Hunger Strike in Belfast Jail

Frank Carney's arrest appears on a page in the Freeman's Journal, and on that single page there is a snapshot of the escalating drama in the War of Independence.  It is all there on page 5 of the issue dated Tuesday, March 30^th 1920, the everyday heroics and tragedies in the fight for Irish freedom.

The Freeman's Journal, Tuesday
March 30th 1920, page 5

There is a report on the inquest that is taking place in Cork. The Lord Mayor, Tomás Mac Curtain, was murdered in his own home in front of his wife and son, by men with blackened faces. The beleaguered policemen are taking the law into their own hands, and in this case they were retaliating for the death of one of their own colleagues.¹

There are more murders by policemen reported on this page, two IRA men shot in their homes. All of these are in the wake of sustained attacks on police barracks and policemen throughout the southern counties. What the Fremman's Journal does not yet report is that the force that became known as 'the Black and Tans', the most vicious of all the British Police forces, begins to arrive in Ireland this same week, on March 25th 1920. 

Ireland is out of control. Another article on this same page illustrates just how bad it has become. Here we are told that General Shaw, Commander-in-Chief of the British forces, is being recalled to London.  He is to be replaced by General MacCready, who is to ‘strengthen the administration of the law in Ireland’.

The Freeman's Journal, Tuesday March 30th 1920

“As if by way of a parting shot from General Shaw,” the Freeman’s Journal goes on to report, “there has been accelerated activity by military raiders during the last couple of days, and arrests have been made in the provinces of Ulster, Munster and Leinster.”  

The Freeman's Jounal gives some dramatic reports of those who were arrested in this round-up but Frank Carney's entry is a simple statement announcing the arrest of Mr Francis Carney U.D.C. Enniskillen. 

This mention of Frank in the Freeman’s Journal on March 30^th begins a sequence in which we can trace his activities from March through to early May 1920:

Monday March 21 – Carney House Raided

Frank Carney’s house, 18 Abbey Street, Enniskillen where he lives with his mother and father, is raided and searched by members of the RIC. It is not known what is found, but Frank is not arrested. (Reported in the Freeman’s Jounal, Tuesday 30^th March 1920)

Saturday March 27 – Frank Carney Arrested

An IRA Captain who served under Frank Carney tells us in his Bureau of Military History testimony:

 “Early in 1920 plans were being laid to burn vacated Police barracks and Income Tax offices. Each Battalion Area had its work set out for them. Before these plans matured Mr. Carney was arrested.”² 

The Freeman's Journal, 
Tuesday 30th March 1920

Frank is arrested in Enniskillen on March 27^th and he is transported to Derry Jail.

In the Derry Journal of April 2nd we learn that these prisoners arrived in the city under military and police escort, and they were conveyed by 'motor lorries' to the prison.
"Along the route to the jail, the prisoners sang 'The Soldiers Song' and other Republican songs. At the entrance to the prison they were cheered by sympathisers."

We read in this same ariticle there is now pandemonium in Derry Jail, with over 80 Republican prisoners there, and 'normal prisoners' being moved on to Sligo. In Belfast, people are arriving to the Jail from all over Ireland;
"Two destroyers arrived in Belfast Lough from Queenstown with 38 political prisoners."

Mountjoy prison in Dublin is full, and the prisoners there are protesting at their treatment. The Derry Journal reports that a large number of them are permanently in handcuffs.

Tuesday April 20 – Move to Belfast Jail

Derry Journal, 21st April 1920

After three weeks in Derry Jail, Commandant Frank Carney is taken by train to from Derry to Belfast Jail. He is in a group of prisoners from Tyrone, Donegal, Fermanagh and Derry who are moved to Belfast’s Crumlin Road Jail under heavy military escort. This Jail is totally controlled by the military at this time.

Monday April 26 - Hunger Strike Begins

Six days after Frank's arrival in Belfast Jail, the prisoners decide to go on hunger strike;

“The prisoners in Wormwood Scrubs and Mountjoy went on hunger-strike about this time, and strong appeals were being made by some of the Belfast prisoners to join them. General O'Duffy (Eoin O’Duffy) was in charge  of the prisoners. A general meeting was held and it was unanimously decided to go on hunger-strike."  (James McKenna in his Bureau of Military History statement)³ 

Anglo-Celt, April 30 1920

Eoin O'Duffy was arrested in Omagh in late April and is now leading the Ulster and Connacht prisoners in the jail. The prisoners are demanding their immediate release, and they advertise this in newspapers nationwide;

“On behalf of 145 uncharged and untried men in Belfast Prison, we demand immediate and unconditional release. Failing this, we go on hunger strike on Monday 26^th April, 1920. Signed on behalf of the prisoners, Dan Healy Commandant; Owen O’Duffy, Ulster and Connaght; Philip Lennon, Leinster; Thomas Clifford, Munster. – Prison Council”(Anglo-Celt, Friday April 30^th 1920)

Along with his comrades, Frank Carney goes on hunger strike on April 26th.

Friday May 1 1920 - Frank Carney Rushed to Hospital

After just a few days on hunger strike, Frank Carney becomes seriously ill and is released. He is rushed to the Mater Informum Hospital. (The Mater in Belfast)

“After a few days fast the late Frank Carney, T.D., and a few others who were not very robust were carried out on stretchers. This led to a general release on the sixth day and we were all conveyed to the various hospitals, from where we were discharged in about a week.” (James McKenna, OC North Monaghan Brigade, IRA, 1921)³ 

Fermanagh Herald, May 8th 1920

Not all prisoners were released. About 70 were deported to Wormwood Scrubs prison in England. On their way they were marched to Belfast Docks where they were attacked by dock workers. Their British Army escorts stood idly by while the prisoners were pelted with bolts and metal bars thrown down from the boats. The hunger strike continued in Wormwood Scrubs.

Following his brief hunger strike, Frank Carney was back on his feet with amazing speed, and shortly after this we have news of some of his daring raids.

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Notes and References:

¹ This coroner's inquest into the death of the Lord Mayor was highly significant. It passed a verdict of willful murder against British Prime Minister Lloyd George and against certain named members of the RIC. Michael Collins later ordered the killing of the police officers involved in the attack. RIC District Inspector Oswald Swanzy, who had ordered the attack, was fatally shot with Mac Curtain's own revolver while leaving a Protestant church in Lisburn on 22 August 1920, sparking a pogram against the Catholic residents of the town.

² Bureau of Military History 1913-1921, WS Ref #: 559 , Witness: James J Smyth, Captain IRA, Leitrim, 1921

³  Bureau of Military History 1913-1921, WS Ref #: 1028 , Witness: James McKenna, OC North Monaghan Brigade, IRA, 1921

* Note: All the Newspapers quoted in this article were accessed from Findmypast.ie

Tension in the north - and in the Council Chamber

The newspapers throughout Ireland screamed the headlines, overwhelming success for nationalist parties! This was the dramatic outcome of the Local Elections in 1920 with Sinn Fein, Labour and other nationalists taking control of 172 of Ireland's 206 borough and urban district councils.

In the north of Ireland the reaction was far from elation, for the results sent disturbing quakes throughout the radical Unionist supporters. Lloyd George’s new Home Rule Bill, the Government of Ireland Act 1920, had introduced partition for the first time, proposing separate Northern and Southern parliaments. Edward Carson and his Unionists had strongly resisted both Home Rule, and partition. When this became inevitable, Unionists had insisted that the north should be made up of only those counties with a Unionist majority, which was, they argued, six counties rather than the whole nine counties of Ulster. Now in these local elections two of those proposed 'Six Counties', Fermanagh and Tyrone, proved to have, in fact, Nationalist majorities.

Worse still for Unionists, Derry had elected its first Catholic Mayor in three hundred years. All of this helped to create a Protestant backlash later in the year, when Unionists James Craig and Edward Carson marshalled their Ulster Volunteers and set them loose on the Catholic population.¹ 

North Ward Result
Fermanagh Herald 24 Jan 1920

The tension had not yet begun in early February when Frank Carney took his seat on the Enniskillen Urban District Council as one of two new Labour Councillors. Frank, his Labour colleague, Mr W. E. Campling, and an Independent Labour Councillor, Bernard Keenan, had helped make up a nationalist majority on the Council.²  

As soon as the outgoing Chairman, Nationalist Party member Joe Gillen, called the meeting to order, Frank Carney was the first to speak.³ Frank proposed that the outgoing Chairman should continue in office for the new session. He was quickly seconded by the other Labour Councillor, Mr Campling, in what everyone present must have known was an orchestrated manoeuvre.⁴ 

Fermanagh Herald 24 Jan 1920

There had obviously been a pre-election pact between the three nationalist parties, Sinn Féin, the Nationalist Party and Labour. Sinn Féin had agreed not to put up any candidates, so that the Nationalist Party could win the Catholic vote. In return,  Sinn Féin people stood equally unopposed as Labour candidates, to win the workers vote. The completion of the agreement was that the elected Labour Councillors would support Nationalist Joe Gillen as Chairman.

The amicable ballet that had opened this first Council meeting continued with the appointment of Councillors to the various committees. This time it was agreement between the nationalist group and the opposing Unionists. Each side put forward delegates for a committee, and all were approved unopposed. Frank Carney was appointed to the 8-man Public Health Committee. It all went fairly smoothly.

At the next meeting of the Council, the gloves were off. Frank Carney threw the first punch, arriving in the meeting with a radical proposition. A letter had come to Enniskillen from Monaghan County Council explaining that they had passed a resolution protesting against partition of any kind. Frank proposed that this anti-partition resolution should also be passed by this Council, the Enniskillen Urban District Council.⁵ 

Unionist James Cooper was quick  to object and he then to proposed an amendment which clearly illustrates the Unionist mindset of the time.⁶  The amendment stated,

“That we the Urban District Council of Enniskillen do hereby declare that we neither require nor wish for Home Rule of any description whatever. At the same time we rejoice to see that in the present Home Rule proposals before Parliament the loyal and peaceable County of Fermanagh has been grouped with the other loyal and peaceable counties which are henceforth to join the Parliament of Northern Ireland. The Co.  of Fermanagh is largely owned, occupied and populated by Unionists who pay two-thirds of all rates and taxes collected in the county and who would abhor to be grouped with the anti-British element of which the proposed Parliament of Southern Ireland will consist.”

Ulster Herald 6 Mar 1920

Several Councillors joined the discussion, but Frank Carney was getting heated, and he stated that he thought that his own resolution was inadequate,

“I am in agreement with Mr Cooper about the present Home Rule Bill, and I would not pick it off a Christmas tree! What we want is self-determination. The resolution does not go far enough!”

Now was the time for the Unionist Councillor, James Cooper, to make it public that he knew exactly who these ‘Labour’ Councillors were,

“When this board was being formed, two of the members said that they came to represent a particular section of the people, that their motto was Labour first, Labour second and nothing but Labour. They were to have no politics whatever, but Labour was to make a bridge between the Unionists and the Nationalists in the Council”

James Cooper went on to include a third man, the Independent Labour Councillor who we know was Bernard Keenan.⁷  Mr Cooper declared that these three 'neutral' people, the two Labour and the Independant Labour, were all now against the Unionists.

Although no-one in the room mentioned the words 'Sinn Féin', it was all out in the open now, and the Chairman, Mr Gillen, acknowledged this subtlety,

“The Independant Labour man and the two other Labour men know who their best friends are, and there is no use in anyone trying to camouflage them one way or another. You would have to rise very early in the morning to be able to do that.”

So at this early stage of their membership of the Urban District Council, Frank Carney, Mr Campling and Bernard Keenan were all revealed to be Sinn Féin men. Shortly after that meeting in early March the Council members would learn a great deal more about at least one of their new colleagues, when arrests were made in Enniskillen.

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References and Notes:

¹  “The Northern IRA and the Early Years of Partition 1920 -1921”, Robert Lynch, Irish Academic Press, 2006

²  Fermanagh Herald 1903-current, Feb 7^th 1920, page 3, Irish Newspaper Archives

³ Joe Gillen was a business man in Enniskillen owning a pub and a furniture store. He was a famous footballer in his youth, and his playing career was spent in goal for Enniskillen Celtic. He was club secretary of Fermanagh IFA in 1903, helping them to their best ever year in 1905. In 1906 he became chair of the Fermanagh and South Tyrone league until the first world war intervened. He died in 1939 at the age of 59, a wreath from the IFA on his coffin indicated the esteem they felt for Mr Gillen.

⁴ Walter Ernest Campling was born on 8 Dec 1882 in Fort Canning, Singapore, possibly the son of a soldier. There is a lovely little story about Walter as a child. Walter was chosen to act as Queen Victoria's Drummer Boy when she did her tour of Ireland in 1900. When she was leaving at Belfast she asked to see him and gave him a rose from her bouquet. He had saved this flower in the pages of the family bible but when it was opened after his death to show one of his sons, it disintegrated into dust. He became a drummer in the 4th Battallion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers after joining on 18 Jan 1897. Walter was badly wounded in WW1. He had his kneecap shot off and multiple shrapnel wounds. Most of the shrapnel was removed but one piece was inoperable. He used to walk with a stick. He had achieved the rank of Quarter Master Sergeant in the Army. When he was medically discharged he joined the Tax Office where he worked as a clerk until he died on 10 October 1931.

⁵  Ulster Herald 1901-current, March 6 1920, page 6, Irish Newspaper Archives

⁶  James Cooper, Solicitor and company director. Born 26th February 1882. Educated at Portora Royal School and Wesley College, Dublin. Member of Enniskillen Urban District Council. Chairman of Fermanagh County Council from 1924 to 1928. Deputy Lieutenant for County Fermanagh. Custodian of the Enniskillen Savings Bank. An Ulster Unionist member of the British Parliament who sat for Fermanagh and Tyrone from the general election of 1921 until the general election of 1929 when he retired. He died 21st July 1949.

⁷ I believe that Bernard Keenan is the same ‘B. Keenan’ that Francis O’Duffy mentions in his statement to the Bureau of Military History. If so, he was, like Frank, and ex British soldier who was drill instructor in the Irish Volunteers in Enniskillen pre-1915. Bureau of Military History 1913-1921, WS Ref #: 654 , Witness: Francis O'Duffy, Captain IV, Enniskillen, 1913; Chairman Monaghan Dail Courts, 1919 - 1921