Monday 26 January 2015

Irish genealogy and history events, 26 Jan to 7 Feb

Monday 26 January: The Sabbath Disturbed: The Curragh Mutiny Recalled, with Liam Kenny and James Durney. Host: Clondalkin History Society. Venue: , Arás Chronáin Irish Cultural Centre, Watery Lane, Clondalkin, Co Dublin. 8pm. All welcome.

Tuesday 27 January: After the Workhouse: Providing shelter and relief in Kilrush 1921–1939, with Rita McCarthy. Host: Kilrush and District Historical Society. Venue: Teach Ceoil, Grace Street, Kilrush, Co Clare. 8pm. Free for members. €5 for non-members.

Tuesday 27 January: Violence, law and migration in modern Irish history, with Dr Richard McMahon. Followed by Q&A session. First of the 2015 Slattery Lectures 'Migration: Ireland, Europe and Beyond'. Hosts: Trinity College Carlow and Carlow College. Venue: Cobden Hall, Carlow College, College Street, Carlow. 5–7pm. Free. All welcome. Enquiries.

Wednesday 28 January: The Medical Front, with Dr Robert Whan. Host and Venue: Newry & Mourne Museum, Bagenal's Castle , Castle Street/1A Bank Parade, Newry BT34 2BY. Starts at 7:30pm. Light refreshments served. Free but need to book by phone to 028 3031 3173 or email

Thursday 29 January: Researching WW1 Servicemen – Suggested sources, with Nigel Henderson. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Ballymena Branch. Venue: Michelin Arts Workshop, Baid Arts Centre, 1-29 Bridge Street, Ballymena. 7:15pm.

Friday 30 January: 16 Dead Men, The Easter Rising Executions, with Anne-Marie Ryan. Host: Waterford Archaeological and Historical Society. €5. Non-members welcome.

Friday 30 January: Irish society and identity in Victorian Melbourne, with Sophie Cooper, and Writing from the Congested Districts: J.M. Synge and the Modernisation of the West of Ireland, with Seán Hewitt. Host: IES Irish Studies. Venue: Room G22 (Ground Floor), Senate House, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU. 6-8pm

Sunday 1 February: Cobh Lusitania Centenary 2015. A recital on the 49 bells of the cathedral commences at 5 pm, followed by the Cobh Confraternity Band in the Promenade and a short ceremony where the 1,198 victims of the wartime tragedy will be remembered. At 6 pm schoolchildren will read the names of the 169 victims buried in the Old Church Cemetery in Cobh as the Irish Coastguard launch flares from the quayside in Cobh and from the ramparts of Fort Mitchel on Spike Island. Details.

Monday 2 February: History of Derry through the River Foyle, with Roy Hamilton. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Foyle Branch. Venue: City's Central Library, 35 Foyle Street, Derry, Co LondonDerry BT48 6AL. 7pm. All welcome.

Monday 2 February: Family and Business Memories of Killyleagh – T M Martin and Sons, with John Martin. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Killyleagh Branch. Venue: Killyleagh Masonic Hall, 50 High Street, Killyleagh, BT30 9QF, Co Down. 8pm. All welcome.

Monday 2 February to Friday 27 February: Londonderry Papers Exhibition. The exhibition focuses on the ‘Ark’ club set up by Edith, Lady Londonderry, in 1915 and immortalised in the Dodo Terrace at her gardens at Mountstewart. Members of the Ark club read like a roll call of the great and the good in British and Irish society at the time. Members were given a nickname, based on an animal or a mythical creature. Venue: Comber Library, Newtownards Road, Comber, Co Down BT23 5AU. Telephone for more details: 028 9187 2610.

Tuesday 3 February: Hidden pages from WW1, a seminar exploring previously unknown archival sources on soldiers and civilians, recounted by the curators who recovered them. Five short presentations (from 7:30pm), a Q&A session, private viewing of the cathedral's Lives Remembered exhibition and wine reception at 7pm. Chaired by Bryan Dobson. Hosts: Irish Society for Archives and St Patrick's Cathedral. Venue: The Lady Chapel, St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. Open to the public, free and no need to book.  Details.

Tuesday 3 February: The Digital Mapping of Ireland’s Eighteenth-Century Built Military Heritage: Or, Rambles in Rural Armagh, with Ivar McGrath. Host: School of History and Archives Research Forum. Venue: Room K114, University College Dublin. 4 p.m. Free admission. All welcome. Details.

Tuesday 3 February: From the Plum to the Pau France, with Claire McElhinney. Host: North of Ireland Family HistorySociety, Omagh Branch.  Venue: Omagh Library, 1 Spillers Place, Omagh, Co Tyrone BT78 1HL. 7:15pm. All welcome.

Wednesday 4 February: Military Antiques Roadshow. Bring along your WW1 artefacts to have them viewed and catalogued by experts, watch the documentary The Boys from East Belfast, and attend two talks at 2pm and 3pm. Host: Living Legacies 1914–1918. Venue: St. Mark's Parochial Hall: Heyn Hall, 2 Sydenham Avenue. Belfast BT4 2DR. 1–4pm. Free.

Wednesday 4 February: Seeking Refuge: Germany to Ireland in the 1930's, a half-day Conference. To mark Holocause Memorial Day, this event will examine the impact of the rise of the Nazi regime on Jewish communities in germany and Northern Ireland. Venue: PRONI, 2 Titanic Boulevard, Belfast, BT3 9HQ (Lecture Theatre). Starts 2pm. Three speakers. Free but need to reserve your place by email proni@dcalni.gov.uk or telephone: 028 90 534800.

Wednesday 4 February: Charity during the Great Famine in Connaught, with Ciaran McCabe. Host: Strokestown Park Winter Spring Lectureseries. Venue: Strokestown House, Co Roscommon. 8pm. Admission €5.

Wednesday 4 February: The victualling trade in Cork during the American War of Independence, with Joe Varley. Host: Cork Historical and Archaeological Society. Venue: Crawford Art Gallery, Emmett Place, Cork.

Wednesday 4 February: The Home Front: Newry and Mourne in the Great War, with Dr Robert Whan. Host and Venue: Newry & Mourne Museum, Bagenal's Castle , Castle Street, 1A Bank Parade, Newry BT34 2BY. Time: 7:30pm. Light refreshments served. Free but need to book by phone to 028 3031 3173 or email.

Thursday 5 February:
Famine times in Blarney and district, wtih Michael Murphy. Host: Blarney and District Historical Society. Venue: Scoil Mhuire Gan Smal, Blarney, Co Cork. 8pm. Everyone welcome.

Thursday 5 February: The Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland and its resources, with Valerie Adams. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Belfast Branch. Venue: Holywood Arches Library, Holywood Road, Belfast BT4 1NT. 7:30pm. All welcome.

Saturday 7 February: Photography and other pastimes, with Pat Holland. Part of The Big House lecture series. Venue: Tipperary County Museum, Mick Delahunty Square, Clonmel, Co Tipperary. 10am to Noon, with refreshments provided. €5 per session. Bookings: julia.walsh@tipperarycoco.ie or 076 106 5564.

Saturday 7 February: Migration and the First World War, with Professor Keith Jeffery. The 14th Annual Irish Migration Studies Lecture. Host and Venue: Mellon Centre for Migration Studies at the Ulster American Folk Park, 2 Mellon Road, Omagh, Co Tyrone BT78 5QY. 11am to 2pm. Tea/coffee registion from 10:30pm. Admission £12 (conc £10), includes morning tea/coffee, lecture and finger buffet lunch. Booking advised, by email or tel: 028 8225 6315.