The Harvard Archaeological Mission to Ireland, 1932–6. By Mairéad Carew The driving force behind the Harvard Archaeological Mission to Ireland was eugenics, now considered a pseudo-science and a variant of scientific racism. It was then regarded as the science of better breeding for human beings and had been established as a discipline in several … Read more
A case of money and influence against the honour of an Irish lady? By Joan Capstick In 1878 a sensational divorce petition came before the Dublin probate and matrimonial court. Sarah Parker, née Ganly, a well-known and unconventional lecturer on women’s rights and spiritualism, sued her husband, Matthew Gibson Parker, a partner in Ganly, Son … Read more
Cumann na mBan fatalities in the War of Independence and Civil War. By Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc This year marks several important milestones in the history of women’s struggle in Ireland. The centenaries of the extension of the vote to women and the election of Constance Markievicz as the first female MP will be widely … Read more
By Fiona Fitzsimons We all generate documents as we go through life, a ‘paper trail’ that is a record of key events. Ironically, the greatest amount of evidence is often left at the time of death. In nineteenth- and twentieth-century Ireland, death was one of the busiest times of life, with its own protocols to … Read more
By Saoirse Ní Shíocháin Geoffrey Lee Compton-Smith was born in 1889 in South Kensington, London. After finishing school, he decided not to follow the family tradition of studying law. He actually wanted to become an artist, but his father insisted that he join the army. He studied at the Royal Military College at Sandhurst and … Read more