Mary Spring Rice It is an iconic image (above) of the revolutionary period in Ireland showing two women onboard the Asgard as it sailed into Howth in July 1914 carrying weapons for the Irish Volunteers. The women in question were Molly Childers and Mary Spring Rice. With Erskine Childers and Roger Casement, the women successfully landed 1,500 Mauser rifles in Howth harbour for the Irish Volunteers, and which were subse...
Padraig Pearse and Bodenstown As he emerged the shadows of Irish nationalism in 1913 before taking a central role in the Easter Rising which would follow three years later, the activities of PH Pearse, the man who read the proclamation, can be traced in the Irish Radical Newspaper Archive. One such source is ‘The Irishman’ newspaper which as the War of Independence commenced was keen to promote what Pearse had said and ...
New Pope Leo XIV visits Ireland (2005) We have over 14 million pages in our archive now of Irish newspapers spanning more than 250 years. It is always interesting to search for something obscure and see if there is a ‘hit’. So with the news of the week coming from the Vatican, today’s blog post is about a search for the name ‘Robert Prevost’. Of course, two days ago on 8 May Prevost was elected as the 267th Pope a...
HELENA MOLONY The Irish Independent death notices for 30 January 1967 recorded the death of Helena Molony of Sutton (Irish Citizens Army) with the words simply: ‘deeply regretted’. Her funeral, it was reported would take place in the Republican Plot some days later. Reading that obituary, the reader is none the wiser on the remarkable and colourful life led by Molony. An obituary however the following day in the Irish P...
Domhnall Ua Buachalla He held one of the most important jobs in the first years of the Irish Free State, but is largely forgotten. He was the man who de Valera put in place in an effort to end the connection with Britain. Domhnall Ua Buachalla (1866 –1963) was an Irish politician and member of the First Dáil who served as third and final governor-general of the Irish Free State from 1932 to 1936, and later served as a me...
The coming of ATM’s to Ireland It may seem normal now, it may seem strange that it could be a blog post, but 45 years ago in 1980 the advent of ‘Automated Teller Machines’ (ATM) was major news in Ireland. People were not sure about the machine and commentary in a variety of Irish newspapers reflects this. This news report from 1980 highlights how revolutionary it was: CORK will be one of the first three centres ...
"To Hell or to Connacht" The saying "To Hell or to Connacht" refers to the 1652 Act for the Settlement of Ireland, which mandated the transplantation of Irish Catholics to Connacht (west of the River Shannon) and County Clare by May 1, 1654. This action was part of the Cromwellian Plantation, a policy of land confiscation and resettlement. The Act stipulated that those remaining in other provinces after the deadline wou...
Lady Gregory She was a key player in the Gaelic revival towards the end of the 19th century and the formation of the Abbey Theatre was central to the new Ireland which would emerge as the next century dawned. The death of Lady Gregory in May 1932 was widely lamented and her passing so shortly after Irish independence was a tragedy. The Irish Independent reported that: The death of Lady - Gregory creates a gap i...
The outbreak of the Easter Rising 109 years ago (Easter Monday - but in 1916 it was 24 April), the Easter Rising commenced in Dublin. With communications links cut, news spread slowly throughout the country. Looking through the pages of the Irish Newspaper Archive there are sporadic reports in provincial newspapers about what was happening in Dublin. One of the few to publish news of events was the Limerick Leader on We...
John A Costello This weekend marks the 76th anniversary of the declaration of the Irish Republic on Easter Monday. All of this of course had come about by the intervention of John A Costello. When he died in 1976 this momentous moment in Irish history was widely recalled. The Irish Press newspaper reported: John A. Costello lived one of the fullest political lives of this century. While a student he shared in the hopes a...