Joseph Edelstein was among the most eccentric Dublin characters of his era. Born in Portobello in 1886, the son of Russian-born parents, he was a writer and an effective public speaker who frequently addressed United Irish League meetings. In 1908, the year in which his novel The moneylender caused controversy in the Jewish community, he … Read more
It should be remembered that some of the information contained in the files held in the PRONI was compiled by the government of Northern Ireland before any official announcement was made by the USSR government. It wasn’t until 14 May 1986 that Mikhail Gorbachev, as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, … Read more
As a part of the Second New Deal, President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved the establishment of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which employed some five million Americans between 1934 and 1943. The Federal Writers’ Project was established in 1935 as part of this to provide employment for teachers, writers, librarians and other unemployed white-collar workers. … Read more
Betham’s sporting prowess meant that she attained something akin to celebrity status. Not only was she fêted in the press but she also had a dance dedicated in her honour. There was even a faint echo of the modern sporting celebrity’s endorsement of sports goods and other commodities, when Betham wrote approvingly in the Archer’s … Read more
Cecilia Maria Eleanor Betham was born in January 1843 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, the second child and only daughter of Molyneux Cecil John Betham and his wife Elizabeth, the only daughter of Sir Richard Ford, chief magistrate at Bow Street, London. In 1846 the Betham family was recorded as residing at 123 Park Street, Grosvenor … Read more