ROCHE, ‘Tiger’ (c. 1739–79), adventurer and duellist, was born David Roche in Dublin, the youngest son of James Roche, a barrister. His father died when he was young, and his mother remarried and moved to England, leaving her son in Dublin. He spent the next few years as part of a notorious set of ‘bucks’ … Read more
Between 1893 and 1946 the Huguenot Society of London (now of Great Britain and Ireland) published what were then, and still are, the only extant records of the Huguenot community in Ireland. The records, published as part of the Society’s quarto series, were printed in small numbers and were originally produced for the Society’s members … Read more
Ukraine is derived from a word meaning ‘frontier’ or ‘borderland’. Its natives dislike the definite article that is usually placed in front of it—‘the Ukraine’—as this seems to suggest that it is not an entity of itself but merely the edge of other peoples’ territories. States, and much less nations, rarely possess natural frontiers or … Read more
When Louis XVI knew that he was to be executed he chose the son of an Irish country clergyman to give him spiritual comfort on the scaffold. The priest he chose, Henry Essex Edgeworth (1745–1807), came from a remarkable and gifted family. His forebears had acquired land in County Longford during the reign of Queen … Read more
On 19 January 2005 John O’Donoghue TD, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, launched Enneclan’s CD-Rom publication of Ireland’s Memorial Records 1914–1918 at the National War Memorial Gardens at Islandbridge, Dublin. The CD-Rom records the names of more than 49,000 Irishmen who died in the Great War. The rich tapestry of historical and genealogical detail … Read more