John Bulmer Hobson was born on 14 January 1883 in Belfast and died on 8 August 1969 in Castleconnell, County Limerick. Unusually for an Irish revolutionary he actually came from a Protestant family. His family were Quakers, which is a…
Tag: Easter Rising
A Short Biography of John Bulmer Hobson:
Dates, dates, dates…
Prompted by my ongoing quest to identify the “six times [meaning six rebellions] during the last three hundred years” referred to in the 1916 Proclamation, “Mixed messages” (@SignsThe Reading) was kind enough to send me some photos of monuments in…
For all those getting a bit fed up with commemoration
Have you looked at this photo?
The photo reproduced here shows Patrick Pearse surrendering to Brigadier-General William Lowe on Saturday, 29th April 1916: the effective end of the Easter Rising. The location was Moore Street. If you look closely, it becomes apparent that there is a…
The Proclamation: Promise or Rhetoric?
Over a year and a half ago I wrote a post which posed the question “Was Patrick Pearse bad at maths, or at history, or at both (or at neither)???” You can read the full post here, but in brief…
An answer to my question?
A few weeks ago I posed the question both here and on Twitter about what were the “six times [meaning six rebellions] during the last three hundred years” referred to on the 1916 Proclamation. I didn’t get any response. Having…
Was Patrick Pearse bad at maths, or at history, or at both (or at neither)???
The 1916 Proclamation is probably the best known piece of writing in Irish history, but recently I was asked a question about it I just can’t answer. In the text, Patrick Pearse1 refers to previous uprisings and rebellions as precedents…
Book Review: Fatal Path by Ronan Fanning
This book was published last year to much acclaim. There were lots of complimentary reviews, and I’m not going to dissent here from the majority view. Ronan Fanning is Professor Emeritus of Modern History at University College Dublin and this…
A Beginner’s Guide to the Irish Volunteers
“Aye, sor! Me, sor! Oi’ll do it, so I will!” What was that? Irish volunteering That’s not funny. Sorry. I’m paying attention now. Ask the standard questions then. What? A paramilitary organisation formed by Irish nationalists. When? November 1913. Where?…
Significant Commas in Irish History
As well as teaching about Irish history, I teach English language and grammar, especially the written variety, which a lot of the time seems to mean teaching commas: where to put one, where not to put one, and why it…