109-574: Margaret Woffington (18 October 1720 – 28 March 1760), was an Irish actress and socialite of the Georgian era . Woffington was born of humble origins in Dublin , Ireland . Her father is thought to have been a bricklayer, and after his death, the family became impoverished. Her mother was obliged to take in washing while Peg sold watercress door to door. Madame Violante , a famous tightrope walker took her on as her apprentice. Her sister Mary Woffington
218-619: A Beefsteak Club in 1749, also known as the Sublime Society of Steaks or “the Club.” Some of its members included Garrick and William Hogarth , as well as many other London celebrities. Not only was Peg Woffington the first female member of a (previously) all male dining club, in 1750 she became president of the club by election. She also educated and supported her sister Mary (usually known as Polly), and cared for and pensioned her mother. Woffington parted from Garrick around 1744, and thence moved to
327-579: A Kit-cat beau." The actor Richard Estcourt was its "providore" or president and its most popular member. William Chetwood in A General History of the Stage is the much quoted source that the "chief Wits and great men of the nation" were members of this club. This was the first beefsteak club known to have used a gridiron as its badge. In 1708, Dr. William King dedicated his poem "Art of Cookery" to "the Honourable Beef Steak Club". His poem includes
436-749: A close link with the Icelandic people . In the Icelandic Laxdœla saga , for example, "even slaves are highborn, descended from the kings of Ireland." The first name of Njáll Þorgeirsson , the chief protagonist of Njáls saga , is a variation of the Irish name Neil . According to Eirik the Red's Saga , the first European couple to have a child born in North America was descended from the Viking Queen of Dublin , Aud
545-537: A custom for the principal performers to dine together every Saturday and invite 'authors and other geniuses' to partake of their hospitality." The Liberty Beef Steak Club sought to show solidarity with the radical John Wilkes MP and met at Appleby's Tavern in Parliament Street, London for an unknown duration after Wilkes's return from exile in France in 1768. John Timbs wrote in 1872 of a "Beef-Steak Club" which met at
654-690: A frequency of 65%. This subclade is also dominant in Scotland, Wales and Brittany and descends from a common ancestor who lived in about 2,500 BC. According to 2009 studies by Bramanti et al. and Malmström et al. on mtDNA , related western European populations appear to be largely from the neolithic and not paleolithic era, as previously thought. There was discontinuity between mesolithic central Europe and modern European populations mainly due to an extremely high frequency of haplogroup U (particularly U5) types in mesolithic central European sites. The existence of an especially strong genetic association between
763-533: A later exponent in Sarah Siddons . On 3 May 1757, she was playing the part of Rosalind in As You Like It when she collapsed on stage. She rallied, but would never act again, lingering with a wasting illness until 1760. She built and endowed by will some almshouses at Teddington, and after her death on 28 March 1760 in her 40th year her body was buried in the graveyard of St. Mary's Church there. Though she
872-504: A little over £600. Thomas Sheridan founded a "Beefsteak Club" in Dublin at the Theatre Royal in 1749, and of this Peg Woffington was president. According to William and Robert Chambers, writing in 1869, "it could hardly be called a club at all, seeing all expenses were defrayed by Manager Sheridan, who likewise invited the guests – generally peers and members of parliament. … Such weekly meetings were common to all theatres, it being
981-956: A named person. Mac is the Irish for son. Names that begin with "O'" include: Ó Bánion ( O'Banion ), Ó Briain ( O'Brien ), Ó Ceallaigh ( O'Kelly ), Ó Conchobhair ( O'Connor, O'Conor ), Ó Chonaill ( O'Connell ), O'Coiligh ( Cox ), Ó Cuilinn ( Cullen ), Ó Domhnaill ( O'Donnell ), Ó Drisceoil ( O'Driscoll ), Ó hAnnracháin, ( Hanrahan ), Ó Máille ( O'Malley ), Ó Mathghamhna ( O'Mahony ), Ó Néill ( O'Neill ), Ó Sé ( O'Shea ), Ó Súilleabháin ( O'Sullivan ), Ó Caiside/Ó Casaide ( Cassidy ), Ó Brádaigh/Mac Bradaigh ( Brady ) and Ó Tuathail ( O'Toole ). Names that begin with Mac or Mc include: Mac Cárthaigh ( McCarthy ), Mac Diarmada ( McDermott ), Mac Domhnaill ( McDonnell ), and Mac Mathghamhna ( McMahon ) Mac(g) Uidhir ( Maguire ), Mac Dhonnchadha ( McDonagh ), Mac Conmara ( MacNamara ), Mac Craith ( McGrath ), Mac Aodha ( McGee ), Mac Aonghuis ( McGuinness ), Mac Cana ( McCann ), Mac Lochlainn ( McLaughlin ) and Mac Conallaidh ( McNally ). Mac
1090-683: A private room at the Boisdale Club and Restaurant in Belgravia / Victoria and, annually, at White's Club in St James's, where it is able to dine at the early society's nineteenth century table and where it also keeps the early society's original "President's Chair", which Queen Elizabeth II gave to the current society in 1969. Although other of the society's relics (such as the original Grid Iron, Sword of State, Halberts and early members' chairs, rings, glasses, documents, etc.) have passed down to members of
1199-629: A quest to find it, but they also discover interests that try to keep them away from the play - including David Garrick , who is both Woffington's competitor and unwelcomed suitor. Irish people The Irish ( Irish : Na Gaeil or Na hÉireannaigh ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the island of Ireland , who share a common ancestry, history and culture . There have been humans in Ireland for about 33,000 years, and it has been continually inhabited for more than 10,000 years (see Prehistoric Ireland ). For most of Ireland's recorded history ,
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#17328692145641308-453: A single long table, and that by tradition the club steward and the waiters are all addressed as "Charles". The Beefsteak became an essential after-theatre club for such men as the dramatists F. C. Burnand and W. S. Gilbert , performers Corney Grain , J. L. Toole , John Hare , Henry Irving and W. H. Kendal , and theatre managers and writers Henry Labouchère and Bram Stoker , and their peers. Restaurant critic Nathaniel Newnham-Davis
1417-466: A variety of plays. Her best-received performances were in comic roles, such as elegant women of fashion like Lady Betty Modish and Lady Townley, and breeches roles . She was impeded in the performance of tragedy by a harsh tone in her voice that she strove to eliminate. While in London, she began living with fellow actor Charles Macklin . During this time, she became well acquainted with the foremost actor of
1526-561: A voyage of exploration to northwestern Europe in about 325 BC, but his account of it, known widely in Antiquity , has not survived and is now known only through the writings of others. On this voyage, he circumnavigated and visited a considerable part of modern-day Great Britain and Ireland . He was the first known scientific visitor to see and describe the Celtic and Germanic tribes. The terms Irish and Ireland are probably derived from
1635-414: A woman in Irish uses the feminine prefix nic (meaning daughter) in place of mac. Thus a boy may be called Mac Domhnaill whereas his sister would be called Nic Dhomhnaill or Ní Dhomhnaill – the insertion of 'h' follows the female prefix in the case of most consonants (bar H, L, N, R, & T). A son has the same surname as his father. A female's surname replaces Ó with Ní (reduced from Iníon Uí – "daughter of
1744-445: Is a presumed invasion of Wales , which according to a Welsh manuscript may have taken place around the 7th century. In the words of Seumas MacManus: If we compare the history of Ireland in the 6th century, after Christianity was received, with that of the 4th century, before the coming of Christianity, the wonderful change and contrast is probably more striking than any other such change in any other nation known to history. Following
1853-573: Is also mentioned in the Cyclops episode of James Joyce 's Ulysses. Woffington appears as the main character in the graphic novel La pièce manquante ("The Missing Play", 2023) by Jean Harambat [ fr ] . Wanting to go down into history with a great role, she becomes interested in William Shakespeare 's missing play The History of Cardenio when her manager and close friend Ignatius Sancho tells her about it. She and Sancho then go on
1962-565: Is commonly anglicised Mc. However, "Mac" and "Mc" are not mutually exclusive, so, for example, both "MacCarthy" and "McCarthy" are used. Both "Mac" and "Ó'" prefixes are both Irish in origin, Anglicized Prefix Mc is far more common in Ireland than Scotland with 2/3 of all Mc Surnames being Irish in origin However, "Mac" is more common in Scotland and Ulster than in the rest of Ireland; furthermore, "Ó" surnames are less common in Scotland having been brought to Scotland from Ireland. The proper surname for
2071-517: Is made up of the Republic of Ireland (officially called Ireland ) and Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom ). The people of Northern Ireland hold various national identities including Irish, British or some combination thereof. The Irish have their own unique customs, language , music , dance , sports , cuisine and mythology . Although Irish (Gaeilge) was their main language in
2180-420: Is no archaeological or placename evidence for a migration or a takeover by a small group of elites. He states that "the Irish migration hypothesis seems to be a classic case of long-held historical beliefs influencing not only the interpretation of documentary sources themselves but the subsequent invasion paradigm being accepted uncritically in the related disciplines of archaeology and linguistics." Dál Riata and
2289-407: Is that the society was formed out of the regular dinners shared at the theatre by Rich and Lambert, consisting of hot steak dressed by Rich, accompanied by "a bottle of old port from the tavern hard by." Whatever the details of its genesis, Rich and Lambert are listed as the first two of the society's twenty-four founding members. Women were not admitted. From the outset, the society strove to avoid
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#17328692145642398-488: Is that they are descendants of Spanish traders or of the few sailors of the Spanish Armada who were shipwrecked on Ireland's west coast, but there is little evidence for this. Irish Travellers are an ethnic people of Ireland . A DNA study found they originally descended from the general Irish population, however, they are now very distinct from it. The emergence of Travellers as a distinct group occurred long before
2507-635: The Abbey of St Gall in Switzerland, and Bobbio Abbey in Italy. Common to both the monastic and the secular bardic schools were Irish and Latin . With Latin, the early Irish scholars "show almost a like familiarity that they do with their own Gaelic". There is evidence also that Hebrew and Greek were studied, the latter probably being taught at Iona. "The knowledge of Greek", says Professor Sandys in his History of Classical Scholarship, "which had almost vanished in
2616-507: The Brehons would hold their courts upon hills to arbitrate the matters of the lordship. Indeed, the Tudor lawyer John Davies described the Irish people with respect to their laws: There is no people under the sun that doth love equal and indifferent (impartial) justice better than the Irish, or will rest better satisfied with the execution thereof, although it be against themselves, as they may have
2725-475: The Great Famine , a genetic analysis shows. The research suggests that Traveller origins may in fact date as far back as 420 years to 1597. The Plantation of Ulster began around that time, with native Irish displaced from the land, perhaps to form a nomadic population. One Roman historian records that the Irish people were divided into "sixteen different nations" or tribes. Traditional histories assert that
2834-652: The Gridiron Club of Oxford was founded in 1884, and the Gridiron Club of Washington D.C. was founded the following year. These two clubs also still exist. The oldest dining club in Australia is the Melbourne Beefsteak Club, established in May 1886, when merchant John Deegan, City Councillor William Ievers, solicitor James Maloney and manufacturer Frank Stuart gathered with friends for regular lunches. Their motto
2943-663: The Irish diaspora one of the largest of any nation. Historically, emigration from Ireland has been the result of conflict, famine and economic issues. People of Irish descent are found mainly in English-speaking countries, especially Great Britain , the United States , Canada , New Zealand and Australia . There are also significant numbers in Argentina , Mexico , Brazil , Germany , and The United Arab Emirates . The United States has
3052-720: The MacGrath . Irish physicians, such as the O'Briens in Munster or the MacCailim Mor in the Western Isles , were renowned in the courts of England, Spain, Portugal and the Low Countries. Learning was not exclusive to the hereditary learned families, however; one such example is Cathal Mac Manus , the 15th century diocesan priest who wrote the Annals of Ulster . Other learned families included
3161-612: The Mic Aodhagáin and Clann Fhir Bhisigh . It was this latter family which produced Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh , the 17th century genealogist and compiler of the Leabhar na nGenealach . (see also Irish medical families ). The 16th century Age of exploration brought an interest among the English to colonize Ireland with the reign of the Tudors. King Henry IV established surrender and regrants to
3270-811: The Penal laws . A knowledge of Latin was common among the poor Irish mountaineers in the 17th century, who spoke it on special occasions, while cattle were bought and sold in Greek in the mountain market-places of County Kerry . For a comparatively small population of about 6 million people, Ireland made an enormous contribution to literature. Irish literature encompasses the Irish and English languages. Notable Irish writers , playwrights and poets include Jonathan Swift , Laurence Sterne , Oscar Wilde , Oliver Goldsmith , James Joyce , George Bernard Shaw , Samuel Beckett , Bram Stoker , W.B. Yeats , Séamus Heaney and Brendan Behan . Known as An Górta Mór ("The Great Hurt") in
3379-630: The Smock Alley Theatre to perform with the well known actor, David Garrick . She danced and acted at various Dublin theatres until her early twenties, when her reputation drew a handsome offer from John Rich, the manager of the Covent Garden Theatre, to perform on the stages of London . There, she found immediate success, in the role of Sylvia in The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar . She drew public attention when she
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3488-510: The Thameside Middlesex village of Teddington , into a house called 'Teddington Place' (the building was demolished in 1946, its former grounds now being occupied by Udney Hall Gardens park and St Alban's Church, Teddington ). In 1754 she became the beneficiary of the will of the Irish impresario Owen Swiny . In 1756, she performed the part of Lady Randolph in Douglas , a part which found
3597-457: The West Country Men , were active in Ireland at around this time. The Enterprise of Ulster which pitted Shane O'Neill (Irish chieftain) against Queen Elizabeth I was a total failure This was followed by the somewhat successful first British-English colony the Munster planations which had a population of 4,000 in 1580 and in the 1620s may have grown to 16,000 After the defeat of
3706-409: The beefsteak as a symbol of patriotic and often Whig concepts of liberty and prosperity. The first beefsteak club was founded about 1705 in London by the actor Richard Estcourt and others in the arts and politics. This club flourished for less than a decade. The Sublime Society of Beef Steaks was established in 1735 by another performer, John Rich , at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden , where he
3815-428: The silent era . These portrayals were largely based on the works of Reade and Taylor and include Peg Woffington (1910), Peg Woffington (1912) and Masks and Faces (1917). In 1935 Anna Neagle played Woffington in the comedy Peg of Old Drury with Cedric Hardwicke playing David Garrick. Her character appeared in the 2015 play Mr Foote's Other Leg as a friend and colleague of Samuel Foote . Woffington
3924-539: The Bell Tavern, Church Row, Houndsditch , and was instituted by "Mr Beard, Mr Dunstall, Mr Woodward, Stoppalear, Bencroft, Gifford etc". It is not clear if the Ivy Lane Club , of which Dr Johnson was a member, was a "Beef-Steak Club", but it met at a famous beef-steak house. Many beefsteak clubs of the 18th and 19th centuries have used the traditional grilling gridiron as their symbol and some are even named after it:
4033-631: The Ciannachta, Eóganachta, and possibly the Soghain, a deified ancestor. This practice is paralleled by the Anglo-Saxon dynasties. One legend states that the Irish were descended from the Milesians , who supposedly conquered Ireland around 1000 BC or later. Haplogroup R1b is the dominant haplogroup among Irish males, reaching a frequency of almost 80%. R-L21 is the dominant subclade within Ireland, reaching
4142-657: The Deep-minded , and a Gaelic slave brought to Iceland. The arrival of the Anglo-Normans brought also the Welsh , Flemish , Anglo-Saxons , and Bretons . Most of these were assimilated into Irish culture and polity by the 15th century, with the exception of some of the walled towns and the Pale areas. The Late Middle Ages also saw the settlement of Scottish gallowglass families of mixed Gaelic-Norse and Pict descent, mainly in
4251-586: The Fianna and the Fenian Cycle were purely fictional, they would still be representative of the character of the Irish people: ...such beautiful fictions of such beautiful ideals, by themselves, presume and prove beautiful-souled people, capable of appreciating lofty ideals. The introduction of Christianity to the Irish people during the 5th century brought a radical change to the Irish people's foreign relations. The only military raid abroad recorded after that century
4360-528: The Irish and other Celtic populations (Welsh, Highland Scots and Cornish) and showing a possible link to the Bretons ; and a 'West Norwegian' component related to the Viking era. As of 2016, 10,100 Irish nationals of African descent referred to themselves as "Black Irish" in the national census. The term "Black Irish" is sometimes used outside Ireland to refer to Irish people with black hair and dark eyes. One theory
4469-578: The Irish and the Basques was first challenged in 2005, and in 2007 scientists began looking at the possibility of a more recent Mesolithic- or even Neolithic-era entrance of R1b into Europe. A new study published in 2010 by Balaresque et al. implies either a Mesolithic- or Neolithic- (not Paleolithic-) era entrance of R1b into Europe. Unlike previous studies, large sections of autosomal DNA were analyzed in addition to paternal Y-DNA markers. They detected an autosomal component present in modern Europeans which
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4578-673: The Irish came to be seen as a nation of "saints and scholars". The 6th-century Irish monk and missionary Columbanus is regarded as one of the "fathers of Europe", followed by saints Cillian and Fergal . The scientist Robert Boyle is considered the "father of chemistry ", and Robert Mallet one of the "fathers of seismology ". Irish literature has produced famous writers in both Irish- and English-language traditions, such as Eoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin , Dáibhí Ó Bruadair , Jonathan Swift , Oscar Wilde , W. B. Yeats , Samuel Beckett , James Joyce , Máirtín Ó Cadhain , Eavan Boland , and Seamus Heaney . Notable Irish explorers include Brendan
4687-475: The Irish have been primarily a Gaelic people (see Gaelic Ireland ). From the 9th century, small numbers of Vikings settled in Ireland, becoming the Norse-Gaels . Anglo-Normans also conquered parts of Ireland in the 12th century, while England 's 16th/17th century conquest and colonisation of Ireland brought many English and Lowland Scots to parts of the island, especially the north. Today, Ireland
4796-503: The Irish in Ulster in the Nine Years' War (Ireland) ; which was not exclusively confined to Ulster. The English would try again to colonize Ireland fearing another rebellion in Ulster, using previous colonial Irish endeavours as their influence. King James would succeed Queen Elizabeth the I, because King James I was previously King James VI of Scotland, he would plant both English and Scottish in
4905-508: The Irish language, during the famine millions of Irish people died and emigrated during Ireland's largest famine. The famine lasted from 1845 - 1849, and it was worst in the year 1847, which became known as Black '47. The famine occurred due to the extremely impoverished Irish population's staple food the potato being infected with Blight , and the British administration appropriating all other crops and livestock to feed her armies abroad. This meant
5014-423: The Irish shows that there is fine-scale population structure between different regional populations of the island, with the largest difference between native 'Gaelic' Irish populations and those of Ulster Protestants known to have recent, partial British ancestry. They were also found to have most similarity to two main ancestral sources: a 'French' component (mostly northwestern French) which reached highest levels in
5123-482: The Irish, but it was not until the Catholic queen Mary I of England who started the first plantations in Ireland in 1550, this would become the model for English colonization moving forward in Ireland and would later form the British imperial model The 1550 plantation counties were known as Philipstown (now Daingean) and Maryborough (now Portlaoise) named by the English planters at the time. A group of explorers, known as
5232-652: The Lyceum reopened, and a large room there was allotted to the club. These meetings were held till the society ceased to exist in 1867. Its decline in its last twenty or so years was due to changing fashion: many of its members were no longer free on Saturdays, being either engaged in events in London's social season or else away from London at weekends, something much encouraged by the opening of railways. The customary time for dinner had also changed. The society moved its dinner time from 4.00 p.m. in 1808, to 6.00 p.m. in 1833 and to 7.00 p.m. in 1861, and finally to 8.00 p.m. in 1866, but
5341-526: The Navigator , Sir Robert McClure , Sir Alexander Armstrong , Sir Ernest Shackleton and Tom Crean . By some accounts, the first European child born in North America had Irish descent on both sides. Many presidents of the United States have had some Irish ancestry. The population of Ireland is about 6.9 million, but it is estimated that 50 to 80 million people around the world have Irish forebears, making
5450-664: The Romans never attempted to conquer Ireland, although it may have been considered. The Irish were not, however, cut off from Europe; they frequently raided the Roman territories, and also maintained trade links. Among the most famous people of ancient Irish history are the High Kings of Ireland , such as Cormac mac Airt and Niall of the Nine Hostages , and the semi-legendary Fianna . The 20th-century writer Seumas MacManus wrote that even if
5559-675: The arts were joined by noblemen, royalty, statesmen and great soldiers: in 1785, the Prince of Wales joined, and later his brothers the Dukes of Clarence and Sussex became members. Meetings were held every Saturday between November and June. All members were required to wear the society's uniform – a blue coat and buff waistcoat with brass buttons. The buttons bore a gridiron motif and the words "Beef and liberty". The steaks were served on hot pewter plates, with onions and baked potatoes, and were accompanied by port or porter . The only second course offered
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#17328692145645668-597: The bohemian theatre set, including W. S. Gilbert , and still meets in Irving Street. The first known beefsteak club (the Beef-Stake Club, Beef-Steak Clubb or Honourable Beef-Steak Club) seems to have been that founded in about 1705 in London. It was started by some seceders from the Whiggish Kit-Cat Club , "desirous of proving substantial beef was as prolific a food for an English wit as pies and custards for
5777-472: The change inconvenienced the members who preferred the old timing and did not attract new members. Moreover, in Victorian England, its Georgian heartiness and ritual, and old-fashioned uniform, no longer appealed. By 1867 the society had only eighteen members, and the average attendance at dinners had dwindled to two. The club was wound up in 1867, and its assets were auctioned at Christie's , raising
5886-620: The closure of the original Sublime Society in 1867, three separate efforts have been made to revive it in various forms. Sir Henry Irving , as proprietor of the Lyceum Theatre, had possession within his theatre of the society's last premises. From about 1878 until his death in 1905, he hosted dinners in the society's dining room. A biographer of Irving wrote, "He wanted the Lyceum to have the same educational and intellectual force that Phelps ' theatre had enjoyed in lslington." A contemporary newspaper reported, "Almost as soon as Mr. Irving undertook
5995-456: The club in The Spectator in 1711 as still functioning. The historian Colin J. Horne suggests that the club may have come to an end with the death of Estcourt in 1712. There was also a "Rump-Steak or Liberty Club" (also called "The Patriots Club") of London, which was in existence in 1733–34, whose members were "eager in opposition to Sir Robert Walpole ". The Sublime Society of Beef Steaks
6104-531: The conversion of the Irish to Christianity, Irish secular laws and social institutions remained in place. The 'traditional' view is that, in the 4th or 5th century, Goidelic language and Gaelic culture was brought to Scotland by settlers from Ireland, who founded the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata on Scotland's west coast. This is based mostly on medieval writings from the 9th and 10th centuries. The archaeologist Ewan Campbell argues against this view, saying that there
6213-665: The couplet: He that of Honour, Wit and Mirth partakes, May be a fit Companion o'er Beef-steaks. The club originally met at the Imperial Phiz public house in Old Jewry in the City of London , but finding that venue not private enough, it ceased to meet there, and by 1709 it was not known "whether they have healed the breach and returned into the Kit-Cat community [or] … remove from place to place to prevent discovery." Joseph Addison referred to
6322-418: The crew list of 1492, no Irish or English sailors were involved in the voyage. An English report of 1515 states that the Irish people were divided into over sixty Gaelic lordships and thirty Anglo-Irish lordships. The English term for these lordships was "nation" or "country". The Irish term " oireacht " referred to both the territory and the people ruled by the lord. Literally, it meant an "assembly", where
6431-598: The crop failed and turned black. Starving people who tried to eat them would only vomit it back up soon afterwards. Soup kitchens were set up but made little difference. The British government produced little aid, only sending raw corn known as 'Peel's Brimstone' to Ireland. It was known by this name after the British Prime Minister at the time, Robert Peel , and the fact that many Irish weren't aware of how to cook corn. This led to little or no improvement. The British government set up workhouses which were disease-ridden (with cholera, TB and others) but they also failed as little food
6540-456: The cultural unity of Europe", and it was the 6th-century Irish monk Columbanus who is regarded as "one of the fathers of Europe". Another Irish saint, Aidan of Lindisfarne , has been proposed as a possible patron saint of the United Kingdom, while Saints Kilian and Vergilius became the patron saints of Würzburg in Germany and Salzburg in Austria, respectively. Irish missionaries founded monasteries outside Ireland, such as Iona Abbey ,
6649-409: The current society from ancestors in the original society, the current society "leaves such items in safety, keeping less fragile replicas and proxy items for its normal meetings in Central London". Other early customs of the original society, such as the singing and composition of songs, are also encouraged by the current society. The Beefsteak Club that today has premises at 9 Irving Street, London,
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#17328692145646758-458: The day David Garrick , and her other love affairs (including liaisons with Edward Bligh, 2nd Earl of Darnley and the MP Charles Hanbury Williams ), were numerous and notorious. However, her affairs were not without controversy. One evening, Woffington and Garrick were almost caught in bed together by a visiting Noble Lord, who was believed to be enamoured with the actress. Upon fleeing, Garrick gathered his clothes, but noticed only once he had left
6867-475: The defeat of the Irish rebels would also plant New English in Ireland, known as the Protestant ascendency. There have been notable Irish scientists. The Anglo-Irish scientist Robert Boyle (1627–1691) is considered the father of chemistry for his book The Sceptical Chymist , written in 1661. Boyle was an atomist , and is best known for Boyle's Law . The hydrographer Rear Admiral Francis Beaufort (1774–1857), an Irish naval officer of Huguenot descent,
6976-618: The families who bear them appear to have had Gaelic origins. "Fitz" is an old Norman French variant of the Old French word fils (variant spellings filz , fiuz , fiz , etc.), used by the Normans, meaning son . The Normans themselves were descendants of Vikings , who had settled in Normandy and thoroughly adopted the French language and culture. With the exception of the Gaelic-Irish Fitzpatrick ( Mac Giolla Phádraig ) surname, all names that begin with Fitz – including FitzGerald (Mac Gearailt), Fitzsimons (Mac Síomóin/Mac an Ridire) and FitzHenry (Mac Anraí) – are descended from
7085-513: The famine. The Great Famine is one of the biggest events in Irish history and is ingrained in the identity on the nation to this day. It was a major factor in Irish nationalism and Ireland's fight for independence during subsequent rebellions, as many Irish people felt a stronger need to regain independence from British rule after the famine. Beefsteak Club Beefsteak Club is the name or nickname of several 18th- and 19th-century male dining clubs in Britain and Australia that celebrated
7194-415: The founding of many of Ireland's most important towns, including Cork , Dublin, Limerick , and Waterford (earlier Gaelic settlements on these sites did not approach the urban nature of the subsequent Norse trading ports). The Vikings left little impact on Ireland other than towns and certain words added to the Irish language, but many Irish taken as slaves inter-married with the Scandinavians, hence forming
7303-400: The goddess Ériu . A variety of tribal groups and dynasties have inhabited the island, including the Airgialla , Fir Ol nEchmacht , Delbhna , the mythical Fir Bolg , Érainn , Eóganachta , Mairtine , Conmaicne , Soghain , and Ulaid . In the cases of the Conmaicne, Delbhna, and perhaps Érainn, it can be demonstrated that the tribe took their name from their chief deity, or in the case of
7412-416: The grandson of") and Mac with Nic (reduced from Iníon Mhic – "daughter of the son of"); in both cases the following name undergoes lenition. However, if the second part of the surname begins with the letter C or G, it is not lenited after Nic. Thus the daughter of a man named Ó Maolagáin has the surname Ní Mhaolagáin and the daughter of a man named Mac Gearailt has the surname Nic Gearailt . When anglicised,
7521-640: The initial Norman settlers. A small number of Irish families of Goidelic origin came to use a Norman form of their original surname—so that Mac Giolla Phádraig became Fitzpatrick—while some assimilated so well that the Irish name was dropped in favour of a new, Hiberno-Norman form. Another common Irish surname of Norman Irish origin is the 'de' habitational prefix, meaning 'of' and originally signifying prestige and land ownership. Examples include de Búrca (Burke), de Brún, de Barra (Barry), de Stac (Stack), de Tiúit, de Faoite (White), de Londras (Landers), de Paor (Power). The Irish surname "Walsh" (in Irish Breathnach )
7630-487: The majority of Irish emigrants to Australia were in fact prisoners. A substantial proportion of these committed crimes in hopes of being extradited to Australia, favouring it to the persecution and hardships they endured in their homeland. Emigrants travelled on ' Coffin Ships' , which got their name from the often high mortality rates on board. Many died of disease or starved. Conditions on board were abysmal - tickets were expensive so stowaways were common, and little food stuff
7739-449: The management of the Lyceum he restored this venerable sanctuary to something like its former appearance, and very often now it is the scene of the informal and bright little supper parties which he delights to bring about him. … If the nocturnal gatherings in the room were not of a private character we might say a good deal about them, especially as the guests frequently include men whose names are great." The Sublime Society of Beef Steaks
7848-478: The most people of Irish descent, while in Australia those of Irish descent are a higher percentage of the population than in any other country outside Ireland. Many Icelanders have Irish and Scottish Gaelic ancestors due to transportation there as slaves by the Vikings during their settlement of Iceland . During the past 33,000 years, Ireland has witnessed different peoples arrive on its shores. Pytheas made
7957-577: The name can remain O' or Mac, regardless of gender. There are a number of Irish surnames derived from Norse personal names, including Mac Suibhne (Sweeney) from Swein and McAuliffe from "Olaf". The name Cotter , local to County Cork , derives from the Norse personal name Ottir. The name Reynolds is an Anglicization of the Irish Mac Raghnaill, itself originating from the Norse names Randal or Reginald. Though these names were of Viking derivation some of
8066-534: The nineteenth century membership, and it adheres to the Society's early rules and customs. Other "Beefsteak Clubs" included one in Dublin from 1749, for performers and politicians, and several in London and elsewhere. Many used the gridiron as their symbol, and some are even named after it, including the Gridiron Club of Washington, D.C., US. In 1876, a Beefsteak Club was formed that became an essential after-theatre club for
8175-504: The north; due to similarities of language and culture they too were assimilated. The Irish were among the first people in Europe to use surnames as we know them today. It is very common for people of Gaelic origin to have the English versions of their surnames beginning with 'Ó' or 'Mac' (Over time however many have been shortened to 'O' or Mc). 'O' comes from the Irish Ó which in turn came from Ua, which means " grandson ", or " descendant " of
8284-620: The original Neolithic farming population was most similar to present-day Sardinians , while the three Bronze Age remains had a large genetic component from the Pontic-Caspian steppe . Modern Irish are the population most genetically similar to the Bronze Age remains, followed by Scottish and Welsh, and share more DNA with the three Bronze Age men from Rathlin Island than with the earlier Ballynahatty Neolithic woman. A 2017 genetic study done on
8393-423: The past, today most Irish people speak English as their first language. Historically, the Irish nation was made up of kin groups or clans , and the Irish also had their own religion , law code , alphabet and style of dress . There have been many notable Irish people throughout history. After Ireland's conversion to Christianity , Irish missionaries and scholars exerted great influence on Western Europe, and
8502-515: The plantations and went into decline. Among the last of the true bardic poets were Brian Mac Giolla Phádraig (c. 1580–1652) and Dáibhí Ó Bruadair (1625–1698). The Irish poets of the late 17th and 18th centuries moved toward more modern dialects. Among the most prominent of this period were Séamas Dall Mac Cuarta , Peadar Ó Doirnín , Art Mac Cumhaigh , Cathal Buí Mac Giolla Ghunna , and Seán Clárach Mac Domhnaill . Irish Catholics continued to receive an education in secret "hedgeschools", in spite of
8611-574: The plantations of Ulster drawing upon the Munster Plantations, this proved to be the most successful they were settled in what's mostly Now Northern Ireland. The Plantations of Ireland introduced Tudor English settlers to Ireland, while The Plantation of Ulster in the 17th century introduced a great number of Scottish and to a lesser extent English as well as French Huguenots as colonists. All previous endeavours were solely an English venture. The Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell (1653–1658) after
8720-493: The protection and benefit of the law upon which just cause they do desire it. Another English commentator records that the assemblies were attended by "all the scum of the country"—the labouring population as well as the landowners. While the distinction between "free" and "unfree" elements of the Irish people was unreal in legal terms, it was a social and economic reality. Social mobility was usually downwards, due to social and economic pressures. The ruling clan's "expansion from
8829-588: The room that he had left behind his scratch wig. Woffington managed to evade the angry Lord's accusations by claiming the wig was her own, for an upcoming breeches role. Though she was popular with society figures, having entertained such illustrious names as Samuel Johnson and Henry Fielding , Peg Woffington was not always favoured by her competition. She tended to create rivalries with similar-types of actresses at Drury Lane and Covent Garden. She even managed to offend “tragediennes for whom Peg’s comic powers posed no threat” with her “queenly ways”. Her fiercest rivalry
8938-411: The term "club", but the shorter "Beefsteak Club" was soon used by many as an informal alternative. The early core of the society was made up of actors, artists, writers and musicians, among them William Hogarth (a founder-member), David Garrick (possibly), John Wilkes (elected 1754), Samuel Johnson (1780), and John Philip Kemble (1805). The society soon became much celebrated and these men of
9047-616: The territory of the neighbouring Picts merged to form the Kingdom of Alba , and Goidelic language and Gaelic culture became dominant there. The country came to be called Scotland , after the Roman name for the Gaels: Scoti . The Isle of Man and the Manx people also came under massive Gaelic influence in their history. Irish missionaries such as Saint Columba brought Christianity to Pictish Scotland . The Irishmen of this time were also "aware of
9156-474: The top downwards" was constantly displacing commoners and forcing them into the margins of society. As a clan-based society, genealogy was all important. Ireland 'was justly styled a "Nation of Annalists"'. The various branches of Irish learning—including law, poetry, history and genealogy, and medicine—were associated with hereditary learned families. The poetic families included the Uí Dhálaigh (Daly) and
9265-520: The use of a common language and mass Irish migration to Scotland in the late 19th and early to mid-20th centuries. The Irish people of the Late Middle Ages were active as traders on the European continent. They were distinguished from the English (who only used their own language or French) in that they only used Latin abroad—a language "spoken by all educated people throughout Gaeldom". According to
9374-510: The west was so widely dispersed in the schools of Ireland that if anyone knew Greek it was assumed he must have come from that country."' Since the time of Charlemagne , Irish scholars had a considerable presence in the Frankish court , where they were renowned for their learning. The most significant Irish intellectual of the early monastic period was the 9th century Johannes Scotus Eriugena , an outstanding philosopher in terms of originality. He
9483-429: The words "Beef and liberty". The steaks and baked potatoes were accompanied by port or porter . After dinner, the evening was given up to noisy revelry. The club met almost continuously until 1867. Sir Henry Irving continued its tradition in the late nineteenth century. The Sublime Society was revived in 1966 and holds many of the original Society's relics in safe keeping. Its membership includes lineal descendants from
9592-464: The writer Seumas MacManus , the explorer Christopher Columbus visited Ireland to gather information about the lands to the west, a number of Irish names are recorded on Columbus' crew roster preserved in the archives of Madrid and it was an Irishman named Patrick Maguire who was the first to set foot in the Americas in 1492; however, according to Morison and Miss Gould , who made a detailed study of
9701-514: Was "Beefsteak and Brotherhood", and the membership was made up of gentlemen from business, the professions, and academia. It held its 300th dinner on 14 October 1916 and its 400th on 11 August 1928, in the Hotel Windsor . "Leadership in War", the speech that General Sir John Monash gave to the Club on 30 March 1926, was included in a 2004 collection entitled The Speeches that Made Australia . Since
9810-403: Was a much-reported court case following a fracas on the doorstep of the club between Labouchère and Edward Levy-Lawson , proprietor of The Daily Telegraph . The committee of the club expelled Labouchère, who successfully sought a court ruling that they had no right to do so. The members have included at least one prime minister: in 1957 the members gave a dinner to Harold Macmillan "to mark
9919-577: Was also eulogised in a poetical sketch by the dramatist Henry Jones . She has been portrayed as a character in the stage plays A Laughing Matter by April De Angelis . and Mr Foote's Other Leg by Ian Kelly . In 1852 Charles Reade and Tom Taylor wrote a play Masks and Faces which featured Woffington as a central character. Following the play's success, Reade wrote a novel Peg Woffington in 1855. A play by Frances Aymar Mathews , Pretty Peggy (1902), starred Grace George as Woffington. Woffington featured in several films, particularly in
10028-471: Was also a member around the turn of the 20th century. The club moved to Green Street, in Mayfair , and, in 1896, to its present address. There were 250 members, some of whom occasionally performed amateur plays for their own amusement and to raise funds for charities. For example, in 1878, they performed The Forty Thieves , written by members Robert Reece , Gilbert, Burnand, and Henry J. Byron . In 1879 there
10137-447: Was also an actress but she did not enjoy the same success. Around 1730, Madame Violante featured the young Woffington in her Lilliputian Theatre Company's production of John Gay ’s The Beggar’s Opera . Her performance as Mackheath served as a springboard for continued fame in Dublin. She continued dancing and acting in the area – playing Dorinda in an adaptation of The Tempest as the Theatre Royal, Dublin in 1735 and later joining
10246-489: Was available and many died on arrival as they were overworked. Some British political figures at the time saw the famine as a purge from God to exterminate the majority of the native Irish population. Irish people emigrated to escape the famine journeying predominantly to the east coast of the United States , especially Boston and New York , as well as Liverpool in England, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Many records show
10355-447: Was born into a Catholic family, she was buried a Protestant, having been received into the Church of Ireland on 31 December 1753. Woffington died a woman of wealth and had left most of her fortune to her sister, Mary. Considered a society beauty of her era, Woffington was painted by several artists, including Jacobus Lovelace in 1744, Peter van Bleeck in 1747, and John Lewis in 1753. She
10464-495: Was cast as Sir Harry Wildair in The Constant Couple . Audiences were intrigued, as at the time the role was highly associated with actor Robert Wilks , who had died seven years earlier. Nonetheless, her performance was well received, and audiences enjoyed her new interpretation of the role. She became well known as an actress thereafter. She performed at Drury Lane for several years and later returned to Dublin, appearing in
10573-451: Was established in 1735 by John Rich at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden , of which he was then manager. One version of its origin has it that the Earl of Peterborough , supping one night with Rich in his private room, was so delighted with the steak Rich grilled him that he suggested a repetition of the meal the next week. Another version is that George Lambert , the scene-painter at the theatre,
10682-533: Was established in 1876. When it was founded as a successor to the Sublime Society, its members hoped to rent the society's dining room at the Lyceum. As that room was not available, the club held its first meeting, on 11 March 1876, in rooms above the Folly Theatre (later known as Toole's Theatre) in King William IV Street. Two features of the club were, and are, that all members and guests sit together at
10791-585: Was given to passengers who were simply viewed as cargo in the eyes of the ship workers. Notable coffin ships include the Jeanie Johnston and the Dunbrody . There are statues and memorials in Dublin, New York and other cities in memory of the famine. The Fields of Athenry is a late-20th century song about the Great Famine and is often sung at national team sporting events in memory and homage to those affected by
10900-439: Was in question, something that has been diminished with the loss of prefixes such as Ó and Mac. Different branches of a family with the same surname sometimes used distinguishing epithets, which sometimes became surnames in their own right. Hence the chief of the clan Ó Cearnaigh (Kearney) was referred to as An Sionnach (Fox), which his descendants use to this day. Similar surnames are often found in Scotland for many reasons, such as
11009-609: Was not present in Neolithic or Mesolithic Europeans, and which would have been introduced into Europe with paternal lineages R1b and R1a, as well as the Indo-European languages. This genetic component, labelled as " Yamnaya " in the studies, then mixed to varying degrees with earlier Mesolithic hunter-gatherer and Neolithic farmer populations already existing in western Europe. A more recent whole genome analysis of Neolithic and Bronze Age skeletal remains from Ireland suggested that
11118-418: Was often too busy to leave the theatre and "contented himself with a beefsteak broiled upon the fire in the painting-room." His visitors so enjoyed sharing this dish that they set up the Sublime Society. William and Robert Chambers , writing in 1869, favour the second version, noting that Peterborough was not one of the original members. A third version, favoured by the historian of the society, Walter Arnold,
11227-525: Was re-formed in 1966 and has met continually since then. Several nineteenth century members have lineal descendants among today's membership, who wear the original blue and buff uniform (of a Regency character) and buttons and adhere to the 1735 constitution whenever practicable. This revival started to meet at the Irish Club, Eaton Square, in 1966, then at the Beefsteak Club, Irving Street, and today meets in
11336-449: Was routinely given to settlers of Welsh origin, who had come during and after the Norman invasion. The Joyce and Griffin/Griffith (Gruffydd) families are also of Welsh origin. The Mac Lochlainn, Ó Maol Seachlainn, Ó Maol Seachnaill, Ó Conchobhair, Mac Loughlin and Mac Diarmada families, all distinct, are now all subsumed together as MacLoughlin. The full surname usually indicated which family
11445-590: Was the creator of the Beaufort scale for indicating wind force. George Boole (1815–1864), the mathematician who invented Boolean algebra , spent the latter part of his life in Cork . The 19th century physicist George Stoney introduced the idea and the name of the electron . He was the uncle of another notable physicist, George FitzGerald . The Irish bardic system, along with the Gaelic culture and learned classes, were upset by
11554-574: Was the earliest of the founders of scholasticism , the dominant school of medieval philosophy . He had considerable familiarity with the Greek language, and translated many works into Latin, affording access to the Cappadocian Fathers and the Greek theological tradition , previously almost unknown in the Latin West. The influx of Viking raiders and traders in the 9th and 10th centuries resulted in
11663-459: Was then manager, and George Lambert , his scenic artist, with two dozen members of the theatre and arts community ( Samuel Johnson joined in 1780). The society became much celebrated, and new members included royalty, statesmen and great soldiers: in 1785, the Prince of Wales joined. At the weekly meetings, the members wore a blue coat and buff waistcoat with brass buttons bearing a gridiron motif and
11772-548: Was toasted cheese. After dinner, the tablecloth was removed, the cook collected the money, and the rest of the evening was given up to noisy revelry. The society met at Covent Garden until the fire of 1808, when it moved first to the Bedford Coffee House, and thence the following year to the Old Lyceum Theatre . On the burning of the Lyceum in 1830, "The Steaks" met again in the Bedford Coffee House until 1838, when
11881-542: Was with “equally peppery” actress Kitty Clive . According to Garrick's biographer Thomas Davies , “No two women in high life ever hated each other more unreservedly than these two great dames of the stage.” When she returned to Covent Garden , rivalries with these women and with the manager, Mr. Rich, eventually sent her back to Dublin, where she was unrivalled and celebrated at the Smock Alley Theatre. John Rich , manager of Covent Garden in London, decided to start
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