Formed in 1920 the Ulster Special Constabulary was a reserve police force, they were used in times of emergency such as the Irish War of Independence.
They were disbanded in 1970 under a recommendation to attract more Catholics into the police force.
Ireland became embroiled in an ever-increasing war of attrition between the forces of the British Crown and those of the Irish Republican Army during 1920. Protestants, though an overall minority in Ireland, had held power ever since the reign of William of Orange in the late 1800's. They didn't relish the thought of Catholics uprising to power in an independent state, whether it be under Home Rule or a Republic.
Why was the Ulster Special Constabulary formed?
The Protestant Unionists of the northern province of Ulster began to feel that the time had arrived for them to separate from the rest of Ireland. In the province there where the two religions were almost equal in number, the unionists accepted they would have to separate from the other three provinces in Ireland. Not only this, but they would have to abandon large tracts of Ulster itself in order to secure a state in which they would be strong enough to retain power. This would mean that the counties of Monaghan, Cavan, and Donegal, which contained large Catholic majorities, would have seceded to southern Ireland. It was even believed that parts of Derry, Tyrone, Fermanagh, South Down, and south Armagh which also had large Catholic populations, would also be abandoned as part of the partition of Ireland.
In order to protect this new partitioned Ulster from attacks by the Irish Republican Army, the Ulster Unionist Council leaders, Craig, and Carson, were under pressure from Winston Churchill to arm all Protestants. They had decided in form the Ulster Special Constabulary to assist the the Royal Irish Constabulary, the current police force for all of Ireland. It was decided the new force would have to consist of local Protestants, they even allowed the recruiting of the notoriousBlack and Tans and Auxiliaries to proceed, Sir Basil Brooke, a landlord from Fermanagh was raising a vigilante force by recruiting ex-soldiers who had survived World War One.
Between 1920 and 1921 violence in Belfast, and along the newly planned border, erupted. Militant Republicans continued with attacks against British military and police targets and even an increase of fighting between Protestant and Catholics started. In July 1920 Carson and Craig requested the start of organizing this new force, even though the authorities in Dublin Castle and General Sir Neville Macready commander in chief of the army in Ireland were opposed to the idea. Smith was aided by fellow lieutenant-colonels George Moore Irvine and Fred Crawford.
The 3 tiers of the Ulster Special Constabulary
The army was working hand in hand with the Unionists and the Protestant Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), knowing that a self-contained army in Ulster would allow them to move regular army units South. Eventually, Lloyd George was forced to concede to Unionist demands and issued orders establishing the Ulster Special Constabulary in October 1920.
The new constabulary was three-tiered:
Group A, numbering around 2,000 men, would be paid full time, armed and mobile operating much as the RIC did.
Group B, (B Specials) numbering approximately 20,000 would be part-time, uniformed but unpaid. They would be armed but they would have to draw their weapons from a barracks when going on duty. Their remit was the safeguarding of their own areas.
Group C was an unspecified number of men who would only be called upon in times of extreme emergency. Some elements within the new force were very soon engaged in vicious and murderous reprisal attacks on the Catholic and nationalist population. However, it must also be admitted that other Specials help to protect catholic homes and businesses from rampaging loyalist pogromists.
The Ulster Special Constabulary and the partition of Ireland
When Ireland was partitioned in 1921 under the Government of Ireland Act of 1920. the current police force, The Royal Irish Constabulary, would be dissolved a year later. In Southern Ireland the Civic Guard, later renamed to the Garda Síochána, was established, and in Northern Ireland the Royal Ulster Constabulary was formed in June of 1922. However, the Ulster Special Constabulary would remain with the exception of Group A & C who were stood down. Instead, the USC would be made up of the most notorious group, the B Specials, who acted as an auxiliary force to support the RUC.
The brutality of the B-Specials
The brutality against Catholics by the B Specials was well known. For retaliation of the killing of 2 police officers by the IRA in March 1922, the B Specials busted down the door of Owen McMahon, one of Belfast's most wealthiest Catholics who was a publican and well known within the Catholic and Protestant business communities. They proceeded to round up each male in the house and shoot each one, killing 6 males. The son, John McMahon, who survived the shooting, stated:
Four of the five men were dressed in the uniform of the RIC but, from their appearance, I know they are Specials, not regular RIC. All of the men had hidden their faces. The four men in police uniform rushed up the stairs and herded the males into the dining room. The women were taken into another room. Eliza "got down on her knees and pleaded for mercy, but was struck on the side of the head and fell to the floor. The gunmen said "you boys say your prayers", before opening fire.
Within a week, the B Specials or RIC were again involved in more brutal murders of Catholic civilians, known as the Arnon Street killings. In retaliation of the killing of an RIC officer, killed by a sniper, approximately 10 Police officer left their barracks and proceeded to Arnon Street. They busted into the homes of each victim, shooting dead 5 victims and bludgeoning another with a sledgehammer.
Although nobody was ever convicted for the brutal killings in the McMahon household or at Arnon Street, it was believed Detective Inspector, John William Nixon of the RIC was responsible, along with other sectarian murders at the time.
The disbanding of the B-Specials
For the next 40 years, the B-Specials brought nothing but terror to the Catholic community, and by the 1960's they tarnished the image of the RUC. After attacking Civil Rights marchers and being instigators of the Battle of the Bogside in 1969, the news of their brutality was spreading around the world bringing embarrassment to the British Government. In response to the heavy rioting in Derry the Home Secretary, Jim Callaghan ordered a commission by Lord Hunt. The Hunt Report established a number of recommendation for change to policing including the disbanding of the B-Specials. A year later the B-Specials were disbanded and replaced by the RUC Reserve, an auxiliary police force. Military-style duties were handed over to the Ulster Defence Regiment, who would be disbanded by 1992.
Sources
- A History of Ulster by Jonathan Bardon. The Blackstaff Press. Belfast. 2005 edition
- The Catholics of Ulster, A History by Marianne Elliott. Penguin Books. London. 2001
