The Outrages 1920-1922

'The Outrages' gives an account of the major incidents, now slipping from local memory, as the War of Independence escalated from attacks on RIC barracks into internecine atrocities. The many lives lost in each border county are chronicled with factual accounts of attacks and reprisals, the impact these events had in Westminster and how Churchill, Craig and Collins reacted. Included are the events leading to the creation of the Ulster Special Constabulary and an in-depth account of the shooting of Specials at Clones railway station, the slaughter of eight unionists in a single night in south Armagh, the cover-up after Specials left three innocent nationalists dead and two wounded in Cushendall, and the litany of reprisal killings from Camlough to Desertmartin. Details of attacks on the Great Northern Railway and other networks, not previously published, provide a unique insight into the problems faced by railwaymen and by the government. A must read for anyone interested in this period of Irish history and a treasury for genealogists.

Pearse Lawlor is a retired civil servant who worked for 40 years in various departments of the Northern Ireland Civil Service. His first book 'The Burnings 1920' which dealt with events in Lisburn that year, was published in 2009.