Showing 15 results

Col. A.C. Wolseley Cox was the son of Ambrose Cox and Emily C. Wolseley. He was born in 1845 and inherited Clara House on the death of his father in 1863. He subsequently mortgaged the house and estate to fund his army career and his life in London. He married Louisa Helen Elizabeth Kirwan in 1870 and left a son, Reginald Garnett Wolseley Cox (1872-1904). Their Dublin residence at 41 Fitzwilliam Street is now known as the Fitzwilliam Townhouse. Col. Cox served as High Sherriff for King's County in 1873 but his income was insufficient to support his lifestyle and he was declared a bankrupt in 1888.

Eamonn Bulfin was born in Argentina to Irish parents. His father William Bulfin of Derrinlough, near Birr, County Offaly, had emigrated to Argentina in the 1880s and became the editor of The Southern Cross newspaper. On the family's return to Ireland, William Bulfin enrolled Eamonn in Pearse's school, St Enda's in Rathfarnham, and he later attended University College Dublin. Eamonn joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood in 1913, and along with some fellow St Enda's students created home-made bombs in the school's basement in preparation for the Easter Rising.

Notable for raising the 'Irish Republic' flag over the GPO In the Easter Rising of 1916. Following the insurrection he was condemned to death, but was reprieved and deported to Buenos Aires after internment in Frongoch in Wales along with the other Irish soldiers of the Rising. In 1920 he was elected Chairperson of Offaly County Council in absentia and held the post when the decision was taken to rename King's County as Offaly. He returned in 1923 on the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922 and was active in local politics.

Birr Business and Professional Women’s Club was formed in the County Arms Hotel, in November 1967. It was the first business and professional women’s club to be formed in Ireland outside of Dublin.

The Committee had been established during World War I to support Belgian refugees with accommodation and financial assistance after the German invasion into Belgium.

The Banagher Improvement Committee was involved in the development of public housing, drainage and sanitation, local industries, electricity supply and street lightning, employment schemes, local infrastructure and the revival of Banagher Great Fair.