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In 2015 Ireland became the first country in the world to extend civil marriage to same-sex couples through a public vote. The collection of LGBTQIA+ archival material at the Royal Irish Academy provides an insightful account into the long battle that human rights activists fought to reach this level of legal recognition.

Book cover with a colourful title (Ireland Says Yes) and a picture of rope made of rainbow colour threads, tied in a knot that looks like a heart.
Front cover, Gráinne Healy, Brian Sheehan, Noel Whelan, Ireland says yes: the inside story of how the vote for marriage equality was won (Merrion Press, Sallins, 2016), RIA/E/3045.

A collection of pamphlets held in the RIA dating from the seventeenth century provides an insight into the historic basis of legal discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people. The collection includes the cases of the first men executed for homosexual acts in Britain and Ireland. Such pamphlets were sold widely and often included illustrations of the court setting and the convicted person on the gallows. Details could also include witness accounts and intimate details on the convicted such as their letters from the condemned cell or a confession in their final moments of life.

The first of these trials took place on 25 April 1631, when Mervin, Lord Audley, 2nd Earl of Castlehaven, was tried for crimes including sodomy with two of his male servants; Laurence FitzPatrick and Thomas Brodway. Sodomy, also referred to as buggery, was punishable by death stemming from An Acte for the punysshement of the vice of Buggerie, 1533. Due to his rank, Castlehaven was found guilty by a jury of nobility and beheaded on 14 May 1631 at Tower Hill, an area near the Tower of London. Weeks later, on 27 June 1631, FitzPatrick and Brodway were both tried, sentenced and later hanged at Tyburn.

Early printed pamphlet.
Title page, The case of sodomy, in the tryal of Mervin Lord Audley, Earl of Caftlehaven (2nd ed., E. Curll, London, 1710), RIA/HT (Box) 147/3.

Castlehaven’s trial became the legal precedent for homosexual cases well into the nineteenth century. The interest in this case is evident from the publication date on the pamphlet which was reproduced in 1710.

This case also had wider repercussions as it highlighted that the Act of Buggery did not apply to Ireland which inspired the Irish Parliament to introduce an Act for the Punishment of the Vice of Buggery (Ireland) 1634. The sentence of death would only be removed in 1861 when the Offences Against the Person Act was introduced, which designated the ‘abominable crime of buggery’ as an ‘unnatural offense’ carrying a sentence of penal servitude for life. Ultimately, consensual sex between adult men would remain a criminal offense in Ireland from 1634 until decriminalisation in 1993.

A supposed proponent of introducing the Buggery Act to Ireland was the Anglican Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, John Atherton; in a cruel twist of fate Atherton would later become the first man in Ireland convicted of this capital offence.

On 27 November 1640, Atherton was found guilty of sodomy with his proctor, John Childe. Atherton was found guilty and hanged at Oxmantown Green in Dublin on 5 December 1640. Childe was tried at Cork and hanged in March 1641 at Bandon Bridge. A pamphlet was published in 1641 emblazoned with the images of two men hanging from the gallows.

Woodcut print depicting two men being hanged
Woodcut of two hanged men on a set of gallows, The life and death of John Atherton Lord Bishop of Waterford and Lysmore within the kingdome of Ireland (London, 1641), RIA/HT (Bound) 20/11 (1), p. 4.

This case caused controversy and attention long after Atherton and Childe were executed. A second pamphlet ‘The penitent death of a woefull sinner, or, the penitent death of John Atherton,’ was written by Nicolas Bernard, Deane of Ardagh, and published in several editions.

Early printed pamphlet cover.
Title page, Very Rev. Nicolas Barnard, The penitent death of a woefvil sinner, or, the penitent death of John Atherton, late Bishop of Waterford in Ireland (2nd ed., G. M. for W. Bladen, London, 1642), RIA/HT 32/6.

The RIA holds the first edition printed in Dublin by the Society of Stationers in 1641 and a second edition printed in London in 1642. The pamphlet includes letters Atherton wrote to his wife and children from his cell in Dublin Castle and a sermon delivered by Bernard who acted as Atherton’s religious advisor in his final days. Atherton’s letter to his wife contains the note ‘cast not away this Paper when you have read it, but keep it and peruse it often, as the Legacy of him who can now give no other.’ Footnote 1

Bernard’s sermon, along with other details of the case and Atherton’s ‘true copy of his laft [sic] speech at the place of execution’ was published again in 1711 and is also held in the RIA collections.

Religious men in Ireland were keenly aware of the repercussions of being accused of sodomy. In the nineteenth century, Percy Jocelyn, then Church of Ireland Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin, took a case of libel against James Byrne, a coachman, who accused the Bishop of making homosexual advances to him. The trial took place at the Sessions’ House in Dublin on 28 October 1811. Patrick Geoghegan describes how ‘Jocelyn denied Byrne’s allegation and, as the word of a bishop was not likely to be doubted, the coachman was found guilty, stripped, tied to a cart, dragged throughout Dublin, flogged, and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment.’Footnote 2

19th century pamphlet cover
Title page, The trial of unfortunate Byrne, (late coachman to the Hon. John Jocelyn) at the suit of the present and absent Bishop of Clogher, before the Commission, at the Sessions’-House, Green Street, October 28, 1811 (Dublin, 1811), RIA/HT (Box) 377/14.

Further pamphlets held in the RIA show that this was not the last time that the bishop would feature in a homosexual scandal. In 1820, Jocelyn was appointed Bishop of Clogher. Two years later, on 19 July 1822, the bishop was discovered in the back room of the White Lion public house in London in a compromising position with a soldier of the first regiment of Foot Guards, John Movelley. Witnesses reported that the bishop was seen with his breeches down and the two men were forcibly removed from the premises and were then set upon by a crowd in the street and beaten. The men were arrested and later taken to Marlborough Street Magistrates Court where the presiding magistrate determined that as the offense of sodomy had not actually occurred, the bishop was entitled to bail. Movelley, was not so lucky and he remained in custody; reports are unclear as to his fate.

Cartoon of a bishop with a man wearing a woman's bonnet and soldiers are bursting through a door upon the scene.
Political cartoon, ‘Confirmation or the Bishop and the Soldier’, London Statesman, 22 Jul. 1882, RIA/ HT (Bound) 20/11 (2).

Jocelyn fled the country; he was removed from his position as bishop in October 1822 and declared an outlaw in 1824. He died in Scotland in 1843 under an assumed name of Thomas Wilson.

Ireland achieved independence in 1922, and rather than implementing the ideals of equality as enshrined in the Irish Proclamation, repressive laws such the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, were retained. 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the first gay rights demonstration in Dublin. On 27 June 1974, members of the Sexual Liberation Movement formed a year earlier, protested the criminalisation of male homosexual activity. The small group including Margaret McWilliams, Jeffrey Dudgeon and David Norris carried placards emblazoned with the provoking statements ‘Lesbian Love’ and ‘Homosexuals Are Revolting.’ The group picketed the British Embassy, then on Merrion Square, and marched to the Department of Justice on Stephen’s Green.

It would take a spate of homophobic murders in 1982 to inspire Dublin’s first official Pride march which took place on 25 June 1983. Personal reflections and academic studies held in the RIA enlighten readers as to the effect of these murders on the community.

Book cover for Diverse Communities.
Front cover, Kieran Rose, Diverse communities: the evolution of lesbian and gay politics in Ireland (Cork University Press, Cork, 1994), RIA/C/4/1/D.

In Diverse Communities: the evolution of lesbian and gay politics in Ireland, Kiernan Rose describes how the murder of a gay man, Charles Self, in January 1982 had a devastating effect on the gay community in Dublin. Self was viciously stabbed to death in his home, his murderer was never apprehended. Rose describes how the police ‘investigation was more concerned with compiling dossiers on gay men than it was with solving the murder.’Footnote 3 At the end of the investigation just under 1,500 gay men were ‘questioned, photographed and fingerprinted at Pearse Street Garda Station’.Footnote 4 Significantly Rose dedicates his book ‘For those who did not survive’.

Front cover of Occasions of Sin
Front cover, Occasions of sin: sex and society in modern Ireland (Profile Books, London, 2009), RIA/ E/1670.

In his book Occasions of Sin, Diarmaid Ferriter MRIA highlights the murder of Declan Flynn on 9 September 1982 as a pivotal moment for the gay rights movement in Dublin. Flynn was beaten to death by a group of teenage boys who regularly went ‘queer bashing’ in Fairview Park. The boys ‘were expecting to be sent to prison for about seven years. They received five-year suspended sentences,’ after which they ‘held a “victory march” in Fairview Park.’Footnote 5  The night before Flynn’s murder, John Roche a night porter at the Munster Hotel in Cork was viciously murdered by Michael O’Connor because he believed Roche had made sexual advances towards him. O’Connor received a five-year sentence for manslaughter.

Front cover of Doing My Bit for Ireland with a portrait as the main feature of the design.
Front cover, Margaret Skinnider, ed. Kirsty Lusk, Doing my bit for Ireland: a first-hand account of the Easter Rising (New ed., Luath Press, Edinburgh, 2017), RIA/E/2921.

Through the RIA collection of LGBTQIA+ material, a complete evolution can be traced mapping laws from the seventeenth century which criminalised same-sex love with the most extreme penalty. While a story from the collections also emerges showcasing how Ireland achieved independence in the twentieth century through the sacrifice of many LGBTQIA+ people.  Works by and about queer icons of the revolutionary period such as Margaret Skinnider, whose biographical story Doing my bit for Ireland: a first-hand account of the Easter Rising, adorns the shelves of the RIA. As do works by and about Roger Casement, Eva Gore-Booth, and Helena Molony.

Contemporary material points to a positive future following the momentous Marriage Equality campaign, after which the people of Ireland voted overwhelmingly to recognise same-sex love, simply as a love like any other.

Ephmeral leaflet calling for a Yes vote in the marriage referendum, suggesting it would be good for business.
‘Civil marriage equality will make Irish business stronger’, 2015 (R.I.A., Literature relating to the 2015 Marriage Referendum in Ireland, C/22/4/E).

While the shadow of Bram Stoker’s Dracula looms large in the Irish literary imagination at this time of year, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-73) is another writer of ghostly tales and supernatural horror stories who deserves attention. Here in the Library we have been uncovering some fantastic sources in the collection that give an insight into his early life and reading material that may have provided inspiration for his work.

Header image: Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, courtesy of the National Gallery of Ireland.

Mummy in Dad’s library

Le Fanu was born in 1814, the son of a Church of Ireland clergyman, Rev. Thomas Philip Le Fanu. He was privately educated at home before attending Trinity College Dublin and his father’s library would have played an important role in the formation of his young imagination. Upon his death, Rev. Thomas Le Fanu’s library was sold at a public auction at Charles Sharpe’s sale room on Anglesea Street. A copy of the catalogue is available in the RIA Library and a quick perusal gives us an idea of the kind of literature into which the young Joseph immersed himself.

Title page of a printed sales catalogue
Catalogue of the library of the very Rev. Thomas P. Le Fanu, L.L.D. (Dean of Emly, deceased,) which are to be sold by auction, by Charles Sharpe, RIA MR/17/H/2/10

As one might expect in the library of a clergyman, there is a large collection of theological volumes. As befit the education of a gentlemen of the period, there is also a large selection of travel writing, sciences and history. The Romantic writers Byron, Cowper, Coleridge and Scott provided more opportunities for escapism, while satirists such as Hogarth and Fielding offered the Le Fanu family some light entertainment. Since ghost stories and Halloween are our present interest, we were very pleased to see gothic classics like The Mysteries of Udolpho and Confessions of an English Opium Eater present on the list. However, the most surprising find was that of The Mummy: a Tale of the XXII century. Published anonymously in 1827, The Mummy was a futuristic tale set in the year 2126, written by Jane C Loudon. It is the first English-language story of a re-animated mummy and one can only imagine how thrilling the 13-year-old Joseph would have found this novel in the context of 19th century Egyptomania in the British empire.

Detail from a sales catalogue showing The Mummy is one title on sale.
Catalogue of the library of the very Rev. Thomas P. Le Fanu, L.L.D. (Dean of Emly, deceased,) which are to be sold by auction, by Charles Sharpe, RIA MR/17/H/2/10, p. 15

Life in the Phoenix Park

In 1815, when Le Fanu was an infant, his father was appointed Chaplain to the Royal Hibernian Military School in the Phoenix Park, Dublin. This boarding school was set up for the children and orphans of personnel in military service. As his father held the post until 1826, Le Fanu lived in the park up to the age of 11 or 12. It seems life at the school made a strong impression on young Joseph’s imagination because despite the family’s subsequent move to Limerick, Chapelizod provides the setting for Le Fanu’s best known ghost stories: Ghost stories of Chapelizod (1851) and The house by the churchyard (1863), narrated by the fictional Charles De Cresseron. They all first appeared in the Dublin University Magazine, a publication that Le Fanu took over in 1861.

Composite image of bound volumes on a library shelf and the title page of a story in the Dublin University Magazine
Volumes of “The Dublin University Magazine: a literary and political journal”, RIA Library, with a detail from the 1861 issue.

A beating drummer and a savage surgeon

In the Library, as part of the Haliday Collection, we hold a copy of the Regulations for the establishment and government of the Royal Hibernian Military School (1819), which paints a picture of the life and routine of the Chaplain, the officers and other staff members, and the children at the school.

Book cover and title page composite image
Regulations for the establishment and government by the Royal Hibernian Military School, for the orphans and children of soldiers, Haliday Collection, RIA MR/17/N/37

Le Fanu’s father would have been one of the most highly paid members of the staff, being entitled to £250 per annum, a furnished house and some other allowances. He was responsible for chapel services, morning and evening prayer, and the general education of the boys.

Detail from a small printed book showing description of the chaplain's pay
Regulations for the establishment and government by the Royal Hibernian Military School, for the orphans and children of soldiers, Haliday Collection, RIA MR/17/N/37, p. 84

Somewhat more unsettling is the description of the role of the Drummer, who in addition to his drumming duties, was also responsible for acting as Sexton in the Chapel when the Chaplain required assistance and administering corporal punishment when required! While Le Fanu’s short ghost story, The Sexton’s Adventure, describes the drunken sexton of the village church in Chapelizod, rather than the school sexton, one wonders if his encounters with what sounds like a relatively poorly paid (£18 per annum) and, perhaps, cruel employee at the school had any impact on this tale.

Detailed from a printed book describing duties of the Drummer.
Detailed from a printed book describing duties of the Drummer.
Regulations for the establishment and government by the Royal Hibernian Military School, for the orphans and children of soldiers, Haliday Collection, RIA MR/17/N/37, pp. 62-3

Another interesting character that Le Fanu may have encountered was the school surgeon, Edward Trevor, M.D. (c. 1765-1837). Here in the regulations we see him signing off on the diet plan for the children of the school. However, Trevor is more infamous for his association with another Dublin institution, Kilmainham Gaol. As Patrick Long of the Dictionary of Irish Biography noted, Trevor was known for  “exercising a regime of psychological control and physical terror” and his barbarous treatment of both Anne Devlin and Robert Emmet following the ill-fated rebellion of 1803 is well-documented.

Regulations for the establishment and government by the Royal Hibernian Military School, for the orphans and children of soldiers, Haliday Collection, RIA MR/17/N/37, Diet table appendix.

In fact, Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816), playwright and politician, made a statement in the parliament to condemn Trevor’s reign of terror at Kilmainham. Sheridan happened to be Le Fanu’s great-uncle, which accounts for the ‘Sheridan’ in Joseph’s name. His young namesake may have heard whispers of the surgeon’s dastardly deeds around the school campus, and perhaps even the rumour, unsubstantiated to this day, that Trevor stole Emmet’s headless corpse and hid it following the execution. The location of Emmet’s body remains a mystery to this day.

We hope you have enjoyed this Halloween post and that we have persuaded you that the devil is in the detail! You can search our online catalogue and we are always delighted to welcome new readers to the RIA Library. Please visit our website to learn more about our services.

OS200 research project

This year marks 200 years since the first Ordnance Survey of Ireland. As home to a significant Ordnance Survey Archive, the Library of the Royal Irish Academy is pleased to be a partner in the OS200 research project. 

The third instalment of this blog series will look at the Ordnance Survey Memoirs written by the surveyors while out in the field.  

The OS Memoirs

The Royal Irish Academy holds the original collection of manuscript OS Memoirs that were compiled in the 1830s by the members of the OS surveying team. They included, the previously mentioned, John O’Donovan, MRIA (1806-1861), appointed to the Ordnance Survey in 1830,  Captain Thomas Larcom, MRIA (1801-1879), and George Petrie, MRIA (1790-1866). The Memoirs comprise descriptions of topographical details and antiquities that could not easily be summarised in cartographic form on the accompanying maps.  

Arranged by county and parish in fifty-two boxes the Memoirs contain information on landscape, topography, population, economy and society, as well as recording features of antiquarian interest. OS Memoirs exist for counties Antrim, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, Derry and Tyrone, together with a small amount of material relative to some parishes in counties Cavan, Monaghan, Leitrim, Louth and Sligo. Government funding for the scheme was withdrawn in 1839-40 before any memoirs were compiled for the remainder of the country.  

Immigration and emigration

The Memoirs capture fascinating details about anything and everything related to the area the surveyor was working. An area of particular interest to family historians, genealogists and social historians would be where the Memoirs record details relating to emigration. The emigration information captured by the surveyors is extremely important as they wrote down the names, ages and religion of the persons emigrating and to the port that they were destined to arrive in. The first image below shows the people that emigrated from the parish of Aghagallon in County Antrim in 1836 and 1837. Looking at the names it becomes obvious that whole families were amongst those emigrating. The second image and surveyor’s notes give a very different picture in relation to emigration in this area. The survey notes that the number of people that emigrate annually is eight and that lack of work…does not oblige the above, or any number of persons, to migrate to harvest, to foreign countries; that they go merely for pleasure & experience sake.  

Manuscript page with a two tables of names.
Emigration list from the parish of Aghagallon, County Antrim, 1836-1837. RIA OSM/Ant1/II/2 p.32.
Manuscript page of text with a data table.
Emigration notes from the parish of Aghagallon, County Antrim, 1836-1837. RIA OSM/Ant1/II/2 p.33.

Another parish that highlights the emigration of families to places such as New York and Philadelphia in America and Quebec in Canada, is Ballywillin in County Derry. The list below is from a few years earlier than those of Aghagallon, as they refer to the years 1833 and 1834. They also record the townland the person was leaving from, which for historians is a vital piece of information in tracking immigration patterns. In the case of the McShane family who left for Quebec, the townland of Islandmore lost seven members of its community, including five children. There are numerous examples of emigration lists throughout the Memoirs.

Manuscript page with lots of tables of names.
First page of an emigration list from Ballywillin, County Derry, 1833-1834. RIA OSM/Derr3/I/4 p.17.
Manuscript page with tables of names.
Second page of the list from Ballywillin, County Derry. RIA OSM/Derr3/I/4 p.18.

A myriad of detail

The Memoirs house such a variety of detail relating to a particular area, they are a riveting read! To illustrate this, the table below lists all the headings taken from the Statistical Memoir of the Parish of Drumlomman in County Cavan. Under each heading there are detailed notes, sometimes two or three pages long.  

Section 1: Geography or Nature State 

 

Section 2: Topography or Artificial State  Section 3: People or Present State  
Name [of parish]  Public Buildings   Social Economy 
Locality  Gentlemen’s Seat  Local Government 
Hills  Manufactories, Mills etc  Dispensaries 
Lakes  Communications  Schools 
Rivers  Ancient History   Poor 
Bogs  General Appearance  Religion 
Zoology    Habits of the People 
Geology    Emigration  
Woods    Productive Economy 
    Grazing 
    Cattle 
    Uses made of the bogs 

In some parishes, the different crimes that were carried out are also noted. However, the names of those found guilty are not recorded. An example of these crimes can be seen in the image below which relates to the town of Carrickfergus in Antrim. These crime figures cover the years 1828 and then 1832 to 1838. It’s interesting to note that the crime with the third highest numbers is ‘Wages, disputes about’.  

Table of crimes on a manuscript page
Crime cases recorded in Carrickfergus, County Antrim. RIA OSM/Ant8/I/2 p.6.

Memoir Drawings and Publications

The Memoirs include over 1,600 pen and ink drawings which record details of archaeological and antiquarian features completed by surveyors working in the field. The drawings were catalogued with funding from the Esmé Mitchell Trust and Atlantic Philanthropies and digitized with funding from the OS200 Project. The Memoirs have been published in a set of 40 volumes plus an index volume, under the editorship of Angélique Day and Patrick McWilliams in the 1980s and are available for consultation in the RIA Library. However, the sketches were not published in these volumes, instead a small subset was reproduced in Glimpses of Ireland’s past – the Ordnance Survey Memoir Drawings: Topography and technique by Angelique Day in 2014. The vast majority of the drawings will be reproduced for the first time as part of the OS200 project where they will be digitally reunited with the text of the Memoirs.  

This is the last blog in our OS200 series but, hopefully, it has whet your appetite to delve further into the Ordnance Survey Collections, either by coming in to our Reading Room to consult the material or online at OS200 A Digital Archive of Ireland’s Ordnance Survey 

OS200 research project

This year marks 200 years since the first Ordnance Survey of Ireland. As home to a significant Ordnance Survey Archive, the Library of the Royal Irish Academy is pleased to be a partner in the OS200 research project.

The second instalment of this blog series will look at the Ordnance Survey Letters written by the surveyors while out in the field.

The OS Letters

The Royal Irish Academy holds a large collection of manuscript OS Letters comprising correspondence between John O’Donovan, MRIA (1806-1861), and other researchers employed on the Survey, to their Dublin headquarters as they travelled around the country. O’Donovan was appointed to the Ordnance Survey in 1830 and worked closely with Captain Thomas Larcom, MRIA (1801-1879), and George Petrie, MRIA (1790-1866), researching Irish placenames and establishing the authoritative form of names to be used in the maps.

There are one hundred thirty-seven volumes of letters, they exist for each Irish county with the exceptions of Cork, Antrim and Tyrone and are arranged by county and parish. The letters often record fascinating details of meetings and discussions with local people, folklore/tales behind the name of a particular place, commentary on events happening at the time and, of course, topographical information.

Handwritten letter.
Ordnance Survey Letters Containing information relative to the Antiquities of the County of Clare. O’Donovan to Larcom, 21 October 1839. RIA 14 B 23/5 (20)
Handwritten letter.
Ordnance Survey Letters Containing information relative to the Antiquities of the County of Clare. O’Donovan to Larcom, 21 October 1839. RIA 14 B 23/5 (21)

An Abbot, a Sorcerer and a Scallop

An example of such fascinating detail linking an abbot to monuments and folklore of a local area can be read in a letter written by O’Donovan to Larcom on 21 October 1839. O’Donovan was writing from Ennistimon, Co. Clare, about the history, genealogy, traditions, antiquities and place names of the surrounding areas of Abbey, Ardrahan and Finnivara. O’Donovan noted that Donough More O’Daly, Abbot of Boyle, lived near Finnivara House, ‘where a curious monument called Leacht of Donoghmore O’Daly is shown and also the site of his house and of a College over which he presided’. O’Donovan commented further…

‘Many wild stories are here told about Donogh More, but none sufficiently definite to be committed to writing, for tradition is so extravagant here as to make Donogh More O’Daly a brother of the Sorcerer Macámh Insi Creamha, whom he is said to have accidently killed by a “cast of a sharpened scallop”.’

The Sorcerer was a member of the Tuatha De Danann, a mythological race that inhabited Ireland after being banished from heaven because of their magical prowess.

Handwritten letter
Ordnance Survey Letters Containing information relative to the Antiquities of the County of Limerick. Notes by O’Donovan, 1840. RIA 14 D 18/6 (v)
Stained glass window with St Ita clothed in a purple robe and holding a book.
Stain glass window depicting St Ita in Ballylooby Church, Co. Tipperary. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Poor Ity!

Other curious details, particularly about religious traditions, were also noted by the surveyors. In 1840, while collecting topographical information about the parishes of Rathronan and Killeedy in Co. Limerick, O’Donovan included references to St Ita and her association with Limerick. In O’Donovan’s over thirty pages of notes, he referred to a ‘primitive Irish church’ founded by Ita, who was also known as Ite, Ida and Mide, and inserted the following piece of associated history…

‘It was she [Ita] who suffered great tortures for the love of God; she permitted a daol to suck her unknown to all for a long time, until it grew to a size greater than that of a sucking pig, so that all her side was weakened, etc.’

O’Donovan included an explanation note about what a ‘daol’ was. He noted that a daol, or Darbh Daol, was ‘an insect well known and universally detested by the Irish people, because they believe that it feeds on human flesh in the Churchyards’. Today this insect is known as Devil’s coach horse beetle. The letters can give us an insight into the surveyors’ personalities, and here we can see a flash of O’Donovan’s when he noted this opinion about Ita and her death; ‘(Poor Idy was an Idiot! JO’D)’.

Green bound volumes on a library shelf.
O’Flanagan’s transcriptions of the Ordnance Survey Letters in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy.

Digital Images and Transcripts

Full transcripts of the letters were edited by the Rev Michael O’Flanagan (1876-1942) from 1927-1930 and a typescript set of this edition is held by the Library. Michael Herity, MRIA (1929-2016) published an updated transcription series of the letters which are available to consult in the Library, however they can also be accessed through your local public library.

The manuscript letters were disbound, conserved, microfilmed and digitised as part of the International Access to Academy Library Holdings Project, generously funded by Atlantic Philanthropies and completed in 2012. Digital versions of the letters are available on the Ask About Ireland website where they complement other resources such as Griffith’s Valuation and the OS Name Books. As part of the OS200 Ireland Mapped project the Library contributed digital scans of the microfilmed OS Letters along with detailed associated metadata.

Keep an eye out for our next blog to learn more about the OS archival material held here in the RIA Library. We are delighted to say that the OS200 digital resource is now live so feel free to explore!

OS200 research project

This year marks 200 years since the first Ordnance Survey of Ireland. As home to a significant Ordnance Survey Archive, the Library of the Royal Irish Academy is pleased to be a partner in the OS200 research project.

OS200 is a 3-year project jointly funded by the Irish Research Council (IRC) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), which aims to gather historic Ordnance Survey (OS) maps and texts, currently held in disparate archives, to form a single freely accessible online resource for academic and public use. This digital platform will reconnect the First Edition Six-Inch Maps with the OS Memoirs, Letters and Name Books. In this blog series, we will highlight some of the OS archival materials held in the RIA Library.

Leather bound volumes shelved in a map case. County names are embossed on the spines.
Ordnance Survey 1st edition maps: county volumes in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy.

Ordnance Survey and the Royal Irish Academy

The British Ordnance Survey established a department in Dublin in 1824 under the leadership of Colonel Thomas Colby (1784-1852) and Captain Thomas Larcom (1801-1879). As well as working on cartographical outputs, civilian topographical workers were employed to study placenames in historical documents and to visit the regions to learn about local pronunciation. This department was also encouraged to write letters to Larcom, detailing local toponymy, archaeology and folklore uncovered in conversation with knowledgeable locals. John O’Donovan, MRIA (1806-1861), a leading authority on Irish language, was one of the most prolific members of this team. Once the 1st edition maps were published, non-cartographical materials, such as the letters, transcriptions of historical sources, sketches of buildings and antiquarian items by artists such as George Petrie, MRIA (1790-1866), George Victor du Noyer (1817-69), and William Frederick Wakeman (1822-1900), were no longer deemed to be of use to the Ordnance Survey. Due to its significance for historical studies, the Royal Irish Academy requested that this material be deposited in their Library in 1857 and this request was granted by the British government in 1861. Along with other Irish repositories, the RIA Library was also gifted a set of the 1st edition maps upon publication. Footnote 1

Black and white head and shoulders portrait of a man in military uniform.
Portrait of Sir Thomas Aiskew Larcom, MRIA (1801–79), by Sir Leslie Ward.
Oil portrait of a man in Victorian civilian clothing.
Portrait of John O’Donovan, MRIA (1806-1861), by Charles Grey. © The National Gallery of Ireland.

The first edition OS maps

The first edition OS maps, completed by 1846, were drawn on a scale of six inches to one mile. These maps are bound in volumes, arranged by county, and are available for consultation in the Reading Room. Digitised copies of the first edition maps are freely available through the website of Tailte Éireann, the state agency established in March 2023 to incorporate the former Ordnance Survey Ireland and the Property Registration Authority and Valuation Office. This digital resource displays the 1st edition OS maps as a composite map of the island of Ireland. The line breaks between original map sheets are just visible. In the printed county volumes, in most cases, an index map is included as a guide to the numbered map sheets that follow.

Map of county Carlow spread over two pages of a large bound volume.
Carlow County index map, Ordnance Survey, 1st edition.
Detail from an index map of county Carlow showing St Mullins within the boundary of map sheet 18.
Carlow County index map detail, highlighting sheet 18, Ordnance Survey, 1st edition.

Each sheet is spread across two facing pages and measures 35in (w) x 24in (h), or 89cm x 61cm, resulting in volumes of considerable weight and size. For this reason, the map sheets for large counties such as Cork and Donegal are divided between two volumes. The RIA Library copies of the maps are a very popular, frequently consulted resource. In recent years, conservation work on several volumes has been supported by generous donations.

The print volumes also include the details of the surveyors and engravers in minute type at the bottom of each sheet. Recently, we welcomed visitors to the reading room who were conducting research about a relative who worked as an OS engraver at the Phoenix Park office. With the aid of magnifying glasses, they found his name appeared on map sheets in several county volumes. Recording and sharing additional information such as this is one of the aims of the OS200 digital platform.

Detail from Carlow map showing details about surveyors and engravers responsible for the map sheet.
Carlow County map sheet detail listing the names of surveyors and engravers, Ordnance Survey, 1st edition.

Keep an eye out for our next blog to learn more about the OS archival material held here in the RIA Library and to find out about the launch of the OS200 digital resource.

Introduction to Richard John Ussher and the Bird Notes Collection

Writing on the natural history collections at the Royal Irish Academy Library, James P. O’Connor, MRIA described the field naturalist, archaeologist and ornithologist Richard John Ussher, MRIA (1841-1913) as follows:

Richard Ussher was a quiet, courteous and rather shy man. This demeanour, however, hid the determination, fearlessness and contempt for discomfort which he displayed in his explorations both ornithological and paleontological.

Born at Cappagh House, Cappagh, Co. Waterford in April 1841, Ussher showed a keen interest in natural history from a young age and was an avid egg-collector, a hobby he would eventually relinquish, spending his later years working with the Irish Society for the Protection of Birds. His formal education was hindered by periods of ill-health which meant he was unable to obtain his degree from Trinity College Dublin but, as R. M. Barrington has noted, Ussher spent many winters in warmer climates like Spain, Italy, and Corfu where he likely indulged his interest in natural history. He became a Justice of the Peace for Co. Waterford in the 1860s and married Elizabeth Finlay soon after, building a new house at Cappagh in the 1870s.

Beige envelope postmarked and addressed to Ussher at his Cappagh home.
A letter addressed to R. J. Ussher (Ussher Bird Notes Collection Box 3, Envelope 30)

About the collection

Once described as ‘facile princeps’ or the ‘Recording Angel’ for his fastidious approach to recording Irish avifauna, Ussher was one of Ireland’s greatest naturalists. His Birds of Ireland, written with Robert Warren and published in 1900, was concerned with telling the story of birds on the island of Ireland and was, as described in the preface ‘compiled by Irishmen to supply that information about the Birds of their country which has been long and increasingly demanded’.  
 
Ussher became a member of the Royal Irish Academy in 1905 and in 1911 gave the sum of £300 as the nucleus of a fund for promoting the study of the vertebrate zoology of Ireland, past and present. He later bequeathed his manuscripts, notes and papers which came to the Academy after his death in 1913 following a short illness. The collection contains approximately 9,000 items including correspondence, cards, papers, galley proofs, notes, jotters, notebooks, photographs, leaflets, postcards, journals, newspaper cuttings, and specimens like eggs and feathers.

Bundle of letters tied together with cotton tape.
A bundle of letters from the Ussher Bird Notes Collection. (Ussher Bird Notes Collection, RIA Library)
Box containing two smaller boxes and sparrow egg speciments.
A small box containing two sets of sparrow eggs (Ussher Bird Notes Collection, RIA: Box 10)

News from the Library

Earlier this year, the RIA Library successfully applied for financial support from the Heritage Council as part of the Heritage Stewardship Fund, which supports staff in local authorities, state agencies and educational institutions with responsibility for heritage programmes. This funding will enable the phased cataloguing and digitisation of material from the Ussher Bird Notes Collection for ingest to the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI). This is an exciting opportunity, and we look forward to seeing this incredibly valuable collection be made accessible to researchers and the public. The dedication of Ussher and his collaborators culminated in a very important historical record, which allows us to trace and compare the habits, characteristics, migration and breeding patterns of Irish avifauna.  

Pencil sketch of a male Blackcap with notes beneath.
R. J. Ussher’s sketch of a male Blackcap (Ussher Bird Notes Collection, RIA Box 6, Envelope 1)

The importance of the collection in relation to Ireland’s biodiversity

In the face of growing concerns over catastrophic climate change, we have witnessed the depletion of native and non-native bird populations on both a national and international scale. Species such as the corncrake—which used to be regularly observed across Ireland during the summer—have sadly been added to Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern. Fortunately, in recent years there has been an increase in conservation initiatives and rewilding projects to help restore the numbers of endangered or at-risk species of avifauna. Conservation initiatives directed towards the protection of corncrakes, for example, include the Corncrake/Traonach LIFE project, and other initiatives undertaken by BirdWatch Ireland, who work closely with farmers and landowners, and are involved in habitat management on Tory Island and on their Termoncarragh Reserve in Co Mayo. 

Handwritten table of dates on a sheets of notepaper.
A table tracking the dates that the sight or sound of a corncrake was observed by one of Ussher’s collaborators. (Ussher Bird Notes Collection Box 3, Envelope 30)

The Ussher Bird Notes Collection contains important historical data concerning the migration patterns and behaviours of both native and non-native species of birds, serving as a historical snapshot of Ireland’s avifauna, and providing researchers with insight into how Ireland’s landscape has changed in the face of growing urbanisation, pollution, deforestation, and other factors fuelling climate change and biodiversity loss. 

We hope that by making this collection more accessible, researchers will be encouraged to use and analyse the data compiled by Ussher and his colleagues to contribute to growing discourses around conservation and biodiversity efforts in Ireland.

Concluding remarks

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to the Heritage Council for their support in funding this project. Please check our website and/or follow us on social media for regular project updates.

Heritage Council logo

Sources

Bird Watch Ireland, “Positive news for Ireland’s Corncrake population but numbers remain critically low,” 18 August 2023, https://birdwatchireland.ie/corncrake-population-update/

Bird Watch Ireland, “Red and Amber Lists of Birds of Conservation Concern in Ireland (BoCCI4) 2020-2026,
https://birdwatchireland.ie/publications/birds-of-conservation-concern-in-ireland-bocci4-2020-2026/.

Corncrake LIFE. https://www.corncrakelife.ie/.

James P. O’Connor, ‘Some natural history collections at the Academy Library’ in B. Cunningham and Siobhán Fitzpatrick (eds), Treasures of the Royal Irish Academy Library (Dublin, 2009), 104-17.

Patricia M. Byrne, ‘Richard John Ussher’, Dictionary of Irish Biography, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3318/dib.008777.v1. 

R.M. Barrington, ‘Richard John Ussher’, Irish Naturalist 22 (1913), 221-7.

This year marks the 100 year anniversary since entomologist, Cynthia Longfield (1896-1991)(link is external), joined the party of the St George expedition in 1924. This team of naturalists, sponsored by the Scientific Expeditionary Research Association, embarked on a partial replication of Darwin’s famous journey to the South Sea. Longfield donated her entomological library and personal papers to the Royal Irish Academy Library, including photograph albums and scrapbooks she compiled during the expedition. To celebrate this anniversary, Dr Angela Byrne gave a lunchtime lecture in the Library, listen back to Cynthia Longfield Library Lunchtime Lecture.

The St George departed Dartmouth harbour on Wednesday, 9 April, 1924. It was a 1000 tonne sailing yacht with auxiliary steam and Longfield’s diary mentions it was equipped with a laboratory and dark rooms.

Fig. 1. The St George sailing yacht ‘All ready to slip the moorings’ (RIA MS LRC/27/5).
Fig. 2. The ‘Scientists’ (RIA MS LRC/27/3).

The scientific expedition party included Mr Hornell, ethnologist, Mr Johnson, biologist, Dr Crossland, marine biologist, Col. Kelsall, ornithologist, Miss Cheesman, entomologistMr Collonette, entomologist, Mr Chubb, geologist and Mr Riley, botanist. They called at Madeira, before crossing the Atlantic to land at Trinidad and Tabago. From there, they sailed down the Panama Canal into the Pacific Ocean. The expedition party landed at a number of islands in the Gulf of Panama before sailing to the Galápagos Islands. From there, they headed west to French Polynesia, before returning via Rapa Nui, known by many as Easter Island.

Fig.3. The route taken by the St George.

Longfield’s entomological mission began at the first stop in Madeira. Following an expedition to the north side of the island on 30 April, she described the butterflies they encountered:

Saw quantities of Gonepteryx, Polyommatus, Colias, 2 Vanessa Atalanta, some Pararge and one lovely Vanessa Callirhoë, a perfect specimen which we failed to get. It is ever so much redder than our Red Admiral. Altogether we caught or saw 10 out of Madeira’s 11 species of Butterflies, the eleventh being the grayling (Hipparchia Semele).

(RIA MS LRC/16)

She added a note later to say that Mr Hicks, the expedition’s journalist, spotted the grayling on their last day on Madeira.

As they crossed the Atlantic, Longfield’s diary paints a pleasant picture of fine meals, highly-contested tennis tournaments, lantern slide lectures and other entertainment of their own making. Longfield celebrated her 28th birthday on board the St George. A little party was put on and Miss Cheesman decorated the evening menu with entomological sketches.

Fig. 4. ‘My birthday menu. Drawn by Miss Cheesman’ (RIA MS LRC/24). Fig. 5. “Amblies” on Narborough Island’ (RIA MS LRC/27).

On the Galápagos Islands, Longfield and the party encountered a mass of marine iguanas (amblyrhynchus cristatus). She wrote in her diary:

The beach was alive with “amblys” very hard to see against the stones, but always giving themselves away by continuous spitting. This they seemed to do for no particular cause, and usually in the opposite direction to us, but they could spit a good distance.

(RIA MS LRC/17)

In French Polynesia, we learn more about Longfield’s entomological enterprises. On the island of Moorea, Longfield notes in her diaries her admiration for the dramatic landscape around Cook’s Bay and the striking profile of Mount Mou’aputa. She also hiked Mount Rotui on a collecting expedition:

…I climbed the slopes of Rotui for 1000 ft, on a collecting trip. I got 10 butterflies, Hypolinmnas Bolina, Euploea, Atella and a small Blue, also about 20 small moths. The mosquitoes were bad on this island.

(RIA MS LRC/18)
Fig. 6. Cynthia holding an ‘ambly’ by its tail (RIA MS LRC/27). Fig. 7. ‘Moa Rua’ or Mount Mou’aputa (RIA MS LRC/27/70).

Sadly, Longfield’s diaries are discontinued shortly after these entries. However, from her photograph albums we do get a flavour of her experience of the final leg of the journey. She clearly took some delight in being pictured with the famous Easter Island statues, or Moai, before beginning the long journey home.

Fig. 8. ‘C.L and a statue’ on Easter Island (RIA MS LRC/27/74).

Mar cheiliúradh ar Sheachtain na Gaeilge, tá an-áthas ar Thaisclann Dhigiteach na hÉireann (DRI) bailiúchán uathúil Gaeilge a thabhairt chun suntais sa Taisclann – Tionscadal Gréasáin Cheirníní Doegen, a chuir Leabharlann Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann i dtaisce in DRI le go ndéanfaí é a chaomhnú agus le go mbeadh fáil air go ceann i bhfad.

I mbailiúchán Thionscadal Gréasáin Cheirníní Doegen tá taifeadtaí fuaime ar chanúintí Gaeilge a rinneadh idir 1928 agus 1931 mar chuid de shuirbhé sistéamach ar chanúintí na Gaeilge. Fuair an bailiúchán a ainm ón bhfear a rinne na taifeadtaí thar ceann Rialtas na hÉireann, an Dr. Wilhelm Doegen (1877–1967), a bhí ina Stiúrthóir ar an Roinn Fuaime i Leabharlann Stáit na Prúise, Beirlín. I measc na dtaifeadtaí tá scéalta béaloidis, leaganacha de pharabal an Mhic Drabhlásaigh, amhráin (idir chanta agus labhartha), dioscúrsaí, paidreacha, agus míreanna foclóra ilghnéitheacha amhail aithris ar na huimhreacha ó 1 go 30 agus ar laethanta na seachtaine, iad go léir á rá ag cainteoirí dúchais Gaeilge ó 17 gcontae. Tá taifeadadh amháin i mBéarla sa bhailiúchán freisin – óráid le W.T. Cosgrave, a bhí ina Thaoiseach nuair a mhaoinigh Rialtas na hÉireann an scéim taifeadta. Tá tábhacht ar leith ag baint le Bailiúchán Doegen ó thaobh chanúineolaíocht na Gaeilge de toisc go bhfuil go leor de na canúintí áitiúla atá sna taifeadtaí marbh anois.

Cuireadh na buncheirníní i dtaisce i Leabharlann Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann agus rinneadh iad a dhigitiú ina dhiaidh sin mar chuid de Thionscadal Gréasáin Cheirníní Doegen. Tá siad caomhnaithe ó shin i dTaisclann DRI agus ar fáil go leanúnach. Tá tras-scríbhinní ag gabháil leis na ceirníní sa bhailiúchán digiteach agus iad curtha i gcomhthéacs le tráchtaireacht ar mhaithe le taighdeoirí. Agus na cóipeanna digitithe de na buncheirníní ar fáil go hoscailte sa DRI, chinntigh Leabharlann Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann gur féidir le teangeolaithe, béaloideasóirí, staraithe, oideachasóirí, agus aon duine ar spéis leis tuilleadh a fhoghlaim faoi oidhreacht agus faoi chultúr na hÉireann iad a aimsiú agus a athúsáid sa teanga dhúchais.

Tugann na ceirníní sa bhailiúchán luachmhar seo an t-éisteoir ar ais in am, rud a ligeann dó guthanna ón am atá thart a chloisteáil agus iad ag labhairt i gcanúintí a bheadh ​​caillte mura ndearnadh iad a thaifeadadh don chéad ghlúin eile. A bhuí le foilsiú na dtaifeadtaí seo i dTaisclann DRI, tá na ceirníní caomhnaithe anois le go mbeidh fáil orthu go ceann i bhfad, rud a chinnteoidh go mbeidh na glúnta atá le teacht in ann teacht orthu agus sult a bhaint astu.

Déan iniúchadh ar an mbailiúchán i dTaisclann DRI: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.s752m148j

Is taisclann dhigiteach iontaofa í Taisclann Dhigiteach na hÉireann, a sholáthraíonn caomhnú fadtéarmach agus rochtain ar shonraí daonnachtaí, oidhreachta cultúrtha agus eolaíochtaí sóisialta na hÉireann.

In celebration of Seachtain na Gaeilge, the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) is delighted to highlight a unique Irish language collection in the Repository – Tionscadal Gréasáin Cheirníní Doegen (the Doegen Records Web Project), which was deposited in DRI by the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) Library for long-term preservation and access.

The Doegen Records Web Project collection contains Irish dialect sound recordings created during 1928–31 as part of a systemic Irish dialect survey. The collection takes its name from the man who carried out the recordings on behalf of the Irish government, Dr Wilhelm Doegen (1877–1967), who was Director of the Sound Department at the Prussian State Library, Berlin. The recordings include folktales, versions of the parable of the Prodigal Son, songs (both sung and spoken), discourses, prayers, and miscellaneous items of vocabulary such as recitations of the numbers 1 to 30 or the days of the week, all recited by native Irish speakers from 17 counties. The collection also includes one English language recording – a speech by W.T. Cosgrave, who was head of the Irish government that funded the recording scheme. The Doegen collection’s importance to the field of Irish dialectology is significant as many of the local dialects in the recordings are now extinct.

The original records were deposited in the Royal Irish Academy Library and were later digitised as part of the Doegen Records Web Project. They have since been preserved in the DRI Repository for sustained access. The recordings in the digital collection are accompanied by transcripts and contextualised by commentary for the benefit of researchers. In making the digitised copies of the original recordings openly accessible in the DRI, the RIA Library has ensured that they can be discovered and reused by linguists, folklorists, historians, educators, and anybody interested in learning more about Ireland’s heritage and culture through its language.

The recordings in this valuable collection transport the listener back in time, allowing them to hear voices from the past speaking in dialects that would have been lost if they had not been recorded for posterity. Thanks to the publication of these recordings in the DRI Repository, the recordings are now preserved for long-term access and will continue to be discovered and enjoyed by future generations.

Explore the collection in the DRI Repository: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.s752m148j

The Digital Repository of Ireland is a certified trusted digital repository that provides long-term preservation and access to Ireland’s humanities, cultural heritage, and social sciences data.

Charles Haliday(link is external) (1789-1866)’s name is often uttered in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy. His extensive collection of pamphlets and tracts is one of the most frequently consulted resources in the Academy Library. As well as being an interesting historical figure in his own right, his family and their circle of friends were equally fascinating. A recent donation with a special inscription has shone a spotlight on this compelling set of characters.

Portrait of Charles Haliday
Fig. 1 Portrait of Charles Haliday, 1789-1866
Title page of Úraicecht na Gaedhilge. A grammar of the Gaelic language
Fig.2 Title page of Úraicecht na Gaedhilge. A grammar of the Gaelic language (1808), RIA D/745a

In November 2023, Eoin Bairead, a regular visitor to the Library and a volunteer contributor to Irish History Online, came across an inscribed copy of a 19th century Gaelic grammar at a book sale. Úraicecht na Gaedhilge. A grammar of the Gaelic language (1808) was published under the pen name “E O’C”, a pseudonym of Charles Haliday’s elder brother, William(link is external). The Haliday brothers (or Halliday, the spelling preferred by all but Charles) were raised in a household highly critical of Irish culture, but William demonstrated a passion for the language from youth. He completed the grammar at the age of 19, and fear of parental disapproval may explain why the work was published under a pseudonym. His closing remarks are a little morbid for so young a scholar, but we hope he would be edified to know the “black characters of the writing” did endure!

pages from book
Figs. 3 & 4 Concluding comments and verse, pp. 200-201, RIA D/745a]

This copy contains an inscription that draws another of the brothers into our story, namely, Daniel Halliday (1798–1836). Daniel studied medicine in Edinburgh before settling in Paris, where he made the acquaintance of several figures of significance, including the United Irishman, John Allen(link is external) (c.1780–1855), and memoirist and MP, Sir Jonah Barrington(link is external) (1756/7–1834). Another of his friends was the author of the inscription. It reads:

Irish Grammar, by the late learned William Halliday of Dublin Esq. – given me by that gentleman’s brother Doctor Halliday of Paris, my esteemed Friend, this 21st July 1826. H. de Montmorency.

Ink inscription on the title page
Fig. 5 Ink inscription on the title page verso of RIA D/745a]

It would appear the noble surname of de Montmorency is claimed here by Hervey Morres(link is external) (1767-1839). His energetic assertion that the Morres family were descended from a French aristocratic family was later exposed as fraudulent in the 1890s by John Horace Round in his article, “The Montmorency imposture”. However, Morres’s battle for a name of distinction is perhaps one of the least interesting aspects of his eccentric life.

Morres began his military career in the Austrian army at the age of 15, before returning to Ireland to join the United Irishmen. He was arrested for his involvement in the 1798 rebellion but was later released. He credited his liberation to Napoleon Bonaparte’s intervention and travelled to France to thank him. In 1811 he moved to France and joined the army. He likely supported Napoleon’s brief return to power in 1815, but later denied this.

Despite his questionable approach to genealogy, Morres displayed aptitude for the study of history, antiquities and literature. His interest may have extended to the Irish language, given that Daniel Halliday saw fit to gift William’s grammar to him. What we can say is that the affectionate inscription is evidence of the warm friendship between the two. We are delighted by this serendipitous acquisition, which has enhanced our knowledge of the Haliday family and their intriguing network of friends.

Further reading: “Hervey Morres and ‘the Montmorency imposture’”, History Ireland 28(2)

UCD Student Blog Series

The Library is delighted to announce the fourth and final post from our UCD Student Blog Series. This year the Library collaborated with students on the MA Archives and Records Management providing them with access to archival collections. The students worked on four collections: Charles Vallancey Papers (A050), Falkiner C. Litton Papers (A051), Ouzel Galley Collection (A052) and Charles Haliday Papers (A053). The students wrote blog posts about the fascinating material they came across and this blog was written by Roisin Costello. Rosin takes a glimpse into the archive collection of engineer, antiquarian and great enthusiast of the Irish language, Charles Vallancey (c.1725-1812) FRS, MRIA.

Introduction

The early years of Charles Vallancey’s life are ambiguous, with no surviving records of his birth, family, or education. A number of historians have attempted to place him prior to his arrival in Ireland during the 1750s, with the most common consensus being that he was born in Flanders to a family of French Huguenot descent, educated at Eton College, and qualified as a ‘gentleman cadet’ at the Royal Military Academy of Woolwich in the early 1740s, specialising in engineering and surveyance. Soon after, in 1746, Vallancey joined the British Army Corps of Engineers and was later appointed as an extra engineer in Co. Cork, Ireland. He excelled in his career as an engineer, with some of his major feats including a military survey of the south and south-west coast of Ireland, the publication of a treatise on inland navigation, and the replication of Sir William Petty‘s (1623-1687) Down Survey, all culminating in his appointment as the ‘Chief Engineer of Ireland” around the turn of the 19th century. However, engineering appears to only have been one of his passions.


[Fig.1 – Charles Vallancey (c.1725-1812)]
[Fig. 2 – Sir William Petty (1623-1687)]

Vallancey’s Affinity for the Irish Language

An area that commonly sparks interest is the origin of Vallancey’s grá for Irish language. Alongside his engineering career, Vallancey published numerous works on the language, history, and antiquities of Ireland, Collectanea de rebus Hibernicis, Essay on the Antiquity of the Celtic Language, and A Vindication of the Ancient History of Ireland to name but a few. Much like his early years, little is known about when, where, why or how his career in researching the history of Ireland and the mother tongue of its inhabitants began. Some believe it was his time spent in Cork that initially spurred his fondness while others opt for a more enticing explanation, suggesting that his interest was rather a matter of necessity. Over the course of his life, Vallancey married four times, bearing nine children from his first marriage alone, one daughter from his second marriage, and a further two children from his fourth and final marriage. As the number of mouths to feed grew, it is possible that Vallancey turned to transcription, research, and publication as a means of increasing his income.

The Royal Irish Academy Library is privileged to house not only a collection of Vallancey’s essays and his personal set of seven annotated volumes of Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis, but an archival collection of manuscript notebooks accumulated throughout his illustrious career too. Today we will be taking a closer look at sub-series AO50/4, and the notebooks relating to Vallancey’s interest in the astronomy of the ancient Irish.


[Fig. 3 Illustration of the Ram, Aries Zodiac Sign (RIA A050/4/2)]
[Fig. 4 – Illustration of the Constellations of the Zodiac, Ursa the Bear (RIA A050/4/2)]

Notebooks on the Astronomy of the Ancient Irish

Scattered with illustrations of the zodiac and its constellations, Vallancey’s notebooks on the astronomy of the ancient Irish are a marvel to behold! However, there is more to them than just their charming drawings. Vallancey carried out extensive research on Irish words and phrases to build a greater understanding of how knowledge of astronomy developed in Ireland. Although much of what he proclaimed has since been discredited, the notebooks continue to exist as a remarkable resource on astronomy as Gaeilge. The first item in this series (AO50/4/1), a bound notebook, contains a print copy of Vallancey’s essay contribution, titled “The Oriental Emigration of the Hibernian Druids proved from their Knowledge in Astronomy, collected with that of the Indians and Chaldeans from Fragments of Irish MSS”, to The Oriental Collections, published by William Ouseley (1771-1842) in 1798. Interestingly, the title of the original essay has been crossed out of this copy, and replaced with the updated title “Astronomy of the Ancient Irish”. Paired with the countless handwritten annotations and loose inserts throughout this notebook it is possible Vallancey was hoping to republish his work with a more general focus on the ancient Irish, not just Hibernian Druids.


[Fig. 5 Revised title ‘Astronomy of the Ancient Irish’ (RIA A050/4/1)]
[Fig. 6 Illustration with handwritten notes crossed out (RIA A050/4/1)]

It is in the two following handwritten notebooks in this series (A050/4/2 and A050/4/3) that Vallancey truly flaunts his Irish language knowledge. First tackling the zodiac and lessen planets, then the cardinal points, each notebook is further divided under a variety of subheadings such as the twelve signs, comets, galaxy, via lactea, and Irish rainbows. Vallancey lists Irish words and phrases, including geamana, portain, seach-realt, aithrid, neidhe, and duile, pairing them with English definitions and explanations, for example, rudrach is described as the destroying eclipse, or the name of the destroying deity of the Brahmins. The main aim of these texts appears to be to establish connections between the knowledge of astronomy of the ancient Irish with those living in distant lands, much like the topic of his 1798 essay contribution to The Oriental Collections.


[Fig. 7 and 8 Irish Words for an Eclipse (RIA A050/4/3)]

The notebooks are also of interest to those researching the history of typography, showcasing the use of two forms of the letter ‘s’. Both a long ‘s’ with an ‘f’ like nub, and a rounded ‘s’ can be found on the same small portion of text, a combination that was soon to fall out of fashion in the mid to late 19th century!


[Fig. 9 – Different uses of the letter ‘s’ form (RIA A050/4/1)]
[Fig. 10 and 11 – Letter ‘s’ forms can be seen in the words ‘smallest’ and ‘ros’.]

Additional Irish Language Material

Further examples of Vallancey’s grá for Irish history and the language of the island can be found throughout his collection, particularly in his series of manuscript transcriptions of Brehon Laws (A050/5) and handwritten notebooks on the ancient history of Ireland (A050/3). The Charles Vallancey Papers (RIA A050) is open to public access upon request.

For further information or access enquiries please contact library@ria.ie