In the early evening hours of February 28, 1879, steam blasted up into the air as a train slowly pulled into the station, whistle blowing, in Washington, D.C., to be greeted by several thousand cheering people. Waiting on the platform to…

Constance Gore-Booth Markiewicz’s amazing life came into my purview on my second trip to Ireland in 1989.  My husband and I were browsing in a Dublin bookstore eager to buy as many books on Irish history as we could fit in our suitcases for our return to…

In the early part of the Irish War of Independence there had not been any major ambushes of Crown forces in County Mayo, unlike several other counties, notably County Cork. However, in May 1921, the Irish Volunteers began to escalate their attacks there. First, on May…

By Gerald A. Regan

Still, the Republic is peaceful, except . . . at moments when someone (either British secret service or Protestant Loyalist) has decided that the South should be reminded that the terrorist shouldn't have any sympathizers anywhere. Bloody Friday, May 17,…

Katharine O'Shea Click on image for a larger view.

By Joseph Gannon

“None…

Irish Blood and Gilt – Irish Heirlooms in Transatlantic Migration by Madi Preda

Stolen Irish Jewels, Emigration, and the Fragility of Inherited Memory

Historical Context Behind a Work of…

DOMHNAIGH to LUAIN -- On May 17-18, 1918, the British government began arresting all the leaders of Sinn Fein that it could round-up. Britain desperately wanted to…

James Connolly (Séamas Ó Conghaile) is one of the handful of men who share the dubious honour of being placed in the iconic status categories in the Irish history books based on his involvement in the Easter Rising 1916 as well as his role in the Trade Union movement.  He was born in Cowgate 1868 to Irish emigrant…

Three thousand feet above Moreuil Wood, southeast of Amiens, in northern France, Captain George Edward Henry “McIrish” McElroy, peered down through a gap in the clouds. McElroy had already shot down two German Albatross fighter planes in his British S.E. 5a (Scout Experimental-5a) earlier, his…

Irish Volunteer Seán Hogan gazed out the window of the train toward the distant Galtee Mountains to the south. It was early evening on May 13, 1919. The train had just pulled out of Emly, County Tipperary, headed toward the small town of…