A BOOK THAT GENERATED COLUMNS OF COMMENT IN NEWSPAPERS AND JOURNALS IN LONDON, NEW YORK, PARIS AND ELSEWHERE WAS IGNORED IN IRELAND By Dennis Kennedy One hundred years ago, on 7 September 1916, the London Times carried a short report of a case at the Bow Street magistrates’ court. The court had been asked to … Read more
MY FAMILY HAS A SPECIAL LINK WITH 1916: MY GREAT-GRAND UNCLE PADDY FIRED THE FIRST SHOT IN THE EASTER RISING By Adam Murphy My great-grand uncle was Patrick Joseph Ramsbottom, known to his family as ‘Paddy’ and to his comrades as an fear mór because he was over 6ft tall. He was born on 21 … Read more
By Ian Lawler Karl Goetz was a German satirical medallist based in Munich who is best known for the infamous Lusitania medal which, owing to an incorrect date for the sinking (two days prior to the actual event), was seized upon by the Allies as evidence that the torpedoing of the Lusitania was a planned … Read more
SECULAR FRANCE AND CATHOLIC FRANCE SET ASIDE THEIR DIFFERENCES AND ABLY USED RELIGION TO BENEFIT THEIR CAUSE DURING THE WAR By Oliver O’Hanlon One hundred years ago, in the middle of the First World War, a small group of French clergymen visited Ireland. News of their visit was reported in the Irish, British and French … Read more
THE AUTHOR AND DERIVATION OF THE MOST WIDELY KNOWN SONG ABOUT IRELAND’S MOST MONUMENTAL CATASTROPHE HAVE REMAINED OBSCURE ALMOST SINCE ITS COMPOSITION By Dan Milner The first verse of the ballad ‘Old Skibbereen’ tells us that it was composed outside Ireland (‘Then why did you abandon it, the reason to me tell?’), and America stands … Read more