Clare Museum’s Lecture Series continues at 7.30pm on Wednesday, March 11, with ‘Threatening Letters of Pre-Famine Ireland’ by Terry Dunne.
Threatening letters or notices were handwritten notes containing a demand or demands backed up with the threat of violent force, frequently used in land disputes or over employment conditions.
A small number were printed rather than handwritten. Often enough the notices included drawings as well as writing. Typically, these would be illustrations of coffins, and less frequently, heads, skull and crossbones, firearms and ball (ammunition) or swords.
Like ballads or folklore collections, they are important as a source as they are a record left by people who usually did not leave records. Most written sources from nineteenth-century Ireland come from landlords or their agents, state officials or members of the press.
Terry Dunne graduated with a PhD from the Sociology Department of the National University of Ireland – Maynooth in 2015 for his study of threatening letters. He has published widely on rural labour and agrarian social movements in the Irish past. He was Historian-in-Residence with Laois library services from 2021 to 2023 and Clare library services in 2024. He is joint editor of the collection of essays, ‘Spirit of Revolution: Ireland from Below, 1917-23’, published by Four Courts Press. He also helps keep a small herd of heritage breed cattle in east Clare and is a member of Fórsa.
While admission is free, there is likely to be a high level of interest in the talk, so those attending are asked to book a seat in advance by emailing claremuseum@clarecoco.ie. Telephone bookings cannot be accepted.
The Clare Museum Lecture Series will continue every second Wednesday of each month until May 2026. Upcoming topics include the centenaries of Irish folklore and the folklore of County Clare’s caves.
Visit www.claremuseum.ie for further information.