CONNECTING PAST AND PRESENT

Richmond Barracks local School Flag presented by Great Granddaughter of Liam Langley

As part of the 1916 celebrations each primary school in Ireland is being presented with a Tricolour and Proclamation at a special ceremony in the school. Richmond Barracks local school  was presented with theirs by Capt Ciara Ní Ruairc great granddaughter of Liam Langley,  she also read the Proclamation.  This is a reminder of the time Liam was imprisoned in Richmond May 12th until June 1st 1916 after which he was interned in Frongoch and Reading.

“If the saga of Easter Week is seen as a drama – the first act of which is centered on the GPO and the last act of the executions in Kilmainham Gaol, then the penultimate act was played out in Richmond Barracks.”



The movers and shakers of the Irish revolution were held and sorted in the barracks buildings, with over 3,000 men and women of the rebellion.  The front line soldiers, rounded up from across Ireland, were packed in tightly amongst each other, awaiting their sentence to prison camps in England or Wales.

The leaders were plucked out of the crowd and set aside in the barracks’ gymnasium to await their courts martial and fate.  90 death sentences were handed out over the first 2 weeks of May, and 13 executions carried out in Kilmainham, including the seven signatories of the proclamation.








It was an emotional day at Richmond Barracks when Captain Ciara Ni Ruairc read aloud the proclamation of the Irish Republic in the soldier’s gymnasium – the room where the men and women of the 1916 Rising were held and sorted prior to their courts martial and sentencing, those men and women included Liam Langley, Ciara's great-grandfather.

The significance of the occasion was grasped with great pride by all the children of Our Lady of Lourdes National School Inchicore who accepted their proclamation and national flag as part of the 2016 centenary programme.

Images courtesy of Jason Clarke Photography