On This Day / April 5, 1921
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
19210405
Reference Date
19210405
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 5th April 1921, Northern Nationalists rejected Partition at a major Belfast conference while an ex-policeman was executed in cold blood in Galway as violence continued. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Nationalist meeting: No Partition | On This Day – 5th April 1921
A CONFERENCE of Nationalists from the Six Counties was held in St Mary’s Hall, Belfast yesterday to decide upon the policy to be adopted in connection with the Partition election.
Over 800 delegates attended representative of the clergy and members of public boards and organisations including the United Irish League [the Redmondite body], the AOH and Irish National Foresters.
On the motion of the Very Rev Canon Crolly, PP VF, St Matthew’s, Belfast, seconded by Mr Michael Johnston, solicitor, Downpatrick, the following resolutions were passed with five dissentients: ‘That this Convention of representative Nationalists of the Six Counties hereby places on record its unalterable belief in the right of Ireland to determine its own destiny; that we regard the establishment of a Parliament for a section of the province of Ulster as a menace to public unity and a danger to the lives and interests of our Northern citizens and we feel it our duty to declare that alone in a Constituent Assembly for all Ireland lies the hope of well-ordered freedom. ..
‘That we enter our solemn protest against the imposition upon any part of Ireland of a constitution conceived by a foreign legislature for British political purposes… that believing that this so-called Northern Parliament is a danger to our liberties and a barrier to the permanent solution of the Irish problem, we can give it neither recognition nor lend it support and we call on all those who are opposed to the partition of Ireland to support… only candidates who will unreservedly pledge themselves neither to recognise nor enter into it and to select candidates pledged to the policy of self-determination and anti-Partition*.
Ex-Policeman’s Fate
A GALWAY message says: Thomas Morris (68), who served in the Royal Irish Fusiliers during the war and had for fourteen years been a member of the RIC, was taken from his house near Kinvara, County Galway at 10.30 on Saturday night and on Sunday morning his dead body was found at the crossroads. He had been blindfolded, an old cloth tied across his eyes and on his breast was a label inscribed, ‘Convicted spy – tried, convicted and executed – IRA’.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: The bitter split within northern nationalism meant that, outside Joe Devlin’s stronghold of West Belfast, the old Nationalist Party had lost massively to Sinn Fein.
With an electoral pact, Devlin was hopeful of winning ‘between 15 to 20 seats’ in the new Belfast Parliament.
This proved optimistic with the Nationalists and Sinn Fein winning just 6 seats each in May 1921. The unionists won 40 of the 52 seats.)
On This Day – 5th April 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210405
Reference Date
19210405
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 5th April 1921, Northern Nationalists rejected Partition at a major Belfast conference while an ex-policeman was executed in cold blood in Galway as violence continued. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Nationalist meeting: No Partition | On This Day – 5th April 1921
A CONFERENCE of Nationalists from the Six Counties was held in St Mary’s Hall, Belfast yesterday to decide upon the policy to be adopted in connection with the Partition election.
Over 800 delegates attended representative of the clergy and members of public boards and organisations including the United Irish League [the Redmondite body], the AOH and Irish National Foresters.
On the motion of the Very Rev Canon Crolly, PP VF, St Matthew’s, Belfast, seconded by Mr Michael Johnston, solicitor, Downpatrick, the following resolutions were passed with five dissentients: ‘That this Convention of representative Nationalists of the Six Counties hereby places on record its unalterable belief in the right of Ireland to determine its own destiny; that we regard the establishment of a Parliament for a section of the province of Ulster as a menace to public unity and a danger to the lives and interests of our Northern citizens and we feel it our duty to declare that alone in a Constituent Assembly for all Ireland lies the hope of well-ordered freedom. ..
‘That we enter our solemn protest against the imposition upon any part of Ireland of a constitution conceived by a foreign legislature for British political purposes… that believing that this so-called Northern Parliament is a danger to our liberties and a barrier to the permanent solution of the Irish problem, we can give it neither recognition nor lend it support and we call on all those who are opposed to the partition of Ireland to support… only candidates who will unreservedly pledge themselves neither to recognise nor enter into it and to select candidates pledged to the policy of self-determination and anti-Partition*.
Ex-Policeman’s Fate
A GALWAY message says: Thomas Morris (68), who served in the Royal Irish Fusiliers during the war and had for fourteen years been a member of the RIC, was taken from his house near Kinvara, County Galway at 10.30 on Saturday night and on Sunday morning his dead body was found at the crossroads. He had been blindfolded, an old cloth tied across his eyes and on his breast was a label inscribed, ‘Convicted spy – tried, convicted and executed – IRA’.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: The bitter split within northern nationalism meant that, outside Joe Devlin’s stronghold of West Belfast, the old Nationalist Party had lost massively to Sinn Fein.
With an electoral pact, Devlin was hopeful of winning ‘between 15 to 20 seats’ in the new Belfast Parliament.
This proved optimistic with the Nationalists and Sinn Fein winning just 6 seats each in May 1921. The unionists won 40 of the 52 seats.)
On This Day – 5th April 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210405
Reference Date
April 5, 2021
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 5th April 1921, Northern Nationalists rejected Partition at a major Belfast conference while an ex-policeman was executed in cold blood in Galway as violence continued. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Nationalist meeting: No Partition | On This Day – 5th April 1921
A CONFERENCE of Nationalists from the Six Counties was held in St Mary’s Hall, Belfast yesterday to decide upon the policy to be adopted in connection with the Partition election.
Over 800 delegates attended representative of the clergy and members of public boards and organisations including the United Irish League [the Redmondite body], the AOH and Irish National Foresters.
On the motion of the Very Rev Canon Crolly, PP VF, St Matthew’s, Belfast, seconded by Mr Michael Johnston, solicitor, Downpatrick, the following resolutions were passed with five dissentients: ‘That this Convention of representative Nationalists of the Six Counties hereby places on record its unalterable belief in the right of Ireland to determine its own destiny; that we regard the establishment of a Parliament for a section of the province of Ulster as a menace to public unity and a danger to the lives and interests of our Northern citizens and we feel it our duty to declare that alone in a Constituent Assembly for all Ireland lies the hope of well-ordered freedom. ..
‘That we enter our solemn protest against the imposition upon any part of Ireland of a constitution conceived by a foreign legislature for British political purposes… that believing that this so-called Northern Parliament is a danger to our liberties and a barrier to the permanent solution of the Irish problem, we can give it neither recognition nor lend it support and we call on all those who are opposed to the partition of Ireland to support… only candidates who will unreservedly pledge themselves neither to recognise nor enter into it and to select candidates pledged to the policy of self-determination and anti-Partition*.
Ex-Policeman’s Fate
A GALWAY message says: Thomas Morris (68), who served in the Royal Irish Fusiliers during the war and had for fourteen years been a member of the RIC, was taken from his house near Kinvara, County Galway at 10.30 on Saturday night and on Sunday morning his dead body was found at the crossroads. He had been blindfolded, an old cloth tied across his eyes and on his breast was a label inscribed, ‘Convicted spy – tried, convicted and executed – IRA’.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: The bitter split within northern nationalism meant that, outside Joe Devlin’s stronghold of West Belfast, the old Nationalist Party had lost massively to Sinn Fein.
With an electoral pact, Devlin was hopeful of winning ‘between 15 to 20 seats’ in the new Belfast Parliament.
This proved optimistic with the Nationalists and Sinn Fein winning just 6 seats each in May 1921. The unionists won 40 of the 52 seats.)
On This Day – 5th April 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.