fbpx
46 Ulster Demonstration
The Irish Independence Films

Ulster Demonstration

Archive Player
This newsreel contains large portions of footage that is intercut with another newsreel from the Pathé Collection from 1912, Orangeman Demonstrate. It is commonly reported that the people marching are Orangemen but this is not the case. Both newsreels feature a Nationalist rally taking place with crowds of people cheering on the Irish National Foresters, […]
View
45 Irish Personalities
The Irish Independence Films

Irish Personalities

Archive Player
This selection of newsreel sequences shows the trial of in August 1920 of Terence Mac Swiney (Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork) and other events in Cork in 1920.  The opening sequence, unusual for its time, appears to have been shot inside the Cork Courthouse. The Courthouse exterior is seen with a group of children […]
View
44 Roads Searched
The Irish Independence Films

Roads Searched

Archive Player
This newsreel shows rural roads in Ireland being searched for damage. Royal Irish Constabulary troops check under blown up bridges for evidence of what devices were used. Police are seen putting barbed wire around a RIC barracks for protection against attacks. By early 1920, violent attacks by the IRA increased in isolated rural areas causing […]
View
43 Side Lights on Sinn Fein
The Irish Independence Films

Side Lights on Sinn Féin

Archive Player
This newsreel from Limerick in 1920 shows a side of Irish history that is rarely spoken of. Here we see May Connolly who has been beaten and had her hair shorn for the crime of speaking to Black and Tans. This method of terrorising and intimidating was used by both IRA and Crown Forces as […]
View
42 Martial Law in Ireland
The Irish Independence Films

Martial Law in Ireland

Archive Player
This newsreel shows very rare scenes inside the first concentration camp where members of the Sinn Féin party were treated as prisoners of war. Ballykinlar Internment Camp was the first mass internment camp to be established by the British in Ireland during the War of Independence. Situated on the County Down coast and opened in […]
View
41 Terence MacSwiney Laid to Rest
The Irish Independence Films

Terence MacSwiney Laid to Rest

Archive Player
This newsreel shows the final journey for Terence Mac Swiney, who died in Brixton, England on October 25th 1920. His body arrives in Cork at Customs House Quay on October 31st (it was diverted from Dublin to avoid demonstrations). The coffin of Terence McSwiney arrives on the tugboat Mary Tavy into Cork‘s Custom House Quay. A […]
View
40 Lord Mayor of Cork Dead
The Irish Independence Films

Lord Mayor of Cork Dead

Archive Player
Despite the opening intertitle which refers to activities on the streets of Cork,  much of the footage here was filmed in London.  The film documents the final journey of Terence Mac Swiney, Lord Mayor of Cork,  who died on hunger strike in Brixton Prison on October 25th, 1920. MacSwiney’s death was marked by three funeral processions – in […]
View
Terror in Ireland_02-min
Independence

Terror in Ireland

Archive Player
This shocking newsreel highlights the ‘daily terror’ experienced in Ireland during the War of Independence. This is the aftermath of the shooting of Seán Treacy and Lieutenant of British military intelligence, Lieutenant Arthur Gilbert Price. They were killed on Talbot Street after a gun battle on October 14th 1920. A group of people stand outside J. […]
View
38 Lawless Ireland
The Irish Independence Films

Lawless Ireland

Archive Player
In the middle of the night on Monday September 21st 1920 the Black and Tans sacked the town of Balbriggan in County Dublin. The sacking was revenge for the killing of District Inspector Burke and his brother Sergeant Burke. They were shot dead by the IRA while in Smyth’s pub, Balbriggan, earlier in the day. […]
View
37 All’s Fair in…
The Irish Independence Films

All’s Fair in…

Archive Player
This newsreel shows a hostage being taken to the back of a Military patrol lorry where we see a group of soldiers (Black and Tans) stopping to pose for the camera. The Black and Tans, officially named the Royal Irish Constabulary Special Reserve, was a force of Temporary Constables recruited to assist the Royal Irish […]
View
36 Eamon De Valera in Boston
The Irish Independence Films

Eamon de Valera in Boston

Archive Player
From June 29th 1919 to December 1920 Éamon de Valera toured America in a mission to raise funds for Sinn Féin. He is seen here at his first public appearance in Boston, speaking to a crowd of 50,000 people in Fenway Park Stadium. De Valera’s purpose in coming to New York and travelling throughout the […]
View
35 Strike scenes in Limerick
The Irish Independence Films

Strike Scenes in Limerick

Archive Player
April 1919 and martial law is in effect in Ireland. These scenes from Limerick show some of the military precautions that were put in place. Soldiers stop pedestrians to check identification papers and streets are barricaded by British Army tanks (HMT Scotch and Soda). The Limerick Soviet was a self-declared soviet that existed from April […]
View
Close