On 29 October 1940, Northern Ireland Prime Minister Sir James Craig made his last major speech in parliament—a typically impassioned tub-thumping assault on a Nationalist motion supporting Irish unity. By 24 November, he had died peacefully at his home. After taking private soundings the Governor, Lord Abercorn, asked John Andrews, the Minister of Finance, to … Read more
The death of Frank Ryan in Loschwitz Sanatorium outside Dresden in June 1944 three months before his forty-second birthday, brought an end to a life which spanned four wars and read like a film script. Born near Knocklong, County Limerick, he joined Fianna Éireann while still a schoolboy and saw active service in the War … Read more
Sean Keating was one of the more significant painters in the formative years of the Irish Free State. He was born in Limerick in 1889, where he enrolled in the Technical School to study art, moving subsequently to the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art, where he became a student of William Orpen. Keating’s work initially … Read more
On the fourth and last day of his trial, in an exchange in court between the Attorney-General, Sir F.E. Smith—leading the prosecution—and the Chief Justice, reference was made for the first time to ‘Casement’s diary’. When rumours began to percolate among newspapers, politicians, ambassadors and gentlemen’s clubs in July 1916 about Roger Casement’s ‘sexual degeneracy’ … Read more
Sir,—In his article ‘Soloheadbeg: what really happened?’ Kevin Haddick Flynn betrayed a dated and shallow understanding of a complex event. He sets himself the purpose of examining the intent and actions of Seán Treacy, Dan Breen and their comrades at Soloheadbeg. Did they set out solely to capture the gelignite or did they have the … Read more