Lecture on formation of Civic Guard in Westmeath

Dr Paul Hughes, Westmeath County Council’s Historian in Residence, is to give a lecture about the formation of the Civic Guard – later known as An Garda Síochána – in Westmeath 100 years ago.

The illustrated talk will take place at The Greville Arms Hotel, Mullingar at 7.30pm on Thursday July 28, and the event will be chaired by historian Seamus O’Brien, editor of the recently published collection of essays, Westmeath: history and society.

Drawing on original source material, Dr Hughes will examine the changing face of policing in Ireland in 1922, and the challenges encountered by an unarmed police force embedding itself in the community during a time of civil war.

He will shed light on the men who came to serve in Mullingar, Athlone and districts in between, and present a comprehensive account of life in the force locally between the summer of 1922 and the end of the Irish Civil War in May 1923.

Dr Hughes will conclude his second term as Westmeath County Council Decade of Centenaries Historian in Residence at the end of this month, and will pass the baton to Ian Kenneally.