The Lusitania

During the First World War, German U-boats prowled the Irish Sea sinking merchant vessels. The torpedoing of the transatlantic liner Lusitania in May 1915 off Cork not only killed 1,198 […]

Ireland and the Second World War—the price of neutrality

The ambiguous relationship between Britain and Ireland was exacerbated during the Second World War. The Irish Free State (referred to as ‘Eire’ [sic] by the British from 1937) was part […]

Pilgrimages to Tone’s grave at Bodenstown, 1873–1922: time, place, popularity

Regular, organised, mass pilgrimages to the grave of Theobald Wolfe Tone at Bodenstown, Co. Kildare, began in 1873. There was a gap in the 1880s and, after resumption in 1891, […]

‘A diabolical murder’: Clan na Gael, Chicago and the murder of Dr Cronin

In 1882 an Irish doctor, Patrick Henry Cronin, arrived to take up his new position at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. Cronin quickly established himself as an active member of […]

The 1841 census— do the numbers add up?

The first official decennial census of the population was taken in 1821, and thereafter every ten years until 1911. It is accepted that the census figure for 1871 is the […]