If it is possible to detect a new politicisation of women in Ireland during the O’Connellite era, to what extent is this manifest in the views expressed by women? It is clear from the statements of the women supporters that they were politically aware and knowledgeable about the specific demands of the Catholic Emancipation and … Read more
Haverty’s painting and the engraving convey an ambiguous message concerning women’s involvement in the Repeal movement. The shawled woman in the painting seems as interested in the political message as the men standing beside her, while other women are given more traditional or symbolic roles as female relatives or as mothers caring for infants and … Read more
Douglass spent four months in Ireland, giving talks in Dublin, Wexford, Cork, Limerick and Belfast. He crossed over to Britain in early January 1846, speaking to crowds of thousands, dining with statesmen and even contemplating moving his family over permanently. The great success of this leg of the tour, combined with continued worldwide sales of … Read more
A brusque and forthright figure, Captain C.H.E. Judkins was one of the Cunard Line’s longest-serving commanders and a well-known face to generations of transatlantic passengers. He would tell the American writer Margaret Fuller that he took pride in the New York Herald labelling him ‘the nigger captain’. His defence of Douglass, however, may not have … Read more
Irishmen soldiered abroad in the armies of continental Europe from at least 1587, when Irish regiments were formed in Spain, and this tradition continued well into the early nineteenth century. Many were forced to seek fame and fortune abroad after failed rebellions and religious discrimination at home. Following defeat in the Williamite War (1689–91), the … Read more