on pavement grey

Where you can find the London addresses that were important to famous Irish people and of people who were important to Ireland.

Archive for the category “Uncategorized”

30 May 2017

Aberdeen connects Dollis Hill House with Áras an Uachtaráin

John Hamilton Gordon (Lord Aberdeen) owned and lived in Dollis Hill House, London NW2 from 1881 until 1897 where his illustrious guests included William Gladstone and Lord Randolph Churchill. (Mark Twain was later to stay at the house).

Lord Aberdeen was twice Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in 1886 and again in the critical years 1905 to 1915 during these years he lived in the Viceregal Lodge in Dublin’s Phoenix Park, now the residence of the President of Ireland, Áras an Uachtaráin.

Incidentally, in an upstairs window of Áras an Uachtaráin, a constantly lighted lamp signifies the love and and remembrance on the island for those who leave it while welcoming them home. Maybe this is the Irish tomb of the unknown warriors?

image courtesy of wikimedia commons

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged Aras an Uachtarain, Dollis Hill, Dollis Hill House, Dublin, Gladstone Park, Irish Diaspora, Irish emigration, Light in the window, London, Lord Lieutenant Ireland, Mary Robinson, NW2, Phoenix Park, Viceregal Lodge | Leave a comment

26 Feb 2017

The ‘big fellah’ lived in London for nearly a third of his life

Michael Collins, revolutionary, born 1890 in Sam’s Cross near Clonakility Co Cork. He left there in 1906 to work in London where he lived and worked for nearly a third of his life.

In 1914 he moved into a flat at 5 Netherwood Road, W14 which he shared with his sister Hannie. A discreet plaque commemorates its illustrious resident.

Around the corner and behind the Olympia Exhibition Centre at 23 Blythe Road W14, is Blythe House, the Post Office Savings bank where he worked until 1910.

Thanks to Katie Walsh for sourcing these gems.

For more information, especially on Collins’ life in London, see Michael Collins: A Life by James Mackay, Mainstream Publishing 1996.

photo courtesy of Wikimedia commons

Posted in politics, Uncategorized and tagged 1916, black and tans, churchill, Ireland, Michael Collins, politics, war of independence | Leave a comment

19 Feb 2017

He inspired a royal pardon and years later, inspired Hollywood

Colonel Thomas Blood, adventurer and inspiration of films was born in Co Clare during 1618. His most impressive escapade was not just his attempt to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London but to be rewarded with a royal pardon, money and land.

He lies by the Church of St Margaret, Westminster SW1P 3JX

PICTURE COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

28 Jan 2017

Less famous but just as formidable as her sister

Eva Gore-Booth, poet, dramatist suffragist and human rights activist was born in Co Sligo (1870). She rests at St John-at-Hampstead, Church Row, Hampstead NW3 6UU.

(Her sister Constance also features in this blog.)

220px-eva_gore-booth

IMAGE COURTESY OF WIKIPEDIA

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

30 Sep 2016

Sam Maguire, more enduring than Sam Allardyce

Sam Maguire, born Mallabracca 1877, died 1927. Sat on the London County Board with Liam MacCarthy. Recruited Michael Collins into the IRB. London Hibernians to their All-Ireland finals at the turn of the century. Worked at Mount Pleasant Post Office, Clerkenwell EC1A 1BB. Best remembered by the All-Ireland senior football trophy, The Sam Maguire Cup.

sam_maguire_cup

Posted in Easter Rising, gaelic football, Ireland, Irish history, sport, Uncategorized and tagged all ireland, croke park, football, gaelic, History, Irish history, liam maccarthy, London, Michael Collins, sam maguire | Leave a comment

25 Sep 2016

A Monument to Hurling in Campberwell

Liam MacCarthy, donor of The MacCarthy all Ireland hurling cup, born in Southwark to Cork parents 1853, died 1828. Buried Camberwell Old Cemetery, Forest Hill Road, East Dulwich, SE22 0RU.

coming soon… Sam Maguire

picture courtesy of Wikimedia Commons (mural from Falls Road, Belfast)

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged all ireland, hurling, limerick, London, maccarthy cup, micheal collins, sam maguire, southwark, sport | Leave a comment

24 Aug 2016

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A great playwright, whose name sounds like a character from Shrek

George Farquhar, born in Derry 1677, died London 1707, buried in St Martin in The Fields.

Author of The Beau Stratagem and The Recruiting Sergeant, he is credited with writing the first modern Irish play (Love in a Bottle).

image courtesy of Wikimedia commons

Posted in drama, Uncategorized, Writers

15 Mar 2016

2 Comments

Not your average clergyman’s daughter

Photo By Henry Herschel Hay Cameron – Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37933743

Alice Stopford Green, Historian and Nationalist (born Co. Meath 1847 – 1929). Lived at 30 Grosvenor Road SW1 where she helped plan the Howth gun-running.

She used her own money to partly pay for 1,500 rifles plus 45,000 rounds of ammunition. In 1914 these were brought across the North Sea in the yacht, Asgard, whose skillful crew included Erskine Childers. The arms and ammunition were landed at Howth Harbour on July 26th. She was the daughter of a Church of Ireland clergyman and married to the Oxford historian J R Green.

Entry courtesy of research by Tony McDonnell.

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged 1916, Asgard, Childers, Howth

11 Mar 2016

The electron is an Offaly invention

Photograph courtesy Wikimedia Commons

George Johnstone STONEY, physicist, 1826 – 1911. Born Oakley Park between Clareen and Birr Co. Offaly, died at his home 30 Chepstow Crescent, Notting Hill W11. Of his many important discoveries, his coining of the word ‘electron’ had probably the widest application.

Posted in science, Uncategorized and tagged Atomic physics, Birr, Clareen, electron, Offaly | Leave a comment

07 Feb 2016

The coolest scientist

William Thomson, Lord Kelvin physicist born Belfast 1824 died 1907. President of the Royal Society 1885 – 1890. Interred (near Isaac Newton) in Westminster Abbey.

Among a lifetime of discovery he correctly determined the value of absolute zero, zero degrees Kelvin or minus 273.15 degrees centigrade – the coldest possible temperature and theoretically impossible to reach.

Posted in science, Uncategorized and tagged Absolute zero, Belfast, Kelvin, Lord Kelvin, Royal Society, Thermodynamics, Westminster Abbey | Leave a comment

Where you can find the London addresses that were important to famous Irish people and of people who were important to Ireland.

Archive for the category “Uncategorized”

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