Edmund Burke: scorned loyalty and rejected allegiance

An eighteenth-century Whig dressed in ill-fitting nineteenth-century Tory clothing? Seán Patrick Donlan assesses the hotly contested legacy of Edmund Burke For two centuries the legacy of Edmund Burke has been hotly contested and arguably distorted by apologists and opponents alike. In his day, the London press caricatured him as a whiskey-toting Jesuit, managing to combine … Read more

From the files of the DIB…The Ramelton ‘rover’

GALLAHER, David (Dave) (1873–1917), rugby footballer, was born on 30 October 1873 at Ramelton, Co. Donegal. Emigrating to New Zealand with his family in 1878, he lived at Tauranga before settling in Auckland. Educated at Katikati School, he showed an early aptitude for rugby and, at 6ft tall and weighing 13 stone, soon played for … Read more

Arklow’s explosive history: Kynoch, 1895-1918

  The establishment of the Kynoch explosives factory in Arklow was due to the vision and ambition of two men, Arthur Chamberlain and A.T. Cocking. Arthur Chamberlain was a Birmingham industrialist and brother of the famous liberal politician Joseph Chamberlain. In 1888 Chamberlain joined the board of Kynoch and set about reviving the fortunes of … Read more