professional and educated classes Charles O’Shaughnessy (1826/7–1911?) was a Kilfinane (Co. Limerick) draper with a taste for the polemical, as this stanza from one of his advertising jingles suggests. He was a prolific pamphleteer on a wide variety of subjects. The pamphlets were available post-free and came with the confident guarantee that ‘No money is … Read more
In eighteenth-century Ireland wealth and success were embodied in the carriage, and, unlike present-day totems of conspicuous consumption, these could be unique to the owner in style and pageantry. Like today’s private jets and helicopters, in the eighteenth century carriages were associated with successful traders and commercial figures. In Dublin in particular, corporation occasions offered … Read more
In the aftermath of the Williamite revolution religious persecution intensified. In 1697 the Irish parliament, an exclusively Protestant assembly since 1691, enacted a law to banish all Catholic bishops and others exercising ecclesiastical jurisdictions, as well as regulars (religious orders), from Ireland. In 1704 ‘an act to prevent the further growth of popery’ demanded the … Read more
European and Irish society long before the Vikings arrived. St Patrick was first brought to Ireland as a captive, and slave-raiding across the Irish Sea is attested (in both directions) at the time when Roman power collapsed in Britain. There is no evidence, however, of large-scale slave-raiding in Ireland in the century prior to the … Read more
Philanthropy is not the prerogative of the wealthy alone. We must think long and hard about what philanthropy in this country could and should mean—creating a better place for one’s fellow citizens by sharing one’s expertise and skills as well as capital. It is time for reflection on and a renewal of an old concept. … Read more