Caoimhin O’Muraile ☭ During the 1798 United Irish uprising the British Army, then as now, had varying degrees of thuggery within its ranks.

Today the extremes of British barbarism are manifested in the Parachute Regiment, particularly hated with good reason by the people of West Belfast and Derry where they committed cold blooded murder against civilians back in the early 1970s. 

Back in 1798 the British Army had their regular troops, often nicknamed “Red Coats” due to the bright red tunics they wore as well as other groups, a kind of auxiliaries, within their numbers. One of these gangs of butchers were the “Ancient Britons” led by a Sir Watkins Williams-Wynn and these vied with their rivals, the “Orange Yeomanry” and Dragoons for supremacy in the field of barbarism. The Orange Yeomanry were basically gangs of Peep-a Day Boys and the recently formed Orange Order in uniform and given licence to rampage, rape and kill at will. The “Ancient Britons” led by the aristocratic Watkins Williams-Wynn committed acts of barbarism which would rival anything past or present in levels, including those of the Nazi SS in Germany, between 1933 and 1945, and occupied territories during World War II which should tell us a lot. 

The difference of course was, the SS had industrialised murder at their disposal, technology, if that’s the right word, which was not available to Williams-Wynn and his gang of cutthroats. Today in Britain the middle-class pony club have a trophy competed for every year called the Watkins Williams-Wynn trophy in honour of the Williams-Wynn family. The Williams-Wynn Baronets had begun in 1688, the outset of the misleadingly termed “Glorious revolution” and were Welsh land owners and Tory politicians. The line of succession had continued and does so to this day. It is the 5th baronet who in 1794 raised a regiment of fencible cavalry called the “Ancient British Fencibles” the “Ancient Britons” for short and it was this gang who took part in the suppression of the 1798 United Irish rebellion where they became known as “Sir Watkins lambs” and “terror of the rebels”. They were disbanded in 1800.

Many of their atrocities were committed well away from the battlefield against civilians and especially women. Rape was commonplace as they were given licence to carry out whatever acts of barbarism they wished. This was not dissimilar in later years to Hitler’s decree in the Soviet Union giving German soldiers carte blanch to do as they pleased as this “was not a war under which the normal rules of warfare applied” this was a “war of annihilation not governed by the usual rules”. Watkins Williams-Wynn had similar open-ended scope to do as he pleased with no repercussions during 1798.

The British Army then as now could be described as aristocratic, so-called gentry, led and a bunch of lumpen thugs in uniform follow. Legalised “Church and king mobs” rampaging through Ireland in the name of supposed law and order. During the rebellion in the North of Ireland the state of affairs may have been “inferred from a single circumstance: the Indemnity Act was popularly believed, by the victims as well as the terrorists, to guarantee immunity for everything done, or to be done, in the name of the Orange Order. On top of that the Insurrection Act gave the Government powers to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act and impose martial law on any area proclaimed as disturbed” (Ireland her Own T.A Jackson P156). Those charged with policing these acts were the Orange Yeomanry and the Ancient Britons. They both competed for the levels of brutality imposed on such areas deemed rebellious populations by these thugs masquerading as keepers of the peace. Around the same time as the Indemnity Act was passed General Lake was appointed military commander for Ulster and issued a proclamation imposing martial law on the province. The Yeomanry corps were little other than the Orange Lodges and Peep-of-Day Boy gangs dressed in military uniform to legitimise their actions, in competition with the Ancient Britons. To secure a “parallel end Orange Lodges were established in each militia battalion, and a systematic purge instituted” (Ireland Her Own P157). Any officer or man suspected of being unwilling to go to any length in Orange terrorism were rooted out. In other words, any soldier showing any degree of professionalism, relative to the standards of the day, were of no use. The Church and King mobs, the Ancient Britons, were supplied with weapons, pay, and rations for displaying a level of ignorant brutality which sickened many regular professional soldiers, again relative to the times.

When General Lake's proclamation in Ulster had expired, a general house-to-house search for arms, United Irishmen arms, in the entire province was ordered. Once again women came in for special treatment including rape. Any woman found wearing green, be it on outer or under garments would have their haunches attacked by sword and machete often resulting in crude amputations. Such actions could be the origins of the song: For the Wearing of the Green which is very much about the 1798 rising. These actions in Ulster carried out by Lake became known as “the dragooning of Ulster” effectively designed to disarm the United Irishmen.

After the arrest of William Steel Dickson, the head of the rebels in Co. Down, Henry Munro was appointed commander. On 11th June 1798 he headed a horse of rebels several thousand strong. He sent a detachment to take the town of Ballynahinch, half way between Lisburn and Downpatrick. Munro’s forces occupied the town with minimal opposition but were evacuated on the evening of the 12th June when the British General Nugent advanced from Belfast with a horse troop inferior in numbers to Munro’s forces but far greater in artillery. During the night the British troops were drunk and rampaging and generally in a state of disorder. Munro declined to order a direct night attack on the grounds that to do so would be to take an “ungenerous advantage” which was in sharp contrast to the general attitude of the British shown towards the rebel army where everything, including burning of property, raping of women and forbidding the wearing of Irelands national colour green was considered fair game. Munro conducted himself in more than a gentlemanly manner, abiding by the spirit and rules of war, whereas the British behaved in a manner associated with wild beasts.

Moving forward to more recent times there appears a lineage dating back to the United Irishmen rebellion of 1798 within the British forces in Ireland which includes the murder and wounding of civilians. From the actions of the “Ancient Britons”, under the aristocratic leadership of Sir Watkins Williams-Wynn to the actions of the Parachute Regiment under the command of Brigadier Frank Kitson in 1971 Belfast between the 9th and 11th August 1971 in what became known as the “Ballymurphy Massacre”. Between these dates at least nine civilians were killed (eleven in total) by Kitson’s men, the 1st battalion Parachute regiment. This was part of the British Army’s ‘Operation Demetrius’ (Internment without trial). This same gang went on to shoot in cold blood thirteen civilians in Derry during an anti-internment march January 1972 (a fourteenth died of their wounds later). It could be reasonably argued these modern armed assassins were the modern equivalent of the “Ancient Britons” and Orange Yeomanry of 1798.

With the defeat of the United Irish Army in 1798 the British Parliament introduced the Act of Union in 1800 which came into force January 1801. This made Ireland a part of the newly formed United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The Irish Parliament, imperfect as it was, was dissolved and the London Government took direct control of the country. Revolutionary fighting against this Act has taken place sporadically by Irish republican forces ever since, arguably culminating in the Good Friday Agreement of April 1998, two hundred years after the United Irish rebellion was crushed.   


Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent 
Socialist Republican and Marxist

Atrocities Of 1798

Caoimhin O’Muraile ☭ During the 1798 United Irish uprising the British Army, then as now, had varying degrees of thuggery within its ranks.

Today the extremes of British barbarism are manifested in the Parachute Regiment, particularly hated with good reason by the people of West Belfast and Derry where they committed cold blooded murder against civilians back in the early 1970s. 

Back in 1798 the British Army had their regular troops, often nicknamed “Red Coats” due to the bright red tunics they wore as well as other groups, a kind of auxiliaries, within their numbers. One of these gangs of butchers were the “Ancient Britons” led by a Sir Watkins Williams-Wynn and these vied with their rivals, the “Orange Yeomanry” and Dragoons for supremacy in the field of barbarism. The Orange Yeomanry were basically gangs of Peep-a Day Boys and the recently formed Orange Order in uniform and given licence to rampage, rape and kill at will. The “Ancient Britons” led by the aristocratic Watkins Williams-Wynn committed acts of barbarism which would rival anything past or present in levels, including those of the Nazi SS in Germany, between 1933 and 1945, and occupied territories during World War II which should tell us a lot. 

The difference of course was, the SS had industrialised murder at their disposal, technology, if that’s the right word, which was not available to Williams-Wynn and his gang of cutthroats. Today in Britain the middle-class pony club have a trophy competed for every year called the Watkins Williams-Wynn trophy in honour of the Williams-Wynn family. The Williams-Wynn Baronets had begun in 1688, the outset of the misleadingly termed “Glorious revolution” and were Welsh land owners and Tory politicians. The line of succession had continued and does so to this day. It is the 5th baronet who in 1794 raised a regiment of fencible cavalry called the “Ancient British Fencibles” the “Ancient Britons” for short and it was this gang who took part in the suppression of the 1798 United Irish rebellion where they became known as “Sir Watkins lambs” and “terror of the rebels”. They were disbanded in 1800.

Many of their atrocities were committed well away from the battlefield against civilians and especially women. Rape was commonplace as they were given licence to carry out whatever acts of barbarism they wished. This was not dissimilar in later years to Hitler’s decree in the Soviet Union giving German soldiers carte blanch to do as they pleased as this “was not a war under which the normal rules of warfare applied” this was a “war of annihilation not governed by the usual rules”. Watkins Williams-Wynn had similar open-ended scope to do as he pleased with no repercussions during 1798.

The British Army then as now could be described as aristocratic, so-called gentry, led and a bunch of lumpen thugs in uniform follow. Legalised “Church and king mobs” rampaging through Ireland in the name of supposed law and order. During the rebellion in the North of Ireland the state of affairs may have been “inferred from a single circumstance: the Indemnity Act was popularly believed, by the victims as well as the terrorists, to guarantee immunity for everything done, or to be done, in the name of the Orange Order. On top of that the Insurrection Act gave the Government powers to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act and impose martial law on any area proclaimed as disturbed” (Ireland her Own T.A Jackson P156). Those charged with policing these acts were the Orange Yeomanry and the Ancient Britons. They both competed for the levels of brutality imposed on such areas deemed rebellious populations by these thugs masquerading as keepers of the peace. Around the same time as the Indemnity Act was passed General Lake was appointed military commander for Ulster and issued a proclamation imposing martial law on the province. The Yeomanry corps were little other than the Orange Lodges and Peep-of-Day Boy gangs dressed in military uniform to legitimise their actions, in competition with the Ancient Britons. To secure a “parallel end Orange Lodges were established in each militia battalion, and a systematic purge instituted” (Ireland Her Own P157). Any officer or man suspected of being unwilling to go to any length in Orange terrorism were rooted out. In other words, any soldier showing any degree of professionalism, relative to the standards of the day, were of no use. The Church and King mobs, the Ancient Britons, were supplied with weapons, pay, and rations for displaying a level of ignorant brutality which sickened many regular professional soldiers, again relative to the times.

When General Lake's proclamation in Ulster had expired, a general house-to-house search for arms, United Irishmen arms, in the entire province was ordered. Once again women came in for special treatment including rape. Any woman found wearing green, be it on outer or under garments would have their haunches attacked by sword and machete often resulting in crude amputations. Such actions could be the origins of the song: For the Wearing of the Green which is very much about the 1798 rising. These actions in Ulster carried out by Lake became known as “the dragooning of Ulster” effectively designed to disarm the United Irishmen.

After the arrest of William Steel Dickson, the head of the rebels in Co. Down, Henry Munro was appointed commander. On 11th June 1798 he headed a horse of rebels several thousand strong. He sent a detachment to take the town of Ballynahinch, half way between Lisburn and Downpatrick. Munro’s forces occupied the town with minimal opposition but were evacuated on the evening of the 12th June when the British General Nugent advanced from Belfast with a horse troop inferior in numbers to Munro’s forces but far greater in artillery. During the night the British troops were drunk and rampaging and generally in a state of disorder. Munro declined to order a direct night attack on the grounds that to do so would be to take an “ungenerous advantage” which was in sharp contrast to the general attitude of the British shown towards the rebel army where everything, including burning of property, raping of women and forbidding the wearing of Irelands national colour green was considered fair game. Munro conducted himself in more than a gentlemanly manner, abiding by the spirit and rules of war, whereas the British behaved in a manner associated with wild beasts.

Moving forward to more recent times there appears a lineage dating back to the United Irishmen rebellion of 1798 within the British forces in Ireland which includes the murder and wounding of civilians. From the actions of the “Ancient Britons”, under the aristocratic leadership of Sir Watkins Williams-Wynn to the actions of the Parachute Regiment under the command of Brigadier Frank Kitson in 1971 Belfast between the 9th and 11th August 1971 in what became known as the “Ballymurphy Massacre”. Between these dates at least nine civilians were killed (eleven in total) by Kitson’s men, the 1st battalion Parachute regiment. This was part of the British Army’s ‘Operation Demetrius’ (Internment without trial). This same gang went on to shoot in cold blood thirteen civilians in Derry during an anti-internment march January 1972 (a fourteenth died of their wounds later). It could be reasonably argued these modern armed assassins were the modern equivalent of the “Ancient Britons” and Orange Yeomanry of 1798.

With the defeat of the United Irish Army in 1798 the British Parliament introduced the Act of Union in 1800 which came into force January 1801. This made Ireland a part of the newly formed United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The Irish Parliament, imperfect as it was, was dissolved and the London Government took direct control of the country. Revolutionary fighting against this Act has taken place sporadically by Irish republican forces ever since, arguably culminating in the Good Friday Agreement of April 1998, two hundred years after the United Irish rebellion was crushed.   


Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent 
Socialist Republican and Marxist

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