Beggars Bush Barracks Explained

Beggars Bush Barracks
Type:Barracks
Map Type:Dublin
Pushpin Map Caption:Location within Dublin
Location:Beggars Bush, Dublin
Operator: British Army (1827–1922)
National Army (1922)
Irish Army (1922–1929)
Built:1827
Used:1827–1929
Built For:War Office

Beggars Bush Barracks was a British Army barracks located at Beggars Bush in Dublin, Ireland.

History

The barracks were designed as a training depot for the British Army and were completed in 1827,[1] built on lands received from George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke. Two squadrons of the South Irish Horse were formed at the barracks in the early 20th century.[2] The squadrons were mobilised at the barracks in August 1914 before being deployed to the Western Front.[3]

Beggars Bush Barracks were the first barracks to be handed over to the Irish Republican Army in January 1922.[4] The barracks then became the new headquarters of the National Army.[5] Erskine Childers, a leading IRA revolutionary, was executed at the barracks on 24 November 1922 after conviction by an Irish military court for the unlawful possession of a gun, a weapon presented to him by Michael Collins.[6]

The barracks were decommissioned in 1929 and handed over to the "Gaeltacht Industries Depot" which had responsibility for marketing goods produced in Ireland.[7] The site is now used by various other Government Departments.[1] The Irish Labour History Society Museum is based in the former central garrison headquarters[8] and the National Print Museum is based in the former Garrison Chapel.[9]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: History. Beggars Bush. 15 October 2017.
  2. Web site: South Irish Horse. Combined Irish Regiments Association. 14 October 2017.
  3. Web site: The South Irish Horse—Regiments of the Special Reserve—North Irish Horse. The long, long trail. Chris Baker. 1996–2008. 2008-11-28.
  4. Web site: Beggars Bush Barracks. 22 February 1922. The Irish Times. 15 October 2017.
  5. Book: Valiulis, Maryann Gialanella. Portrait of a Revolutionary: General Richard Mulcahy and the Founding of the Irish Free State. 127. University Press of Kentucky. 1992. 978-0813117911.
  6. Book: Ring, Jim. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Oxford, England. September 2004. Childers, (Robert) Erskine (1870–1922).
  7. Book: Cosgrove, Art . A New History of Ireland, Volume II: Medieval Ireland 1169-1534 . 2. 2008. Oxford Scholarship Online. 978-0199539703. 552.
  8. Web site: Museum Visit - Irish Labour History Society and National Print Museum (IMA Event). Irish Museums. 15 October 2017.
  9. Web site: History of the Museum. National Print Museum of Ireland. 15 October 2017.