Landlords and tenants in mid-Victorian Ireland W.E. Vaughan (Clarendon Press, £40) This scholarly work is the result of long, methodical research based on an impressive range of primary sources, most notably estate papers. It is delivered free from irritating jargon with the econometric analysis lightened by a varied array of anecdotal backup. Vaughan questions conventional … Read more
Aristocrats Caroline, Emily, Louisa and Sarah Lennox 1740-1832 Stella Tillyard (Chatto and Windus, £20) Aristocrats is a tour de force. Stella Tillyard has used the stories of the four sisters of its subtitle, largely taken from their copious correspondence, to immerse the reader in the eighteenth century on both sides of the Irish Sea. The … Read more
The Chief Governors: the rise and fall of reform government in Tudor Ireland, 1536-1588 Ciaran Brady (Cambridge University Press, £35) Anglicising the government of Ireland: the Irish privy council and the expansion of Tudor rule, 1556-78 Jon Crawford (Irish Academic Press, £37.50) Sixteenth-century Ireland: the incomplete conquest Colm Lennon (Gill & MacMillan, £14.99) Brady’s Chief … Read more
Aficionados of the seventeenth century are alerted to the new OpenUniversity series Princes and Peoples on BBC 2 on Mondays at 12midnight. It will examine buildings in their historical context,including several in Ireland, e.g. Wentworth’s mansion at Jigginstown,the Royal Hospital at Kilmainham, the fort at Kinsale, as well as others in Britain and France. Those … Read more
British War Office files on the 1916 Rising—which were marked secret for 100 years—have been discovered by researchers examining records on courts martial from both world wars. The files contain personal letters, court notes and details of the execution of rebel leaders, including Connolly and Pearse. Among themis a signed message from Connolly saluting the … Read more