Nick Maxwell On the 150th anniversary of the birth of the poet, painter, mystic and advocate of agricultural cooperation. By Daniel Mulhall George Russell (AE), who was born in Lurgan, Co. Armagh, on 10 April 1867, was a man of many parts, but it is his value as a witness to Irish history that has always drawn … Read more
A fascinating family connection with a failed rebellion. By Fergus Whelan At 11pm on 5 March 1867, an undercover policeman watched as small groups of armed Fenians mustered at Palmerston Park, Dublin. Eventually nearly 600 men had gathered. They were under the leadership of Captain Patrick Lennon, an experienced soldier and a deserter from the … Read more
By Fiona Fitzsimons The first efforts to provide education for deaf children and young people in Ireland were voluntary. In 1816 Dr Charles Orpen established the Claremont Institute for the Deaf and Dumb in Glasnevin. The Claremont was under the patronage of the Church of Ireland but accepted Catholic children as students. In the 1830s, … Read more
The real history of Irish slavery on Barbados highlights how much worse slavery was for Africans in the Americas, reminding us that the curse of Cromwell has haunted more than just Irish history. By John Donoghue History and nationalism have long been locked in a troubled relationship. While nationalists base their appeals on history, their … Read more
As many readers of this magazine are surely aware, Seán O’Callaghan’s To Hell or Barbados (2000) revived public interest in the colonial connection to Cromwell’s curse. Nursing nationalist outrage about the conquest, O’Callaghan calculated that 50,000 Irish were sold in the colonies, a number that grossly inflates the estimates of modern scholars, which run from … Read more