456:
75:
444:, not regular RIC". All of the men had hidden their faces. The four men in police uniform rushed up the stairs and herded the males into the dining room. The women were taken into another room. Eliza "got down on her knees and pleaded for mercy, but was struck on the side of the head and fell to the floor". When Owen asked why his family was being singled-out, one of the gunmen said it was because he was "a respected
82:
451:
Owen McMahon (50), Gerard McMahon (15), Frank McMahon (24), Patrick McMahon (22) and Edward McKinney (25) were killed outright while
Bernard McMahon (26) died later. The youngest McMahon son, 12-year-old Michael, survived the attack by hiding behind furniture and pretending to be hit. John McMahon
419:
was in place at the time, due to the daily violence in the city. At nearby
Clifton Avenue they met three other men and the party of five proceeded to the home of Owen McMahon. Eight males and three women were in the house that night. The males were Owen, his six sons, and Edward McKinney. McKinney
383:(MP), an Irish nationalist who rejected republican violence. McMahon was a prosperous businessman, who owned several pubs in Belfast (one of which was The Capstan Bar on Ann Street) and had at one time been chairman of the Northern Vintners' Association. His home at Kinnaird Terrace, off the
391:
area, was described as a "sprawling
Victorian mansion". However, one of the men killed at Kinnaird Terrace, Edward McKinney, an employee of the McMahon family, was subsequently and posthumously acknowledged to have been an IRA volunteer by IRA GHQ (General Headquarters). In his book,
240:
attack. The victims were businessman Owen McMahon, four of his sons, and one of his employees. Two others were shot but survived, and a female family member was assaulted. The survivors said most of the gunmen wore police uniform and it is suspected they were members of the
580:", in which five Catholics were killed by uniformed police who broke into their homes; allegedly in revenge for the killing of a policeman. In total, 452 people would be killed in Belfast in the conflict between June 1920 and July 1922 – 267 Catholics and 185 Protestants.
531:"had not been guilty of anything approaching this in its unspeakable barbarity". The McMahons had been "done to death merely because they were Catholics", but he told the mourners to practise "patience and forbearance" and not to seek revenge. Irish Nationalist Party MP
439:
Owen's wife, Eliza, said that four of the men wore police caps and carried revolvers while another wore civilian clothes. John McMahon, one of Owen's sons, said "Four of the five men were dressed in the uniform of the RIC but, from their appearance, I know they are
356:(RIC). The USC had a mutually hostile relationship with Irish nationalists and republicans in Northern Ireland. Lynch writes of the USC: "some were polite and courteous, others merely arrogant and destructive whilst a small anonymous minority set out to kill".
557:, both to try to stop the IRA violence which Collins had been tacitly encouraging and supporting, and to pressure Craig to provide more protection for Catholics. Craig denied the nationalist assertion that the McMahon killings were part of an anti-Catholic
494:
of the Irish Free State, but not by the
Northern Ireland authorities. A 1924 Free State report alleged that twelve policemen, whom the report identified by name, had carried out the McMahon murders, as well as several other attacks on Catholics.
452:(30) survived despite serious gunshot wounds. Eliza McMahon raised the alarm by opening the drawing room window and shouting "Murder! Murder!" A matron at an adjoining nursing home was alerted and phoned the police and an ambulance.
363:
in the city centre when they were approached by a group of IRA members and shot dead. Two
Catholics, Peter Murphy (61) and Sarah McShane (15), were shot dead in a suspected reprisal attack several hours later in the Catholic
503:
The killings caused outrage among
Belfast's Catholic population and over 10,000 people attended the funerals of those killed. The funerals of Owen, Gerard, Frank and Patrick were held on Sunday, 26 March. The
359:
The McMahon killings are believed to have been a reprisal for the IRA's killing of two USC men in
Belfast. On 23 March 1922, constables Thomas Cunningham and William Cairnside were patrolling
43:
338:(IRA), "would make one final attempt to undermine the ever hardening reality of partition by launching an all out offensive on the recently established province of Northern Ireland".
645:
1110:
1105:
576:
The killings were part of a series of reprisals on
Catholics for IRA attacks in Belfast and elsewhere. The following week saw a similar incident in Belfast known as the "
1145:
297:
535:
told the
British Parliament, "If Catholics have no revolvers to protect themselves they are murdered. If they have revolvers they are flogged and sentenced to death".
436:. The women were Owen's wife Eliza, her daughter and her niece. At about 1:20 am, the gang used the sledgehammer to break down the door of the McMahon household.
606:(the force that succeeded the RIC in June 1922), albeit on full pension, in 1924 after being heard giving (in breach of police regulations) a political speech to an
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1120:
269:
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1085:
345:
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398:"His ... membership was concealed after the killings as it would have given the police and the loyalist mob an opportunity to justify their actions."
455:
545:, worried that the violence would collapse the new Northern Ireland administration, organised a meeting in London between Irish republican leader
74:
448:". The gunmen said "you boys say your prayers", before opening fire. Five of the men were killed outright and two were wounded, one fatally.
1155:
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550:
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512:– anticipating it would be attacked. Edward McKinney was buried on the same day, Sunday, 26 March, in Cockhill Cemetery just outside
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1115:
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1053:
962:
893:
805:
703:
Wilson, Tim (2015). "'The most terrible assassination that has yet stained the name of
Belfast': The McMahon murders in context".
1095:
334:. Violence continued in Northern Ireland after the truce. In the first half of 1922, in the words of historian Robert Lynch, the
38:
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workman, who was guarding a building site at Carlisle Circus. The sledgehammer was later used to smash open the McMahon door. A
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The McMahon family had no links to any paramilitary violence. Owen McMahon was a supporter and personal friend of
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331:
303:
257:
59:
588:
353:
236:. A group of police officers broke into their house at night and shot all eight males inside, in an apparent
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occurred on 24 March 1922 when six Catholic civilians were shot dead at the home of the McMahon family in
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Moore, Cormac, (2009), Birth of the Border, Merrion Press, Newbridge, pg 92, ISBN 9781785372933
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men are up against, not Catholics but ... up against rebels, that they are up against murder,
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It has been alleged that a group of policemen operating out of Brown Square Barracks in the
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areas, continued. Northern Ireland's police – especially the USC, which was almost wholly
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civilians as reprisal for IRA actions. A week later, six more Catholics were killed in
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meeting saying that, "not an inch of Ulster should be yielded" to the Free State.
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At about 1:00 am on 24 March 1922, two men wearing police uniforms seized a
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also believes the police were responsible. An inquiry was carried out by the
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118:
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433:
425:
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referring to killings allegedly by members of the RIC in Belfast in 1920–22
565:
that, "no such thing has ever been the policy of Protestants here ... The
249:'s (IRA) killing of two policemen on May Street, Belfast the day before.
513:
471:
area were behind the killings. This has never been proved, but historian
421:
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and the British Government, ending the war in most of Ireland. Under the
185:
261:
229:
101:
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and up against those enemies not only of Ulster but of the Empire".
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445:
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in Belfast, has said there is "strong circumstantial evidence" that
583:
No one was ever prosecuted for the killings but District Inspector
508:
lined the route of the funeral procession – from north Belfast to
314:. In July 1921, a truce was agreed between representatives of the
1002:. Episode 2. DoubleBand Films. 31 minutes in. BBC Television.
777:"Buncrana man was among those slain in 1922 Belfast bloodbath"
1019:
The Northern IRA and the early years of partition, 1920–1922
326:, while Northern Ireland could choose to remain part of the
280:– were implicated in a number of attacks on Catholic and
748:
746:
245:(USC). It is believed to have been a reprisal for the
1046:
Belfast's unholy war : the Troubles of the 1920s
527:
Bernard Laverty told the congregation that even the
352:(USC), a quasi-military reserve police force to the
957:. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 39–40.
798:
Donegal & the civil war : the untold story
322:of December 1921, most of Ireland would become the
207:
199:
191:
181:
169:
161:
147:
108:
96:
52:
591:(RIC) was accused of involvement by historians
602:Nixon was later forced to step down from the
420:was from Desertegney, a parish just north of
8:
1021:. Dublin: Irish Academic Press. p. 98.
829:
827:
825:
298:The Troubles in Northern Ireland (1920–1922)
1111:Violence against men in the United Kingdom
1048:. Dublin: Four Courts Press. p. 229.
791:
789:
787:
785:
779:, Derryjournal.com. Accessed 16 July 2022.
49:
1106:Massacres committed by the United Kingdom
940:
928:
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888:(New ed.). London: Random House UK.
871:
859:
764:
737:
620:Timeline of the Irish War of Independence
330:, with the final border being decided by
1146:20th-century murders in Northern Ireland
523:for the victims at St Patrick's Church,
454:
81:
800:. Cork: Mercier Press. pp. 79–80.
636:
561:on behalf of state forces, telling the
256:ten months before, in the midst of the
955:Armed struggle: the history of the IRA
1126:Deaths by firearm in Northern Ireland
1121:Police misconduct in Northern Ireland
985:
752:
690:
678:
7:
1161:Unsolved murders in Northern Ireland
998:Martin, Brian Henry (27 May 2021).
834:Johnson, Philip (1 December 2000).
644:Glennon, Kieran (27 October 2020).
387:in north-central Belfast, near the
260:. A truce ended the war in most of
1086:1922 murders in the United Kingdom
555:Prime Minister of Northern Ireland
432:. He worked for the McMahons as a
89:McMahon killings (Greater Belfast)
27:1922 murder of a family in Belfast
25:
1136:1920s crimes in Northern Ireland
836:"Murders that shocked the world"
646:"The Dead of the Belfast Pogrom"
80:
73:
563:Parliament of Northern Ireland
346:Government of Northern Ireland
1:
368:area by unidentified gunmen.
266:sectarian conflict in Belfast
396:, Liam Ó Duibhir wrote that
341:To counter the IRA, the new
310:under British law, creating
1156:Military history of Belfast
1044:Parkinson, Alan F. (2004).
486:was responsible. Historian
350:Ulster Special Constabulary
243:Ulster Special Constabulary
212:Ulster Special Constabulary
1177:
1101:Murder in Northern Ireland
295:
953:English, Richard (2005).
717:10.1017/S0021121400000079
604:Royal Ulster Constabulary
516:in his native Inishowen.
394:Donegal and The Civil War
377:Irish Parliamentary Party
304:Irish War of Independence
258:Irish War of Independence
69:
60:Irish War of Independence
57:
1141:1920s murders in Ireland
1116:Royal Irish Constabulary
1091:1922 in Northern Ireland
884:Coogan, Tim Pat (2016).
796:Ó Duibhir, Liam (2011).
705:Irish Historical Studies
589:Royal Irish Constabulary
354:Royal Irish Constabulary
302:In May 1921, during the
64:The Troubles (1920–1922)
1096:20th century in Belfast
308:Ireland was partitioned
286:another reprisal attack
39:Infobox civilian attack
1151:1922 murders in Europe
1017:Lynch, Robert (2006).
464:
44:considered for merging
1000:The Road to Partition
578:Arnon Street killings
492:Department of Defence
458:
361:Great Victoria Street
336:Irish Republican Army
332:a boundary commission
296:Further information:
252:Northern Ireland had
247:Irish Republican Army
381:Member of Parliament
132:54.61111°N 5.93778°W
1081:Mass murder in 1922
988:, pp. 67, 267.
931:, pp. 233–236.
874:, pp. 230–231.
840:The Daily Telegraph
767:, pp. 229–230.
477:Stranmillis College
413:Belfast Corporation
128: /
539:David Lloyd George
481:District Inspector
465:
320:Anglo-Irish Treaty
268:, and fighting in
165:Catholic civilians
137:54.61111; -5.93778
104:, Northern Ireland
100:Kinnaird Terrace,
1131:March 1922 events
543:Winston Churchill
510:Milltown Cemetery
282:Irish nationalist
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16:(Redirected from
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650:The Irish Story
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551:Sir James Craig
547:Michael Collins
519:At the funeral
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860:Parkinson 2004
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254:been created
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208:Perpetrators
58:Part of the
37:
29:
385:Antrim Road
171:Attack type
135: /
110:Coordinates
33:‹ The
1075:Categories
1028:0716533774
986:Lynch 2006
753:Lynch 2006
691:Lynch 2006
679:Lynch 2006
626:References
585:John Nixon
571:Bolshevism
533:Joe Devlin
525:Rev Father
484:John Nixon
373:Joe Devlin
292:Background
274:Protestant
123:05°56′16″W
120:54°36′40″N
904:974505105
816:795183554
725:157844716
631:Citations
499:Aftermath
459:A modern
426:Inishowen
389:New Lodge
238:sectarian
214:(alleged)
186:Revolvers
42:is being
1064:56523570
1037:67238482
973:57377440
845:24 March
655:25 March
614:See also
514:Buncrana
442:Specials
422:Buncrana
403:Killings
343:unionist
278:unionist
97:Location
46:. ›
35:template
1011:Sources
587:of the
411:from a
262:Ireland
230:Belfast
224:or the
200:Injured
182:Weapons
153:01:20 (
102:Belfast
1062:
1052:
1035:
1025:
971:
961:
902:
892:
814:
804:
723:
567:Ulster
559:pogrom
446:papist
434:barman
417:curfew
379:(IPP)
375:, the
270:border
264:; but
192:Deaths
162:Target
721:S2CID
475:, of
461:mural
1060:OCLC
1050:ISBN
1033:OCLC
1023:ISBN
969:OCLC
959:ISBN
900:OCLC
890:ISBN
847:2012
812:OCLC
802:ISBN
657:2024
595:and
549:and
541:and
521:Mass
276:and
220:The
148:Date
62:and
713:doi
599:.
424:in
155:GMT
1077::
1058:.
1031:.
967:.
898:.
838:.
824:^
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232:,
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203:2
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157:)
20:)
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