Tullamore Pipers' Band

• St. Colmcille Pipers' Band

The Tullamore Pipers' Band or St. Colmcille's Pipers' Band was founded in 1911 with the help of the Tullamore branch of The Gaelic League. Founder members included Alo O'Brennan and others active in the nationalist movement. The new Tullamore Pipers Band received additional encouragement from national figures such as F.J. Bigger (1863-1926) and Alice Stopford Green (1847-1929). The band first performed in public on St Patrick’s Day 1912 and was presented by Bigger with its fine banner at a feis in Tullamore in August 1912. The band played at the foundation of the Volunteers in April 1914 and the Geashill Cattle Drive in November of that year. In the aftermath of the affray or incident in 1916 the instruments of the band in the loft in Market Square were badly damaged and compensation awarded later that year. There appears to have been a split in the band along political lines in 1916-17. This was brought to a close at the same time as the split in the GAA and the two bands, St Colmcille’s and St Enda’s amalgamated with a combined strength of about forty. Judging by the financial supporters of St Enda’s band it appears to have been sponsored by Sinn Féin and the new organisation claimed the credit for bringing the split to an end.

Columcille St., Tullamore

ISAAR (CPF): International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families, 2nd Edition (2011)

January 2016

Account by Aloysius O'Brennan in 1966 of events of 20 March 1916. OHS31/B/1
Byrne, M. 'Tullamore in 1916: the making of the Tullamore Incident', Esker Press (2016)

Created by Lisa Shortall