By Niall Whelehan In 1888 the International Council of Women was founded at a conference in Washington DC that brought together over 50 organisations from nine countries. Present were the acclaimed feminists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, as well as Marguerite Moore, the only Irish delegate there. Addressing the convention, Moore described how, … Read more
By Joe Regan In 1817 Hugh Quin bade farewell to Portaferry, Co. Down, and emigrated to the US, sailing from Liverpool to New Orleans. The fleet of ships that conveyed US cotton to Liverpool avoided returning ‘in ballast’ (not carrying any cargo) by taking immigrants back to New Orleans. Contemporary observers noted the relationship between … Read more
By Hiram Morgan The west coast of Ireland in the Elizabethan period was a place of refuge for English explorers, colonisers and privateers in distress after Atlantic voyages. Aiming to return to home ports in south-west England, they had instead to call into Kerry or Cork to resupply, repair or seek onward shipping. The locals … Read more
The ongoing saga of the institution’s struggle to reform its membership. By Clare O’Halloran The Royal Irish Academy (RIA) describes itself on its website as ‘an independent, all-island learned society established under Charter in 1785’ with ‘approximately 600 members, chosen for their distinguished contributions to scholarship and research in the sciences, humanities, social sciences and … Read more
Sir,—The short article by Lar Joye on ‘British Army First World War campaign medals’ (HI 29.6, Nov./Dec. 2021) was somewhat interesting. Readers may be interested to know that the British Expeditionary Force referred to was created by Lord Haldane, Secretary of State for War in 1907. It consisted of 120,000 men and had been trained … Read more