WHY WE NEED TO CONFRONT THE ‘IRISH SLAVE MYTH’ AND HOW TERMINOLOGY IS NOT SIMPLY SEMANTICS By Liam Hogan, Laura McAtackney and Matthew C. Reilly When John Grenham asked the question ‘Were there Irish slaves in Barbados?’ in an Irish Times article on 7 September 2015 he answered in the affirmative. He claimed that there … Read more
ON THE 200TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH—3 NOVEMBER 1815—OF THE YOUNG IRELANDER By Anthony Russell John Mitchel was acclaimed by Patrick Pearse, who declared Jail Journal to be ‘the last of the four gospels of the new testament of Irish nationality, the last and the fieriest and the most sublime’. De Valera revered Mitchel, and … Read more
The seditious library of Archibald Hamilton Rowan By Fergus Whelan Two years after the death of the United Irishman Archibald Hamilton Rowan (1751–1834), his library at Rathcoffey House, Co. Kildare, was catalogued by Charles Sharpe of Dublin. The catalogue lists nearly 3,000 books and pamphlets. Sharpe declared that as well as ‘many very attractive volumes, … Read more
WOLLSTONECRAFT’S EXPERIENCES IN IRELAND HELPED INFORM HER RADICAL CLASS AND GENDER ANALYSES By Jenny McAuley In October 1786, the 27-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft travelled to Ireland to take up a new post as governess to the three daughters of Lord and Lady Kingsborough of Mitchelstown Castle, Co. Cork. Wollstonecraft hoped that the salary of 40 guineas … Read more
THE FIRST MONUMENT ERECTED ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD TO THE VICTOR OF TRAFALGAR By Dennis Kennedy A water-colour sketch of the Nelson Arch near Castletownshend, Co. Cork, painted by the man who designed and built the arch in 1805, has resurfaced after 200 years. The arch, destroyed half a century ago, was the first monument … Read more