Nick Maxwell Edward Lear is best remembered today for his humorous verses—he first popularised the limerick—which he called his ‘Nonsenses’. This exhibition concentrates on Lear’s early career as a landscape draughtsman up to his departure from England in 1837; it covers his tours in Ireland in August 1835 and in northern Lancashire and the Lake District from … Read more
‘I am a silk weaver by trade and have been employed by the Transport Union as band instructor. During my instruction of these bands they became part of the Citizen Army and from this I was asked to become a drill instructor. I had no commission whatever in the Citizen Army’, declared Michael Mallin, who … Read more
Born in Ballykelly, Co. Derry, in 1729, William Martin was remarkable for being the first Irish-born minister of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, which had been introduced by Scottish settlers in the 1660s. In 1760 he became the minister of Kellswater, Co. Antrim, the oldest congregation in the Irish synod. This was a time of economic … Read more
Jubilees just aren’t what they used to be. In June 1897 Maud Gonne organised a counter-campaign of defiance to the official celebrations, a magic lantern projection from the National Club in Dublin. Which Ireland was on show that evening, in a capital illuminated with giant ‘VR’ monograms? Beamed across what is now Parnell Square were … Read more
Handball is known to have been played in Ireland from at least the mid-1500s. Its origins are likely shared with the contemporaneous games of real or royal tennis, palla, pelota and Eton fives. While royal tennis was played in purpose-built courts from the early 1500s, handball, like pelota (Basque region) and palla (Tuscany), was predominantly … Read more