The Nation

Founded by Gavan Duffy in 1840, its mixture of news, literary criticism, poetry, political and social comment appealed greatly to the reading public. It was selling 10,000 copies an issue even though it cost an expensive sixpence meaning that most readers had to borrow it from news vendors at a penny an hour.

An extremely patriotic and nationalistic title the Nation unfortunately began its demise as a result of two great personal tragedies. In September 1845, Thomas Davis who had been instrumental in its success died and in the same month Gavan Duffy’s wife also passed away. The result was an emaciated version of the paper which lingered on for 45 years before final meeting its demise in 1900.

The Nation archives are a wonderful resource for all those interested in family genealogical research with their detailed births, deaths (obituaries) and marriages. The provincial press was also far less censored by the British authorities than their national equivalent. As a result they give both the professional and amateur historian a unique perspective of Ireland’s turbulent past as well as the local impact of major national and international events.

The archives will be available online at www.irishnewsarchive.com soon. Fully word searchable and completely indexed Irish Newspaper Archives offers individual researchers and institutes / universities alike unprecedented access to a wealth of local history.

Date Range available: 1842-1897

Counties Served: National

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