The First World War correspondence of Michael Bourke, Garvey’s Lane, Limerick. By Tadhg Moloney During the First World War, letters allowed soldiers in training or at the front to keep in touch with home. Michael Bourke of Garvey’s Lane, Limerick, wrote at least 36 letters to his sister Mary over the nine months from 2 … Read more
The decisive stance taken by the Catholic bishop of Cork, Francis Moylan, towards the threat of French invasion in December 1796. By Gordon Kennedy On Christmas Day 1796, while Theobald Wolfe Tone was still anxiously pacing the deck of a French warship, desperately hoping that Lazare Hoche’s subordinates would actually come to a decision and … Read more
The impact of print may have been more muffled than initially supposed. By Toby Barnard Between 1550 and 1800 almost 30,000 different publications were printed in Ireland. This development, accelerating from the 1720s, has been seen as the motor driving enlightenment, secularisation, rationalism, nationalism, material and mental betterment, ‘modernity’, political engagement, restlessness and ultimately, in … Read more
Isaac Lally played a prominent role in schooling the last generation of the learned families of Connacht and Ulster. By Ruairí Ó hAodha Of the ‘wild geese’ who departed Ireland after the Williamite wars, the Lallys of Tullinadaly, Co. Galway, stand out for the renown, both glorious and tragic, that they earned in the annals … Read more