PC Your father taught history at Queen’s. Did this influence your own enthusiasm for history? JG The endless discussions at home about modern history and politics were much more influential. I discovered that my father was in a state of almost permanent opposition to the condition of the world, although little was said of Ireland … Read more
Consider the following scenario. Two musicians are comparing tunes. As one plays the other smiles appreciatively and enquires: ‘Where did you get it?’, to which the player replies: ‘’Tis in the book’. The listener nods. No further explanation is necessary. ‘The book’ in question—The Music of Ireland—was compiled by Francis O’Neill, collector, musician, adventurer, and … Read more
Few figures in Irish history have dominated their times in the way that Daniel O’Connell did. For three decades he personified the aspirations of nationalists and was revered by millions. The popular adulation that he enjoyed, however, was not a natural phenomenon that somehow ‘happened’. In many ways it stemmed from the deliberate and remarkably … Read more
The Parnell sisters are exemplars of two distinct and typical streams of female action in the nineteenth century. Fanny excelled in the traditional field of philanthropic and fund-raising activities, and as a ‘poetess’, all considered suitable occupations for middle class ladies, while Anna was far more radical and militant than was conventionally acceptable. While both … Read more
The nature of history ‘When the curtain falls, it’s time to get off the stage.’ So remarked the British prime minister, John Major, after losing the 1997 general election. The curtain fell on the British empire a long time ago, but unlike politicians, British historians do not see a change of regime as invalidating their … Read more