1800s

There are some friends of mine from the USA on "Retreat" in Ireland this week, sampling some Irish hospitality and visiting some of our classic designers. I know they look in here from time to time. Welcome and have a great visit.

Streetview 25" OSI Cottage orné

NIAH record DIA

The Heritage Ireland page mentions that: "The wallpaper in the Salon manufactured by the Dufour factory is one of the first commercially produced Parisian wallpapers."

O Mac Owen, the streetview is almost the same.

Glæsileg mynd !

He seems to have been an interesting fellow - there's some information on him starting from page 15 of article on Fenian treason trials. He was an Irish-American who fought for the Confederacy during the US Civil War. While he was sentenced to death in 1867 for the Chester Castle raid, it seems his execution was commuted, and TCD has a photo of him from 1890/1.

There's more information on the Chester Castle incident in this post about one of the co-conspirators John Flood.

Captain John McCafferty was the Confederate soldier who coined the phrase - "The gun is mightier than the sword". According to - www.rareirishstuff.com/irish-historical-memorabilia-/feni...

Fleas. Another VERY FAMOUS Irish fellow sided with the Confederacy, John Mitchel, while Thomas Meagher sided with the Union. Everything you want to know- www.google.com.au/search?source=hp&ei=aFb0XvTsIc66rQG...

Via Trove, this anecdote about a Fenian plot to kidnap King Edward VII when he was Prince of Wales - trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/167021852?searchTerm=C... - including "... He is described as a thorough type of a guerilla leader, with a well-proportioned and strongly-knit frame, and handsome, resolute-looking, . bronzed face. ... " Edit - John Denvir's book "The Life Story of an Old Rebel" is available online - www.gutenberg.org/files/16559/16559-h/16559-h.htm The original quote (Chapter VI) - "He was a thorough type of a guerilla leader. With his well-proportioned and strongly-knit frame, and handsome resolute-looking bronzed face, you could imagine him just the man for any dashing and daring enterprise." So NLI Mary's blurb carefully phrased introduction above is accurate! ... "The mission he was engaged on was one that can only be described by the word amazing. So daring was it, so hedged around with apparent impossibilities, that to the ordinary man its very conception would be incredible. But McCafferty was perfectly serious and determined about it, and to him it seemed practicable enough, provided only he could get a few more men like himself: and indeed if the collection of just such a company of conspirators were practicable, no doubt the impossible might become possible enough. But the hypothesis is fatal, for the McCafferty strain is a rare one indeed, so that his project never got further than an idea. I think, however, that I cannot be accused of exaggeration in saying that if he had been successful in carrying out his idea, his achievement would have formed the most extraordinary chapter in English history—for it was no less than the abduction of the then Prince of Wales, afterwards King Edward VII., and the holding of him as a hostage for a purpose of the Fenian organisation. The plan was to take him to sea in a sailing vessel, and to keep him there, until the Fenian prisoners still at that time unreleased were set at liberty. He was to be treated with the utmost consideration and—the recollection is not without its humorous side—McCafferty had a memorandum to spare no pains in finding what were the favourite amusements of the Prince, so that he might have a "real good time" on board."