The National Museum of Ireland’s permanent exhibition Soldiers and Chiefs: The Irish at War at Home and Abroad from 1550 has a large collection of loans from museums around the world. These include items belonging to Major General Patrick Cleburne (1828–64) and the 10th Tennessee Infantry Regiment (Irish) of the Confederate Army, on loan from … Read more
From its inception the story of Irish canals was laden with tragedy. Men close to starvation laboured for a few pence a day to dig them, and barge masters sailed fully armed against a backdrop of simmering hostility. Guinness was the major customer of the Grand Canal Company (GCC). In the 1800s they undercut local … Read more
On the morning of 22 September 1920, four volunteers from the IRA’s West Clare brigade gathered at a level crossing at Caherfeenick, near Doonbeg. Presently, they heard an approaching Ford two-seater—the object of their attentions. The driver was local resident magistrate Captain Alan Cane Lendrum MC, a native of County Tyrone, a former rubber-planter in … Read more
In 1892 France signed a military convention with Russia: in the event of war, the Central Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary, would have to fight on two fronts. As for the United Kingdom, it worried about Kaiser Wilhelm II’s decision to massively develop the German navy. When in 1901 Anglo-German talks eventually failed to reach a … Read more
The institutional brutality, neglect and sexual abuse of children catalogued in the Murphy report, and its predessessors, Ryan and Ferns, concentrated on the later twentieth century. But did the Irish not already know of such behaviour in their midst? The truth, as is often the case, has been evident in the works of some of … Read more