IFI Irish Film Archive
This newsreel, although titled as Part 2 of the Sinn Féin Rising, does not initially show any of the Rising nor the aftermath, but rather showcases a Viceroy arriving off a boat and being greeted by a cheering crowd. This was most likely Ivor Guest (Lord Lieutenant, Viscount Wimborne) arriving in Belfast in 1915. The newsreel ends with some shots of soldiers riding horses down what appears to be a street in Dublin, intercut with some scenes from the Rising footage seen in Part 1.
This 1931 newsreel depicts Irish men making a coracle, a hide-covered boat used for salmon fishing. . The boat-making process is demonstrated to camera, from creating a base with twigs, to weaving the structure and covering it in animal hide for waterproofing. Men then push the coracle out onto the River Boyne and lay fishing nets. The intertitle tells how the Boyne is ‘the only place in Europe where such hide boats are still in use’. This film is part of The Irish Independence Film Collection – The Early Irish Free State that explores facets of Irish society after the War of Independence and up to the birth of the Irish Republic.
In the middle of the night on Monday September 21st 1920 the Black and Tans sacked the town of Balbriggan in County Dublin. The sacking was revenge for the killing of District Inspector Burke and his brother Sergeant Burke, who were shot dead by the IRA while in Smyth’s pub, Balbriggan earlier in the day. In this newsreel, houses and cottages are shown burnt out or demolished entirely and residents can be seen being evacuated, walking down the street with their belongings in hand. The event caused debate in the British Parliament with H. H. Asquith, the former Prime Minister and then leader of the opposition, comparing Balbriggan to a Belgian town on the frontier during World War I.
This newsreel shows the first 60,000 British Troops to leave Ireland and go back to England in May 1922. As soldiers march past, crowds of people line up to cheer and wave. The troops are taken away in a military transporter, most with a smile on their face as they wave and shake hands with the fellow soldiers that stay behind. At the Curragh, troops are packing and removing equipment such as field kitchens onto the train. On August 17th, Dublin Castle was formally handed over to the National Army and the last of the British Army Troops left Ireland.
This newsreel shows the first 60,000 British Troops to leave Ireland and go back to England in May 1922. As soldiers march past, crowds of people line up to cheer and wave. The troops are taken away in a military transporter, most with a smile on their face as they wave and shake hands with the fellow soldiers that stay behind. At the Curragh, troops are packing and removing equipment such as field kitchens onto the train. On August 17th, Dublin Castle was formally handed over to the National Army and the last of the British Army Troops left Ireland.
This exclusive newsreel from Topical Budget shows the “recapture of the Ulster border” by Sinn Féin. Troops can be seen marching down a laneway in the countryside and armoured vehicles and howitzer guns are fired towards the town of Belleek as the General looks on. In June 1922, at the beginning of the Civil War, Pettigo and Belleek in County Fermanagh were occupied by the Irish Republican Army who had arrived there from Donegal. The IRA fought a group of Ulster Special Constabulary, who crossed Lough Erne. In the ensuing fighting, in which the British bombarded the village and then stormed it, three IRA men were killed, six wounded and four captured before being forced to retreat back to Donegal. One British soldier and one Ulster Special constable were killed in the fighting.