The barracks were designed as a training depot for the British Army and were completed in 1827,[1] built on lands received from George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke. Two squadrons of the South Irish Horse were formed at the barracks in the early 20th century,[2] which were mobilised at the barracks in August 1914 before being deployed to the Western Front.[3]
Beggars Bush Barracks were the first barracks to be handed over to the Irish Republican Army in January 1922.[4] The barracks then became the new headquarters of the National Army.[5] Erskine Childers, a leading IRA revolutionary, was executed at the barracks on 24 November 1922 after conviction by an Irish military court for the unlawful possession of a gun, a weapon presented to him by Michael Collins.[6]
The barracks were decommissioned in 1929 and handed over to the "Gaeltacht Industries Depot" which had responsibility for marketing goods produced in Ireland.[7] The site is now used by various other Government Departments.[1] The Irish Labour History Society Museum is based in the former central garrison headquarters[8] and the National Print Museum is based in the former Garrison Chapel.[9]
British Army (1827–1922)
National Army (1922)
