The ‘Lion of the West’ Ever heard of the ‘Lion of the West’? He was one of the most influential men in the middle of the 19th Century and regularly took the British government to task over their handling of the Famine crisis and other matters. He was of course Bishop of Tuam, John McHale. Born in 1791, McHale lived a long life and died during the Land War of 1881. One hundred years later on the centenary o...

James Fintan Lalor James Fintan Lalor (1809-1849) was a prominent member of the Young Ireland movement of the 1840s. His writings, which were published at the peak of the Irish Famine, were fervent in their hatred of the landlord class as well as asserting the principle of the sovereign people’s right to the land of Ireland. Lalor would inspire another generation of Irish men and women who looked for both independence...

James Daly, editor of the Connaught Telegraph Newspaper editors play an important role in the delivery and content of a newspaper and rightly great pride is taken in their finished product. Few newspapers in 19th century Ireland had such a celebrated editor as that of the Connaught Telegraph. As the newspaper reported in 1996, quoting extensively from the work of Mayo historian, Gerard Moran, its former editor, Daly liv...

Lady Fingall Today’s post features the story of Lady Fingall, member of the Anglo-Irish aristorcracy but also sometime President of the Camogie Assocition and first president of the Irish Countrywoman’s Association (ICA). Married to the 11th Earl of Fingall, the family home was at Kileen Castle near Dunsany, county Meath. Born Elizabeth Burke, Lady Fingall lived a long a varied life (1862-1944). Today, the ICA co...

The 1901 Census For family and local historians, the 1901 census online has been one of the most transformative resources made available in recent years. Countless hours can be sent digging through the pages of old census returns, and when coupled with that of 1911 many comparisons made. From my own point of view the census also holds curious information about personal connections, the names of servants employed and the occ...

The Great War The First World War was known by many different names. For some it was the ‘1914-18 War’; the ‘Great War’; or the ‘Great War for Civilisation’. Whatever it was called, when it ended more than 20 million people were dead and much of Europe lay waste. Ireland saw more than 200,000 volunteer to serve for the British, while some 35,000 would never return. It is often said in Ireland that after the ...

John D'Esterre and a famous Irish duel Arguments, disagreements and grudges were settled differently in Ireland in the past. How about 1815 and Ireland’s great ‘Liberator’ Daniel O’Connell who was the centre of one such argument and ended with one of Ireland’s most famous ‘duels’. As reported by the Bray People newspaper: DUELS were commonplace in the old days. We had one at Cookstown, Enniskerry on...

Mary McAleese A road trip today across the Mary McAleese bridge which brings road users in county Meath or County Louth which ever way one is traveling, had me thinking about Ireland’s second female President. Serving two terms, Mary McAleese was President of Ireland from 1997-2011, and ably followed in the footsteps of her predecessor, Mary Robinson. Perhaps the most significant day of her two terms came on 17 May 2...

Frank Aiken Tomorrow, February 13th marks the anniversary of the birth of Frank Aiken in 1898. Born in county Armagh Aiken played a prominent role in the years of the Irish revolution and later served as a TD, Minister and Tainaiste. Following his death in 1983 there were widespread tributes and reports on his political and military career. The Evening Echo provided the following outline following his death in May of...

Irish emigrants to South Africa, 1820 Known as the ‘Clanwilliam settlers’, the story of emigrants from Cork and elsewhere who were sent to South Africa in 1820 is worth recalling. This group headed off into the unknown and were amongst the first of large scale Irish emigration in the 19th century. The scheme was orchestrated by a man called William Parker from Cork who it appears ran into difficulty before the emigrants...