Cumann Seandalaiochta agus Staire Phort Lairge

Monday, February 26, 2018

1848 Tricolour Programme 2018

Thomas Francis Meagher and
The Tricolour

Celebration 2,3,4 March

As part of a weekend of Celebrations honouring the 170th anniversary of the flying of the Tricolour at  33 The Mall by Thomas Francis Meagher, on 7 March 1848.

Saturday, 3 March FREE EVENT
2.00pm-4.30pm: Lecture series, Waterford Medieval Museum.
‘The Memoirs of General Thomas Francis Meagher:  from manuscript to print’. Professor Padraig Ó Macháin, Professor of Modern Irish, University College, Cork.
‘The Death of Thomas Francis Meagher’.  Dr Martin Hearne, author and editor of Thomas Francis Meagher: The Making of an Irish-American.
The Legacy of Meagher and Modern Ireland. Noel Whelan, author, barrister, Irish Times columnist.

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Julius Paimal commemoration

Julius Paimal commemoration

Julius Paimal (Coyright Aarne Koppel)

100 years ago this month, the body of a sailor came ashore in a small boat in a cove at Island, Stradbally. The sailor was 31-year-old Able Seaman Julius Paimal, originally from Estonia, and he was killed when his ship, the SS Pinewood, was sunk by a German submarine fifteen miles south of Mine Head on 17th February 1918. A group of local men recovered the body, and eventually succeeded in getting it to the top of the cliff. They were: Sergeant O'Connor and Constable Brown, RIC; James Cummins; William Clancy; Michael Cummins; Philip Cummins; Michael Kiely; Patrick Fitzgerald senior and Patrick Fitzgerald junior. Paimal's remains were interred in the Church of Ireland graveyard in Stradbally on 20th February. This was organised by the local dispensary doctor, Bryan Foley, and the burial was performed by Canon Burkitt. 

On Saturday 17th February at 3.00 pm there will be a short commemoration ceremony at Paimal's grave, to honour him a century after his death. All are invited to attend, and it would be particularly fitting if relatives of any of those involved in recovering Paimal's body 100 years ago were able to be there. There will be refreshments afterwards. For more information contact Cian Flaherty on 086-8961747 or email cianflaherty96@gmail.com.

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Lecture: Cartoon representations of John Redmond 1906 – 1916

The WAHS lecture season for 2017 and 2018 continues on Friday 23rd February with a lecture titled ‘Cartoon representations of John Redmond 1906 – 1916’ by the historian and broadcaster Dr Úna Ní Bhroiméil at 8:00 pm in the St Patrick’s Gateway Centre, Waterford.



This special lecture has been arranged to mark the centenary of the death of John Redmond, who was MP for Waterford and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, in March 1918. Many cartoons of Redmond were published in the Irish-American and British press in the decade before 1916, they give an insight into how Redmond’s political leadership and the campaign for Irish Home Rule which he led was perceived, in both positive and a negative light.

In the lecture Dr Ní Bhroiméil will demonstrate the links between Ireland, Britain and America in a transatlantic and transnational context in the person of John Redmond and through the medium of political cartoons. The cartoons illustrate Redmond’s centrality as a preeminent Irish figure at the beginning of the twentieth century. As the leader of the reunified Irish Parliamentary Party in 1900, John Redmond embodied the hope of the Irish people that a unified party could complete Parnell’s mission of achieving Home Rule for Ireland.



Having visited America in 1886, 1895 and 1899, he was well known to Irish American supporters, but it was his 1904 visit to the United Irish League Convention that spurred the strong and consistent support of the most widely circulated Irish American newspaper, the Irish World. The contemporary British press, however, was outraged at the monetary support that Redmond was receiving in America, for instance, the London Saturday Review raged against the influence of the Irish American press on the government at Westminster and particularly on prime minister Asquith, stating

‘It is often said Mr Redmond is master of the position and has the government in his hand. But is not the real boss behind Mr Redmond? Is he not an Irish American and his name Mr Patrick Ford? Mr Redmond may be master but is not Mr Ford paymaster?’

In turn, the Irish World reprinted five ‘Tory cartoons’ that had been published in the ‘London Unionist Press’ on its front page in December 1910. John Redmond was celebrated by the Irish World and promoted not just as the political leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, but as the leader of the Irish generally at home and abroad. However, the Irish American press turned on Redmond after September 1914 and the later cartoons published in the Irish World reflect Redmond’s diminished political stature in Irish American eyes.



Úna Ní Bhroiméil lectures in American history in Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. She completed  a BA, MA and HDip at NUI Galway and her PhD at Lehigh University, Pennsylvania in the United States. She has published on the themes of Irish identity in the USA, the Irish American press, the formation of Catholic female teachers, and using visual methods in historical research. Úna has contributed to many historical documentaries and can currently be seen presenting the weekly ‘Tríd an Lionsa’ series about historical photographs on TG4.



This lecture will be of interest to anyone interested in John Redmond’s political career and how the examination of visual sources can provide significant historical insights. Admission to the lecture is €5 (students €2.50), but is free for members of the Waterford Archaeological and Historical Society.

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Images: Michael Byrne Lecture

Michael Byrne lecturing to the Waterford Archaeological & Historical Society. 
Michael Byrne (centre) discussing his lecture with members Jim Walsh (left) and Dr Eugene Broderick (right). 
Mrs Sylvia Byrne (centre), wife of the late Niall Byrne, with (from left) Nóra Tubbrit, vice-chairperson, Adrian Larkin, chairperson, Michael Byrne and Pat Grogan. 
Michael Byrne talking with members.



The Waterford Archaeological and Historical Society, Ireland.
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