OUR UPCOMING TALKS

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL FOR 2023-24 IS NOW DUE – SEE THE ‘ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTION’ PAGE ON THE WAYS TO PAY FOR THIS

OUR NEXT HISTORY CLUB IS ON OCTOBER 17th 2023 – (in the Foxrock Pastoral Parish Centre only) at 20:00

TOPIC:- The Irish Artist – Margaret Allen (1832-1914).

SPEAKER: Derville Murphy

Derville Murphy is an architect, artist, art and architectural historian, and author of If she only knew (Poolbeg Press, 2021), a historical novel inspired by the life and times of Margaret Allen.

Margaret Allen, the first female honorary member of the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA), was an artist whose paintings were concerned with the social conditions of the time. What is less well known about her is that she was one of Dublin’s earliest female commercial photographers, whose work as an artist was enabled by photography and who used her artistic skills to embellish her photographic images.

Margaret operated a drawing and painting academy, to run the business and to exhibit portraits, predominantly of children, annually at the RHA exhibitions. The fact that it was not considered respectable for middle-class women such as Margaret to engage in work outside the home likely influenced her decision to describe M. Allen and Co. in the Irish Times and Daily Advertiser (30 December 1869) as a ‘Studio for Children and Animals’

‘Miss Allen pays particular attention to the photographing of Babies, and as the Waiting-room and Gallery are well heated, there is no danger of Infants or delicate children taking cold while being photographed.’

Margaret Allen achieved significant recognition as an artist in Ireland. Despite limitations in her education, and the constraints of her gender and class, she succeeded in producing work that, in its social commentary, was political at a time when critical commentary even by male artists was unusual. It was Margaret Allen’s practice as a photographer, however, that enabled her to achieve these distinctions, and certainly helped her to overcome some of the difficulties faced at that time by other female painters of her class.

See our new VIDEOS OF LOCAL INTEREST section for tours around Deansgrange Cemetery -Killiney & Dalkey – Carriglea Industrial School

Our annual membership fee from September 2023 to July 2024 is €20. Please renew this as soon as possible to help us manage the club’s running expenses. See the “Annual Membership Subscription” page for details on how to pay.

MEMBERS WILL BE SENT AN EMAIl with the ZOOM invite password.

Non-Members please send an email to: info@foxrocklocalhistory.ie for a password to this meeting.

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TALKS – OUTINGS PLANNED FROM MAY 2023 to MAY 2024

( The talks are on the third Tuesdays of the month in the Foxrock Parish Pastoral Centre Hall )

DATES	TOPIC	SPEAKER
Nov 21st	AGM Followed by a talk on:- Leopardstown Racecourse Origins.	Speaker – Prof. Fergus D’arcy
Jan 16^th2024	The accidental diplomat: my years in the Irish Foreign Service, 1987-1995	Speaker – Eamonn Delaney
Feb 20^th	With the 6th Battalion – South County Dublin and the War of Independence 1916-1921	Speaker – James Brady
Mar 19^th	A Forgotten Irish Author: Cornelius Ryan, ‘The longest Day’ and ‘A Bridge Too Far’	Speaker – Philip Lecane
Apr 16^th	New research notes on the building of Dun Laoghaire Harbour	Speaker – Donal O’Sullivan
^{May 21st}	A Night of Artifacts	All Members to give a short synopsis of an artifact of interest they have.

All our meetings are held in the Foxrock Pastoral Centre, which is at the junction of the N11 and Kill Lane. We meet on the third Tuesday of every month between September and May. The meetings start at 20:00 with an introduction, this is then followed by the main talk. After the talk there is an opportunity for questions and answers. Then after, the vote of thanks, tea and biscuits are served and you can get a chance to meet the speakers and ask questions you may have.

Admission for members is Free.

Admission for Non- Members is EUR 5.00

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