Latest news with #UlsterHistoryCircle
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
‘An honesty like no other': Padraic Fiacc's legacy recognised in his Belfast birthplace
Padraic Fiacc's poetry – visceral, often troubling, lastingly powerful – offers us an unforgettable series of visions of Belfast , but has not to date received the attention it is due. Now, the link between the writer and the city is commemorated in an Ulster History Circle Blue Plaque at Falls Road Library, close to Fiacc's birthplace, Elizabeth Street. It was unveiled earlier this week in a ceremony marking Fiacc's contribution to Irish letters, and his enduring importance as a subversive voice that still echoes today. It is fitting that this recognition should arrive now. Last year marked the centenary of Fiacc's birth: born Patrick Joseph O'Connor (in his own words, 'into the Civil War … when they were just making Northern Ireland'), the poet lived through extraordinary times. At the age of five he moved from Belfast to New York with his family, against the backdrop of the Wall Street Crash and Great Depression. (Later, Paul Muldoon produced two BBC documentaries about Fiacc's time in the United States, Hell's Kitchen and Atlantic Crossing.) He lived there through the second World War before coming back to Belfast, where he was witness to the Troubles: the conflict that would become a central preoccupation in his work, of which he remains one of our foremost chroniclers. But it was in New York that he had begun to write, dabbling in fiction and playwrighting, and writing poetry under the tutelage of Padraic Colum, a leading figure in the Irish Revival (and the inspiration for his eventual pseudonym). Fiacc's Old Poet depicts the two 'arguing about El Greco and de Valera' on a walk around Central Park, Colum figured as a savant who had, in his turn, 'strolled the streets of Dublin with James Joyce … With a voice could be Daniel Corkery / Said what Yeats said what the best said / 'Dig in the garden of Ireland, write of your own.'' Fiacc took that advice, returning again and again, in his early work, to the imaginative horizon represented by his country of birth. His was an immigrant's sensibility, and in his poetry, readers find both a longing for and suspicion of 'home'. On his return to Belfast in 1946, Fiacc found another mentor, one who would profoundly influence his thinking: the novelist, short story writer and teacher Michael McLaverty. Letters between the pair, archived in the Linen Hall Library in Belfast, illustrate something of the strength of their bond: Fiacc writes to McLaverty that he 'used to cry when I would read your books in college because my heart was home'. (Among other influences he discusses with McLaverty are Dostoyevsky, Shakespeare, Chekhov, Gogol, Rimbaud, and Verlaine, suggesting the breadth of his literary interests.) READ MORE As Seamus Heaney would in Fosterage ('He discerned / The lineaments of patience everywhere / And fostered me and sent me out, with words / Imposing on my tongue like obols.'), Fiacc paid tribute to McLaverty with North Man, published in his first full-length collection, By the Black Stream: 'Along the evening Lagan we / Walking the broken dream under the bent bough, / Stop to adhere to the birds, / Known and named, as if by Adam, by you, / Creating poetry without words / Building silence like a house.' It was through McLaverty that Fiacc met Heaney, and he lived and worked alongside other leading lights in the city, among them his neighbour in the suburbs, Derek Mahon. Indeed, Mahon's poem Glengormley, with its famous last line – 'By / Necessity, if not choice, I live here too.' – was originally (aptly) dedicated to the other poet. As the political situation in the North deteriorated throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Irish poets faced a mounting pressure to respond to the violence that was breaking out around them, searching for new forms adequate to their predicament, to redirect a phrase from Heaney's eventual Nobel lecture. Fiacc's strategy was to further develop the jagged, raw style that had always characterised his poetry, with its fusion of traditionalism and modernism. As a child of civil war, his fascination with the poetry of violence had been apparent from the very beginnings of his career; in those letters to McLaverty, he outlined 'the method' he would continue to use in his writing: 'to expose the wound in man then to cauterise it without too abstract a style to neutralise or act as an anaesthesia in hope that the grief catharsis will act antidote to the poison'. [ Poet of the Troubles – Oliver O'Hanlon on Padraic Fiacc Opens in new window ] The results were poems that retain their ability to shock and disturb, poems like Glass Grass with its harrowing opening description of 'The scorched-cloth smell of burnt flesh / From morning, a bomb in one of the parked cars, / The gulls, glinting like ice on asphalt in April, / The sun, in a smog of cheap petrol exhaust / Fumes'. Or Intimate Letter 1973: 'Our Paris part of Belfast has / Decapitated lampposts now. Our meeting / Place, the Book Shop, is a gaping / Black hole of charred timber.' 'My fellow poets call my poems 'cryptic, crude, dis / -tasteful, brutal, savage, bitter …',' Fiacc wrote, and it is true that his poetry (and work as editor of the controversial 1974 anthology The Wearing of the Black: An Anthology of Contemporary Ulster Poetry) attracted virulent criticism from his fellow poets and critics alike, perceived as too challenging, too 'hysterical' (an accusation that was levelled often), essentially, altogether too much . [ Photographs of Padraic Fiacc, the poet of the Troubles Opens in new window ] But the poetry attracted its champions too, notably the late Gerald Dawe and Aodán Mac Póilin, who in the 1990s published a selection of his work, Ruined Pages, and made great strides in introducing his work to a wider audience. By the time of Fiacc's death, in Belfast, in January 2019, he had become something of a cult figure. President Michael D Higgins noted that the poet's 'portrayal of the Troubles was stark and revealed an honesty like no other … Padraic Fiacc leaves a legacy of particular intensity.' This legacy is now made visible in the place where Fiacc's journey began, on the Falls Road, but his influence extends much further still.
BreakingNews.ie
28-04-2025
- Sport
- BreakingNews.ie
Plaque unveiled for 1890s champion teen golfer at Royal Portrush
A teen champion golfer who was a 'pioneer' for the women's game a hundred years ago has had a plaque unveiled in her honour at Portrush Golf Club. May Hezlet, from Aghadowey, won the Ladies Championship three times and Irish Ladies' Championships five times between 1899 and 1908. Advertisement She was commemorated with an Ulster History Circle Blue Plaque at Royal Portrush Ladies' Clubhouse on Monday. Born in Gibraltar on April 29th 1882, Ms Hezlet's family lived at Bovagh House in rural Aghadowey. Her mother, her three sisters and brother were also accomplished players at Royal Portrush and she won her first competition aged 11. Ms Hezlet was 13 when she won the British Ladies' Open at Royal Portrush in 1895, the first time it was held in Ireland. Advertisement In 1899, she won both Irish and British championships on the links at Royal County Down, aged 17. She said she felt emancipated through playing golf and in her book Ladies' Golf, published when she was 22, she wrote: 'Household duties are a very necessary part of life, and sewing and amusements of like nature are excellent in moderation, but they are not enough to satisfy the tastes of the modern girl.' She wrote of the British Ladies' Open coming to Portrush for the first time in 1895: 'The visit of the English golfers to the Emerald Isle had a far-reaching effect. 'Up to that time, the game had been played by ladies in Ireland, it is true, but in a very half-hearted manner. Advertisement 'They had not realised the pleasures and possibilities contained in the sport, but had regarded it simply as a pastime to while away an idle half-hour. 'On seeing the skill and science of the English golfers… they determined to devote themselves to the study of golf in earnest, and so fit themselves to rank as formidable adversaries.' She later became president of the Portrush Ladies' Club and held the post until 1951. She died on December 27th, 1978, aged 96. Advertisement Ladies' branch president Shirley Robinson said she was 'delighted' to receive a Blue Plaque to commemorate May Hezlet. 'May was a wonderful pioneer of ladies' golf and brought worldwide recognition to Portrush. 'If she were looking down from above today, I am very sure she would be gratified to see that the Ladies' Branch of Royal Portrush has continued to produce Curtis Cup, international players and champions.' Chairman of the Ulster History Circle Chris Spurr said: 'Today, May Hezlet would be acclaimed as a 'teenage golfing sensation' for becoming both the Irish Ladies' and the British Ladies' Amateur champion in 1899, aged 17, the first of her many championship titles. Advertisement 'She honed her golfing prowess in Portrush, and the Ulster History Circle is delighted to commemorate this pioneer golfer with a blue plaque at her home club. 'The Circle is grateful to Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council for their financial support towards the plaque, and to the officers of the Ladies' Branch of Royal Portrush Golf Club for their kind assistance.'
Irish Times
28-04-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Early Irish star of women's golf to be honoured with Royal Portrush plaque
A 'teenage golfing sensation' who was one of the first stars of women's golf is to be honoured with a blue plaque at her home club of Royal Portrush later on Monday. May Hezlet, from Aghadowey in Co Derry , won the British Ladies' Championship three times and the Irish Ladies' five times between 1899 and 1908. 'That era was the beginning of ladies' golf in Ireland, and she was the first Irish person, man or woman, to win an international event,' says her biographer and former ladies' president at Royal Portrush, Kath Stewart-Moore. 'She was a leader of Irish golf, and it'll be very good to have that plaque up, she certainly deserves it. READ MORE 'Irish golfers are all still in her legacy,' she said. From a famous golfing family – her mother, brother, and three sisters also played – May won her first competition aged 11, was Irish champion at 16 and British champion at 17. May Hezlet believed golf was a means of emancipating women, and described golf as 'the game par excellence for women' She believed golf was a means of emancipating women, and in her book Ladies' Golf – written aged 22 – she described golf as 'the game par excellence for women'. 'Household duties are a very necessary part of life, and sewing and amusements of like nature are excellent in moderation, but they are not enough to satisfy the tastes of the modern girl,' she wrote. She also lobbied for suitable clothing for women golfers, saying 'nothing looks more untidy or unsuitable for games than a long skirt' and calling instead for 'a short skirt - really short, not simply a couple of inches off the ground', and insisted that when setting up ladies' golf clubs, women should manage their own finances, not have men take over. May went on to become ladies' president at Royal Portrush; the current holder, Shirley Robinson, said she was 'delighted' to receive the plaque from the Ulster History Circle commemorating 'a wonderful pioneer of Ladies' golf who brought worldwide recognition to Portrush. 'If she were looking down from above today, I am very sure she would be gratified to see that the Ladies' Branch of Royal Portrush has continued to produce Curtis Cup, international players and champions,' she said. She would be equally delighted to witness the success of Royal Portush as a venue for the British Open, and the return of the tournament – and newly minted Career Grand Slam winner Rory McIlroy – this summer. May Hezlet, from Aghadowey in Co Derry, won the British Ladies' Championship three times and the Irish Ladies' five times between 1899 and 1908 His victory at the US Masters was 'fantastic, you couldn't have written the script,' says Stewart-Moore. 'He seemed to throw it away quite often, he had us on tenterhooks all the time, but it was absolutely brilliant that he won it. 'I hope he'll now relax and be able to win some more Major championships. 'Of course, May would have been watching it, she certainly would.'
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Pioneering female doctor honoured in home town
The first female professor of medicine in Britain and Ireland, from County Antrim, has been recognised with an Ulster History Circle blue plaque. The pioneering Dame Louise McIlroy was the first woman to graduate in medicine from Glasgow University in 1898. After being told "battlefields are no place for a woman", Dame Louise defied officials and joined the newly formed Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service in 1914, with her first posting to France. Anne Louise McIlroy was born at Lavin House on 11 November 1874 in the townland of Knockahollet, Loughguile, and her father James was the local GP. She was one of four girls, and one of her sisters Jane also studied medicine and Glasgow and became an eye doctor. The family relocated from Loughguile to Ballycastle where her father became the district's medical officer. At the start of the World War One, Dame Louise served as a chief medical officer at a camp hospital in France. She was later sent to Serbia and then Salonika in Greece. Dame Louise was faced with overcrowding, extreme weather, remoteness and disease as she cared for hundreds of patients in the tented hospitals. After the war, she served as an assistant surgeon in Constantinople, now Istanbul, with the British Army Medical Corps. In 1920 she was awarded the OBE for her war service. She was also awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French government. In 1921, Dame Louise was appointed professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the London School of Medicine for Women, now the Royal Free Hospital Medical School. Her salary, £2,000, was the highest paid to a woman for university work. In 1929, her work was recognised and she was made a Dame for midwifery services. Two years later Queen's University Belfast awarded her an honorary degree. After retiring in 1934, Dame Louise came back to work at the start of World War Two to organise maternity services in Buckinghamshire. After the war she returned to her retirement, living with her sister Jane in Ayrshire. Dame Louise McIlroy died in 1968 and was buried in her family's grave at Ballycastle Presbyterian Church, where the plaque has been unveiled. Chris Spurr, chairman of the Ulster History Circle, said Dame Louise McIlroy was a pioneering doctor from County Antrim who devoted her career to advancing the areas of obstetrics, gynaecology and child welfare. Radar and microwave pioneer commemorated with blue plaque Plaque for 'forgotten woman' of science
BBC News
28-03-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Ballycastle: Dame Louise McIlroy to be honoured with blue plaque
A pioneering female doctor from County Antrim will be recognised with an Ulster History Circle blue Louise McIlroy was the first woman to graduate in medicine from Glasgow University in 1898 and the first female professor of medicine in Britain and being told "battlefields are no place for a woman", Dame Louise defied officials and joined the newly formed Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service in 1914, with her first posting to Louise McIlroy was born at Lavin House on 11 November 1874 in the townland of Knockahollet, Loughguile, and her father James was the local GP. She was one of four girls, and one of her sisters Jane also studied medicine and Glasgow and became an eye family relocated from Loughguile to Ballycastle where her father became the district's medical officer. At the start of the World War One, Dame Louise served as a chief medical officer at a camp hospital in France. She was later sent to Serbia and then Salonika in Louise was faced with overcrowding, extreme weather, remoteness and disease as she cared for hundreds of patients in the tented the war, she served as an assistant surgeon in Constantinople, now Istanbul, with the British Army Medical 1920 she was awarded the OBE for her war service. She was also awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French 1921, Dame Louise was appointed professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the London School of Medicine for Women, now the Royal Free Hospital Medical School. Her salary, £2,000, was the highest paid to a woman for university 1929, her work was recognised and she was made a Dame for midwifery years later Queen's University Belfast awarded her an honorary retiring in 1934, Dame Louise came back to work at the start of World War Two to organise maternity services in Buckinghamshire. After the war she returned to her retirement, living with her sister Jane in Ayrshire. Dame Louise McIlroy died in 1968 and was buried in her family's grave at Ballycastle Presbyterian Church, where the plaque will be unveiled Spurr, chairman of the Ulster History Circle, said Dame Louise McIlroy was a pioneering doctor from County Antrim who devoted her career to advancing the areas of obstetrics, gynaecology and child welfare.
