To the north of the Old Library in Trinity College sits a bay of over 1,000 books and pamphlets donated to the library in the late eighteenth century. The main contributor was a Dublin politician, Theophilus Butler. He was born in 1669 in County Cavan. He had two brothers, James and Brinsley. On 27 September … Read more
The recent high-profile sale of two iconic documents relating to the 1916 Rising—a Proclamation (in March 2005) and an original copy of Pearse’s surrender document (in May)—became huge media events. Insofar as there was debate, it tended to concentrate on two questions. Would a private sale result in these prized documents being ‘lost to the … Read more
TC: Perhaps we can begin by asking you to tell us something about your background. PW: I was born in Askeaton, Co. Limerick, 56 years ago. In 1966 I got a scholarship and chose to go to University College Galway. If it had not been for the scholarship I doubt that I would have got … Read more
On 19 September 1908 Petty Officer Second Class William O’Brien left Dublin on the 9.20pm boat bound for Devonport and Portsmouth, the Royal Navy bases in the south of England. On 10 September he had been ‘warned for draft to Pandora, fitting out at Portsmouth for service on Cape of Good Hope and West Coast … Read more
The O’Neill lordship of Tír Eoghain was the most powerful Gaelic lordship in Ireland. It was bigger than the modern county of Tyrone, taking in most of County Armagh and what is now the barony of Loughinsholin in south Derry. The central location of this large polity in the north gave Tír Eoghain a natural … Read more