A mother and son pictured in Ireland in 1890

46 comments
  1. Anyone know what the paper in the man’s hand is? Is it land deed or something? People these days would not last a week in the conditions those brave people lived through. I’m guessing that woman would have been in her 30’s during an Gorta Mór.

  2. That woman probably lived through the famine and her son might well have lived to see the Easter rising. Funny how lifetimes can span different eras

  3. her clothes are very interesting, the light shawl, whats it made of , local sheeps wool , its handmade anyway probablyby herself?

    The son has a bit of a threadbare scholarly vibe off him

    obviously had lived through tough times

  4. What always strikes me about old photos like these is the thought that they must have felt very modern and at the top of their time with a camera in their face and getting a picture done of them in their fashion.

    And here we are looking back at that ancient picture, ourselves feeling very modern. In 100 years time people are going to look at our photos are artefacts with the same feeling that we have towards these folks here.

  5. Just in case anyone ever doubted how poor and impovrished we were back then. Never forget what we had to fight for in this country, never forget how we were treated like human Cattle by the landowning British class. It seems some have already and we are slowly slipping back towards such situations, where the working poor are at the behest of an increasingly small but increasingly powerful landlord class.

    Property should not be an investment vehicle, a roof over your head should be a right for all Irish citizens. We need to get rid of the neoliberal traitors in charge of this country who betray every principle it was founded on.

  6. I suspect the son was not married, as the mother was alive and “there can be only one woman in a house”.

    Apparently one of my ancestors could only get married at 56 years old – after the mother died – for exactly that reason.

  7. Evidence that fake tan has been in use on this island for a long time. Who would have known all those girls painting themselves orange were traditionalists.

  8. Reasonably well dresses, wearing shoes too.
    The man may have been literate given he’s holding a pamphlet or book.
    Not sure how common reading glasses would have been back then.
    It’s a great picture.

  9. Can we just accept that the joke is “She’s only x years old and he’s only y” and move on? We can all agree it’s hilarious

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