Paul O'Leary
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paulaber.bsky.social
Paul O'Leary
@paulaber.bsky.social
610 followers 500 following 64 posts
Hanesydd / Historian. Emeritus prof.
Interested in ideas and practices of freedom in 19th century Atlantic world, transnational journalism, Wales, Ireland and France.
Co-edited Gender in Modern Welsh History (2023) with Drs Beth Jenkins and Stephanie Ward
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Reposted by Paul O'Leary
katefarrantshaw.bsky.social
For a medieval Monday, a magnificent hidden treasure of Welsh legal history- a beautifully illustrated manuscript of the Welsh text of the laws of Hywel Dda dating from the 14th century Reference: NLW MS 20143A #medievalsky
January 19, 2026 at 11:53 AM
Reposted by Paul O'Leary
groomb.bsky.social
Old Welsh Bridge, Shrewsbury (exhibited 1795), painting by J.M.W. Turner, 1775-1851 (Whitworth Art Gallery).
January 18, 2026 at 6:27 PM
paulaber.bsky.social
A very useful digitised archival resource. "The Penrhyn Estate Archive reflects nearly 700 years of the Pennant family’s involvement and management of their estates across North Wales, Jamaica and England." #Wales #Jamaica
archpbu.bsky.social Archifau Prifysgol Bangor University Archives @archpbu.bsky.social · Dec 4
Today’s Explore Your Archive Theme is #EYADigital

PENRHYN ESTATE ARCHIVES (JAMAICA)

The digitised Penrhyn (Jamaica) collection can be viewed here:
www.jstor.org/site/bangor-...
#ExploreYourArchives #exploreyourarchive
In December 2024, Bangor University Archives and Special Collections and the Institute for the Study of Welsh Estates were awarded a grant of £14,850 to transform online access to the Jamaica Papers held within the Penrhyn estate archive. Thanks to the substantial grant through the Welsh Government’s Anti-Racist Wales Culture, Heritage and Sport Fund, a large percentage of the Penrhyn (Jamaica) material, around 80% is to be digitised (nearly 500 documents). The Penrhyn collection is recognised as one of the largest and most significant estate archives in Europe and it includes one of the most important and chronologically expansive collections of records relating to the operation of transatlantic slavery. The Penrhyn Jamaica records preserve a detailed record of the Pennant family's centuries-long involvement in Jamaica and in the enslavement of African people. Digitising a representative selection of these papers and making them freely available online will empower individuals and communities across Wales and internationally to engage with them through their own lens.
December 4, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Reposted by Paul O'Leary
markcrail.bsky.social
Heard about the Nottingham Chartist caught running guns into South Wales? George Black’s story is one of 42 told in Chartist Lives
🇬🇧 www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0G3Q7PR7Y
🇮🇪 www.amazon.ie/dp/B0G3Q7PR7Y
🇺🇸 www.amazon.com/dp/B0G3Q7PR7Y
🇦🇺 www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0G3Q7PR7Y
🇨🇦 www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0G3Q7PR7Y
November 30, 2025 at 1:36 PM
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llafur.bsky.social
Session 2: Politics, Society and Internationalism
Thank you to both our speakers:
Dr Marion Löffler on ‘Merthyr’s European Connections’
and Dr Martin Wright on ‘James Kier Hardie MP: Merthyr, Wales and the World’
November 29, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Reposted by Paul O'Leary
llafur.bsky.social
And we finish the day with the Cyfarthfa Foundation Public Lecture given by Dr Stephanie Ward on ‘The Women of Merthyr: Town, Region and Nation’
November 29, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Reposted by Paul O'Leary
llafur.bsky.social
Session 1: Industrial Beginnings
Diolch yn fawr to:
Dr Marian Gwyn on ‘Iron and Empire - Anthony Bacon and the global roots of Cyfarthfa’.
and Huw Williams on ‘A Crawshay come to life town!’
November 29, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Reposted by Paul O'Leary
llafur.bsky.social
Keynote, Geraint Talfan Davies, has started the day off with ‘Cyfarthfa - which stories to tell?’
November 29, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Reposted by Paul O'Leary
stevethompsonaber.bsky.social
Ymunwch â’n prosiect ymchwil newydd, yn astudio doethuriaeth am hanes meddygaeth lysieuol yng Nghymru.

Ar y cyd â @librarywales.bsky.social, @amgueddfacymru.bsky.social a Gardd Fotaneg Genedlaethol Cymru, mae’r prosiect yn cynnwys lleoliadau gwaith a mynediad i gasgliadau’r sefydliadau uchod.
November 25, 2025 at 11:32 AM
paulaber.bsky.social
My review of Lewis Darwen and Don Macraild's excellent book 'The Removal of Irish Paupers from Britain'
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/3JECK...
Many insights here for social and political historians.
#skystorians #IrishHistory bsky.app/profile/tand...
The removal of Irish paupers from Britain: 1819 to the early twentieth century
Published in Immigrants & Minorities: Historical Studies in Ethnicity, Migration and Diaspora (Ahead of Print, 2025)
www.tandfonline.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:42 AM
paulaber.bsky.social
Congratulations, Claire.
claireconnolly.bsky.social Claire Connolly @claireconnolly.bsky.social · Nov 12
I'm told this will be out in early to mid December. Please forgive coming episodes of shameless self-promotion and make a note of launch dates in your diaries!

UCC 19 February
Boston College 11 March
NYU Glucksman House 12 March
Royal Irish Academy 25 March

www.cambridge.org/ie/universit...
Irish Romanticism | Cambridge University Press & Assessment
www.cambridge.org
November 23, 2025 at 10:05 PM
paulaber.bsky.social
An important analysis of a traumatic event that has new resonances since Covid.
drdiongeorgiou.bsky.social Dr Dion Georgiou 🇨🇾❤️🇬🇾 @drdiongeorgiou.bsky.social · Nov 22
My new piece on the 2021 BBC documentary ‘Foot and Mouth - The Killing Fields in Wales’, and its revisiting of the impact of the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak and ensuing animal cull on the nation’s farmers. A 🧵 about the programme...

#skystorians #envhum #polisky
Foot and Mouth – The Killing Fields in Wales (2021)
This documentary revisited the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak and ensuing animal cull in Wales, and its impact on the country’s farmers, in part through the prism of the recent COVID pandemic.
academicbubble.substack.com
November 23, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Reposted by Paul O'Leary
cduigan.bsky.social
As predicted Cousin Brendan has returned - waiting at #Holyhead #Anglesey again after #StormClaudia #Ireland #Wales #envhist #IrishSea #migration #Diaspora
nation.cymru/feature/bren...
Brendan’s voyage to Wales – personal reflections on connections between Anglesey and Ireland.
Catherine Duigan Memories can become obscured over time by the mists of the Irish Sea. Are my childhood recollections of visits to Wales from Ireland real or imagined? Being held in my father’s arms t...
nation.cymru
November 15, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Reposted by Paul O'Leary
balwen76.bsky.social
My latest blog on the @librarywales.bsky.social blog on the #WelshPoliticalArchive lecture by @richardwynjones.bsky.social #PlaidCymru100 @plaidcymru.bsky.social www.library.wales/news/article...
The Welsh Political Archive Annual Lecture 2025
This year's lecture was given by Professor Richard Wyn Jones, Cardiff University
www.library.wales
November 12, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Reposted by Paul O'Leary
nickalito.bsky.social
Emlyn Hooson and the Welsh Liberal Party, 1962-1979 | UWP: www.uwp.co.uk/book/emlyn-h...
Emlyn Hooson and the Welsh Liberal Party, 1962-1979 | UWP
www.uwp.co.uk
November 8, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Reposted by Paul O'Leary
abdulazim.bsky.social
I'm excited to reveal the cover of a new book on the history of Muslims in Wales.

The culmination of years of research that shows how long Islam has been a Welsh religion.

If this sounds interesting, register to be kept up-to-date linktr.ee/MuslimWales

@serenbooks.bsky.social
November 6, 2025 at 12:36 PM
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medrobs.bsky.social
Tan Gwyllt / Fireworks #Aberystwyth #Ceredigion #Cymru #Wales
November 7, 2025 at 8:16 PM
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yganolfangeltaidd.bsky.social
A conference in London on 7 November explores the scientific legacy of Thomas Pennant (1726–1798) from Holywell, Flintshire - an internationally renowned naturalist whose specimens form a core part of the Natural History Museum’s collections. Read more here:
www.uwtsd.ac.uk/news/confere...
Conference Reveals Welsh Naturalist’s Major Contributions to London’s Natural History Museum
The upcoming ‘Curious Collections’ conference at the Natural History Museum, London (November 7th) will shed new light on one of the oldest collections in the museum’s archives and explore the scienti...
www.uwtsd.ac.uk
November 5, 2025 at 10:41 AM
paulaber.bsky.social
Amserol iawn: Pam y Sefydlwyd Plaid Cymru

Very timely: Why Plaid Cymru was established

Online, simultaneous translation
balwen76.bsky.social Rob Phillips @balwen76.bsky.social · Sep 18
Tocynnau nawr ar gael am ddarlith yr Archif Wleidyddol Gymreig

Tickets are now available for the Welsh Political Archive lecture

Yn y Llyfrgell/In the Library: www.ticketsource.co.uk/llgcnlw/t-ya...
Ar/On Zoom: www.ticketsource.co.uk/llgcnlw/t-mo...
November 6, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Reposted by Paul O'Leary
wigs24.bsky.social
A dyma'r llyfr ei hun!
November 6, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Reposted by Paul O'Leary
niamhroisin.bsky.social
Do share! The Catholic Historical Society of Ireland’s annual conference is on Daniel O’Connell and his Legacies - 22 Nov in @dculibrary.bsky.social - all welcome! (Small fee on the day) @nmireland.bsky.social @nlireland.bsky.social @jdmccafferty.bsky.social www.eventbrite.ie/e/oconnell-a...
O’CONNELL AND HIS LEGACY
Join us to celebrate the life and enduring impact of O'Connell and his legacy at our upcoming event!
www.eventbrite.ie
November 6, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Reposted by Paul O'Leary
refugeesinrhyl.bsky.social
The Welsh National Memorial at Langemark, Belgium.
Photo taken last week on a trip to the battlefields by my son Ryan.
The Welsh National Memorial at Langemark, Belgium. It is a large red dragon atop a stone plinth. The photo was taken just after sunrise, so the dragon is mostly silhouetted against the sun, although it's possible to make out the red colouring of the dragon.
November 5, 2025 at 12:26 PM
paulaber.bsky.social
In Archives Week in 2021, the Peoples Collection of Wales placed on-line a very large number of documents relating to what happened on the day and subsequent trials... now been transcribed and versions can be read more easily

www.peoplescollection.wales/users/10004

A remarkable resource. #Chartism
November 4, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Reposted by Paul O'Leary
victoriancommons.bsky.social
Born #OnThisDay 1801, John Lloyd Davies rose from humble origins, aided by his wife, to become MP for Cardigan Boroughs in 1855. Find out more about his life and parliamentary career in our blog: victoriancommons.wordpress.com/2017/01/30/m...
MP of the Month: From pot boy to parliamentarian – John Lloyd Davies (1801-60)
Of all the ‘self-made’ men who made the mid-nineteenth century House of Commons distinct from earlier periods, few can have begun life in such humble circumstances as John Lloyd Davies,…
victoriancommons.wordpress.com
November 1, 2025 at 3:34 PM
paulaber.bsky.social
An inversion of Britannica's 19th century 'For Wales, see England'.
politicanimal.bsky.social Jo Kibble (Political Animal) @politicanimal.bsky.social · Oct 31
My favourite bit of the Roll of Peerage. They know what’s going on.
October 31, 2025 at 10:45 AM