Eneclann Ltd and Origins.net, in association with the National Library of Ireland, have made The Primary Valuation of Ireland 1847–1864, commonly known as Griffith’s Valuation, available on the web. Between 1847 and 1864 the Valuation Office, under the direction of Richard Griffith, carried out the first systematic valuation of property holdings in Ireland. It contains … Read more
In a new book, Ireland’s first ‘soul’ singer: the forgotten story of Mary Connolly, Eric Villiers has uncovered a long-lost piece of Ireland’s social and theatrical history. It’s a century-old tale brimming with the tragedies and successes in the life of an extraordinary street singer who swept to international fame in 1917. It has lain … Read more
The governing responsibilities of the mother superior of a convent, as laid down by nineteenth-century Canon Law, stated that she may ‘make ordinary purchases necessary to provide shelter or clothing or which are needed for the ordinary upkeep of property. She may [perform] acts of ordinary administration . . . enter into contracts of … Read more
In the Great War, Belfast contributed more voluntary recruits per head of population than any other part of Ireland. Out of an Irish recruiting total of some 144,000 men, Belfast—which represented less than a tenth of the Irish population—provided 46,000. What factors motivated so many Belfast men to enlist? A unionist interpretation, formed during the … Read more
Thomas Westropp Bennett is one of those largely forgotten earnest, elder statesmen who were the political and administrative midwives to the infant Irish Free State. The son of a British army captain, he was the first Catholic in an old Limerick family of Protestant gentry; an ancestor sat in Grattan’s parliament. Active in elected local … Read more