The life of the United Irishman William Orr is recalled in Familia, Ulster Genealogical Review (Ulster Historical Foundation, No 38, £9.99) edited by Trevor Parkhill. Orr was a Presbyterian who was executed in 1797 with his case becoming a cause celebre, leading to the slogan “Remember Orr”. His sympathisers reacted with scorn and disgust to the news that the judge, Barry Yelverton, wept when passing the sentence of death, provoking William Drennan’s comment: “I hate those Yelvertonian tears.”
The author of the essay, Colin Walker, analyses two poems in Orr’s memory, one thought to be by Drennan and the other by William Hamilton Drummond. Of the two, he believes that Drummond’s is more positive. Views on Orr reflect the disagreements that were part of the structure of the 1798 Rebellion, and one writer’s opinion from 200 years later is quoted: “The United Irishmen were, after all, anything but united.” Interpretations differ about the Remember Orr slogan; for some, it meant to “take inspiration from the ideals to which Orr witnessed in his death”, but for others it became a vengeful war cry, signifying “pay back the injustices done to Orr and others like him”. More features consider Migrations and the Maiden City and Elizabeth’s Plantation Policy in Ulster, 1567-73, along with a wealth of book reviews.
In its second volume Dúchas, The Duhallow Historical Journal (Cló Chnoc na Graí, €15), edited by Aogán Ó hiarlaithe, has produced a diverse range of 10 essays in English and two in Irish. The books of two women are explored: Elizabeth Bowen and Mary Chavelita Dunne, who wrote under the pseudonym George Egerton.
In his essay on Bowen, Ian d’Alton contends that her fiction does not mirror what historians and anthropological sociologists have established, or necessarily reflect her own experiences as set out in her nonfiction work Bowen’s Court (1942). The book attracted considerable literary analysis and although it has a partial version of history with a fictional feel, he believes this gives it power and immediacy. The house escaped the 1919-23 period almost unscathed, but was later demolished. Despite this, d’Alton feels that Bowen has, in effect, placed a preservation order upon it, creating a new, higher reality. By contrast, Egerton mostly wrote short stories from the perspective of women negotiating their way through life. Karen Power states in her article that Egerton was known for her avant-garde style, sharing elements with that of Oscar Wilde in her use of aestheticism, allegory and folk tales. Egerton, who was born in Australia, spent her childhood in Ireland, later living in Millstreet in Cork, New York and Norway.
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The latest Donegal Annual (County Donegal Historical Society, No 76, €25), edited by Seán Beattie, is strong on biographical essays. Ruairí Gallagher considers the life of the philanthropist and visionary John Gwyn, who was born near Muff in 1755. He made his fortune as a linen merchant and stipulated in his will that most of his life savings of £40,000 was to be used in setting up an orphanage, which became Gwyn’s Charitable Institution in Derry, for children aged 7-14. Historical essays also cover the work of Letterkenny-born educator Emma Saxelby, the extraordinary life of Lisa Fischer, an Austrian Jew who fled the Nazis to settle in Ballyshannon, and Thomas Ainge Devyr, of Donegal town, who was a political journalist and activist involved in the Chartist movement, and whose family fled to the US when threatened with imprisonment.
Raymond Blair discusses an account of a walking tour in west Donegal in the summer of 1886 published in Wanderings in Co Donegal by a Young Victorian, written by an Australian, Harry Armytage. He had been motivated to visit Donegal because of the violence and controversy arising from the evictions being carried out around Gweedore. When he told a woman in England that he had been in Donegal, her response was, “Good gracious! How could you? I hope you went well armed.”
The Spark (Issue 35, £6) a Border counties local history review, covering Monaghan, Cavan, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Sligo and Donegal, is edited by Jack Johnston. The journal carries a wealth of detail on subjects such as beehive pillars of the Markree demesne, Co Sligo, a profile of the forgotten Cavan historian Thomas Hall, and the life and times of a drapery and millinery shop in Augher, Co Tyrone, by the family whose parents used to run it. Shoppers were amused by the pen labelling on a box of Ladies’ Underwear which read “Ass Sizes” (shorthand for “assorted”).
Seán Corr paints a fascinating biographical portrait of the career of the Duke of Connaught and Co Monaghan, who was christened Arthur William Patrick Albert. In 1870 he was engaged in defending Canada from Fenian raids, and many decades later became governor general of Canada (1911-1916), the last public office he held.
The annual Lecale Review (Lecale and Downe Historical Society, No 22, £15), co-edited by Ken Dawson and Colm Rooney, reflects an array of topics from south Down, including land and social change in the area. Features also look at the history of Legamaddy House and the Hutton Stud Farm, the discovery of an old organ in a former Presbyterian church in Strangford, and Gunpowder and Plots: The Strange Case of the Magazine on Saul Street.
[ Local history: Six books that lift the lid on times pastOpens in new window ]
An intriguing article by Conn Lavery discusses the Abbey of Carryke, not far from Downpatrick, which was the first known continental monastery on the island of Ireland. The year 2027 will mark the 900th anniversary of its foundation. The journal carries a tribute to the society’s former president, Walter Love, who died in January 2024. A familiar figure and voice on BBC Radio and television for decades, Love introduced speakers in his characteristically calm manner, and one of his contributions to the society was entitled Down in the BBC Archives.
The Other Clare (Shannon Archaeological and Historical Society, Vol 48, €15), edited by Rosemary Power, is brimful of diverse essays. Topics include folklore collecting on Scattery Island, Corcomroe Abbey in the Burren and the English medieval wool trade, and folk memories of north Clare.
An engaging article, Songs and History: who we were and where we’ve been, is linked to accessing music. Jim Carroll explains the stories behind specific songs from the oral tradition that retell experiences and aspirations of past generations, and which have been ignored. Among those he writes about are Three Brave Blacksmiths, The Grazier’s Song, The Quilty Burning and The Shannon Scheme, the hydroelectric dam built on the river at Ardnacrusha in the 1920s. One of the additional benefits of this essay is that the names of songs are listed with QR codes to direct readers to where they can find them on the website of the Shannon Archaeological and Historical Society.
Paul Clements’s latest book is Jan Morris: Life from Both Sides
