1939 Coventry bombing

In April 1938, Seán Russell was elected to the IRA Army Council in absentia. Shortly thereafter, he secured sufficient support within the Army Council for himself to be named Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army. At Russell's request, a leading volunteer within the organisation, Seamus O'Donovan, authored a strategic plan to extend the IRA's military campaign to mainland Britain with the aim to pressure the British government to withdraw from Northern Ireland. This strategy was named the Sabotage Campaign, colloquially known as the S-Plan.

O'Donovan's strategy was to continually target economic, military, and civic infrastructure within mainland Britain, with the targets to be located across the entire mainland and the methods not simply limited to bombings, but to include other forms of sabotage and those committing the acts to be mainland-based Irish citizens residing "[within] and around centres of population" where they could operate with little chance of their acts drawing attention. The plan was approved in August 1938; the first acts of the campaign occurred in January the following year.[6]

By August 1939, mainland Britain had been the target of numerous S-Plan atrocities, with Coventry being the chosen target in at least six instances, although none of the previous attacks within the city had resulted in fatalities.[7] The leader of the Coventry IRA cell was James McCormick, who used the alias James Richards.[8]

McCormick was born in Mullingar, County Westmeath, in 1910. A longtime member of the IRA, he had volunteered for active service upon mainland Britain upon learning of the S-Plan. Initially active in Southern England, McCormick relocated to Coventry in May 1939, where he lodged with Joseph Hewitt, his wife Mary, their baby daughter Brigid Mary, and Hewitt's mother-in-law, Brigid O'Hara, at 25 Clara Street on the outskirts of Stoke Heath.[9]

The bicycle used within the bombing was purchased by McCormick and an unknown acquaintance from a Halfords bicycle shop on Smithford Street on 22 August 1939, and was of the type typically used by tradesmen at the time with a carrier basket affixed to the front handlebars. Upon purchase, McCormick and his accomplice provided the seller with a false name and address for the purchase: Mr. Norman, 56 Grayswood Avenue, Allesley Old Road, Coventry. The two paid a deposit of £5 for the bicycle, with the remaining 19s 6d to be paid upon collection on Thursday 24 August. On the day of collection, McCormick's acquaintance paid the outstanding balance and collected the bicycle.[lower-alpha 1]

The bomb itself was constructed at McCormick's lodgings in 25 Clara Street.[2][3] The potassium chlorate to be used in the bomb was brought by train to Coventry by IRA transport officer Peter Barnes, who arrived in Coventry with the explosives at approximately 19:00 on 24 August and returned to London the same evening.[2][lower-alpha 2] Construction of the bomb itself was completed in the early hours of the following morning, with the device attached to a timer and concealed within a cardboard box wrapped in brown paper and tied with string.[11] The device was then placed in the delivery basket of the bicycle.[3]

Suspicion almost immediately fell upon the IRA,[11] and the bombing stoked considerable anti-Irish sentiment in Coventry. Many Irish people living in the city at the time of the bombing found that public attitude had generally turned against them despite the fact the vast majority of Irish people in the city had neither sympathy for, or connections with, the IRA.[2][lower-alpha 3] Some Irish citizens were told to find new lodgings, whilst strike action was threatened in several local factories unless they withdrew all 2,000 Irish labourers.[2][3]

An anti-IRA protest march was also staged in Baginton by employees of Armstrong Whitworth, although those participating in the march publicly emphasised that the protest was "not directed against peaceful Irishmen."[3] The chief constable of Coventry was also forced to issue a public denial of rumors he was Irish, stating that he was a "perfectly good Somerset man" who had never even set foot in Ireland.[2][3]

Within hours of the bombing, forensic investigators had recovered fragments of a timing device at the crime scene—confirming suspicions the explosion had been caused by a timing device. Furthermore, eyewitnesses confirmed the bicycle had been parked at the location, directly behind a car, for between three-quarters of an hour and an hour before detonation.[15]

Although the vast majority of the bicycle frame was destroyed in the explosion, the serial number was still visible upon the remnants of the frame, enabling investigators to trace the bicycle to the Halfords on Smithford Street. The owner confirmed he had sold the bike to two Irishmen—one of whom gave his name as Norman—on 22 August, and that the bicycle had been collected from his premises the day before the bombing. Furthermore, the Irishman who had collected the bicycle and paid the outstanding balance was not the same individual who had paid the £5 deposit. The name and address given by these individuals proved to be false, although the seller provided police with detailed descriptions of both men.[15]

On 27 September, Barnes and McCormick, along with Joseph and Mary Hewitt, and Brigid O'Hara, were charged with the murder of Elsie Ansell. One week later, on 4 October, all were charged with all five murders, although each were brought to trial solely for the murder of Elsie Ansell.[21] All five defendants pleaded not guilty.[22]

The trial of all five defendants began on 11 December 1939 at the Warwick Assizes in Birmingham. Although the prosecution acknowledged none of the defendants had actually constructed or planted the bomb, the Crown contended all had played an active part in a conspiracy to endanger life; as such, all were charged with murder.[23] All five defendants pleaded not guilty.[24]

Both Barnes and McCormick admitted to being members of the IRA, but emphasised during their trial that their orders were not to endanger non-combatant life. Both refused to name the individual who had constructed and planted the bomb, whereas the Hewitts and O'Hara denied knowing anything of the bombing plot or the individual's identity.

The trial of all defendants lasted four days. On 15 December, Joseph and Mary Hewitt and Bridget O'Hara were acquitted of all charges; all three were subsequently deported to the Irish Republic.[25] Barnes and McCormick, however, were sentenced to death for their part in the bombing.[26][27] As the Judge prepared to deliver sentence, McCormick requested to address the court. His request was granted. McCormick first thanked his defence counsel before stating: "As a soldier of the Irish Republican Army I am not afraid to die, as I am doing it for a just cause. I say in conclusion, God bless Ireland and God bless the men who have fought and died for her. Thank you, my lord."[28]

Both men chose to appeal their convictions, although their appeals were dismissed by the Court of Appeal in January 1940.[25]

Barnes and McCormick were hanged at Birmingham's Winson Green Prison on 7 February 1940. At the time of their executions, Barnes was 32 years old, whereas McCormick was 29 years old. According to contemporary accounts, both men received a final blessing at 8:50 a.m. before walking together to the gallows. As the two were led to the gallows, Barnes continued to protest his innocence, whereas McCormick remained defiant—continually shouting republican propaganda.[3] Both men were buried in graves bearing only their initials within the confines of the prison,[29] where their bodies remained until they were repatriated to the Irish Republic in 1969.[30] The executioner of both men was Thomas Pierrepoint.[31]

On the evening prior to the executions, McCormick penned a final letter to his sister in which he wrote: "This is my farewell letter as I have been just told I have to die in the morning. As I know I am dying for a just cause, I shall walk out tomorrow smiling as I shall be thinking of God and of the good men who went before me for the same cause." The same evening, Barnes also penned a letter to his brother in which he again professed his innocence and describing his mindset as being "reconciled to what God knows best." Barnes also informed his brother a Mass was to be held for he and McCormick "in the morning before we go to our death."[8]

Prior to the executions, the Irish Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, had repeatedly requested for the sentences of Barnes and McCormick to be commuted; these requests were refused. Public mourning was widespread across Ireland on the day of the executions.[8]

The executions of Barnes and McCormick would prove to be the last instance in which IRA members would be executed by the British legal system; the bombing would also prove to take place just nine days before Britain's entry into World War II.[32]

The outbreak of World War II on 3 September ultimately saw the Coventry bombing soon dissipate from the headlines.[33] The Blitz of 1940 saw Coventry's centre—including the Broadgate area—decimated by the Luftwaffe, thus ultimately leading to the 1939 Coventry bombing to be described as the city's "forgotten bombing".[3][4]

While the official objective of the S-Plan was to force a British withdrawal from Northern Ireland, some have claimed the bombing was intended to either "aid the German (war) cause" or as a "public display" of the IRA's strength to Germany.[2][29]

Both Barnes and McCormick were widely viewed as martyrs in Ireland, with many British Irish sharing similar sentiments. In 1949, a London-based republican committee was formed to campaign for the men's bodies to be the repatriated to Ireland. Twenty years later, in 1969, their bodies were exhumed and—on 6 July—flown to Dublin City. Upon arrival at Dublin Airport, their coffins were met with an IRA guard of honour. Family members of both men were also present at the repatriation.[2]

Both men were reburied in Mullingar, County Westmeath, in a service attended by approximately 15,000 people. Republican Jimmy Steele recited the graveside oration.[30]

The Coventry bomb was initially believed to have been originally destined to detonate at an electricity generating plant in the outskirts of the city.[3] However, in 1969, speaking to Irish journalist Mike Burns, IRA member Joseph O'Sullivan[34] admitted to actually planting the bomb in Broadgate and revealed the actual intended target was a police station and that, en route, the bicycle used in the transportation had repeatedly gotten stuck in tram tracks, thus forcing O'Sullivan to abandon the bike in Broadgate.[2][35]

O'Sullivan also revealed that he was not caught or charged with the bombing because authorities were expecting him to board a ferry at Holyhead back to Ireland in the hours or days following the explosion, although he had foreseen this belief; instead, he had caught a train to London, where he simply stayed "until everything died down."

In 2016, a graveside commemoration was held by the 'Spirit of Irish Freedom Society Westmeath' and the 'Tomas Allen Society'.[36]

In October 2015 a sandstone monument was unveiled in the grounds of Coventry Cathedral.[3] A few dozen people gathered to witness it being unveiled, including relatives of four of the dead.[4]

• Adams, Ian (2010). The Sabotage Plan: The IRA Bombing Campaign in England 1939 - 1940. Spiker Publications. ISBN 978-1-446-70913-9.
• Chalk, Peter (2012). The Encyclopedia of Terrorism – Volume 1. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-313-30895-6.
• Crowley, John (2017). Atlas of the Irish Revolution. New York University Press. ISBN 978-1-479-83428-0.
• Geraghty, Tony (1998). The Irish War: The Hidden Conflict Between the IRA and British Intelligence. Harper Collins. ISBN 0-8018-6456-9.
• Hull, Mark M. (2004). Irish Secrets: German Espionage in Wartime Ireland 1939–1945. Irish Academic Press Ltd. ISBN 0-7165-2807-X.
• Kirby, Dick (2021). IRA Terror on Britain’s Streets 1939–1940: The Wartime Bombing Campaign and Hitler Connection. Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 978-1-526-78642-5.
• McGladdery, Gary (2006). The Provisional IRA in England: The Bombing Campaign 1973–1997. Irish Academic Press Ltd. ISBN 978-0-716-53374-0.
• McKenna, Joseph (2016). The IRA Bombing Campaign Against Britain, 1939–1940. McFarland & Co. ISBN 978-1-4766-6258-9.
• Taylor, Frederick (2015). Coventry: Thursday, 14 November 1940. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. ISBN 978-1-408-86027-4.
• Wood, Ian S. (2010). Britain, Ireland and the Second World War. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-748-62327-3.

• British Executions case file pertaining to Peter Barnes
• British Executions case file pertaining to James McCormick (alias James Richards)
• Not Forgotten: The 1939 IRA Bomb Attack at historiccoventry.co.uk
• Contemporary news article pertaining to the 1939 Coventry bombing
• The 'Forgotten' Coventry Bombing that Claimed Five Lives: A 2022 Coventry Telegraph article focusing upon the 1939 Coventry bombing