The Devil to Pay: The Mutiny of the Connaught Rangers, India, July, 1920

During the years leading up to the World War I the Irish struggle for independence played an increasingly large and acrimonious part in the business of the House of Commons, to which it should be recalled, Ireland then returned 103 members. However, on the outbreak of war in 1914, the Irish Question was set aside and for the next four years the five infantry regiments which were recruited from the South of Ireland sent countless battalions to fight and die beside their brethren from England, Ulster and the Empire. With the restoration of peace in 1918 the claim for Irish Independence was again voiced and now with renewed vigour. Serious disturbances followed and the situation soon reached a stage little short of civil war. Meanwhile, far away in India stories began to reach the men of the 1st Battalion of the Connaught Rangers concerning the brutalities being inflicted by the English on their fellow countrymen, particularly by the notorious Black and Tans. "Why", they asked themselves, "should we serve in the army of a country which is tyrannizing our own homeland?" They answered their own question by resorting to mutiny. Much has been written about the Mutiny of the Connaught Rangers in July, 1920, most of it in a highly subjective manner and often without questioning the veracity of the statements of the mutineers themselves. The author takes a fresh look at this unhappy episode in the tragic history of that equally unhappy country. As a High Court Judge of many years experience, he is uniquely qualified to analyze the legal, as well as the moral, rights and wrongs of the case. To put the story in its proper perspective, he also looks in some detail at the concurrent events leading to the establishment of the independent state of Ireland in 1922. The result is a tragic tale which, sadly, reflects little credit upon any of the participants.