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The Irishman who was one of Britain’s most prominent spies
- June 22, 2020
James Talbot, from Malahide, coordinated a spy network that stretched from St Petersburg to Lisbon
The Tipperary man who fell in love while fighting in the Spanish Civil War
- June 16, 2020
Irish soldier John O’Reilly married African American nurse Salaria Kea in 1937
The Irishwoman who became known as ‘the White Woman of the Genesee’
- June 12, 2020
The story of an Irish migrant who was part of both Native American and European society
The Irishman known as the ‘Prince of Pickpockets’ who became a policeman
- June 1, 2020
George Barrington, from Co Kildare, gained a reputation for his colourful escapades as a thief
The Irishwoman who quit teaching to become one of Ireland’s first blues singers
- May 26, 2020
The performer sang alongside some of the great American jazz musicians
The Irish-American who became the first millionaire west of the Mississippi
- May 15, 2020
At the height of the gold rush, Samuel Brannan was earning $150,000 a month
The man who left life as a barrister to become British envoy to Afghanistan
- April 20, 2020
William Macnaghten could have been a renowned in the legal profession in his native Ulster
The Irish soldier and police officer who became an Australian explorer
- April 7, 2020
Extraordinary Emigrants: The Galway man was known as ‘quick tempered and tender-hearted’
The forgotten Irishwoman who once ruled the New York fashion industry
- February 18, 2020
The Waterford man who married Napoleon Bonaparte’s niece
- February 11, 2020
Politician Thomas Wyse was one of only five Catholics to win a seat in the House of Commons in 1829
The grandson of an Irish nationalist who became ‘Boy Mayor of New York’
- September 3, 2019
John Purroy Mitchel was elected age 34 with the highest share of the vote ever recorded
What brought so many Irish people to live in Zimbabwe?
- June 21, 2019
First St Patrick’s day celebrated on 1891 in a roofless mud-hut building with whiskey, gin and ham
The trailblazing Galway nun who helped eradicate TB from Southeast Asia
- June 5, 2019
Cathleen Monahan became a medic and trained generations of Hong Kong doctors
The Scotch-Irish author of America’s best-selling reading primer
- May 27, 2019
William Holmes McGuffey's books sold more than 120 million copies
The Irish nun who opened schools for the deaf in Australia
- May 22, 2019
Sr Gabriel Hogan provided education for children whose needs would otherwise have been neglected
Elizabeth Bowen, the Big House heiress with the ‘constricted mind’
- May 17, 2019
Extraordinary Emigrants: Writer was a chronicler of her class in its dying days
Johnny Patterson, the Irish singing clown who met a tragic end
- April 2, 2019
Clever songsmith’s irreverent wit was informed by his fluent Irish
The Waterford naval officer who became first governor of New Zealand
- March 26, 2019
William Hobson was implicated in the transfer of land from Maori to profit settlers
The Irish naval officers in imperial Russia
- March 19, 2019
Irish military migrants sought opportunities in the expanding Russian Empire
Dubliner Frances Stewart, one of the first women pioneers in Canada
- March 12, 2019
Letters offer valuable account of loneliness of settler life in the 19th-century
Beatrice Grimshaw, the Belfast explorer treated as a ‘male chief’ on Samoa
- March 5, 2019
She was also a sports journalist, travel writer, novelist, and plantation owner
Harry Ferguson, the ‘Mad Mechanic’ who invented the modern tractor
- February 26, 2019
Before tractors, Ferguson was first in Ireland or Britain to build and fly his own plane
‘Bad Bridgets’: The criminal and deviant Irish women convicted in America
- February 20, 2019
Lizzie Halliday, serial killer from Co Antrim, was dubbed ‘the worst woman on earth’
The Carlow man who became a US founding father (and one of the biggest slave owners)
- February 12, 2019
Pierce Butler was one of three Irish immigrants to sign the US Constitution in 1787
The Westmeath emigrant who found himself at the heart of the Napoleonic wars
- February 5, 2019
General Laval Nugent led 8,000 soldiers into Italy to depose ‘First Horseman of Europe’
Thomas Heazle Parke, the first Irishman to cross Africa
- January 29, 2019
Surgeon to the British army became a celebrity after bloody expedition to rescue governor
Tyrone Power, the actor who humanised the ‘stage Irishman’ stereotype
- January 22, 2019
Character was a comic staple on stage: sentimental, buffoonish, cowardly but popular
The ‘Irish Tinker Lady’ whose songs captivated London
- January 16, 2019
Margaret Barry shared a billing at the 1965 Newport Festival with Joan Baez and Bob Dylan
Mary Swanzy, one of Ireland’s leading modernist painters
- January 9, 2019
Artist achieved success in her lifetime only to be relatively forgotten in death
Mary Lee, the Irishwoman who campaigned for women’s rights in Australia
- January 2, 2019
Monaghan-born Lee became prominent suffragist and advocate for asylum residents
Juan O’Gorman, architect behind Mexico City’s most intriguing buildings
- December 26, 2018
Architect designed two houses for Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, linked by a bridge
Mabel Cahill, Irish tennis champion who won five US Opens
- December 19, 2018
Forgotten Kilkenny player was the first non-American to win the title
How treasured objects help us create a home away from home
- December 11, 2018
Irish nurse still has cardboard Christmas crib she brought to England in 1954
‘Cinderella Man’ James Braddock, the Irish-American boxer who became world champion
- December 5, 2018
Son of Irish immigrants with ‘more brawn than brains’ won 51 victories in 82 fights
Annie Besant, the first woman to endorse birth control
- November 27, 2018
London-Irishwoman was a trade unionist, socialist, and later an Indian nationalist
Josephine Hart, writer and ‘heroine’ who inspired Herstory
- November 20, 2018
Hart harnessed early tragedy to become a publisher, writer, poetry promoter and television producer
Fanny Durack, the Irish-Australian who won the first women’s Olympic swimming medal
- November 13, 2018
Durack caused scandal by rejecting the modest woollen swimsuit for a close-fitting one
Flora Sandes, the only British female soldier to fight for the allies in WW1
- November 7, 2018
Daughter of Irish couple became Belgrade’s first taxi driver after Armistice
Daisy Bates, the Edwardian Irishwoman in the Australian outback
- October 23, 2018
Journalist spent four decades living among Aborigines, writing hundreds of articles
The Irish-American who invented the modern tattoo machine
- October 18, 2018
Samuel O’Reilly’s invention made him famous and revolutionised the tattoo industry
How an Irish athletics club in New York became ‘best in the world’
- October 10, 2018
110 years ago the first African-American won Olympic gold, representing the Irish club
The pioneering Irishwomen who made exciting Space discoveries
- October 8, 2018
Space Week: Remarkable women strategically navigated a male-dominated field
Peg Woffington, the best Irish actress of the 18th century
- October 3, 2018
Charismatic star was as well known for dating men as playing them on stage
The Irish woman who became ‘prisoner’ of a Russian princess
- September 24, 2018
Martha Wilmot published the memoirs of Princess Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova
