Reference
X550/2/6
Title
War Diaries: Operations Diary in Ireland. A Summary of events during the period in which the 1st Battalion Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regiment was stationed in Ireland, compiled by Capt. A. L. Dunnill from original documents, reports &c.
Date free text
July 1920 - February 1922
Production date
From: 1920 To: 1922
Scope and Content
Bound volume of circa 200 pages of foolscap typescript, with a map of Ireland showing I.R.A. division territories in back board pocket.
Illustrations and printed ephemera noted:
p.8 opposite: press cuttings showing riots in Belfast and troops manning Lewis-guns behind sand-bagged emplacements, summer 1920;
pp.9-10: printed photographs of a ‘post’ in Culpar Street, Belfast; Finner Camp; A typical Irish cottage;
p.22: Omagh main street as seen from the Courthouse. Snapshot photograph. September 1920;
p.24: Keash (Co. Sligo) Police Barracks after being burnt by rebels. Snapshot photograph; top part of building cut off. October 1920;
p.31: Frenchpark R.I.C. Barracks (‘note bullet marks over entrance’). Snapshot photograph. October 1920;
p.34: printed Sinn Fein propaganda, in green and yellow. Sinn Fein ABU; portrait of man and words 'Up McCullough' in shamrock; 'Ireland A Nation' between green and yellow stripes. October 1920;
p.36a: Royal Catholic church from north, Omagh, and High Street, Omagh. Two commercially produced printed postcards. c.1920;
p.47a: searching a load of peat for arms on a country road; Boyle station after a raid by rebels on a goods train; a bridge near Ballymote destroyed by explosives. Printed photographs;
p.52a: Kesh (Co. Sligo) ruins of R.I.C Barracks; the R.I.C. Barracks at Keadue showing troops with Lewis gun mounted on car; the barracks occupied by the Auxiliary Police at Tobercurry. Snapshot photographs January 1921;
p.66a: Boyle Barracks showing the river and rear entrance. Approx. postcard size photograph. February 1921;
p.79a: three types of armoured car used in Ireland; Rolls Royce (rear of vehicle missed off photograph); the ‘Peerless’; the ‘Lancier’. Snapshot photographs. March 1921;
p.96a: Cliffoney (Co. Sligo) police barracks; Cootehall Police Barracks (near Boyle) after being destroyed by rebels; civilians rounded up on a ‘drive’ being paraded for identification; Keadue Police Barracks, civilians clearing away a tree placed across a main road. Printed photographs;
p.111a: Ballymote Court-House with barbed wire in front: Ballymote Creamery after being burnt by rebels; after the ambush near Ballymote (two view of damaged car with troops) on 30 June 1921; IRA prisoners at exercise in Boyle Barracks; IRA prisoners leaving Carrick-on-Shannon for internment at the Curragh. Printed photographs;
p.118: A road in South Sligo blocked with stones. May 1921. Snapshot photograph;
p.122: Civilians assembling for identification at the Collecting Post. June 1921. Snapshot photograph;
p.124: Boyle Barracks showing hospital, pigeon loft and wireless mast. June 1921. Snapshot photograph;
p.125: the main street at Ballymote. June 1921. Snapshot photograph;
p.126: a road in Co. Sligo after it had been partially cleared of stones. June 1921. Snapshot photograph;
p.127: investiture by Lt. Colonel E.I de S. Thorpe on barrack square Boyle during which serving soldiers and ex-servicemen receive medals. 15 June 1921. Snapshot photograph;
p.128a: Boyle Barracks showing prisoners at exercise; A search party consisting of Boyle R.I.C. and ‘D’ Company from Drumhoe; civilians filling in trenches on a main road. Printed photographs;
p.133: the house from which the murderers fired at P.C. Clarke after its destruction by fire. Show graffiti. Snapshot photograph;
p.137a: ‘Table Mountain’ near Grange, Co. Sligo; Grange Bridge, Co. Sligo, after its destruction by rebels; a typical Irish road. Snapshot photographs;
p.152a; an Irish peat bog; cutting a telephone wire; Lough Arrow, near Castlebaldwin, Co. Sligo. Snapshot photographs;
p.164a: ‘Photographs showing various kinds of damage to roads in our area.’: A railway bridge in Co. Sligo [blocked with stones]; Grange Bridge on the main road from Bundoran to Sligo [destroyed by explosives]; a road near Boyle [blocked with stones]; near Ballymote [showing troops and road dug up]; a road near Ballymote [damaged by explosives]; creamery boiler across road near Manorhamilton. October 1921. Printed photographs.
Appendices include:
(1) Organization of the republican Forces
(2) Then Irish peasant and his mode of Life.
(3) General remarks on Raids and Searches
(4) Propaganda
Between 4 and 5: printed official organ of the Irish Volunteers, vol 3, no. 17. July 16 1921
(5) Road in Ireland.
[Photocopying not possible due to fragile binding. All images scanned except press cuttings opposite p.8; Omagh printed postcards at p.36a; Grange Bridge image at p.164a (is printed copy of original at p. 137a)]
Level of description
item