Abraham (‘Bram’) Stoker was born in 1847, when Le Fanu was hoping to achieve an independent Ascendancy Irish parliament. He was a sickly child, nursed by his formidable mother, Charlotte Thornley Stoker (probably the inspiration for his heroine, Mina Harker). He survived to become a noted athlete at Trinity College. His father had been a … Read more
Hervey organised elaborate games and competitions between local clergymen, inviting his most overweight vicars to splendid dinners without portion control and then ordering after-dinner races over bogland, or calling for jumping competitions on full stomachs. For his delight, he organised cross-community horse-racing along Downhill strand, pitting lean and fit Presbyterians against his own overfed ministers … Read more
The remnants and ruins of Hervey’s vast building projects still punctuate the landscape of Ulster—he ordered the building of stately glebe houses and added elegant spires to plain Protestant churches, determined, as he wrote, ‘to make the County of Derry look like a gentleman’. Most gentlemanly of all are the magnificent ruins at Downhill, where … Read more
In eighteenth-century Ireland wealth and success were embodied in the carriage, and, unlike present-day totems of conspicuous consumption, these could be unique to the owner in style and pageantry. Like today’s private jets and helicopters, in the eighteenth century carriages were associated with successful traders and commercial figures. In Dublin in particular, corporation occasions offered … Read more
The Ouzel Galley Society was closely linked with the Dublin Chamber of Commerce. The other prominent commercial club was the Committee of Merchants, radical businessmen who organised and funded the erection of the Royal Exchange (now Dublin City Hall). They also sought (and failed) to stop the Dublin Custom House from moving to its present … Read more