Tag: 100 Years Ago

26 FEBRUARY 1923

Speaking at a Liberal party meeting in Trowbridge, the former Prime Minister Herbert Asquith said that Europe was in a dangerous position and that discussions involving European countries and the United States needed to take place. He said “is all this going to be thrown away?” referring to the years of relative peace since the end of the First World War.

The French authorities at Dusseldorf said that they had effected a new occupation in order to secure possession of the right bank of the Rhine between Cologne and Mayence.

Representations of the Polish administration met with three Lithuanian officers as the start of talks to open discussions on the application of the demarcation line in the neutral zone as discussed by the League of Nations.

The French authorities confirmed that they had seized 12,000,000,000 paper marks from a train travelling from Berlin to Cologne.

25 FEBRUARY 2023

The Irish Free State announced that they would be creating a customs barrier along their border with Ulster.

The Army Estimates suggested that there would be a reduction in military spending, but the number of men in the army would be increased.

Eight miners were killed in a coal mine accident in Medomsley, with six of the dead aged between 16 and 18.

23 FEBRUARY 1923

The Government stated that it did not intend to remove the statutory restriction on the importation of Irish cattle.

The death was announced of Théophile Delcassé, the former French Foreign Minister.

The Prime Minister stated that he was not currently in a position to issue an update on reform of the House of Lords.

22 FEBRUARY 1923

Government offices were attacked in Dublin by the Irregulars, but attempts to destroy the buildings were prevented by the national troops.

Andrew Bonar Law, the Prime Minister, confirmed that the British Government had allowed the French military to travel over British occupied territory to occupy the Ruhr Valley.

21 FEBRUARY 1923

In the House of Commons, a Liberal party amendment to the Loyal Address suggesting an immediate and drastic curtailment of British responsibilities in Mesopotamia was defeated.

The Second Reading of the Industrial Assurance Bill was agreed to in the House of Lords.

It was reported that Colonel Svejevski was sentenced to death for a plot to kill Vladimir Lenin.

Army headquarters in Dublin announced that the national troops had captured more groups of Irregulars, including some who were attempting to loot the Post Office at Knockmore in Fermoy, County Cork.

The Dean of Durham condemned plans to allow vicars to become Members of Parliament, stating that “they could not possibly do their duty in the House of Commons”.

20 FEBRUARY 1923

The joint motion from the Independent and the National Liberals in the House of Commons on the intervention of the League of Nations on the question of the Ruhr and the payment of reparations was defeated by 305 votes to 196.

Fighting between Poles and Lithuanians was reported following the announcement made by the League of Nations that Poland should occupy the neutral zone up to the demarcation line.

19 FEBRUARY 1923

The Free State of Ireland’s amnesty for the Irregulars to surrender passed, with reports that many had taken the opportunity to hand themselves in.

A clash took place between the Irregulars and the troops of the Irish Government at the base of the Galtee Mountains, with fourteen members of the Irregulars captured and one killed. One member of the national troops was killed along with a boy from a local farm who was caught in the crossfire.

The Dublin home of Alexander McCabe, an Irish politician, was blown up. There was also an arson attack entirely destroying the home and property of Senator Thomas Linehan.

The mail train from Dublin to Galway was wrecked by the Irregulars with a bridge also destroyed.

The Killaloe railway station near Limerick in Ireland was destroyed by the Irregulars who poured petrol within the building and set it alight.

18 FEBRUARY 1923

A spokesperson for the Railway Companies’ Association, the co-ordinating body for the four large rail companies, said that they were looking to change ticketing prices so that return fares would be twice the single fare rate. They added though that the rail companies were trying to reduce railway excursion charges to “nearer pre-war rates than ever before”.

William Thomas Cosgrave, the President of the Irish Executive Council, said that it was the final day of the amnesty that was being offered to members of the Irregulars to surrender. He said that “the Free State Government is prepared to put down this revolt regardless of cost. Let no man be deceived, there is no going back”.

It was announced at a conference of the National Training School that a poison gas that could penetrate any mask had been discovered.

17 FEBRUARY 1923

Arthur Griffith-Boscawen, the Minister of Health, said that the Government’s housing policy including rent restrictions and also a state subsidy to the builders of working men’s homes.

The Labour amendment to the Loyal Address was defeated by 277 votes to 180.

Éamon de Valera stated that he wanted an agreement which would lead to peace in Ireland, but he said that it was essential that “the cause is the threat by England which resulted in the Irish delegates signing an agreement which could in no way by regarded as a settlement in accordance with Irish aspirations”.

It was announced that the inner chamber of the Luxor Tomb had been opened for the first time.