The Kilkenny to Thomastown line, part of the Waterford and Kilkenny Railway, opened on 12 May 1848; it was subsequently extended from Thomastown to Jerpoint Hill, opening on 29 May 1850. This relatively short section required the construction of a viaduct over the River Nore, consisting of timber lattice girders supported on heavy masonry abutments, … Read more
Divisions in the Irish trade union movement opened up following the return of Jim Larkin from the USA in 1923. As a revolutionary socialist, Larkin had objections to the Free State settlement and the way the labour leadership both supported and accommodated itself within it. In addition to these political objections, however, Larkin also displayed … Read more
The early to mid-1920s was a period of despondency for the Irish labour movement. The victory of the Free State regime in the Civil War was accompanied by an all-out assault on the wages and conditions of Irish workers. Major strikes involving postal workers, Dublin dockers and Waterford farm labourers were just three of a … Read more
As the First World War was entering its final stages, a pandemic of unprecedented virulence, which we now know to be the H1N1 influenza virus, infected one billion people around the globe and may have killed approximately 100 million. It spread with remarkable speed, striking in three almost simultaneous waves in various parts of the … Read more
In the absence of any one effective medicine or vaccine, doctors used abroad range of Bovril notice (Irish Independent, 23 December 1918) treatments for the symptoms of influenza. These includedcalomel (as a purgative), oxygen, stimulants (including strychnine),salicylates, quinine, trional or some preparation of opium forsleeplessness, gargles prepared from a tincture of creosote or asolution of … Read more