Charles Stewart Parnell's walking stick - a literary baton

I have just written a piece about a plain walking stick that was once owned by Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-1891). In fact it was made by him - he cut the whitethorn stick from the wood in Avondale, Co. Wicklow where he lived some 130 years ago. Read it here.

Photo of the Parnell Monument on Parnell Street, Dublin, Ireland.

The stick has been adopted as a literary baton, handed down from generation to generation of Irish writer. Past guardians of the walking stick include poets, essayists and novelists. The Nobel Prize winner, Seamus Heaney (1939-2013), is probably the most internationally recognisable holder of the stick, but it has also passed through the hands of Conor Cruise O'Brien and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill among others. I wonder who the next recipient will be...

Avondale, Co. Wicklow (home of the Parnell family).

While researching the piece, I came across other walking sticks that were either owned by Parnell or have had some close personal connection to him. In places as far apart as Brighton-on-Hove in England, New York in the USA and Clara in Co. Offaly in Ireland, sticks have come to light that are closely linked to the man himself. In Glasnevin Museum in Dublin and in the National Museum of Ireland, there are also a couple of fancier sticks that are also believed to have been owned by him at one time or another. Perhaps we should do an inventory of all the Parnell sticks out there - we might be surprised by the result! 

One of the more elaborate Parnell walking sticks in Glasnevin Museum. Image source. 

The burning of Cork (11.12.1920) in six newspaper archives

On 11 December 1920, five acres of property was destroyed in Cork City, Ireland. In a reprisal attack, members of the British Crown forces set fire to buildings including shops on the main street, St Patrick's Street, as well as the City Hall and Carnegie Library. The toll of destruction was unprecedented. All together, 57 buildings were completely destroyed, 20 were badly damaged and a further 12 were wrecked and looted. 

The damage was estimated at around £2.5 million. 2,000 people lost their jobs and it took years to rebuild the city center. The event, which became known as the Burning of Cork, generated newspaper headlines all over the world. If you are interested in finding out more about what was said in the newspapers, below you will find a list of some of the newspaper archives that you can search for free and discover articles and images from the time. I did a quick search myself and have included some examples of the kind of articles / photographs that can be found. Try it yourself!

1. Chronicling America (American newspapers) Link. Below are a couple of example of the articles and photographs that you can find in this database of American newspapers that is run by the American Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The Washington Herald, 13 December 1920, p. 1. Image source.

The Evening World, 23 December 1920, p. 9. Image source.

2. Trove (Australian newspapers) Link - Below are a couple of articles from two different Australian newspapers from December 1920. Trove is a collaboration between the National Library of Australia and other libraries in Australia. 

The Argus, 14 December 1920, p. 6. Image source.

The Armidale Express. 14 December 1920, p. 4. Image source.

3. Papers Past (New Zealand newspapers) Link - Below are a couple of newspaper articles from two different New Zealand newspapers. Papers Past contains digitised copies of newspapers, magazine, journals and much more. It is provided by the National Library of New Zealand.

Northern Advocate, 15 December 1920, p. 5. Image source.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, 14 December 1920, p. 5. Image source.

4. Delpher (Dutch newspapers) Link - below are a couple of examples of the articles and photographs that I found in this easy to use database. I don't speak Dutch, but I searched for 'brand' [fire] and 'Cork' and found a good few articles. I wonder if anyone has done any research on Dutch-Irish relations using this great resource. Delpher was developed by the Dutch National Library.

De Courant, 15 December 1920, p. 1. Image source.

Dagblad van Zuid-Holland, 31 December 1920, p. 3. Image source.

5. Gallica (French newspapers) Link - below are some of the articles and photographs on the Burning of Cork from the Gallica database. This is the database that I am most familiar with and it is relatively easy to navigate, even if you don't speak the language. Gallica is the digital library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Le Matin, 15 December 1920, p. 1. Image source.

'Après les incendies de Cork'. Image source.

6. Hemeroteca (Spanish language newspapers) Link - below are some of the articles that appeared in the Spanish speaking press about the burning of Cork. The database is provided by the Spanish National Library. 

La Voz, 13 December 1920, p. 5. Image source.

El Liberal, 14 December 1920, p. 1. Image source.

Article on RTE's Brainstorm - Burning of Cork in the French press

The Irish War of Independence, which lasted from January 1919 to July 1921, consumed gallons of newspaper ink in newspapers all around the world. During that time, certain significant events caused the focus to be amplified. One of those events was the Burning of Cork, which happened on the night of 11 December 1920. I have just written a piece for the RTÉ Brainstorm website about French press coverage of the Burning of Cork. Read it here.

Front page of Le Matin, 15 December 1920. Source.

The newspaper that is mentioned in the article on Brainstorm is L'Œuvre. The paper ran from 1904 until 1944 and during those years the paper's ideology altered radically from being non-conformist in the early years, to being a radical republican and pacifist paper in the inter-war years, to ultimately adopting a collaborationist stance during the Second World War. It has been digitised by the French National Library (BnF) and you can search through the archives from 1915 to 1944 on their digital website, Gallica. See here for more. 

If you want to find out more about the Burning of Cork, there is a podcast available on the RTÉ 'Documentary on One' radio programme website. It was made in 1960 and includes interviews with people who witnessed the event that took place on 11 December 1920. It lasts for 29.40 mins and you can listen to it here. There is also a shorter RTÉ radio clip (4.26 mins) on the Burning of Cork available. It was made by Myles Dungan and you can listen to it here.