was destroyed. During the latter stages of the conflict, a Republican Court was established in the town. In January 1921 Two Ballina Solicitors – P. J. Ruttledge and Henry Bourke – were arrested and charged by the British military authorities for participating in the court. Mr. Ruttledge declined to recognize the British court and was subsequently jailed in Castlebar. A breach of the Anglo Irish Truce occurred in the Town in October 1921. Two Republican Policemen were quelling a row that broke out in the evening after the town's regular fair. The Republican policemen were attacked by six R.I.C. officers. The fighting escalated as more RIC and IRA men joined the affray. Later, shots were exchanged by the two sides. Irish Civil War The conflict was fought between two opposing groups of Irish nationalists: those who supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty under which the Irish Free state was established, and the republican opposition, for whom the Treaty represented a betrayal of the Irish Republic. When hostilities broke out, Belmullet was under the control of the Republican opposition, also known as irregulars. During the early weeks of the Civil War, Belmullet was under the control of the Irregulars. However, support for the Republican cause was not universal. A prominent member of the North Mayo brigade of the IRA – Mr P. Kelly – was arrested by the Irregulars due to his support of the government. Kelly was the Assistant Clerk of the Belmullet Union. In July 1922, the National Army entered Mayo and established control over the County on behalf of the Free State government. However, Irregular activity continued in Belmullet for months after. In September, Irregulars entered the town, took petrol and left. The National Army pursued the irregulars and arrested six of them. In October 1922, Irregulars established temporary control over the town. They stopped all traffic and raided all the banks in the town taking away a large sum of money. They also forced all the local public houses to pay a "Republican licensing fee". The mail van was also held up. Second World War On 6 August 1940, during the Second World War, Garda William Cullen of Belmullet station received a phone call from coast-watchers at the nearby Annagh Head lookout post. He learned that the Atlantic currents had washed ashore the body of a British soldier. From his army pay-book, Cullen identified 21-year-old Donald Domican of the