Riobárd Langford Descriptive List (Ref. U156)

Various writings, mainly in Langford’s hand, are found in Section C of the arrangement such as notes on the 1914-1923 period (U156/28) and such as, a TS. of an essay or lecture, mainly in Irish, about the history of Ireland (U156/35); and such as, the text of a speech made in 1969 by Langford at Ahiohill, near Bandon in West Cork, in memory of Dick Barrett, Rory O’Connor, Liam Mellowes and Joseph McKelvey, who were executed in retaliation for the murder of Sean Hales TD. Section D contains some newsclippings relating mainly nationalist issues, plus an 8 page printed pamphlet ‘Teachers of the Men of 1916’ (U156/39). Relating to Langford’s later business as a printer, Lee Press, is a single item only, concerning the wholesale price of paper (U156/44). Section F of the arrangement contains an additional item, a letter from Langford to the Secretary of the Old IRA Memorial Committee in 1948 concerning the suggestion of slanderous comments by Langford in another letter he wrote to the Secretary in which he raised objections to the way the Committee operated (U156/45). The collection, while relatively modest in size, is of interest to the study of Irish nationalism and republicanism and more particularly the Irish Volunteers and Irish Republican Army for the 1914 – 1923 period, especially for the Cork area. The collection documents Langford’s activities as an officer in the Irish Volunteers and the IRA from 1914/1916, during the War of Independence, and also in the irregular/anti-treaty forces during the Civil War. Some prominent nationalist and republican figures are mentioned in the collection. Also of interest to the study of the agencies concerned with the commemoration of 1916, and its 50th anniversary in particular, and also concerning the provision of military pensions for former IRA men from 1934.

System of Arrangement

A: Irish Volunteers and Irish Republican Army 1914 – 1923 (1947) (1)

Establishment of the Irish Volunteers in Cork, 1914 (2 items) Accounts of Active Service, 1916 – 1923 (1 item, 19pp) 1916 in Cork and 50th Commemoration of , 1916-1966 (5 items) Killing of Colonel Smyth R.I.C., 1920, 1957 (4 items) War of Independence, 1921 and Civil War, 1922–1923 (5 items)

(2) (3) (4) (5)

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