1920 SWANZY RIOTS: Killing of a district inspector led to an eruption of violence

Lisburn man Pearse Lawlor explained that one of the most difficult episodes in the city’s recent past began with the brutal assassination of RIC District Inspector Oswald Ross Swanzy on a quiet, sunny Sunday in front of worshippers leaving the cathedral. Pearse is highly regarded as an expert on the events, which are known as the Lisburn Burnings or the Swanzy Riots, which happened in August 1920, knowledge that he acquired while trawling through the old newspapers of the time after retiring from a 40-year career in the Northern Ireland Civil Service. Among his books are, ‘The Burnings 1920’, which focuses on Lisburn, and ‘The Outrages, 1920-22’, which explores the time more generally, but which was born out of his research into what happened in Lisburn. Both books are published by Mercier Press. To appreciate what happened in Lisburn on August 22 1920, he explained, you have to keep in mind that Ireland was in the grips of the Irish War of Independence and what had happened before DI Swanzy was shot dead. “The Lisburn Burnings were a product of the conditions at the time. There had been riots earlier that summer in Banbridge, Dromore and Lisburn following the assassination of Lieutenant-Colonel Gerald Brice Ferguson Smyth by the IRA,” he said. “He was a First World War hero and from what I have read about him, he was certainly someone that you have to admire. “He was unfortunate that he made a speech to the RIC men in the barracks in Listowel in which he said that they were going to take the battle to the IRA. What had been happening before this time had been that the RIC had been somewhat predictable with regards to patrols, and his idea was that the RIC would take on the IRA. “Smyth proposed that the RIC should lie in ambush and challenge any suspicious characters. “He said that his officers were to demand that these characters should put their hands up and if they didn’t obey the order they should be shot. He also said that if an officer made a mistake that he would not be held accountable.” But not all of the ranks of the RIC were best pleased with Lieutenant-Colonel Smyth’s rallying call. Pearse remarked: “Some of the RIC men objected to that and published what they said was his speech. That created a furore and he was recalled to account for his actions, but he was soon back in Cork. “On his return to Cork he was killed on the evening of July 17 1920, while he was sitting in the Cork and County Club. It is alleged that his killer, before he shot him, had said: ‘Colonel, were not your orders to shoot on sight? Well you are in sight now, so prepare’.” What happened after Lieutenant-Colonel Smyth’s killing also caused much bitterness in his home county of Down. “Following his killing there was a bitter dispute by the railway workers in the southern counties whether or not they would help carry military personnel and they had refused to take his coffin,” said Pearse. “In the end it had to travel by road to Dublin from where it was brought back to Banbridge by train. That caused a great deal of bitterness and anger. “The funeral went off fine and there was no trouble, but after the funeral there were riots. Over a couple of days this trouble trickled into Dromore, Hillsborough and then into Lisburn on July 24. “So in the overall picture of what happened in Lisburn in August 1920, what had happened the month before and in the run-up to the assassination of District Inspector Oswald Ross Swanzy on Sunday, August 22, these are all connected events, the atmosphere was tense, angry and fearful.” So how did DI Inspector Swanzy come to be in Lisburn that fateful day in August 1920? Tomas MacCurtain, the Sinn Fein lord mayor of Cork, was killed on March 20, 1920. His killing provoked public outrage and an inquest was quickly set up to investigate the circumstances. Over 15 days an inquest jury sat in city hall in Cork and heard sensational testimony, all of which damned the local police. The conclusion of the inquest certainly implicated DI Swanzy in the killing of MacCurtain by naming him, along with British PM David Lloyd George and Lord French, the lord lieutenant of Ireland. Pearse explained: “There is no evidence to show that DI Swanzy was one of the men who killed Tomas MacCurtain, who was also the leader of the IRA in Cork city.” Murder squads were quickly sent out to deal with the RIC constables alleged to have been involved and it was at that time it was decided to move DI Swanzy out of Cork for his own safety. And there was no safer place to send him than Lisburn. He arrived in the town in the middle of June. A murder squad was soon sent after DI Swanzy – it is believed that the order was given by Michael Collins himself – and it is believed that the squad that had been sent after Swanzy was sent with MacCurtain’s revolver, which was used to kill him on August 22. Pearse believes that what happened that bleak Sunday was not the first attempt to kill Swanzy after he had been spirited out of Cork. “I have read notes which refer to an attempt on Swanzy in Downpatrick. On that occasion the murder squad staked outside the station on a wet and windy night, they saw three policemen come out, but they couldn’t be sure that one was Swanzy, and they didn’t fancy their chances against three, so the attack was aborted.” But there is also an interesting Isle of Man connection, he added. “I believe that shortly after arriving in Lisburn he decided to take a holiday to the Isle of Man. But while he was in Douglas he had written to his sister Irene and in that letter he had said that he had ‘seen some friends’. He had immediately reported his concerns to the constabulary on the Isle of Man, and the ‘friends’ were taken care of and he was able to complete his holiday and return to Lisburn. “I was curious about this note in his letter to his sister, so I contacted the police in Douglas to find out if they might have any records relating to Swanzy and his ‘friends’. “They were very helpful and responded to me quickly, but only to advise that the records for that period had been destroyed.” The killing of Swanzy left his mother and sister devastated. They were to erect a memorial to Swanzy, a brass tablet mounted in Irish oak, in Lisburn Cathedral. It bore the following inscription: “In proud and loving memory of Oswald Ross Swanzy DI Royal Irish Constabulary who gave his life in Lisburn on Sunday August 22, 1920 and his gallant comrades who, like him, have been killed in the unfaltering discharge of their duty and in the service of their country. Be thou faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life.” His mother, Pearse says, died of a broken heart in 1922, while Irene left Ireland soon after her mother’s death. Pearse remarked that despite the pain caused by the loss of a beloved son and brother, both Irene and her mother had been willing to attend an American Commission on Conditions in Ireland in Washington DC that was established to examine the conflict. “But sadly, because of Mrs Swanzy’s ailing health and encouragement from others they chose not to travel to the USA to give evidence. Irene Swanzy later travelled extensively and married and settled in Fiji. “She never forgot her brother and every year until her own death in 1978, without fail, had a memoriam message inserted in newspapers in Ireland on the anniversary of her brother Oswald’s death.