At lunch time on Ash Wednesday, February 9th 1921, eleven lorries containing a mixed force of Auxiliaries, regular RIC and soldiers, descended on the quiet Meath village of Robinstown. Their target was a property owned by the Chandler family. In the course of the search that followed, they terrorised the occupants, damaged teh building, destroyed belongings and stole a large amount of food, drink and other articles. A smaller group, consisting fo Auxiliaries only, returned that night and embarked on a renewed orgy of drunken looting.

The then Commandant of the Auxiliaries, General Crozier, investigated the matter and punished the miscreants. His disciplinary actions set in train a sequence of events that led to his resignation, and propelled the affair to the top of the political agenda. The circumstances and significance of Crozier's resignation were at the centre of a number of exchanges in the House of Commons, and fewatured prominently in newspaper coverage over the weeks that followed. There was even talk that the affair might bring down the government of the day.

This book tells the story of the Robinstown raids and their aftermath, against the background of Ireland's War of Independence, and the story of the Chandlers, the family at the centre of the original outrage.

The author: Jim O'Leary is an economist, writer and researcher who has had a life-long interest in history. He lives in Kilmessan, Co. Meath.