Description

Caribbean Slave Owners & Other Lesser-Known Histories from County Mayo uncovers a series of remarkable historical episodes that reveal County Mayo’s unexpected connections with the wider British Empire and the Atlantic world. Through twenty carefully researched essays, Dr. Michael O’Connor explores subjects ranging from Caribbean slavery and colonial expansion to famine, religious persecution, military service, abuse of power, and the lives of ordinary people whose stories have long been overlooked.

Drawing upon extensive archival research and original documentary evidence, O’Connor traces the lives of Mayo landowners, emigrants, soldiers, officials, and enslaved people whose experiences crossed continents and shaped both local and global history. Rather than focusing solely on well-known historical figures, the book restores forgotten individuals to the historical record while examining the complex moral, political, and social issues surrounding empire, slavery, and inequality.

Thought-provoking, meticulously documented, and highly readable, this volume offers a fresh perspective on County Mayo’s place in world history. It is essential reading for anyone interested in Irish history, genealogy, colonial studies, slavery, and the interconnected histories of Ireland and the wider Atlantic world.