‘THOUSANDS OF MEN WERE PASSED FIT WITHOUT ANY MEDICAL EXAMINATION WORTH THE NAME’ By Michael Robinson In spite of the huge increase of research on—and popular interest in—the First World War in recent years, a continuing omission has been those Irishmen who were able to enlist in the British Army, and experience active service, who … Read more
THE PHENOMENON OF ANTI-PAPAL PUBLIC ORATION IN BRITAIN By Daniel Downer Popular among the conservative middle and working classes alike as a form of intellectual education or mere entertainment, the phenomenon of anti-papal public oration in Britain grew from the 1840s onwards, coinciding with mass public concern at the revival of the Catholic Church in … Read more
WEATHER AND DANGER WERE KEY TO LEE’S EXPERIENCE By Angela Byrne At midday on Monday 3 November 1806, John Lee (né Fiott, 1783–1866) left the inn at Dingle on foot for Ventry. It had rained all morning but cleared at noon. Lee had been walking almost every day since 31 July 1806, when he left … Read more
WHY WE NEED TO CONFRONT THE ‘IRISH SLAVE MYTH’ AND HOW TERMINOLOGY IS NOT SIMPLY SEMANTICS By Liam Hogan, Laura McAtackney and Matthew C. Reilly When John Grenham asked the question ‘Were there Irish slaves in Barbados?’ in an Irish Times article on 7 September 2015 he answered in the affirmative. He claimed that there … Read more
WHY DID THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION FAIL IN IRELAND? By Henry A. Jefferies In terms of sheer importance in Irish history, few events compare with the Reformation. In particular, the contrasting outcomes of the Reformation in Ireland and Britain had profound consequences for Anglo-Irish relations over subsequent centuries, and still affect life in Northern Ireland to … Read more