Kildare Local History: Busy year of Commemorations ahead in 2022

The County Kildare Decade of Commemorations Committee, supported by the Local Studies, Genealogy & Archives Section of Kildare Library & Arts Service, continued to commemorate local people and events of the 1912-23 period throughout 2021. Kildare connections to national and international events were also marked.

Covid-19 and public health guidelines in place understandably curtailed opportunities to hold public community commemorative events throughout much of the year. A digital commemorative programme, including online videos, podcasts, Zoom talks and digital content published online, ensured many of the key events of 1921 were marked.

Significant anniversaries that took place during the year included the Hill of Allen and Stacumney Ambushes, the escape of prisoners from the Rath Internment Camp in September and the centenary of the Truce in July 1921 that marked the end of the military conflict phase of the War of Independence.

The fifth Irish Military Seminar, held online in June, featured a mix of pre-recorded interviews and live Zoom lectures featuring local and other well known historians.

The centenary of the Treaty in December 2021 will be highlighted with original articles from The Leinster Leader, and other local reaction in County Kildare to the historic agreement signed in early December 1921, being published on
www.kildare.ie/ehistory .

The Decade of Commemorations Programme also supported the production of several publications during the year.

Remembrance: the World War I dead of Co Kildare (compiled by Karel Kiely, James Durney and Mario Corrigan) provides an updated comprehensive listing of the men and women from County Kildare who perished.

Celbridge historian Seamus Cummins is the author of Planes, Trains and The Postman’s Bicycle on the Stacumney Ambush.

A Timeline of the War of Independence in County Kildare 1919-1922 was also produced by the Local Studies, Genealogy & Archives Department of the Library Service, with free copies made available to secondary schools and through the library branch network.

Finally, Thomas Behan: Poems was published in the final quarter of 2021 and is available from branch libraries in Kildare. This includes a re-production of an original collection of poetry written by IRA leader Thomas Behan while imprisoned in the Rath Camp on the Curragh during the War of Independence. Audio recordings of these poems were also published online, with local County Kildare historians reciting a selection.

What 2022 will bring

2022 will clearly be an important year in the Decade of Commemorations Programme, with a large number of significant centenaries taking place.

From January 5, 1922, when the Kildare-born Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton died on expedition off the island of South Georgia, until the tragic execution of anti-Treaty republicans on the Curragh in December 1922, the calendar is full of important and seminal moments in Irish history that resonate to this day. County Kildare played a central role in many of the key events of 1922.

The arrival of a large force of new Civic Guards (what became An Garda Síochána) to set up a national training HQ in the former military barracks in Kildare town in April 1922 will be marked by a number of events organised with the support of the County Kildare Decade of Commemorations Committee around Easter 2022. An exhibition, re-enactments and other community events are all planned.

Kildare town happened to be the location of the nationally significant Civic Guard Mutiny in June 1922, the result of which the majority of the newly recruits remain loyal to the new government.

An Garda Síochána are also marking the centenary of their foundation in 2022, with a number of community events planned throughout the year.

County Kildare witnessed the historic withdrawal of the British Army from their Headquarters on the Curragh and from barracks in the garrison towns of Kildare, Naas and Newbridge in May 1922. The formal handover ceremony to the new National Army took place at the Curragh Camp at 10.30am on May 16, with Lt Gen ‘Ginger’ O’Connell taking possession. A large Irish tricolour was hoisted that morning.

National Army troops billeted in the former workhouse in Celbridge were also involved in the handover of Beggars Bush Barracks in Dublin earlier in the year.

June 1922 saw the outbreak of the Irish Civil War, between Pro-Treaty and Anti-Treaty factions of the republican movement. County Kildare experienced a higher percentage of violence and outrages than most surrounding counties in 1922. One military ambush by anti-Treaty forces at Graney (near Castledermot) resulted in the death of three National Army soldiers.

The Battle of Pike’s Bridge near Maynooth in early December 1922, between anti-Treaty Leixlip men and National Army troops, was another significant military engagement.

The execution of seven anti-Treaty republicans by the National Army in December 1922 was the largest single-day execution of the entire conflict. The tragedy of the Civil War will dominate much of the focus for 2022, with the centenary of the death of Michael Collins in August in particular.

1922 wasn’t all about bitter military conflict, with the publication of James Joyce’s Ulysses in Paris and the running of the first ever League of Ireland (soccer) league which was won by St James’ Gate FC.

A bitter Postal Strike in September 1922 saw the labour movement in conflict with the new Free State government. William Norton, later TD for Kildare for many decades, was heavily involved in his role as Organising Secretary with the Irish Postal Union.

The County Kildare Decade of Commemorations Committee plan to support and organise a large range of events and activities throughout County Kildare in 2022.

It is planned in particular that community in-person events will feature heavily after the hiatus since Covid arrived, subject to public health guidelines during the ongoing pandemic.

The sixth Irish Military Seminar is planned for June, while cultural aspects of 1922 will be explored also. Digitised content, including the minute books of Kildare County Council up to around 1922, will be made available online through the new library website.

The stellar efforts of local history and community groups will also continued to be supported. Further content will be added to www.kildare.ie/ehistory and to the Library website throughout the year.

The County Kildare Decade of Commemorations Committee would also like to acknowledge the support of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-23 initiative.

Further information available on www.kildare.ie/ehistory & www.kildare.ie/library

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