Flora Sandes (1876–1956) fought with the Serbian army during the Great War, and was awarded the country’s highest military honour. To the soldiers of Serbia she was nashi Engleskinja—‘our Englishwoman’. Flora was indeed born in Poppleton, Yorkshire, but her family background was whollyIrish. How had she ended up fighting in the Serbian Army? Escape from … Read more
When Charles Stewart Parnell’s coffin was drawn through the streets of Dublin on Sunday 11 October 1891, the carriages immediately following the hearse were occupied, appropriately, by members of his family. Four carriages back, however, was one carrying a number of prominent Fenians, most notably John O’Leary and James Stephens. Accompanying the two legendary IRB … Read more
In 1879 Sir John Joscelyn Coghill of Drumcondra visited the Museum of Science and Art in Dublin (now the National Museum of Ireland) to donate a number of ethnographic items gathered by his eldest son, Lieutenant Nevill Coghill. The collection was made up of tribal military equipment from Southern Africa, captured by Nevill the previous … Read more
The ultimate responsibility for failure to cope effectively with the disaster of the Famine lay with the Westminster parliament, but we should remember that Ireland in 1847 returned 105 MPs to Westminster. A unified effort by all these MPs could have changed government policies. No such agreed approach emerged and there was a serious failure … Read more
On 24 June 1828, as the schooner Mary Stubbs and the brig Mary Russell approached Cork Harbour, a man suddenly jumped overboard from the Mary Stubbs and swam towards nearby ships, one of which rescued him. A slight, red-haired individual, the swimmer said that he was Captain William Stewart, in fear for his life. Distrusting … Read more