Civic Defiance
Edmond Sexten inherited his family’s extensive Limerick property around 1594 and became one of the most powerful, persistent and controversial figures in the city’s early seventeenth-century government. A grandson and namesake of the Tudor mayor who had acquired the former lands of St Francis’s and St Mary’s religious houses, Sexten served as an alderman, held the mayoralty several times and repeatedly occupied the office of high sheriff. His municipal service did not produce harmony with Limerick Corporation. Instead, much of his adult life was consumed by arguments over whether his inherited lands stood inside or beyond the authority of the city’s mayor and council.
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Boers Defended
Nationalists throughout Limerick are following a forceful parliamentary protest against Britain’s continuing war in South Africa, where Irish representatives have declared their sympathy for the Boer republics. John Redmond told the House of Commons today that Ireland opposed the conflict and regarded the Transvaal and Orange Free State as small nations defending their independence against imperial power. The declaration carries particular weight in Limerick, where nationalist feeling exists beside the reality that local men serve in British uniform. Families may…
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Veteran Dies
Lieutenant-Colonel Abraham Boulger, one of Ireland’s earliest recipients of the Victoria Cross, died at Moate, County Westmeath, on 23 January 1900, aged sixty-four. Born at Kilcullen, County Kildare, on 4 September 1835, he entered the British Army and rose from the ranks during a long career of active service. His reputation rested principally upon his conduct during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, when, as a young lance-corporal in the 84th Regiment of Foot, he repeatedly placed himself in exposed positions during the campaign associated with Cawnpore and the relief and defence of Lucknow.
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Grazing Dominance
Cattle grazing remains more profitable than tillage in many Irish districts, encouraging landowners and substantial occupiers to devote extensive farms to livestock rather than labour-intensive cultivation. The difference is keenly felt in County Limerick, where broad grasslands can support valuable cattle while requiring comparatively few permanent workers. Families dependent upon agricultural wages find fewer opportunities wherever ploughing, sowing, weeding and harvesting give way to grazing. Supporters of the existing system point to dependable livestock markets and lower operating costs, but…
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Nationalist Victory
The reunited Irish Parliamentary Party has emerged from the general election holding seventy-seven of Ireland’s 103 seats at Westminster, confirming constitutional nationalism as the country’s dominant electoral force. The result will be welcomed in Limerick, where Michael Joyce has captured the city constituency by a decisive majority and joined John Redmond’s restored parliamentary organisation. Although the Conservative and Liberal Unionist alliance retains power throughout the United Kingdom, Irish voters have again returned an overwhelming majority of representatives committed to Home…
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