Nick Maxwell Over the course of the Easter Rising of 1916, amongst reinforcements moved from England to assist those troops already in Ireland were two battalions of the Sherwood Foresters, recruited from Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. One of the Sherwood battalions had been grievously mauled by the Irish Volunteer snipers defending Mount Street bridge, which controlled the route … Read more
For many people the works of Jack B. Yeats, Paul Henry and their contemporaries are evocative of a simple, uncomplicated lifestyle associated with the west of Ireland. While Yeats developed as the major artist of the early twentieth century, Henry emerged as Ireland’s leading landscape painter. It was largely Henry’s vision of the west that … Read more
When John O’Donoghue, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, recently announced the composition of the new Irish Film Board, he commented that ‘Film has a unique ability to convey to a wide audience the stories and atmosphere of any local community’. Although his recognition of the importance of film not just as a means of … Read more
BH: Tell us a little about your background. PH: I’m a Newfoundlander, which no doubt gave me some insight into sectarianism and nationalism, thanks to denominational education and our status as a former country and generally pissed-off part of Canada. Newfoundlanders have a strong sense of identity, and there are Newfoundland clubs, bars and newspapers … Read more
On 16–19 January 1841, as the Whig government of Lord Melbourne tottered towards collapse, Daniel O’Connell visited Belfast to address a Repeal meeting. He was accompanied by the Protestant Repealers Robert Dillon Browne (MP for Mayo) and Thomas Steele (the ‘Head Pacificator’), and by his son-in-law Charles O’Connell (formerly MP for Kerry). O’Connell came at … Read more