Black and Tans

Black and Tans. The failure of the Royal Irish Constabulary to combat IRA raids in 1919 convinced the government that the police needed to be reinforced. From January 1920 British ex‐soldiers and sailors were recruited and, by November 1921, some 9,500 such men had joined the RIC. A shortage of RIC uniforms meant that recruits were issued with khaki military trousers and dark green police tunics. Although full RIC uniforms were soon substituted, this mixed dress gave rise to the new policemen's distinctive sobriquet, the Black and Tans.

Hurriedly and inadequately trained, recruits were posted to RIC barracks, mainly in Munster, west Connacht, and Dublin. Thus strengthened, the RIC from mid‐1920 was encouraged to pursue the IRA more vigorously. The government, at first tacitly and then openly, condoned reprisals by the police (see anglo‐irish war). The leading role of the Black and Tans in some of these incidents may have been exaggerated, as British‐born and Irish‐born policemen were difficult, when in full uniform, to tell apart. Nevertheless, the Black and Tans gained a fearsome reputation for brutality, which only helped alienate the population from the RIC as a whole. Of policemen recruited in 1920–1 over one‐third died, were dismissed or discharged, or resigned: a very high wastage rate indeed, attesting both to the difficulties of service and to the inadequacies of recruits. But 63 per cent went on to secure government pensions when the RIC was disbanded in 1922.

Elizabeth Malcolm