A case of money and influence against the honour of an Irish lady? By Joan Capstick In 1878 a sensational divorce petition came before the Dublin probate and matrimonial court. Sarah Parker, née Ganly, a well-known and unconventional lecturer on women’s rights and spiritualism, sued her husband, Matthew Gibson Parker, a partner in Ganly, Son … Read more
The chevalier brothers-in-law—Thomas O’Gorman, antiquary, genealogist and wine merchant, and Charles-Geneviève d’Éon de Beaumont, transgender diplomat and spy. By Seán O’Halloran The publication of a recently discovered copy of the manuscript of the genealogy of the house of O’Reilly by Clachan Publishing has drawn attention to its compiler, the largely forgotten eighteenth-century antiquary Chevalier Thomas … Read more
Ireland and the history of blasphemy. By David Nash For much of the twentieth century, western governments believed either that blasphemy laws were long-dead fragments of a bygone age or that they simply sat quietly and unnoticed in dust-laden legal volumes away from the public gaze. Events at the end of the twentieth century indicated … Read more
A complex, sophisticated instrument that can deliver a unique form of traditional music. By Terry Moylan In early December 2017, at their general assembly in South Korea, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) inscribed uilleann piping in their Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It joins an extensive list … Read more
An innovative, tenacious pioneer, Nano Nagle transcended the narrowly prescribed boundaries of her time. By Gillian O’Brien and Jessie Castle Between the early 1750s and her death in 1784 Nano Nagle established schools in Cork to educate poor Catholic children, brought the Ursuline Sisters to Ireland and founded her own religious order, the Presentation Sisters, … Read more