Black and Tans

The Black and Tans, more properly known as the Royal Irish Constabulary Reserve Force, was one of two paramilitary forces employed by the Royal Irish Constabulary from 1920 to 1921, to suppress Sinn Féin and the IRA.

Following the Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916, when armed Irish nationalists occupied buildings around the city in protest against British rule of Ireland, the execution of the leaders, and the threat of conscription, the Sinn Féin party won a majority in Ireland at the 1918 general election. Unionists in Ulster had obtained a concession from the British, that six of Ulster's counties would remain apart from any home rule settlement. In 1919, the Irish Volunteers, now known as the Irish Republican Army, or IRA, began the War of Independence, and Sinn Féin proclaimed an independent Ireland.

In January 1920, the British government started advertising in British cities for men willing to "face a rough and dangerous task", helping to boost the ranks of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) in policing an increasingly anti-British Ireland. There was no shortage of recruits, many of them World War I army veterans, and by November 1921 around 9,500 men had joined. This sudden influx of men led to a shortage of RIC uniforms, and the new recruits were issued with khaki army uniforms (usually only trousers) and dark green RIC or blue British police surplus tunics, caps and belts. This mixture gave rise to their nickname, the Black and Tans (in Irish, na Dúchrónaigh), from the name of a famous pack of foxhounds from Limerick. The name stuck even after the men received full RIC uniforms.

The new recruits received three months hurried and sub-standard training, and were rapidly posted to RIC barracks, mostly in Dublin, Munster and western Connacht. The first men arrived on 25 March 1920. The government also raised another unit, the Auxiliary Division of the Constabulary, known as the Auxiliaries or Auxies. This group was made up of ex-army officers. The Black and Tans acted with the Auxiliaries in the government's attempts to break the IRA.

Members of the Black and Tans were paid the relatively good wage of ten shillings a day plus full board and lodging. With minimal police training, their main role was to strengthen the military might of police posts, where they functioned as sentries, guards, escorts for government agents, reinforcement to the regular police, and crowd control, and mounted a determined counter-insurgency campaign. Because of these duties they were viewed by Republicans as an army of occupation. They soon gained a reputation for brutality, as the RIC campaign against the IRA and Sinn Féin members was stepped up and police reprisals for IRA attacks were condoned by the government. Many of the atrocities attributed to the Black and Tans were probably actually committed by the far more brutal Auxiliaries, but most Republicans did not make a distinction, and "Black and Tans" was often used as a catch-all term for both groups. Over one-third of the Black and Tans died or left the service before they were disbanded along with the rest of the RIC in 1922, an extremely high wastage rate, and well over half received government pensions. The Black and Tans and the Auxies became known as Tudor's Toughs after the police commander, Major-General Sir Henry Hugh Tudor.

Alexander Will, from Forfar in Scotland, was the first Black and Tan to die in the conflict, during an attack on the RIC barracks in Rathmore, County Kerry, on the 11th of July 1920. In November, the Tans arrested a Catholic priest, Fr. Michael Griffin, in Galway. His body was found in a bog in Barna.

In January of 1920, the British Labour Commission produced a report on the situation in ireland, highly critical of the government's security policy. It states that, in forming the Black and Tans, the government had "liberated forces which it is not at present able to dominate."

The Black and Tans "sacked" Cork city, the centre of which was burned out, and Balbriggan. Terence MacSwiney, the Lord Mayor of Cork, died after a 78-day hunger strike in Brixton Prison, London. The Black and Tans' campaign was little more than state-sponsored terrorism, with very little pretence being made at promoting law and order and great emphasis on crushing Irish separatism, whether violent or peaceful. On the other hand, some British politicians and the King made no secret of their horror at the behaviour of Crown forces which made international headlines, damaging British credibility. There is no doubt as to the ferocity of the fighting and that atrocities were committed (in most cases as just retribution for Irish brutality), and feelings continue to run high regarding their actions. "Black and Tan" or "Tan" remains a pejorative term for Englishmen in Ireland. The Anglo-Irish War is often referred to by modern Irish republicans as the "Tan War".

Beer

Black and tan is also the name given to a popular drink involving Guinness floating on top of Bass Ale (as opposed to a "half and half" which consists of Guinness and Harp Lager).

Black and Tans

Beer

See also

Further reading