James Scannell Reports...

CLONTARF HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Dennis McIntyre will present ‘From Customs House to Howth - A Guide to the Dublin Bay Area’ at 19.30hrs on 15 March in The Resource Centre, St. John the Baptist Church, Clontarf Road, Dublin 3. All are welcome – admission is €5.00

DUN LAOGHAIRE BORO HIST SOCIETY

John McCann will present ‘Deansgrange Cemetery’ at 20.00hrs on Wednesday 15 March in The Royal Marine Hotel, Marine Road, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. All are welcome - admission is €5.00

WICKLOW COUNTY LIBRARIES

Wicklow Local Studies will host a ‘Drop-in Genealogical Advisory Evening’ with a visiting genealogist from 18.30hrs to 20.30hrs on Thursday 16 March in Salthouse Lane, Wicklow Town. All welcome - admission free - further information is available from 087-2683724 or email: wicklowlocalstudies@wicklowcoco.ie

BRAY CUALANN HISTORICAL SOCIETY

James Scannell will present ‘The International Hotel, Bray: from beginning to end’ at 20.00hrs on Thursday 16 March in the Royal Hotel, Main Street, Bray, Co. Wicklow. All are welcome - admission is €8.00 for nonmembers. The AGM will precede this lecture.

FOXROCK LOCAL HISTORY CLUB

Donal O’Sullivan will present ‘Researching Dún Laoghaire harbour - some recollections and personal observations’ at 20.00hrs on Tuesday 21 March in Foxrock Parish Pastoral Centre, Foxrock, Co. Dublin. All are welcome - admission is €5.00

THE OLD DUBLIN SOCIETY

Rosemary Raughter will present ‘The Cowan/Harrison Family of Fitzwilliam Square: a unionist household in pre-independence Ireland’ at 18.00hrs on Wednesday 22 March in The Conference Room, Dublin City Library & Archive, 144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2. All are welcome - admission is free and no booking required.

RATHMINES, RANELAGH & RATHGAR

Declan Warde will present ‘Anaesthesia in Ireland: a History’ at 20.00hrs on Thursday 30 March in Rathmines Town Hall, Rathmines Road, Dublin 6. Members free / visitors €4.00 - Swan Car Park - Evening Rate: €3.00 from 17.00hrs to Midnight.

DUBLIN

City Libraries

James Scannell will present ‘Rough Justice in 1800s Dublin’ at 18.30hrs on Monday 03 April in Terenure Library, Templeogue Road, Dublin 6W. Admission free but booking required via www.onedublinonebook.ie. Dr. Mary Muldowney will present ‘ Social conditions in Dublin in the late nineteenth century as Robert Tressell (author of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists) was growing up’ at 13.00hrs on Wednesday 05 April in the Ilac Centre, Henry Street, Dublin 1. Admission is free but as places are limited booking is required - book in the branch, ph. 01-2228300 or email: centrallibrary@dublincity.ie.

Kilmacanogue History Society

Thérèsa Hicks will present ‘The Kennedys of Newtownmountkennedy’ at 20.00hrs on Monday 03 April in Kilmacanogue Parish Hall, adjacent to St. Mochonog’s R.C. Church, Kilmacanogue, Co. Wicklow. All are welcome - admission is €5.00 for non-membersattendees are requested to wear a mask/face covering.

Rathmichael Historical Society

www.eneclann.ie

Finola Finlay will present ‘The Story of Stained Glass in Ireland: Beyond Harry Clarke’ at 20.00hrs on Wednesday 05 April in Rathmichael National School, Stonebridge Road, Shankill, Co. Dublin, and on Zoom.

All welcome to attend - admission/Zoom fee is €5.00

SOUTH DUBLIN LIBRARIES

Liz Gillis will present ‘One Dublin Many Women’ at 19.00hrs on Thursday 06 April in Lucan Library, Lucan Shopping Centre, Newscastle Road, Lucan. Admission free but booking required via www.onedublinonebook.ie.

Malahide Historical Society

Eamonn Madden will present ‘Aspects of Historic Feltrim’ at 20.00hrs on Tuesday 11 April in St. Sylvester’s Church Parish Centre, Malahide, Co. Dublin.

All are welcome - admission €5.00

PUBLICATION:

‘Champagne, Cocktails and Crêpes Suzette - Wining, wining, and dancing in Dún Laoghaire through the ages’ by Eileen O’Duffy, h/b, 142pp, ills, ISBN 978-1914488-77-1.

This fascinating and excellently illustrated book recalls the golden age of the Dublin Riviera when local inhabitants and visitors wined and dined in yacht clubs, restaurants and hotels all dotted along the coast between Blackrock and Dalkey where they were able to dance the night away into the wee small hours of the morning in numerous ballrooms and nightclubs with the Pavilion in Kingstown/Dún Laoghaire being the top spot until it later became a cinema. Through the pages of this engrossing book the reader is brought back to a gracious and leisurely era that has long since vanished with the text supported by a tremendous selection of photographs, menu cards, dance programmes, and numerous newspaper cuttings recalling events and people. Information is provided on the numerous hotels, clubs, places of entertainments, that residents availed of in the late 19th and early 20th century but are no longer around today for a variety of reason including changes in lifestyle and how people holidayed, all supported with a great array of photographs and other illustrations which recall this golden period.

It's often forgotten that Dalkey was once a popular holiday destination. The chapter ‘Dalkey Seaside Hotels’ recalls all these venues in text and pictures, many of which sadly over time have vanished and have been replaced with apartment blocks on their sites. The chapter ‘Crepês Suzette’ recalls the era of fine cuisine and their providers in the while ‘Dancing, Discos and Clubbing’ recalls the various locations associated with these activities.

All in all, an excellent social history of the area down the decades, superbly illustrated supported by a very informative text. This book was carefully researched and its shows in the text which contains all the relevant information about venues mentioned and in the selection of the illustrations used.

An essential book for those who have an interest in social history or the local history of the area.

This excellent book is available from Dalkey News, Castle Street, Dalkey, Hewett Newsagent, Monkstown, the Irish Design Gallery beside the dlr Lexicon, or online at https://lettertecbookstore.com

James Scannell, FGSI

TRACING YOUR IRISH ANCESTORS by John Grenham, MA, MAGI, FIGRS, FGSI

The Society strongly recommends to anyone embarking on their family history quest that one essential piece of kit must be, without doubt, a copy of the FIFTH edition of ‘Tracing Your Irish Ancestors’. Please checkout the website www.gillmacmillan.com Price €24.99 [RRP].

Pr Cis Of The February Lecture

Tuesday February 14th Evening Open Meeting 20.00hrs (Zoom) - Speaker: John Goodwillie, MGSI on ‘The Stoney family of Tipperary and Offaly: life and descendants’. The speaker had a Stoney grandmother.

The Stoneys were a family of gentry in Tipperary and Offaly who arrived in Ireland in the 1690s. The talk outlined the various branches of the family, and mentioned other local families they intermarried with, and included pictures of individuals and houses. While the basic genealogy of the family is established, there are still several genealogical problems. Most of the family estates were built up by George Stoney (1713-1787) and excerpts from his diaries and letters illustrated his Patriot political views and the life of the family. The talk mentioned various notable members of the family, including the man described in a book by Wendy Moore as “Georgian Britain’s worst husband”. There was also information on several acknowledged “natural” children, and what seems to have been a marriage too embarrassing to be included in the established sources.

As was usual for the landed gentry, many sons entered the Army and the Church, but the Stoneys also produced many engineers and doctors. The family estates were lost in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but descendants such as George Johnston Stoney and Bindon Blood Stoney achieved their own distinction, and less well-known members included a magistrate who was sentenced to imprisonment for a drunken assault and a clergyman who supported a miners’ strike. People with Stoney mothers included Alan Turing and the “Nun of Kenmare”. There are numerous descendants of the family scattered through the English-speaking world. Check out the full lecture coming soon on the Society’s YouTube Channel (see top left of page 2)

Gsi Annual Journal 2023

The Board of the Society, under Res: 22/12/1716, established a Select Committee for the production of the 2023 Annual Journal . The Select Committee is under the chairpersonship of Laura Price, MGSI. Members and readers wishing to submit items for publication in the 2023 issue of the GSI Annual Journal are advised to make contact with the Select Committee. The Select Committee will advise on the word count, format and the procedures regarding any images accompanying the article. Please email: JGSI@familyhistory.ie

YOUR SOCIETY NEEDS YOU!

The Annual General Meeting of the Society will be held via Zoom on Tuesday 14th March 2023 at 20.00hrs (Irish Time). The AGM Agenda is shown on page 1 of this newsletter. The Members will be asked to adopt theAnnual Report of the Board and the Annual Financial Statement as presented to the Society’s auditors. All the current Directors stand down at the AGM, but they are eligible for re-election. The number of Directors on the Board is capped at ten. This year, two of the current Directors (Paula Jones & Eddie Gahan) have indicated that they are not seeking re-election, however, they’ll assist with various projects. Have you ever considered volunteering to serve on the Board of the Society? It can be a very rewarding experience and given that the Society has numerous activities and objectives, member- ship of the Board provides an opportunity for you to help shape the future of your Society. The Board meets eleven times a year for approximately two hours on the first Thursday of each month, except August when there is no meeting and January, when it is on the second Thursday. The meetings are held via Zoom at 11.00hrs. Each Director has a specific portfolio covering an aspect of the Society's work and therefore, the Board operates with a "cabinet style" form of governance with the Board Meetings mainly concerned with policy, finances, and the co-ordinated implementation of the Society's Development Plan 2022-2027. So, if you have the time and would like to put your name forward for election - you would be most welcome. Any queries please contact the General Secretary on eolas@familyhistory.ie

Checkout the Society’s website www.familyhistory.ie

Our Society is a Registered Charity

During the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, many charities in Ireland and overseas are finding it difficult with reduced funding streams. This Society is funded largely by its Membership Fees and the kind donations received from Members and friends at home and overseas, without which, it simply couldn’t exist.

The Society is a Registered Charity in Ireland and always considers options for fund raising and grant applications. The possibility of crowdfunding for specific projects is being considered. However, in the meantime it was decided to appeal to our Members, friends and social media followers around the world.

Donations can be made via the Society’s website or by cheque to the Genealogical Society of Ireland and forwarded to the General Secretary: 11, Desmond Avenue, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, Ireland, A96 AD76

If you have already donated Many Thanks!