The Gaelic Society of Dublin was among the first societies
established specifically on grounds of studying and translating Gaelic history
and antiquities. The society was founded in 1807 by Theophilus O’Flanagan along
with some other scholars in Dublin with O’Flanagan acting as the societies
first secretary. O’Flanagan was born in Tulla, Co. Clare in 1762 and died in
died in 1814. He assisted Charlotte Brooke with her Reliques of Irish poetry
published in 1789 and Reverend James Hely with his translation of Roderick
O’Flaherty’s Ogygia published in 1793. He issued his own works Advice
to a Prince and Deirdre published in 1808 in London and the translation of The Lamentable Fate of the Sons of Usnach published in London the same year.
In
1808 the society published its first and only book of transactions which is
titled Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Dublin: established for the
investigation and revival of ancient Irish literature. The book begins by
advertising the society, stating ‘The friends of literature, and of Ireland,
are invited to join an Institution, whose purpose is to preserve and cultivate
a language the most copious, and elegant of Europe’. The author declares in this
advertisement that ‘The society recommends itself to every liberal, patriotic,
and enlightened mind; an opportunity is now, at length, offered to learned of
Ireland, to retrieve their character among the nations of Europe’.
The rules of
the society are outlined in next part of the book, dating the rules back to the
formation of the organisation on the 19th of January 1807. The
established society was to be run through a single President and eight
Vice-Presidents. The business of the committee was to be ran through a panel of
twenty-one members, with five Vice-Presidents required to be present to form
the quorum, the society itself was allowed to have an unlimited amount. The
committee was to be chosen annually from the whole body of the society and was
to be given the power to change the laws of the society when it was required.
Members were required to pay a fee of a one Guinea entrance fee with a one
Pound four Shillings annual fee or two Shillings per month fee from there on.
If a member was to donate ten Guineas or a donation of books worth the
equivalent of fifteen Pounds, they would be given a lifetime membership free
from future fees. The main contents of the book are translation of Gaelic
manuscripts in English and in parts there are translations into Latin.
The Gaelic
Society of Dublin was one of the first of many societies to come in the 19th
century. On the 28th of January 1818 a similar society known as the
Iberno-Celtic Society was founded. The society published one volume of its
transaction in 1820 titled Transactions of the Iberno-Celtic Society for
1820, Volume 1, Part 1. The book states in the opening pages that the
President of the Society was ‘His Grace The Duke Of Leinster’ who was then
Augustus FitzGerald, 3rd Duke of Leinster and Grand Master of the
Grand Lodge of Ireland from 1813 to 1874. The Patron is listed as ‘His
Excellency Earl Talbot’. In the same manner as the transactions of the Gaelic
Society of Dublin, the book lays the rules and regulations for the
Iberno-Celtic Society before proceeding to the main text. The cost of
membership for the society was a one Guinea entrance fee and then an annual fee
of thirty Shillings. The payment of ten Guineas would grant a person a lifetime
membership without having to pay form there on.
The
establishment of these two societies paved the way for the establishment of the
more well-known organisations seen in the mid to late 19th century.
They represent the early stages of the Gaelic revival sparked by the Celtic
revival of the 1750’s and as interest grew in the Celtic cultures and history,
more investment and better organisation was put into the study of Gaelic
history and inspiring the establishment of other Gaelic societies throughout
the country. These societies included the Ulster Gaelic
Society in 1830, the Irish Archaeological & Celtic Society in 1840, and the
Ossianic Society established in 1853 as well as Irish-language newspapers like
the True Irishman in 1862. The movement gained a large boost in support when
Archbishop MacHale of Tuam, Co. Galway began voicing his support for the
movement and publishing his own works in Irish. In 1856 the Ossianic Society
opened a branch in New York city and began to publish the first Irish language
newspaper titled Our Gaelic Department.
Even
with the quickly growing numbers of societies and newspapers in the 19th
century built on upholding the Gaelic language, the language was hardly being
thought in schools during until the 1850’s. This was one of many obstructions
holding back the progression of the protection of the language until the push for Irish to be taught in schools started.
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