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Post by Waverley on Apr 7, 2007 6:00:30 GMT 1
It was on the 12th of May boys in 1921, When the news ran through all Scotland that a daring deed was done, It was by a band of rebels to release an Irishman, They assembled in the high street where they smashed the prison van.
So here's to those boys who done it, their cause was staunch and true, Each man who played his part that day was Irish through and through, Side by side they stood there, revolvers in their hands, Did that band of Irish rebels at the smashing of the van.
Those clever Glasgow polis were quickly on the scene, They arrested everybody connected with Sinn Fein, They arrested Father Magrory, an RC clergyman, But they only showed their ignorance at the smashing of the van.
Now the trial it is over and the crown case badly failed, Although they did their very best to send our boys to jail, Defended by their councillors, McKay and Sandy Mann, Sure the verdict was 'not guilty' at the smashing of the van.
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Post by Waverley on Apr 11, 2007 0:22:04 GMT 1
I'll deal with it later on today John
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Post by Waverley on May 14, 2007 21:47:03 GMT 1
I promise it will be done for you before the weekend John...working on a lot of stuff just now and hope to put them on soon.
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Post by pwm437 on Jun 4, 2007 9:19:35 GMT 1
Knew about the incident but not the excellent little poem
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Post by Waverley on Aug 19, 2007 22:10:25 GMT 1
In an incident which was to become known as 'The Glasgow Outrage' Glasgow Sinn Feiners aka 'Shinners' attacked a Black Maria and shot dead a police officer in a gun battle as they attempted to free one of their men from police custody. Frank Carty an IRA Volunteer had been forced to flee to Scotland from Sligo where he had been involved in several attacks on the British Armed Forces...on arrival in Glasgow he was able to melt into the Irish community almost unnoticed. However his luck ran out one day when he was arrested by Special Branch officers who had been active in the city because of the deep underlying tension due to the Troubles over the water. Carty was imprisoned in Duke Street Prison until such times he could be extradited back to Ireland for trial.
Prior to 1921 there were at least 22 Sinn Fein clubs in Glasgow they even had their own Sinn Fein offices in Renfield Street. The purpose of these clubs was to promote the political aims and objectives of Sinn Fein which was the winning of Irish Independence and not any any other reason. Those who had originally used the clubs as a drinking place where one could sip pints of the black stuff and reminisce about the Ol' Country prior to 1916 were soon shown the door by a Mr.J.O'Sheenan who had been appointed to run these clubs and Sinn Fein offices in Glasgow by none other than Michael Collins, the Sinn Fein leader and Irish revolutionary.
One of the main purposes of the clubs was to recruit Irishmen or those sympathetic to their cause to swell the ranks of the Volunteers which was the forerunner of the Irish Republican Army. It is reckoned that their number rose to almost 7,000 many of whom were veterans of the Great War who had 'pledged their lives to Ireland' to counter act the activities of the Black and Tans and Auxies who had joined up to fight in Ireland 'to match terrorism with terrorism'.
Apart from raising funds by organising social events such as dances , raffles , ceilidh's and traditional Irish music events plus other activities such as collecting money at Celtic Park they were also military training and target practice in the hills in and around Glasgow such as the Campsies and Cathkin Braes and the nearby Fenwick Moors.
Apart from the support they received from the Irish community they gained political support and encouragement from the Communist Party and the rapidly expanding Labor and Independent Labor Parties plus John McLean the Marxist Republican on Red Clydeside. By 1921 this support was severely tested when in order to support the struggles back in Ireland the Scottish Volunteers began to raid collieries, railway and quarry works and Lanarkshire pits for explosives and the occasional Territorial Army outlets for small arms.
To counter act these activities the police were constantly on the alert and made several raids including one in Tollcross whereby thirteen Irishmen were caught in the act of packing rifles , detonators , dynamite and other small arms into boxes for shipment to Ireland. There was also arrests made when a plot to blow up bridges in the city plus telegraph poles on the Nitshill Road near Darnley which carried the main telephone links between Scotland and Ireland and several other incidents which increased more and more as the Partitioning of Ireland became more and more a reality.
Despite orders from Collins to keep IRA activities in Scotland as low key as possible things reached a pitch on Wednesday May 4 1921 which was to cause such a stir in the city that had never been seen before or since...when IRA insurgents attacked a police van as it drove out of Duke Street Prison into Cathedral Square.
A friend of Carty's from the Sligo Brigade, Sam Adair, had organised 30 men into three groups of ten ready to attack the police van when it made it's way from the prison in what was to prove to be the biggest shoot out in Glasgow's criminal history. As the van came into Cathedral Square the gunmen who no doubt called upon their experiences with their 'Flying Columns' back in Ireland attacked the van killing Inspector Robert Johnston from Shettleston and badly wounding Detective Sergeant George Stirton from Petershill Road in the ambush. The attackers left behind a bullet sprayed van with one dead policeman and another wounded officer lying in the street as they scattered into the mass of tenements in the Townhead area to the confines of safe houses.
Every available policeman in Glasgow was called out that night and the city authorities called on the services of a detachment of Gordon Highlanders who were billeted in the Central Police Courts at St.Andrew's Square on standby in case the events escalated. The police made several raids all over the city with particular concentration on the area in the east end of the city surrounding St.Mary's Chapel in the Abercrombie Street area where some thirty years previous a certain priest named Brother Walfrid ,aka Andrew Kerins, a Sligo man had been so incidental in setting up a football team which was to become world renowned as Celtic FC.
Such was the intense build up of people on the streets as rumour after rumour developed in regards police raids on Irish houses in the area it wasn't long before there was running battles between uniformed police men and the angry crowd. Rumour soon spread that there had been a raid on the chapel itself and two priests had been taken into custody as the were hearing confessions...passing by tramcars were soon attacked before hundreds made their way down to the Central Police Station where they believed where the two priests had been taken to after their arrestment.
As more and more people gathered outside the chapel the Parish priest a Father Fitzgerald assured the crowd that there was no truth in the rumour that he had been arrested and there was no police break in on the confession...he got the majority of the crowd to disperse although it was later confirmed that a young Irish curate called Father McRory had been taken into custody and had been charged with the attack on the van. A score of people had been arrested in various addresses in the city including six women one of whom had been arrested along with her baby in her arms and she appeared in the dock with the said baby wrapped in a shawl as was the fashion of the day.
The next day as Celtic played at home against Partick Thistle in front of a crowd of some 20,000 the Special Branch officers made arrested two suspects from the hostile crowd claiming that they were arresting two known pick pockets... and seriously trying to avoid any chance of Scotland having its own version of the infamous Croke Park 'Bloody Sunday' incident which had happened seven months previously...thereby bringing the total number of arrests to 37. Access to the young Father McRory and the other prisoners by visitors was denied for a week before a solicitor had applied for a special visit by Father Fitzgerald. It was to be nearly three months later before the young priest was to be released and able to return to his parishioners in the Calton area whereby he was carried shoulder high from Duke Street prison whereby there was one almighty street party with tenement buildings bedecked in green and white with accompanying banners with 'God Save Ireland' hastily painted on them and rendition of rendition of the 'Soldier's Song' and other Irish songs and music. Within eleven days of his release the war in Ireland, aka 'the Black & Tan War' ended, where both Adair and Carty had returned with Carty himself being released from prison six months later. They both chose separate sides in the forthcoming Irish Civil War with Sam Adair being killed in an ambush in the Curlew Mountains in County Sligo ordered by his one time friend Frank Carty whom he had attempted to rescue from the police van in May 1921.
Legend has it that if you look close enough you can still see some of the bullet holes in the walls which remain of Duke Street Prison surrounding the high rise flats housing complex which now stands there. Ironically, Cathedral Square is looked over by the fine equestrian statue of King Billy whom if he had known the bother his wee skirmish with his father in law King James at the River Boyne was going to cause so much hassle in centuries to come in Ireland and Scotland just might have decided to leave well alone.
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Post by pwm437 on Aug 19, 2007 23:52:10 GMT 1
Charlie, I think we need to do a 'scene of crimes' recce on said location, armed with a digital camera and an open mind.
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Post by Waverley on Aug 20, 2007 7:30:07 GMT 1
I am up for it whenever you are mate...if only this 'f'ing' rain would go away. ;D
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Post by Waverley on Sept 1, 2007 17:59:40 GMT 1
There is an excellent description of the whole event plus other connections in John Burrowes great book called 'The Irish' well worth the money if you want to learn about the Irish in Glasgow.
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Post by tammccann on Feb 27, 2009 16:18:24 GMT 1
Found this poem about Duke st prison(also known as Bridgewall prison)
There is a happy land,
doon Duke Street Jail,
Where a' the prisoners stand,
tied tae a nail.
Ham an' eggs they never see,
dirty watter fur yer tea;
there they live in misery
God Save the Queen!
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Post by tammccann on Feb 27, 2009 16:23:21 GMT 1
Took a walk around the Drygate today and think this must be the boundery wall of the old prison
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Post by holywell37 on Feb 27, 2009 18:39:04 GMT 1
The low wall that runs along duke st in front of the drygate flats, is the prison wall cut down.
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Post by tammccann on Feb 27, 2009 20:48:33 GMT 1
This wall runs along the middle of the drygate holywell37 and is out of place with the rest of the estate theres also a large iron ring (eye) protrouding from the wall, so wondering if it has been part of the prison?
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Post by tammccann on Feb 28, 2009 21:11:37 GMT 1
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Post by holywell37 on Mar 1, 2009 11:28:52 GMT 1
Yes tammccann, it was part of the prison.
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Post by holywell37 on Mar 1, 2009 11:34:22 GMT 1
Going by the picture and the fact that john knox st is a bit of a slope, i think the inner wall separated the two levels.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2009 23:41:07 GMT 1
Charlie, I've just finished reading John Burrowes book "Irish" and it was excellent
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Post by Waverley on Mar 3, 2009 9:07:31 GMT 1
Charlie, I've just finished reading John Burrowes book "Irish" and it was excellent Aye I thought it was a really good read Caterina and what I was pleased at there was none of the usual 'oppressed' Oirish keech we tend to get from modern day Scoto Irish writers. Like the Highlanders , the Lithuanians , the Italians and the European Jews who flocked to Glasgow in the 19th century the Irish got on with what they were best at and that was working and providing for their families...albeit often undercutting the local workers by accepting reduced wages...but ruthless Scots landowners and factory bosses would be quick to make a penny or two out everyone irrespective of their nationality or religion. Most of my old Irish friends were all hard grafters when they came over here in the 1950's and I love to sit and have a bit of 'craic' with them and listen to their stories about working on the roads , the dams , the farms and later on the motorways. Funnily enough they tend to avoid 'the plastic paddies' like the plague but love a wee chin=wag with yours truly mind you they often shake thir heads in bewiderment at some of my views and opinions on Irish history and they refer to me as the 'Mad Planter'...especially when I start to sing The Wild Colonial Boy ;D >
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2009 13:55:40 GMT 1
Would love to hear your rendition of Wild Colonial Boy Charlie ;D
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Post by pwm437 on Apr 26, 2009 13:25:48 GMT 1
A new book has just been published about the incident called 'High Noon on High Street' by Stepehen Coyle.
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Post by tammccann on Apr 26, 2009 21:04:53 GMT 1
Quote;Legend has it that if you look close enough you can still see some of the bullet holes in the walls which remain of Duke Street Prison surrounding the high rise flats housing complex i have been around the wall of the now Townhead flats and there is holes in the wall surounding the flats , the problem is the walls are only about three foot tall so unless they were aiming for the prisoners legs i dont think they are bullet holes , the holes also cover the whole length of the wall and also the inner wall, think its a case for CSI Calton.
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Post by wildmacrae on Jun 18, 2009 7:48:50 GMT 1
oh Charlie how much do we have to pay you not to sing The Wild Colonial Boy . Dan
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Post by Waverley on Jun 18, 2009 21:30:54 GMT 1
oh Charlie how much do we have to pay you not to sing The Wild Colonial Boy . Dan You don't need to pay me anything Dan as I am not allowed to sing it as the song is banned from all Orange Order marches and parades in Scotland...it is proscribed because it was the original marching song of the Ulster Volunteer Force ... the U V F ...during the First World War and is therefore seen as a para military song by the Oranjies top brass. I was at a funeral last year and the song was played as the congregation left the chapel at Daldowie. All the 'Tims' had a wee smug smile on their faces as the song was belted out over the sound system...if only they knew what the song was symbolic of I doubt very much if they would've been so smug at having the song played at their pals funeral. Ach well what is it they say ' you can educate some of the people some of the time the rest of the time why bother... '
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Post by tammccann on Dec 31, 2009 16:43:43 GMT 1
Was in the Drygate and came across this Glasgow coat of arms on part of the old prison wall
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Post by opacaserel on Jun 5, 2019 20:43:13 GMT 1
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