Timeline of Local and National Events 1919

National events in blue

Local events in black

1919

January 1919

5th

Public demonstration takes place in Omagh demanding the release of Sinn Féin prisoners.

21st

The Soloheadbeg attack, Co. Tipperary. Two RIC men are killed in the first action of the War of Independence.

Creative Centenaries -From Turmoil to Truce: Photographs of the War of Independence

21st

Inaugural meeting of Dáil Éireann is held in Dublin’s Mansion House.

February 1919

3rd

Michael Collins and Harry Boland mastermind de Valera’s escape from Lincoln jail.

3rd

The Monaghan Asylum strike, which involved 96 nurses and attendants, is resolved following the intervention of Fr McNamee.

8th

Sean T.O’Kelly arrives in Paris to present the case for Irish independence at the Peace Conference.

20th

De Valera is smuggled back into Ireland.

27th

Fermanagh Times publishes a long letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery (Blessingbourne) denouncing Southern Unionist opposition to partition.

March 1919

6th

Pierce McCann, Sinn Féin TD for East Tipperary, dies from influenza.

6th

British government releases a large number of internees including Arthur Griffith and William Cosgrave.

6th

Fermanagh Times report speculates on the impact of using PR in the forthcoming local elections, explaining its purpose is to ensure that the voice of ‘important minorities’ may be heard.

24th

William Coote, Unionist MP for South Tyrone, claims in the House of Commons that the Unionist-controlled Tyrone County Council has employed more Catholics than the total of all Protestants employed by Nationalist-controlled Councils across the rest of Ireland.

April 1919

3rd

Arrangements for the Dáil Loan are announced.

11th

Dáil Éireann announces a boycott of the RIC.

13th

A general strike involving 14,000 workers leads to the formation of the short-lived ‘Limerick Soviet’. It
collapses after two weeks.

25th

A crisis meeting of the Tyrone and Fermanagh Asylum Committee is held to deal with an impending strike. Male attendants receive an annual salary increase of £5 to £30, while females receive an increase of £5 to £27.

May 1919

13th

Sean Hogan, one of the Soloheadbeg attackers, is
rescued from a train at Knocklong, Co. Limerick. Two RIC Constables guarding him are killed in the attack.

20th

The Ulster Workers’ Trade Union establishes a branch in Fermanagh with its headquarters in Enniskillen. It describes itself as an openly Protestant and Unionist grouping.

June 1919

1st

Fermanagh Times warns readers that the government could panic in the face of republican aggression and Fermanagh could be ‘thrown to the wolves’.

1st

A monster AOH demonstration is held in Aughnacloy with the purpose of strengthening the movement across Tyrone, Fermanagh, Armagh and Monaghan.

1st

De Valera leaves for the United States to promote the demand for Irish independence and recognition of the Irish Republic.

13th

M08978

The RIC raid an illegal poteen production facility near Plumbridge.

RIC Constables and Poteen Still

23rd

District Inspector Michael Hunt is shot dead on a crowded Thurles street, becoming the most senior RIC officer to die in the conflict thus far.

28th

Versailles Treaty is signed. No reference is made to Ireland.

July 1919

4th

Sinn Féin and the IRA are banned.

24th

Irish Independent claims ‘Peace Conference has undone the partition of Poland’, making it impossible for Lloyd George to include Tyrone and Fermanagh in any Irish ‘Orange Free State’.

26th

Belfast Newsletter reports the various parties in Tyrone had prepared several thousand objections to the county’s voting register.

August 1919

15th

A huge AOH demonstration in Newtownbutler attracts nationalists from Cavan and Monaghan in response to Carson’s threat to call out the Ulster Volunteers.

20th

All members of Dáil Éireann swear an oath of allegiance to the Republic.

September 1919

7th

Pte William Jones becomes the first British Army fatality of the War of Independence. He is shot dead while on a church parade in Fermoy, Co. Cork.

12th

Dáil Éireann is proscribed.

12th

Homes of prominent Sinn Féiners in Tyrone and Fermanagh and the offices of the Ulster Herald are searched in coordinated raids.

October 1919

1st

Edward Archdale addresses a large meeting of Tyrone and Fermanagh Unionists in Omagh. Carson is prevented from attending because of a rail strike.

7th

The five-man Irish Situation Committee under the
chairmanship of Walter Long is appointed to draft a fourth Home Rule Bill.

November 1919

4th

The Long Committee’s first report recommends partition with the creation of two separate parliaments in Ireland.

18th

A meeting of Enniskillen Rural District Council agrees to adopt the regulations under the Profiteering Act, as it was claimed that local farmers were being forced to pay exorbitant sums for most essential goods and services in the town.

December 1919

23rd

Belfast Newsletter warns that any attempt to define the proposed boundary on political and homogenous lines would subject Tyrone and Fermanagh to a ‘process of dissection’.

28th

Sean MacEoin, the Longford IRA commander, is released from Sligo jail. He had been arrested for his role in administering the Dáil Loan.

1920 v3

Timeline of Local and National Events 1920

Timeline 1920

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1921 v2

Timeline of Local and National Events 1921

Timeline 1921

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1922 V1

Timeline of Local and National Events 1922

Timeline 1922

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