Nick Maxwell By Mark McLaughlin The ending of the Irish Civil War with the order to ‘dump arms’ in May 1923 allowed the new National Army of the Irish Free State to concentrate on the creation of a professional army capable of serving the needs of the new state. An army of 7,000 had expanded during the … Read more
By Oliver Doyle Croagh Patrick, a 2,510ft-high conical mountain 9.5km from Westport, has been a place of pilgrimage for centuries. During the Celtic Revival in the early 1900s, the annual pilgrimage to the summit was reintroduced; Mass would be celebrated there, and sermons given in both English and Irish, as many of those attending did … Read more
By Peadar Slattery Ask anyone in Ireland to recall an event in 1912 and they may well mention the sinking of the White Star liner Titanic on 14–15 April, or a person might point to the signing of the Solemn League and Covenant by unionists to resist Home Rule. Less well known is an episode … Read more
By Fiona Fitzsimons In May 1709, c. 13,000 Palatine refugees arrived in England. They were artisans and small farmers from the regions of Baden, Hesse and the Rheinish Palatinate (present-day south-west Germany). The Palatines were the crest of a wave, which by the time it receded had deposited over 30,000 refugees. They spoke many different … Read more
By Aindrias Ó Cathasaigh Eighty-one years after his death, William Patrick Ryan is still best remembered for editing a newspaper that was denounced by the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland but lived to tell the tale. And with good reason: even at this distance, it’s quite the feather in a radical journalist’s cap. … Read more