Posts from the �s’ category

Irish Independent, 1940

Bombs fall in Dublin and Monaghan

Despite Ireland’s neutrality, the country was bombed several times during the war years

Here the Irish Independent details the events of December 20th, 1940 when unidentified aircraft dropped bombs on Counties Dublin and Monaghan.

Ireland chose to remain neutral in the Second World War, but there was still a fear that the country could be attacked. A state of emergency was declared (hence ‘the Emergency’), and gas masks were made widely available. Despite Ireland’s neutrality, 28 people were killed in the 1941 North Strand bombings. In 1958, the West German government paid £327,000 in compensation to the Irish government.

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Eucharistic Congress St Patrick poster, 1932

Eucharistic congress poster

Ireland hosted the Eucharistic Congress in part to celebrate the 1,500th anniversary of the coming of St. Patrick to Ireland

One million people come to the Phoenix Park to hear mass celebrated by the Papal Legate, Cardinal Lorenzo Lauri, as part of the 31st International Eucharistic Congress.

“It would be idle to attempt to estimate the size of that awe-inspiring crowd. From the top of the colonnades the inexperienced eye was dazed by its dimensions. … It was just an infinity of men and women, marshalled into their places with consummate skill; ordered, decent and reverent, setting an example to the world of popular piety, and behaving with a quiet dignity that was worthy of the occasion which evoked it.”
The Irish Times describes the scenes at the closing mass of the 31st Eucharistic Congress in the Phoenix Park.

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Groceries were once delivered directly to your door by messenger boys riding bicycles like this one

Alex Findlater and Co. started life in 1823, trading whiskey, wine and beer. The company expanded rapidly, adding general groceries to its alcohol trade, and became a major institution, with branches all over the city.

This delivery bicycle was used by the company in the 1930s. (It was also used to launch the first annual Bloomsday Messenger Bike Rally in 1993.) Ultimately, pressure from supermarkets became too much for Findlaters’ more traditional service – as William Findlater had predicted at a 1902 staff meeting:

“This brings up the question of packet goods, which is one of the curses of the trade, unless they bear our own brand. If this is encouraged much further it will mean the passing out of the grocer, and he will be replaced by a mere hander-out of packet goods, or, we will have nothing but girls behind our counters, which may be unpleasant to many of the young men present!”

With thanks to Alex Findlater