23 MARCH

GENERAL ADMITS THE FUTILITY OF ‘ACTS OF GREAT VIOLENCE’ IN IRELAND [ 10 January 1798 ] Major General John Moore disapproved of the enthusiasm with which other British officers committed atrocities in Ireland while suppressing local uprisings against British rule. On 10 January 1798, he made an insightful observation in his diary. KITCHENER ARRIVES IN…

COLONIAL SECRETARY WARNS AGAINST ‘IMMORAL RELATIONS WITH NATIVE WOMEN’ [ 11 January 1909 ] On 11 January 1909 Lord Crewe, Secretary of State for the Colonies, issued his ‘immoral relations’ memorandum. It cautioned all members of the Colonial Service of ‘the grave injury to good administration’ and ‘the disgrace and official ruin which will certainly…

SHOOT THE PRISONERS AND THE WOUNDED ! [ 2 September 1892 ] On this day in 1892, the army of the Mahdi, a Sudanese religious figure,  was massacred at the so called battle of Omdurman. About sixteen thousand Dervishes were killed for the loss of just 48 British soldiers  British soldiers were then ordered to…

CYPRIOT BOYS BIRCHED UNDER EMERGENCY REGULATIONS [ 13 January 1956 ] On 13 January 1956, six Greek Cypriot boys from Famagusta were birched under one of several emergency regulations introduced the previous month to stamp out an island wide rebellion against British rule. Please feel welcome to post comments below.  If you have any questions…

THE LORD MAYOR OF CORK DIES FROM HIS HUNGER STRIKE IN BRIXTON PRISON Terence MacSwiney, Lord Mayor of Cork, died at 5.40 am on Monday 25 October 1920 on the seventy fourth day of his hunger strike at Brixton prison.  His biographer, Francis Costello, remarked that the MacSwiney’s “solitary protest would be seen, in the…

THE BRITISH STAGE A COUP IN SHARJAH. 24 June 1965 – The British orchestrated a coup in the emirate of Sharjah to remove Sheikh Saqr, who was considered to have too great an interest in independent development and had even allowed the Arab League to have a role in the small kingdom’s decision making, at…