‘HERE … WILL BE TRAINED THE WOMEN WHO WILL ASSIST IN BUILDING HAPPY HOMES, FOR HERE WILL BE IMPARTED RIGHT KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE OF HOME-CRAFT.’—ARCHBISHOP JOHN CHARLES McQUAID AT THE FORMAL OPENING OF ST MARY’S COLLEGE OF DOMESTIC SCIENCE, CATHAL BRUGHA STREET, 16JUNE 1941. By Brian Murphy St Mary’s College opened its doors against a … Read more
The notion that a woman’s primary responsibility to society was to be a home-maker was encompassed in the founding ethos of St Mary’s College. Indeed, to underline this point, the exquisite sculpture placed at the building’s façade two years after its opening, known as The Three Graces and designed by Gabriel Hayes, depicts three women … Read more
WHAT WAS THE IMPACT ON THE IRISH SOLDIER? By Lar Joye The Battle of the Somme has been described as the blackest period in the history of the British Army, and 100 years later its consequences are still in dispute.The year 1916 was to be a key one for the British Army, the first whentheir … Read more
By Seán Downes During the months that the 16th (Irish) Division was based in the Loos salient, its divisional headquarters were located at the town of Noeux-les-Mines, about five miles from the front line. It was here that the men paraded and were drilled, and it was to Noeux that the Irish often returned to … Read more
WHY WAS THE BATTLE FOUGHT? By Jennifer Wellington By late 1915, the war in the west had been effectively at stalemate for months. Repeated attempts to rupture the lines of trenches, barbed wire, concrete posts and dugouts had made little real difference, despite the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of lives. The Allies and the … Read more