Fitzwilliam square on the south side of Dublin provides the setting and a true-life cast of characters for a book that examines how the people of this Georgian square impacted on the history of Dublin and the wider world. These disparate characters from a small residential enclave permeated every walk of life (political, legal and cultural) in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. By using the residents' own correspondence and memoirs, as well as contemporary accounts in chronicles and journals, this unique history is told through their perspectives. So we follow the legal inhabitants of Fitzwilliam square into the nineteenth century courtrooms of the state trials; we witness the soldier sons of the square on a succession of battlefields through their own correspondence and reminiscences; we examine the remarkable artistic and literary output of people from the square; and, we hear intriguing anecdotes about the politicians, doctors and academics from the square, including tales about dueling, ghost stories and political and personal scandals.
We peek into the sometimes shabby grandeur of the houses, the upstairs/downstairs elements of servants and governesses, the buzz of salons and lively entertainments. On their own, the sketches that make up this book would be historical footnotes, but woven together they provide a detailed and fascinating overview of Irish life at a particular place and time. The stories are varied and wide-ranging, but they are anchored by the fact that they only involve those inhabitants of the 69 houses of Fitzwilliam square.
- ISBN10 190578595X
- ISBN13 9781905785957
- Publish Date April 2011
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 1 July 2021
- Publish Country IE
- Imprint The Liffey Press
- Format Paperback
- Language English