Blogs

This flyer is an extract from a speech given by Fr. Michael O’Flanagan to 10,000 people at Ballyjamesduff, Co. Cavan on Sunday May 26, 1918. O’Flanagan mentions the arrest of De Valera, the suppression of Arthur Griffith’s newspaper, and the ‘poison-gas of lies’ spun by ‘the Little Welsh spider’ (Prime Minister David Lloyd George) against the Irish people in the ‘German Plot’.Over 70 members of Sinn Féin had been arrested that month as part of this alleged plot. They were accused of conspiring with the German Empire to stage an armed rebellion in Ireland. O'Flanagan's clerical status exempted him from the round-up and in the second half of 1918 he operated as acting leader of Sinn Féin's political activities. The censor refused to allow even one word of the speech to be published, but it was later printed and distributed by Sinn Féin from their office at 6 Harcourt Street. History Document of the MonthEvery month the Dublin City Council Historians in Residence will be highlighting a document from Dublin City Public Libraries and Archives Digital Repository.  An image of the selected document will be on display in branch libraries during the month.Historians in Residence are available to meet groups and schools, give talks, walks etc, run history book clubs and advise on historical research. 

It is fitting on International Nurses Day 2018 to remember one of the most notable figures in Irish nursing before and during the First World War. Katherine Elizabeth Middleton Curtis was born in London in 1860 and married to the noted Engineer and Merchant William Charles Middleton Curtis. Moving to Ireland, she became a member of the Blackrock Nursing Division of the St John Ambulance Brigade in Dublin and was a regular contributor to the Irish Times on nursing and medical matters. Always an innovator, Kate was involved in various public initiatives to raise public awareness of hygiene and health; she ran first aid courses for women from 1911 and was also involved in Kingstown ‘Health Week’, held in April 1913. Kate was one of the best-known members of St John Ambulance and noted in her diary on 20 October 1914 that she was also ‘the oldest ambulance lady in Ireland.’Kate was matron of the Convalescent Home for Soldiers and Sailors at Temple Hill House in Blackrock, taking up the post in October 1914. She remained in place until April 1915, when it was converted into an Auxiliary Hospital for Service personnel. Temple Hill was one of 70 such centres in Ireland during the war and it specialised in orthopaedic services for injured service personnel. Originally it had 20 beds but was later expanded to 36 and over 500 patients passed through the building during the war. Kate kept an autograph book of her time in Temple Hill which was signed by many of the soldiers she cared for.Kate Middleton Curtis died on 29 January 1918 of appendicitis, aged 58. Her legacy lived on after the war in the Kate Middleton Curtis Cup, awarded annually to winner of the St John Ambulance First Aid competition. Her personal papers were donated to the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Archive at Dublin City Library and Archive and can be consulted in the reading room in Pearse Street.The Kate Middleton Curtis collection can be view online at Digital Repository Ireland.Bernard Kelly, Historian in Residence, Dublin City Library and Archive.Dublin City Council Historians in Residence are available to meet groups and schools, give talks, walks etc, run history book clubs and advise on historical research. See Also: Listen back to Women of the Brigade: Pádraig Allen, St John Ambulance Ireland discusses some women of St John Ambulance who contributed to the war effort during the First World War.

From working in munitions factories, V.A.D. nursing, supporting the war effort through charitable works, and leading the anti-conscription movement, World War 1 led to a multitude of different experiences for Irish women. In this talk Pádraig Allen looks at some women of St John Ambulance who contributed to the war effort during the First World War.

Bhain slua maith taitneamh as seo ó Ghuthanna Binne Síoraí (Everlasting Voices) ar Lá Filíochta na hÉireann, Déardaoin, 26 d’Aibreáin i mBliain na Gaeilge, 2018. Bhí filíocht ó WB Yeats curtha i láthair i mbéarla agus Gaeilge ag Cathal Quinn, Acadamh Lir agus seinnteoir, Enda Reilly. D’aistrigh Gabriel Rosenstock na dánta ó bhéarla go Gaeilge.We celebrated Poetry Day Ireland, 26 April and Bliain na Gaeilge with a great event, "I Hear It in the Deep Heart’s Core" with Guthanna Binne Síoraí at Dublin City Library and Archive.

As illustrated in the ‘Doing their Bit: Irish women and the First World War’ exhibition, women played a central role in the British wartime propaganda campaign, which aimed to both engage the public with the war effort and to persuade volunteers to join the forces. News of German atrocities against Belgian and French civilians were widely reported in the press, with the treatment of women often being emphasised, as this example from the Freeman’s Journal in December 1914 shows.The case of Edith Cavell provided the British government with a propaganda coup which was exploited heavily. Born in December 1865, Cavell was the matron of a nursing school in Brussels when the First World War broke out. Following the German occupation of the city in November 1914, Cavell became involved in providing refuge for escaping Allied prisoners of war and often aided their flight. She was arrested by the German forces in August 1915 and charged with treason; tried by a military court-martial, she was found guilty and, despite the international community pressurising Berlin to commute her death sentence, she was shot by firing squad on 12 October 1915. The execution of Cavell, as well as the press reports of German violence against civilians and the sinking of the Lusitania off the coast of Ireland in May 1915, featured extensively in Allied propaganda. The below postcard from the Monica Roberts collection in Dublin City Library and Archives is typical of the time: Cavell’s status as a martyr is highlighted by the fact that she is depicted still wearing her nurses uniform when executed.Image. Postcard from Monica Roberts Collection, ref RDFA 1.09.135Such propaganda filtered through to the frontline and was often quite effective. Private Joseph Elley, 2nd Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers wrote in a letter home in November 1915 that the execution of Cavell was a ‘brutal affair’ and that ‘All the boys will never forget things like that if they get the chance.’ |Letter DCLA/RDFA1.03.038 from Pte Joseph Elley to Monica Roberts ref RDFA 1.03.038 (page 5 and 6 of letter) Bernard Kelly, Historian in Residence, Dublin City Library and Archive.Dublin City Council Historians in Residence are available to meet groups and schools, give talks, walks etc, run history book clubs and advise on historical research. 

In February 1918 the Representation of the People Act was passed and women who were over 30 years of age, owned property, or were married to a rate-payer were finally allowed to participate fully in the democratic process. Although women were still not on equal terms with men (who could vote from the age of 21 years), the breakthrough had been made.

Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (24 August, 1814 – 7 February, 1873) was a newspaper publisher and writer who is best remembered for his classic ghost stories. Born at 45 Lower Dominick Street in Dublin, his family were a mix of Huguenot, English and Irish ancestry.

2018 marks the 100th anniversary of World War 1 Armistice. From working in munitions factories, V.A.D. nursing, supporting the war effort through charitable works, and leading the anti-conscription movement, World War 1 led to a multitude of different experiences for Irish women. Here we read from some archival sources from Dublin City Library and Archive to highlight four Irish women whose lives were impacted by the First World War in very different ways.The four women featured are Anna Haslam, Nora Guilfoyle (pictured right), Monica Roberts and Maeve Cavanagh.Watch Women's Voices 1914 -1918 playlist:Or just listen:Part of a new exhibition by Dublin City Archives entitled “Doing their bit” Irish Women and the First World War. This exhibition draws on the collections of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association Archive and other material held at Dublin City Library and Archive and considers the legacy of World War 1 on the role of women in Irish Society. The exhibition is display at Dublin City Library and Archive until the end of April 2018.The exhibition is developed by Dublin City Archives and Dublin City Council Historian-in Residence Scheme and is funded by Dublin City Council Decade of Commemorations.

The Conscription Crisis – After Russia’s withdrawal from the First World War, Germany started an offensive on the western front in March 1918. The British Government subsequently introduced the Military Services Act in April 1918, extending conscription to every Irish male between the ages of 18 and 50. Most strands of Irish life vigorously opposed conscription, leading to a retreat from the British authorities some months later.Na Fianna article by Countess Markieviecz – January 1916 Digital.libraries.dublincity.ie History Document of the MonthEvery month the Dublin City Council Historians in Residence will be highlighting a document from Dublin City Public Libraries and Archives Digital Repository.  An image of the selected document will be on display in branch libraries during the month.Historians in Residence are available to meet groups and schools, give talks, walks etc, run history book clubs and advise on historical research.

Strolling around the centre of St. Stephens Green, amongst the flowers, swans, tourists and lunchtime-time sandwich eaters, stands an unassuming seat which you might easily pass-by without noticing. Going in for a closer look, the curious onlooker will note that this bench is dedicated to one Anna and Thomas Haslam for their tireless work campaigning for equal rights for women. The seat, made from Kilkenny Limestone, was erected in 1923, five years after women over 30 received the vote in Britain and Ireland and a year after all men and women in the Irish Free State constitution over 21 could vote. Collection: Dublin City Gallery The Hugh LaneThe Haslams' work in the later part of the nineteenth century is a great example of the overlapping campaign for social reform that many of those involved in the suffrage movement were also a part of.Both Anna and Thomas were Quakers (members of The Society of Friends), a Christian sect first introduced into Ireland in 1654. Their fundamental belief was in equality between men and women and they were predominantly known for their help with the poor and their support for the anti-slavery campaign, prison reform and temperance.Ann Maria Fischer was born in April 1829 to a middle-class Quaker family in Youghal, County Cork. She was educated in Quaker boarding schools in Newtown (Waterford) and Newgate (York, England). In 1845 she returned from York to work with her parents in the soup kitchens organised by the Society of Friends Anna for the relief of the Great Famine. From her family kitchen in Youghal, Anna and her sister Deborah started up a workshop teaching young girls to knit and crotchet. Anna organised the sale of their work and the business began to flourish, ultimately employed over 100 young women in the area. After a number of successful years trading, the nuns of the Presentation Convent eventually took over and introduced lace-making which later established Youghal’s renowned lace industry.In 1853, when working at a teaching position in Ackworth School in Yorkshire, Anna met fellow teacher and Irish Quaker Thomas Haslam, who was originally from Mountmellick in County Laois. Thomas shared Anna’s belief in equality for women, and after returning to Ireland they married in 1854 in Cork. The Haslam’s left teaching and moved to Dublin when Thomas obtained a position as an accountant at Jameson, Pim & Co. Brewery, in Aughrim Street. They were extremely close and devoted to each other, which friends often referring to their marriage as idyllic. They moved to Rathmines in 1862, and in 1866 Thomas suffered ill health which was to afflict him the rest of his life. He was unable to work, so Anna became the breadwinner, running a small stationary business from their home at 125 Leinster Rd., Rathmines for the next forty years.Credit: National Archives of IrelandThe first campaign the Haslams were involved in was around better education for women; Anna had been among the reformers let by Anne Jellicoe, in the founding of the Irish Society for Training and Employment of Educated Women in 1861 and in 1866 the establishment of Alexandra College for the Higher Education of Women. Alexandra College was the first college in Ireland to provide university-type education for women and then in 1873 Alexandra High School for Girls. Anna also contributed to the Intermediate Education Act of 1879, which enabled girls to sit public school examinations, and the Royal University Act of 1879, which permitted women to study for degrees in the Royal University. Credit: Dublin City Library and ArchivesDespite his illness, Thomas continued to contribute to the campaign for women’s rights. In 1874 he published The Women’s Advocate, the first of three Irish suffrage pamphlets and the first to be published in Ireland supporting women’s suffrage. They contained invaluable information and practical advice on the organisation of suffrage activism and as well as debating in favour of the vote for women.In 1876, the first Irish suffrage society was founded by Anna and Thomas, called the Dublin Women’s Suffrage Association. Anna became secretary, a position she held for thirty-seven years. The DWSA sought reform for any discrimination against women, either on a legal or social level, and regularly sent petitions to the House of Commons and lobbied Irish MPs.In 1864, 1866 and 1869 parliament passed the Contagious Diseases Acts, where women suspected of prostitution living in garrison towns in Britain and Ireland were subject to compulsory checks for venereal disease. If they were found to be infected they could be forcibly detainment in a lock hospital for up to one year. Many felt the Acts were discriminative against women and maintained a sexual double standard. Anna and Isabella Tod, a prominent feminist from Belfast, were involved in the campaign to repeal the Acts from the beginning. Anna campaigned tirelessly, speaking at public meetings in Dublin and Belfast and lobbying Irish MPs. The long campaigned ended in 1886 when the acts were at last repealed, but Anna later wrote it set the suffrage campaign back by ten years as they were all so absorbed in it.Another success came in 1896 as the Women Poor Law Guardians Act was passed in Ireland. Poor Law Guardians were elected by magistrates and ratepayers, in Ireland women could vote but not be elected as Guardians unlike the rest of Britain. In 1897 there were thirteen women Poor Law Guardians, which increased to twenty-two the following year, opening the doors for women in local government. Anna and the DWSA continued to lobby Irish MPs and in 1898 the Local Government (Ireland) Act extended the local government vote to all women over thirty who satisfied the residential qualifications, and entitled them to be elected as local councillors. Thomas continued to work alongside Anna, publishing, Women’s Suffrage from a Masculine Standpoint, in 1904.The DWSA grew and extended beyond Dublin, becoming the Irishwomen’s Suffrage and Local Government Association (IWSLGA) in 1901. The turn of the twentieth century saw a more militant approach of which Anna disapproved. In 1908 two members of the IWSLGA, Margaret Cousins and Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington, frustrated by the limitations of the group established the Irish Women’s Franchise League (IWFL), an organisation prepared to break the law if necessary.The exclusion of women’s suffrage from the Home Rule Bill of 1912 brought further feelings of frustration and betrayal for many in the women’s movement. Some resorted to more drastic militant action by damaging government buildings such as the GPO and Dublin Castle. Those found guilty were given a prison sentence and some began hunger strike campaigns in prison. Anna disapproved of such methods in an open letter the Irish Citizen, (founded in 1912 by the Sheehy-Skeffingtons).The outbreak of the First World War brought a lapse in the activism of many in the suffrage movement, as many groups concentrating on contributing to the war effort. In 1916, at the age of ninety, Thomas Haslam published his last pamphlet, Some Last Words on Women’s Suffrage, he died a year later and didn’t live to see the Representation of the People Act brought into legislation in February 1918. This act finally gave women over the age of thirty, who met a property qualification, the right to vote in general elections.At the age of ninety, Anna voted at the Irish general election in December 1918. Despite their political differences, women from all organisations cheered her on the way to the polling booth, and presented her with a bouquet of flowers in suffrage colours.Anna died in 1922, just after the Irish Free State granted full suffrage to all adults over twenty-one. Her work, along with that of her husband’s, to campaigns for social reform and equality for women spanned decades of change in Irish and global society and she whose legacy is carried on my the successor of the IWSLGA, the National Women’s Council of Ireland. Maeve Casserly, Historian-in-Residence, Dublin City Council Additional Photo Credit:Bench: Flickr Commons William Murphy Further Reading (available from your local library!)Smashing Times, Rosemary Cullen OwenIrish Women and the Vote: Becoming Citizens, Louise Ryan and Margaret Ward (eds.)Rise up, Women! Diane Atkinson