Old ireland in colour: fascinating photos of 19th and 20th centuries

Old ireland in colour: fascinating photos of 19th and 20th centuries

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* IMAGES OFFER A GLIMPSE OF A BYGONE AGE OF HORSES IN THE STREETS AND CATTLE CHANGING HANDS IN PUBLIC SQUARES * ALSO SHOW IRELAND ON BRINK OF CHANGE, WITH A WOMEN'S TRADE UNION AND REVOLUTIONARY LEADER MICHAEL COLLINS  * PHOTOS WERE COLOURISED BY ACADEMIC LECTURER JOHN BRESLIN AND PUBLISHED IN NEW BOOK OLD IRELAND IN COLOUR  By TIM STICKINGS FOR MAILONLINE Published: 08:02 EDT, 9 November 2020 | Updated: 20:48 EDT, 9 November 2020 These vivid colourised photos bring to life the history of Ireland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, showing a world of cattle markets and horse-drawn trucks alongside Traveller children and pioneering women.  The images offer a glimpse of a time gone by, with horses in the streets, people sitting on mail trucks, and food and livestock changing hands in public squares.  But they also show Ireland on the brink of change, with one photo showing the founders of a women's trade union while another shows revolutionary leader Michael Collins greeting a Gaelic football team.   Colourised by academic lecturer Professor John Breslin, the photos are being published in a new book called Old Ireland In Colour.   One lively image shows a crowd of people mingling at a market day in Ballybricken in 1910 where farmers would rise at the crack of dawn to bring their livestock for sale.  There is a similar theme in other images, including one photo of a group of women showing off the fish they had caught in a village outside Galway.  Other pictures show more of urban life, with people sitting on the back of a horse-drawn mail carriage in Galway and women travelling in a cart as they went to a funeral in County Kerry in 1899.  In one photo, the founders of the Irish Women Workers' Union (IWWU) pose for a photo outside Dublin's Liberty Hall in 1914, four years before women were granted the right to vote.  The picture hints at the social and political turmoil which accompanied the rural tranquil in Ireland, which would live through the Easter Rising, a war of independence and a civil war within a few years of that 1914 photo.  Another picture shows the revolutionary leader Michael Collins shaking hands with a Gaelic sports official at a hurling match the year before he was assassinated by his wartime enemies.      John Breslin and Sarah-Anne Buckley, the authors of the new book, say that 'change and transformation is a key tenet of this book and the photographs it contains'.     'The first hundred years of photography, during which most of the images in this book were taken, was one of dramatic demographic, social, economic, political, cultural and technological change in Ireland and internationally,' they write in the book's introduction.  'This change and transformation is a key tenet of this book and the photographs it contains. Each was chosen with several considerations in mind: a reflection of Ireland's different social classes, the need for a diverse geographical spread, permissions and availability, and the importance of gender, religion and ethnicity. 'Although Ireland was predominantly agricultural at the turn of the twentieth century, urban life and streetscapes are an important feature.'  The project started when Professor Breslin began colourising his own family images before moving on to pictures of the local area and others across Ireland in the 19th and 20th centuries.    Republic of Ireland

* IMAGES OFFER A GLIMPSE OF A BYGONE AGE OF HORSES IN THE STREETS AND CATTLE CHANGING HANDS IN PUBLIC SQUARES * ALSO SHOW IRELAND ON BRINK OF CHANGE, WITH A WOMEN'S TRADE UNION AND


REVOLUTIONARY LEADER MICHAEL COLLINS  * PHOTOS WERE COLOURISED BY ACADEMIC LECTURER JOHN BRESLIN AND PUBLISHED IN NEW BOOK OLD IRELAND IN COLOUR  By TIM STICKINGS FOR MAILONLINE Published:


08:02 EDT, 9 November 2020 | Updated: 20:48 EDT, 9 November 2020 These vivid colourised photos bring to life the history of Ireland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, showing a world


of cattle markets and horse-drawn trucks alongside Traveller children and pioneering women.  The images offer a glimpse of a time gone by, with horses in the streets, people sitting on mail


trucks, and food and livestock changing hands in public squares.  But they also show Ireland on the brink of change, with one photo showing the founders of a women's trade union while


another shows revolutionary leader Michael Collins greeting a Gaelic football team.   Colourised by academic lecturer Professor John Breslin, the photos are being published in a new book


called Old Ireland In Colour.   One lively image shows a crowd of people mingling at a market day in Ballybricken in 1910 where farmers would rise at the crack of dawn to bring their


livestock for sale.  There is a similar theme in other images, including one photo of a group of women showing off the fish they had caught in a village outside Galway.  Other pictures show


more of urban life, with people sitting on the back of a horse-drawn mail carriage in Galway and women travelling in a cart as they went to a funeral in County Kerry in 1899.  In one photo,


the founders of the Irish Women Workers' Union (IWWU) pose for a photo outside Dublin's Liberty Hall in 1914, four years before women were granted the right to vote.  The picture


hints at the social and political turmoil which accompanied the rural tranquil in Ireland, which would live through the Easter Rising, a war of independence and a civil war within a few


years of that 1914 photo.  Another picture shows the revolutionary leader Michael Collins shaking hands with a Gaelic sports official at a hurling match the year before he was assassinated


by his wartime enemies.      John Breslin and Sarah-Anne Buckley, the authors of the new book, say that 'change and transformation is a key tenet of this book and the photographs it


contains'.     'The first hundred years of photography, during which most of the images in this book were taken, was one of dramatic demographic, social, economic, political,


cultural and technological change in Ireland and internationally,' they write in the book's introduction.  'This change and transformation is a key tenet of this book and the


photographs it contains. Each was chosen with several considerations in mind: a reflection of Ireland's different social classes, the need for a diverse geographical spread, permissions


and availability, and the importance of gender, religion and ethnicity. 'Although Ireland was predominantly agricultural at the turn of the twentieth century, urban life and


streetscapes are an important feature.'  The project started when Professor Breslin began colourising his own family images before moving on to pictures of the local area and others


across Ireland in the 19th and 20th centuries.    Republic of Ireland