Ireland is commemorating 100 years of the mutiny by a British Army battalion stationed in Jalandhar and Solan in Punjab in support of the Irish freedom movement.

Try this PYQ:

Q.With reference to the Indian freedom struggle, consider the following events:

1. Mutiny in Royal Indian Navy
2. Quit India Movement launched
3. Second Round Table Conference

What is the correct chronological sequence of the above events?

(a) 1-2-3

(b) 2-1-3

(c) 3-2-1

(d) 3-1-2

Irish mutiny in India

• The Connaught Rangers were raised during the British Army reforms of 1881.
• A British Army battalion belonging to the Connaught Rangers was the one in which Irish soldiers mutinied in Jalandhar and Solan in Punjab.
• Solan now lies in Himachal Pradesh but in 1920 it was part of Punjab. The Ist Battalion of the Connaught Rangers was stationed in Jalandhar since January 1920 after it had taken part in the First World War.

Why did the mutiny take place?

• The troops were protesting against the behaviour of the ‘Black and Tans’ during the Irish War of Independence (1919-22).
• The Black and Tan were members of the Irish constabulary which had been recruited from Great Britain and mostly comprised demobilized soldiers who had fought in the First World War.
• The Irish soldiers felt that they must rise in solidarity with their compatriots back in Ireland and hence in June and July 1920 some of the regiment’s men mutinied.
• Some of the mutinied soldiers were later put through a court-martial.

Who were the Black and Tans?

• They were constables recruited into the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) as reinforcements during the Irish War of Independence.
• Recruitment began in Great Britain in January 1920 and about 10,000 men enlisted during the conflict.
• The vast majority were unemployed former soldiers from Great Britain who fought in the First World War, although some were from Ireland.

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