Rev Canon James Blennerhassett Leslie, MA, D.Litt, MRIA, died at his home, Tigh Beg, Haddington Park, Glenageary, Co Dublin on Sunday 20 April 1952. He was in his 87th year. Rev Canon Leslie had enjoyed a distinguished career as cleric: He obtained his BA at the Royal University of Ireland in 1888, and his…… Continue Reading
Death before Dishonour: John Twiss’s Speech from the Dock
I did not think that there was a juryman ever put a coat on his back would find me guilty A reporter of the trial of John Twiss in 1895 made the following assessment of him from his speech from the dock: He was an ignorant man in the sense that he got no…… Continue Reading
Poff and Barrett: The Truth Will Out
And lo! As he spoke, there beside him, some shadowy beings appeared, And his heart’s blood grew cold as he saw them, though he scarce would confess what he feared. Then summoning courage, ‘Who are ye?’ he asked, in a quivering voice, And sternly one shadow made answer, ‘Behold me, your victim, Myles Joyce, Hither…… Continue Reading
Poff and Barrett: The Case against John Dunleavy
‘The smallest thing in the world would hang us’ – Sylvester Poff to James Barrett Sylvester Poff and James Barrett, hanged on 23 January 1883 for the murder of Thomas Browne on 3 October 1882, maintained their innocence to the end, and declared that they did not know who murdered Browne. They did, however,…… Continue Reading
Remember Poff and Barrett
Mountnicholas – the former homeland of Sylvester Poff – and its surrounding townlands suffered their share of eviction, violence and grief during the land struggles of the 1880s. The rents on the farms made vacant were ‘in every case double the government valuation, in many instances nearly treble.’1 On 3 April 1881, Sylvester Poff’s…… Continue Reading
The Kilfallinga Outrage
In January 1885, a correspondent of the Kerry Sentinel brought to the attention of the public the actions of the RIC in Kilfallinga, near Currans. A public meeting had been called for the purpose of establishing a branch of the Irish National League. However, on the evening before the proposed meeting, the Lord Lieutenant proclaimed…… Continue Reading
County Kerry’s Contribution to Lexicography
As a school principal and a local history researcher, Michael O’Donohoe made good use of the dictionary. Indeed, the collection includes a copy of his own 1977 edition of Foclóir, on the cover page of which is proudly written, Micheál S O Donnchadha.1 Michael’s research papers reveal that he made frequent reference to Rev…… Continue Reading
Charles Patrick O’Conor: The Irish Peasant Poet
A curious poem entitled ‘God Save The Queen’ by ‘The Irish Peasant Poet’ appears among the O’Donohoe papers.1 It was published in 1886 and inscribed to William John Evelyn, MP for Deptford, London: Here’s the Queen, boys, God bless her! Ah! Long may she reign O’er hearts that for England Must conquer again! Aye…… Continue Reading
Bob Finn: Captain of the Castleisland Moonlighters
Every fool can be a patriot … every blackguard can sing a national hymn and wave a flag. But it takes a man to live a life of devotion and sacrifice for his country.1 Robert – ‘Bob’ – Finn was born in Castlegregory in 1860, son of William Finn and Sara Casey. The family moved…… Continue Reading
Thomas Moore: A Discourse on his Paternal Ancestry
Kerry historian Jeremiah King described how, after the subjugation of Leix by the English, Sir Arthur Chichester transplanted some of the O’Moore family into Kerry in 1608, ‘lest the White Moors should be extirpated.’1 In the following century in the county Kerry, one John Moore was born, father of Thomas, Ireland’s nineteenth century bard.…… Continue Reading