An Irishman's Diary on Henry Ford's Irish connections

The founder of the Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford (1863-1947), visited the south of Ireland in 1912. It was a sort of homecoming because his father, William Ford (1826-1905), was born in County Cork. He emigrated to America in 1847. Read my Irishman's Diary in today's Irish Times newspaper to find out more. See it here.

 

A life size replica of a Ford Model T in Ballinascarthy, Co. Cork, Ireland. Image source. 

The Ford plant in the Marina in Cork opened in 1919 and employed many thousands over the years. It eventually closed in 1984 with the loss of 800 jobs but the building still remains even if it is used for other purposes these days. You can get a glimpse of it when things were in full flow on the Henry Ford website. See it here. This site has other interesting items linked to Henry Ford and Ireland, such as maps of where William Ford came from and photographs of people working at the Marina plant over the years.

If you are interested in the history of Ford in Ireland, there is a good short article by Dr Leanne Blaney, entitled 'When Ford Motors Came to Cork', on the Century Ireland website. Read it here.  

There is also a PhD thesis by Dr Thomas Grimes, completed at NUI Maynooth, entitled 'Starting Ireland on the Road to Industry: Henry Ford in Cork'. Read it here. 

Jan Łukasiewicz Exhibition Launch in Dublin

I was delighted to be invited by the Polish embassy in Ireland to the launch of a new exhibition in the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) on the life of the Polish philosopher, Jan Łukasiewicz (1878-1956). It was fitting that the event took place in the room where Prof Łukasiewicz delivered his lectures as Chair of Mathematical Logic at the RIA.

 

Launch of the exhibition in the RIA, Dawson Street, Dublin. 11 Oct. 2022.

In 2019, I wrote an article for the Irish Times about the Polish philosopher and how he came to live in Ireland in 1946. You can read it here. When he died in Dublin in 1956, he was buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery in Harold's Cross. His funeral was attended by the man who helped to bring him to Ireland in the first place, Éamon de Valera. We learned at the exhibition launch that there are plans in place to repatriate his remains to Poland. I look forward to seeing the exhibition when it travels around Ireland in the coming months.

An Irishman's Diary on Carrie Nation

Carrie (also known as Carry) Nation (1846-1911) was a passionate temperance reformer. While she preached against alcohol and tobacco, she also advocated for women's rights. I have just written an Irishman's Diary about her in the Irish Times newspaper. Read it here. 

She led a truly fascinating life, which took her all over America, speaking against the demon drink. She also came to Ireland to try to convince people to give up alcohol. Needless to say, she did not have much luck in that respect.

Nation created two newspapers to help spread her temperance message across the United States. You can read copies of the Smasher's Mail here. It contains anti-alcohol essays and editorials as well as letters that she received from supporters and opponents.

 

The Hatchet newspaper. Image source. 

 

The Smasher's Mail newspaper. Image source.