The Burnings 1920

by Pearse Lawlor

In March 1920, the republican Lord Mayor of Cork, Tomás MacCurtain, was shot dead in his home. Blaming the RIC for his death, IRA members followed District Inspector Swanzy, believed to have ordered the killing, to his new posting in Lisburn and shot him dead. Furthermore, Banbridge man Lt Colonel Smyth was killed for his policy of shooting any Irishman found carrying a gun who refused to surrender immediately. As a result the towns of Banbridge, Dromore and Lisburn erupted in anti-catholic violence. Catholic businesses and homes were torched, and families forced to flee. In The Burnings 1920 , Pearse Lawlor peels away the myth that enveloped these events and exposes the real reasons for the violence.

Genres: Ireland, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published September 8, 2009

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an interesting topic that I honestly had never heard of before. Was at times a bit hard to keep engaged in just because it felt like a very fact filled run on sentence without clear breaks in discussion. But very informative and interesting.

[Senioreuge · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is still amazing to realise just how little things change in our society. This book relates, in necessary detail, serious sectarian violence in the towns of Lisburn and Banbridge a century ago. The events related refer to a specific reaction to the killing of 2 RIC men believed to have been involved in the murder of the Lord Mayor of Cork, in particular the murder of DI Swanzy in Lisburn signalled a frenzy of intimidation, rioting, looting and bigotry against the catholic population and their businesses in the 2 towns particularly Lisburn. Lawlor shows how the police watched the lootings and burnings without interfering, giving it their tacit consent and how eventually even the 5 people arrested got off. The image of drunken mobs evicting people from their homes and trailing out their furniture which was either looted or burned in the streets, is hard to comprehend until it is remembered it recurred again 50 years later.
This is well worth reading.

[Charlie Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging and at times harrowing narrative history of a lesser known serious of events during the Irish war of independence. The stories of main players such as Mac Curtain, the Smyth brothers and DI Swanzy are excellently written while the descriptions of the riots and destruction that followed were thorough and deeply saddening. As comes with the territory and as some others have pointed out, at times the authors own biases appear but I found this to be fairly rare. As a Banbridge native and someone who takes pride in both my British and Irish identity, I would heartily recommend this book to any with an interest in the War of independence or local history.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was reading this book to learn more about a violent period in the history of Ireland, in 1920 when IRA murders sparked a cycle of anti-Catholic brutality in 1920-21, a history that I had family members caught up in. Well researched, and full of detail it reads like a novel rather than a list of events. All sadly familiar as events repeat themselves decades later.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Well written and well researched. Exposing a little known facet of the Irish War of Independence.