Category Archives: Irish History

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A FREE online History course from Trinity College

So if you’re wondering why I’ve been a little quieter over the last week or so, it is due to the wonders of technology!! I have enrolled in an Irish history class given by Trinity College in Dublin…and it’s both free and online. Don’t get me wrong, I’d much rather attend in person – but I can’t seem to find anyone who wants to give me a free place to stay and a free education in Ireland yet (imagine that!) so this will have to do.

We are only in the second week of the course and you can still join in, if you feel like making up a week or two. I added the class late and have been playing catch up as well. It’s not really credited anywhere, but you can get a souvenir certificate at the end of the course and did I mention that it’s FREE?!? Even if you don’t learn much that you didn’t already know, it’s worth the non-existent pennies or euros.

Join me in my education adventures and give this a shot. (Also, if you are a bazillionaire and are feeling like a generous benefactor, you can always send me to Ireland for a real degree. You never know unless you ask, right? Are you listening universe?)

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Tom Clarke

On this day in 1857 Thomas James Clarke was born to Irish parents at Hurst Castle in Hampshire, England. It’s more than a little ironic that one of the biggest strategists behind Ireland’s future revolution was born on English soil. In fact, his father was in the British Army and the family did not return to Ireland until Tom was seven years old. They settled in Dungannon, a Fenian stronghold that had suffered terribly during An Gorta Mor – Ireland’s Great Famine. The scars of that disaster were still all around him and from his earliest years, Tom hated the English establishment. He was determined to fight against it however he could.

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The Gibraltar Killings

If you somehow knew who Adolph Hitler would become and what he would do, would you murder him before he could do his damage? This rhetorical question is asked by personality tests, psychologists, and Philosophy professors all the time to gauge the morality of their subjects.  Many otherwise peaceful people have quickly answered yes. So then the quandary becomes about where the boundary lies and when we become OK with murder or assassination. When you use someone as horrible as Hitler, the odds are guaranteed to have an emotional and reactionary response. When taken out of the hypothetical realm, odds are that most people would say they are against preemptive murder, no matter what the circumstances are. There are laws against that kind of thing in almost every civilized nation – including Britain – but on this day in 1988, British soldiers ignored them.
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Grace Gifford Plunkett is born

Perhaps the biggest tragedy and the best known story in modern Irish history is that of Joseph Plunkett and Grace Gifford’s doomed love affair and hasty prison wedding. The tragic romance sits right next to Romeo and Juliet in the great sagas of impossible love, and their story may be one of the largest reasons that popular opinion swung in favor of the rebels after the 1916 Easter Rising. The day the British executed Joseph Mary Plunkett, they guaranteed that the story of the rebellion would no longer be remembered without the emotional inclusion of Ireland’s favorite tragic widow – Grace Gifford Plunkett. But before there was a widow, there was a headstrong, artistic woman – one who was born on this day in 1888.
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Edward “Ned” Daly

Edward “Ned” Daly was born into a large and proud Fenian family on this day in 1891. Although he was named after his father, he never met the man. His dad passed away just before Ned was born, leaving his uncle, John Daly, and the rest of his family to raise the young boy. They instilled in him the same rebel nature and Irish Republicanism that his father had once fought for.  When he was a small child, all he wanted to do was to be a soldier, like his father before him. Since his family would never allow him to take a post in the English Army, Ned thought his dream would never be achieved. However, when the march toward yet one more rebellion began, suddenly there was another option. Under the influence of his sister (who happened to be Kathleen Clarke), and her husband Tom, Ned’s interest in fighting and soldiering was brought to fruition. It was his destiny to be a rebel but unfortunately, that destiny would also lead to an early grave.

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Margaret Pearse, mother of Ireland

It must be agonizing for a parent to outlive their child. It goes against the natural order of the universe and has to be absolutely devastating. For many, it usually involves anger and hopelessness. Margaret Pearse knew that suffering better than most, for she didn’t lose one son, but two—at once—both executed at the hands of the British for their roles in the Easter Rising of 1916. Despite this, she steadfastly refused to give in to despair and she spent the rest of her life fighting for the free Ireland that her sons had died for.
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2016 take 4

Oh Sinn Fein…

You are making the centenary pretty hard on those of us who live over the puddle and can’t spend 8 weeks in Ireland.

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Top ten Favorite Facts about Constance de Markievicz

On this date in 1868, one of Irish history’s most famous women was born…in London. Constance Gore-Booth was an aristocratic socialite who fell in love with Irish politics and went on to be one of the most beloved and recognized names in Nationalist history. She fought for women’s rights in Ireland and was a devoted Republican fighter who would have been executed for her role in the Easter Rising, had she not been a woman. Her most famous advice to women was to “Dress suitably in short skirts and strong boots, leave your jewels in the bank and buy a revolver.” In honor of her birthday today, here are my top ten favorite facts you may or may not already know about her life.

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The Wilde Lady Jane

Jane Francesca Elgee did a lot of things in her life. She rebelled against her Protestant, Unionist family and became a prolific poet and Nationalist writer. She stood up in court, outing herself as the criminal during a Sedition case to protect the people and the paper she worked for. She spoke at least five languages and translated in each. She threw weekly salons and was known as the most gracious host in all of Dublin. She was a devoted Suffragist and fought for equal rights for women. But what she is best known for is not her prose or her politics. She is best known for being the mother of her children—one in particular—whose works far surpassed those of his mother in a very short time. Indeed, Jane Francesca Elgee will forever be known as Lady Jane Wilde, the woman who gave birth to her son, Oscar.

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The Celtic origin of Ground Hog Day

Imbolc, also called Oimealg by the Druids, is the festival of the lactating sheep. Yes, you heard that right. It is derived from the Gaelic word oimelc meaning ewes milk. At this time of the year, many herd animals have either given birth for the first time of the year or they are just about to. It’s the first breath of Spring and it marks the center point of the dark half of the year. It is the festival of the Maiden and from February 1st to March 21st, it is her season to prepare for growth and renewal. On Feb. 1st, Brighid’s snake emerges from the womb of the Earth Mother to test the weather (Ground Hog Day anyone?) and in many places the first flowers begin to pierce the grounds of winter and start to bloom.  Brighid’s Crosses are made and exchanged as symbols of protection and prosperity in the coming year.BCHome hearth fires are put out and re-lit, and candles are lit and placed in each room of the house to honor the re-birth of the Sun. It is a festival of fire and renewal and one of the first celebrations of Spring.
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