Loyalists in a Garrison County: Kildare, 1912–1923

This chapter explores the experiences of loyalists in County Kildare during the Irish Revolution. Up to 1922, loyalists and Unionists in Kildare until 1922 enjoyed a level of security experienced in no other county outside Ulster due to the presence of British army barracks, which included the Curragh camp. Persistently anti-Home Rule, the loyalist and Unionist population – ably led by Lord Mayo and William Goulding – initially resisted concessions to nationalist aspirations. Developments such as the threat of partition resulted in a more compromising viewpoint regarding self-determination. However, fears expressed in 1920 by Lord Mayo that the community would be left to the ‘mercies of a Sinn Féin parliament’ came to fruition. While loyalists and Unionists in Kildare did not experience the same level of violence as loyalists in neighbouring counties, some high-profile incidents occurred during the Civil War. In post-independence Kildare, despite a decline in population, former unionists in the county continued to play a disproportionate role in large scale farming and the professions.