Ireland 1922, edited by Darragh Gannon and Fearghal McGarry, features 50 essays from leading international scholars that explore a turning point in history, one whose legacy remains controversial a century on. Building on their own expertise, and on the wealth of recent scholarship provoked by the Decade of Centenaries, each contributor focuses on one event that illuminates a key aspect of revolutionary Ireland, demonstrating how the events of this year would shape the new states established in 1922. Together, these essays explore many of the key issues and debates of a year that transformed Ireland.
In collaboration with Century Ireland, we are making the 50 essays freely available online. Today’s essay is by Michael Silvestri and it covers the unveiling of the John Nicholson Statue in Lisburn that took place on 19 January 1922:
“On 19 January 1922 the town of Lisburn in Northern Ireland unveiled a statue to an imperial icon and one of its famous sons, the East India Company officer John Nicholson. Having been promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General during the Indian Rebellion, Nicholson was mortally wounded while leading the British assault on Delhi in September 1857. He was revered as one of the great ‘Mutiny’ heroes of late Victorian Britain, an ‘Irish Paladin’ and devout evangelical who brought order to the northwest frontier of India, where he was worshipped as a god dubbed ‘Nikal Seyn’.” Continue reading (you will be redirected to the website of Century Ireland)
Ireland 1922, edited by Darragh Gannon and Fearghal McGarry, is published by the Royal Irish Academy with support from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 programme.
