AOH Home of the Brooklyn Irish
Baile na nGael
Saturday, September 12, 2026
Posted by Jim on July 28, 2017
Wake at Marine Park Funeral Home
Saturday and Sunday
2:00 PM till 5:00 PM
7:00 PM till 9:00 PM
Mass;
Good Shepherd Church
Avenue S & Batchelder Street
10:00 AM Monday
No flowers please
Thank you,
Tom Crockett
Posted by Jim on July 27, 2017
Martin O’Donoghue (NUI, Galway) argues for a four nations approach to the history of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, to understand its rise and fall, and connection to major historical movements
Although best known today as an Irish diaspora organisation in North America, the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) was a major nationalist organisation on the island of Ireland in the early twentieth century. The major stem of the organisation was the AOH-BOE, controlled by the Board of Erin (BOE) which ran the Order in Ireland and Great Britain. It was this organisation which provided an organisational bulwark to the home rule movement on both sides of the Irish Sea and offers an important lens through which to view the decline of home rule in a four nations context.
Devlin’s leadership
In 1905, the Irish Party MP Joe Devlin became the Order’s President. Under his guidance and that of National Secretary John Dillon Nugent (later an MP himself), the AOH-BOE quickly spread throughout northern Irish counties and Scotland, expansion in both areas apparently aided by the remnants of Ribbonism and an easing of the Catholic hierarchy’s hostility to the organisation.[1] The Order provided an organisational boost for home rule and it was closely associated with the Irish Party from this point. Widespread growth in the rest of Ireland accelerated after the introduction of National Health Insurance Act in 1911 made the AOH an ‘approved society’. Its insurance section grew exponentially from this point although ‘private’ membership also remained high.
While the United Irish League (primarily an agrarian organisation in Ireland) also spread throughout the UK, the AOH had a number of significant features across the four nations. In Ireland, the AOH-BOE was interlinked with the Irish Party; it counted MPs and councillors among its members and enjoyed voting rights at selection conventions for parliamentary candidates. Hibernian activities in Scotland were given special coverage in the Order’s monthly Hibernian Journal under the heading ‘St. Mungo’s Chimes’. The Scottish Order was distinctive in that its Ladies’ Auxiliary was first established there and remained more vibrant than in the other nations.
Hibernianism has been documented in Wales from an early stage, but the AOH-BOE in the early twentieth century was small.[2] England was home to considerably more Hibernians, but the organisation was certainly less proportionally significant than was the case in Scotland. In August 1917, the Hibernian Journal printed membership figures which recorded 10,933 ‘private members’ in Scotland out of a total membership of 50,866. There were just 2,793 such members in England whiles Wales could only boast 547 Hibernians, all in Glamorgan.[3] In England, divisions were organised chiefly in centres of Irish population although numbers were particularly high in the north-east as 1,300 members were reported in Durham. In Scotland, membership density was greatest in western regions such as Renfrew, Dumbarton, Lanark and Glasgow.
Decline
The Order was set to enjoy a prominent role in a Home Rule Ireland; however, the years from 1914 onwards saw it go into an unprecedented decline from which the Order would never recover on this side of the Atlantic.
The 1916 Rising and its aftermath caused enormous damage to the home rule movement generally. While Devlin and John Redmond succeeded in convincing a conference of Ulster nationalists on 23 June to accept temporary exclusion of six northern counties from a proposed home rule settlement, fissures in northern nationalism were opened as the AOH and the Irish Party were increasingly challenged; a number of divisions published resolutions disapproving of the decision. While the whole scheme soon collapsed, the AOH was left to defend its actions, emphasising that Redmond had only agreed to temporary partition.[4]
As decline set in, the nexus of Hibernian and Irish Party interest meant that leaving the party almost necessarily meant leaving the Order. Enlistment in the British Army had already damaged membership, especially in Britain. This had serious knock-on effects for the Order in falling contributions and the risk of further claims on its funds after the war.
Although the Order had been accused of violence against suffragists in 1912, as Diane Urquhart has shown, the AOH was perhaps the most significant home rule organisation for women’s activism in the 1918 general election campaign.[5] The Order’s Ladies’ Auxiliary updated electoral registers and canvassed, especially for Devlin who defeated Éamon de Valera in West Belfast.[6] However, the Irish Party was swept aside by Sinn Féin in December 1918 and the AOH was left on the wrong side of nationalist politics.
Conclusion
Despite the variation in membership across the different countries, in-depth analysis of the AOH from four nations perspective promises a crucial aid to understanding home rule and diaspora politics in the period. The Order had some concerns which were peculiar to it in each of the countries and its social activities and Catholic ethos helped it to survive for many years. However, the overarching association with home rule proved disastrous in this period as the Irish Party collapsed and Irish nationalist politics transformed at home and in Britain.
Posted by Jim on
An Official Communication
from the Uniformed Firefighters Association
#40 of 2017
REMEMBER TO VOTE & VOTE NO TO NYS CON CON
Voter Registration Deadlines. September 12, 2017 State and Local Primary deadlines. Mail registration (NY Election Law Section 5-210(3)). Application must be postmarked no later than August 18th and received by a board of elections no later than August 23rd to be eligible to vote in the Primary. NYS Voter registration page can be found at http://www.elections.ny.gov/votingregister.html. Reminder to vote NO for the NYS Con Con. Please visit the UFA website at http://www.ufanyc.org/con_con.
Posted by Jim on
Sinn Féin President and Louth TD Gerry Adams speaking in New York last night on the issue of Brexit repeated Sinn Féin’s “very firm view that the only way to protect the two economics on the island of Ireland is for the North to have a designated special status within the EU”.
The Sinn Féin leader criticised the Irish government’s stance, which “repeats ad nauseum the need for the North to be treated in a ‘special’ way because of its ‘special circumstances’ but does not support special designated status within the EU for the North. This adds to the uncertainty.
Speaking in New York, Teachta Adams said:
“In recent weeks a series of significant reports have warned of the potential disastrous fallout from Brexit for the island of Ireland. Last week a report, ‘UK in a Changing Europe’, said there would be ‘serious political and economic implications’ for the North.
“In a report by the British House of Lords they said that the north ‘will be profoundly affected by Brexit. There will be a significant impact, including on cross-border trade, the agri-food sector, energy, transport, fisheries, access to EU labour, healthcare provision, tourism and police and security cooperation.’
“Two further reports by the Institute of International and European Affairs and the Seanad focused on the environmental consequences of Brexit and concerns that environmental regulations might be dropped or diluted. In its report the Seanad called for the island of Ireland to be ‘considered a single bio-geographical unit’ in order to protect the environment.
“The Irish government’s refusal to support special designated status within the EU for the North adds to this uncertainty.
“It is a denial of the majority vote in the North in the June 2016 referendum to remain within the EU. It also puts at risk the two economies on the island of Ireland.
“The implications from Brexit for jobs and investment for the island as a whole and especially for the border region and the North are enormous. Sinn Féin’s objective of achieving designated special status for the North within the EU offers the best hope for protecting the rights and jobs of citizens.
“The majority of TDs in the Dáil, like the majority of MLAs in the Assembly, already support special designated status.
“The Irish government needs to make this a priority, particularly in light of the failure to make progress in the second round of negotiations last week between the British and EU negotiating teams.
“The goal must be to ensure that all of Ireland can remain a member of the Single Market and the Common Travel area, that EU funding streams can continue to be accessed, that the rights of Irish citizens in the north are protected and that trading arrangements, north and south and between Ireland and Britain are secure.
“This is crucial if the two economies on the island of Ireland are to be protected.”
Posted by Jim on
Belfast Protestant thanks Catholic priest
BELFAST/WASHINGTON. Tuesday, July 25, 2017— It does not happen often —given the British Government-sponsored and structured sectarianism in Northern Ireland— that a Protestant praises a Catholic priest. Yet, that dynamic was on full display over the past 24 hours in both Washington and Belfast.
In Belfast, well-known intrepid victims’ campaigner Raymond McCord, Sr. released the following statement in grateful response to Fr. Sean Mc Manus— President of the Capitol Hill-based Irish National Caucus— for raising the case of Mc Cord’s son, Raymond, Jr.
Raymond, Jr. was brutally beaten to death outside Belfast in 1997 by a Protestant paramilitary organization. But because some of those associated with the killing were British Government agents and police informers, the murder was covered up.
Raymond Mc Cord,that we can have an inquest at last— 20 years after the murder. An Irish Catholic priest helping a fellow Ulsterman who is a Protestant trying to get truth and justice. It is a shame we don’t have more like Sean. As a result of Sean ‘s intervention, I will seek a meeting with the Secretary of State. This is not going away.”
Fr. Mc Manus said: “I was proud and honored to help my good friend Raymond, Sr. whom I call ‘the Hardy Protestant Boy,’ His dedication, fearlessness, and fortitude have impressed me deeply. We brought Raymond to Capitol Hill — May 4 to May 10, 2009— to meet many Members of Congress. When I brought him around Congress, my opening line was: “Congressman/woman, you have heard me for many years condemn British Government collusion in the assassination of Catholics in Northern Ireland. Now I want you to meet a good Belfast Protestant who wants to tell you about how the British Government has colluded in the murder of his son. It was a compelling moment, and I think finally dispelled any doubt about British Government complicity in collusion, and State-sponsored terrorism. That visit led to Raymond being invited back to testify before Congress on October 22, 2009 — before the House Sub Committee on Human Rights.”
Fr. Mc Manus continued: “Catholics in The North always knew that the British Government would, when it suited, engage in its age-old policy of political assassination as it has done throughout Irish history. However, it came as a shock when a young Protestant like Raymond, Jr. was murdered — and not just a Protestant, but a former member of the Royal Air Force, for God’s sake— and that this murder most foul was covered-up in such a systematic and institutionalized way. What further made the crime stand out is that it was finally exposed by a brave and dedicated Englishwoman Mrs. Nuala O’Loan in her ground-breaking Report (Operation Ballast. A Report on the Police Ombudsman’s investigation into matters surrounding the death of Raymond McCord Jr. by Nuala O’Loan.2007.) So, God bless a brave Englishwoman and a brave Belfast Protestant.