8‭ ‬August‭ ‬1649:‭ ‬Dubhaltach MacFhirbhisigh,‭ ‬one of the last of the great scribes of Ireland,‭ ‬completed his catalogue of the Kings of Ireland,‭ ‬from Parthalón to Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair,‭ ‬entitled‭ ‬Réim Ríoghraidhe Éireann‭ ‬on this day.‭ ‬This was for inclusion within his masterpiece the‭ ‬Leabhar na nGenealach,‭ ‬or the‭ ‬Book of Genealogies.‭ ‬The work is a compilation of Irish genealogical lore relating to the principal pre Gaelic, Gaelic, Viking and Anglo-Norman families of Ireland and covering the period from pre-Christian times to the mid-17th century collected from a variety of sources.‭ ‬The fact that many of these sources no longer exist adds considerably to the value of Mac Fhirbhisigh's work.‭

The opening sentence of Leabhar na nGenealach, quoted in 'The Celebrated Antiquary Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh', goes some way towards describing the contents. It reads

the branches of kinship and branches of genealogy of every invasion which took possession of Ireland from this time up to Adam (except the Fomhóraigh, the Vikings and English, whom we treat of only since they came to our country), together with the history of the saints and the list of the kings of Ireland and finally, an index in which are collected, in alphabetical order, the surnames and famous places mentioned in this book…

This great work stands comparison with‭ ‬The Annals of the Four Masters and is all the more remarkable for being the work of just one man.‭ ‬Preserved over the centuries it was not printed in full until Mayoman Nollaig Ó Muraíle published his comprehensive edition in five volumes‭ (‬by De Burca books‭) ‬in‭ ‬2004.‭ ‬This is one of Ireland’s greatest Literary/Historical Treasures.

Nollaig Ó Muraíle sums up his career as follows:

"... an astonishingly large proportion of the manuscripts we still possess passed through the hands of this one scholar, and it may well be that by that very fact that they have actually survived – thanks to their being passed on (eventually) from Mac Fhirbhisigh to the likes of Edward Lhuyd. Without the great diligence, then, of Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbisigh, as copyist, compiler and translator, and also as collector and transmitter of manuscripts, some quite significant remnants of the civilization that was Gaelic Ireland would have gone into almost certain oblivion. That is his legacy to succeeding generations, and one which merits our undying gratitude."

It might be worth noting that his name is pronounced  “DOOaltach MacIrvishy”. Which was anglicised, incredibly, as “Dudley Forbes”!!!

7 August 1943: The death in Dublin of famous portrait artist Sarah Purser on this day.
She was born in Kingstown/ Dun Laoghaire on 22 March 1848. She was the daughter of Benjamin Purser and Ann Mallet. The family moved to  Dungarvan County Waterford, a seaside market town nestled beneath the Comeragh mountains soon after her birth and lived firstly in Strand side South, Abbeyside, which is now the home of the Parish Priest. Later they moved to a house called 'The Hermitage' in Abbeyside. Sarah lived here for about 25 years. Her father was involved in brewing and flour milling while in Dungarvan. At the age of 13 Sarah was sent to school in Switzerland for two years. She left Dungarvan in the summer of 1873 to make her living as a painter and settled in Dublin. There she trained in the Metropolitan School of Art and later went to the Academie Julian in Paris and also to Italy. She became a highly successful portrait painter and an important figure in the Irish art world at the turn of the century.

She worked mostly as a portraitist eg as above Girl with red hair. She was also associated with the stained glass movement, founding a stained glass workshop, An Túr Gloine, in 1903. Some of her stained glass work was commissioned from as far as New York, including a window at Christ Church, Pelham dedicated to the memory of Katharine Temple Emmet and Richard Stockton Emmet, grandson of the Irish patriot, Thomas Addis Emmet. Through her talent and energy, and owing to her friendship with the Gore-Booths, she was very successful in obtaining commissions, famously commenting "I went through the British aristocracy like the measles."

"some of her finest and most sensitive work was not strictly portraiture, for example, An Irish Idyll in the Ulster Museum, and Le Petit Déjeuner (in the National Gallery of Ireland)."
Bruce Arnold

Among her sitters were W.B.Yeats, Jack B Yeats, Maud Gonne, Roger Casement, James MacNeill, Sir Samuel Ferguson, the Bishops of Kells, Clogher and Limerick, John Kells Ingram, Sir Henry and Lady Gore Booth, Douglas Hyde,

When she founded An Tur Gloine, she was instrumental in drawing the attention of the art world to the works of John Yeats and Nathaniel Hone. She exhibited widely in Dublin and London. At the Royal Hibernian Academy, the Irish Fine Art Society in Dublin. At the Royal Academy, Grosvenor Gallery, Fine Art Society and New Gallery in London and the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. In 1886 she founded the Dublin Art Club and in 1890 the RHA elected her an Honoury Member.

Sarah Purser became wealthy through astute investments, particularly in Guinness. She was very active in the art world scene in Dublin and was known as an entertaining host - to those that pleased her. She was involved in the setting up of the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery, persuading the Irish government to provide Charlemont House to house the gallery.

In 1923 she became the first female member of the Royal Hibernian Academy. She persuaded W.T. Cosgrave to give Charlemont House in Dublin as a modern Art Gallery and also to house the Hugh lane collection.

Until her death she lived for years in Mespil House, a Georgian mansion with beautiful plaster ceilings on Mespil Road, on the banks of the Grand Canal. It was demolished after she died and developed into apartments. She was buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery.

5 August 1847: Daniel O’Connell’s body was interred in Glasnevin cemetery on this day. The ‘Liberator’ had died in Genoa, Italy on 15 May. His last bequest was : “My body to Ireland – my heart to Rome – my soul to heaven”. Thus his body was conveyed back to Ireland for burial.

The Funeral service was held in the Metropolitan Church, Marlborough Street, Dublin, on the 4th August. The following day his cortege made its way through the City on the way to Glasnevin Cemetery. The centre of Dublin came to a standstill as tens of thousands of mourners lined the route as his hearse made its way along Westmoreland Street [above] and up Sackville St (now O’Connell St) on its way to his resting place in the Graveyard he had help to found. The enormous triumphal car that O’Connell rode in when he was freed from prison in May 1844 led the procession. His Funeral was the largest ever recorded up to that time in Ireland.

In 1869 his remains were re interred in the crypt of the O’Connell Round Tower in Glasnevin Cemetery in a magnificent casket in the base of the structure. There the Liberator lies today.

4 August 1914: Great Britain declared War on Germany. That afternoon the British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith addressed the House of Commons in London and set out the reasons for the decision to declare War. Basically it was the crossing of the Belgian border by German forces that morning after Belgium had rejected Berlin’s demand that her armies have free passage across that country in order to attack France.

The problem for Britain was that if France’s northern coast was left open to German Naval operations then it was considered doubtful that she could hold out for long against attack by both land and sea. A quick German Victory in the West would then give the Kaiser a free hand to deal with Russia and thus make Germany the Master of Europe.

Britain however had an ace card to play as a Causi Belli and that was an International Treaty signed in 1839 guaranteeing the Independence of Belgium - which had been signed by both Britain and Prussia! Clearly the German attack on Belgium was a violation of that Treaty and this opened the door for her entering the war on the side of France. The stakes were believed to be just too high for Britain to risk staying out of it and having no influence on the outcome of the War.

That afternoon Asquith addressed a packed and silent House setting out the unfolding events  and the continuing diplomatic communications with Brussels and Berlin. Assurances recieved from the German Capital that Germany had no territorial ambitions on Belgium and was only acting on their convinced belief that France would attack her through that country otherwise did not find any favour with Asquith and the British Cabinet. 

Asquith concluded his speech with these fateful words:

I have to add this on behalf of His Majesty's Government: We cannot regard this as in any sense a satisfactory communication. We have, in reply to it, repeated the request we made last week to the German Government, that they should give us the same assurance in regard to Belgian neutrality as was given to us and to Belgium by France last week. We have asked that a reply to that request, and a satisfactory answer to the telegram of this morning—which I have read to the House—should be given before midnight.

The House adjourned at 7.15 pm to meet again the following day. The Cabinet then retired to await the reply from Germany.

However as the clock struck 11pm that night and as no reply had been received  Wintson Churchill - the First Lord of the Admiralty - noted that it was actually 12 midnight in Berlin so the Cabinet on his prompt decided there and then that there was no point wasting an hour when time was of the essence and the word went out to commence military operations with immediate effect.
 
The Foreign Office then issued the following official statement:-

Owing to the summary rejection by the German Government of the request made by his Majesty's Government for assurances that the neutrality of Belgium will be respected, his Majesty's Ambassador to Berlin has received his passports, and his Majesty's Government declared to the German Government that a state of war exists between Great Britain and Germany as from 11 p.m. on August 4, 1914.

No mention of Ireland! But the previous day John Redmond [above] the Leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons had spoken in that House and had stated that at least Ireland could be defended by Irishmen if the British Army was needed elsewhere.

Today there are in Ireland two large bodies of Volunteers. One of them sprang into existence in the North. Another has sprung into existence in the South. I say to the Government that they may to-morrow withdraw every one of their troops from Ireland. I say that the coast of Ireland will be defended from foreign invasion by her armed sons, and for this purpose armed Nationalist Catholics in the South will be only too glad to join arms with the armed Protestant Ulstermen in the North. Is it too much to hope that out of this situation there may spring a result which will be good not merely for the Empire, but good for the future welfare and integrity of the Irish nation? I ought to apologise for having intervened, but while Irishmen generally are in favour of peace, and would desire to save the democracy of this country from all the horrors of war, while we would make every possible sacrifice for that purpose, still if the dire necessity is forced upon this country we offer to the Government of the day that they may take their troops away, and that if it is allowed to us, in comradeship with our brethren in the North, we will ourselves defend the coasts of our country.

Redmond’s proposal was lost in the wash of unfolding events but his decision to support Britain and not oppose the War was a fateful one. Of course with Home Rule on the cards he had to play it careful and this position was one really of neither being in or out of the War. But it was a stance he could not maintain for long as the dramatic and bloody events of the next few weeks were to demonstrate. On the 20th September at Woodenbridge in Co Wicklow he finally threw his hat in the ring and committed his support for Nationalist Ireland's military involvement in the War Effort.

3‭ ‬August‭ ‬1916:‭ ‬Roger Casement‭ ‬was hanged at Pentonville Prison London on this day.‭ ‬He was tried by the British for Treason as he had tried to enlist German help to free Ireland at a time when Britain and Germany were at War.‭

He was born in Dublin in‭ ‬1864.‭ ‬His father was an Officer in the British Army.‭ ‬From‭ ‬1895‭ ‬onwards he worked for the British Foreign Office in a Consular capacity.‭ ‬He was sent to the Congo where he reported on the widespread abuses there against the Natives by the Belgian Colonialists.‭ ‬These reports earned Casement a CMG‭ (‬Order of St Michael and St George‭) ‬in‭ ‬1905.‭ ‬He was then sent to Brazil and was commissioned to undertake a report on the reported abuse of workers in the rubber industry in the Putumayo basin in Peru.‭ ‬He once again found many instances of abuse and exploitation by the Rubber Barons there and was rewarded a Knighthood in‭ ‬1911‭ ‬for his services to Humanity.

But by‭ ‬1912‭ ‬Casement had become disillusioned with European Colonialism of which he found himself a reluctant part though albeit in a pacific role.‭ ‬At Home he had become a member of the Gaelic League and a strong Nationalist.‭ ‬He viewed with abhorrence the events in the North‭ (‬his father was from Antrim‭) ‬and was totally against Partition.‭ ‬In August‭ ‬1914‭ ‬he was in the USA raising funds for the Irish Volunteers when the Great War broke out.‭ ‬He soon made contact with Clan na Gael and John Devoy put him in contact with German Diplomats in New York.‭ ‬He made his way to Germany to raise military and financial support for a Rising in Ireland bit met with little success.‭ ‬In particular his attemot to raise an Irish Brigade from amongst the Irishmen held as Prisoners of War was meagre.‭ ‬By this time the British Intelligence Service had latched onto his activities and set about undermining him.

When in early‭ ‬1916‭ ‬Casement learnt of the high likelihood of a Rising in Ireland he requested to be sent home to be there.‭ ‬However by the time he sailed in a German Submarine he was of the opinion that it should not go ahead if the Germans could not offer considerable military assistance‭ – ‬and of that there was no real prospect given their huge commitments at that time.‭ ‬In the event Casement’s small party was put ashore at Banna Strand,‭ ‬Co Kerry in the early hours of Good Friday‭ ‬21‭ ‬April‭ ‬1916.‭ ‬They were soon spotted by the locals who took them for German spies and they were arrested by the RIC.‭ ‬Casement was dispatched hastily to London and imprisoned to await his Fate.

His Trail for Treason was conducted at the Old Bailey.‭ ‬Despite the best efforts of his Legal Team the evidence against him was pretty clear cut and on the facts he could hardly expect to escape the Death Sentence.‭ ‬A campaign was underway to enlist support for an amelioration of the execution of any judgment past by the Court.‭ ‬Casement was a widely respected figure for his humanitarian work and it could possibly be argued that while he had erred in Judgment his past services to Humanity should be taken into account.

But during the Trial the British produced the infamous‭ ‘‬Black Diaries‭’ ‬that they claimed were written in Casement’s own hand and showed him to be a Homosexual with a marked predilection for young boys he picked up while engaged in his work abroad.‭ ‬These Revelations proved a Sensation and as intended destroyed Casement’s Character and Reputation in the circles where his cause was most likely to find support.‭ ‬He vehemently denied all the accusations against him.

He was found Guilty of Treason and sentenced to death.‭ ‬He was‭ ‬51‭ ‬years old and had been received into the Catholic Faith in the hours before he made his way to the Scaffold.‭ ‬He received the Last sacraments and died as he said‭ ‬with‭ ‬with the body of his God as his last meal.

His body was buried in quicklime in the grounds of the Prison.‭ ‬There it remained until‭ ‬1965‭ ‬when the Labour Government of Harold Wilson agreed to hand it over the Republic of Ireland on condition he was not buried in the North‭ (‬Casements wish‭)‬.‭ ‬He was given a full State Funeral and interred in Glasnevin Cemetery Dublin.‭ ‬President Eamon de Valera himself gave the graveside oration.‭

2‭ ‬August‭ ‬1800:‭ ‬The‭ ‘‬Irish‭’ ‬Parliament on College Green in Dublin met for the last time on this day.‭ ‬It had been was persuaded to vote itself out of existence through an Act of Union with Great Britain.‭ ‬Many wealthy landlords and members of the Irish aristocracy were persuaded by promises of titles and honours from London.‭ ‬With the Act of Union the centre of political power shifted to London.‭

The idea of a union of Great Britain and Ireland had been considered many times in over the previous‭ ‬100‭ ‬years or so.‭ ‬The grant of nominal legislative independence to the Dublin Parliament in‭ ‬1782‭ ‬gave the impression to many that the idea had been dropped.‭

However,‭ ‬the situation changed in 1793 with the onset of War with Revolutionary France and even more so with the‭ ‬1798‭ ‬Rising here in Ireland which was brutally crushed.‭ The‬ Ascendancy (that is the Anglo-Irish Elite) had been shaken to its core by the events of the previous years and realised that if Catholic Emancipation were granted their situation would be fatally undermined. If Catholics gained the right to sit in Ireland’s parliament then it was only a matter of time until the Ascendency was finished as a political & economic power in the land.‭ ‬They were therefore amenable to be persuaded that the centre of power should reside in London thus by negating the possibility of the Catholics of Ireland gaining control of the Country’s Destiny.‭

Pitt,‭ ‬the British Prime Minister along with Lord Castlereagh went for sheer bribery to‭ ‘‬buy‭’ ‬the MPs consent to a Union.‭ ‬The going rate was‭ ‬£15,000‭ ‬per seat and threats,‭ ‬bribes and promises were applied to swing the Honourable Members consent to the measure.‭

Castlereagh stated that his task was to:

‭ ‘‬to buy out,‭ ‬and secure to the Crown forever,‭ ‬the fee simple of Irish corruption‭’‬.

Both houses of the College Green Parliament agreed the terms of the Union on‭ ‬28‭ ‬March‭ ‬1800.‭ ‬An identical Bill was laid before the both the Dublin and London Parliaments.‭ ‬The British one became law on‭ ‬2‭ ‬July and the Royal Assent was given to an Act of Union on‭ ‬1‭ ‬August.‭ ‬This Act of Union became operative on‭ ‬1‭ ‬January‭ ‬1801.

Had there been a stable peace at home in Ireland and abroad,‭ ‬and no possibility of a further French attack & with no threat of Catholic Emancipation then it is very unlikely that the Dublin Parliament would have voted itself out of existence.‭ ‬Ironically Peace with France came,‭ ‬however briefly,‭ ‬in the year following the Union‭ (‬1802‭) ‬and the Catholics of Ireland had to wait another‭ ‬28‭ ‬years to their Emancipation from last of the Penal Laws.

The imposing parliament building still stands in College Green Dublin [above], today it is a branch of the Bank of Ireland.

1 August 664 AD: A great Plague arrived in Ireland and swept the Country killing huge numbers of people. The ‘Great Mortality' was possibly a return of the Buide Conaill which had swept through Ireland in the 6th century. The 'Yellowness of Conaill' might perhaps refer to a prominent individual who had been amongst its first victims, as in the 20th century the 'Spanish Influenza' refers to King Alfonso XIII of Spain catching it - though he survived! A jaundice like fever was perhaps the root of the disease.

But it has been advanced that the Plague of 664 and the years following was actually a bubonic plague caused by rats - though the rat population in Ireland at that time is a matter of conjecture. Rats in large numbers are usually needed for that disease to take off and places of dense urbanity are their preferred locations - which Ireland did not possess at that time. However we cannot be sure that the plague that arrived in 664 was a bubonic plague or the same type as that of the earlier one - or indeed another disease altogether!

The plague of 664 broke out on or about the 1st August that year after a warm summer which was followed by a warm autumn (ideal for the spread of plague) and continued into 665, and broke out with renewed violence in 667-668. It then quietened down for about a decade and a half but flared up again in 683-684 when it was described as the mortalitas puerorum (death of boys). Children seem to have been more heavily affected then because they had no resistance to it.

A great mortality in Ireland came on the calends of August i.e. in Magh Itha in Leinster.
The Annals of Tigernach 664 AD

The plague reached Ireland on the Kalends of August.
Chronicum Scotorum

A great mortality prevailed in Ireland this year, which was called the Buidhe Connail, and the following number of the saints of Ireland died of it: St. Feichin, Abbot of Fobhar, on the 14th of February; St. Ronan, son of Bearach; St. Aileran the Wise; St. Cronan, son of Silne; St. Manchan, of Liath; St. Ultan Mac hUi Cunga, Abbot of Cluain Iraird Clonard; Colman Cas, Abbot of Cluain Mic Nois; and Cummine, Abbot of Cluain Mic Nois.
After Diarmaid and Blathmac, the two sons of Aedh Slaine, had been eight years in the sovereignty of Ireland, they died of the same plague.
There died also Maelbreasail, son of Maelduin, and Cu Gan Mathair, King of Munster; Aenghus Uladh. There died very many ecclesiastics and laics in Ireland of this mortality besides these.

Annals of the Four Masters 664 AD

This Plague also struck in Britain, first along the southern coast before spreading north into Northumbria. It is more than likely that it spread from Britain into Ireland along the same channels. Many men of the English Nation then resided here and studied or practised the religious Life in Irish Monasteries. This was all given free of charge! The Venerable Bede recorded this Plague and it is the first such one recorded in the history of that Country:

IN the same year of our Lord 664, there happened an eclipse of the sun, on the third day of May, about the tenth hour of the day. In the same year, a sudden pestilence depopulated first the southern parts of Britain, and afterwards attacking the province of the Northumbrians, ravaged the country far and near, and destroyed a great multitude of men.

Moreover, this plague prevailed no less disastrously in the island of Ireland. Many of the nobility, and of the lower ranks of the English nation, were there at that time, who, in the days of the Bishops Finan and Colman, forsaking their native island, retired thither, either for the sake of sacred studies, or of a more ascetic life; and some of them presently devoted themselves faithfully to a monastic life, others chose rather to apply themselves to study, going about from one master’s cell to another. The Scots willingly received them all, and took care to supply them with daily food without cost, as also to furnish them with books for their studies, and teaching free of charge.

Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England