Ireland's Hidden Histories

A Story a Day from Our Little-Known Past

Frank Hopkins

• Publisher: New Island
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781848408234
• eBook ISBN: 9781848408357
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: Literature

From the depths of the island's past to more recent booms and busts, Irish history is replete with mesmerising stories.

If you're intrigued by tales of human tragedy, executions, wars, grave-robbing, rioting, man-eating Kerry eagles, rat-eating Belfast gamblers and Ardee cross-dressers, then this is the book for you. In this fascinating – and often hilarious – romp through the lesser-known facts of Irish history, Frank Hopkins delivers a story for every single day of the year.

Based on years of extensive research, and delivered with Hopkins' unique wit and humour, Ireland's Hidden Histories is a must for Irish history lovers, general readers and anyone with a curiosity for the strange antics of our forebears.

1 July

Mass evictions in Galway

The Tyrawly Herald of 1 July 1852 reported on a mass eviction of poor families in County Galway a few days earlier. In the townlands of Barnacranny, Ballagh and Tonabrucky, forty-two families were evicted, leaving a total of 203 people homeless and destitute. The vast majority of these people were forced to seek refuge in the workhouse.

2 July

The sad end of the Islandbridge Flying Horse

During the early days of July 1758, the newly elected Lord Mayor of Dublin Philip Crampton, was keen to make a quick impression. On 1 July he visited the city markets and seized goods and foodstuff that were deemed to be unsaleable and distributed them amongst the city’s indigent roomkeepers and to the inmates of the Marshalsea debtor’s prison.

The next day on 2 July, the Lord Mayor, sheriffs Michael Sweny and William Forbes and lord justice Tickell rode out to Islandbridge accompanied by the police and the army where they seized a ‘flying horse machine’.

The flying horse machine – that’s a merry-go-round to you and I – had, according to the newspaper, been installed at Islandbridge ‘for the diversion of numbers of idle persons who resorted to it on the sabbath day’.

The flying horse machine was confiscated and carried back to the city and lodged in the Tholsel in High Street. The mayor ordered the machine to be destroyed and it was taken to Francis Street where it was publicly burned two days later.

3 July

Dolly disaster

On Monday, 3 July 1905, Dubliners awoke to the dreadful news that a small pleasure boat with six passengers aboard – all members of Shelbourne Football Club – had sunk in a squall on Dublin Bay close to Poolbeg Lighthouse the previous evening.

The craft in question – the Dolly – was owned and skippered by Ringsend man James Waddock. Waddock’s five companions, including a nine-year-old boy John Purdy, were all from Ringsend; all six perished in the tragedy. The other victims were Peter Redmond, James Owens, Robert Cunningham and John Polhill. Young Purdy was particularly unlucky to be aboard as he was only picked up from a rowboat downriver after begging the men to let him come with them.

The Dolly left Ringsend early the previous Sunday morning for a day’s fishing off Howth Head. Initially the sea was calm and the weather pleasant. Later that evening, however, as the Dolly was making its return journey to Ringsend, the weather began to turn nasty.

As the little craft approached Poolbeg Lighthouse, the winds strengthened and two men who were out walking near the lighthouse saw that it was struggling against the squalls. The boat appeared to have been struck by a gust of wind, which capsized it. The two witnesses later said that they observed two of the men struggling in the water, but they disappeared after twenty minutes. They saw a small dog, which had been on board the Dolly, nearly make it to the shore, but he gave up and sank within twenty yards of the sea wall.

A lifeboat was launched from the Pigeon House and it was joined by the Ringsend Coastguard in a desperate attempt to save the men. However, despite an extensive search, they were unable to find any trace of the boat or the missing men. The only items found were James Waddock’s gallon jar, which he used to carry porter on his fishing expeditions, and an oar from the boat.

James Owens, one of the victims, was the father of Shelbourne Football Club Captain Jackie Owens, and the club launched a disaster fund for the families affected by the tragedy.

4 July

Ardee cross-dresser

The Dublin Evening Post of 4 July 1732 informs us that, during a duel in Dublin, Mr Burnside, who was a writing master, shot Mr Cashell in the left breast, killing him instantly. The dispute arose after Cashell had taunted Burnside on Bachelor’s Walk in Dublin, calling him a ‘Buttermilk Beau’. Burnside immediately fled Dublin.

In its next issue, the Dublin Evening Post claimed that Burnside had been arrested at Ardee in County Louth, disguised in women’s clothing. However, the Post edition of 18 July issued a correction of this information, stating that the man captured was not Burnside at all but a ‘fellow that has affected that dress since his childhood, and we hear, has served as a maid servant in several houses’.

5 July

A Dublin Riot

On the night of 5 July 1886, a serious riot took place in Dublin in which one man died, at least fifty were injured and eighty-five were arrested by the city police. The rioting occurred following the election of the Nationalist candidate Edmund Dwyer Gray as MP for the St Stephen’s Green ward of Dublin city.

About eight o’clock in the evening, bands celebrating Gray’s victory began to parade in the area and soon attracted a huge crowd. Later, an estimated crowd of two to three thousand of Gray’s supporters converged on York Street, just off Stephen’s Green, which was then home to the Nationalist Workingmen’s Club, the Conservative Workingmen’s Club and an Orange Hall.

The bands halted outside the Conservative Club – which was packed with Orangemen – and they began to play a selection of rousing Fenian tunes. When asked later to describe exactly what these tunes were, Police Inspector Talbot said that he didn’t know but commented wryly that he was sure they weren’t playing ‘God save the Queen’.

When the Nationalists began to sing ‘God Save Ireland’, the Orangemen inside the club responded by booing and hissing. The crowd then began to hurl bottles, stones and bricks at the building, and an unsuccessful attempt was made to set the front door on fire.

At the height of the rioting, a number of shots were discharged from inside the Conservative Club and some of the demonstrators were taken to the nearby Mercer’s Hospital with gunshot wounds. One man, James McConn, died while running from the scene directly after the shooting, but it was established afterwards that he had died from a heart attack.

The crowd quickly dispersed after the shooting, and a large force of police entered the Conservative Club. Police later arrested eighty-five Orangemen, most of them armed with cudgels. Fourteen rioters were arrested outside the club, but were not detained. Inside the club, police discovered a number of iron bars, and in a yard at the back of the house they uncovered two revolvers that had recently been fired and a quantity of ammunition.

Three Dublin Orangemen, Archibald Cruickshank, Robert Clarke and William Ward, were charged with firing into the crowd, but were later acquitted, as were the others arrested in the Conservative Club.

Sporadic rioting continued around the city for the next three nights. On 7 July a large number of nationalists again gathered in York Street, this time to defend the Nationalist Club against attack from students of Trinity College, who had threatened to ‘capture the Fenian flag in York Street’. The students never carried out their threat although they were involved in a few minor incidents throughout the city.

The bell-ringers of St Patrick’s Cathedral had the last word in the matter at midnight on 8 July. After ringing the midnight hour, they rang out the tune of ‘Rule Britannia’. However, no one responded to this act of provocation and the streets remained calm.

6 July

‘An unfortunate boy’

This missing person’s ad from the Dublin Evening Post on 6 July 1809 gives voice to every parent’s nightmare:

‘An unfortunate boy, who left his parents’ house, with an intention of walking into the country for his amusement, on Wednesday, 31st May last; and although every enquiry has since been made respecting him, yet no certain information has been received. It is, therefore, hoped that any humane person, who may have met him, or knows where he may be found, will have the goodness to send information by letter, or otherwise to No. 3 Townsend Street – and any reward or expense, which may be required, will be thankfully given. As his long absence may induce him to think he may be punished for his misconduct on his return, he may rest assured, that on the contrary, he shall be treated by his unhappy relations with every kindness and affectionate regard. The above boy is between 16 and 17 years of age, slender made, about five feet, five inches high, light complexion, fair hair, blue eyes, with a slight cast, high nose, holds his head to one side, and walks with one shoulder forward – his legs feeble, and his right knee rather large – had on him a blue cloth coat, with flat-plated buttons, a red waistcoat, with black spots, and a black one under it – nankeen pantaloons, and a pair of blue cloth under them. It has been supposed he went towards Kilkenny.’

7 July

Drowned in the Liffey

There were two cases of drowning reported in the Freeman’s Journal on 7 July 1788. The first concerned a ten-year-old boy who fell into the River Liffey at Coal Quay on the previous day. On the morning of 7 July, the body of a woman was taken from the river at George’s Quay. The woman had been stabbed several times and it was reported that she had been working as a prostitute ‘in that hotbed of iniquity’ at Stocking Lane near Townsend Street.

It was also reported on the same day that a woman, who was caught in the act of stripping a child in Cook Street, was seized by a mob, given a severe ducking under a pump and taken to the police watch house on the Old Bridge over the Liffey.

8 July

Death of Sarah Atkinson

Sarah Atkinson, the philanthropist and writer, devoted much of her spare time to charitable work in Dublin. She was particularly prolific in her efforts to help young Dublin girls who had found themselves in the city’s many workhouses and institutions during the mid-nineteenth century.

Sarah Atkinson, née Gaynor, was born in Athlone in 1823 and was the eldest of five daughters. She moved to Dublin with her family when she was fifteen. In 1849 she married doctor and proprietor of the Freeman’s Journal George Atkinson.

In 1856, aided by her friend and neighbour Ellen Woodcock, Sarah established St Joseph’s Industrial Institute in Drumcondra for the training a...

Table of contents

• Cover
• About the Author
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• January
• February
• March
• April
• May
• June
• July
• August
• September
• October
• November
• December
• Acknowledgments
• Select Bibliography