Eyewitness Account of Monreal Ambush – Corporal G. Roberts.

Corporal George Henry Roberts – Driver Army Service Corps, British Army BMH WS 1045

“ On the morning of 18th December, 1920 at about 6.30, a convoy of three tenders left Ennistymon for Ennis; I was driving the first Tender which carried nine soldiers with myself; the second and third tenders carried all RIC and Black and Tans. The officer in charge of the convoy, Captain May, DSO Royal Scots regiment and son of the late Lord May, Irish Guards, sat beside me and in my lorry also was a Sergeant Clarke. As I was rounding the bend coming into Monreal crossroads, a single shot was fired and a bomb was then thrown which landed under the vehicle but failed to explode. Immediately a heavy volley of firing was opened. Captain May threw himself off the Tender and Sergeant Clarke shouted: ‘Accelerate and pull up at the crossroads’, where there was cover from fire. I did so.

When we got to the crossroads, Sergeant Clarke and Private Black, both also belonging to the Royal Scots, took a machine gun from the Tender and opened up on the attackers. I removed the wounded six privates and laid them on the grass margin on the side of the road and remained with them for about two hours, when reinforcements came from enlistment. Sergeant  Clarke then ordered me to drive himself and six or seven men towards Cloonagh. They searched several houses but found nothing. Other reinforcements arrived later from Ennis. The wounded transferred to the lorries which brought the troops from Ennis, and the wounded were taken there.

In addition to the six men in my tender who were wounded, one Black and Tan Sergeant Driver, Dan Mc Inerney, an Irishman, and another Black and Tan in the second tender were also wounded. There was no casualty amongst the men in the third tender. Though I was present when the wounded men  were being put on the lorries for Ennis, I did not see any dead man among the British troops and I do not believe that in the subsequent fighting which followed after the British forces dismounted from the tenders, they sustained any casualties.”

Corporal George Henry Roberts served as a British Army Driver with the Royal Army Service Corps in Clare during the War of independence – After the war he remained in Clare and married a local woman.  This is his account of the Monreal Ambush 18 – 12-1920:

“ On the morning of 18th December, 1920 at about 6.30, a convoy of three Tenders [lorries] left Ennistymon for Ennis; I was driving the first tender which carried nine soldiers with myself; the second and third Tenders carried all RIC and Black and Tans. The officer in charge of the convoy, Captain May, DSO Royal Scots regiment and son of the late Lord May, Irish Guards, sat beside me and in my lorry also was a Sergeant Clarke. As I was rounding the bend coming into Monreal crossroads, a single shot was fired and a bomb was then thrown which landed under the vehicle but failed to explode. Immediately a heavy volley of firing was opened. Captain May threw himself off the tender and Sergeant Clarke shouted: ‘Accelerate and pull up at the crossroads’, where there was cover from fire. I did so.

When we got to the crossroads, Sergeant Clarke and Private Black, both also belonging to the Royal Scots, took a machine gun from the Tender and opened up on the attackers. I removed the wounded six privates and laid them on the grass margin on the side of the road and remained with them for about two hours, when reinforcements came from enlistment. Sergeant  Clarke then ordered me to drive himself and six or seven men towards Cloonagh. They searched several houses but found nothing. Other reinforcements arrived later from Ennis. The wounded transferred to the lorries which brought the troops from Ennis, and the wounded were taken there.

In addition to the six men in my Tender who were wounded, one Black and Tan Sergeant Driver, Dan Mc Inerney, an Irishman, and another Black and Tan in the second Tender were also wounded. There was no casualty amongst the men in the third tender. Though I was present when the wounded men  were being put on the lorries for Ennis, I did not see any dead man among the British troops and I do not believe that in the subsequent fighting which followed after the British forces dismounted from the Tenders, they sustained any casualties.”