Following on from the previous map I posted of IRA suspects in the 1930s, I’ve a few more that I intend posting over the next few weeks.
Just for starters, here are two maps with the names and address of those from Belfast interned in Frongoch after the 1916 Easter Rising and those interned on the Argenta prison ship in the early 1920s. The former list is from various sources while the latter is taken from Denise Kleinricherts book on the Argenta.
A quick note: As the Irish Volunteers used the Willowbank Huts in 1916 for drilling and as a headquarters, anyone without a suitable address is placed there. As the IRA in Belfast used St Mary’s Hall as its public office in 1921-22, I have placed anyone listed for Belfast by Kleinrichert but who doesn’t have a more detailed address.
The map is below (with some comments underneath)…
Firstly – the slightly more scattered distribution of those interned in Frongoch is interesting as it seems to reflect a slightly broader geographic spread across Belfast than that for the Argenta. This may reflect the presence of cultural nationalists and a higher preponderance of more middle class and educated volunteers in 1916 (certainly that’s my initial thinking). As the addresses for Argenta internees clearly reflect the revised post-1922 landscape of Belfast, the more compact distributions may simply mirror the impact of sectarian violence and the flight of republicans into the safety of areas with higher proportions of Catholic residents. I’ll look at this a bit more with future maps.
In the next week or two I’m going to add a page on Mapping the Belfast IRA. This will include an overall map and individual maps for:
- full list of volunteers who mobilised in 1916
- Frongoch internees (1916)
- 1st Belfast Brigade, 3rd Northern Division (listing all recorded Brigade members for 1921-22)
- Argenta internees (1922-24)
- Boundary Commission internees (1925-26)
- 1930s suspect list
- 1938 internment and Al Rawdah internees list (1938-40)
- 1956-61 prisoners in Crumlin Road
If I get time I may also add a list of sentenced prisoners in Crumlin Road (1938-45).
You can read more on the background to all of these in the new Belfast Battalion book.
The Treason Felony Blog 