The Sack of Balbriggan – night of violence leaves town destroyed and three dead
Balbriggan, 22 September 1920 - The north county Dublin town of Balbriggan was subjected to a night of burnings and brutality as police and military went on a rampage following the killing of RIC District Inspector, Peter Burke on 20 September.
On the day in question, Burke travelled to Balbriggan with his brother and some friends. At about 9 pm, while in a public house in the town, they got involved in an altercation and were forced to leave the premises. As they were making their way towards their motor car, shots rang out; D.I. Burke was killed and his brother was injured.
Burke was a native of Oughterard and had 16 years service in the RIC.
EXPLAINER: Who were the Black and Tans and the Auxiliaries?
The reprisal was swift and savage. Just over an hour later, a party of Black and Tans arrived in the town from the Gormanston direction aboard several motor lorries, pulling up outside the local barracks, before embarking on a ruinous rampage through the town. Windows were smashed and houses were set on fire, with reports suggesting that 20 or 30 were completely destroyed.
The rampage left two men – James Lawless and John Gibbon – dead.
Left: the remains of Mr Derham's shop in the town. Right: James Lawless (right) was a barber. According to reports, he was bayoneted and shot by the Black and Tans (Images: Irish Independent and Freeman's Journal, 22 September 1920)
A sister of John Gibbon claims that at about 1am a party of about 50 uniformed men attacked their family's house in which her mother, her brother, two sisters, a servant boy and two women visiting from Bray, were asleep. John Gibbon was reportedly removed to the local barracks where he was questioned about his involvement in the Volunteers and he told them that he served as a secretary. It is alleged that he was then beaten, placed against a wall and had shots fired all around him. Later, both Gibbon and James Lawless were taken to a corner of Quay Street where they were bayoneted and shot. Two large pools of blood are still visible on the spot.
Their bodies were discovered at 6am, lying within a few yards of each other.
Lawless, 47, leaves behind a wife and eight children aged 18 months to 19 years. Gibbon, meanwhile, was 26 years-old and assisted his mother in her dairying business.
During the attack on the town, many fled their homes in their night attire seeking sanctuary in the surrounding fields, where they remained in the cold throughout the night.
An eyewitness to events, a woman recently returned from the continent who had survived air raids on both Paris and London, told a reporter that what was experienced in Balbriggan was ‘hell let loose’ and that it would be ‘impossible to describe the savagery of the men who appeared on the streets’ after the shooting of District Inspector Burke.
Amongst the homes destroyed in Balbriggan was that of Catherine White, sister-in-law of Éamon de Valera.
[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]
