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
The Council of Irish Chiefs and Chieftains together with Clans of Ireland (Fínte na hÉireann), in association with the History Department of Trinity College, Dublin, and History Ireland magazine, is offering a prize of ?750 for the winning entrant in an essay competition on Gaelic Ireland. Entry is open to all persons over eighteen years … Read more
The O’Molony surname and its more modern variants (Moloney, Maloney and Mullowney) all derive from the Gaelic Ó Maoldomnaig, meaning ‘descendant of a servant of Sunday’. The ‘e’ was inserted in the Molony surname in the eighteenth century to distinguish Catholic Molonys from their Protestant brethren. Omallun is another variant seen in the Petworth Archives … Read more