The roads of early twentieth-century rural Ireland may have been safer for the fact that Parnell did not live to see the advent of the motorcar. According to a society hostess acquaintance, he was ‘always in a hurry; he could never wait for anything; to wait for a train was anguish to him, he would … Read more
The first Indian restaurant in Ireland opened nearly a century ago. In summer 1908 Karim Khan opened the Indian Restaurant and Tea Rooms on Upper Sackville Street, beside the Gresham Hotel. Promising real Indian curries served by native waiters in costume, Khan boasted that his was the only Indian restaurant in Ireland. His venture lasted … Read more
Francis Wheatley’s painting of the Volunteers commemorating King William’s birthday at College Green (4 November 1779), drawing readers to reach for this engaging book, has become the iconic depiction of Ireland’s ‘golden age’ of patriotism. Mirroring the harmonious lines of the Georgian streetscape forming its backdrop, this pictorial narrative of Protestant commemoration fused with a … Read more
Sir Charles Trevelyan, notorious in Irish folk memory for the harsh way he coordinated famine relief in 1845–7, visited Dublin Zoo in the early 1860s, prior to his departure for Calcutta. He had been governor of Madras in 1859 but was recalled in 1860; in 1862 he was sent to India again, this time as finance minister. … Read more
Charter schools were intended to solve the problem facing a victorious people taking over a defeated, impoverished country from the 1690s onwards. With almost a quarter of the Irish population killed or exiled, the rest were needed as a labour force for the new masters of the land. Yet how was it possible to trust … Read more