Book extract: A British officer killed and an Irish city destroyed in a act of vengeance

Hugh Tudor was appointed by Churchill to lead the Royal Irish Constabulary, including the Black and Tans and the Auxiliaries, but he met civil strife and rebellion with indiscriminate state-sanctioned murder, changing the course of Irish history

The burning of Cork on December 11, 1920: An IRA ambush of an Auxillary patrol just outside their barracks in Cork City led to the death of an officer. That same night, British forces went on a rampage, setting fire to businesses in the city centre. Some 57 buildings were ‘destroyed’ and many others damaged.

• An Accidental Villain: Sir Hugh Tudor, Churchill’s Enforcer in Revolutionary Ireland 
• Linden MacIntyre 
• Merrion Press, €19.99