Events that would lead up to the " Burning of Clifden " began on 21 November 1920 , Bloody Sunday . On that day , IRA members in Dublin attacked British officers and civilians believed to work for intelligence , killing eleven and wounding four . Later that day , British paramilitary auxiliary forces opened fire at Croke Park , killing twelve and injuring sixty . Thomas Whelan , born in 1899 in Clifden , was arrested and charged with the 21 November murder of Captain G.T. Bagelly . Although he maintained his innocence , Whelan was found guilty and executed on 14 March 1921 . Following its '' Two for one '' policy that required the killing of two members of the Royal Irish Constabulary ( RIC ) for every Republican executed , members of the IRA shot and killed Constable Charles Reynolds and Constable Thomas Sweeney at Eddie King 's Corner in Clifden on 16 March 1921 . In response to the RIC 's request for assistance , a trainload of Black and Tans arrived from Galway in the early hours of St Patrick 's Day , 17 March 1921 , and proceeded to " burn , plunder and murder " . They killed one civilian , seriously injured another , burned 14 houses , and damaged several others
Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday (1920)
Clifden