Archive Player, Author at IFI Archive Player

Is it the Dawn?

28th March 2018

Archive Player 0

Éamon de Valera (having previously refused interviews) released this statement to the world exclusively through Topical following truce talks with Lord Middleton between July 4th and 8th 1921. This intertitle-only newsreel is unusual as we see his quote from an extract of the poem Celts and Saxons by poet Thomas Davis. ‘Ireland is fighting solely […]

The Irish Independence Films

Ulster Will Not Yield

28th March 2018

Archive Player 0

In this newsreel Orangemen march with banners through a crowd-lined street in Belfast to demonstrate their loyalty to Britain on July 12th 1921. Sir James Craig is in attendance and is seen being welcomed onto the platform and addressing the large audience. Craig was highly critical of Lloyd George’s negotiations with Sinn Féin at this […]

The Irish Independence Films

Ulster’s Parliament Assembles

28th March 2018

Archive Player 0

In this newsreel the Lord Lieutenant, Lord FitzAlan-Howard, and 40 elected Unionist members of Parliament are seen attending the historic opening and first session of the Ulster Parliament in Belfast City Hall on June 7th 1921. Sir James Craig, seen towards the end of this newsreel, was made Prime Minister just a few days before […]

The Irish Independence Films

Coal Strike – Ireland

28th March 2018

Archive Player 0

This newsreel shows the impact the mining crisis in England (March 1921) had on Ireland. The camera pans across the docks showing boats being held up and coal wharfs empty in the ports. In the aftermath of the First World War, the Triple Alliance (a group made up of railwaymen, transport workers, and coal miners) […]

The Irish Independence Films

American Mission to Ireland

28th March 2018

Archive Player 0

This newsreel shows a group of delegates sent from the US Congress to investigate what was happening in Ireland in 1921. They visit villages in rural Ireland and see the devastation caused by the War of Independence, which resulted in partly demolished cottages and burned out houses. This assistance from America was largely the result […]

Newsreels

Ireland’s Agony

28th March 2018

Archive Player 0

The Burning of Cork by British forces took place on the night of December 11th and 12th 1920 during the Irish War of Independence. It followed an Irish Republican Army ambush of a British Auxiliary patrol in the city which wounded twelve auxiliaries – one fatally. In retaliation the Auxiliaries, Black and Tans and British […]

The Irish Independence Films

Belfast

28th March 2018

Archive Player 0

This newsreel is set in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in the early 1920s. In contrast to other newsreels from this period, this footage focuses on the more relaxed day to day life activities in the area. From beautiful scenic views of the nearby countryside to the hustle and bustle of the city markets, this newsreel feels […]

The Irish Independence Films

Ulster Demonstration

28th March 2018

Archive Player 0

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, […]

The Irish Independence Films

Irish Personalities

28th March 2018

Archive Player 0

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 […]

The Irish Independence Films

Roads Searched

28th March 2018

Archive Player 0

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 […]

The Irish Independence Films

Side Lights on Sinn Féin

28th March 2018

Archive Player 0

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 […]

The Irish Independence Films

Martial Law in Ireland

28th March 2018

Archive Player 0

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 […]