In September 2021, Westmeath County Council launched an online exhibition – everest1921.com – created by Historian in Residence Ian Kenneally, to commemorate Howard-Bury’s leadership of the first reconnaissance expedition to Mount Everest in 1921. This short film highlights aspects of the exhibition through a series of interviews with Frank Nugent – historian, mountaineer and deputy […]
In the latest edition of our podcast series, Ian Kenneally speaks with Zoë Reid, Senior Conservator in the National Archives of Ireland, and Dr John Gibney of the Royal Irish Academy about the upcoming exhibition: ‘The Treaty, 1921: Records from the Archives’. The exhibition gives the public an opportunity to see some of the most […]
Our podcasts are now available on Spotify and other sites via https://anchor.fm/wcchistorian. The episodes cover aspects of life in Westmeath and Ireland during the Irish War of Independence and the years 1919-1921. Content Last Updated/Reviewed: 18/10/2021
As part of the Historian in Residence programme, we are developing a booklet of sources related to Westmeath during the years 1918-1923. Such sources are scattered through many libraries and archives in Ireland, internationally and online. Mullingar public library also holds a number of documents from the period, some of which we have highlighted during […]
In the latest edition of our podcast series, Ian Kenneally speaks with historian and mountaineer Frank Nugent about Charles Howard-Bury and the 1921 reconnaissance mission to Mount Everest. Content Last Updated/Reviewed: 11/10/2021
In the latest of our guest posts, we discuss the Truce period in and around Athlone. Dr John Burke takes up the story. With the instatement of the Truce between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and British Crown forces at twelve noon on 11 July 1922, the search for Irish independence entered a new phase. […]
New digital exhibition – everest1921.com On Tuesday, 21 September 2021, the new digital exhibition – everest1921.com – was launched in Belvedere House by renowned mountaineer and author, Frank Nugent. The exhibition commemorates the 1921 reconnaissance mission to Mount Everest, led by Charles Howard-Bury, who grew up in Charleville Castle and who resided at Belvedere House […]
“Just before dark a very beautiful and lofty peak appeared to the Southwards. Our drivers called it Chomo Uri (The Goddess of the Turquoise Peak) and we had many discussions as to what mountain this was. In the morning, after taking its bearings carefully, we decided that this could be no other than Mount Everest. […]
This mini-documentary focuses on the capture of Longford revolutionary Seán Mac Eoin by British forces in Mullingar, which took place in March 1921.The capture of Mac Eoin was one of the headline events of the War of Independence in Westmeath and was a national story at the time. Seán Mac Eoin, the famed ‘Blacksmith of […]
In this edition of the blog, we highlight a collection of documents that were recently donated to the Historian in Residence for Westmeath County Council. If you have documents and photos from 1921, you might consider sharing them with the Historian in Residence. If you followed the blog during 2020, you may remember those posts […]