THE BLACK AND TANS THE BLACK AND TANS: BRITISH POLICE IN THE FIRST IRISH WAR, 1920-21 By DAVID LEESON, B.A., M.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Philosophy McMaster University ©Copyright by David Leeson, August 2003 11 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY McMaster University (History) Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: The Black and Tans: British Police in the First Irish War, 1920-21 AUTHOR: David Leeson, B.A., M.A. SUPERVISOR: Professor R. A. Rempel NUMBER OF PAGES: 264 lll ABSTRACT Over ten thousand Britons fought as police in the First Irish War ( 1920-21 ). Most of these British police were ex-soldiers, veterans of the Great War and members of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RfC), called 'Black and Tans' for their mixed uniforms of dark police green and military khaki. Ex-officers joined a separate force, the Auxiliary Division (ADRIC), a special emergency gendarmerie, heavily armed and organized in military-style companies. Pitted against the guerrillas of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries took many 'reprisals', assassinating Irish republicans and burning their homes and shops. As a consequence, their name became a byword for crime and violence, and the spectre of 'black-and-tannery' has haunted Ireland ever since. This dissertation uses evidence from both British and Irish archives and from British newspapers to study the British police and their behaviour in the First Irish War. According to legend the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries were ex-convicts and psychopaths, hardened by prison and crazed by war. In fact, most of them were quite ordinary men, whose violent and criminal behaviour was a produd of circumstance, not character. The British government would not believe that the conflict in Ireland was a war, and relied on the police to suppress the rebel 'murder gang.' Unsuited for guerrilla warfare, the RIC was already losing its discipline and committing atrocities before its British reinforcements arrived. British constables lived and worked alongside Irish constables, and followed their example, good or bad. Freed from the sometimes moderate influence of the constabulary's Irish majority, Auxiliaries behaved with even greater licence than Black and Tans. The violence of the British and Irish police was overlooked and even encouraged by the British government, which was anxious to keep up the pretence that Irish revolutionaries were merely terrorists and gangsters. IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I wish to thank my supervisor, Richard Rempel, the Grand Old Man of British History at McMaster University, who never let me down. It was a privilege to be his final doctoral student, and I wish him a happy retirement. Thanks to the remaining members of my supervisory committee: Virginia Aksan, James Alsop, Stephen Heathom, and John Sainsbury. Special thanks to Virginia, who let me live in her house while I was completing my program, and to Stephen, for his interest in my work and his efforts on my behalf. Additional thanks to Peter Hart for acting as my external examiner. Thanks to the department secretaries, Wendy Benedetti and Rita Maxwell, for making everything easy. Thanks to McMaster University, to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and to the Government of Ontario for their generous financial support. Thanks also to the Canadian Union of Public Employees and to my brothers and sisters in Local 3906, especially the members of the strike and strike support committees in 1999-2000. Thanks to the staff of the Public Record Office, the Imperial War Museum, the Irish Military Archives, the Trinity College Archives, and the Garda Siochana Museum. Special thanks to Donal Kivlehan for directing me to the Eye and Ear Hospital while I was in Dublin. Additional thanks to the staff at Mills Memorial Library, to Gary Haines for his work as my research assistant, and to Frank Bouchier-Hayes for his interest, enthusiasm, and assistance. Thanks to my friends and colleagues on the fourth floor of Chester New Hall: Daryl Baswick, Nanci Delayen, Dan Gorman, Rhonda Hinther, Ken MacMillan, Heather Nelson, Greg Stott, and Neil White. Additional thanks to the participants in the Fourteenth Annual Conference on Elvis Studies, and to the Bygone ERAs. Thanks once again to my father, Howard Leeson, for his encouragement and support in my studies. Finally, thanks to my dear mother, Barbara Leeson, to whom I dedicate this dissertation. v CONTENTS Abstract 111 Acknowledgments lV Table of Contents v List of Maps and Figures Vll Historionomical Note Xl INTRODUCTION 'Their Name Liveth For Evermore' 1 A. On a Lonesome Road: Murder and Revenge in County Limerick 3 B. The Black and Tans and Auxiliaries in History 9 C. Imperial Stormtroopers 15 CHAPTER ONE Harp and Crown: Coalition Policy and Coalition Policing in Ireland 19 I. The Two-Headed Ass 19 A. The Irish Insurgency, January 1919 to July 1920 22 B. The Restoration ofOrder in Ireland Act, 9 August 1920 27 II. 'Pawns in a Political Game' 30 A. The Royal Irish Constabulary 30 B. The Black and Tans 36 C. General Tudor and the Auxiliary Division 44 Tables 54 CHAPTER TWO Murder Gangs: The War in VVest Galway, July 1920 to July 1921 56 A. Initial Manoeuvres: Spring and Summer 1920 57 B. The Clash of Battlle: Autumn 1920 62 C. The Wearing-Out Fight: Winter 1921 69 D. The Decisive Blow: Spring 1921 72 E. The Truce: Summer 1921 76 Tables 80 CHAPTER THREE Constabulary in Khaki: The Black and Tans 82 A. The Killing of Constable Krumm, 8 September 1920 83 B. 'Ex-Service Men of Good Character and Physique' 86 C. 'The Scum of London's Underworld' 95 D. Violent Veterans 100 Tables 108 VI CHAPTER FOUR Das Britische Freikorps: The Auxiliary Division 113 A. Defence of Barracks Sergeants 113 B. 'These Ex-Officers will be called Temporary Cadets' 115 C. Who Were the Auxiliaries, Really? 123 D. 'Totally Undiscipllined by our Regimental Standards' 129 E. 'A Corps De Luxe' 136 Tables 142 CHAPTER FIVE One-Sided War: Police and Auxiliaries in Combat 146 A. 'A Volley of Shots Rang Out': Inches Cross, 13 November 1920 146 B. Assassinations and Ambushes 149 C. Barracks Battles and Encounter Battles 155 D. War Crimes 161 Tables 164 CHAPTER SIX Burning and Gunning: Analyzing Police Reprisals 165 A. Counting the Cost: Reprisals in Connaught, July to December 1920 165 B. Angry Mobs 172 C. Night Riders 182 D. 'A Little Quiet Shooting' 189 Tables 200 CHAPTER SEVEN Devil' s Island: Explaining Police Reprisals 201 A. Vicious Peelers 201 B. Blood Feud 209 C. 'Courage Wears a Uniform' 217 D. State of Siege 223 CONCLUSION 233 BIBLIOGRAPHY 237 Vll MAPS AND FIGURES Map 1 Pre-Revolutionary Ireland Vlll Map2 RIC Barracks in Galway West IX Figure 1 David Low, '''Ireland, 1920." X Vl11 ;:2 I ...r: I hr_y )tAP /~<, 0. ,I-~ ! IRELAND ~~..._ Showing &ulwa:ye I~ 1 ,\ l\uuU 5'1 -­ 1 ''­ 1 Map 1. Pre-Revolutionary Ireland J ~,..westport __.....~-....,\_-----~___..-..__j /•)AYO [ )\ 3a.!ryn;oe .; ~ {J •cJ II·-\0) "- • XofT,nl~.a ________ / IJJ ---,,Wdiiw>Olown"-,----·<~,, ___ -,, _____ ,-- 0 <--::,1"- c~-w Cl1qqar{' ~''-.; ,-' J ~'0""{ 0-Mill:.own e Cumw:e "' r--,~,., -~-- --- j ' - o "'''""-""'-' , ~~"-c, Lel±ertrack '-'1 v· -' /_,' c;,sCiegmve , _ ~ c' - u 17'> o ~" , o - ,K.,•ernn ,g "'~~ - __ ,01 •.~aam ~-- ' , ,•;,' "'' ruam ,c N -- .:oNNbA;JAr; \ "" !'-,_ ,, < : o'<P'0 0 I .k L OBarncvnderq 'lol,Jec-'i.e-~·~ ~~ -q, ~~~\)c\O ~~v ·a;Hel>c ec J -' 10 ,, w~ . ' '·> ,_,,__ ' . 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And yeuor "Law and Ordtr." · Fr•)fll yr,:_er.Jdy·; · c;;t.'H • Figure 1. David Low, "Ireland, 1920," Daily News, 29 September 1920, p. 3. 'Black and Tan' meets 'Murder Club' in the ruins oflreland. Xl HISTORIONOMICAL NOTE This is the story of the British police (and their Irish colleagues) in the First Irish War (1920-21 ). The events of this conflict are described mostly from the police perspective, and one ofthe goals of this work is to reproduce the mentalities ofthe police. It therefore uses those anglicized place names that appear in contemporary police reports: King's County for Offaly; Queen's County for Laois, Queenstown for Cobh, Londonderry for Derry, Connaught for Connacht, etc. The 'First Irish War' is a new term, coined for the nonce. The conflict between the guerrillas and security forces in Ireland between the summers of 1920 and 1921 has at least three names, all of which elide the part played by the police, and their perspective: the Irish War oflndependence; the Anglo-Irish War; and the Black and Tan War. It seems improper to speak of a 'Black and Tan War' when the Black and Tans were but a small part of the United Kingdom security forces: in the Royal Irish Constabulary, Irish police outnumbered British by two to one at least, and the paramilitary Auxiliary Division was dwarfed by the Ulster Special Constabulary.