BBC History - UK (2022-01)

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tablet that covers the grave was unveiled

during the 1921 Armistice Day service.

Rife brutality

Conflict on the continent may have come to

an end, but that didn’t mean that the United

Kingdom was entirely at peace. From January

1919 to July 1921, war raged in Ireland as the

nationalist campaign for independence

escalated into outright hostilities.

This was a war that had been brewing

for years. Irish nationalists had been agitating

for greater self-determination since the

19th century – a campaign that culminated

in the Easter Rising of 1916 and declaration of

independence. Two years later, Sinn Fein

leaders ratified the Proclamation of the Irish

Republic following their electoral success at

the general election.

Meanwhile, the Irish Republican Army

(IRA) prosecuted a guerrilla conflict against

the British authorities. David Lloyd George’s

government responded by sending in new

recruits for the Royal Irish Constabulary.

These were the feared Black and Tans (so

named after the mismatched colours of their

uniforms), a unit chiefly made up of ex-ser-

vicemen returning from the frontline.

Brutality was rife on both sides of the

conflict. In fact, so bloody did the fighting

become that British women in the Labour

party were moved to condemn the terror

directed against Irish women and children.

In doing so, they drew similarities with the

“the devastated regions in France and

Belgium” under German occupation in the

First World War.

1921 was a transformative year for Ireland.

By the end of the year, the Anglo-Irish War

was over and both sides had agreed to come

to the table. On 6 December, an Irish delega-

tion headed by Arthur Griffith, founder of

Sinn Fein, reached a deal with David Lloyd

George in London. Following a night of high

political drama, the two parties signed the

Anglo-Irish Treaty, not only creating the

Irish Free State but also allowing for parti-

tion, as the six counties of Ulster opted to

remain part of the union with Great Britain.

The island of Ireland now consisted of two

very different political entities, and has

continued to do so ever since.

Economic jolts

England, Wales and Scotland were largely

spared the political turmoil and bloodshed

endured by the people of Ireland. But, all the

same, 1921 was a year of great hardship for

many families. Although most people equate

economic depression with the aftermath of

the Wall Street Crash in 1929, Britain was

jolted by a series of economic shocks in the

early 1920s. And, for all the lofty postwar

rhetoric of building “homes fit for heroes”,

TRAILBLAZERS OF 1921

The birth control pioneer

The Mothers’ Clinic for Constructive

Birth Control opened on 17 March

1921 in Holloway, a working-class

area of north London. Its founder,

MARIE STOPES, sought to make

the use of birth control within

marriage respectable and to ensure

“joyous and deliberate motherhood”.

The clinic was free and open to all

married women to provide education.

Three years earlier, Stopes’ book

Married Love had become a best-

seller. Although her legacy has been

damaged by her eugenicist views,

Stopes was a pioneer in women’s

sexual health education.

Bitter victory

Men protest about high

unemployment rates among

ex-servicemen, c1920–23.

“The longed-for and dearly

bought peace was a profound

disappointment,” wrote the

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Lest we forget

A cigarette card shows the

British Legion parading past

the Cenotaph in Whitehall.

Remembrance was integral

to British life in 1921