The first half of the nineteenth century saw a final surge in Protestant missionary activity in Ireland. This was largely a reaction to the sense of crisis in Protestant circles following both the Act of Union of 1800, and the attainment of Catholic Emancipation in 1829. There was a strong belief amongst evangelical Protestants that … Read more
When Pope John Paul II made his famous visit to Ireland in 1979, it must have looked to the outside world as if the words ‘Irish’ and ‘Catholic’ still belonged easily together, as they had for centuries. Semper fidelis was the phrase confidently pronounced by the pope just before he departed from Shannon airport. As … Read more
With reference to Fintan Lane’s article (‘William Morris and Ireland’,HI Spring 2000) your readers may be interested to know that there isanother account of Morris’s visit to Dublin in 1887. In his account ofhis own early life, Experiences of a Literary Man (London 1926,pp.42-4) the litterateur and Irish Party MP Stephen Gwynn states thatas an … Read more
Sir,—The cliché ‘I hold no brief for…’ is usually followed by a qualifying ‘but’ and, as often as not, by some defence of the indefensible. In his letter to History Ireland (Winter 1999) Mr Margulies does not subvert that venerable convention. In contrast to my account of the ‘Butcher’ Cumberland (‘A Tale of Two Generals’, … Read more
Historical Insights Ireland has been organising historical walking tours Dublin for ten years or more. The walks commence at the front gate of Trinity College and are led by history graduates of the college. During the leisurely two-hour perambulation from Trinity to the old parliament (Bank of Ireland), Temple Bar, Dublin Castle, Christchurch and the … Read more