Lady Lavery: the Face of Ireland

The Irish Passport

Society & Culture

4.8 • 652 Ratings

🗓️ 20 September 2021

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Who was the iconic woman depicted on Irish banknotes from 1927-1977? Why was she so integral to the story of Irish independence? And what lies behind her inscrutable stare? In our latest Halfpint episode, we discover the extraordinary life of Lady Lavery – a Chicago-born debutante who would go on to become the face of an independent Ireland. This halfpint episode would not have been possible without the support of our wonderful patrons. You can find our full archive of Halfpint extra content over on www.patreon.com/theirishpassport, where you can help keep the podcast running by become a Patreon supporter today. This episode features the music tracks “Hopeless Waltz” and “Just a Waltz” by Alena Smirnova.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Irish Passport Halfpints, the extra content we make especially to thank our Patreon supporters.
0:07.1	Hello, welcome to Irish Passport.
0:09.2	Let's do it.
0:10.0	Welcome to the Irish Passport.
0:11.7	I'm Tim McInerney.
0:12.9	I'm Naomi O'Leary.
0:13.9	We're friends.
0:14.6	Can you both of Naomi?
0:15.5	Anwarfad, Tim.
0:16.9	This is your passport to Irish culture, history and politics.
0:20.2	Uh-huh.
0:20.3	I'm recording. One, history and politics. Uh-huh. I'm recording.
0:21.1	One, two, two, three.
0:23.5	Okay. If you traveled to Ireland before 1977, you might remember the old design of the former Irish currency, the punt.
0:50.6	Younger listeners might be better acquainted with the most recent punts, with notes depicting
0:54.8	historical figures such as Daniel O'Connell, James Joyce, Jonathan Swift.
1:00.2	But until 1977, the designs of Irish currency had remained unchanged since it was first commissioned
1:07.0	in 1927.
1:09.3	Notes of every denomination bore the same curious image, a young woman, dressed in
1:15.0	traditional Irish clothes and seated beside the glimmering lakes of Calarney. This image is
1:20.9	laden with a particularly 1920s brand of nationalistic sentimentality. The subject is, of course, a beautiful woman,
1:29.5	supposed to represent the figure of Kathleen Nehulahon, an allegory of Ireland itself. Her eyes are
	...

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