auxies

Who's who in this photo?
Th officer (I'm going by the cut of his uniform) has Flying Corps wings above his campaign ribbons. campaign ribbons are also worn my the man to his right.
By the look of cap badges (a harp surmounted by a crown) and the dark uniforms they might be members of the RIC . The presence of a khaki clad officer also makes me think of RIC Auxiliaries, aka Black and Tans.

I'm assuming he's Auxiliary - those men were recruited from ex-WWI officers including the Royal Flying Corps. Most of the others seem to be Black and Tans. So many men (mostly WWI veterans) responded to British Government appeals for recruits to bolster R.I.C. (Royal Irish Constabulary) numbers, that there was a severe shortage of uniforms. Hence the Tans mostly ended up with khaki trousers and dark tops, either R.I.C. (dark green) or British police tunics (dark blue) - and hence the nickname...

For more on this attack, and some fascinating details on participants from both sides, see this link - irishconstabulary.com/topic/755/Q-Company

Peter Mc Thank you! Absolutely fascinating, and allowed me to tag with Q Company...
With regard to the "liquid fire" spoken of on irishconstabulary.com, the Irish Times reported that:
"... A sinister feature of the attack was the use of gas bombs and of bottles containing a thick red-brown corrosive liquid, which gave off nauseous fumes and partially choked the police occupants of the hotel..."

Peter Mc Very interesting, I read the account of the attack, fascinating!

According to: irishconstabulary.com/major-philip-armstrong-holmes-div-c... On January 28th, 1921 Major-General Philip Armstrong Holmes, Divisional Commissioner of the RIC for the counties of Cork and Kerry, escorted by a sergeant and five constables was ambushed by the Newmarket battalion column and a number of East Kerry Volunteers at Tureengarriffe, on the Castleisland road two miles west of Ballydesmond.

Ormond Quay, Dublin: Streetview- www.google.ie/maps/@53.3461713,-6.2661415,3a,75y,300.02h,...

More details here - theirishrevolution.ie/1921-21/#.XA-OtVAvPnE "... The funeral ceremonies for Armstrong-Holmes were complex and impressive: ‘The body of Major Holmes was removed from Cork Military Hospital yesterday [31 January 1921] and conveyed to Dublin by the morning train. Full military honours were accorded, and a large number of military and police accompanied the remains to Glanmire Station, where a military band played the “Dead March.” The funeral takes place to-day with full military honours from George V Hospital at 11 a.m. to Mount Jerome Cemetery.’ See II, 1 Feb. 1921. ..."

And a lot more about him in this book - books.google.com.au/books?id=yOpFDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT112&am...

[Aside - Rory Sherlock sleuthing Holmes! }