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Dublin books

  • 27-09-2020 5:29pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 272 ✭✭


    Originally posted in the Genealogy forum here. I'm looking for book recommendations on what life was like in inner city Dublin in the late 1800s/early 1900s. Open to historical fiction books as well.


Comments

  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 6,609 Mod ✭✭✭✭pinkypinky


    Ghost Light by Joseph O'Connor is partially set in 1907.

    The Plough & the Stars by Sean O'Casey is set during the Rising.

    Genealogy Forum Mod



  • Registered Users Posts: 196 ✭✭Ascendant


    Padraig Yeates' A City in Wartime - and subsequent books - is recommended.

    51WaFM0He8L._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg


  • Registered Users Posts: 882 ✭✭✭Jellybaby_1


    Some years ago I came across a book online called 'Reminiscences' by Sir Charles A. Cameron, published in Dublin by Hodges Figgis. The link I gave that time is no longer accessible unfortunately. Mainly about his life and travels but also gives some insight into the lives of the poor in Dublin. No idea where you can access it now unfortunately.

    P.S. Cameron was born in 1830 and died in 1921 so quite relevant to your enquiry.


  • Registered Users Posts: 882 ✭✭✭Jellybaby_1




  • Registered Users Posts: 272 ✭✭mindhorn


    Thanks all. 'Reminiscences' is pretty much exactly what I was looking for. The library has a copy of it but might download it instead in the meantime. Skimmed over the 'How the Dublin poor live' and 'Earnings of the poor' sections this morning. Interesting but grim reading.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 882 ✭✭✭Jellybaby_1


    Yes, pretty grim. I very much doubt other cities were any better though.


  • Registered Users Posts: 25,907 ✭✭✭✭Peregrinus


    I think Dublin was recognised at the time as being particularly bad. It had some of the worst slums in Europe.


  • Registered Users Posts: 18,996 ✭✭✭✭gozunda


    Historical Fiction -

    'Strumpet City' by James Plunkett


  • Registered Users Posts: 106 ✭✭Historybluff


    Here's three books that might interest you:
    • Working Class Heroines by Kevin Kearns
    • Dublin Slums 1800-1925 by Jacinta Prunty
    • Dublin, the Deposed Capital by Mary E. Daly

    The bibliographies in these books contain primary sources that you could chase up.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,875 ✭✭✭Edgware


    I think that it has never been acknowledged the massive impact that the terrible list of fatalities from Gallipoli, Somme, Passchendaele had on thethe Dublin working class.(And to be fair on centres of military like Kildare, Athlone. Cork)


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  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 6,856 Mod ✭✭✭✭Hannibal_Smith



    Thanks for sharing this. It's a fantastic read.

    I was looking for a similar book as you OP. I traced back the family tree last year and am interested in finding out what life would have been like for the people behind the names


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,875 ✭✭✭Edgware


    Thanks for sharing this. It's a fantastic read.

    I was looking for a similar book as you OP. I traced back the family tree last year and am interested in finding out what life would have been like for the people behind the names

    Check out the Tenement Museum in Henrietta St. I havent been there but it might be worth a look.
    Also stick in a few addresses on the Census 1901 1911.
    In places like Rathmines and Rathgar you will see the household listed. Usually a family of Protestants and then a couple of Catholics who were the servants.


  • Registered Users Posts: 749 ✭✭✭Bozo Skeleton


    Heirlooms And Hand Me Downs is a great read. It's transcribed from taped interviews with people living on Bride Road, Bride Street, Ross Road, and Nicholas Street, in Dublin 8.
    It's a book of peoples memories, and as such it's an oral history of the area. Starts off with recollections of the early 20th Century all the way up to 2010 or so, when it was published.
    Fascinating recollections of life in the early 1900's in a little corner of the Liberties.

    http://www.chrisreidartist.com/heirlooms_the_book.html


  • Registered Users Posts: 749 ✭✭✭Bozo Skeleton


    If you're ever in the area, basically it's between Christchurch Cathedral and St. Patrick's Cathedral, you might notice plaques that are dotted around. If you're wondering what they are, they're quotes from the above book.


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