[Milligan, Alice]. A truly magnificent large Tara Brooch, in...

Hammer

€6,000

[Milligan, Alice]. A truly magnificent large Tara Brooch, in 18-carat gold, (Hopkins & Hopkins, Dublin) with hallmarks and ‘Déanta in Éirinn’ stamp, engraved inscription rear ‘d’Éilis / le fíor-mheas & gáirdeachas / ó n-a cómh Gaedhealaibh i Lunndain’  [‘To Alice / with great esteem and rejoicing from her fellow-Gaels in London’].  

Alice Milligan [1866-1953] came from a prosperous Methodist family near Omagh, Co. Tyrone. Her father, a businessman, was an RIA member and antiquarian; her sister, Charlotte Milligan Fox, became a folk-song collector. Alice became interested in the Irish language, and decided to devote her life to the ideal of an ‘Irish-Ireland’. She was a prolific poet and playwright, and with her friend Ethna Carbery she founded the influential Shan Van Vocht periodical, which published early work by James Connolly. She was also a member of Inghinidhe na hEireann, the radical women’s group. She was deeply upset by the Civil War, and largely withdrew from public activity thereafter. In 1932 she returned to Omagh, where she lived thereafter in genteel poverty. She received an honorary D. Litt. from NUI in 1941.
The occasion for the present gift is perhaps a significant personal anniversary?

* By Tradition suggested to have been presented on her return to Ireland from England. As a gift from Alice to the present Vendor's family by descent.