The War of Independence Exhibition will open in the Heritage Centre
in Athy on Easter Monday, 13th April to coincide with the
anniversary of the start of the 1916 Easter Rebellion. It was the coming together of the Irish
Volunteers under Padraig Pearse and the Irish Citizen Army under James Connolly
in the action centered on the G.P.O. Dublin which in retrospect can justifiably
be viewed as the start of the Irish War of Independence. The action of Dan Breen and his colleagues,
in shooting to death two middle-aged members of the R.I.C. while they were
escorting explosives at Soloheadbeg in Co. Tipperary on 21st January
1919, is usually regarded as the start of the independence struggle. Parliamentary methods had been to the
forefront following the debacle of the planned Fenian rising and for 50 years
or more a succession of Irish leaders culminating in John Redmond had pursued a
non violent approach to Ireland’s call for independence.
The failure of the 1916 rebellion might have remained just that if
the English authorities had not executed its leaders. In doing so the English authorities inflamed
Irish passions and effectively drove a hitherto docile people to question the
right and wrongs of the Irish question.
The resulting shift in public opinion, from one of indifference to the
demands of the 1916 insurgents to uncritical support for Sinn Fein was a
starting point for what was to follow.
The Irish War of Independence had started, even if in its early
manifestation it merely consisted of meetings, enrolments, drilling and
military style manoeuvres. The bloodshed
would not come until January 1919 but all that went before was a preparation for
the war which would engulf the country from January 1919 to June 1921.
Athy, which had sent so many of its sons to the World War after
Kitchener’s call for volunteers in 1914, was not the most likely place to find
men willing to join the Irish Volunteers in the fight for Irish independence. A breakaway volunteer group had pulled away
from Redmond’s Volunteers, declining to take part in the overseas fight for
small nations while their own country was denied Home Rule. The re-grouped Irish Volunteers in South
Kildare were included in the newly formed Fifth Battalion Carlow Brigade of the
Republican Army I.R.A. which also took in some parts of County Wicklow.
The names of the men from South Kildare who were members of the Irish
Volunteers and who played a part in the hostilities during 1919/1921 have not
been identified to everyones satisfaction.
I am very conscious that some of those who claimed involvement played
little or no part, while many who did so did not receive the credit they
deserved. One man whose involvement is
not in question was John Hayden of Offaly Street, described in the following
way in the Nationalist Newspaper after he was sentenced to six months
imprisonment in February 1919 for breach of the Defence of the Realm Act. ‘One of
the most brilliant pupils turned out by Athy C.B.S. He won a County Council Scholarship – instead
of taking his degree as the professional man he has taken out his degree as a
rebel.’
It was probably John Hayden’s release from jail the following July
which led to a riot in Athy involving demobilised soldiers from the Great
War. The Leinster Leader under the
headline ‘Disgraceful Riots in Athy’
reported:- ‘His friends organised a reception (for the released prisoners) and he
was met at the train by the Leinster Street Band. The temper of demobilised men manifested
itself after Sinn Fein held a meeting in the Square. The Union Jack flew over the Post Office and
a pony and trap drove through the town decorated with British colours. After this meeting ex soldiers tried to
capture the Sinn Fein flag. In less than
5 minutes the town was in an uproar. As
many as five or six encounters went on simultaneously with cries of “up the
rebels” and “up the khaki” filling the air.’
The following day the holding of a Feis in the Showgrounds Park was
the occasion of another riot when some shop premises were damaged, including
the cycle shop of Sinn Fein member, J.P. (Bapty) Maher. A banner with Irish lettering erected across
Leinster Street for the Feis was taken down by the rioters and brought back to
the town Square where it was ceremoniously burned according to a local
newspaper ‘to the cheers of the ex
soldiers and their wives and children.’ Many
years ago when I interviewed a number of local people about this incident there
was a marked reluctance to talk of what happened that day. This was because of the alleged sacrilege
committed when a badge of the Sacred Heart was committed to the flames with the
Feis banner. Indeed a newspaper report
of the day confirms that this did happen.
The difficulties facing local men wishing to be involved with the
Irish Volunteers can be readily understood but despite this the Volunteer Corps
was reasonably active in the South Kildare area. Roads were blocked or trenched and trees were
felled in order to disrupt the movement of soldiers, Black and Tans and R.I.C.
alike. However the authorities dealt
with the problem by press ganging local men into reopening the roads. Applications filed by local men in connection
with Military Service Pension applications in the 1950s tended to claim military training, escort
duty, blocking roads and the blowing up of Kilmoroney Bridge and Cloney Bridge
as the principal activity of the Volunteers in this part of the county. A few could also claim involvement in the May
1921 attack on the Athy R.I.C. Barracks which came six days after the
unsuccessful Barrowhouse ambush which resulted in the deaths of James Lacey and
William Connor.
The months leading up to the cessation of hostilities in June 1921
saw some of the greatest activity by both sides. The R.I.C. raided houses in Barrowhouse in
early May some days before the ill-fated ambush and arrested two young men,
Patrick and Peter Dunne. On the first
Sunday in June a large force of police and military took over Athy, guarding
all the approaches to the town. The
occasion was the intended holding of the County Kildare Feis in the
Showgrounds. Approximately fifty lorries
of soldiers arrived in the town and they took up position with machine guns
mounted at vantage points. A number of
soldiers and police marched to the Showgrounds where all those in attendance
were subjected to a systematic search in which several police men and two
female searchers were employed. The
Secretary of the Sports Committee, Patrick Conway, who refused to give his name
other than in Irish was arrested, as were two other young men. Those arrested were brought to the local Police
Barracks then located in Barrack Lane and after some hours were brought with
the soldiers when they withdrew from Athy.
Within a mile of Kildare town the three prisoners were released and told
to walk back to Athy.
Following the truce which came into effect on 11th July
1921 preparations were made for the soldiers, the Tans and the R.I.C. to
withdraw. The Nationalist newspaper
reported on 11th February 1922:-
‘The process of evacuation still
proceeds – the Tans are going ...... on Tuesday evening quite a big batch of
the local R.I.C. force left by the 4.35 train for Dublin.’
The R.I.C. Barracks in Athy was finally vacated on Friday, 10th
March 1922 when a large number of military lorries and Crossleys arrived in the
town. As the lorries drove up Woodstock
Street with the last of the R.I.C. men there was a feeble cheer from
onlookers. Lorries and Crossleys lined
both sides of the street and scores of soldiers marched up and down fully armed
until the last R.I.C. man had left. At
12.30 p.m. after the soldiers and policemen had left, Athy Barracks was taken
over by Brig. Police Officer Ryan Comdt. Finn, Butler,
Police Officer Farrelly and Hugh Eoin McNeill from Headquarters. The tricolour was later hoisted over the
Military Barracks which had housed a British Cavalry troop since the 1730s and
the Royal Irish Constabulary from the 1890s.
I had written this article before the latest horrific killings in
Northern Ireland. A selective study of
Irish history will always afford some people an opportunity to justify whatever
outrage is committed in the name of Irish independence. Those people, I would suggest, are as
representative of the Irish people as were those who rioted in the streets of
Athy in July 1919 with shouts of ‘Up the
Khaki’.
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