The Christian Brothers and Gaelic corporal punishment

Sir,—I take exception to the gratuitously insulting cartoon by ‘doll’on page nine of the autumn 1996 issue of History Ireland. The cartoondepicts a figure pushing over a pedestal on which is inscribed ‘NaBráithre Críostaí Irish Christian Brothers, 1820-’. The figure issaying ‘Corporal punishment was bad enough, but Gaelic corporalpunishment…’ Now, as a person with a … Read more

DUBLIN, EIRE[sic] (Yank, 12 October 1945)

Eire—It was a beautiful day in Dublin. Floating down the Liffey, neat little barges with red-topped funnels, loaded with brown barrels of Guinness stout, symbolised pre-war living and good appetites. Along the riverside the sunshine accentuated, rainbow-wise, the soft greens, blues, reds and yellows with which Dublin’s tall Georgian houses are painted. It was low … Read more

The Limerick pogrom, 1904

Kevin Haddick Flynn outlines the background to and the course of an incident that sharply divided public opinion. This year marks the hundredth anniversary of the only anti-Jewish pogrom to take place on Irish soil—that which occurred in Limerick in the early months of 1904. The outrage divided public opinion, but only two people of … Read more

‘Tumbling Into the Fight’ Charlotte Grace O’Brien (1845-1909); The Emigrant’s Advocate

Before the Great Famine of 1845-1849, emigration had already established itself as a feature of Irish society. In the five years preceding the Famine, emigration averaged 50,000 per year, but the Famine propelled a huge rise in overall emigration as starving Irish flocked to the ships that represented hope for survival. In 1846, more than … Read more

The other women of 1916

In October 1914, two months after the outbreak of the Great War, the civilian voluntary effort to support Irish troops at home and at the front was coordinated for the provinces of Leinster, Munster and Connacht by a joint executive committee of people from the British Red Cross Society (Co. Dublin branch) and the Irish … Read more