Emily de Burgh Daly - Ireland's Own article

Emily de Burgh Daly (née French) (1859-1935) led a very interesting life. I have just written a short article about her for the Ireland's Own magazine. 

Piece of my article in Ireland's Own.

She is probably not as well remembered by the general public today as her older brother, the entertainer, painter and songwriter, William (Percy) French (1854-1920), but maybe we can change that. 

Emily was born at the family home in Clooneyquinn, Co. Roscommon and educated mainly at home. After some training at a hospital in London, she went to work in a hospital in China in 1888. She spent almost 25 years in China and returned to Ireland on several occasions, before returning to live permanently in Ireland in 1912. 

In 1915, Emily published a book about her experience of living in China for nearly a quarter of a century. Part memoir, part travelogue, it is available to view and download as a PDF from the Internet Archive. Here is the link to An Irishwoman in China.

Some images from the book on the Internet Archive.

For more information, you can read Emily's entry in the Dictionary of Irish Biography here.

Free to view newspapers (archives)

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It was recently announced that 1 million pages are now available to view for FREE online. Check out the BNA's blog and the BL's Newsroom blog for information on how to access the free content. Happy searching!

Truce in Irish War of Independence (Jul. 1921) - what the Irish in Paris said.

On this day 100 years ago, 8 July 1921, negotiations to agree a truce in the Irish War of Independence concluded at Dublin's Mansion House. The terms had been agreed upon by delegates including Eamon de Valera and General Nevil Macready and it was announced that the truce would take effect from 11 July 1921. The war had been raging since January 1919, find out more about the background of the war here.

Below is an article by Marcel Pays from the French newspaper, Excelsior of 11 July 1921. It records the reactions of some of the Irish community in Paris to the news of the truce (well two priests actually). It includes two small portrait photographs of de Valera and Macready. Check out a digitized copy of the article here on Gallica. 

Excelsior, 11 July 1921.   

This Excelsior article is fairly unusual because it is rare to find first-hand accounts of what the Irish expat community in France thought about what was happening in Ireland at this time. The first to be interviewed was Fr Logan from the English language church on Avenue Hoche, who said that he was pleased to hear about the Truce, but that 'peace would only come if the talks in London lead to practical and just solutions to the Irish problem'. 

'It is difficult to predict what would or would not come from the talks, but I would like to see a solution that guarantees Irish independence and autonomy, without bringing into question Britain's legitimate security fears', Logan said. 

The second interviewee was Fr Flynn, a French priest of Irish extraction, who said that 'French public opinion was wrong to see Sinn Feiners as rebels'. 'Ireland has a President, a government, a parliament and an army, who want to be Irish', he said. 'We forget in France that Ireland's population has halved in the last seventy years, having gone from 8 to 4 million. Ireland's youth have emigrated to the Unites States, where she is rising today in a plea for Irish freedom', he said.   

Fr Flynn is an interesting person. I came across him when I learned about his visit to Ireland in 1916 as part of a French Catholic church mission to try to get Irishmen to volunteer for the British army to fight in the war. I wrote a short article about him in the Irish Times and also wrote about the French bishop's 1916 mission to Ireland in History Ireland.

Arthur Griffith arriving at the Mansion House in Dublin, 8 July 1921. Image source.

Le Petit Journal and the phantom submarine!

As you know I have been tweeting front pages from Le Petit Journal Illustré every Monday for the last few years. Stories related to Ireland have cropped up on a couple of occasions, usually surrounding events from the War of Independence. 

Entitled 'Le Sous-Marin Fantôme' [The Phantom Submarine], this image from the front page of 3 July 1921 is a little unusual to say the least. The caption says that Sinn Feiners (the foreign press usually referred to armed republicans as 'Sinn Feiners' as opposed to IRA or Irish Volunteers at this time) take great risks in the rocky bays of the Irish coast as they try to land on a submarine that will take them to America where they can complete their mission. Yes, I said it was a bit bizzare...

Front page of Le Petit Journal Illustré 3 July 1921. Image source

Page 2.

The second page of the newspaper carries a short article about the image. It says that submarines cross the Atlantic transporting people and merchandise. These submarines also allow officials of the Republic to travel to America to gather support. It adds that the image shows Sinn Feiners receiving arms and munition from the submarine. 

Book review - 'Art O'Brien and Irish Nationalism in London 1900-25'

My review of Mary MacDiarmada's book, Art O'Brien and Irish Nationalism in London 1900-25, is now live and available on the website of the journal Irish Studies Review. It will be published in the journal in August 2021. Get a free eprint of my review here.

Front cover of book.

Art O'Brien (1872-1949) played an important role in mobilising the Irish diaspora in England during the first twenty-five years of the twentieth century. He was an electrical engineer by training and was fluent in French and Spanish. He put these skills to good use when he became the first Dáil's envoy in London in 1919. His job was to rally the Irish diaspora in England to push for Irish independence. He also acted as a point of contact for the foreign press corps stationed in London. 

The book shines a light on his life and activities for an independent Ireland. Particularly interesting was his interest in the Irish language and Irish dancing. He was born in London to a Cork-born father and an English mother. Art's father died when he was just five years old, so his link to Ireland was broken very early in his life, but he nurtured this aspect of his heritage and it could be said that he became more connected to Ireland's traditional culture and history than many people living in Ireland at the time.

O'Brien was a member of many Irish cultural and nationalist organisations (both legal and illegal) including the Gaelic League in London, Sinn Féin, the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). He led a fascinating life and with all the subterfuge, twists and turns that we read about in MacDiarmada's book, it would make for a good film. Read the book and make up your own mind.

Ireland's Own article - The Sullivan brothers

I have just written a piece for Ireland's Own magazine on the Sullivan Brothers, whose tragic story would have profound implications for the US military and lawmakers. Read it here. The five Irish-American Sullivan brothers served on the same ship in the United States navy during the Second World War. They volunteered for the navy after a friend of theirs died in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

Photo of the five brothers. Image source.

The five brothers, George, Francis, Joseph, Madison, and Albert, were all in their twenties when they joined up. Even though it was established navy policy to separate family members and not allow them serve on the same ship, they appealed and won the right to serve together. They were assigned to the USS Juneau, a light cruiser. 

On the night of November 13th 1942, the Juneau was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. It was hit again the following day when it was trying to make some repairs and this caused it to explode and sink. All but a handful of the almost 700 crew that were on board lost their lives (including the five Sullivans). 

Commemorative plaque to the USS Juneau. Image source.

As well as helping to create the Sole Survivor Policy which protects family members from the draft or combat duty if they have lost family members in military service, the Sullivans' story inspired several books, television documentaries and movies. One of the movies was Steven Spielberg's 1998 film, Saving Private Ryan, which was partially filmed in Co. Wexford, Ireland. In a way, this was like some sort of homecoming as the Sullivans' ancestors left Cork in Ireland for America in the 1840s.

The wreck of the Juneau was located in recent years on the ocean floor (4,200 meters below the surface) off the coast of the Solomon Islands. It's incredible to think that we can carry out such a search and that we can see such clear photographs that really bring history to life. If you want to find out more about the wreck, have a look at this blog.

The wreck of the Juneau. Image source.

Happy New Year!

It's always interesting to look through the newspaper archives to see what was happening at different points in history. The 1st of January of any year always presents us with great editorial cartoons and 1921 was no exception. 

Cartoon from L'Humanité newspaper, 1 January 1921. Image source.

In this cartoon from the left-leaning newspaper, L'Humanité (the daily newspaper of the French Communist party), we can see 1920 being unceremoniously dumped in the bin. The title 'Dans la poubelle' translates as 'In the trash / rubbish bin' and the caption at the bottom reads: 'Je n'en ai pas trouvé aussi sale depuis l'Empire...', which would be 'I haven't had it this bad since the days of the Empire...'.

Happy New Year, hope it's a good one for you and yours!