Ivo Richard Vesey was born in England on 15 December 1881. He was the second son of Eustace Vesey and Constance Mary Lawley, becoming the eldest living son upon the death of his older brother Eustace Thomas Beilby Vesey in 1882. Ivo was educated at Eton College. He joined the Irish Guards and attained the...Read More

In 1922 twenty-six counties of Ireland left the United Kingdom, they did not however leave the British Empire. In this article we will explore some Irish, and more specifically Laois, connections with that wider world of the British Empire.Read More

The Genealogy Club returns to Portlaoise Library on Thursday 22nd September at 7 pm. New members welcome.Read More

Do you know anyone who is starting college, attending third-level education or wanting to brush up on their writing, referencing and research skills? Portlaoise Library will be running a one-hour talk outlining the SECRETS FOR SUCCESSFUL ESSAY WRITING AND RESEARCH SKILLS.Read More

A joint German-Irish flight into aviation history is an article by Teddy Fennelly on Colonel James Fitzmaurice, an aviation pioneer, who grew up in Portlaoise. The article was first published in the Laois Heritage Society Journal. Vol. 4 in 2008Read More

This article is about three ballads current locally in the opening decades of the twentieth century, all of which speak to that time as a period of profound social change.Read More

If one were to ask a Laois person to name somebody famous who hailed from within the county, one name unlikely to feature among the responses would be that of John Kinder Labatt, who was the founder of the world-famous Canadian Labatt Brewing Company in the mid-nineteenth century.Read More

With National Heritage Week 2022 just a week away its time to check out what’s happening here in Laois. This year Heritage Week will run from 13th – 21st August, with a huge range of events taking place across the county, including lots of talks and events in library branches.Read More

The final dissolution of the six southern Irish infantry regiments of the British Army took place on the 31st of July 1922. They were the Royal Irish Regiment, the Royal Irish Fusiliers, the Connaught Rangers, the Royal Munster Fusiliers, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers and the Leinster Regiment. The flag associated with the Leinster Regiment, the...Read More

At the time of the Truce in 1921 Denis Dwyer was a Volunteer in the D (Luggacurran) company of the 4th Battalion, Laois Brigade, Irish Republican Army and James Kealy a Volunteer in the E (Ballickmoyler) company of the same battalion. A year later Kealy was killed in the Civil War fighting on the Pro-Treaty...Read More