An Accidental Villain

From the bestselling author Linden MacIntyre comes an engrossing exploration of one of the most significant, but nearly unknown figures of the Irish War of Independence, Sir Hugh Tudor. Appointed by Winston Churchill to lead the Royal Irish Constabulary, Tudor met civil strife and rebellion with indiscriminate state-sanctioned murder – changing the course of Irish history.

After distinguishing himself on the battlefields of the First World War, Major General Sir Hugh Tudor was called on to serve in a very different kind of conflict – one fought in the Irish streets and countryside against an enemy determined to resist British colonial authority to the death. Soon he was directing a police force waging a brutal campaign, one he was determined to win at all costs, including utilising police death squads and inflicting brutal reprisals against the IRA and local communities.

Tudor left few traces of his time in Ireland. No diary or letters explain his record as commander of the notorious Black and Tans or justify his role in Bloody Sunday, November 21, 1920. And why did a man knighted for his efforts in Ireland leave his family and homeland in 1925, moving across the sea to Newfoundland?

In An Accidental Villain, Linden MacIntyre delivers a fascinating account of how events can bring a man to the point where he acts against his own training, principles and inclination in the service of a cause – and ends up on a long journey towards personal oblivion.