WILLIAM FERGUSON MASSEY, OR ‘FARMER BILL’ AS HE WAS KNOWN IN HIS ADOPTED COUNTRY, IS ARGUABLY LIMAVADY’S MOST FAMOUS SON. HE WAS PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND DURING TURBULENT TIMES, MOST NOTABLY DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR, FROM 1912 UNTIL HIS DEATH IN 1925. HE IS NEW ZEALAND’S SECOND-LONGEST SERVING PRIME MINISTER. By Aaron Callan … Read more
BEREHAVEN, CO. CORK—PERHAPS NOT THE KEY TO THE ATLANTIC NOR AN ‘IRISH GIBRALTAR’, BUT NOT A BACKWATER EITHER By John Ware The Royal Navy first moved into the waters of west Cork in 1797. The west coast of Ireland is, in sailorly terms, ‘iron-bound’, and the prevailing westerlies obliged ships to be wary of it. … Read more
ARCHIVES RELATING TO SLAVERY AND THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR HELD IN THE PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE OF NORTHERN IRELAND (PRONI) By Brett Irwin The majority of the records in the PRONI relating to the American Civil War are letters sent to Ireland from people who witnessed slavery and the conflict at first hand. In my research … Read more
ON THE HILL OF TARA, CO. MEATH, NEXT TO THE LIA FÁIL, IS A MONUMENT COMMEMORATING THE REBELLION OF 1798. SOME 3,000 MILES AWAY, IN A CEMETERY IN POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK, IS ANOTHER MONUMENT, MARKING THE GRAVE OF A MAN WHO DEVOTED HIS LIFE TO THE VISION OF A FREE AND UNIFIED IRELAND. By Joshua … Read more
On 12 August 1821 a corpulent George IV set foot on Ireland at Howth, the first peacetime visit by a British monarch. A medallion (below) proclaimed that ‘Ireland hails with joy the visit of her sovereign’. Commemorative medallions were produced for royal visits, suggesting that the Irish were loyal to the Crown but led astray … Read more