Irish Boston History & Heritage

Bernadette Devlin of Cookstown, Country Tyrone, was elected as the Mid Ulster MP to Westminster Parliament in 1969, and gave her maiden speech there on April 22, 1969. She was 21 years old.  Her opening words set the tone of the speech and also of her political career: "I understand that in making my maiden speech on the day of my arrival in Parliament and in making it on a controversial issue I flaunt the unwritten traditions of the House, but I think that the situation of my people merits the flaunting of such traditions," she said.   Read her entire speech here . Devlin criticized the political corruption and hypocrisy of the political establishment in Northern Ireland and Great Britain.  She criticized "the society of landlords who, by ancient charter of Charles II, still hold the rights of the ordinary people of Northern Ireland over such things as fishing and as paying the most ridiculous and exorbitant rents, although families have lived for generations on their l

  State Capitol Building, Concord, New Hampshire, Photo, Michael Quinlin One of New England’s true military heroes of the American Revolution was General John Stark (1728-1822), the son of Scots-Irish parents who emigrated to the American colonies in 1720 and settled in the Scots-Irish colony of Nutfield, NH , where John and his brothers were raised. Today, the former settlement is comprised of the towns Londonderry, Derry and Windham. It was Stark who coined the famous phrase, Live Free or Die, which is the motto of the state of New Hampshire. Accordingly, New Hampshire formally celebrates John Stark Day each year on the second Monday in April. See recent Governor's proclamation . John’s father Archibald Stark was born at Glasgow, Scotland, in 1697. His family moved to the Ulster province of Ireland, where Archibald met and married Eleanor Nichols of Londonderry,  according to  Memoir and official correspondence of Gen. John Stark , published in 1860 by his son Caleb Stark. John’

Photo courtesy of Harvard Libraries Days before President Abraham Lincoln's April 15, 1861 proclamation seeking 75,000 volunteers to join the Union Army, men from Boston's Irish community met on April 10 to "express unflinching devotion to the Federal Government." Irishman Thomas Cass of Boston's North End immediately began recruiting Irish immigrants to form the Massachusetts 9th regiment. The volunteers came largely from Boston and the nearby towns of Salem, Milford, Marlboro and Stoughton. A total of 1,727 men enlisted. The Irish volunteers encamped on Long Island in Boston Harbor through May to train and organize. On June 11, 1861, the Ninth Massachusetts Regiment was mustered into service. The 9th Regiment enjoyed an emotional send-off on June 25, 1861 , when the troops made their way from Long Island to Long Wharf in Boston, then marched to Boston Common, where Governor John Andrew welcomed them and thanked the two commanders, Colonel Cass and Lieutenant

Courtesy of Boston College Photo Archives Legendary politician Thomas P. Tip O’Neill was born in North Cambridge on December 9, 1912, the son of Thomas Philip O'Neill, Sr. and Rose Ann Tolan. His grandfather had emigrated in the 1840s during the Irish Famine.   Tip rose to become one of the most powerful political figures in 20th century America, delving into domestic issues as well as international ones, especially regarding Northern Ireland.  O’Neill based his entire career on the mantra, ‘All Politics is Local,’ a phrase that bespoke the need for politicians to communicate directly with constituents and to serve the people rather than oneself.  He entered the Massachusetts state Legislature in 1936 and in 1952 was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, winning the seat held by John F. Kennedy. He became the 47th Speaker of the House in 1977 and held the post until 1987 when he retired.  In the 1970s through the 1990s, O'Neill was also heavily engaged in the Norther

On April 15, 1883, the Nestorian steamship, operated by the Allan Line, landed at Boston Harbor, carrying more then 650 Irish paupers from the west of Ireland  who had been evicted from their small farms during that time.  Their arrival was part of an 'assisted emigration' scheme initiated by a Quaker as a way of helping the Irish.  It was then funded by the British Government as a way of dealing  with issues of poverty and starvation in the Connacht province of Ireland.  English Quaker James Huck Tuke  had witnessed first hand the effects of the 1879 Irish famine, which had largely affected the west.  Tuck's notion was to send entire families together, so as to avoid separation and further trauma, and to focus on small farmers whose livelihood had been altered by the famine and insufficient government response.  They had been evicted from their farms by landlords when they couldn't pay their fees as a result of the famine.  The efforts of the Tuck Emigrant Society were

  Photos by Michael Quinlin The  Titanic Memorial  in Washington, DC, an iconic depiction of one of the major maritime tragedies of the 20th century, was carved in Quincy, Massachusetts by local sculptor John Horrigan, who used a 20-ton slab of granite to complete the masterpiece. The pedestal, designed by Henry Bacon, used granite from the quarries in Waverly, RI.   Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney submitted the winning design.  She also designed the Daughters of the American Revolution Memorial and the Pan-American Union Fountain and later founded the Whitney Museum in New York.  Described as weighing six tons and measuring 14 feet high and 13 feet wide, the statue was placed atop a pedestal with inscriptions that read on the front: Pedestal, front TO THE BRAVE MEN  WHO PERISHED  IN THE WRECK OF THE TITANIC APRIL 15, 1912 THEY GAVE THEIR  LIVES THAT WOMEN  AND CHILDREN  MIGHT BE SAVED ERECTED BY THE WOMEN OF AMERICA Pedestal, back TO THE YOUNG AND THE OLD THE RICH AND THE POOR THE IGNORAN