Irish Boston History & Heritage

  Tip O'Neill Bust in Buncrana, photo courtesy of Visit Donegal Legendary politician Thomas P. 'Tip' O’Neill, one of the most impactful politicians of American politics in the 20th century, died on January 5, 1994 at his home in Harwichport, Cape Cod.  He was 81. Born in North Cambridge on December 9, 1912, he was the son of Thomas Philip O'Neill, Sr. and Rose Ann Tolan. His grandfather, from Mallow, County Cork, had emigrated to Massachusetts in the 1840s during the Irish Famine.  O’Neill based his entire political career on the mantra, ‘All Politics is Local,’ a phrase that bespoke the need for politicians to communicate directly with constituents and to serve the people rather than oneself.  He entered the Massachusetts state Legislature in 1936 and in 1952 was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, winning the seat held by John F. Kennedy. He became the 47th Speaker of the House in 1977 and held the post until 1987 when he retired.  In the 1970s throu...

Portrait of Louis St. Gaudens,  photo courtesy of Saint Gaudens National Historical Park  Louis St. Gaudens (1854-1913), whose iconic sculptures grace the American landscape today, was born in New York City on January 8, 1854. He was the son of Bernard Saint-Gaudens from France and Mary McGuinness from Ireland, and the brother and protégé of his older brother Augustus, considered the preeminent American sculptor of his generation.   The family had emigrated from Dublin to Boston in September 1848, fleeing the Irish Famine.  They stayed in Boston for about six months before moving to New York City, where they settled. Among the most revered works of Louis are the twin lion statues in the foyer of the Boston Public Library; a statue of Greek poet Homer in the Main Reading Room Rotunda of the Library of Congress; six allegorical figures encircling Union Station in Washington, DC, and 46 Roman legionnaire statues inside the station. Louis was schooled in the art of scul...

Trinity Church, Boston, 1890, courtesy of Boston Public Library English-born Irish rebel Robert Erskine Childers married Mary (Molly) Alden Osgood at Trinity Church in Boston on Tuesday, January 5, 1904. They met at a state dinner hosted by the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company at Faneuil Hall and were married after a three-week courtship. Both were idealists from upper class families whose passions turned toward Ireland. The Boston Globe called the wedding "One of the most interesting events of the social season in Boston....In the distinguished gathering which filled the auditorium of the church was quite a delegation of Londoners, all friends of Mr. Childers, who is clerk of the house of commons and a personal friend of Lord Denbigh." Childers was a gifted writer whose book,  Riddle of the Sands , published in 1903, is considered the first spy-novel thriller. In 1911 Childers published his book,  TheFramework of Home Rule , in which he decried British abuse of f...