Thomas Hawkett, who worked in a men's lavatory in Oxford Street, spotted a suspicious parcel left behind in a cubicle on the evening of June 24 1939.Believing it to be a bomb, he did not waste time calling the police. Instead he picked it up, dumped it in a bucket of water, and hosed it down, knowing this would render the gelignite charge redundant. He stood over it and watched as the fuse and charge floated to the surface. Police then arrived and took it off his hands.
A string of bombs went off that night in central London causing £1,000 damage and blinding a 17-year-old boy in one eye.
The documents, released by the National Archives in Kew, Surrey, also give an insight into public anger at the IRA campaign. Following the explosions angry mobs surged around the West End looking for those responsible and pinning the blame on a number of innocent parties.One German student, who had run from the scene to alert the press, found himself at the mercy of an angry crowd until a policeman came to his aid.
Hawkett, whose age is not recorded, was later awarded £5 for his "commendable and meritorious conduct".
11 comments:
Something IRA supporters often leave out of (amongst many other unsavory facts) in the history of their armed wing and collaborators. I had family back in the day that were IRA supporters, and they definitely were not going to be bringing up the fact that they were sympathetic to the Nazi’s in their fight against the British, and had no problem attacking Britain at this moment of weakness. The enemy of our enemy is our friend shows itself to be a foolish policy yet again.
Not just sympathetic but actively collaborated with the Reich Roland. On the other hand around 60,000 men and women from Eire fought in one of the British services, my dad included.
My mother’s family is Irish in origin, but they have been gone for so long, I don’t know anyone there that I have distant relations to. And I always found it funny that the diaspora in America, some of which had no real link left to Ireland, were so supportive of the IRA. Unfortunately, lots of folks in the greater Boston area (among other spots) see supporting the IRA as a link to their ancestry.
That was something that stuck in a lot of people's craws Roland. If the IrishAmericans who suppported the IRA actually saw the reality I hope they would have dropped them like a turd.
Interesting post, Jams. Thanks!
I remember Margaret Thatcher saying in March 1982: England will never tolerate foreign troops on its territory.
And I remember me murmuring: Ah, yes. And why should the Irish?
As for the mentioned collaboration with 'the enemy of our enemies': Whenever I come to think of it I wonder, why would de Valera let inform the German ambassador, Dr Hempel, that Ireland wished to stay neutral "in any war", on August 26th, 1937 (sic!)?
Thus Dev was - compared to others - the greatest clairvoyant of his time?
Active collaboration with the 3rd Reich? I've heard rumours about this over the years but never come across any hard facts. Can anyone point me in the direction of some?
jams, the only info I have is in the form of a novel and film "The Eagle Has Landed" by Jack Higgins which has IRA operatives collaborating with the Germans to assassinate Winston Churchill. I am also of Irish ancestry and am aware that some Irish support, and/or supported, the IRA. The IRA are/were terrorists, I know, but the story of the English occupation of Ireland is a terrible and sad one!
THe Eagle has landed was fiction of course but two key IRA men were in Germany in WWII, both were to be landed back in Ireland by U boat to undertake sabotage ccampaigns ahead of a possible german invasion. British involvement in Ireland is hardly covered in glory ( a massive understatement...)
Sociologist. I will look for a few llinks but I can suggets looking in tio Sean Russell and Frank Ryan. Both were in Ireland Russell was chief of Staf of teh IRA at the time. Ryan was a former IRA member taken prisoner in the Spanish Civil War ans springed by Abwehr. Abwehr also landed spies in Ireland. Most were captured within hours. One, Goertz, was at large for months before capture. IRA literature also took a more pro Nazi tone
Hmm Sean, Dev was an abysmal leader on thewhole.I can understand the position of neutrality - just 17 years since independence and a preceding acrimonious bedorehand. Ireland was in no position to take up arms at the start of thw war and would not have been able to defend itself at all. It did not stop tens of thousands of Irish men and women served in Britihs forces, a tiny handful fought for Germany. Devalrea was a stickler for teh protocols of neutraility but Ireland was neutral for the allies so to speak.
My father too was in the British army and so we ended up with British passports. That didn't stop me being stopped and searched (born in Dublin) far more than average during the time of IRA activity. However things seem to have come round in a circle. My son finds it easier to use an Irish passport now, rather than his British one which has visas to Kuwait and Iran and causes some major problems, particularly in the US.
Luckily I was never stopped, but then I was born in Romford. It would have annoyed me enormously to have been stopped like that. I am not sure why teh US gov't is odd about people travellig to Kuwait. Surely that's an ally!
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