1921

January
Joseph Tormey and another Westmeath Volunteer, Patrick Sloane
from Moate, are shot dead by a sentry in Ballykinlar Internment Camp, County Down. John Macken, an officer of the IRA’s Mullingar Brigade who was imprisoned in Ballykinlar from January to December 1921, stated that they were shot ‘for talking across the barbed wire to prisoners in the other camp.’

2 February
James Tormey, one of the leading IRA volunteers in Westmeath, is shot dead during fighting between the IRA and Black and Tans at Cornafulla, near Athlone.
 
March
Seán MacEoin, a leader in the Longford IRA, is captured by the Crown forces near Mullingar. MacEoin is badly wounded while attempting to evade arrest.
 
24 May
In the general election for the parliament of ‘Southern Ireland’, Sinn Féin wins 124 of the 128 seats. The elected members abstain from the parliament and form the Second Dáil.
 
25 May
The Dublin Brigade of the IRA attack and burn the Customs House in Dublin. The IRA units are surrounded by Crown Forces, leading to the deaths of five IRA volunteers and the arrest of almost 100 members of the Dublin Brigade.
 
20 June
Brigadier-General Thomas Stanton Lambert, commanding officer of the British forces in Athlone barracks, is fatally wounded by the IRA while travelling by car near the town.
 
22 June
The first parliament of the newly-formed Northern Ireland is officially opened.
 
June-July
In reprisal for the shooting of Lambert, Black and Tans burn down at least five houses in Coosan and Mount Temple. In response, the IRA burns down Moydrum Castle, outside Athlone, a few days later.
 
8 July
Éamon de Valera meets General Neville Macready, Commander of the British forces in Ireland. They agree a truce, which comes into effect at midday on 11 July 1921. Later that year, negotiations between Irish and British representatives take place, culminating in the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

Memorial card for Patrick Sloane, shot dead in Ballykinlar Internment Camp in 1921. A military inquest concluded that the sentry who shot Sloane and Tormey had contravened regulations by opening fire – a fact that was not made public at the time. (Photo supplied by Eamon Doyle)

Moydrum Castle, near Athlone. It was burned down by the IRA's Athlone Brigade in 1921. The destruction of the house was part of a series of related events that included the capture of Sean MacEoin by the Crown forces, the shooting dead of Brigadier-General Thomas Stanton Lambert by the IRA and the burning of houses near Athlone by the Crown forces.

---