Erskine Childers highlights suffering of Irish women at the hands of the military
Dublin, 7 April 1920 - The women and children of Ireland have silently borne the suffering incurred as a result of the heavy-handedness of British military rule, according to Erskine Childers.
In an article for the Daily News which has been partly re-printed by the Irish Bulletin, the official Dáil Éireann newspaper, Childers claims that there have been over 20,000 raids on Irish homes over the course of the last two years and he provides details of individual cases where the impact has been felt most acutely by the women of the house.
Although he doesn’t give their names, Childers mentions that a wife of a personal friend had been alone at home with her three children last March when she was awoken during the night by banging on the front door.
She ran down the stairs in her nightdress and when she asked if she could dress, she was met with the response: ‘Damn you, open or we’ll smash it in.’ When the woman opened the door, soldiers rushed in with bayonets and ignored her pleas to allow her to be with her children as they searched the house, including the children’s rooms.
One of the soldiers was drunk and used foul language, and the entire operation was conducted with what Mr Childers claims was ‘a roughness and insolence worthy of veritable huns’. Nothing was found in the house and no apology was issued.
In the case of Mrs Collins, whose house at 65 Parnell Street was raided at 3.30 in the morning of 31 January last, the aggression and vile language were the same, but the effects were more serious, according to Childers.
Mrs Collins’ husband, Maurice, was taken away and 11 days later he was deported to England without charge.
On learning of this news, Mrs Collins collapsed and became ‘dangerously ill’. Her health became so bad that her husband was allowed home on parole, but the raids – three more, some involving up to 40 soldiers plus police – continued.
Mr Collins has since been taken back to jail in England and his wife does not know when she will see him again.
Dr Margaret Ward, in conversation with RTÉ's Bryan Dobson, explains the role played by republican women during the War of Independence 1919 -1921.
[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.]
