Gerald Smyth [SEP] conflict
I even though he had been offered a position as Professor of Mathematics at Chatham. He was sent to France where he was seriously injured on a number of occasions. One of his injuries restricted the use of his left arm. He was mentioned in despatches seven times.
In June 1920 Colonel Smyth was sent to Ireland at the height of the War of Independence. He was seconded to the RIC of which he was appointed Divisional Commissioner for the province of Munster.
Listowel.
On 19 June 1920 Smyth allegedly
armed clashes between Catholic and Protestants.
The conflict began in Belfast in July 1920. On 21 July 1920, rioting broke out in the city, starting in the shipyards and later spreading to residential areas. The violence was partly in response to the IRA killing of a northern RIC police officer Gerald Smyth, in Cork, and partly because of competition over jobs due to the high unemployment rate. loyalists marched on the Harland and Wolff shipyards in Belfast and forced over 7,000 Catholic and left-wing Protestant workers from their jobs