Tit-for-tat — How Churchill used hostages as a bargaining chip for the release of policemen kidnapped in the North
“The time has come when it is not unfair, not premature, and not impatient for us to make to this strengthened Irish government and new Irish parliament a request, in express terms, that this sort of thing must come to an end,” Churchill told parliament.
“If it does not come to an end, if either from weakness, from want of courage, or for some other even less creditable reasons, it is not brought to an end, and a speedy end, then it is my duty to say, on behalf of his majesty’s government, that we shall regard the treaty as having been formally violated, that we shall take no steps to carry out or legalise its further stages, and that we shall resume full liberty of action in any direction that may seem proper.”
Churchill went on to intimate that he was aware the provisional government was behind the holding of the 16 policemen taken hostage at Belcoo, Co Fermanagh, in March. He told the House of Commons that afternoon, for instance, that he was in contact with the provisional government about the holding of people kidnapped in the North.
“Some were taken in the raid at Belcoo and others were taken in different forays on the frontier,” said Churchill. “We have proof that some of them are being held at present at Athlone.”
Viscount Curzon asked: “What steps exactly are the British Government taking in order to recover them?”
“I am addressing the provisional government on the whole matter, and meanwhile we are holding the 15 other persons who are in our possession,” said Churchill.
He was asked if the provisional government was treating his inquiries with contempt.
“No. I do not think so at all,” he replied. “I think they are very anxious to get back their own 15 men of the Free State forces whom we are at present holding.”
Crown forces had taken 15 prisoners at Pettigo on the Donegal-Fermanagh border and had held them in Northern Ireland for over a fortnight. Churchill was essentially suggesting the British were holding them hostage to secure the release of those already being held in the 26 counties.
Although no evidence of any communication between Churchill and Michael Collins has been unearthed in relation to the hostages, an informal channel of communication had been set up with Collins. In Apr 1922, Collins had placed his own man within Dublin Castle.
Collins had introduced Thomas Markham to Alfred Cope, the British assistant under-secretary, who then placed Markham at the centre of the residual British administration at Dublin Castle. Although Markham used the cover name Tom Donovan, he was clearly not a conventional spy but a conduit to pass on sensitive information that the British wished Collins to know without leaving a paper trail of their own.
Markham (alias Donovan) was allowed to see correspondence between Churchill and Cope. Of course, the material would have been about matters the British wished to inform Collins.
Although Churchill indicated he was in touch with the provisional government in relation to the hostages in Athlone, no documentary evidence of this correspondence has ever been released. Was the information passed on to Markham for him to inform Collins?
Was the fact the British were aware of where Belcoo hostages were being held a factor in their decision to insist that Collins attack the Four Courts? Collins was anxious to stress he had decided on the attack before he learned of Churchill’s speech in the House of Commons.
“I have the best grounds for stating that the decision to take this step was reached before the text of Churchill’s speech had reached Dublin,” Hugh Martin of the Daily News reported on the night of June 27, hours before the attack.
“It is a matter of the first importance to realise that the Irish government had acted of its own volition and not in response to the crack of the whip in London.”
In view of Churchill’s comments in the Commons hours earlier, Republicans concluded the attack was launched at Britain’s bidding. Henceforth this was considered the start of the Civil War.
“The action which my government is now compelled to take has been rendered absolutely necessary by the recent commission of grave offences against the fundamental rights of our citizens, involving attacks on their persons and their property,” Collins told a reporter of the International News Service.
“We have borne with extreme patience the illegal and improper conduct of certain elements in our midst since the signature of the treaty with Great Britain and its endorsement.”
The raid at Ferguson’s Garage was compounded that night by the kidnapping of General JJ O’Connell, who was held at the Four Courts as a prisoner.
“It is now obvious that we could no longer tolerate glaring outrages of this nature against the people and the people’s government, and so the Irish troops were ordered on Monday last to take measures to protect the life and property of our citizens and to disperse unauthorised and irregular assemblies,” said Collins.
After four days of shelling, the Four Courts surrendered, but not before blowing up much of the building, which contained the Public Record Office and irreplaceable documents.
“If I refrain from congratulations it is only because I do not wish to embarrass you,” Churchill wrote to Collins.
“The archives of the Four Courts may be scattered but the title deeds of Ireland are safe.”
As it was, Churchill had already said too much in parliament. When Collins was asked about Churchill’s speech, he replied that he would reserve comment on it and other matters until the new Dáil met. He did not live to see the convening of the new Dáil.
De Valera condemned the pro-treaty forces for attacking their former comrades in arms “at the bidding of the English”. For many years to come he would blame Churchill for the attack on the Four Courts.
Those in the Four Courts “would most loyally have obeyed the will of the Irish people freely expressed”, de Valera contended. They had shown contempt for the will of the people and he displayed contempt for the truth in the way he supported them. But he would soon acknowledge that he regretted “Rory O’Connor’s unfortunate repudiation of the Dáil, which I was so foolish as to defend, even to a straining of my own views in order to avoid the appearance of split”.
The fact that Collins was involved in hostage taking should not be a surprise. In February Eoin O’Duffy had consulted him in advance of the plan to seize 100 unionist hostages in order to secure the release of three men under sentence of death in Derry.
Churchill was particularly defensive on July 12, 1922, when he was challenged about holding those taken at Pettigo as hostages for the release of those previously kidnapped at Belcoo. “I have never admitted that they were being held as hostages,” he said. “They are being held.”
“If they are not being held as hostages, why is the right honour-able gentleman keeping them?” asked Col Wilfrid Ashley.
“I am keeping them because I hope that their release will synchronise with the release of other persons,” Churchill replied.
“According to the latest information I have received, these 11 constables, who are believed to be confined at Athlone, have not yet been released. I am assured that steps are being taken by the provisional government in response to the continued representations I have made to them to secure the release of these and other inhabitants of Northern Ireland who are being detained in the South.”
The following week, Capt Charles Craig, a brother of the prime minister of Northern Ireland, asked: “Is not Athlone in the hands of the Free State authorities, and what difficulty can Mr Collins have in obtaining the release of these men?”
“I suppose the difficulty of the strain and stress under which that government is labouring at the present time,” Churchill replied.
That day, July 18, 1922, the Belcoo hostages were finally released, exactly 16 weeks after they were seized.
Why has the incident been forgotten by history? Was it because supporters of Collins were embarrassed by his actions, and was Churchill just as embarrassed because he had adopted the same tactics and engaged in hostage taking?
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