IAN KENNEALLY - HISTORIAN AND WRITER
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Please click on the images to view them at full size.
The gallery contains images related to my various books, articles, exhibitions, and documentaries.


British soldiers arresting a photographer on the streets of Dublin, 1920 (Interim Report of the American Commission on Ireland, 1920). Journalists and newspapers suffered censorship, arrest, and intimidation throughout the war.
A map of Athlone by Lt. Col. Tarrant of the Royal Engineers, 1793. The centre of the barracks is marked by the letter 'E'. The barracks can trace its beginnings to the aftermath of the 1691 Siege of Athlone.
The Battle of Buena Vista between Mexican and US forces in 1847 - the San Patricios played a major role in the battle (US Library of Congress). The battle was one of a series in which the forces of the United States advanced further into Mexican territory.
A contemporary, albeit romanticised, image of the Battle of Ridgeway, 1866 (US Library of Congress). The battle took place during what was termed the Fenian 'invasion' of Canada. Notice the letters IRA on the flag of the Fenian army, perhaps the first occasion in which the name Irish Republican Army was used. John Boyle O'Reilly took part in a similar attack on Canada in 1870, although he would, soon after, leave the Brotherhood.
General Philip Sheridan is standing on the far left with George Armstrong Custer seated on the far right (US Library of Congress). Sheridan was one of the architects of the campaign against the Lakota and Cheyenne. Around one hundred Irish born soldiers fought with the Seventh Cavalry at the Little Bighorn.
The burial of some of the dead from the massacre at Wounded Knee, December 1890 (US Library of Congress). Most of the dead Lakota were women and children.
Catherine Pickersgill - daughter of Jessie Woodman and George Pickersgill. Catherine, supposedly, bore a strong resemblance to her mother (Photo provided by Denise Moore)
Confederate dead collected for burial at Gettysburg (US Library of Congress).
The circle marks Abraham Lincoln on the day of his remarkable speech at the dedication of the soldier's national cemetery at Gettysburg (US Library of Congress).
Mary Boyle O'Reilly, born in 1873, was the oldest daughter of Mary Murphy and John Boyle O'Reilly. After her father's death in 1890 Mary became a successful investigative journalist and reported from Europe during the First World War (Boston Daily Globe, 1905).
Patrick Cleburne, County Cork born major-general in the Confederate army. He was killed in action during 1864 (US Library of Congress). Cleburne was one of the Confederacy's most talented generals. Before his death he had presented the Confederate Congress with a plan to free southern slaves and arm them to fight against the Union.
O'Reilly photographed while a prisoner in Mountjoy, 1866 (New York Public Library). He would soon after be transferred to England where he spent time in prisons such as Millbank and Dartmoor, among others.
The events of John Boyle O'Reilly's escape, in 1869, from the Penal Colony of Western Australia are often confused with the famed Catalpa rescue of 1876. The Catalpa was an American Whaling ship which Clan na Gael employed to rescue six Fenian prisoners from Western Australia. John Devoy masterminded the expedition, although O'Reilly played an important role in its early planning (picture from the US Library of Congress).
Alice Ginnell joined Cumann na mBan’s London Branch in 1915 and later organised branches in Ireland. An active member of Sinn Féin, she was the Election Agent for Laurence Ginnell, her husband, during his successful campaign in the 1918 general election. She would subsequently play a vital role in his diplomatic activities on behalf of Dáil Éireann.
How the Freeman's Journal portrayed the reaction to the Restoration of Order in Ireland Act, 1920 - the figures in the castle are General Nevil Macready, commander of the British army in Ireland and Hamar Greenwood, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, while across the water stands British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George (Freeman's Journal). The paper proved to be an implacable opponent of British rule in Ireland from late 1919 onwards resulting in a series of violent reprisals by the Crown forces. It would suffer further violence during the civil war when its support of the government resulted in attacks by anti-Treaty forces.
John Devoy, seen here in later life (US Library of Congress). In 1865, Devoy recruited John Boyle O'Reilly in to the Irish Republican Brotherhood while the latter was still a serving member of the British army. The two men would work together again in 1875 during the planning of the Catalpa rescue.
Louise Imogen Guiney, circa 1893 (US Library of Congress). O'Reilly remained an opponent of women's suffrage throughout his life, although he hired women such as Guiney and Katherine Conway as journalists for The Pilot. Guiney dedicated her first book of poetry to O'Reilly.
Edwin G. Walker, seen here in the late 1890s, was elected to the Massachusetts State Legislature in 1863 (picture taken from Stanford, Peter Thomas, The Tragedy of the Negro in America, 1897). An attorney, Walker later became a judge. He was a friend of John Boyle O'Reilly and delivered a moving tribute to his colleague at the Tremont Hall memorial service for O'Reilly in 1890.
A contemporary sketch of Fremantle Prison (State Library of New South Wales). O'Reilly arrived at the Western Australian town of Fremantle in January 1868, although he would spend only a few weeks at the prison. He was then detailed to work in a road-building party near the town of Bunbury.
Frederick Burr Opper's satirical view of the newspaper industry at the end of the 19th century (US Library of Congress). Opper was one of the most influential political cartoonists in the US at that time.
Some members of the Irish Brigade of the Union army at Harrison's Landing, Virginia, during the summer of 1862 (US Library of Congress). At the back left stands Father Patrick Dillon CSC. On the right stands James J. McCormick, Quartermaster of the 63rd New York. Seated on the right is Father William Corby CSC and in the middle, Father James Dillon CSC. The seated figure on the left has been tentatively identified as Captain Patrick Clooney, who was killed at Antietam. Thanks to Damian Shiels for providing the names.
John Boyle O'Reilly, circa 1871 (US Library of Congress). He became editor of The Pilot in Boston soon after joining the paper in 1870.
The New York Draft Riots of 1863. The riots began as a protest against the Lincoln Administration's draft legislation which was biased in favour of wealthy individuals, who could afford to pay for a substitute. However, the protest quickly turned violent and mostly Irish mobs attacked New York's black population. In this scene, rioters burn down an orphanage (US Library of Congress).
Father John Bannon from Roscommon served with the Confederate forces (US Library of Congress). In 1863 the Confederate government sent Bannon back to Ireland to discourage recruitment to the Union army. He also made a couple of unsuccessful diplomatic missions to the Vatican on behalf of the Confederacy.
Walt Whitman, circa 1887 (US Library of Congress). O'Reilly first met Whitman through his involvement in a Boston literary club. The two men remained in contact throughout the 1880s.
Charles Stewart Parnell during his visit to the United States in 1880 (US Library of Congress). John Boyle O'Reilly was part of the delegation which welcomed Parnell to the States. O'Reilly would play a leading role in the American wings of both the Land League and Home Rule movements.
An artist's impression of a Holland VI submarine in action, circa 1898 (US Library of Congress). The Holland VI was John Phillip Holland's greatest achievement and the most advanced submarine design in the world at the time.
Collins, Brugha and O'Connor would be killed during the Irish Civil War (Capuchin Annual, 1970).
Fredericksburg, 15 December 1862 - Union soldiers, working under a flag of truce, collect the bodies of their comrades for burial (US Library of Congress). The battle had been a disaster for the Union army.
Myles O'Reilly, commander of the Irish Battalion in the Papal army, seen here in later life (George Berkeley, The Irish Battalion of the Papal army of 1860).
Lady Margery Greenwood, wife of Hamar Greenwood, the Chief Secretary for Ireland during the War of Independence (US Library of Congress).
A sketch of Michael Davitt in the 1880s (US Library of Congress). Davitt met with O'Reilly and John Devoy in Boston during 1878. Davitt remained in close contact with O'Reilly.
The US army attacking striking workers during the Great Railway Strike of 1877 (US Library of Congress). Such scenes of violence were common during the economic disruption of the 1870s. John Boyle O'Reilly, initially an opponent of strikes and trade unions, used The Pilot newspaper to defend the striking workers.
James Daly, a soldier in the Connaught Rangers, executed in India during November 1920.
A soldier of the 27th Regiment of Foot (circa 1742). The regiment was stationed in Athlone Barracks during 1749.
Henry Hathaway, an officer aboard the whaling ship on which John Boyle O'Reilly escaped from Western Australia (Boston Daily Globe)
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Copyright, Ian Kenneally - See also johnboyleoreilly.com and revolutionpapers.com
  • Home
  • Books
    • From the Earth, A Cry
    • AIT: a history
    • The Paper Wall
    • Courage & Conflict >
      • John Barry
      • The San Patricios
      • The Irish Battalion of the Papal Army
      • Irish Soldiers of the American Civil War
      • John Philip Holland
      • The Irish who fought at the Little Bighorn
      • John Henry Patterson
      • Mutiny in the Connaught Rangers
      • Dublin's Bloody Sunday
    • The Irish Regional Press, 1892–2018
  • Research and Consultancy
    • The History Show
    • 19 Crimes
    • 1921 Expedition to Mount Everest
    • Historian in Residence: 2020, 2021 and 2022
    • The Revolution Papers
    • AIT: a history
    • Gorey: a portrait of a town and its hinterland
  • Headlines from History
  • Exhibitions
    • 1921 Expedition to Mount Everest
    • 'Shall the punishment fall on the girl alone'
  • Documentaries
  • Other Projects
    • Atlas of the Irish Revolution
    • The Irish-American Press
    • Irish Journalism before Independence
    • Independent Newspapers: A History
    • War of Independence in the Midlands
    • Periodicals and Journalism in 20th Century Ireland
    • Irish Civil War in the Midlands
  • Gallery
  • Contact