The Sack of Balbriggan - 20 September 1920

The coastal town of Balbriggan lies about 31 kilometers (19 miles) north of Dublin city. On 20 September 1920, the town was sacked by Black and Tans. Over fifty houses and businesses were destroyed, leaving many of the town's inhabitants without a home or a job. The sacking of the town was carried out in reprisal for the killing of an RIC officer (Head Constable Peter Burke) by members of the IRA in the town on the evening of 20 September 1920.

Photograph of the charred remains of a house in Balbriggan after the Black and Tan attack. Image source.

Sinn Féin saw the potential publicity for the cause that could be generated from the incident. Two French newspaper reporters were in Dublin at the time to write about life in Ireland during the War of Independence. They were contacted by Desmond FitzGerald, the Dáil's Director of Publicity, and told to go to Balbriggan immediately. 

The journalists were Henri Béraud (1885-1958) of Le Petit Parisien and Joseph Kessel (1898-1979) of La Liberté. Their newspaper articles tell of the chaos and destruction that was caused by the Black and Tan attack. Béraud's article from 28 September 1920 was accompanied by a photograph showing a family being transported on the back of a horse and cart carrying their belongings. "Ce que j'ai vu est affreux. C'est une ville foudroyée" [What I saw was terrible. The town is devastated], said Béraud, who described seeing bullet holes in windows. Read Béraud's article here. 

Kessel's article from 28 September 1920 was accompanied by photographs showing the ruined buildings left behind after the fire and an inset of a woman carrying her possessions. The caption says that this is all she could rescue from her burning house. Read Kessel's article here.

Images similar to the ones that appeared alongside Béraud and Kessel's articles of burned houses and factories and of people carrying their meagre possessions as they tried to find new accommodation, appeared on newspapers around the world. This caused public attention to be directed on Ireland and led many (in Britain and America) to question just what was happening in this corner of the British Empire. This is an interesting newspaper article about how international reporting of reprisals caused deep unease in Britain, see it here.

Front page of Excelsior from 1 October 1920. Image source.

The headline on this front page from Excelsior says: 'Les attentats et les represailles se multiplient en Irlande' [Attacks and reprisals multiply in Ireland]. The top two images show the charred remains of a house and factory in Balbriggan. The middle images show a soldier being carried by civilians in the streets of Dublin and people playing music outside the prison where the Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney, was held in London. The bottom images show tense street scenes in Dublin. The accompanying caption also mentions rising tensions in other towns and cities, such as the burning of an RIC barracks in Trim, Co. Meath.

Close ups of the first two images showing the destruction in Balbriggan.