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Volunteers in Castlebellingham 1914

The Irish Volunteer Force was founded in Dublin in November 1913 with Eoin MacNéill chairing the inaugural meeting, and in February 1914 the first company in Louth was formed in Dundalk. By mid-1914, a county-wide organisation had been established comprising head-quarters staff, 28 district companies and 5,000 men who were trained by British army reservists, and a nursing corps was founded in Stabannon.  On 12 July 1914, 3,000 Volunteers paraded in the Grove Field in Castlebellingham, which was owned by Sir Henry Bellingham, to promote the nationalists’ case in support of Home Rule. Opposing Home Rule, unionists planned to establish a separate parliament in Ulster, underwritten by business interests and the Ulster Volunteer Force. Conflict seemed inevitable, but only three weeks after the Castlebellingham demonstration, and with the agreement of all the parties, Home Rule was postponed by the outbreak of war in Europe which engulfed all the major powers.

Castlebellingham-1914

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