In recent years, Tom Kettle has featured prominently in public discourse as an exemplar of the ‘forgotten’ Irish who died in the Great War. But what did he stand for? By Niamh Reilly After he was killed in the Battle of the Somme, Tom Kettle (1880–1916) was widely and effusively eulogised as ‘the most brilliant … Read more
The marquis de Boisseleau and the ‘Battle of the Breach’ at the first siege of Limerick, 1690. By Pádraig Lenihan History recalls Patrick Sarsfield as the hero who saved Limerick from Williamite besiegers in August 1690. The Frenchman who actually commanded the troops holding the city is less well known, though Limerick’s 2013 ‘Sarsfield’s Day’ … Read more
Privilege and change in the Catholic middle class. BY COLUM KENNY One was a controversial Jesuit psychologist who left the priesthood and married but later recanted. One was a surgeon who served in the British Army but then canvassed for Sinn Féin. And the third joined the new Electricity Supply Board, his son becoming architect … Read more
Sir,—Your editorial on Aodh mac Conchobhuir Mhic Aodhagáin was indeed most interesting. He was one of the subjects discussed in a marvellous two-day conference held in May 2019 in Trinity College, Dublin, entitled Tales, Anecdotes and Marginalia from Irish Literature, and organised by the Department of Irish and Celtic Languages under Damian McManus and his … Read more
During the reign of King George I, a legal onus was placed on parishes in Ireland to provide fire-fighting equipment. By Pat Poland Just over 300 years ago, on 2 November 1719, the legal obligation of providing a ‘community fire service’ was laid on the Established Church, the last non-permissive piece of fire-fighting legislation in … Read more