Wolftone 

A Global History

The Split

Wolfetone—a special supplement from History Ireland.  

Over the course of three days, beginning in Clifton House, Belfast, on Friday 17 November 2023 and concluding in Tailor’s Hall in Dublin on the following Sunday, Wolfe Tone’s life, career and achievements were evaluated and re-evaluated, as his legacies were explored in a series of lectures, panels and round-table discussions. Set against the backdrop of a crisp late autumn in Belfast and Dublin, the three-day event brought together a diverse array of scholars, historians and descendants to appraise Tone’s enduring impact on Irish history.

From the hallowed grounds of Clifton Street graveyard, where luminaries like Henry Joy McCracken and Dr William Drennan rest, to the vibrant discussions at Tailor’s Hall in Dublin, this supplement expertly weaves together the threads of Tone’s complex legacy. The papers delve into Tone’s role as a founding member of the United Irishmen, his diplomatic missions to revolutionary France and his influence on the evolving concept of Irish republicanism.

Yet, as the event unfolds, questions linger. Why Tone? What sets him apart from other figures of his time? These topics are skilfully navigated, challenging popular misconceptions and exploring the broader historical context within which Tone operated. Drawing on insights from seasoned scholars like Marianne Elliott and Thomas Bartlett, as well as fresh perspectives from emerging academics, History Ireland’s latest special supplement illuminates the nuanced complexities of Tone’s contributions to Irish history.

We examine Tone’s enduring literary legacy, from his vivacious memoir to the meticulous remembrance rituals at Bodenstown. Painstaking research and engaging prose invite readers to reconsider Tone’s place in the pantheon of Irish heroes, offering a timely reflection on the intersection of memory, identity and historical interpretation.

Wolfe Tone 225 is not just a tribute to one man’s legacy; it’s a thought-provoking exploration of how we remember and commemorate the past. With its rich tapestry of voices and perspectives, this publication is essential reading for anyone interested in Irish history, republicanism and the enduring power of memory.

Contents and authors

Preface—Jim Smyth (Notre Dame)

1 ‘Who or what was Theobald Wolfe Tone?’—Tom Bartlett (Aberdeen)

2 ‘Wolfe Tone and the eighteenth-century republican ideal’—Jim Smyth (Notre Dame)

3 ‘Tone the polymath? His early Dublin club life’—Martyn Powell (Bristol)

4 ‘“The test of every man’s political creed”—Wolfe Tone and the French Revolution’—Ultán Gillen(Teesside)

5 ‘Wolfe Tone’s Belfast relationships and their influences’—Ken Dawson (former school vice-principal)

6 ‘“Republicans and sinners”—Wolfe Tone and William Drennan’—Fergus Whelan (former trade unionist)

7 ‘How radical was Wolfe Tone?’—Tim Murtagh (Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland)

8 ‘Feelings and “literary fame”? Tone’s self-writings and the reader experience’

—Sylvie Kleinman (TCD)

9 ‘“All the world’s a stage”—Theobald Wolfe Tone and Shakespeare’—Eilís Smyth (TCD)

10 ‘Matilda Tone—“a worthy relict”’—Catriona Kennedy (York)

11 ‘A meeting with Matilda—Thomas Cather’s Voyage to America’—Willa Murphy (Ulster University)

12 ‘Theobald Wolfe Tone Fitzgerald—1798 in 1916’—Donal Fallon (DCC Historian in Residence)

13 ‘Following Wolfe Tone—the Irish republican left’—John Mulqueen (journalist)

14 ‘Conor Cruise O’Brien’s Wolfe Tone—an exceptional case?’—Marion Kelly (TCD)

15 ‘Writing Wolfe Tone: prophet of Irish independence’—Marianne Elliott (Liverpool)

16 ‘Remembering the “Father of Irish Republicanism”’—Guy Beiner (Boston College)

Afterword—Bill Atkins (Tone descendant)

The fourth volume in the History Ireland commemorative series on aspects of the Irish Revolution. 

 

The Treaty, Civil War and partition profoundly shaped the Ireland in which we live. To mark the centenary of the Treaty and Civil War, History Ireland has produced a special supplement, The Split: From Treaty to Civil War 1921–23, featuring historians and writers. The Split introduces ground-breaking articles on women and the Treaty, the role of Eamon de Valera, the establishment of the Gardaí, the dead of the Civil War, the global reaction to Ireland’s independence, and the violence inside the new Northern Ireland state and along the border. It discusses controversial questions regarding Michael Collins and military dictatorship, why the Free State won the Civil War and how Northern Ireland came into being. It looks at how the war has been remembered and asks whether the era of Civil War politics has ended. 

Contributors include President Michael D. Higgins, John Borgonovo, Theo Dorgan. Bill Kissane, Mary McAuliffe, David McCullagh, Elizabeth Malcolm, Margaret O’Callaghan, John M. Regan and Charles Townshend. 

The third volume in our annual commemorative series on aspect of the Irish Revolution. 

COMMISSIONING EDITORS: Enda Delaney and Fearghal McGarry

The publication, which has contributions from a host of scholars in the field, will focus on placing the Irish revolution in global context, with two key themes:

(i)              impact of transnational factors on the revolution in Ireland and

(ii)            the impact of the Irish revolution beyond Ireland, focusing particularly on the diaspora and wider imperial and comparative contexts.

 

What does a global history offer that we do not already have in many accomplished histories of Irish revolution? In the first instance, there is the much-needed perspective afforded by standing back from events in Ireland to understand the wider context of post-war Europe, and equally Ireland’s place in the newly-reconfigured western world where empires were now in irreversible decline.

Widening the focus from the history of the Irish overseas to the global significance of the ‘Irish question’ enables us to chart how extensively the conflict in Ireland was debated across the world in anti-imperial, labour, suffragist, dominion and other circles. Such an approach offers a way of broadening out consideration of the global dimensions of the Irish revolution beyond the involvement of the diaspora in activities such as fund-raising. Nevertheless there is no doubt but that the effort to raise funds from the global Irish diaspora was crucial in financing the Irish revolution.

What also emerges clearly is how transnational communications, primarily newspapers and the telegraph, fundamentally shaped how the Irish revolution was reported and written about. The digitisation of newspapers now allows for this story to be told from many different places.

Finally, and most importantly, the growth in digital archives such as the 1911 Irish Census of Population, the Bureau of Military History and the Military Service Pensions Collection enables people, wherever they happen to be located in the world, to explore in unprecedented detail the fascinating and rich history of Ireland’s global revolution.