From A Compendium of Irish Biography, 1878
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Cusack, Thomas, Lord-Chancellor of Ireland, a scion of an old Anglo-Norman family, was born in Meath about 1490, was educated at Duleek, and studied law either in Dublin or London. We hear little of him until he was appointed a judge, in which office he was much esteem ed on account of the respect he paid to the customs and traditions of his countrymen. Yet later on, in 1541, we find him knighted for his efforts to enforce the English law instead of the Brehon code. At the dissolution of the monasteries he was enriched by a grant of the abbey of Lismullin, in recognition of his "honest service donne to his Majestie, both in this parliament and otherwise." Upon the promotion of Sir John Alan to the post of Chancellor, Cusack was made Master of the Rolls. On 5th August 1551 Edward VI., "having been well informed of the wisdom, learning, good experience, and grave behaviour of Sir Thomas Cusack, appointed him Lord-Chancellor," and the sum of £100 a year was added to his stipend. Under Queen Mary he was Lord-Justice, and was appointed to " review and restore the cathedral church and chapter of St. Patrick to its pristine state;" while under Queen Elizabeth he interceded for the restoration of Shane O'Neill to favour. He died at his country seat in Meath, in 1571, and was buried at Trevet, near Dunshaughlin. He was twice married, having been divorced from his first wife.
Sources
76. Chancellors of Ireland, and Keepers of the Great Seal: J. Roderick O'Flaherty. 2 vols. London, 1870.
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From a sad, comfortless childhood Giles Truelove developed into a reclusive and uncommunicative man whose sole passion was books. For so long they were the only meaning to his existence. But when fate eventually intervened to have the outside world intrude upon his life, he began to discover emotions that he never knew he had.
A touching story for the genuine booklover, written by an Irish bookseller under the pseudonym of Ralph St John Featherstonehaugh.
Annals of the Famine in Ireland
Annals of the Famine in Ireland, by Asenath Nicholson, still has the power to shock and sadden even though the events described are ever-receding further into the past. When you read, for example, of the poor widowed mother who was caught trying to salvage a few potatoes from her landlord's field, and what the magistrate discovered in the pot in her cabin, you cannot help but be appalled and distressed.
The ebook is available for download in .mobi (Kindle), .epub (iBooks, etc.) and .pdf formats. For further information on the book and author see details ».
Ireland's Welcome to the Stranger
This book, the prequel to Annals of the Famine in Ireland cannot be recommended highly enough to those interested in Irish social history. The author, Mrs Asenath Nicholson, travelled from her native America to assess the condition of the poor in Ireland during the mid 1840s. Refusing the luxury of hotels and first class travel, she stayed at a variety of lodging-houses, and even in the crude cabins of the very poorest. Not to be missed!
The ebook is available for download in .mobi (Kindle), .epub (iBooks, etc.) and .pdf formats. For further information on the book and author see details ».
Henry Ford Jones' book, first published in 1915 by Princeton University, is a classic in its field. It covers the history of the Scotch-Irish from the first settlement in Ulster to the American Revolutionary period and the foundation of the country.
The ebook is available for download in .mobi (Kindle), .epub (iBooks, etc.) and .pdf formats. For further information on the book and author see details ».
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