Gallery: Ireland: politics and administration, 1815–1870

This meeting held the site of the ancient Irish High Kings, was the largest of about forty events organised in that year. They often attracted crowds [...]

Thomas Francis Meagher (17966–1874), second from right, and William Smith O’Brien (1803-1864), seated, under guard at Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin, before [...]

The Liberal Prime Minister William E. Gladstone (1809–1898) found the Irish land question difficult to solve. This Punch cartoon of 1870 shows Gladsto [...]

Sir John Tenniel (1820–1914), was senior cartoonist on Punch for over forty years. Here he plays on old anti-Catholic prejudices in his new take on th [...]

This cartoon features Queen Victoria and Tsar Nicholas I of Russia reflecting upon the roles their respective countries have played in the affairs of [...]

Published in 1809, after the original by Sir William Beechy.

The cartoon depicts the capitulation of British politicians in the face of Catholic agitation. Wellington is shown kissing the Pope’s toe and professi [...]

The Lord Lieutenant, or Viceroy, was the monarch’s representative in Ireland. Officially, he presided over the administration of the country. In pract [...]

The castle was the seat of British Rule in Ireland for nearly 700 years. The castle social season culminated on St. Patrick’s Day, 17 March. The day b [...]

Dublin’s first great Palladian building, designed by Sir Edward Lovett Pearce (1699–1733), a cousin of Sir John Vanbrugh (1664–1726), and built 1728–3 [...]

Half-length portrait of Daniel O'Connell, showing a scroll in his right hand. The original also has his coat of arms and facsimile of his autograph. D [...]

Sir Charles Wood, Chancellor of the Exchequer in Russell's government and responsible for keeping relief to a minimum.

In August 1847 Lord Clarendon wrote coldly to Lord John Russell: "We shall be equally blamed for keeping them[the Irish] alive or letting them die and [...]

Sir Robert Peel, Conservative Prime Minister in 1845-6. His secret purchase of Indian corn helped prevent widespread famine in the first year of the p [...]

Contemporary Lithograph of Charles Trevelyan.