Category: 100 Years Ago

11 MARCH 1923

A large collection of weaponry was found by the national troops in a property near the Corporation Markets in Halston Street in Dublin.

It was reported that negotiations were progressing between the German and French Governments regarding the future of the Ruhr Valley which the French had occupied due to failure of the Germans to pay war reparations.

Ballynastragh House, the property of Irish Senator Sir Thomas Esmonde, was destroyed by members of the Irregulars. Servants were ordered out of the property and nothing was saved, with the property never being fully rebuilt.

Hundreds of football fans were assisted at Charlton Athletic’s ground following the collapse of a safety barrier with many injured during the incident.

10 MARCH 1923

It was announced that the King and Queen would visit the Pope during their visit to Italy.

Lady Astor proposed a Bill to the House of Commons which aimed to amend the licensing laws to prevent boys and girls from the environment of the public house. She stated that at the moment pubs could sell alcohol to those aged 14 and over and spirits to those 16 and over, with Astor wanting to increase the age to 18.

A group of Labour MPs introduced a Bill into the House of Commons to nationalise the mines and minerals of the country.

9 MARCH 1923

Con Moloney, the Deputy Chief of the Republican Army Staff, was captured by Government forces during an attack in the Glen of Aherlow.

The Schutzpolizei in Dortmund were disarmed by the occupying French authorities and then expelled from the area. The French military authorities said that they would investigate a series of allegations made by local Germans of robberies being conducted by French troops.

The Belgian Government confirmed that there had been a series of arrests of communist leaders in the country.

The Chinese Cabinet resigned.

8 MARCH 1923

Marquis Curzon said in the House of Lords that the Government fully intended to introduce the legislation suggested by the Royal Commission on Honours.

Neville Chamberlain was appointed as the Minister of Health.

Sir William Joynson-Hicks was appointed as the Postmaster General.

The death of Robert George Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth was announced.

7 MARCH 1923

The Labour Party gained another Parliamentary seat, winning the by-election in Liverpool Edge Hill from the Unionist Party. The seat had been won by William Rutherford for the Unionists in 1922, with a majority of 4,666 over Labour’s Jack Hayes. In the by-election, Jack Hayes secured a majority of 1,050 over the Unionist candidate John Waller Hills. Following his defeat, Hills resigned from his role as the Financial Secretary to the Treasury which he had held since November 1922.

Wilhelm Cuno, the Chancellor of Germany, spoke in the Reichstag condemning the treatment of German officials in the Ruhr Valley by the French occupiers. He warned that the population of the Rhine and the Ruhr were now more determined than ever on resistance.

The death was announced of Sir Owen Thomas who had been the MP for Anglesey since 1918.

6 MARCH 1923

The result of the Mitcham parliamentary by-election was announced, with Labour’s James Chuter Ede gaining the seat from the Unionists. Ede secured 8,029 votes with the Unionist candidate Arthur Griffith-Boscawen securing 7,196 votes, the defeat meaning that he resigned as the Minister for Health.

The House of Commons gave a second reading to the Government’s Unemployment Insurance Bill.

The German Government condemned the burglaries that had taken place in their embassy in Rome.

Andrew Bonar Law, the Prime Minister, said in the House of Commons that there was no rupture with the French Government on the matter of their occupation of the Ruhr Valley.

5 MARCH 1923

The death was announced of James Stewart-Mackenzie, 1st Baron Seaforth.

Sir Charles Monro was announced as the new Governor of Gibraltar, succeeding Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien.

A bomb was thrown into the Cairo headquarters of the British military forces, injuring several soldiers.

Willie Hodgson, the former Lord Mayor of Leeds, was killed in a road traffic accident.

4 MARCH 1923

The Liberal candidate Harcourt Johnstone won the by-election in Willesden East, beating the Unionist candidate George Frederick Stanley with a majority of 5,176. The sitting MP Harry Mallaby-Deeley stood down claiming health reasons, although it was thought that it was to enable Stanley to re-enter Parliament.

The death of Baron Seaforth was announced.

French troops occupied the German cities of Mannheim and Darmstadt as part of their seizure of German lands in the Ruhr Valley.

3 MARCH 1923

Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby, the Secretary of State for War, said in a speech in Liverpool that he entirely agreed with the British Government’s policy of not sending troops into the Ruhr Valley.

A sentence of death was passed on Fred Wood, a travelling upholsterer, for the murder of Miss White at a property near Bramhall in Cheshire. The jury recommended mercy be granted to the prisoner, but despite this he was later hanged at Liverpool on April 10th 1923 by John Ellis.

The British Government announced that as from midnight on 31 March 1923 there would be a customs border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. Sir James Craig, the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, recommended that businesses in Ulster should look at trading with Scotland, England and other Dominions.

St. Mary’s Hall in Cork was destroyed by explosives left by the Irregulars, with four people being injured by the bomb.

2 MARCH 1923

In a speech at Edinburgh University, the former Prime Minister David Lloyd George said that universities had played an essential part in the war and were the fourth arm of defence in a time of crisis.

15,000 building trade operatives went on strike in the Eastern Counties over the subject of wages for painters.

The French authorities in the occupied territories of the Ruhr Valley said that the proceeds of all consumption taxes on wines, cigars, cigarettes and manufactured tobacco would now go to them.

Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, the future German President, said in a speech in Hanover that “we will never forget that we are all Germans and must do our duty, and if necessary fight even until the last flag is torn in pieces and the last sword blade shattered. Better to perish in honour than live in disgrace”,