By Cian Flaherty For IRA men on the run during the War of Independence, photographs of them were dangerous objects, liable to be seized by the authorities and printed in the Hue-and-Cry and on ‘wanted’ posters, such as this one for Dan Breen of the 3rd Tipperary Brigade, printed by Alex Thom & Co. in … Read more
While it was deemed a propaganda success, could a better plan have yielded an IRA military victory? By Joseph E.A. Connell Jr The attack on the Custom House on 25 May 1921 was a resounding propaganda success for the IRA, but from a military point of view there were flaws in the planning and it … Read more
By Fiona Fitzsimons Wills and testamentary records provide some of the most reliable and descriptive evidence for family history. Documents were made in the testator’s own lifetime and signed before witnesses. The testator usually defined his or her relationship to all beneficiaries, and divided property of all types (real and personal) among them. From the … Read more
By Laura Marriott The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were a golden age for English theatre, with writers such as Shakespeare and Marlowe drawing in the London crowds. Soon cities and towns outside the capital began to build their own theatres. Performances attracted a remarkably diverse group of people, from every socio-economic class. Theatre was a … Read more
By Ian Campbell Ross and Anne Markey When Benedict Kiely published his biography of the Tyrone-born novelist and short-story writer William Carleton, he called it Poor scholar (1947). The title was apt and, in line with the book’s subtitle, ‘A study of the works and days of William Carleton’, powerfully evocative of the hedge school … Read more