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Researching Wicklow County Archives: The Barton Collection — Catherine Wright
POSTSCRIPT – Catherine Wright
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County archives tell the story of the development of communities and the administrations who served them. They hold the records of county councils and their predecessors – the Grand Juries, Poor Law Guardians, Corporation Boroughs and Town Commissioners. County archives also hold the private papers and often business archives of families administering, living and working in the county. One such collection of private papers, held by the Wicklow County Archives, is the Barton Collection. The public and the private records complement each other; providing us with a more rounded understanding of historical events.
The highest honour
Barton was arrested by the British in February 1919, at the very the beginning of the War of Independence, for making seditious speeches at Carnew and Shillelagh. He made a famously daring escape from Mountjoy prison but was recaptured within a year, subsequently suffering very harsh treatment in Portland Prison, before being finally released in 1921. While Barton was in prison, Wicklow County Council honoured him by making him chairman of the council at a meeting on 18 June 1920:
“Resolved – Whereas R C Barton, T D was savagely sentenced to a term of penal servitude in an English prison by a Court-martial of the English Army of Occupation in Ireland We the members of Wicklow County Council as a protest against this inhuman treatment, and as proof that the Irish patriot in an English prison is ever dear to his people, hereby confer on R C Barton the highest honour it is our gift to bestow, that of Chairman of this Council Further we ask the justice-loving people of every land to note that R C Barton fought in France for the freedom of small nationalities, and that of England, the ‘Champion of Small Nations’, rewards him with a convict cell for seeking to free the oldest of small nations – Ireland Carried unanimously ” (Wicklow County Archives, WLAA/WCC/M/10)
Private struggle
Among the documents contained in the Barton Collection is a letter dated 8 June 1924 to Robert Childers Barton from the Sinn Féin West Wicklow Comhairle Ceantair expressing regret at his announcement to leave public life. This vividly acknowledges the pressure and turmoil Robert Barton experienced as a delegate and signatory of the Treaty in 1921, and his subsequent decision to side with the anti-treaty forces during the ensuing Civil War:
"Wicklow people will remember that it was only after pressure was brought to bear on you that you, with much reluctance accepted the responsibility entailed how heavy those responsibilities proved to be, none of us could then foretell, but as time went on, and the conflict became more severe, we knew that we had chosen rightly when we appointed you as the standard-bearer of our liberties As regards the Irish delegation of 1921 no republican has any delusions as to the part you then took in these deliberations and the subsequent signing of the treaty We are not in a position to judge the motives which prompted the signatories We honour and appreciate the steps you took to rectify the decision which was forced upon you then if your example had been followed by the other delegates the country would have been spared the agony and bitterness of the past two years ” (Barton Collection, Wicklow County Archives, WLAA/PP1/BE/12)
A descriptive list of the Barton Collection Papers at Wicklow County Archives can be viewed at https://www.wicklow.ie/Living/Services/Arts-HeritageArchives/Archives/Collections/The-Barton-Family
Letter dated 8 June 1924 to Robert Childers Barton from the Sinn Féin West Wicklow Comhairle Ceantair expressing regret at his announcement to leave public life. Courtesy of Wicklow County Archives
Rocky Valley, Wicklow, c. 1910-20 WA Green © National Museums NI Ulster Folk Museum Collection
