A Slum City - Life & Death in Late Victorian Dublin
Irish History Podcast
Fin Dwyer
4.7 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 7 December 2022
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Life in Dublin at the turn of the 20th century was difficult to say the least. Working Class Dubliners were lucky if they reached 50. In those five or so decades, they worked dangerous jobs and lived in appalling conditions.
In this episode I am joined by Dr Ciara Breathnach. Ciara has spent several years researching the records of Dublin's Coroners Court for her book 'Ordinary Lives, Death, and Social Class: Dublin City Coroner's Court, 1876-1902'. As the Coroner investigated suspicious, unexplained and unusual deaths, this research gave Ciara a unique insight into life in Dublin around 1900.
Over the course of our interview Ciara explained how Dubliners lived and died. She also shares some individual cases from the Coroner's Court which provides a deeply personal history of the time and the challenges people faced.
You can find Ciara’s Profile at the University of Limerick where she is an Associate Professor in History https://www.ul.ie/research/dr-ciara-breathnach
Her book Ordinary Lives, Death, and Social Class: Dublin City Coroner's Court, 1876-1902 is available here https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ordinary-lives-death-and-social-class-ciara-breathnach/1141544052 (You can also ask your local library to order the book!)
My audiobook on the Black Death in Ireland is available for download at https://plus.acast.com/s/irishhistory. This can be purchase for a one off payment of €5.99 or is available for show supporters at www.patreon.com/irishpodcast
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey folks, just a quick heads up before you dive into the episode. |
| 0:03.6 | My new book, Alita Legacy, a history of Ireland in 18 murders is coming out on September |
| 0:08.4 | the 14th. |
| 0:09.5 | You can still pre-order your copy today, or if you're going to be in Dublin next week, |
| 0:13.8 | it will be great to see you at the launch. |
| 0:15.8 | It's on at 6pm on Thursday, September the 14th in Hodges figures. |
| 0:20.8 | That's 6pm on September the 14th in Hodges figures on Dawson Street in the city center. |
| 0:26.2 | Swing in on your way home from work, it'll be a great event. |
| 0:28.9 | Sure I'll see you there. |
| 0:37.6 | Dublin at the turn of the 20th century was an intriguing place. |
| 0:42.5 | In many ways, it seems close to the present. |
| 0:45.6 | This was, after all, for many of us the world of our great grandparents. |
| 0:50.6 | However, at the same time, this Dublin can seem incomprehensibly different. |
| 0:56.8 | What are ancestors and jurors just 120 years ago in terms of the conditions they lived |
| 1:02.1 | in, worked in, and their life expectancy is often unimaginable. |
| 1:07.7 | In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Kira Brannock. |
| 1:11.0 | Kira's new book, Ordinary Lives, Death and Social Class, Dublin City Corners Court, 1876 |
| 1:17.8 | to 1902, provides an intimate insight into day-to-day life in Dublin at the end of the 19th |
| 1:24.8 | century. |
| 1:25.8 | While inquests investigate sudden or natural and suspicious deaths, Kira has used them |
| 1:31.8 | to create a vivid picture of the lives that ultimately ended up, the subject of inquests. |
| 1:38.2 | As you hear, our conversation looked at lots of aspects of life from things like how |
... |
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