Decade of Commemorations

Elected county councils were established under the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898 to replace the unrepresentative landlord-dominated grand juries as the bodies responsible for the administrative and financial management of their respective areas. Nationalists welcomed them as a preparation for Home Rule while unionists were uneasy about them for the same reason. The democratisation and rationalisation of local government had been ongoing in Western Europe since the middle of the nineteenth century and had occurred in England in 1888. The delay in its advent in Ireland reflects the political, sectarian and economic dynamic of the time. Eventually the promise of a halving of the rates on agricultural land and a treasury grant to make up the difference helped to overcome any lingering opposition to the move even among the landlords who were losing their centuries old control of local government and the patronage that went with it.

The first council elections in 1899 were hotly contested along nationalist versus unionist lines and the future partition of Ireland can be read in the results. Nationalists overwhelmingly dominated the councils in the part of Ireland that became the Free State and unionists in that which became Northern Ireland.

The first Kildare County Council reflects this pattern but perhaps a little more subtly, in that unionists were returned in three of the county’s twenty-one electoral divisions, two by ballot and one unopposed. The other members elected were all firmly home rule supporting nationalists. They were from the catholic middle class, a mixture of large tenant farmers, town businessmen and professionals. As ratepayer they all shared a desire to keep the rates (a combination of the former county cess and the poor law rate) as low as possible. They were all men. A limited number of women got the right to vote in council elections if they were the rate-paying head of household and from 1911 women could be elected as councillor, but it was 1934 before Kildare got its first woman councillor.

Political issues tended not to intrude on the day-to-day business of Kildare County Council which involved the setting and collecting of the rates and disbursing it to the rural district councils and the Poor Law Unions for their functions, as well as for its own county-at-large works such as roads, bridges, jails and courthouses. That said, the significant national events of the day do resonate in the council chamber: the transfer of land to the tenants under the Wyndham Act 1903, the introduction of an old age pension in 1908, the passing of the Home Rule Act in 1914, the formation of the National Volunteers, and most memorably perhaps, the Easter Rising which the council condemned at the time, a response repudiated by a newly elected Sinn Féin supporting council in 1920.

Full council meetings were open to the public and the local press, but important decisions were often made in sub-committees, such as the Finance Committee, sitting privately in advance. Minutes had to be submitted for approval by the Local Government Board in the Custom House in Dublin thus they are often terse records of decisions, but a flavour of the council chamber debates can be gleaned by using them alongside the reports in the two local newspapers, the nationalist leaning Leinster Leader and the unionist inclined Kildare Observer.

Author: Dr Thomas Nelson

See also: Nelson, Dr. Thomas, Through Peace and War: Kildare County Council In The Years of Revolution 1899-1926 (2015)

1899-2019 First Election and First Meeting Kildare County Council

In 2019, the County Kildare Decade of Commemorations Committee supported the publication of 1899-2019 First Election and First Meeting Kildare County Council. Copies are available from Kildare Library Service. Thanks to Liam Kenny and Eamon Sinnott for facilitating its availability as a pdf.

Download: First Elections and First Meeting Kildare County Council 1899-2019

World War I, which began on 28 July 1914 and ended on 11 November 1918, resulted in over sixteen million military and civilian deaths. During this time, Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and service in the British Army had been a tradition in many families for many generations. Around 210,000 Irishmen served in the British Armed Forces during World War I, of whom circa 30,000 died.

The County Kildare Decade of Commemorations Committee supported the publication of Remembrance: The World War I Dead of Co. Kildare in 2021. This book contains the biographical details of servicemen and some non-combatants who died, and who were born or lived in County Kildare for an extended period of time before the war. At the time of printing it had been established that 750 men and three women from County Kildare died between the outbreak of the war in August 1914 and the official date of the end of the war as 31 August 1921.

Individuals have since supplied further names and eight men have been added to the list. A complete updated list can be found below entitled The World War I Dead of Co. Kildare (updated November 2021).

Dr. Barbara Walsh has researched the lives of women during the war and published a book on Irish Servicewomen in World War I:From Western Front to the Roaring Twenties in 2020. It tells the stories of the volunteers who serve both at home and on the Western Front in the newly founded Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, which young women from every province of Ireland joined along with those from homes in Scotland, England and Wales. She has provided a biographical list of Kildare Women in the First World War below.

Download (PDF documents):

• Remembrance: The World War I Dead of Co. Kildare
• World War I Dead of Co. Kildare
• Kildare Women in World War I

Kildare County Council's, Kildare Decade of Commemorations Committee supported, promoted and organised over 260 projects, including lectures, exhibitions, publications, and seminars, as well as hundreds of talks to children at primary and secondary level, essay and poetry competitions, Proclamation Day ceremonies, plays, and musical performances.  It was our intention, not merely to commemorate historic events, but to understand, debate and embrace them; to create a lasting legacy for future generations as only we could, and to celebrate the legacy left to us, with dignity and pride, with thought and creativity.

Some of the diverse range of events were:

1916 Sackville Street Project - an exhibition of houses in 3D form, created by members of the public and artists, commemorating the lives of each civilian that was killed in the 1916 Rising. This project won the Sustaining the Arts, Chambers Ireland, Excellence in Local Government Award, 2016.

John Devoy Statue - A statue to the patriot John Devoy, 'the Greatest of the Fenians,' was unveiled at Poplar Square, Naas, on 25 October 2015, by the Mayor of Co. Kildare and the American Ambassador. It was the first of our flagship commemorative projects of the 1916 programme and was funded mainly by the Kildare Association of New York. A short film about John Devoy was also produced and shown in various venues in Co. Kildare, and published on DVD. The statue featured in the RTE series, Every County Has a Story! A reprint of 'The Greatest of the Fenians - John Devoy', first issued by the John Devoy Memorial Committee in 1964, was published in 2009 and is available via the link below, entitled 'A Forgotten Hero - John Devoy'. 

The Road to Rebellion A series of 5 concerts around the county with Kildare Tenor, Philip Scott singing the songs of the Rising, which were recorded to CD.

A Schools Resource Pack was distributed to every school in County Kildare.

Éamonn O’Modhráin: A Revolutionary Journey Exhibition - Discovered by chance inside a large metal container by family member Robert Doyle, Athgarvan, while clearing out an attic, the O’Modhráin family’s documents and personal effects were displayed in this exhibition that gave a unique insight into Irish nationalism at a local level. The exhibition travelled around the library network throughout the year.

Maynooth 1916 Centenary Walk - On 23 April, the walk of the 15 men who left Maynooth for the G.P.O. at Easter 1916, was re-enacted when members of the public walked to Dublin along the Royal Canal following the route undertaken by the Volunteers. At the Garden of Remebrance, Parnell St., the marchers were greeted by the  Lord Mayor of Dublin.

Bliain a Chur le Chéile / A Year in the Making contains the highlights of the year's commemorations in Co. Kildare and can be downloaded below.

Downloads (PDF documents):

• 1916 Centenary Programme
• A Forgotten Hero: John Devoy
• Éamonn O’Modhráin: A Revolutionary Journey
• The Maynooth 15 Remembered
• Bliain á Chur le Chéile / A Year in the Making
• The Cluxtons of Kilcullen

'We claim for our national independence the recognition and support of every free nation in the world...' 

Declaration of Independence , Dublin, 21 January 1919

As part of the Co. Kildare Decade of Commemorations programme 2021, a number of publications have been produced, which adds to the legacy of research and material which has been created since 2013.

A Timeline of the War of Independence in Co. Kildare 1919-1922

The Stacumney Ambush

Poems by Thomas Behan

As part of the Co. Kildare Decade of Commemorations programme, a number of publications have been produced to coincide with the anniversaries of key events and which add to the legacy of research and material which has been created since 2013.

Wilful Murder. Lt. John Hubert Wogan-Browne, Kildare, 10 February 1922 is an account of the murder of a British Army officer, Lt. John Hubert Wogan-Browne, who was shot dead during a robbery in Kildare town on 10 February 1922. 

A Timeline of the Civil War in Co. Kildare 1922-1924 highlights local political, military, social and cultural episodes and incidents in the county during the period.  Some of the major events that took place across the island of Ireland are also included to provide context. It will be of interest to anyone curious about the history of Co. Kildare, particularly local history groups and secondary school students, and help the wider public navigate the period of the Civil War in the county. While the book is not a comprehensive history of the Civil War, it brings new information to light which may lead to further research. 

The Graney Ambush 1922 - On 24 October 1922 an IRA column ambushed a National Army tender at Graney crossroads on the Castledermot to Baltinglass road. Three National Army soldiers were killed and five wounded, one mortally. The attack was the most lethal ambush of the revolutionary period in Co. Kildare. 

‘Mullaney’s Men.’ The rise and fall of the anti-Treaty forces in North Kildare, Grangewilliam 1922  - On 01 December 1922 an engagement took place at Grangewilliam/Pike Bridge between an anti-Treaty IRA column and a force of National troops which resulted in the death of one soldier and the subsequent execution of five captured republicans. This significant Civil War engagement was the last major battle to take place in Co. Kildare. 

Strength of Comradeship : The Milltown Murder : Private Joseph Bergin 14 December 1923 is an account of the murder of a National Army soldier Private Joseph Bergin whose body was discovered at Milltown Bridge, Kildare on 14 December 1923. It details the background to the killing, the role of Military Intelligence in Private Bergin's death and the subsequent trials. 

Rebel Hearts. A biographical list of republican women activists in Co. Kildare 1913-1923 - It lists the known women activists of County Kildare during the 1913-1923 period with biographical information compiled from pension and medal applications; witness statements; birth, death, and marriage records; census records; arrest reports; newspaper obituaries; family information and photographs.

Download (PDF documents): 

• Wilful Murder: Lt. John Hubert Wogan-Browne, Kildare, 10 February 1922
• The Civil War in Kildare 1922-24
• The Graney Ambush
• Mullaney’s Men: The Rise and Fall of the Anti-Treaty Forces in North Kildare
• Strength of Comradeship: The Milltown Murder, Private Joseph Bergin
• Rebel Hearts: A Biographical List of Republican Women Activists in Co. Kildare