The Burning of Cork
Encyclopedia
The Burning of Cork is the name commonly given to a devastating series of fires that swept through the centre of Cork City on the night of 11 December 1920. The burning and the subsequent controversy is one of the most significant events of the Irish War of Independence
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...

.

Fire

During the War of Independence, Cork was one of the main centres of IRA
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...

 activity. On 11 December 1920 a soldier was killed in an attack on British forces at Dillon's Cross, on the northside of the city. Later that day Black and Tans
Black and Tans
The Black and Tans was one of two newly recruited bodies, composed largely of British World War I veterans, employed by the Royal Irish Constabulary as Temporary Constables from 1920 to 1921 to suppress revolution in Ireland...

 opened fire on a group of civilians near the corner of Summerhill North and what is now MacCurtain Street.

Charles Schulze, a member of the RIC Auxiliaries and a former British Army Captain in the Dorsetshire Regiment during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, organised a group of Auxiliaries
Auxiliaries
An auxiliary force is a group affiliated with, but not part of, a military or police organization. In some cases, auxiliaries are armed forces operating in the same manner as regular soldiers...

 deliberately set alight numerous buildings in Cork City. At 10 pm that night fire engines responding to reports of a fire at Dillon's Cross encountered a fire in a department store on Saint Patrick's Street. Several other fires had been lit in the vicinity, and the fire service was unable to control the conflagrations. By the next morning numerous buildings on Saint Patrick’s Street were completely destroyed by fires that had been set in buildings along its east and south sides. The City Hall and the Carnegie Library were also completely destroyed by fire, resulting in the loss of many of the city's public records. Over five acres of the city were destroyed and an estimated £20 million worth of damage was done.

Also that night two IRA men were killed in their beds by the Auxiliaries

Controversy

Sir Hamar Greenwood, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, denied that Crown forces had any involvement in the fire and refused all demands for an enquiry. Instead it was suggested that the acts of arson had been carried out by civilians.

The Irish Labour Party and Trades Union Congress published a pamphlet in January 1921 entitled Who burned Cork City?. The work drew on eye-witness evidence assembled by Seamus Fitzgerald which suggested that the fires had been set by British forces. Members of the fire service testified that their attempts to contain the blaze were hampered by soldiers who fired on them and cut their hoses with bayonets. The material was collated by the President of University College Cork, Alfred O'Rahilly
Alfred O'Rahilly
Alfred O'Rahilly was a noted academic, President of University College Cork and Teachta Dála for Cork City.-Education and academia:Born in Listowel, County Kerry and educated at St...

.

A subsequent British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 enquiry (which resulted in the "Strickland Report") pointed the finger of blame at members of a company of Auxiliaries
Auxiliary Division
The Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary , generally known as the Auxiliaries or Auxies, was a paramilitary organization within the Royal Irish Constabulary during the Irish War of Independence....

. The Auxiliaries, it was claimed, set the fires in reprisal for the IRA attack at Dillon's Cross. The Temporary Cadet (officer) in question was later identified as Charles Schulze, a former British Army Captain, who in a letter to his mistress in England described the act as "sweet revenge".
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