Nick Maxwell O’Brien, Ignatius John, Baron Shandon (1857–1930), lord chancellor of Ireland, was born on 31 July 1857 in Cork, ninth child and youngest son of Mark Joseph O’Brien (chandler and brewer’s agent) and Jane, daughter of William Dunne. His father lacked business capacity; the family survived in genteel poverty through the labours and sacrifices of his … Read more
There is a history of over 200 years of public health service in Ireland, and by the early nineteenth century county infirmaries, fever hospitals and public dispensaries had become the most important providers of health services. As can be imagined, the public health service, then as now, was highly political. The dispensaries in particular, and … Read more
Tipperary in the eighteenth century was a county where a larger than average portion of the countryside remained in Catholic hands and where, consequently, tensions between the Protestant establishment and leading Catholic families remained high. The single greatest reason for this was the failure of the colonial administration to convert sufficient branches of the Butler … Read more
The modes by which history-writing has been conducted through the ages have been manifold — from the barest chronicle, through the grand narrative down to the electronic database. But for many centuries one expressive form has assumed a place of surprising importance: the essay. Whether it has made its appearance in singular occasional form or … Read more
The Registry of Deeds, located in the King’s Inns building in the north-west quarter of Dublin city, is one of Ireland’s most remarkable archives, described by one commentator as ‘a most valuable storehouse of history’. The Registry is at once a still-functioning public office for registering property transactions and a repository of centuries-old records of … Read more