100 Years of the County Kildare Archaeological Society
Lt. Col. C. M. L. Clements, President
The founders and original members of the Society were mostly large landowners headed by the Duke of Leinster, our first president, and important clergy, both Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic, the latter including the Coadjutor Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin.
The purpose of the Society was “the study and knowledge of the antiquities and objects of interest in the county and surrounding districts”. From the start it published a well-produced journal of great interest from which most of my information has been gleaned.
It has been fortunate in including among its members many distinguished antiquarians and scholars who together with people of all classes with a keen interest in the history of their localities, have contributed to make the journal fascinating reading.
No society of any sort can thrive without containing people willing to devote a great part of their spare time and energy to its welfare and I shall now confine these notes to tracing the succession of the most hard-worked and important officials, namely the honorary secretaries of the Society and the editors of its journal. In April 1891 on the formation of the Society the Earl of Mayo and Arthur Vicars (Ulster King at Arms) were appointed honorary secretaries but in 1893 following the death of the Duke of Leinster, Lord Mayo became president and so began the long partnership of Arthur Vicars and Lord Walter Fitzgerald, which continued for nearly thirty years.
The editorship of the journal was undertaken by Canon Sherlock, Rector of Clane, and subsequently Archdeacon of Kildare, who, apart from the years 1895-97 when he was in bad health and Rev. Denis Murphy, S.J. (died 1897) undertook the duties, continued as editor until 1911 when Mr. Thomas U. Sadlier, who like Arthur Vicars was a member of the Office of Arms, took over from him. It is noticeable that articles of genealogical interest have always formed a prominent part of the journal.
Between January 1921 and January 1923 the long tenure of office of the honorary secretaries came to an end, though the journals are silent as to the reasons. In fact Arthur Vicars was murdered by the I.R.A. and Lord Walter resigned in January 1923 and died not long afterwards.
Lord Walter, a younger son of the third Duke of Leinster, was a unique personality and it is to him that archaeology in Co. Kildare is most deeply indebted. He not only organised and often spoke at the society’s annual excursions but he was also a voluminous contributor to the pages of the journal. He was editor and principal contributor to The Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead in Ireland; vice-president of the Royal Irish Academy and a Council Member of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. He had been the life and soul of the Kildare Archaeological Society and as the writer of his obituary in the journal concluded: “We look round, let us hope not in vain, for one to take his place. To those who knew his genial, warm-hearted nature, the loss is sore indeed.”
In 1924 Mr. George Wolfe of Forenaughts, head of an old county family, became honorary secretary.
It is about this time that some change is noticeable in the composition of the principal members of the Society, i.e. fewer landed gentry and more clergy. In 1928 the vice-president and five out of the six elected members of the council were clergymen. Three Roman Catholic and three Church of Ireland. The Very Reverend Herbert Craig, Dean of Kildare, became honorary secretary in 1929, continuing in that important office until his death in 1938.
I think that the reason why the influence of the clergy in the Society has decreased as much over the years is partly due to the modern practice of holding so many of our activities at weekends.
Be that as it may, there next came a time when a long number of those people most interested in the Society came from among those also interested in the language revival and associated Gaelic subjects and with the advent of Timothy Clarke (who was honorary secretary of the Newbridge G.A.A.) as honorary secretary at the beginning of the second world war, this change became more apparent.
Hitherto, as we have seen, the doings of the Society had been dominated by aristocrats, clergy and scholars, such as professional antiquarians and genealogists. T. P. Clarke was none of these but he was dedicated to the welfare of the Kildare Archaeological Society.
It was towards the end of his time as honorary secretary that I became a member of the Society and if on outings we may sometimes have ht 3rd more of legend than real history they were the greatest fun. Mr. Clarke himself often spoke and his accounts of places that we visited were full of fables and old legends which he had gleaned from some of the oldest inhabitants but with modern education most of these are now probably lost for ever or would be if some were not to be found in the pages of old journals. He usually led the now motorised column of members from site to site and I can remember an occasion when we were stuck bumper to bumper in a cul-de-sac with but small opportunity for turning round.
He told me that his interest in the Society came about in this way. As a boy he once came upon the members inspecting some ancient ruin and he came as near as he felt that he safely could to listen to what was going on. Lord Walter Fitzgerald spotted him and asked him if he was interested, to which he replied that he was. “Then I will make you a member,” said Lord Walter. In fact there is a gap between the date of Lord Walter’s death and that of T. P. Clarke first appearing in the list of members but he must have been a sort of honorary member during that time.
In 1945 J. J. O’Neill (Customs and Excise Office, Newbridge), became joint honorary secretary, thus increasing the Newbridge influence in the Society which so materially helped to keep it going during the war years.
In April 1946 Thomas Sadlier retired as editor and publication was carried on under great difficulties during the next few years. These are enumerated in the Foreword to Vol XIII, p. 1, which covered the years 1950-52. An editor was found in Michael G. Dowling of Cabinteely, a noted Irish scholar, but his period as editor was cut short by his death in 1954.
For the next two numbers of the journal the honorary treasurer, Brian Cantwell, acted as editor and in 1959 the Hon. Desmond Guinness, well known as founder of the Irish Georgian Society, took office, followed in 1960 by our present editor, Con Costello, who, except when his military duties, have taken him away, has been editor ever since.
In 1951 General Sir Eric de Burgh was elected President of the Society (as his father had been before him) and he was an able and enthusiastic leader until he retired on age grounds in 1967, to be succeeded by Rt. Rev. Mons. W. Miller who was an equally interested and active president until his death in 1971.
In 1964 Commandant J. Guiney succeeded T. P. Clarke (died 1964) as honorary secretary and thus began a new era of military punctuality and accurate reconaissance, which largely owing to the influence of Con Costello has continued to the present day.
Margaret Grehan started her long period as honorary secretary in 1968 (having been Hon. Treasurer since 1960), so that the last two decades of the Society’s century have shown the same continuity as did the first two.
Although I have omitted mention of the great work done by other officials of the Society and contributors to the journal (to have done so could have filled a whole volume), I must mention the work of Piers Synnott who became vice-president in 1966 and president in 1972, a position which he held until his sudden death in 1982. Not only did he devote the whole of his time and energy to the work of the Society but those people who have listened to him either as the principal speaker of the day or just commenting on some one else’s talk will realise what fascinating subjects archaeology, history and genealogy can be made.