Groups and Single Decorations for Gallantry 197


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:-


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