United Irish league
The Poyntzpass Branch of the United Irish League (UIL) was formed on 4th March 1901 after a meeting at the Reading Rooms[1] and Heber Magenis was appointed Chair for the meeting. The following year he was one of Poyntzpass’s three delegates to the UIL National Convention.
National Hall
On 4th October 1904, the Frontier Sentinel (in only its third edition) reported a meeting of the UIL’s Poyntzpass branch. The objective of those present was to re-establish[2] the Reading Rooms, and to build a National Hall in the village. They were immediately offered a site on Chapel Street by John McShane, a local publican, and a fund-raising concert was scheduled for November. The meeting also endorsed the Newry-based Frontier Sentinel newspaper as a new, strong voice for Nationalism.
The National Hall appears to have been constructed quite quickly, as the Frontier Sentinel carried a report of an attempted attack on it by Orangemen on 14th August 1905. A potential conflict was nipped in the bud by Heber Magenis who restrained Nationalists from retaliating and, although he was not yet a JP, went to the police barracks and insisted that the police, who appear to have been deliberately ignoring the unrest, put a stop to it.
Religious Discrimination In Public Posts
In the early 1900s, local MPs asked several questions in the House of Commons about the lack of Catholics employed in public posts in Poyntzpass, for example, on 29th March 1901:
“…is…aware that although the Roman Catholics constitute nearly half the population in the petty sessions district of Poyntzpass…there is not a single Roman catholic on the bench, that the resident magistrate, the petty session chairman, the dispensary doctor, the postmaster, and four postmen out of five are all Protestants?”
On 21st July 1908:
“…whether there is any particular reason why the sergeant of police at Poyntzpass is almost invariably a Protestant; whether since the principal ratepayers in the village are Catholics, he will consider the advisability of recommending that occasionally a Catholic sergeant should be appointed?”
…and on the same day…
“…a serious attack was made by a number of young men on two Catholics in the Poyntzpass police district; Whether any arrests have been made in connexion with the affair; whether the police have taken any action in regard to it…”
…to which the reply was
“at Armagh assizes on 7th July, Patrick McSherry, a Catholic, was tried for firing at a revolver at one Andrew Bicker, in the locality of Poyntzpass, and was acquitted. The defence set up was that McSherry and another man were being stoned by a crowd, whereupon that McSherry fired a shot in self-defence…the police have no evidence that stones were thrown…I am informed that party feeling is somewhat rife at Poyntzpass and that the police use all possible efforts to protect each side from molestation by the other”.
More Orange ‘Rowdyism’
The early Edwardian era saw a number of episodes of sectarian disorder centred on the village. On 28th August 1906, the Irish News reported:
“ROWDYISM AT POYNTZPASS. Another Orange Invasion. This village has been for the past few weeks the scene of an outburst of Orange rowdyism which has not been surpassed in living memory. A few Sundays ago, a preacher came to Poyntzpass to preach a sermon to the Royal Black Preceptory, imported from Portadown, Banbridge, Tandragee, Markethill etc.
The procession started from the Orange Hall, and after parading the village preceded to the meetinghouse in Teapot Row. In this locality there are a number of Catholic houses and the preacher repaired to the green in front of the building and proceeded to deliver a lecture on the Pope and Popery, etc, but with their usual good sense, the Catholics took no notice of the proceedings.
“After a few days an Orange drumming party arrived in the village from Gilford, and after parading the streets playing party tunes and cursing the Pope and “Papishes”, proceeded to Scarva where another outburst occurred, already described. The climax was reached on Wednesday night last, when the Orange band paraded the village playing party tunes. When proceeding up the Markethill Road, a quiet, inoffensive young shoe-maker, named Charles Murray, was set upon, knocked down, and brutally kicked on the street.
Another drumming party arrived in the village on Saturday night last, made the night hideous with the thumping of drums and playing of party tunes, but the Catholics kept in their own houses, and left the streets to the Orange invaders. It remains to be seen what action the authorities will take in future, as several persons have been brutally assaulted both on the Blackbridge Road and Clare Road on leaving the village after dark.”
Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH)
Although founded in the USA in 1836, the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) only started to flourish in Ulster in the early 1900s, where it became a natural successor to the Defenders and Ribbonsim. In 1908, the Newry Reporter recorded yet another 15th August-related “riot”. However, the Irish News painted a rather different picture, in its report on a meeting of the local branch of the AOH held on 23rd August 1908 in the Hibernian Hall, Poyntzpass, where:
“…the following resolution was passed. “That we, the members of Division 244, beg to return our sincere thanks to Mr [Heber] Magenis JP and also to County-Inspector Carter, for the efficient way in which they discharged their duty on the 15thAugust last in clearing from the streets a crowd who were allowed to congregate to interfere with the local division of the AOH on their return from Mass.”
“The secretary, Bro. T Murray, in supporting the resolutions said one great victory had been gained by their local division, and that was that never again could Poyntzpass be looked on but as a Nationalist town in which any organisation had a perfect right to hold their meetings, and he promised them that before long they would hold a county demonstration which would be a credit not only to the AOH but to every Armagh nationalist. Notwithstanding that posters had been sent broadcast through the country calling for all “loyal Protestants” and Unionists to attend in their thousands and hold the Pass against the “rebels” and “Ribbonism”, not more than 100 of these stalwarts put in an appearance and those were gathered from every street corner from Glenanne to Banbridge.”
In its early days, the AOH was banned by the Catholic hierarchy in Ireland; Cardinal Logue was a particular opponent. He blasted the society for its seemingly harmless rules and its strong-arm methods, saying “The members boasted that they were all good Catholics” while “they boycotted, threatened, waylaid and beat their neighbours”. Even after the ban was lifted in 1904, the AOH was still barely tolerated by the Church.
Peace was short-lived; the Ulster Examiner reported that on 5th October 1908, less than two months later, there had been yet another loyalist/nationalist clash “…arising from an attack by an Orange drumming party on a nationalist band.…Dr MacDermott had a busy time dressing wounds before and after the riot.”
Partition
There was a spate of sectarian crime in Poyntzpass around the time of the partition of Ireland.
1922 Bank Robbery
At 11.30am on 6th May 1922, when the village was busy, with a fair in progress, armed raiders entered a room in Rafferty’s pub (now Poyntzpass Pharmacy) which was being used as the market-day branch of the Northern Bank and stole £1,543. The robbers were never identified but were believed to be IRA members from South Armagh. The Bank later claimed £5,000 for ‘full compensation and consequential damages’ from the NI Government, but the Ministry of Home Affairs rejected the claim in its entirety.
B-Special Murder Attempt
A few months later, just before midnight on 11th July 1922, eighteen-year-old B-Special Constable William Irwin from Ballylough (my great-uncle Willie) was returning home from Poyntzpass drill hall in Railway Street. He was ambushed on the Dromantine Hill road and shot in the arm.
Weak from loss of blood, he staggered to the house of a fellow B-Special. He was taken to Daisy Hill hospital where his injured arm had to be amputated. Later that year, he claimed £3,000 in compensation, but was awarded just £675 – still a very substantial sum. He married the nurse who had cared for him in hospital and set up the small Ulster Star Bus Company (it had just one charabanc!) with the compensation money.
William later became a successful businessman and hotelier, first in Newcastle and later in Douglas, Isle of Man. His tale, as told by Brian Bailie in his book “The Broncle“, is complex and surprising.
New Police Station
Having first been proposed in 1922, the new RUC station in Chapel Street finally opened on 31st August 1929. It had two separate dwellings, one for the sergeant and his family, the other for single constables. Married constables were expected to find accommodation elsewhere in the village.
A huge Orange Order gathering took place in the village on 12th July 1932. Special trains and buses were laid on. The Brethren marched to Drumbanagher demesne, where they were addressed by Lord Craigavon, the NI Prime Minister.
Sons Falsely Accused of Murder
On 13th May 1933, the body of William McGivern, aged ~69, who had been found dead in a flax dam on his farm at Corcrum, was exhumed from Drumbanagher churchyard, despite the inquest jury having returned a verdict of suicide. After an autopsy, his sons George (26) and Thomas Henry (22) were charged with murdering their father. Many local worthies spoke up for the brothers, and a public appeal raised over £150 for their defence. At a court hearing in Armagh on 15th June, the Crown withdrew all charges, and they were released; their solicitor refused to accept a fee for defending them. The final verdict on the death of their father was, once more, suicide.
Petty Sessions Closes
About 1935, about 90 years after it was first held, Poyntzpass Petty Sessions was abolished, and responsibility for cases was split between Markethill and Tandragee. Of course, minor offences committed in and around the village were still regularly reported in the newspapers. On 19th January 1940, Hugh Coulter was fined two shillings at for leading a horse on the public road after dark without a light at Taniokey! Three weeks later, Patrick Adamson of Loughadian appeared at Tandragee Petty Sessions “without his jacket, collar and boots” for harassing a female neighbour and claiming that she had stolen his “treasure” of gold and diamonds which he claimed he had acquired during his time as a sea captain – all fantasy, of course. Today, of course, it would be regarded as a mental health issue.
The local ‘crime wave’ continued unabated after the war; in January 1953 two youths, Patrick Loughran and Patrick Monaghan, were each fined 10 shillings at Tandragee Children’s Court for playing football in Poyntzpass Square!
The McGladdery Case
A notorious case from the early 1960s was the murder of 19-year-old Pearl Gamble by 25-year-old Robert McGladdery in January 1961, after both had attended a dance in Newry. McGladdery was convicted of the crime and hanged in December that year, the last person to be judicially executed on the island of Ireland. Some Poyntzpass locals, including Albert Shanks, gave evidence at his trial.
Police Station Closes
Chapel Street RUC station closed in April 1967, after having been in use for just 37 years, and was sold at auction in June 1968.
On 29th October 1970, part of the large and valuable coin collection of GP and noted local numismatist Dr Stanley Agnew, of Deer Park, Jerrettspass, was stolen in a daytime burglary.
1950s IRA Campaign
The principal post-WW2 IRA campaign lasted from December 12, 1956, to February 26, 1962. During that time, the police station was surrounded by what by later standards were rather minimal defences – coils of barbed wire on top of the low surrounding wall, with tripwires inside the coils which would launch exploding maroons to warn those inside. The station was never attacked.
[1] These were originally at what is now 10 Church Street. We don’t know why the original reading rooms closed. They later moved to the other side of the street, close to the Parish Church.
[2] We do not know what had happened to them in the interim. However, by April 1905 the were in use again, for a lecture on Daniel O’Connell.