Tomorrow, Saturday July 26th, marks the 100th anniversary of the Asgard landing a consignment of 900 rifles for the Irish Volunteers in Howth.
In Drogheda Museum Millmount there is a rifle donated by former Minister of Defence, Patrick S Donegan, who acquired it from former President Erskine Childers, whose father was the owner of the Asgard.
The gun was logged in the museum records as being from the Asgard, but in the run up to the 100th anniversary, it now transpires that it may not have come from the Howth boat but from a consignment that was landed in Larne by the Ulster Volunteer Force in 1914.
The gun which is one of several on display and the museum has issued a challenge to see if any student can establish the provenance of this weapon. Who imported it? Irish Volunteers, The Ulster Volunteer Force, The Citizen Army or some other group.
Anyone is welcome to examine the gun and there is a prize of €100 worth of history books for the first definitive answer.
Old Drogheda Society - History,
Archaeology & Heritage
Millmount, Drogheda, Co. Louth,
Ireland. Tel. 041-9833097
Any chance of a photograph of the rifle?
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