This month we may see widespread strikes by public workers, but, this isn’t the first time workers have stood up for their rights, whether for better pay, better conditions or fairer treatment. Moreover, women have always been part of this…
Tag: Katie Barclay
Some Early Irish Feminism?
Taken from the Freeman’s Journal, 26 February 1841 Dublin Police- Henry Street Office CHARGE OF BIGAMY An interesting-looking young woman, named Anne Kirwan, applied to Mr. Duffy, the presiding magistrate, to have informations taken against John Kirwan, her husband, on…
Marital Advice from Parents to Children
During the early-eighteenth century, the passing of wisdom from parents to children was an expected part of their relationship and vital to the proper socialisation of children. Throughout their lives, parents offered children advice on their behaviour, passing on their…
Irish Farmwives
During the late nineteenth century, women played a substantial role in the Irish farming economy. Farmwork was gendered and women were associated with tending animals, particularly pigs and poultry, dairying, both milking and creating products for market, and tending the…
Seduction: Virtue on Trial
In February 1841 at the Henry Street office of the Dublin police, a girl named Mary Anne Quirk, aged 17, was charged with theft by her father Michael Quirk. It was her second appearance in front of Dr Kelly, the…
Marital Sex in the Eighteenth Century
Uncovering the nature of marital sex in the past is difficult as few people leave a written record of their sexual activity. A study of over one hundred upper-class couples’ letters across a two-hundred year period found no explicit references…
Letters for Help!
This postcard was sent to the Archbishop Byrne of Dublin in 1922. It reads ‘May it please your grace to give me £5 to release my clothes out of the pawn shop you have helped me when in [illegible] your…
Women’s History Month: Travelling Women
In 1774, the Scot Janet Schaw went on a trip to the Caribbean. She wrote this letter home to her family while in Antigua. Last Saturday was Christmass which we had engaged to pass with Mr Halliday, but our good…
Women’s History Month: Gossip and Scandal
Just like today, the nineteenth century public loved a good scandal. Here is one taken from the Connaught Journal, 3 September 1832. The peace of two families and the feelings of their relatives, who are highly respectable, have been painfully…