Collins took an interest in how he was portrayed in the press and understood the value of good publicity. BY ALISON MARTIN By the time of his assassination in August 1922, Michael Collins had become an increasingly popular subject of media attention. Media interest in Collins was not limited to Ireland, however, as there were … Read more
The agrarian movement of 1920. BY TERRY DUNNE An t-Óglách, the IRA newsletter, starkly pronounced on 1 May 1920: ‘The Irish Republican Army has found it necessary to take drastic steps for the enforcement of law and order’, and went on to specify the problem of ‘land-greed’ in Kerry. In Watchword of Labour, the newspaper … Read more
The weaponry of the IRB in the 1880s. BY ROBERT DELANEY In December 1881 a police raid on a property in Brabazon Street in Dublin uncovered a substantial cache of weapons and ammunition that were part of the Irish Republican Brotherhood’s (IRB) secret arsenal. Six months later, the police in London made an even larger … Read more
A strong undercurrent of feeling against the medical establishment led to a steady refusal to go to hospital. BY GILLIAN ALLMOND In October 1830, alarming reports began to reach Belfast of an outbreak of ‘cholera morbus’ in Moscow. The Asiatic cholera, as it was also known, killed with dramatic suddenness, its cause was unknown and … Read more
The English saint has a surprisingly long history in Ireland. BY FRANCIS YOUNG Ireland’s patron saint, St Patrick, is today internationally synonymous with the country he represents—to a greater extent, perhaps, than any other nation’s patron saint. Yet in the fourteenth century the English in Ireland made an audacious (and ultimately unsuccessful) attempt to make … Read more