Skip to main content

Blandford IRA Raid

During the early hours of Sunday 16 February 1958, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) raided Blandford Camp. Brandishing revolvers, masked raiders shot a soldier and overpowered seven others. During the attack, the men were heard to shout, ‘this is with the compliments of the IRA.’ Despite this, the raiders appeared concerned about the young soldier shot in the stomach. They intended to raid the armoury for arms but were unsuccessful.

The IRA assault on Blandford Camp was probably an inside job. Frank Skuse was a young Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers (REME) corporal. His home was in County Cork. A man answering Skuse’s description had hired accommodation in a country house at Charlton Marshall. When the police forced entry they found ammunition, weapons and three suits of battledress with REME shoulder flashes. Two weeks after the attack, a tommy-gun, small arms and ammunition were discovered in a converted bus parked in a Bournemouth caravan park. Frank Skuse had hired the bus.

On February 19, 1958, the Belfast Telegraph reported an IRA statement.

‘We have been asked to state that all volunteers who participated in the raid on Blandford military camp on February 16 have been safely accounted for. Six Irish freedom fighters entered the British military base at 1.30a.m. on February 16 and seized the magazine guard. They held the camp, which contained British soldiers, for half an hour and then withdrew after an alarm had been raised.’

In March 1961, the Irish Press reported a claim by Skuse that he had  led the raid on Blandford Camp and was also involved in a raid on another REME army camp at Arborfield. One of the Arborfield raiders was wearing a REME uniform.

Frank Skuse emigrated to the USA and ran an Irish pub in New York. National Archives at Kew hold a file entitled ‘Frank D Skuse’. Access is not permitted before January 2041. He had joined the British Army in 1952. However his service was twofold - he was also a member of the IRA and had supplied intelligence for the raid on Arborfield Barracks which had taken place in 1952. 

In New York in 1973, he admitted the British had a suspicion of his involvement in the Arborfield attack and had transferred him to Blandford where he had kept in touch with the IRA. He said again that he had supplied intelligence for the Blandford raid and had taken part in it.

Frank Skuse died in his adopted home of New York on the 20th November 2022. (Irish Central)

(Illustration: Blandford Camp in the 1950s)


Labels:

Comments

  1. Unknown15 October 2021 at 01:39

    what an epic lad that skuse was

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13 April 2023 at 15:09

      This raid took place end November / begining Dec 1957. I should have been on duty but was brought forward 24 hours, WY the cover up. I left that camp just before Christmas 1957. Skuse was my room corporal

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

True Lovers Knot - a Tragic Tale

True Lovers Knot public house describes itself as a traditional  inn set in a picturesque Dorset valley in Tarrant Keynston. Yet, this historical hostelry is said to have gained its name from a particularly tragic tale and still to be haunted by a distressed former publican. This publican’s son met and fell in love with the daughter of the local squire. Because the young lad was not from the gentry they decided to keep their relationship secret from her father. Unfortunately, a stable hand saw the two young lovers together and told her father. Set firmly against this friendship the squire made plans to send his daughter away from the district. Not able to face up to life without her boyfriend, the young girl decided to commit suicide and hanged herself from a tree in the village. So upset was the publican’s son of hearing of his girlfriend’s death he too hanged himself from the same tree. The Tarrant Keynston publican had, himself lost his wife at child birth and now losing his s...
4 comments
Read more

Holton Heath's Tragic Explosion

Ten were killed and 23 were injured according to newspaper reports at the time. This made it one of Dorset’s worst ever industrial accidents. Holton Heath employees were blown into unrecognisable fragments necessitating a roll call of the factory’s entire staff before the identities of those killed were identified. Eleven men were originally believed to have been killed but when a roll call was held one turned up. A crimson red plume of acid vapour had towered into the sky resembling the shuddering eruption of a volcano. It was caused by the bursting of a sulphuric acid tank. Close by low buildings vanished and the shock affected houses for 20 miles with roof slates dislodged, ornaments knocked down and windows broken. The sound of the explosion could be heard at Shillingstone some 18 miles away. Closer to the factory, a hoe was wrenched from the hands of a gardener who was flung against a tree. One fortunate employee, Charles Rogers owed his life to having to leave, just before the ...
1 comment
Read more

Tarrant Rushton's Nuclear Secret

Tarrant Rushton was a large RAF base used for glider operations during World War II. It was then taken over by Flight Refuelling for the conversion of aircraft for the development of aircraft in-flight refuelling. However, between 1958 & 1965, the Tarrant Rushton airfield had a much more secretive and less publicised role. This was in support of the nation’s nuclear bomber deterrent, as Tarrant Rushton airfield became a QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) dispersal unit.   During 1958, contractors Costain reinforced the main runway and carried out other work to ensure the giant bomber aircraft could be accommodated. At times just a few miles from Blandford, there would have been up to four RAF Vickers Valiant bombers at Tarrant Rushton ready to become airborne in minutes charged with nuclear weapons. The bombers were from 148 Squadron at RAF Marham in Norfolk. As there was no suitable accommodation at the airfield, an old US Air Force Hospital building at Martin was used. At the time,...
10 comments
Read more