A senior official from the Canadian High Commission in London officially opened a Leinster Regiment Exhibition in Birr Library on Friday 4th August. The exhibition is dedicated to the memory of the Leinster Regiment which had its headquarters at Crinkle Barracks.
It was preceded by a lecture on the Leinster Regiment by Association Chairperson, Col. Peter Walton, in the Civic Offices in Birr and followed by a wreath laying ceremony at Crinkle Barracks.
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The Exhibition contains a wide range of military memorabilia including medals, emblems and photographs, many of them on loan from the grandchildren and great grandchildren of the men who served in the famous Irish Regiment.
Three dedicated panels have been commissioned by the Prince of Wales’s Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) Association which is the successor to the Old Comrades Association which became defunct in the late sixties.
Included in the displays are other panels dedicated to a number of Victoria Cross recipients from the Birr area.
The Leinster Regiment Exhibition has been made possible by the collaborative efforts of Offaly Libraries and the County Council, which have been collecting Leinster Regiment memorabilia for some years.
Denis Kirby, Ireland Chairperson of the Leinster Regiment Association, said: “This project has been a labour of love. It is a milestone of some importance in the history of this short-lived but very distinguished Regiment, which fought with great courage and distinction during the First World War and before that, in the Boer War in South Africa.
“I’m particularly grateful to Offaly Libraries for their patience, guidance and encouragement as we worked to deliver this memorial to the Leinsters.
“The Leinsters were recruited from all over the island, but chiefly in the Midlands, and also attracted recruits from England, Scotland and Wales. So, in a very real sense, it was an Irish and British venture.
“Recruits crammed the barracks in Crinkle, nearly doubling the population of Birr, ahead of deployment to the Front. Sadly, the base was destroyed during the Irish Civil War and afterwards the Regimental Colours were laid up alongside those of the other Irish Regiments at Windsor Castle.
“Our connection with the Canadians is in the regiment’s ‘DNA’. The Regiment incorporated the Royal Canadians and much of the silverware and trophies that graced Mess cabinets and tables in Crinkle can now be found in the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario.
“I’m particularly pleased that Col Rory Radford who’s the Canadian Defence Attaché to Dublin and Army Adviser at the Canadian Embassy in London, has accepted our invitation to perform our official opening. Rory’s presence underlines our trans-Atlantic ties and the links that exist between the Leinster’s and the Royal Canadians.”
