Gallery

The Presentation of British Officers to Pope Pius VI, 1794. Oil on canvas by James Northcote, R.A., 1800. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

From late 1793 to early 1795, Michael Head of Ashley Park served as a subaltern (Capt. Lt.) in the 12th Light Dragoons. The regiment left Ireland in 1793 to support the efforts by the dynastic powers of Europe in trying to reverse the outcome of the French Revolution and restore the French monarchy. While stationed in the Italian seaport town of Civitavecchia, news of the regiment's good conduct reached Pope Pius VI, who announced his intention of presenting, in Rome, a gold medal to each of the officers. Three junior officers were chosen to represent the regiment, Capt. Lt. Michael Head holding the sword, Lt. the Hon. Pierce Butler next to him, and Major Robert Browne kneeling. All three of these Anglo-Irish officers rose to the rank of general.

Northcote's painting shows the moment when the Pope took Capt. Browne's helmet in his hands and expressed the wish "that Heaven would enable the cause of truth and religion to triumph over injustice and infidelity." In 1796, French troops commanded by Bonaparte invaded Italy, defeated the papal troops, and occupied the Papal States. Having refused to renounce his temporal powers, Pius was taken prisoner two years later and transported to France. He died in Valence in August 1799.
View of Waterford. Oil on canvas by William van der Hagen, 1726. Museum of Treasures, Waterford, County Waterford, Ireland.
Battle of the Boyne, July 1, 1690. Color print after Benjamin West, R.A. NiDay Picture Library. Alamy Stock Photos.
Map of County Tipperary with the locations of the former Head family estates in North Tipperary. Adapted by Thad Garrett from "County Tipperary in Ireland" by O'Dea via Wikimedia Commons.
Derry Castle House, built in 1822 for Michael Prittie Head and burned fifty years later, three decades after the Head family sold the estate to the Spaight family
The gates to the former Derry Castle estate on Co. Tipperary's Lough Derg are still standing.
The Irish House of Commons, 1780. Oil on canvas by Francis Wheatley. Bridgeman Images, with permission of Leeds Museums and Galleries, Letherton Hall.
Robert Emmet and Norbury. Chromolithograph from a supplement of The Weekly Freeman, December 13, 1902. National Library of Ireland.
Battle of Campo Mayor, Peninsular War against Napoleon’s forces, March 25, 1811. Clash between the British 13th Light Dragoons, commanded by Lt. Col. Michael Head, and the French 26th Dragoons. Unknown source.
Daniel O’Connell making a speech at the first “monster meeting” at Trim, Co. Meath, Ireland, March 19, 1843. Historical Images Archive, Alamy Stock Photo
Gladstone and the Land League, 1881. Public Domain.
"The Call to Arms: Irishmen Dont You Hear It?" Poster, chromolithograph, Dublin, 1915. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.
Lt. Col. Charles O. Head, Royal Artillery, ca. 1916. In 1917, Col. Head was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), subsequently with bar, for his frontline leadership in such major battles as the Somme and Paschendaele. Photograph from Charles Head’s memoir No Great Shakes, 1943.
The Head children of Derrylahan, Grace (b. 1911), Mike (b. 1912), Betty (b. 1909), photographed when visiting their grandparents in London, 1915.
A squad of the Lorrha IRA in the townland of Ballyquirke, Lorrha Parish, County Tipperary, 1921. The Lamp, Lorrha and Dorrha Historical Society. Courtesy of David Broderick.
Derrylahan Park, Lorrha, County Tipperary after the burning by the IRA during the night of July 1-2, 1921. Courtesy Offaly History, Tullamore, County Offaly, Ireland.
Harry Boland, Michael Collins, and Éamon de Valera in consultation prior to the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in December 1921. De Luan/Alamy Stock Photo.
“Dividing up the Estate, or the Land Commission gone crazy,” cartoon from defunct Dublin Opinion, 1920s.