New book looks beyond the lives of Georgian elite

The lives of Dublin’s Georgian elite, their great houses and civic planning have been well documented but these accounted for just a minority of those living in the city.

In Georgian Dublin: The Forces that Shaped the City, Diarmuid Ó Gráda takes the reader beyond the lives of the rich and famous to focus on the rest of the city; to the ordinary worker and the seedy underbelly.

“This book is about the 99 per cent and what was going on in their lives and how they muddled through,” Dr Ó Gráda said, speaking at an event to mark its publication in the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, last night.

The population of Dublin trebled during the Georgian era and the city fathers found it very difficult to control the great surges of migration from rural Ireland.

The book deals with the repercussions of this migration through subjects such as public health, prostitution, crime and the failure of the legal system, as well as the pattern of growth.

“A lot of the time the city was running out of control, there were riots, the army had to be called in, and there were public executions beside St Stephen’s Green.”

There is a particular emphasis on the lives of women, Dr Ó Gráda said. “The change in agriculture from sickle, which could be wielded by women, to scythe which could not, meant fewer women were needed in the country so they came to the city, where they had a terrible time.”

Illustrations

Officiating at the event former

Irish Times

environment editor Frank McDonald said the book was particularly remarkable for the variety of images and illustrations.

A wide range of original material was used from sources such as newspapers and parish records.

“This richly illustrated book traces not only the development of the city but has a focus that goes beyond the elite to deal with the lives of ordinary people – servants, beggars, bootboys, even prostitutes,” Mr McDonald said.

Minister for Children James Reilly and Lord Mayor of Dublin Críona Ní Dhálaigh also attended the event.