It was the original intention that an officer would go to the centre of the field and speaking from a megaphone, invite the assassins to come forward. Bloody Sunday 1920: new evidence Published in 20th-century / Contemporary History, Features, Issue 2 (Summer 2003), Revolutionary Period 1912-23, Volume 11. Belfast 1921. British soldiers and relatives of the victims outside, Belfast Telegraph archive 27 November 1920, "The Gaelic Athletic Association in Dublin during the Irish Revolution, 1913–1923", "Ceremony to mark grave of Bloody Sunday victim", "Kill Irish Prisoners Who Try To Escape From Castle Prison", "The day 14 died in Croke Park: Remembering those killed 99 years ago", "Tuesday 25th January 1921 Lancashire Evening Post", "Thursday 27th January Londonderry Sentinel", "Lt John Connolly Leinster Regiment – Mr 'C' trial witness", "Lt Charles R. Peel Lab. Their commander, Major Mills, later admitted that his men were "excited and out of hand". The IRA team ordered a hotel porter to take them to the specific rooms. November 21, 1920 – how Bloody Sunday unfolded T he detail of the assassinations, indiscriminate slaughter and executions that took place across Dublin 100 years ago is both fascinating and chilling All other witnesses said the shooting was unprovoked, and a military inquiry concluded it was indiscriminate and excessive. On 9 November 1920, in a speech delivered at London Guildhall, a clearly buoyed Lloyd George trumpeted that he had ‘murder by the throat’ in Ireland. [50] Some police fired into the fleeing crowd from the pitch, while others, outside the grounds, opened fire from the Canal Bridge at spectators who climbed over the Canal Wall trying to escape. Victims' families waited 47 years to see if there would be prosecutions. [14] Shortly after, Collins ordered the assassination of British agents in the city, judging that if they did not do this, the IRA's organisation in the capital would be in grave danger. an anecdotal history of britain's armed occupation of ireland, particularly the events leading to bloody sunday in november 1920, is presented. Bloody Sunday (Irish: Domhnach na Fola ) was a day of violence in Dublin on 21 November 1920, during the Irish War of Independence. Bloody Sunday (1920) More than 30 people were killed or fatally wounded on 21 November 1920. At 1:30 pm on the same day of the British intelligence killings Lieutenant-Colonel Bray at Collinstown gave the order to raid a Gaelic football match at Croke Park and have every man searched. Some of the police later claimed they were fired on first as they arrived outside Croke Park,[46] allegedly by IRA sentries; but other police at the front of the convoy did not corroborate this,[47] and there is no convincing evidence for it. After the massacre two military courts found that “the fire of the RIC was carried out without orders and exceeded the demands of the situation” and Major-General Boyd, the officer commanding Dublin District, added “the firing on the crowd was carried out without orders, was indiscriminate, and unjustifiable, with the exception of any shooting which took place inside the enclosure”. [36][28], In all, 14 men were killed outright, and another was mortally wounded, while five others were wounded but survived. IRA operatives went to a number of addresses and killed or fatally wounded 15 men. Tipperary were eventually to defeat Dublin in the 1920 All Ireland final, but that did not take place until June 1922, just less than two weeks before the outbreak of the Civil War in which many of those involved on Bloody Sunday found themselves on opposing sides. [40] Correspondents for the Manchester Guardian and Britain's Daily News interviewed witnesses, and concluded that the "IRA sentries" were actually ticket-sellers: It is the custom at this football ground for tickets to be sold outside the gates by recognised ticket-sellers, who would probably present the appearance of pickets, and would naturally run inside at the approach of a dozen military lorries. Armed and uniformed men were seen entering the field, and immediately after the firing broke out scenes of the wildest confusion took place. The four accused men were William Conway, Daniel Healy, Edward Potter, and Frank Teeling. Their orders were: There is a football match between a TIPPERARY team and a DUBLIN team taking place at CROKE PARK at 1445 hours this afternoon. The dead included Jane Boyle, the only woman killed, who had gone to the match with her fiancé and was due to be married five days later. A third, surnamed "Peel", managed to keep the assassins from entering his room. All around Dublin Castle, the traditional seat of British power in Ireland, … Most of the assassinations occurred within a small middle-class area of south inner-city Dublin, with the exception of two shootings at the Gresham Hotel on Sackville Street (now O'Connell Street). More than 30 people were killed or fatally wounded. Collins justified the killings in this way: My one intention was the destruction of the undesirables who continued to make miserable the lives of ordinary decent citizens. A convoy of RIC police drove in from the southwest, along Russell Street–Jones's Road. [77], IRA assassinations continued in Dublin for the remainder of the war, in addition to more large scale urban guerrilla actions by the Dublin Brigade. British Intelligence in Ireland was a hodge podge of different organisations operating aparently entirely in issolation to each other. I attempt here to analyse the overall workings of British Intelligence in Ireland, both before and after Bloody Sunday.The events of Bloody Sunday on 21 Nov 1920, are covered in detail. [68] Later commentators also did likewise. [29], One of the IRA volunteers who took part in these attacks, Seán Lemass, would later become a prominent Irish politician and serve as Taoiseach. The massacre further turned Irish public opinion against the British authorities. As the spectators streamed out, an armoured car on St James Avenue fired its machine guns over the heads of the crowd, trying to halt them. [75], The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) named one of the stands in Croke Park as the Hogan Stand in memory of Michael Hogan, the football player killed in the incident. One IRA volunteer, Frank Teeling, was shot and captured as the team fled the building. Bloody Sunday: How 90 seconds of shooting at a Gaelic football match resonated for 100 years. British Intelligence in Ireland. Two Intelligence officers were killed outright, a fourth (Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh Montgomery) died of his wounds on 10 December, while the rest survived. There was no public inquiry into the Croke Park massacre. RIC, Auxiliaries and a DMP policeman – the RIC and Auxiliaries carried out the Croke Park shootings. Ireland's Freeman's Journal reported that, The spectators were startled by a volley of shots fired from inside the turnstile entrances. [34] Charles Townshend disagreed: in a response published in 1979, he criticized Bowden's work, while presenting evidence from the Collins Papers to show that "several of the 21st November cases were just regular officers". The Bloody Sunday of 1920 refers to a day of great violence in Ireland during the Irish War of Independence. When the killings of Croke Park were brought up at Westminster in London by Joseph Devlin he was shouted down and the sitting was suspended. The news of the murders at Croke Park made international headlines but in Britain, the killings of the British agents during that morning had received more attention. [30][31] Another court-martial officer was killed at another address on the same street. Clune, a nephew of Patrick Clune, Archbishop of Perth, Australia, had joined the Irish Volunteers shortly after it was founded, but it is unclear if he was ever active. Two other IRA members were later convicted and hanged in March 1921 for their part in the assassinations. Major General Boyd, the British officer commanding Dublin District, added that in his opinion, the firing on the crowd "was indiscriminate, and unjustifiable, with the exception of any shooting which took place inside the enclosure". The men knocked at the doors, and more men with revolvers came into the house and ran up the stairs. Blood Sunday 1920 At least two civilians were killed, but the status of some of those killed is unclear. The police raiding party suffered no casualties. [58] Major Mills stated "I did not see any need for any firing at all". Corps. [7], Michael Collins was the IRA's Chief of Intelligence and Finance Minister of the Irish Republic. He listened to the statements of the auxiliaries and I was able to show him ocular and tangible proof of them". This information was suppressed by the British Government until the year 2000. The number was eventually lowered again, to 20. [40], The Dublin Gaelic football team was scheduled to play the Tipperary team later the same day in Croke Park, the Gaelic Athletic Association's major football ground. [53][54][55] However, Major Mills stated that no weapons were found on the spectators or in the grounds.[56].