Visit of Manchester Mayor to Athy

On St. Patrick’s Day 1922, the Royal Irish Constabulary barracks on Barrack Lane, Athy was taken over by members of the Irish Free State forces. The building, erected in the early years of the 18th century and occupied as a cavalry barracks by the Princess Charlotte of Wales Dragoon Guards in 1716, was used as an R.I.C. barracks from 1889. Following the Barrowhouse ambush on 16th May 1921 in which William Connor and James Lacey were killed the Athy barracks was attacked by the I.R.A. without any loss of life on either side. On Friday the 17th of March, 100 years ago at 12.30 in the afternoon, after the R.I.C. police men and the few remaining British military had departed, the barracks was taken over by I.R.A. officers and men who paraded down by Barrack Lane led by Commandant Finn of the Carlow/Kildare Brigade. The Irish tricolour was hoisted over the building and so ended 700 years of English rule in the former fortress town of Athy. 100 years later, St. Patrick’s Day 2022 witnessed another parade, this time through the principal streets of Athy led by an English politician - the Mayor of Manchester. The two parades distanced by several generations highlighted the ironies in the historical relationship between England and Ireland. That relationship was determined and regulated by the imperialistic nature of the British empire but despite this Irish men for centuries helped the English to keep control over its foreign colonies by serving in its armed forces. The relationship between the two countries is pitted with paradoxes and no place is that more evident than in the history of the Irish in Manchester. The late John Dowd, one of the founding members of the Irish Association in Manchester wrote of his experiences as an Irish immigrant. “When we left home we carried nothing with us except a strong religious faith and a strong desire for advancement ----- emigration was a leap into the unknown. It was an enormous intellectual and emotional commitment to leave home and loved ones and begin an adventure filled with incalculable uncertainty, risk and hardship”. Manchester over the years was to accept thousands of Irish immigrants like John Dowd despite periodic outbreaks of anti Irish violence in that city. The United Englishmen group organised in Manchester in 1798 was closely associated with the United Irishmen and following the passing of the Act of Union there were several riots in the city involving Orange Lodge members and emigrant Irish. The anti catholic and anti Irish riots in Stockport which followed the Pope’s announcement of the reestablishment of the Catholic Hierarchy in Britain in September 1850 was a difficult time for the Irish communities in Manchester. The Murphy riots followed with Catholic churches in Manchester attacked by followers of William Murphy, an Irish man who toured throughout England lecturing against the Church of Rome. Irish men and women living in Manchester were politically active and perhaps the best known of those Irish Activists was John Doherty, a Donegal man who was to the forefront in ending the Combination Acts which made trade unions illegal. He championed the workers cause and made a huge contribution to the British labour movement. Another Irish man with links to Manchester was Fergus O’Connor a leader of the Chartist movement in the 1830’s. In more recent years the Manchester Irish were represented by many Irish organisations including the Gaelic League and the now defunct anti Partition League while County Associations representing most of the Irish counties are to be found in Manchester. I had the privilege of attending the annual dinner of the Kildare Association in Manchester 25 or so years ago where I met it’s president Tony Connolly, formerly of Kilberry and met many more Kildare folk including my old friend Sarah Allen. It was Sarah who brought me to the “Fenian Arches”, the site of the Fenian ambush in 1867 which led to public hanging of Allen, Larkin and O’Brien. Later that same day I visited the Manchester martyrs memorial in Moston Cemetery. The history of the Irish and the English has been closely interlinked ever since the 13th century but in more recent years by emigration. The conflicts of the past were symbolically ended with the taking over of English military barracks such as Athy’s in March 1922. Family members of Irish emigrants now living in England have strengthened the bonds of friendship between the two countries even if England’s colonial past is still present in the partitioned six counties of Ireland. The visit of the Manchester Mayor to lead Athy’s St. Patrick’s Day parade confirms the unique bond between England and Ireland which despite our troubled history has been shaped and strengthened by many generations of Irish emigrants.