On Tuesday 11 February 2025 in his native Dunlavin, Chris Lawlor, author and WWHS Treasurer and the co-editor of our journal provided a fascinating lecture on Robert Childers Barton (1881-1975). Wicklow-born Barton was one of the most enigmatic figures to emerge from the Irish Revolution. Barton’s Anglo-Irish background and upbringing was different to the majority of his revolutionary contemporaries. Yet once committed to the cause of Irish independence he gave it his all. Barton was one of the plenipotentiaries who travelled to London for the Anglo-Irish Treat negotiations and although he signed that treaty and voted for it in the Dail, he subsequently took the anti-treaty side in the Civil War. After his retirement from politics in 1923 he practiced as a barrister and a judge. He later became chairman of the Agricultural Credit Corporation, holding this office for twenty years from the bank’s foundation in 1934.
Chris’s visual presentation entitled ‘West Wicklow’s First TD: The Revolutionary Robert Barton’ included archived materials and photos and provided an insightful overview of the formation of the Irish State and the part Robert Barton played in it.
Chris’s biography of Barton entitled Robert Barton, A Remarkable Revolutionary is available in all established outlets and online for €20.
Photo (L to R): Chris Lawlor with Committee Member, Feargal Hennigan