JAMES HAKE Tuke, who initiated an assisted emigration scheme, known as the ‘Tuke Fund’, that supported nearly 10,000 people leaving the western seaboard for a better life in America and Canada, will be remembered in Galway at a special two-day event.
The 'Remembering James Hake Tuke' conference will take place in the An tIonad Cuimhneacháin na nImirceach, Carna, Connemara, tomorrow and Saturday, with the event covering many aspects of Tuke’s life, the social and economic conditions of the time, as well as the stories from some of the descendants whose relatives he assisted.
The conference will be opened by Professor Christine Kinealy, director of Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute, Quinnipiac University. There will be lectures from Dr Gerard Moran, researcher at the Social Science Research Centre, NUI; Sara Smith from the National Library; Patria McWalter, archivist at Galway County Council; Rosemarie Geraghty local history researcher attached to Deirbhle Heritage Centre, Blacksod, Mayo; and radio producer Paul Wright.
The conference is funded by the Galway County Council and organised by the council's Heritage Office, in partnership with the Tuke Emigration Project Clifden Committee, the Tuke Emigration Project Oughterard Committee, Dr Gerard Moran, and An tIonad Cuimhneacháin na nImirceach.
The event is free but booking is essential vis Eventbrite.
