For the past eleven years Gorey, Co. Wexford, has been hosting the Byrne Perry Summer School. Miles Byrne and Anthony Perry were leaders of the 1798 Rebellion in Wexford. This year’s school took place on 24–26 June, with Wexford County Council as chief sponsor and in association with History Ireland and Keough Notre Dame Centre, … Read more
The recent high-profile sale of two iconic documents relating to the 1916 Rising—a Proclamation (in March 2005) and an original copy of Pearse’s surrender document (in May)—became huge media events. Insofar as there was debate, it tended to concentrate on two questions. Would a private sale result in these prized documents being ‘lost to the … Read more
On 19 September 1908 Petty Officer Second Class William O’Brien left Dublin on the 9.20pm boat bound for Devonport and Portsmouth, the Royal Navy bases in the south of England. On 10 September he had been ‘warned for draft to Pandora, fitting out at Portsmouth for service on Cape of Good Hope and West Coast … Read more
Desmond Fennell takes a critical look at the dominant narrative of the ‘History of Europe’… and finds it wanting. In the 60 years before World War I, when Europe was dominating and leading the world, historians in France, Germany and England gave the history of Europe up to their own time its definitive shape. It … Read more
The Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914–1919 (SDGW) series was first published in 1921 and was compiled from official casualty returns. Each regiment and unit in the British army that served in the Great War had its own listing of their dead. The lists contain the names of non-commissioned officers and men of other … Read more