Founded 150 years ago, the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) was a secret, oath-bound, revolutionary organisation dedicated to the establishment of an independent Irish republic by force. The Fenians (as they were known generically) were an international phenomenon with a presence on all six continents. Not only did the organisation engage in military operations across the … Read more
After the American Civil War, the Fenian movement decided to attack Britain by launching a raid north into Canada in 1866, and again in 1870. If they could not capture Canada, the Fenians hoped at least to provoke an international incident between Britain and the United States; if successful, Canada could be bartered for Irish … Read more
In 1920, six years before Hollywood made the film Beau Geste, Bray and Arklow doubled for North Africa in another, less famous silent film about the French Foreign Legion made by the Celtic Cinema Company, entitled Rosaleen Dhu. Based on a story by John Denvir, the film tells the romantic tale of an exiled Fenian … Read more
In April 1883, local newspapers lamented the fact that Brooklyn, then a separate city from New York, was quickly developing a global reputation. Brooklyn’s new-found fame was not for its new bridge, then under construction: it had become renowned for harbouring dynamiters and militant Fenians who, according to the Brooklyn Eagle, were ‘bringing disgrace upon … Read more
Land League posters were emblazoned with bold headings straight from Lalor and Davis: ‘The Land for the People’ and ‘Ireland for the Irish’. At the bottom of most was stated ‘God Save Ireland’. Many of the posters contained revolutionary slogans and rhetoric evoking Tone and French Revolution republicanism denouncing tyranny and slavery. In the remotest … Read more