Magazine article - In Flanders Fields Museum (Friends Magazine)

A magazine arrived in the post today. It came from Ieper in Belgium and was sent by the In Flanders Fields Museum. It's the magazine of the Friends of the In Flanders Fields Museum and contains articles about the work of the museum and the history of the First World War. 

One of the articles was written by me! After completing a three week research visit to the museum in September 2023, I was asked to write about the research I carried out with another student from Ireland. The visit was organised in conjunction with the Irish embassy in Brussels and involved researching information on Irish men who fought in the First World War.

Magazine of the Friends of the In Flanders Fields museum.

 

Article in the Friends magazine.

My article (originally written in English) was translated into Dutch and published with photographs taken during our research visit to the museum, Commonwealth War Graves Commission graveyards and the Irish embassy in Brussels. I have such good memories from the visit to Ieper. Thanks again to Annick Vandenbilcke and all the team in the museum for all they did during the visit.

RTÉ Brainstorm article - French linguist Marie-Louise Sjoestedt in Ireland

The French linguist and Celtic scholar Marie-Louise Sjoestedt (1900-1940) visited Ireland many times during the 1920s and 1930s. She studied the Irish language at universities in France and Ireland and lived with native speakers in Ireland to better understand it. She lectured about Irish in France and Ireland and also wrote books and academic articles about it.

 

Photograph of Marie-Louise Sjoestedt. Image source.

 

One of the first times I came across her was at an AFIS (Association of Franco-Irish Studies) conference in Mary Immaculate College in Limerick when a lectured from the Irish department there gave a paper about her links to the Irish language. 

 

I thought that her story was an interesting one and decided to look into it a little further. I did some research and have just written a short article on the RTÉ Brainstorm website about Sjoestedt's connection to Ireland, the Irish language and Celtic mythology. Read it here. 

Monk Gibbon - an Irish Diary

William Monk Gibbon (1896-1987) was a poet and writer who used experiences from his life in his writing. Aside from his autobiographical writing, he wrote everything from travel books and literary criticism to books on ballet. I have just written an Irish Diary about his life and times in the Irish Times newspaper. Read it here.

If you would like to hear what he spoke like, there is an interview with Gibbon from 1971 on the RTÉ Archives website. You can watch it here.

 

Photograph of Monk Gibbon. Image source.

An Irish Diary on the Saga ship (shipwreck off Cork coast 1895)

Almost 130 years ago, a Swedish merchant ship got into difficulty when sailing from Europe to South America. After losing its rudder in a storm in the English Channel, it came aground in Cork in the south of Ireland in February 1895. I have just written an Irish Diary about the ship known as the Saga in the Irish Times newspaper. Read it here.

 

Drawing of the Saga. Image source.

The story of what happened to the Saga and its Swedish crew was not fully known until recent years when the ship's anchor was recovered and some investigation was done into what happened. The anchor is now on display at Ballybrannigan beach in East Cork close to where the ship ran aground.  

Beside the anchor on the beach is an information board in English and Irish telling the story of what happened the Saga. Included on the board is a list of the crew that were on board when it ran into difficulty after being battered by the storm in the English Channel. 

This is a list of the crew that were on board the Saga. This information was obtained from the Oskarshamnssjöfart website. 

• Kapten [Captain] Lorentz Peter Sjöstrand, född [born] 1856 i Ålem
• Styrman [Mate] Johan Martin Hansson, född 1864 [born] i Falsterbo
• Konstapel [Constable] Frans Oskar Karlsson, född [born] 1870 i Mönsterås
• Matros [Able seaman] Karl Viktor Johansson, född [born] 1869 i Mönsterås
• Lättmatros [Seaman] Klas Viktor Danielsson, född [born] 1873 i Fliseryd
• Lättmatros [Seaman] Uno Rudolf Johansson, född [born] 1874 i Fliseryd
• Lättmatros [Seaman] Per Oskar Leonard Svensson, född [born] 1877 i Ryssby
• Jungman [Deckhand] Josef Edvin Gottfrid Gustafsson, född [born] 1878 i Häreda
• Kock [Cook] Ernst Herman Pettersson, född [born] 1876 i Oskarshamn

 

Anchor from the Saga at the carpark at Ballybrannigan beach, Cork, Ireland.

The boy mayor - An Irish Diary on James K. McGuire

James Kennedy McGuire (1868-1923) was an American politician who was only in his 20s when elected Mayor of Syracuse, a city in New York State. He was given the nickname of the 'boy mayor' when elected to that office in 1895. I have just written a newspaper article for the Irish Times on the boy mayor. Read it here.

 

Photograph of James Kennedy McGuire (1868-1923). Image source.

Several books have been written in America about McGuire including James K. McGuire: Boy Mayor and Irish Nationalist by Joseph Fahey and The Political Lives of James K. McGuire by Daniel Schultz. There has not been much written about McGuire in Ireland but perhaps that could change.

Due to his Irish ancestry (his father was born in Enniskillen), McGuire took an interest in Irish affairs. As I mention in my newspaper article, he was a member of many Irish fraternal associations and clubs in America. He also tried to help Irish people who visited America to spread information about the cause of Irish freedom. One of those he met there and got to know was Diarmuid Fawsitt (1884-1967) who was sent to America as Consul of the Irish Republic. I was pleased to see that a grand-daughter of Fawsitt's read my article and wrote to the newspaper about Fawsitt's relationship with McGuire. You can read the letter here and you can find out more about Fawsitt in his entry in the Dictionary of Irish Biography.

An Irish Diary on the Argenta prison ship

The Argenta was a prison ship that was stationed in Belfast Lough around 100 years ago. It was used to hold men who were suspected members of Sinn Féin or the IRA. I have just written a Diary about it in the Irish Times newspaper. Read it here.

 

Photograph of the Argenta. Image source.

 

Life was tough for those on board the wooden hulled steam ship. Conditions were extremely cramped and the food was of poor quality and often spoiled or under cooked. Disease was also a common feature of life on board for the men who were locked up in metal cages for hours on end with little hope of any improvement in their day to day experience. For more information on the conditions in which the internees were kept, read this Century Ireland article.

An Irish Diary on Trams in Cork

There is a plan in place to reintroduce trams to Cork city in Ireland. The one line is planned to run from Ballincollig in the west of the city to Mahon Point in the east, with stops at MTU, CUH, UCC and Kent Station. Find out more about the new scheme here. 

Trams were last used as a means of public transport in Cork over 90 years ago. They ended in 1931 when buses took over as the main means of public transport in the city. I have just written a Diary about the story of Cork's trams in today's Irish Times. Read it here.

 

Colorised photograph of a tram in Douglas, Cork 1910. Image source.

 

Map of the 1898 electric tram scheme.

As I mentioned in my article, there were two tram schemes in Cork in the past. The first was horse-drawn and last for just a few short years. There is some information about it here together with photographs of the trams and horses. 

The second tram scheme was electric and ran for over 30 years. There is information about it here together with some photographs. 

You can watch the Mitchell and Kenyon film from 1902 showing a tram in Cork city here.

If you would like to find out more about the history of trams in Cork - there is a book on the topic called Tram Tracks Through Cork: An Illustrated History by Walter McGrath.