Culprit who led burning of Cork finally identified

THE son of a German man who fought against his father’s own country during WWI and who later joined the Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary (ADRIC), has been identified as the man who organised the burning of Cork 90 years ago today.

Charles Schulze, who had served as a captain in the Dorsetshire Regiment during WWI, led Auxiliaries on a rampage of burning as a reprisal for an IRA ambush which left a colleague dead and 15 injured.

Following five years of research, a historian has disclosed that Schulze organised a group of ADRIC ‘K’ Company men who torched most of Cork city centre, especially St Patrick’s Street. The damage was estimated at the time to be have cost £2,000,000 — equivalent to €94,177,850 today. It also resulted in the loss of 2,000 jobs.