On 25 July 1984 a wave of disbelief swept through the main streets of Ireland like a tsunami. Woolworth’s was abandoning Ireland! The shopping public reeled. F.W. Woolworth & Co. Ltd—also colloquially and affectionately known as ‘Woolies’—had been an iconic shopping experience for generations. It formed an integral part of urban folklore heritage. To witness … Read more
Western interest in Mount Everest began in 1841, when Sir George Everest, surveyor general of India, recorded its location; the first reasonably accurate measurement of the mountain was subsequently made in 1856. The first British reconnaissance expedition was made in 1921, and since then mountaineers of various nationalities have tried to reach the roof of … Read more
R.W.G. Hingston was born in London in 1887 but spent most of his early life in the family home at Horsehead, Passage West, Co. Cork. He was educated at University College Cork, from which he graduated with first-class honours in 1910. He subsequently passed into the Indian medical service. In 1913 he joined the Indo-Russian … Read more
Shortly after the Easter Rising, a traumatised Englishwoman—who had the misfortune to happen upon some rebels as she entered the GPO to buy some stamps—related her dramatic ordeal to the Irish Independent: ‘Much to my consternation I found myself almost immediately placed under arrest by an officer of the Irish Volunteers. I was then taken … Read more
Both O’Casey’s and the Independent’s women in distress, one fictional, the other (semi-)real, are equally outlandish and—amid the chaos of revolution—out of sync. But on a more serious level, the focus on such representations also risks ignoring how women, in the form of Cumann na mBan, were integral to the fighting—not inconsequential, bit-part-playing outsiders. The … Read more