1921 Curragh Internment Camp Autograph Book of Tom Smyth, Grangebeg, Gilltown, Co. Kildare

The autograph book of Tom Smyth (Smith), Grangebeg, Gilltown, Co. Kildare, (PP/CIC/3), has been deposited with Kildare County Archives by his son, Robert Smith. It has now been digitised and is available here.

Thomas Joseph ‘Tomas’ Smyth was born on 14 July 1902 at Grangebeg, Gilltown, Co. Kildare, the son of Robert Smith (farmer) and Margaret Delaney. Thomas was a member of Ballymore Eustace Company, Irish Volunteers, from the age of about sixteen. He was involved in fund-raising activities, including a raid on a bank in Dunlavin. On 06 March 1921 he was arrested with Art Doran in The Thatch, Ballymore Eustace and interned in the Rath Camp, the Curragh until his release on 08 December 1921.  He was the brother of James and John Smyth.  John was arrested on 04 July 1922, imprisoned at the Curragh Camp, and transferred to Newbridge Barracks on 31 August; he escaped in the mass breakout on 14/15 October 1922, was recaptured and interned at the Curragh Camp. James was arrested aged sixteen, on 05 July 1922 and held at Keane Barracks, the Curragh; he went on hunger strike along with Frank Driver of Ballymore Eustace, Co. Kildare; he later transferred to the Curragh Military Hospital, then to Newbridge Barracks in October 1922, and subsequently to Hare Park Camp, the Curragh.  He was released in January 1923.  Tom moved to Dublin where he ran a shop at Mount Pleasant Avenue, Rathmines; he married Margaret O’Flaherty in 1935.  After World War II he moved to Brannockstown, Co. Kildare for a time, then back to Dublin, later moving to Leixlip, Co. Kildare.  He died on 03 June 1982, and he was buried in Palmerstown Cemetery, Dublin.

Curragh Internment Camps

The mass arrest of republicans by the British authorities in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday, 21 November 1920, necessitated the creation of internment camps in Ireland. Several camps were opened in the country, including one on The Curragh, Co. Kildare, which opened on 1 March 1921. The Rath Camp, designed to accommodate 1,000, was located at the southern end of the Curragh Camp military base, opposite the racecourse grandstand. A second camp, Hare Park, adjacent to the Rath Camp was also erected; it was used as a holding camp for up to 150 prisoners destined for court-martial or transfer. Both the Rath Camp and Hare Park Camp housed republicans from all over Ireland, including many famous personalities like Frank Burke, Rory O’Connor, and Desmond Fitzgerald. The story of the internments camps is one of audacious escapes, great football matches and harsh living conditions.  Todd Andrews, a famous internee in the Rath Camp in May 1921, said that ‘Life in the camp was, in a physical sense, far from unpleasant. Indeed for the first few weeks I found it agreeably exciting meeting new people including some national personalities, exploring the library which was surprisingly good, playing football, learning the procedure for receipt of letters and parcels and examining the canteen.’ Autograph books were a popular in the early twentieth century; for example, during World War I they were used by soldiers to gather the signatures of their fellow men in their battalion, or their fellow prisoners in POW camps in Germany.  Autograph books were a common item kept by the Irish internees on The Curragh and are fascinating examples of material culture from the revolutionary period. They contain prisoners’ names, addresses, date and place of incarceration, providing an informal camp register compiled by the internees themselves. The autograph books allowed prisoners to express themselves using poems, songs, and drawings.

Our collection also includes two other autograph books:(PP/CIC/1), autograph book of Sylvester Delahunt from Tuckmill, Straffan, Co. Kildare, was deposited with Kildare County Archives by his daughter, Áine Delahunt.  Sylvester was arrested on 1 March 1921, at 40 Main Street, Naas, Co. Kildare, and interned in the Rath Camp until December of that year. His autograph book is an invaluable primary source which contains poems and sketches by 29 of his fellow internees.  A unique feature of Sylvester’s autograph book is the six photographs it contains that he took on a hidden camera.  Another is a water colour painting by Frank Purcell, Cappagh, Kilcock, Co. Kildare, of the famous tunnel escape from the Rath Camp in 1921. The autograph book of Joseph Kirwan (PP/CIC/2), an internee in the Tintown Camp in 1923, was deposited with Kildare County Archives by Sean Deay, Spratstown, Dunlavin, Co. Kildare.

Further Information

Publications

Interned: the Curragh Internment Camps in the War of Independence by James Durney (2019).
Special Powers: Civil War Internment at Newbridge Barracks and Tintown Camp, 1922–24 by James Durney (2025).

Videos

The Curragh Internment Camps 1921
The Great Escape, Rath Camp, The Curragh, 9 September 1921 
Interned: The Curragh Internment Camps in the War of Independence, interview with James Durney and Mario Corrigan as part of Irish Military Seminar 2020.