Ireland in Colour

We turn back the clock thanks to a new book which looks at the social history of Ireland through photography. What’s your favourite?

Iconic photographs of an Ireland gone by

SPINNING

c.1930s, Carna, Co. Galway; Photographer: Caoimhín Ó Danachair; Source: National Folklore

WOMAN BAKING c.1910, Galgorm Castle, Ballymena, Co. Antrim;

A photograph by Mary Alice Young, inspired by Flemish art. Young was the eldest daughter of the Rt Hon. Sir F.E.W. Macnaghten, and in 1893 she married W.R. Young, the eldest son ofthe Rt Hon. John Young and the owner of Galgorm Castle near Ballymena. Between 1890 and 1915, she took over a thousand photographs and is therefore one of the period’s most prolific female photographers; Photographer: Mary Alice Young; Source: Deputy Keeper of the Records, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

MAUD GONNE (1866–1953) c.1901, Boston, USA

Maud Gonne MacBride was a noted political activist who was instrumental in the advancement of republican feminism in the early twentieth century. While often known for being the subject of much of the love poetry of W.B. Yeats, her influence on Irish nationalism went far beyond this association. She was actively involved in social justice and humanitarian campaigns in Dublin City throughout the revolutionary period, highlighting the effects of poverty on women and children particularly. She was deeply immersed in dramatic and literary circles in Dublin, and in 1900 she was a co-founder of Inghinidhe na hÉireann, who would be instrumental in placing republican feminism into the revolutionary movement. After her divorce from John McBride in 1906, she moved to France, returning just after the Rising. She continued her protest work and was imprisoned in 1918 for her supposed role in the ‘German plot’. During the Civil War she took the anti-Treaty side and was involved in the republican movement for the remainder of her life.

SALLY’S PUPS 1914–1916, Antarctic

Tom Crean pictured in the Antarcticon the Shackleton Expedition holding Sally’s quadruplets (the pups by Sally and Samson: Roger, Nell, Toby and Nelson). The Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition of 1914–1917 is considered to be the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Conceived by Sir Ernest Shackleton, the expedition was an attempt to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent. The expedition failed to accomplish this objective but became recognised instead as an epic feat of endurance. In the absence of a Canadian dog-handling expert who was hired but never came on the expedition, Crean took charge of one of the dog- handling teams, and was involved in the care and nurture of the pups born to one of his dogs, Sally, early in the expedition.

THE COUNTESS 1917, County Waterford

Countess Markievicz, born Constance Georgine Gore-Booth, was a nationalist, suffragist and socialist republican who took part in the Rising and would go on to become the first female MP. Pictured here with her dog Poppet and Fianna Éireann officers Thomas McDonald (left) and Theo Fitzgerald (right).

SIXTIES STYLE 1960–1966, Winetavern Street, Dublin city

Linda O’Reilly (née Ward) was an American model who married Brendan O’Reilly, a presenter on Sports Stadium on RTÉ Television. Pictured here on a photoshoot in Dublin, she swapped New York for Dublin’s modelling scene, and this picture shows two local boys admiring her fashionable outfit. This photograph was taken by renowned photographer Colman Doyle and is thought to be dated between 1960 and 1966.

CHRISTMAS DAY c.1894, Clonbrock (or Mote Park)

Although from a National Library of Ireland collection titled the Clonbrock Photographic Collection, not all images were taken on the estate itself. This Christmas Day image may be of a visiting family at Clonbrock or a family from Mote Park, the seat of Augusta’s Crofton family in Roscommon. Toys pictured include tennis racquets, a train set, a doll, books, a cricket bat and sailing boats, which were most likely sent from Europe and were quite expensive at the time. Old Ireland in Colour by John Breslin & Dr Sarah-Anne Buckley (Academic Press) is available now