An ambitious scheme to build a ‘New Geneva’ on the Waterford coast in 1782 attracted a number of Swiss exiles, but ultimately floundered. By Isadore Ryan The story starts during the night of 1 July 1782, when the bourgeois citizens of Geneva decided not to oppose an expeditionary force sent by France, Bern and the … Read more
By Fiona Fitzsimons There is a point that every family historian reaches when, having exhausted all the documentary evidence, s/he draws a line under research. In this last decade medical science has delivered a new research-tool—DNA testing. Genetics is the science of inheritance. Everyone’s genome contains a wealth of information on their ancestry. DNA testing … Read more
Netflix, 2016–17 By John Gibney Does the British head of state sit down to watch The Crown? What was interpreted as an exceptionally subtle reference in Queen Elizabeth II’s annual Christmas message to an incident depicted in the second series of what could be said (no pun intended) to be the jewel in the crown … Read more
The Irishwoman who became the first female lord mayor of Manchester almost 70 years ago. By Arnold Horner Born in 1877, Mary Latchford Jones grew up in an upwardly mobile Protestant family that migrated across suburban Dublin. Her father, Percival Jones, had spent his early years assisting in a Capel Street china and earthenware shop … Read more
Setting the record straight on institutional abuse. By Catriona Crowe Ireland has been convulsed over the last 30 years by revelations of the abuse of women and children in institutions allegedly dedicated to their welfare. These institutions existed in Ireland long after they had vanished elsewhere in Europe. They were run mainly, but not exclusively, … Read more