Come Here To Me!

This aired on Sky Sports last night, and is a pretty interesting piece, an outsiders look-in at football in Ireland. Saint Patrick’s Athletic feature heavily, with an interview with Liam Buckley and footage from the recent Dublin derby between ourselves and Shamrock Rovers. Thanks to Gareth Maher for uploading this onto YouTube.

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Over the weekend, Anti-Fascist Action Ireland unveiled a new plaque and mural to celebrate their 21st birthday.

The plaque above Connolly Books in Temple Bar, launched by Tom Redmond, Manus O’Riordan and Cllr. Cieran Perry, is dedicated to all those Irish who went to Spain to fight for the Republic during the Civil War.

Plaque, Connolly Books (Photo – MW)

The mural at The Cobblestone pub in Smithfield, unveiled by Harry Owens and Thomas the artist, is dedicated to local Irish Republican and International Brigader Bob Doyle (1916 – 2006)

Bob Doyle mural, Smithfield (Photo – SO)

More pictures can be viewed here on their Facebook page here.

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The Irish Times, December 20 1884.

I’ve always loved this illustration of two Dublin newsboys from The Irish Times, published in 1884. It is the earliest illustration of Dublin newsboys I’ve been able to find, and shows two ragged youngsters resting in the doorway of a bank premises.

While street selling is an ancient tradition, the idea of the ‘newsboy’ came to prominence in the British Isles in the 1850s, with the arrival of cheap daily and evening newspapers. Writing in The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland in 1924, George Wm. Panter noted that:

The newsboy as we know him now is quite a latter-day institution. Lai Brough, the comedian, whom, doubtless, some may still remember, used to tell how in his early manhood he became assistant publisher to the Daily Telegraph on its establishment in 1855, and that while occupying that position he originated the custom of selling newspapers in the streets by organising a staff of two hundred and forty boys for the purpose. We have seen that the custom existed of selling newspapers in the streets previously, but undoubtedly newsboys were first hired for that purpose in 1855.

References to newsboys operating in Dublin can be found in The Irish Times from the early 1880s, with a letter signed ‘Pro Bono Public’ appearing in the paper in 1882 noting the ‘many trials and hardships which the majority of the newsboys of Dublin have to contend with’ and asking ‘would it not be a truly charitable and benevolent undertaking for the citizens of Dublin to provide a Newsboys Home in a central place’ for the use of these young Dublin workers. In the 1880s, Dublin newsboys were presented in newspaper reports as being typically ragged and barefoot, with The Irish Times in 1884 producing the above illustration entitled ‘The Tired Newsboys!’ showing two young, ragged dressed youths asleep in a doorway, with a poem underneath noting that ‘they may perish! of cold or some worse fate!’

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High Flying Saints! Photo: Photopat (C)

There’s nothing as painful as following a match by text updates, not least an FAI Cup Semi-Final. With work obligations, I was destined to follow Pats yeterday through a series of sporadic text messages from the brother. The first one, that “in a moment of unprecedented football history, Dundalk are two-nil up before kick-off”, raised a smile at least.

This image above, from one of the weekly club photographers Photopat, really captures it for me. Last year, the banner in the semi-final against Shelbourne told the lads to ‘Rise like lions after slumber’. This year, the lions have certainly risen.

The last time we won the cup, the Irish Press was still in existence!

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Image: Luke Fallon.

The building on the corner of Lord Edward Street and Fishamble Street, today a budget hostel, is an interesting building architecturally, dating back to 1891. Archiseek tells us it was designed by Albert E. Murray, and purpose-built as a hotel for young boys. I’d passed the building often without inspecting it closely, but a few months back a reader (Thanks Steven!) suggested taken a closer look. The magnificent stone engraving of the youngster shown below remains to this day, giving a clue to the buildings former life.

Building stonework today (Luke Fallon)

A history of the Dublin Working Boys Club and Harding Technical School appears on the Irish Deaf History page, where it is noted that a society formed to “afford comfortable and healthy lodgings at cheap rates for boys who were earning their bread” had acquired the building in 1888 for the purpose of establishing a hostel there. That hostel was opened by the Lord Lieutenant in February 1892, providing lodgings to boys below the maximum age of 19. The hostel was open to Protestant boys, and boasted a Gymnasium Club, cricket team and some residents even formed a “bell-ringing club” with Christ Church Cathedral next door! The linked article notes that “in Mount Jerome Cemetery, the Dublin Working Boys’ Home had a plot for the residents, purchased by one of the Governors, Thomas Spunner, in 1885.”

Newspaper reports from the time of the opening note that initially 41 boys were on the books, and that most of these boys were from outside the capital, employed in trades including gun making, printing and coach building. The Irish Times noted that the buildings interior was impressive, with a lecture hall capable of holding 150 boys, a spacious dining hall as well a library containing a piano and reading tables.

I found an advertisement from 1914 for the Home within The Irish Times, and it notes:

The object of the home is to provide a safe and comfortable residence for orphans and other boys (being Protestants, and of good character) who are earning small wages in junior positions, in trades, business and offices, etc., and who have no suitable home in the city. The age of admission is 13 to 16 years, but under special circumstances the limit of age may be extended.

The club closed in 1987, and today the building is home to budget accommodation for tourists, as well as the Copper Alley Bistro.

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An illustration of a 1930’s Dublin newsboy by Luke Fallon (originally for a piece I wrote in Rabble magazine)

Every year, the good folks in Dublin City Library and Archives organise a series of lunch time lectures. Lasting about 40 minutes, and taking place in the unusual setting of City Hall, these lectures have a common theme. This October, there are a series of lectures running on each Tuesday, all falling within the theme of Dublin in the 1930’s.

Next Tuesday, I will be delivering one of these talks, on the subject of the infamous ‘Animal Gangs’ of the 1930’s. The title of the talk is A Social or Political Problem? Dublin’s Animal Gangs in the 1930’s. While there’s been quite a bit of work on the ‘Animals’ over the years, in the form of oral histories in particular, the issue of their political affiliations (if any) is interesting territory to explore. The ‘Animals’ emerged out a newsboys labour dispute in 1934, but the term entered Dublin folklore for many years afterwards. I’ve recently finished a thesis on the gangs, and I suppose this is a chance to share some of that, including a lot of new information.

The talk runs from 1.10 to 1.50. City Hall is certainly an unusual venue for a talk, and you’re all welcome.

Date: Tuesday 9 October 2012
Topic: A Social or Political Problem? Dublin’s Animal Gangs in the 1930’s.
Venue: Council Chamber, City Hall, Dame Street, Dublin 2
Time: 1.10-1.50 p.m.

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Sharing is caring, and I’m very grateful to the Irish Election Literature Blog for sending these fantastic scans our way, thinking they could be of interest. We frequently dip into guide books to Dublin on the site here, and while in some cases it’s the observations about the city which are worth posting, in other cases the advertisements are what grab you attention.

Before looking at some of the advertisements within this guidebook, its restaurant listings are also interesting. How many of these are still with us? The Troika certainly isn’t something we’d associated with fine dining anymore!

Among the advertisements, The Pearl on Fleet Street grabbed my attention. The Pearl was once popular with the writers of Dublin, and I’ve heard it said there was a sort of fight of the literature types at one stage from that establishment to The Palace, also located on Fleet Street!

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Personally, I’ve never believed in ghost stories. In saying that, I do enjoy hearing some of the stories in Dublin, and any city with the history this one has is likely to have a few great tales. Browsing for something else, this November 1955 story from The Irish Times grabbed my attention. It’s a good tale, and it first appeared in the in-house Garda magazine.

Wednesday November 9 1955.

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Myra House,Francis Street (Donal Fallon)

The Legion of Mary was founded in Myra House on Francis Street, in September 1921. This organisation would have a massive effect on the city of Dublin, spearheading the campaign to close the notorious Monto district. Today, the Legion of Mary has over 4 million active members and 10 million auxiliary members, in more than 170 countries across the world. It began its life in Dublin, founded by the quiet civil servant Frank Duff. Born in Dublin in 1889, and described by historian Terry Fagan in his history of Monto as a “sombre-suited civil servant”, Duff’s organisation would become a leading player in Irish life for a time, as a mass movement of Catholic action.

The Legion of Mary began life as the Association of our Lady of Mercy, born in Myra Hall, as an organisation dedicated to visitations and promoting the Catholic faith. Frank Duff’s biographer Fionla Kennedy quotes Duff as stating the first meeting of the group consisted of fifteen people, of which thirteen were women. The group had strong links to the Saint Vincent de Paul society at the time of its foundation, and intended to assist laypeople in serving and advancing the cause of the Catholic Church.

The Legion of Mary would be the forefront of the campaign to close Dublin’s infamous red-light district in the first half of the 1920s. Known in popular Dublin history as Monto, this area took its name from Montgomery Street, located just off Talbot Street. Montgomery Street, Purdon Street, Mecklenburgh Street, Mabbot Street and others were often referred to collectively as Monto, with the area notorious at the beginning of the twentieth-century not only for its shocking levels of poverty but also the levels of prostitution found there.

The reputation of this area would lead to name changes historically, and following the construction of the ill-fated Corporation Buildings in the early twentieth century, Dublin Corporation set about attempting to change the name of Montgomery Street to Corporation Street, as this 1905 proposal from the Paving Committee shows:

We believe the great improvement effected in the street by the Corporation, together with the change of name, will have the desirable effect of obliterating its evil reputation. We therefore request and pray that it may be called Corporation-Street, as the great change for the better has been effected by the Corporation.

In the end, Montgomery Street was rechristened as Foley Street, in honour of John Henry Foley, the sculptor and one of the areas most famous sons. A change of name did little to change the character of the area however, and the misfortunes of those living there.

Between 1923 and 1925, the Legion of Mary made frequent interventions into the heart of Monto. These interventions were motivated by Duff’s familiarity with the suffering of some of Dublin’s prostitutes. Diarmaid Ferriter has quoted Duff’s first recollections of visiting a brothel in his study Occasions of Sin:Sex and Society in Modern Ireland:

For a moment, I did not realise where I was. Then I saw, and I was so intimidated that I actually backed out without uttering a word. My retreat was typical of the attitude to the problem at the time. We were not without constant reminders of the problem and of the menace it afforded.

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