Sir,—Can a reader of History Ireland or a member of the Madigan family help me? I am trying to find out where in Ireland the American circus manager Henry Patrick Madigan was born. I have one source—supposed to be very reliable—saying that he was born in Ireland, and another saying that he was born in … Read more
Sir,—Ciaran Murray’s article (HI 19.5, Sept./Oct. 2011) on the photograph that he acquired of the successful Bohemians team of 1929/30 was of great interest to me because I have three other photographs of Bohs teams from the same period. All the photographs were taken by Keogh Bros studios on Dorset Street; all have the same … Read more
Sir,—Gill & Macmillan have published a second edition of Gerard Murphy’s The year of disappearances ten months after publication of the first. It alleged systematic IRA sectarianism toward Protestants in Cork during and after the War of Independence. Initial positive commentary from Independent Newspapers columnists was replaced by heavy criticism in seven consecutive academic reviews. … Read more
On St Patrick’s Day 1858, in Peter Lanigan’s timber yard, Lombard Street, Dublin, James Stephens formally established the Irish Republican Brotherhood. It was originally named the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, but soon came to be known as the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). The IRB was a small, secret, revolutionary body whose sole object was to ‘establish … Read more
The dust-jacket of Éibhear Walshe’s anthology of the Irish writings of the Anglo-Irish novelist Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) reproduces a portrait of her by Patrick Hennessy, standing statuesquely in pale blue evening dress at the top of the grand staircase of her family home at Bowen’s Court, Farahy, north Cork. Bowen’s face, lit by a shaft … Read more