Merrion, Glasnevin, Belfast
Archived: 10 October 2026
In 1864, Ireland saw expanding state and cultural institutions alongside social and political division. Civil registration of births, deaths and marriages began, while Dublin’s National Gallery opened and scientific collecting continued. A memorial tower to Daniel O’Connell was begun at Glasnevin, affirming Catholic nationalist memory. Post-famine agricultural consolidation, livestock growth, emigration and the foundation of Cork’s Munster Bank indicated uneven economic change. Belfast’s August sectarian riots caused deaths, injuries and controversy over policing, prompting a royal commission. Meanwhile, the Irish Republican Brotherhood organised clandestinely through The Irish People, and Archbishop Cullen founded the Irish Ecclesiastical Record, strengthening Catholic institutional authority.