Our next monthly meeting will take place on Wednesday, 9th November at 7:00 pm in the Observatory Library.

Our speaker this month is Dr Andrew Newby, who has already delivered two talks for us over Zoom on topics related to Irish / Finnish history. This time, he will be giving a talk in person on:

“The Evils Which Have Arisen In My Country”: Mary Power Lalor – A Female Landowner in Victorian Ireland.

Mary Power Lalor (née Ryan) was born in 1840 at Inch, Co. Tipperary, into a landowning family described as “one of the few Milesian Roman Catholic families to have retained their property.” Her mother, Catherine Whyte, came originally from Loughbrickland in County Down, and seems to have had a considerable influence on Mary’s later perspectives on self-help, education and philanthropy. After taking her husband’s estate upon his death in 1873, Mary Power Lalor became a significant figure in Irish life, involved in the New York Herald Relief Fund (1880), the relief of distress in Donegal (1883), and leading the Irish Distress Ladies Fund (from 1886), as well as being appointed Government Inspector of Lacemaking in Ireland (1887). 

This overview of Power Lalor’s life, highlights various interlinked themes in the economic, social and political life of late Victorian Ireland. Firstly, it demonstrates that philanthropy served a social function beyond altruistic engagement by the wealthier members of society: it contributed to the maintenance of the established social order. Secondly, the development of female participation in civic society, as well as the contemporary “self-help” ethos can be examined from her long involvement in philanthropic work. Thirdly, despite the “esteem and admiration” which Power Lalor may have received from some Nationalists, there were various points of turmoil during her life, especially during the Land War and the Pland of Campaign, underlining the impact of national politics on local landlord-tenant relations.

As a proud Irishwoman whose life was nevertheless securely anchored within the British imperial system, Power Lalor demonstrates that national identity in nineteenth century Ireland was not always polarised between “unionist” and “nationalist” as might be assumed.

This month’s talk will take place this Wednesday 12th October at 7:00 pm at Armagh Observatory in the library.

Our speaker this month is Brian McDonald, who will speak about The letters of Michael Haughey.

Michael was born in Armaghbreague, South Armagh in 1820 and the letters were written to his daughter, Allice, who emigrated to America.

The letters begin in 1888 and end in 1905; they are formally addressed and dated, beginning with “My Dear Allice” and end with “Your Affectionate Father – Michael Haughey”. In practically every letter he pleads with Allice to come home on a visit, but she endured hard times in America (5 of her 10 children died in infancy) and she didn’t make it home until1904, 24 years after she had left.

The letters contain details of family information, births, deaths and marriages and give us an insight into the customs at the time. Arranged marriages were very much the order of the day and a ‘fortune’ was paid to the groom by the family of the bride. There are a number of references to marriages, the negotiations and the amounts paid. 

Michael was first and foremost a farmer and he gives seasonal accounts of the farming year, from ploughing in January and February right through to the potato harvest and threshing the following winter. He reports on the crops he grows, years of good and poor harvest and prices gained for farm produce, such as potatoes, flax, butter and eggs, which he sold in the local markets.  We also get an indication of wages, the price of cattle, the price of land and rents paid to landlords.

The period of Michael’s life was a very interesting time in Irish history and he was active in politics throughout his life; he collected O’Connell’s ‘Catholic Rent’, was a Repeal Warden during the Land Wars and  acted as personating agent for Edward McHugh – MP for South Armagh (1892 – 1900)

When he was born the Penal Laws were still in force, he lived through the famine but by the end of his life Catholics could vote, sit in parliament and own land. He heard Daniel O’Connell speaking in Dundalk in 1843 and attended O’Connell’s funeral in 1847. He refers several times to Home Rule, which was the big political issue in the 1890s and was optimistic it would become a reality.

One of the most interesting aspects of the letters is his style of writing and the, almost, poetic phrases he uses in practically every paragraph. Michael well read as the letters are full of quotes from people like Thomas Moore, Goldsmith, Dickens, Thomas Gray and other lesser known authors.

The last letter is from John, informing Allice of the passing of their father in 1905.

Our meetings resume again after our summer break and our next meeting will take place on Wednesday 14th September at 7:00 pm.

The venue will be the library at Armagh Observatory and our speaker this month will be historian and former director of the Centre for Women’s Studies at Queen’s University Dr Myrtle Hill, who has already spoken to the group on a number of occasions.

This time she will be discussing Finding women in Irish history: some examples of research and realities.

Our May meeting will take place next week on Wednesday, 11 th May at 7:00 pm.

The venue will be the library at Armagh Observatory and our speaker this month will be historian and former director of the Centre for Women’s Studies at Queen’s University Dr Myrtle Hill.

Myrtle has already spoken to the group on a number of occasions. The title of her current talk is ” Finding women in Irish history: some examples of research and realities.”

This month’s meeting will take place in Armagh County Museum at 7pm. It will start with our Annual General Meeting.

The AGM will be followed by a talk at 7:30pm. Our speaker this month is Fiona Byrne, Curator of History at the Ulster Folk Museum (National Museums NI). Fiona has been working in museums for over 15 years, focusing mainly on the Decade of Centenaries collections, especially World War One and 1916 material. More recently, she has been working on the Irish Folk Life collections and this continues to be her main focus and area of research. She has taken a particular interest in straw work collections, such as St. Brigid’s crosses. She will be discussing St. Brigid, objects and customs associated with her and why she still has such a strong following today.