Sack of Balbriggan

Auxiliary members of the Royal Irish Constabulary known as "Black and Tans" went on a rampage in the small town of Balbriggan, County Dublin, burning more than fifty homes and businesses, looting, and killing two local men.

The attack was claimed to be revenge for the shooting of two police officers in Balbriggan by the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

The Black and Tans were trained at Gormanston military camp near Balbriggan, a small town north of Dublin.

The Dublin Evening Mail reported "men, women and children, some of them only scantily attired…fleeing to the country for refuge" and described how "a poor woman experienced great difficulty in getting her baby from its cot before her house was fired".

[6] Two local men, dairyman Seán Gibbons and barber Seamus Lawless, were taken to the town's police barracks for questioning.

[13] Two days after the sacking, British forces carried out another reprisal for the Rineen ambush in County Clare, burning many houses in the surrounding villages and killing five civilians.

Former Prime Minister and then Liberal Party Leader of the Opposition H. H. Asquith likened Balbriggan to a Belgian town wrecked by the Germans in the First World War.

The Labour opposition, through its deputy leader Arthur Henderson, tabled a motion calling for an independent inquiry into the sack of Balbriggan and other towns in Ireland.

The British government's Chief Secretary for Ireland, Hamar Greenwood, rejected Asquith's comparison and claimed Henderson had been misled by IRA propaganda.

[5] There were numerous compensation claims for destroyed businesses and homes, including damages totaling over £80,000 for the destruction of the factory, which an inquiry heard had left over 200 jobless and would take two-and-a-half years to rebuild.

[6] According to local IRA commander Michael Rock, a former British serviceman called William 'Jack' Straw had guided the Black and Tans around Balbriggan, pointing out homes to burn.