The 1921 Constabulary Medal (Ireland) awarded to Constable A. J. Burrett, Royal Irish Constabulary, for gallantry during a rare encounter battle with the I.R.A. that became a 5-hour running fight; he was part of a joint R.I.C. and Green Howards bicycle patrol that inflicted significant casualties on the Mid and East Limerick Flying Columns at Lackelly, near Knocklong, co. Limerick, on 2 May 1921, before conducting an epic fighting withdrawal that ‘was a tribute to their tactics and courage’

Constabulary Medal (Ireland), 2nd type, ‘Reward of Merit Royal Irish Constabulary’ (Constable Alexander J. Burrett 75420. 1921.) with integral top silver riband bar, nearly extremely fine £2,800-£3,200

Provenance: Spink, May 1995.

Constabulary Medal awarded 8 September 1921.
The original recommendation states: ‘On 2 May 1921 Sergeant Thomas Cullen, Constable Owen Rogan, Constable John Rennie, and Constable Alexander J. Burrett, together with 10 soldiers, were ambushed at Knocklong, Co. Limerick, by 120-150 rebels who were well led and in good positions. The engagement lasted four and a half hours altogether and the Crown forces counter-attacked the enemy three times. Finally, when surrounded, they cut their way through and fought a rearguard action all the way back to Barracks, a distance of six miles. The ammunition of the Crown forces was exhausted, and they were only able to continue by using ammunition they had captured from the rebels. Six dead rebels were found, but after an attempt to bring them back to Barracks they had to be abandoned. Three more were believed wounded, and much arms, ammunition, and equipment were captured.’

Alexander J. Burrett was born in Middlesex on 5 September 1895, and served with the East Lancashire Regiment during the Great War, probably on the Western Front in 1917-18. He joined the Royal Irish Constabulary at age 25 on 12 November 1920, describing himself as a labourer/ex-soldier. Burrett’s service record states that he was recommended by the R.I.C.'s chief recruiting officer in Great Britain, R.I.C. District Inspector and Irish Guards Major Cyril Fleming, who worked in the army recruiting office at Great Scotland Yard in London. Burrett easily met the R.I.C.’s three requirements: height at least five feet eight inches, unmarried and an army rating of ‘Good’ or higher. English recruits like Burrett were permanent members of the R.I.C. (though they are often confused with the ‘Temporary Constables’ or ‘Temporary Cadets’, who were a separate branch of the security forces). They lived and worked alongside their Irish colleagues. For reasons of expediency and economy, the mainland recruits were initially issued with black-green R.I.C. uniform items along with war-surplus military khaki tunics, trousers and coats. They wore these in varying combinations, the most popular being R.I.C. cap, tunic and belt with khaki trousers. This mix ’n match look caused them to be dubbed ‘Black and Tans.’

Burrett was allocated to the Limerick Police, effective from 25 November 1920. According to republican sources, he was based at Kilfinane (WS 1435 D. F. O’ Shaughnessy Appendix C, where Burrett is listed, refers). O’Shaughnessy put together, over many years, a comprehensive, impressively detailed history of the war in this part of Limerick, using notes taken from interviews with eye-witnesses in 1930-32, and submitted it to the Irish Bureau of Military History in 1956. He narrates the sequence of the build-up of British forces in the Kilfinane area from mid-1920: ‘At the end of July [1920] the real Tans arrived in town. They had no police uniforms. Some wore the complete khaki uniform of a soldier with a belt and a black police cap. More had the police tunic with khaki trousers.’ On 14 August 1920, a party of 40-50 British regular soldiers arrived and occupied Ivy House, close to the R.L.C. barracks in Kilfinane. An intensive program of joint R.I.C./Army patrols and raids began. After Burrett arrived in November 1920, he must have participated in some of the fights that took place over the next five months, as described by O’Shaughnessy.

According to O’Shaughnessy, many of the operations carried out at this time were based on intelligence, and this applied to both sides in the conflict. The I.R.A. were constantly on alert for leaks and informers, while some of Burrett’s close colleagues were apparently passing information to the Republicans. O’Shaughnessy names one veteran Irish Peeler, who the army (rightly) formally accused of ‘aiding and abetting the rebels’, but who the R.I.C. hierarchy narrowly exonerated. Intriguingly, one of the Tan constables he lists in Appendix C is annotated as ‘got protection from I.R.A.’

The Lackelly Fight: in which Burrett was one of ‘A Brave Band of Fighting Men’
At the beginning of May 1921, the three I.R.A. Flying Columns of West, mid and East Limerick, a combined force of about 150 men, were scattered across a 6-mile radius in the hills near Kilfinane, billeted in local farms and outhouses. Flying Columns were groups of men who were ‘on the run’ from the R.I.C. Unable to stay in their homes for fear of being arrested in a raid, they roamed, permanently armed, across the countryside, relying on support from the local inhabitants for food, shelter and information. Each Column had 25-50 permanent members. It could call up local volunteers on an ad hoc basis and/or combine with other Columns to conduct big operations which required more manpower.

The R.I.C. and sub-units of the Second Battalion Green Howards were actively patrolling the area, and on Sunday 1 May they surprised part of the Column as it was deploying to occupy an ambush position. At Shraharla, two members of the mid-Limerick Column were shot dead, one mortally wounded and a fourth captured (he was taken to Cork, court-martialled and executed by firing squad). Early the next day, Burrett, along with a Sergeant and two other Constables from the R.I.C. and ten Green Howard soldiers from the military garrison, was tasked to patrol on bicycles along the road to Emly. The joint patrol reported that it was ambushed. The various I.R.A. Witness Statements are confusing, but they suggest an alternative narrative:-

The cyclist patrol’s presence was reported to the I.R.A., and the men billeted near the public road at Lackelly started to prepare an ambush, but without any great sense of urgency. The patrol had already passed by, and they were waiting for their scouts to report whether it would return the way it had come or take a different route back. ‘The ten [some accounts say 12] men that [had]slept that night in Fitzpatrick's, Kincaid's, Taylor's and Callaghan's, not sensing that anything unusual was about to happen, discarded their defensive positions and wandered about the yards and houses. [Some gathered near] a bend of the old road which obscured their view from the public road.’ Meanwhile, the joint cyclist patrol had returned, unseen and unheard. Although a bicycle was silent, it took time for its rider to dismount and bring his service rifle into action, so something must have attracted the patrol’s attention and caused them to dismount and deploy before quietly and cautiously approaching the dead ground of the old road.

It was rare for the British forces suddenly to encounter the I.R.A. in the open, and they took full advantage of the opportunity presented to them. Soon, four Volunteers (Tommy Howard and Willie Riordan of the East Limerick Column, Jim Frahill and Pat Wade of mid-Limerick) lay dead, for no loss to the cyclists. At least two Witness Statements, including that of the Column commander, state that some prisoners (described as ‘local Volunteers’) were captured. The other members of the Flying Column in the immediate vicinity had fled out of sight, leaving behind equipment, ammunition and clothing. O’Shaughnessy alleges, on the basis of their external injuries, that Frahill and Riordan were finished off at close quarters, by bayonet and rifle-butt respectively.

Conscious that the noise of rifle-fire and/or the accounts of the I.R.A. fugitives might bring other groups of gunmen to the scene, the joint patrol now had to prepare to withdraw. A cart was commandeered and loaded with the four enemy corpses, their arms, ammunition and some of the other abandoned items. The cart was pulled along the long, narrow old road towards the railway line south of Knocklong, and a motor car from Callaghan’s was commandeered to replace it. As Burrett and his companions were transferring the bodies from the cart to the motor car, they were attacked by another part of the Column, 25 men under Maurice Meade, a former regular soldier who had joined Casement’s Irish Brigade in Germany early in the war and who admitted in his own Witness Statement to killing (on a separate, earlier occasion) three surrendered R.I.C. prisoners in cold blood. All the I.R.A. Statements agree on what happened next. ‘A pitched battle took place over an extended area. The enemy column was certainly made up of a brave band of fighting men - perfectly trained to take advantage of every bit of cover, and, on this account, were not an easy target.’

The British patrol succeeded in breaking contact and withdrawing in extended open order across country towards the south, but had to abandon the bodies, the motor car, their prisoners and their own bicycles. Evidently they slung some of the captured ammunition packs and bandoliers over their shoulders. The I.R.A. Statements indicate that the various sections of the combined Columns converged in an effort to hunt down, surround and wipe out the joint patrol. They did not succeed, due to repeated, aggressive counter-attacks and even a frontal charge made by Burrett and his comrades. ‘The fight was on now with all the intensity that this form of combat can produce. But as a result of the clever tactics on the part of their commanding officer and with scarcely a round of ammunition left after several hours of almost cease-less struggle, the British forces succeeded in evading their pursuers and making their way back to the safety and shelter of their fortress at Galbally. It was a tribute to the tactics and courage of the enemy.’ (O’Shaughnessy WS Appendix B refers)

The Statements show that the I.R.A. was totally conscious of having under-performed during their whole action against the heavily out-numbered joint patrol. Furious rows broke out between the Flying Column commanders about who was to blame. The joint patrol fired 1,000-1,500 rounds during the almost 300 minutes of their fighting retreat, always in the open and sometimes at close quarters. Why were there not more I.R.A. casualties at Lackelly? The British thought that there had been, based on what was written in the official recommendation for award of the Constabulary Medal. Two of the Green Howards had been wounded, but could still walk. It is likely that up to half a dozen Republicans suffered various non-disabling wounds (from which they recovered, and which didn’t seem important enough to mention 10 years later, and certainly not in the 1950s, when the Witness Statements were compiled). It is almost certain that more I.R.A. weapons, ammunition and clothing were lost during the various phases of the running battle.

As a result of the Lackelly action, Burrett was awarded a First Class Favourable Record on 1 July 1921 (p/n 970210 D refers), as well as the Constabulary Medal. His record contains another First Class Favourable Record on 9 September 1921 (p/n 71600 D), though this could be a duplicate. He was dismissed on 16 November 1921, four months after the start of the Truce, when negotiations for the Treaty were underway.

The reason for Burrett’s dismissal was not entered in his general record. Based on a limited sample (all the men who enlisted as Tans in the month prior to Burrett’s enlistment) the Canadian historian D.M. Leeson states that about 8% of Tans were dismissed for serious breaches of discipline (usually significant absence or drunkenness) or for civil crimes such as theft. This is a much higher rate of dismissal compared to the average of 1% for pre-war R.I.C. Peelers, but it is not much greater than the 4% for all contemporary British regular soldiers, especially given that many serious offences committed by soldiers were punished not by dismissal but by periods in military prison, after which the soldier’s military service could continue. In Ireland, Burrett was a soldier rather than a policeman. He was though a soldier who could more than hold his own in combat.