South Kilkenny Historical Society is hosting a lecture 1914 – Ireland and the Coming of War with guest speaker Dr. Patrick McCarthy on Thursday, October 30th, at 8pm in Mullinavat Parish Hall. Admission is €5 (members free) – all welcome.
In July 1914 Ireland was on the verge of civil war. North and South, men were arming themselves and preparing for conflict. Yet a few short weeks later many of those men were marching off together in khaki to fight for Great Britain. Peace in Ireland had been secured by a greater war in Europe. This lecture looks at what happened in Ireland in that fateful year – the apparent triumph of the Home Rule cause, the growing resistance by Ulster, the reaction to the declaration of war by Great Britain and the political, economic, military and social impact of that war on Ireland.
Pat McCarthy is a native of Waterford. He was educated at Mount Sion CBS and at UCD from where he graduated with a BSc, PhD(Chemistry) and subsequently a MBA. Recently retired after a thirty-six year career in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry, he has a lifelong interest in history and has published in a number of journals such as The Irish Sword, Decies, and The Blue Cap. He is Secretary of the Military History Society of Ireland and currently completing a book Waterford and the Irish Revolution, 1912-1923, to be published next year by Four Courts Press Ltd.