Potato Blight appears- 180 years ago this month The Irish Newspaper Archive contains millions of newspaper articles, reports, advertisements etc but few had the impact that this piece in the Cork (later Irish) Examiner on 10 September 1845. 180 years ago this month the first signs of potato blight were reported in Ireland. It would lead to devastating consequences. Within six years one million people were dead and another o...
Golf in Ireland 75 years ago So, the Irish Open has concluded in dramatic fashion at the K Club in county Kildare with Rory McIlroy triumphing on home soil. What a finish it was over three play off holes. The event beamed around the world to millions showcases Irish golf, which in the last 25 years has made such strides thanks largely to the likes of McIlroy, Lowry and others. This blog looks back to 75 years ago when the f...
Zozimus Most of us have heard the name Zozimus, a reference to a mythical figure in Dublin’s past without knowing the full story of the man who in fact was born, Michael Moran. A balladeer and song master from early 19th century Dublin, the legend of Zozimus endured both during and after his death. The Irish Press from 1935 provides the following account of Zozimus: Zozimus, the Dublin ballad-singer of the 19th cent...
Today marks the 161st anniversary of the birth of Roger Casement who was hanged for his role in the 1916 rising. Casement led an interesting life, firstly as a British diplomat serving as British consul in Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique; 1895–98), Angola (1898–1900), Congo Free State (1901–04), and Brazil (1906–11), before siding with the Irish nationalist cause. In 1976 the Irish Press recalled the final moment...
Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty Eighty years ago, with the end of the Second World War, the story of an Irishman who helped save thousands of lives in war time Italy emerged. It later made it to the film screens telling the story of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, the county Kerry born priest who became known as a ‘Vatican Pimpernel’. Risking life and limb, O’Flaherty managed to organised the safe passage of thousands of all...
Sinead de Valera On a day when the debate continues as to who the Fianna Fail Presidential election candidate will be ….today also marks the 50th anniversary of the death of President of Ireland, Eamon de Valera. But did you know his wife, Sinead, an accomplished writer and author also died 50 years ago this year. Here the Irish News reports on her death: SINEAD de VALERA DIES AT 97…Mrs. de Valera entered the...
Teresa Brayton Have you ever heard the song ‘The Old Bog Road’? I am sure it has been sung at many the ballad session, particularly amongst the Irish abroad. It was written by a woman from Kilcock, county Kildare who herself was an Irish emigrant. Born at Kilbrook in Kildare in 1868, Brayton emigrated to America in 1895. When she returned to live permanently in Ireland in 1932 her story was widely publicised: The wel...
The 1913 Lockout On this day, 112 years ago the great Dublin ‘Lockout’ or strike began and led by James Larkin. This major industrial dispute lasted from August 1913 to January 1914. It was a major conflict between Dublin employers, led by William Martin Murphy, and approximately 20,000 workers of the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU), led by James Larkin. The Dublin employers refused to recognise t...
Eoghan O’Growney On this day in 1863 the Irish-language revivalist and priest, Fr Eoghan O’Growney was born in county Meat. He made the headlines during his lifetime for his activities in promoting the Gaelic League and the Irish language, but he also made headlines in death. Did anyone ever have as many funerals as O’Growney? O’Growney died in 1899 in Los Angelas where he had moved for health reasons and was buried...
Michael Collins On this day, 22 August, 103 years ago, during the Irish Civil War, Michael Collins was shot dead at Beal na mBlath in county Cork. Collins was enigmatic figure and leader of during the revolutionary period, and had briefly served as the Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State, as well as commander-in-chief of the National Army. Over the years numerous news stories appeared in Irish ne...