On 2 July 1790 two young men engaged in a spirited argument over the merits of the Whig party in the public gallery of the Irish House of Commons. The two were Theobald Wolfe Tone, an under-employed barrister, and Thomas Russell, an army officer on half pay. The argument, however, was a friendly one, and … Read more
With the removal of its legal tender status after 9 February 2002, the Irish pound slides into probable oblivion. Its existence can be said to have begun in 1460, when the assertive Drogheda parliament unilaterally reduced by 20 per cent the silver content of the penny in Ireland. There were no pound coins yet in … Read more
The Gaelic kingdom of Uí Chennselaig, which was controlled by a dynasty of the same name, is substantially represented by the modern county of Wexford. Some of the ten divisions, or tuath, into which Uí Chennselaig was divided are represented by the baronies of Bantry, Shelburne, Shelmalier, Forth and Bargy. From the tenth century onwards … Read more
Arrested for treason against the British Crown and deported to the penal colonies of Australia, the Irish revolutionary John Boyle O’Reilly managed to escape to the United States and within a few years became one of Boston’s most prominent political and literary figures, one of the best known Irish immigrants in the United States, and … Read more
The National Library Manuscripts Department is the repository of many collections of manuscripts emanating from individual families, most frequently families belonging to the ‘big house’ tradition, whose status generally derives from their wealth and property and whose interest resides in their role as virtual potentates at the apex of hierarchical communities, the history of whose … Read more