1920 Aug 3. D Company formed initially at The Curragh, then moved to in Galway. D Coy. They first appear at Annagh House on 6 Sep 1920. They appear to have moved into the Retreat on Revagh Road in Salthill,Galway in late September 1920 and appear to have been based from October 1920 in Lenaboy Castle, Taylor’s Hill on the outskirts of Galway City. They also used Drumharsna Castle as a post, for how many Auxiliaries I do not know, the only references to its use by the Auxiliaries come in accounts of the murder of the Loughnane brothers at the end of Nov 1920. That says that they were under orders to move out of Drumharsna on 27 Nov 1920, but that the Loughnane incident resulted in them getting orders to stay on. . Today Drumharsna Castle is a gaunt ruin. A large house stood next to it until it was demolished in 1920s.
1920 Sep 6 D Coy move into Annagh House
1920 Sep 10 Bombings and lootings in Galway city centre
1920 Sep 20. Freeman's Journal reports that a Mr Moylett had been given 24 hours notice by the police to vacate his private reside "The Retreat". He in fact later made WS767 which gives a graphic, but factually weak, account of the ADRIC taking over The Retreat.
1920 Sep 25. Contentious raid on a pub in Galway
1920 Sep 26. Crossley Tender carrying a party of Auxiliary Cadets from "D" Company, visited Moycullen as the congregation left Mass/ The village is about seven miles north of Galway on the west side of Lough Corrib . Eight of the Auxiliaries separated out the men from the women and forced the men into a field at gunpoint. There the leader of the Auxiliary Force told them that the Auxiliaries were about to restore to his home, a local Property Land Agent, and if he was molested in any way, they, the inhabitants of the district, would be held responsible. The Agent had been under the protection of a squadron of Dragoon Guards, until their withdrawal, upon which he had to reside in Galway for security reasons.
1920 Oct 1 . CM Kaufman promoted Intelligence officer, DI3
1920 Oct 2. Connacht Tribune carries a statement by "the commander of D Coy" who says "we are the auxiliary force, and act independently. All our men are ex-officers and I hope gentlemen. I wish it to be distinctly understood that we are not here to shoot people, but to restore order. We are obliged to take certain steps to do this...Peaceable, law abiding citizens have nothing to fear from us."
1920 Oct 5. Auxiliaries raid the farmhouse of William O'Hanlon near Turloughmore, and shot his son John O'Hanlon, Secretary of the local Sinn Fein Club
The Crown Forces made their way from Turloughmore to O’Hanlon’s home,and stopped near a little bridge a few hundred yards from the house. Some of them made their way through the fields and covered the back of thee house. Once they were in position, two armed officers went up to the front door, knocked and demanded entry. John O'Hanlon's father opened the door. He was confronted by 2 armed men, one was dressed in a long black coat and the other wearing a trench coat. The family say that there were some 14 other uniformed men in the garden. The two officers entered the house and began a search of the premises. At this point two gunshots were heard coming from the back of the house. John O’Hanlon had tried to escape out the back of the house, had been spotted by the British, who shot and killed him. Because of the darkness his body was not found by the family till daylight.
1920 Oct 9. A large group of men, probably Auxiliary, rather then Black and Tans, raided the Diviney house at Maree, near Oranmore. The men were wearing khaki clothes and black caps. The upshot was 3 of the Diviney sons were shot and wounded. A further attack near Oranmore the same night was made on a Albert Cloonan, and 2 houses were burnt down. The RIC reported concluded that all were the work of the same group.
1920 Oct 9 and 10. CE Whurr was committed to Galway Gaol. No reason in gaol book, nor outcome
1920 Oct 10. Prosecution by Court Martial of Francis Burke, Wallace West and JP Mannox, Temporary Cadets, RIC Auxiliary Division; Larceny and attempted murder by Mannox, by shooting, of a sentry T/C C Baldin ); Salthill, County Galway; found not guilty and released. TNA File . The entry in Galway Prison book shows him as being there on remand awaiting trial in Oct 1920 for burglary of Galway Shop. The later Court Martial found them not guilty
1920 Oct 14 . Michael Furey of Oranmore beaten up, peppered by shotgun pellets, and a bomb thrown into his house by 10 to 15 men Times report
1920 Oct 15 Durrey brothers at Oranmore were peppered by shotgun blasts by about 12 armed raiders Times report
1920 Oct 16 (Sat) . A nationalist school teacher Patrick Joyce was kidnapped from Barna by the IRA, and murdered - he was believed to be an informer. A notice was posted in Barna, warning that the village would be blown up if Joyce were not returned by that evening. The cadets of D Company scoured the district all weekend, threatening, beating, flogging, and firing shotguns at its inhabitants. Two men wound up in the county hospital after encounters with police. The Auxiliaries apparently beat and shot Thomas Carr and William Connolly as part of either trying to find Joyce or as reprisal for his kidnapping. Joyce's body was finally found in the summer of 1998.
1920 Oct 16. 3 Feeney brothers beaten and thrashed at Corbally Times report
1920 Oct 17. Mr J Raftery of Corofin was flogged and beaten Times report .
1920 Oct 19. A mixed force of Auxiliaries and soldiers raided the Coop at Moycullen. They took the 5 male employees outside, they were beaten and shot, but not killed. The leader of the Auxiliaries was said by one of the men to be wearing "khaki breaches, a blue guernsey, and a knitted blue tam o'shanter. He held a revolver in one hand and a whip in the other. He spoke with an English accent" (the only senior Auxiliary at that time seems to have been Lt T Simmonds of RND who might have been wearing a blue guernsey. There were obviously other Naval men in the company, but Simmonds was a Platoon Commander) Times report
The same night 5 men with English accents walked into Michael Walsh's pub in Galway town. They wore plain clothes and carried revolvers. They took Walsh and his assistant Martin Meenaghan outside. They shot Walsh in the head and pushed his body into the dock. Meenaghan was let go. Michael Walsh was aged about 40 and had 8 children (He is in 1911 census, then aged 33, at 16 High St, and a shopkeeper) Times report t & Independent report
1920 Nov 1. WS 1652, Malachay Quinn's wife Eileen Quinn was shot outside Gort. British Military Court found that she was shot by ADRIC. Two lorries of ADRIC were passing through Kiltartan. She was sitting in front of her farmhouse when she was shot. The ADRIC defence was that they always fire rifles when passing through inhabited areas, to deter ambushes. The verdict of the military inquiry is announced this morning as follows:— The court has considered the evidence and the medical evidence are of opinion that Mrs Eileen Quinn, of Corker, Gort in the county of Galway, met her death due to shock and haemorrhage by a bullet wound in the groin fired by some occupant of a police car proceeding along the Gort—Ardrahan road on the 1st November, 1920. They are of the opinion that the shot was one of the shots fired as a precautionary measure and in view of the facts record a verdict of death by misadventure.
The British Government on 8th March, 1921, made an ex gratia grant of £300 to Mr. Malachy Quinn.
1920 Nov 14. Father Michael Griffin was murdered, most likely by Auxiliaries. On November 20 his body was found in a bog near Barna. He had been shot through the head. He was arrested by RIC on Sea Road, Galway. (Breen says he was called out on a bogus call. O’Farrell says that he was arrested at his residence – 2 Montpellier Tce., Galway – and taken to Crown Forces HQ at Lenaboy Castle Taylor’s Hill.. After Crozier resigned he said that he believed that Auxiliaries had murdered Griffin. Blood for Blood- Henry - says that the Irish believed that 3 Auxiliaries were responsible - Smith, Barker, Ward. . Neither of the 2 Barkers in the ADRIC were posted to D Coy. There was a R Ward in the ADRIC in Galway who died in Galway on 14 Nov 1920, somewhat of a coincidence that the dates are the same.
Lenaboy Castle on an 11-acre site at the junction of Taylor's Hill and Rosary Lane. Originally owned by Capt. James O'Hara.
1920 Nov 22. Crozier comes to Galway and dismisses the D Company Commander for excess drinking. The records are very coy about who this first Coy Commander of D Coy was, but it certainly was AP Nichol. Guard was appointed D Coy commander in his place. And The Retreat, Salthill (at least no. 3 Platoon were here, but it is only a few hundred metres from Lenaboy Castle, and would just have been to get more accommodation). Prisoners continued to be shot, rightly or wrongly "trying to escape."
1920 Nov 24. FHW Guard posted to D Coy in Galway as 2nd in Command
1920 Nov 24. FHW Guard was personally escorting Michael Moran, commandant of the Tuam IRA Battalion from Eglinton St to 17th Lancers Barracks when Moron is alleged to have tried to escape. Moran was shot "trying to escape" and died. The two other ADRIC men escorting the prisoner were T Simmonds and J Lowe
1920 Nov 26. The worst case at this time was with the two Loughnane brothers were working on the family farm in Shanaglish and were arrested. Nothing was heard of, nor from, the brothers until a week after their arrest when a group of Auxiliaries called to Mrs. Loughnane to inform her that her sons had escaped their capture. Ten days after they had been arrested their bodies were found in a muddy pond near Ardrahan. They appeared to have been tortured before being killed and photos exist of their charred bodies in coffins before burial by their family. They were arrested on the 26th of November, 1920. The prisoners were taken to Drumharsna Castle for interrogation, before being shot and killed in the nearby Moy O’Hynes woods.
1920 Nov 30 FHW Guard promoted to Company Commander D Coy
1920 Dec 15. The Galway December Fair was held in Eyre Square, Galway City. A large number of sellers were crowded into the Square. A platoon of Auxiliary Cadets belonging to "D" Company, stationed at Lenaboy Castle, Salthill closed off the square. They were reinforced by plain clothes men and regular members of the R.I.C. No one was permitted to enter or leave the Square while a general search, which occurred for about an hour, was in progress. About six men were placed under arrest and were removed in tenders.
1920 Dec 10 G F A Grubbe promoted 2nd in command D Coy
1921 Jan 18. A Crossley tender with 12 Auxiliaries aboard was ambushed at Kilroe, near Tuam, and 3 were badly wounded. A search was started for the ambushers, and Guard arrested a man called Thomas Collins at Keelkil. Guard handed the prisoner over to an RIC sergeant Keeney, and when in Keeney's custody the prisoner was shot "trying to escape". The examining RAMC doctor reported 10 bullet wounds to the body
1921. Feb 19. Commander of D Company in Galway after Guard's promotion to Dublin was G F A Grubbe
1921 Feb 19. Guard moved to Dublin as 2nd in command of ADRIC after Crozier resigned and Wood became commander of whole ADRIC. (The new commander Francis Grubbe was mentioned in the compensation report on T/Cadet S A Grigg after Kilroe ambush gives him as commander)
1921 Mar 16 The burning of Clifden and murder of John J McDonnell. One can see from the Inquiry Evidence given on McDonnell's death that information was given by T/Cadet Harvey Smith
1921 Mar 17. Temp Cadet RIC Aux Div, Douglas Alexander (sic) Griffiths, 34, From Edinburgh, Charge Larceny, remanded to Mountjoy Prison,
1921 Mar 22. Clifden. A group of Auxiliaries took over part of the Railway Hotel (now Foyles). Two notices were posted. It is unclear how long they remained in Clifden
1921 Mar 24, Louis D'Arcy was shot and killed by Auxiliaries in Galway
1921 Apr 9 ADRIC had left The Retreat at this date
1921 Apr 1. General Tudor visited Galway on a inspection. The Connact Tribune reported his visit He said of D Coy that it gave him pleasure from many sources to hear of the excellent discipline on D Company. He congratulated them upon the gallantry a small party of them had shown when ambushed at Kilroe on Jan 18 last
1921 May 7. Michael Tolan, was arrested on 18 April 1921 in county Mayo. He was detained in Ballina barracks until 7 May 1921, when he was handed over to Auxiliaries of D Company ADRIC, for transportation to Galway. The Auxiliaries made it back safely that night-without their prisoner. When a member of Dail Eireann inquired into Tolan's disappearance after the Truce of 11 July, he was told: "I am informed by my Authorities that owing to the transfer & absence on sick leave of some of the members of the Auxiliary police force who are concerned in this case it has not been possible as yet to complete inquiries into the matter." Later, the missing man's comrades learned that a badly decomposed body had been found about a week after Tolan disappeared, in a bog near Ballina. The remains had been taken to nearby League and buried in a plot marked "unknown."
1921 May 14/15 Strange case of CHB Budd and HJ Davey being held up at gunpoint during the night. Budd reported the incident to T Simmonds who lived next door and later G F A Grubbe joined them. LHP Norton lived in the same house, so you get an idea of the living arrangements of the ADRIC, with Budd, Davey and Norton living in one house with their wives, and Simmonds living next door.
1921 May 21 T/Cadet L Knight wounded quite badly, as a result of being thrown against the side of an armoured car while on patrol
1921 May 24. G F A Grubbe relinquished command of D Coy with effect from this date
1921 May 24 to 15 Nov 1921 W L King in command D Coy until he returns to the army. King was court martialed in April and acquitted for murder in Dublin, he returned to duty and was moved to command R Coy, and held that command for 5 weeks from 16 Apr to 24 May, before moving to Galway to command D Coy.
1921 Jun 29. 4 Auxiliaries broke into the home of Flannery in Milltown and beat him up.
1920 Sep 25 Mannox shoots rifle at Guard Commander
1921 Oct 2. Lt G H Souchon of the 17th Lancers was on his way from his Club to Earl’s Island Army Camp in Galway. On his way he met some fellow officers who gave him a lift in their car. As they drove passed the Town Hall shots were fired and Lieutenant Souchon was hit in the head, he died instantly.
Investigations into the shooting showed that Lieutenant Souchon was killed by a stray bullet fired in a dispute at a local hall where a dance was being held in aid of The Republican Prisoners Dependants’ Fund. There were several accounts of how the dispute arose but it involved some Crown Forces either attempting to enter the dance without paying or Republican stewards at the dance attempted to search Crown Forces outside the dance. Lieutenant Souchon was not involved in this dispute. The inquiry showed that there were four men in the car
The odd thing to me is that Souchon was hit and died in the back of the car, yet Thornton, the man sitting beside him, never noticed anything. He only saw the body when the car had deposited Major Parbury and was moving off. Thornton himself says he was covered with blood. The inquiry concluded that Souchon died from a bullet fired from the Town Hall
1921 Oct 2 T/Const Barnes was also shot & wounded in this affray
1921 Oct. An interesting document in Collins paers gives a lot of detail about D Coy, including home addresses. It is difficult to date
1921 Nov 15. William Lorraine King relinquished relinquished command of D Coy. He is succeeded by W E Waitt. Waitt was Coy Commander until they left
By the time they left Galway they had been involved in a number of killings
1922 Jan 19. D Coy leave Lenaboy Castle on Taylor’s Hill, and depart Galway by the 2.25pm train to Dublin and hence to Beggars Bush Barracks. They were accompanied from Lenaboy to the railway station by the bands of the 17trh Lancers and the 4th Worcestershire Regt. "They got a mixed reception from the crowd". Their wives and relatives, the Connacht Tribune reported, had left Galway the previous weekend.