In this edition we discuss the activities of Cumann na mBan in Westmeath during the War of Independence, a time in which its members gathered intelligence, carried dispatches and provided safehouses for the local IRA. As we have seen in earlier blogs, the Conscription Crisis was an important period for republican organisations in Westmeath with […]
In our previous post, we discussed the assassination of Thomas Craddock in August 1920 and the escalation of the IRA’s campaign in Westmeath. In this edition, we discuss events in and around Athlone during subsequent months. During the first half of October the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) carried out many raids around Athlone, both in […]
In previous posts we discussed the British government’s Restoration of Order in Ireland Act, introduced in August 1920, and the creation of an IRA flying column in Westmeath soon after. These developments signified an escalation of the conflict in Westmeath between August and November 1920. Prior to this period, IRA General Headquarters (GHQ) in Dublin […]
In this edition, we continue our series of guests posts. Dr John Gibney discusses how the Westmeath Independent reported on global events during a time of change and disruption. Many historians now examine the Irish revolution in the light of the upheavals that came in the aftermath of the First World War. But how were […]
Shadows in Death by JD Robb. As a cop stands over a dead body, her husband spots a face in the crowd, an unwelcome blast from the past. As the investigation progresses, it becomes evident that this not the last of the bodies and that the murderer poses a serious threat to Lt. Eve Dallas […]
In earlier posts, we discussed the retreat of the RIC from large areas of Westmeath, particularly during the first half of 1920. As British authority declined, republican alternatives emerged to take its place. The destruction of RIC barracks by the IRA during Easter 1920 was a pivotal moment in the War of Independence, one which […]
An Irish Woman in Czarist Russia by Jean Lombard is an amazing read. The book centres on the life of Kathleen Ffrench (1864-1938) daughter of Robert Percy Ffrench an Irish Diplomat and Sophie Alexandrovna Kindiakova a Russian heiress. Kathleen went on to inherit her father’s Irish Castle at Monivea, Galway, Ireland and her Russian grandfather’s […]
In November 1920 the offices of the Westmeath Independent were destroyed in an attack by the Crown forces. As we approach the centenary of that event, we devote this edition of the blog to the circumstances facing the media during the War of Independence. We will discuss the attack on the newspaper, which will be […]
In this edition, we take a break from our series on developments in Westmeath and welcome our first guest contributor, Dr John Gibney of the Royal Irish Academy. In November 1920 James Daly, a soldier in the Connaught Rangers regiment of the British army, was executed in India. Daly, who spent much of his youth […]
Previously, we charted the development of the IRA in Westmeath. Here, we discuss the ‘flying column’ that was formed in 1920. As we have seen in an earlier post, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) had carried out a nationwide operation during Easter 1920, destroying over 300 buildings, such as abandoned Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) barracks, […]