N Coy ADRIC Meath

After 1 Oct 1921 when RHW Ballintine became Intelligence Officer. 60 Auxiliaries in photo. Named in this file. All 11 Section Leaders inc Transport and CQM

Owins is the man in uniform 3rd left standing, he only served in N Coy. Blain is sitting, second right

Based originally in Dublin from its birth in Jan 3 1921, it moved to 1 Feb 1921 to Trim Industrial School where it stayed until demobilisation in Jan 1922. The bulk of N Coy men joined from 3rd Jan 1921 to 19 Jan 1921. List of men with dates of joining. The registers enable us to see that

1921 Jan. The men for N Coy were recruited between 3 and 19 Jan 1921. A H Daniel was Coy Commander, and RD Utting as 2nd in Command

1921 Jan 31. Inquest on death of Mrs Freeman in Barlow Terrace Raid. A detachment of N Coy carries out this raid.

1921 Feb 1. Freemans reports that 2 Auxiliaries arrived and immediately took over Trim Industrial School.. The children were moved to the Workhouse and ADRIC guards were immediately posted. 30 Auxiliaries arrived that day and more a few days later

1921 Feb 8 Leggatt AF wounded at Trim

1921 Feb 9. Trim looting affair took place. A large Auxiliary party took part in a raid on a grocer at Balbradagh, Trim, Co. Meath on the night of 9 February 1921. The police were searching for IRA ammunition, but Mr. and Mrs. Richard Chandler were Unionists. During the search, the Auxiliaries ransacked the store and began stealing from both the store and the living quarters above. They are also said to have mistreated Mrs. Chandler. The Chandlers claimed damages of £325, and 5 members of the raiding party came forward and reported the incident to Crozier. Crozier went to Trim and interrogated a number of Auxiliaries. 25 men (including 2 Section Leaders) were dismissed as "unsuitable for the RIC" . He held another five over under arrest for court martial (they were in fact convicted in Jun along with some extra men charged as a result of further inquiry).

Lt.-Gen.Tudor reinstated the 25 dismissed men because he was ‘unsatisfied’ by their treatment by Crozier, and it was over this action that Crozier resigned. The men dismissed were reinstated to O Coy on 16 Feb, and then "washed" through the books of other companies before reaching their final destination company of R Coy on 14 May. Of these men only 4 were tried by GCM, and only one of these 3 was convicted. A further 1 of them deserted and another never took up Tudor's offer of reinstatement.. So 22 men ended up as a group in R Coy, effectively forming one complete Platoon there.

The interesting thing is what happened next. The British appear to have an enquiry that reported on Apr 22, as a result of which most of the dismissed men were removed from suspension and reintegrated into ADRIC. However on this date, 22 Apr, men who had not previously been suspended were then suspended. Between men on suspension since 12 Feb and men added on 22 Apr 1921, the result was that

The 5 senior men convicted were

Plus a number of Temp Cadets

There appears to have been a review of some sort on 22 April, as the original "unsuitable" men were taken off suspension, and a further group of 4 put on suspension for the first time JDle Grove, S Clancy, W Mylam, NStC Johnstone, HP Tarrant. Of these 5 new names 4 were convicted, with only S Clancy escaping punishment

1921 Feb 10 The date I think is to allow no break in their service, the men appear to haveonly actually been back in Ireland on 16 Feb. The Platoon sized group of 19 "reinstated" Trim Looting Incident Cadets were posted to in O Coy. They remained on the books of O Coy until 5 March when they were moved to P Coy, but were still suspended during most of this time (they were taken off suspension on Apr 22 and eventually went to R Coy on May 14)

1921 Feb 12. Lt S Barber posted to N Coy as Company Commander. A H Daniel was posted back to Depot (effective 19 Feb 1921). Daniel "resigned at his own request" on 5 Apr 1921

1921 Feb 25 A T/Cadet at Trim seriously injured by accidental discharge of a revolver. VR Scott seems to have committed suicide.

1921 Apr. N Company, or maybe sections of it, transferred to Dublin from Trim

1921 Jun 22. N Coy supplied a Guard of Honour at opening of Ulster Parliament under DI3 RB Parker

1922 Jan 14. From the date of discharge of N Coy men, this was when N Coy was disbanded.

 

 

Auxiliary Companies