{"id":2267,"date":"2015-04-25T08:44:37","date_gmt":"2015-04-25T08:44:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kildare.ie\/ehistory\/?p=2267"},"modified":"2015-04-25T08:44:37","modified_gmt":"2015-04-25T08:44:37","slug":"old-newspapers-go-to-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/old-newspapers-go-to-museum\/","title":{"rendered":"OLD NEWSPAPERS GO TO MUSEUM"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong><\/p>\n

LEINSTER\u00a0 LEADER<\/em> MAY 13 1978<\/b><\/p>\n

Old newspapers go to museum<\/b><\/p>\n

An item shortly to be added to the museum at Market House, Kildare, is a copy of a 1798 edition of the Dublin Journal newspaper which has special relevance to the Kildare area as it contains accounts of the rebellion in several areas of the county including the Curragh, Rathangan and Prosperous.<\/p>\n

It is at present in the possession of Very Rev. E. Mulvihill, Parish Priest of Staplestown and Cooleragh, who found it accidentally in the loft of an old house undergoing renovation.\u00a0 Considering its age and the haphazard conditions in which it seems to have survived, the paper is in remarkably good condition and the print quite legible.<\/p>\n

Also in Fr. Mulvihill\u2019s possession is a copy of the February 11th 1792 edition of the Dublin Evening Post which he will also donate to the Kildare museum.\u00a0 Both papers have dampness stains at one edge but luckily the moisture did not spread to the remainder and destroy them. The Dublin Journal, dated Thursday May 31st 1798, has an account of the Gibbetrath massacre at the Curragh to which a monument now stands in Kildare town.<\/p>\n

The Journal takes a strong anti-rebel line when describing events.\u00a0 It says, \u201cSurrounded at the Curragh, the cowardly rebels proposed an unconditional surrender; it was accepted; they were allowed to depart form a situation from which they could never have escaped; and as a natural consequence, betook themselves to other detachments of their own army, to new murders, and new insurrections.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only passenger on the Limerick Mail coach on the morning of Saturday last was Lieutenant William Giffard of the 82nd regiment, a son of Captain William Giffard of the Royal Dublin Militia; he was coming to Dublin to set off to his quarters at Chatham.\u00a0 As the coach passed through Kildare, it was surrounded by a multitude of rebellious assassins, and this unhappy young Officer dragged out and butchered without mercy.\u00a0 Such was the triumph of an army of murderers over a defenceless, innocent and amiable young gentleman, scarcely seventeen years of age, and such are the villains with whom the King\u2019s troops were allowed to treat.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeneral Duff, with the City of Dublin Regiment and a party of Dragoons, by forced marches reached Kildare on Tuesday morning; he found the rebels, nothwithstanding their pretended submission, in arms. The first object which struck the eyes of the soldiery in the street of Kildare was the mangled body of their beloved William Giffard\u2026.The audacity of the rebels induced them to fire upon the troops, who needed little provocation to fall upon the murderers of their friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe soldiers took ample revenge, the cowardly assassins fled in every direction, and of the party which remained in Kildare, very few were left to rejoin the ranks of treason.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Rathangan, Mr. Spencer, the Duke of Leinster\u2019s agent, a gentleman who deserved more kindness at the hands of the insurgents, was murdered with unexampled circumstances of barbarity.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026.It is beyond question that the capitulation at the Curragh has only served to invigorate rebellion\u2026\u2026..Such was the unanimous sentiment of reprobation expressed against the acceptance of this capitulation, that two very distinguished Members of Parliament are, it is said, pledged to institute a serous enquiry this day, to ascertain the ground upon which it was entered into.\u00a0 The body of Lieutenant Giffard was interred at Kildare on Tuesday with military honours.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026On Tuesday evening were interred in St. Kevin\u2019s Church yard the remains of the late Henry Stamer, Esq., who was most barbarously murdered in the midst of his own tenantry at Prosperous on\u00a0 Thursday last by the rebels.\u00a0 The only pretext for the above assassination was, his being a good landlord, a vigilant and humane magistrate and having accepted a commission to raise a company of volunteers in his own town which he never could effect from the rebellious principles of the miscreants, who had too deeply established their diabolical system in the town of Prosperous.\u201d<\/p>\n

The paper also contains an extract of a letter from Major General Sir James Duff to Liet. Gen. Lake, dated Monasterevan, May 29th 1798.\u00a0 It refers to his march from Limerick to Dublin referred to above says, \u201cBy means of cars for the infantry I reached this place (Monasterevan) in forth eight hours.\u00a0 I am now at seven o\u2019 clock this morning marching to surround the town of Kildare, the head quarters of the rebels, with seven pieces of artillery, one hundred and fifty Dragoons and three hundred and fifty infantry, determined to make a dreadful example of the rebels.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope to be able to forward this to you by the mail coach, which I will escort to Naas.\u00a0 I am sufficiently strong. P.S. two o\u2019clock P.M., Kildare.\u00a0 We found the rebels retiring from the town on our arrival, armed.\u00a0 We followed them with the dragoons. \u00a0I sent on some of the Yeomen to tell them, on laying down their arms, they should not be hurt.\u00a0 Unfortunately some of them fired on the Troops; from that moment they were attacked on all sides; nothing could stop the rage of the Troops.\u00a0 I believe from two to three hundred of the rebels were killed.\u00a0 We have three men killed and several wounded.\u00a0 I am too fatigued to enlarge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Extract of a letter from Lieut. Col. Longfield of the North Cork Militia, to Lieut. Gen. Craig, dated at Rathangan 29th May 1798, \u201cI arrived near this town at eleven o\u2019clock and perceiving the Rebels to have taken a position at the upper end of the town near the Church, and that they had in some parts barricaded the streets and drawn chains across others, I placed my battalion guns in front.<\/p>\n

\u201cSupported by the infantry, and stationing the cavalry so as to support both, and commenced by firing upon the town with the cannon, after the second discharge of which I perceived the Rebels to fly in all directions.\u00a0 I then gave orders for the cavalry to charge, which was executed by Captain Pack, and the detachment of the 5th Dragoon Guards, with the greatest spirit and judgment.<\/p>\n

\u201cLord Trawly joined me immediately before the action with a Sergeant and twelve of the Romney Fencibles, and six of the Yeomen Cavalry, who assisted with equal spirit in their charge.\u00a0 There are between fifty and sixty of the rebels killed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dublin Evening Post of six years earlier gives a hint of the forchcoming rebellion with declarations of loyalty from various towns around the country.\u00a0 But not having the rebellion to contend with, it has space for reverences of a more general kind such as to a Masked Ball given by Mrs. John Latouche at Harristown, Co. Kildare; an announcement of a \u201cmeeting of the trustees of the\u00a0 Turnpike Road form Naas to Maryborough\u201d at the House of Lords; lettings of land at Nicholastown, Kilcock; Glenaree, Co. Kildare, and Knockbellane, \u00a0Ballyfolane, Cloughogue and Suirlock\u2019s Leap, Co. Wicklow; and a notice to possible claimants on the estate of the deceased Richard Beauchamp of Narraghmore.<\/p>\n

Re-typed by Mary Murphy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LEINSTER\u00a0 LEADER MAY 13 1978 Old newspapers go to museum An item shortly to be added to the museum at Market House, Kildare, is a copy of a 1798 edition of the Dublin Journal newspaper which has special relevance to the Kildare area as it contains accounts of the rebellion in several areas of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newspaper-articles"],"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\/2267","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=2267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2267\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}