city yesterday.
Fire was opened on them from behind the road fences. They returned the fire and during the exchange Constables Taylor and Carter were shot dead.
Carson ‘Ashamed to be an Irishman’
SIR Edward Carson, MP addressing a meeting of his constituents in Duncairn Unionist Club, Belfast last night, said that he was at home amongst them but he was afraid that the contemplation of Ireland as a whole was not a pleasant experience.
There were things being done in the South and West of Ireland which made a man ashamed of being an Irishman.
However, he was proud to be connected with Ulster but proudest of all to be a ‘Britisher’ (applause).
‘You may talk of Ireland a nation if you like’, said Sir Edward, ‘but I suggest to those who use that phrase to let it be a clean nation, if it is to be a nation at all.’
He hoped and he prayed that peace might soon come to Ireland. (Applause.)
All that was going on did no good to anybody. He said to Sinn Fein: ‘Call a halt and take confidence with your God’.
The Government of Ireland Bill had become law for good or evil. It was in the lap of the gods and they had got to make the best of it.
They, the Unionists of Ulster, said Sir Edward, had never asked for, never wanted and never believed in Home Rule. (Applause.)
Partition of Courts
THE following notice appears in yesterday’s Legal Diary: ‘Officers of the Supreme Court who wish to avail of Section 3(a) of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920 will kindly notify their desire without delay’.
This section provides all the existing judges of the Supreme Court in Ireland shall become Judges of the Supreme Court of Southern Ireland on the ‘appointed day’, but any judge who wishes to leave Dublin and get transferred to Northern Ireland will have his claim considered by the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland.
(Eamon Phoenix editor’s note: His central policy-safeguarding all Ireland under the Union in ruins, the elderly, neurotic Carson had no appetite for assuming the premiership of the new Northern Ireland.
Meanwhile, steps were being taken under the 1920 Act to partition the all-Ireland legal system.)
On This Day – 4th February 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210204
Reference Date
February 4, 2021
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 4th February 1921, police suffered devastating losses in ambushes across Ireland, Edward Carson addressed Unionist fears in Belfast, and steps were taken to partition the all-Ireland court system. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Eleven Police Killed | On This Day – 4th February 1921
ELEVEN members of the police force were killed in ambushes throughout Ireland yesterday. Dublin Castle has stated: ‘Two police cars were ambushed at Pallasgreen, County Limerick. Nine police were killed and two dangerously wounded. There were no rebel casualties’.
Meanwhile, a police patrol of four constables was ambushed near the village of Ballinhassig, six miles from Cork city yesterday.
Fire was opened on them from behind the road fences. They returned the fire and during the exchange Constables Taylor and Carter were shot dead.
Carson ‘Ashamed to be an Irishman’
SIR Edward Carson, MP addressing a meeting of his constituents in Duncairn Unionist Club, Belfast last night, said that he was at home amongst them but he was afraid that the contemplation of Ireland as a whole was not a pleasant experience.
There were things being done in the South and West of Ireland which made a man ashamed of being an Irishman.
However, he was proud to be connected with Ulster but proudest of all to be a ‘Britisher’ (applause).
‘You may talk of Ireland a nation if you like’, said Sir Edward, ‘but I suggest to those who use that phrase to let it be a clean nation, if it is to be a nation at all.’
He hoped and he prayed that peace might soon come to Ireland. (Applause.)
All that was going on did no good to anybody. He said to Sinn Fein: ‘Call a halt and take confidence with your God’.
The Government of Ireland Bill had become law for good or evil. It was in the lap of the gods and they had got to make the best of it.
They, the Unionists of Ulster, said Sir Edward, had never asked for, never wanted and never believed in Home Rule. (Applause.)
Partition of Courts
THE following notice appears in yesterday’s Legal Diary: ‘Officers of the Supreme Court who wish to avail of Section 3(a) of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920 will kindly notify their desire without delay’.
This section provides all the existing judges of the Supreme Court in Ireland shall become Judges of the Supreme Court of Southern Ireland on the ‘appointed day’, but any judge who wishes to leave Dublin and get transferred to Northern Ireland will have his claim considered by the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland.
(Eamon Phoenix editor’s note: His central policy-safeguarding all Ireland under the Union in ruins, the elderly, neurotic Carson had no appetite for assuming the premiership of the new Northern Ireland.
Meanwhile, steps were being taken under the 1920 Act to partition the all-Ireland legal system.)
On This Day – 4th 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.