While not a ‘special’ as such, this issue has a particular end-of-First-World-War emphasis. Mark Phelan reminds us of how the Central Powers were eventually defeated (pp 24–7); Monika Barget, Pádraig MacCarron and Susan Schreibman retrieve yet another aspect of the heretofore hidden history of women’s involvement (‘Sphagum moss and female agency’, pp 32–4); and John … Read more
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
Sir,—Your last editorial (HI 26.4, July/August 2018) provides an interesting summary of the evolution of Irish society and its relationship with Catholicism. From a position of being overly deferential towards Catholicism, the majority of Irish people have now gone full circle and adopted a child-like, naïve faith in secularism. Much thinking in this country is … Read more
By Sylvie Kleinman This year marks the 220th anniversary of the United Irishmen’s proclamation of a sovereign and democratic Ireland, which so inspired the 1916 generation but was almost totally overlooked in 2016. Unlike Fitzgerald and Emmet, Theobald Wolfe Tone’s final resting place was both known and publicly accessible. The authorities released the traitor’s body … 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