The broker baron by C. J. Woods DU BÉDAT, Francis Edward (1851–1919), stockbroker, was the third son of William George Du Bédat (1815–89), a stockbroker in College Green, Dublin, and his wife Anne Letitia, daughter of Thomas Copperthwaite of Dublin. He was brought up at Ballybrack House, Killiney, Co. Dublin, and was a brilliant pupil … Read more
The South Sea Bubble: a parable for our own time The South Sea Company, a joint stock company, was established in 1711 by British lord treasurer Robert Harley as a device for servicing government debt, which had ballooned as a result of the ongoing War of Spanish Succession and previous wars with Louis XIV’s France. … Read more
The Kilkenny to Thomastown line, part of the Waterford and Kilkenny Railway, opened on 12 May 1848; it was subsequently extended from Thomastown to Jerpoint Hill, opening on 29 May 1850. This relatively short section required the construction of a viaduct over the River Nore, consisting of timber lattice girders supported on heavy masonry abutments, … Read more
November 7 1910 Leo Tolstoy (82), Russian novelist, author notably of War and Peace (1863–9) and Anna Karenina (1874–6), died of pneumonia in a siding at Astapovo railway station. 8 1960 Nine Irish soldiers from an eleven-man patrol of the 33rd Battalion serving as a peacekeeping force with the UN in the Congo were killed … Read more
The Importance of Being Irish RTÉ1, March–April 2008 Yellow Asylum Films/Royal Irish Academy Frederick Douglass agus na Negroes Bána TG4, 2 April 2008 Camel Productions by John Gibney It goes without saying that Ireland has undergone radical changes in the past two decades. In recent years numerous attempts to explain the origins and nature of … Read more