Linen Hall Library William of Orange

DOMHNAIGH -- On June 14, 1690, William of Orange,…

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…

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light. – Dylan Thomas

As a child, "The Great Escape" was one film that never failed to entertain me. Aside from a stellar cast that included Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough (above), Charles Bronson, James Garner and a host of others, the story was compelling and also happened to be true.

It’s…

The man who changed the face of Ireland, County Laois's most famous son, William Dargan, was born near Killeshin, on Feb. 28th, 1799. He worked for some time as an apprentice to the pioneering Scottish engineer, Thomas Telford, and helped construct the London-Holyhead road across…

Constance Markievicz was born in 1868 at Buckingham Gate London, the eldest daughter of Sir Henry Gore-Booth, 5^th Baronet and Arctic explorer, and Lady Gore–Booth (nee Hill).  As an Anglo-Irish landlord and philanthropist, her father was not typical of his type…

You may not think the words in the headline above belong in the same sentence nor that they have any particular Irish resonance, but history throws up some intriguing links sometimes. This one caught my eye a while back, but I think now is a fitting time to share…

The National Library of Ireland Willie Pearse

LUAIN -- On May…

The Battle of Mount Street Bridge is a part of the 1916 Easter Rising that is rarely mentioned. Yet this battle is surely one that should have been at the forefront of  the Irish history books and a mandatory part of every Irish history syllabus.…

The Irish Examiner reports that the Irish Veterans, an organization whose goal is…

I am a new member of TheWildGeese.Irish, and I am so interested in the history of Ireland. My Father was born and raised in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh. He shared so…

Eoin MacNeill was born in County Antrim on May 15, 1869, the second-youngest child in a family that consisted of five boys and three girls.  His father, Archibald MacNeill, was a baker, sailor, and a merchant.  Combining all these skills, he set his family up to live what would be…

The following is a transcript of the LIVE members' chat hosted here at TheWildGeese.com on Saturday, April 11, 2015. Some editing has been applied for…

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That summer of 1781, a French fleet under the…

A number of months ago I was approached by a gentleman who had a piece of teak wood kicking around his garage for years.  He asked me if it would be possible for me to make him some pens from this wood.  I duly obliged and made him four lovely pens, which he was delighted…

Bert Cunningham, historian of the 69^th Infantry Regiment of the New York National Guard, spoke about the history of the Fighting 69^th at the March 11, 2015 meeting of the Irish Cultural Society at…

Michael Collins was the youngest son of a farmer, born in the west of the County of  Cork, Ireland, in 1890. The Collins were relatively prosperous, as poor farmers go: his father held 90 acres, which his grandfather had in turn also…