Shamrock from Sligo was the order of the day on the Curragh for the St Patrick\u2019s parade in 1913. And for those who would ask why the shamrock should have come all the way from the western seaboard when there were copious quantities of the diminutive three-leafed foliage to be found in the short-grass environs of the Curragh, the answer was simple.\u00a0 The shamrock was to be worn by the Connaught Rangers Battalion then based in the Curragh and where else would the men of the west get their shamrock only from a county on Ireland\u2019s Atlantic shore? The wearing of the green in the soldiers\u2019 headgear had been given formal recognition a decade earlier when Queen Victoria issued permission for the Irish regiments in the British army to wear shamrock in their headgear for St Patrick\u2019s Day. At the time this was portrayed as recognition of the gallantry of the Irish regiments in the Boer War (1899-1902) or as Victoria, from the safety of Buckingham Palace, is said to have declared \u201cmy brave Irish\u201d.\u00a0 More cynical observers would have claimed that the encouragement to wear the shamrock, coupled with the renaming of some regiments to give an Irish flavour to the British army, was a recruitment ploy to attract from Ireland thousands of fresh troops needed to flush out the hardy Boer guerrillas who had been running rings around the cream of Britain\u2019s fighting forces in South Africa.<\/p>\n
Whatever the reason behind the formal recognition of the shamrock as part of the dress code for St Patrick\u2019s Day the Connaught Rangers on parade in the Curragh in 1913 were reported by the Kildare Observer correspondent to have looked \u201cespecially smart\u201d with all ranks displaying \u201cthe little bunch of shamrock.<\/p>\n
The goodwill of Major-General Ferguson, Commanding the Curragh Brigade, resulted in the Connaught Rangers battalion being granted an army holiday for the national saint\u2019s day. The battalion paraded for Divine Service — which was choral — at 8.30am. After Mass and a parade through camp the tournament for the day commenced with the final of the Bayonet Competition. After dinner there was an influx of friends of the Battalion which was followed by an afternoon of sports and novelty events. The Kildare Observer correspondent wrote that \u201cThe different events were, as usual, of a most laughable order \u2013 tilting the bucket, sack races, potato race, all of which caused no end of merriment.\u201d<\/p>\n
A more characteristic Irish form of entertainment was on display for the dancing competition. Particular charm was lent to this item by the graceful \u201cstepping\u201d of some of the young ladies from around the district who had come specially to display some of the \u201creal Irish style\u201d of dancing. The men of the Connaughts were clearly smitten and \u201cheartily and deservedly applauded\u201d the young ladies with their jigs and reels. According to the Observer correspondent \u201cConsidering their youth, they gave a most finished display\u201d. The prizes for dancing were carried off by Miss Eva Oates who secured first; Miss Jenny Thompson, second; and Miss Kathleen Oates, third.<\/p>\n
There were rewards too for the children of the soldiers\u2019 families who had come to join the Rangers for the St Patrick\u2019s Day fun. \u201cThe children were simply great\u201d gushed the reporter adding \u201cAll scrambled together and the genial Colonel Abercrombie, Commanding the Battalion, to stop the young chicks clamouring scattered sweets, bon-bons, and oranges about.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was said that a most pleasing feature of the evening\u2019s enjoyment was the fact that Major-General Ferguson, overall commander of the Curragh, and Lady Ferguson, graced the Connaughts\u2019 festival and the three hearty cheers for them proposed by Colonel Abercrombie were voiced by the men in \u201ctrue Hibernian style\u201d.<\/p>\n
The wearing of shamrock by Irish-titled regiments of the British Army continues to the present day and last St Patrick\u2019s Day the Irish Guards were presented with their shamrock in barracks by Catherine Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge.<\/p>\n
There is little likelihood that HRH will turn up in the Curragh on any St Patrick\u2019s Day soon to present shamrock to troops of the Defence Forces.\u00a0 It is even less likely that that she would be prevailed on to dance an Irish step unlike the hearty Kildare lasses who entertained the Connaught Rangers on their festive St Patrick\u2019s Day one hundred years ago.<\/p>\n
F\u00f3gra:<\/strong> for those interested in all things Patrician,\u00a0 Castledermot Local History Group is hosting a talk on \u201cSt. Patrick \u2013 the man behind the myth\u201d on Tuesday, 26 March in the Community Centre by Terry O\u2019Hagan, archaeologist and historian. Series no: 322.<\/p>\n Shamrock from Sligo was the order of the day on the Curragh for the St Patrick\u2019s parade in 1913 writes Liam Kenny in no. 322 of his Looking Back series.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shamrock from Sligo was the order of the day on the Curragh for the St Patrick’s parade in 1913 writes Liam Kenny in no. 322 of his Looking Back series.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,126],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-looking-back","category-social-history"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Kildare Local Studies","author_link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/author\/localstudies\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1154"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8374,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1154\/revisions\/8374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}