Nick Maxwell By Niall Whelehan In 1888 the International Council of Women was founded at a conference in Washington DC that brought together over 50 organisations from nine countries. Present were the acclaimed feminists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, as well as Marguerite Moore, the only Irish delegate there. Addressing the convention, Moore described how, … Read more
By Joe Regan In 1817 Hugh Quin bade farewell to Portaferry, Co. Down, and emigrated to the US, sailing from Liverpool to New Orleans. The fleet of ships that conveyed US cotton to Liverpool avoided returning ‘in ballast’ (not carrying any cargo) by taking immigrants back to New Orleans. Contemporary observers noted the relationship between … Read more
When the Civic Guard—later renamed An Garda Síochána—was founded in February 1922, the force it replaced, the Royal Irish Constabulary, was itself barely a century old. How much of the culture of the latter passed over to the former? What was the law-and-order situation in 1921/22? Why and how was it possible to set up … Read more
By Hiram Morgan The west coast of Ireland in the Elizabethan period was a place of refuge for English explorers, colonisers and privateers in distress after Atlantic voyages. Aiming to return to home ports in south-west England, they had instead to call into Kerry or Cork to resupply, repair or seek onward shipping. The locals … Read more
The ongoing saga of the institution’s struggle to reform its membership. By Clare O’Halloran The Royal Irish Academy (RIA) describes itself on its website as ‘an independent, all-island learned society established under Charter in 1785’ with ‘approximately 600 members, chosen for their distinguished contributions to scholarship and research in the sciences, humanities, social sciences and … Read more