Really interesting new article on the site by @swgannon: The Green Frame of British Rule?’ – Irish in the Indian Civil Service: theirishstory.com/2020/11/27/the…
Basically in the late 19th century, careers in the Indian Civil Service became a very attractive career path for middle class young men in Ireland, both Catholic and Protestant.
Elite schools and universities including Clongowes and TCD offered 'cramming' preparation for the competitive entrance exam. There was a certain amount of chagrin among the British ruling classes about the numbers of Irishmen being recruited ahead of 'true English gentlemen'
In India, some Irishmen, including Michael O'Dwyer, governor of Punjab were hardline advocates of coercion to suppress Indian nationalism. O'Dwyer from Tipperary defend the actions of the military at the Amritsar massacre in 1919.
But others such as Anthony MacDonnell and Cahrles O'Donnell saw the Indian tenant farmers as oppressed by landlords much as their Irish equivalents were and enacted programmes of land reform as had occurred in Ireland under the Land Acts.
Recruitment declined after 1922. No doubt in part due to Irish independence, apart from anything else there were now more civil service jobs close to home in Dublin, but also due to the 'Indianization' of the ICS.
See also Sean's article about Irish, including ex RIC, Black and Tans & Auxiliaries in the British Palestine Police force in the 1920s and 30s. ‘The Black and Tans in Palestine’ – Irish connections to the Palestine Police 1922-1948. theirishstory.com/2020/02/20/the…

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More from @theirishstory

28 Nov
Today in Irish History, November 28 1920 – The Kilmichael ambush – #Kilmichael100 Tom Barry's IRA column wiped out a patrol of Auxiliaries. A vicious close quarter fight ad this article discusses. theirishstory.com/2014/11/28/tod… ImageImageImageImage
(Excuse the typo above!) Tom Barry, beyond the legend, was quite a contradictory character. He was the son of a policeman, who joined the British Army in WWI (when he served in the Royal Artillery in Mesopotamia (Iraq) against the Ottoman Turks.
It was pointed out by @swgannon here yesterday that when he returned to Ireland in 1919, he attempted to join the Imperial Civil Service, but failed the exam. He also attended the first Armistice Day commemorations in Cork in which the Union flag was raised. Image
Read 19 tweets
26 Nov
Delighted to announce this. Taking place next Tues, Dec 7 at 7 pm. Register here: bit.ly/33haBxY
Also check out @EamonDelaney10 's review: THERE will be many books on the Irish independence movement in the run-up to the 1916 centenary, and beyond, but it would be hard to do better than this as a succinct and clear assessment of those years. independent.ie/entertainment/…
And see also, the original introduction for the book here; ‘Peace After the Final Battle’, The Story of the Irish Revolution, by John Dorney
theirishstory.com/2014/03/25/jus…
Read 6 tweets
16 Sep
Whisper it softly, but Oliver Cromwell and his role in Irish history is actually not understood very well at all in Ireland. The best summing up is in John Cunningham's book Conquest and Land in Ireland – The Transplantation to Connacht 1649-1680.
theirishstory.com/2012/03/04/boo…
Cromwell came in at the tail end of a brutal war in Ireland; the Eleven Years War. He was in Ireland for less than a year, and was here essentially to defeat a coalition of Royalist & Catholic forces on behalf of English Parliament theirishstory.com/2014/01/10/the…
Cromwell campaigned ruthlessly in Ireland, massacring the garrisons of Drogheda (largely English Royalists) and Wexfod (mostly Irish Catholics) but taking the surrender of many other towns such as New Ross and Kilkenny without bloodshed.
Read 13 tweets

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