By Simon Topping The sign in Bessbrook, Co. Armagh, was clear—‘Dance for the Blackmen’—yet when some African-American troops arrived they were refused entry, to their dismay. This seeming importation of […]
Read More →By Fiona Fitzsimons After 1695, the Penal Laws barred Catholics from bearing arms and from enlisting in the armed services, including the militia. In 1715 the militia was placed on […]
Read More →By Conor Heffernan In 1928 strongwoman Katie Brumbach or ‘Katie Sandwina’ (born in Austria in 1884) spent roughly a month touring Ireland with Carmo’s Circus. Billed in some quarters as […]
Read More →By Derville Murphy Margaret Allen, the first female honorary member of the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA), was an artist whose paintings were concerned with the social conditions of the time. […]
Read More →By Lar Joye On 23 August, after the 1798 Rebellion was essentially over, about 1,000 French troops under the command of General Humbert landed in Killala, Co. Mayo. Over the […]
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