BORN in a Dublin cellar in 1776, Francis Higgins would swindle his way from lowly messenger boy all the way up to the top echelons of Dublin society, eventually becoming owner of the newspaper the Freemans Journal.

AS 2025 came to a close, a fascinating presentation was delivered by Jimmy Watson, Chair of the Friends of Thomas Muir, in Grace’s Irish Centre in Glasgow.

THE life and times of the publisher, home-ruler, land reformer and radical, John Ferguson (1836-1906), were brought to life in a fascinating presentation by social historian Sean Thomas McDonagh, in Grace’s Irish Centre late last month.