Ian Cantwell

Serope Biman Seropian (1864-1938), an Armenian born in Constantinople who represented the Persian Empire, was Ireland’s longest serving diplomat of the 20th century, 1907-38. While his role was more consular agent than diplomat in earlier years, he was one of the few diplomats that had direct dealings with the First Dail’s court system and one of the first to recognise the Irish Free State in 1922. He represents the transition from trade agency to diplomatic mission that began at the end of the 19th century. The article gives some family history, but mainly deals with his commercial and diplomatic career in Ireland.

An analysis of how and when the knowledge of Nyabingi and Muhumusa came to Jamaica from Kigezi, Uganda, in the early 20th century. There is no evidence of any direct contact between Kigezi (it had no slave raiders or slavery) and the American continent; it is likely that the knowledge was transmitted indirectly via newspapers. However it was distorted by misunderstanding, misinformation and propaganda which led to misinterpretation and, ultimately, the creation of new symbolic and cultural meanings among descendants of the African slave diaspora.

Railway staff from July to December 1920 disrupted the movement of troops and military stores by refusing to operate trains. The dates and locations of these incidents were recorded in the Daily Railway Situation Reports from the Colonel of the Staff, Deputy Quartermaster General, from Parkgate HQ to the Under Secretary in Dublin Castle 1. They are listed as 'Cases of refusal by Railway Companies' Employees to operate trains carrying troops or military stores'. There were two scenarios. The first was where a military force entrained and/or military stores were loaded at the terminus and staff refused to start the train; the second was when during a journey the train stopped to entrain or load stores and the staff refused to continue the journey. There is no indication either way of the home stations of the staff, which depends on the rosters of the particular railway company. Reports usually just state their rank and whether they were suspended or dismissed. As a result the train was delayed while replacement staff was found or the train was cancelled if there were no replacements. A rare third (less than six in total) was when all employees refused; all services could be completely shut down on a minor branch line, an option not open at major stations. Troops and stores were either delayed or transferred to another train; road transport was often substituted. This appears to be a civil resistance movement run by guards, drivers and firemen that was independent of military leadership and affected all railway companies, though some more than others. However operatives were sometimes intimidated and/or assaulted; these are listed in an appendix 1 The  article's sole source.  is UK National Archives CO904/157/2. If there was previous daily reports they have not survived.  Many were extensively reported by local and national newspapers, particularly Nationalist

In 1838 slavery was abolished in the UK colonies following the 1807 legislation that abolished the trade. There were about 46,000 slave owners throughout the UK that were eligible for compensation and received an estimated £20 million. The article analyses the 108 persons with an address in Ireland who claimed nearly half-a-million pounds for over 16,000 slaves mostly from Jamaica, British Guiana and Antigua

The 1798 Rebellion was one of the most traumatic periods in recent Irish history. While documentary evidence for the majority of participants and victims is patchy there are three lists of c. 8,300 people from this period, which were published between 1798-1800. These have been republished for the first time on CD (Eneclann, 2005) and include:

    Over 6,100 people who made compensation claims for property destroyed all over Ireland during the Rebellion
    Over 1,000 people who surrendered arms in Dublin City and County in 1798
    Over 1,000 people who surrendered arms in Coolock Barony, Co. Dublin, in 1798

Brian J.Cantwell's Memorials of the Dead contains transcriptions of c. 67,300 people from 24,400 memorials taken from over 540 graveyards and churches; primarily from Counties Wicklow, Wexford and South Dublin but include published and unpublished work from Counties Clare, Cork, Kildare, Galway and Sligo. The field work, conducted between 1970-91, included all visible legible memorials in graveyards up to 1880 and all interior church memorials.

The indices and relevant texts below are taken from the CD, published in 2005, The surname indexes, to include first names, were expanded for online research at findmypast.

The question as to how and when the knowledge of Nyabingi and Muhumusa came to Jamaica from Kigezi, Uganda, in the early 20 th century does not appear to have been asked. There is no evidence of any direct contact between Kigezi (it had no slave raiders or slavery) and the American continent; it is likely that the knowledge was transmitted indirectly via newspapers. However it was distorted by misunderstanding, misinformation and propaganda which led to misinterpretation and, ultimately, the creation of new symbolic and cultural meanings among descendants of the African slave diaspora.