Nick Maxwell 6 February 2017 was the 90th anniversary of the death of Sam Maguire, whose name was bestowed on the cup that has been awarded every year since 1928 to the winners of the All-Ireland Gaelic football championship. But who was he? By Junette Stronge Sam Maguire was born near Dunmanway, Co. Cork, into a Church … Read more
New on-line catalogue from the National Archives, Ireland. By Martin Fagan, Nigel Johnston and Vera Moynes ‘Captain Rock Do hereby warn the Genetery of Youghall, It is not Gould nor Silver we want, But Liberty And have your arms Redy for us for we do intend to pay you a Vised in a Short time … Read more
Readers of this magazine are no doubt familiar with the controversy stirred up by Peter Hart’s The IRA and its enemies (1998), and in particular by his thesis of the underlying sectarianism of the IRA’s campaign in Cork during the War of Independence. The difficult questions posed by Hart were entirely justified, but in the … Read more
By Joseph E.A. Connell Éamon de Valera commanded the Boland’s Mills garrison during the 1916 Rising. After the surrender he was court-martialled and sentenced to death, later commuted to life imprisonment. In prison, de Valera began to show his leadership qualities. On 7 June 1917, Major Willie Redmond, MP for East Clare, was killed in … Read more
DAVID ARMITAGE Yale University Press £18.99 ISBN 9780300149821 Reviewed by: Eoin Dillon An air of self-congratulation wafted off the panjandrums as they passed judgement on the commemorative events of 1916. ‘That went well’, they concluded: no outbreaks of civil disturbance, no attacks on state power, not even a discernible spike in support for advanced nationalism. … Read more