This chapter explores the transformation of Irish childhoods since the early decades of the twentieth century, and shows how demographic and socio-economic changes are intertwined with a transformation in the meanings of childhood. Where once children’s labour contribution to the Irish household economy was a taken-for-granted part of their daily lives, contemporary children are carriers of their family’s aspirations for socio-economic mobility through education and cultural attainment, evident in their ‘concerted cultivation’. The chapter draws on memories of childhoods in the past, together with contemporary children’s voices from the Growing Up in Ireland study, to reveal the extent of children’s agency, in particular the ways in which children have consistently ‘pushed back’ against adult constraints in different socio-historical contexts, finding opportunities for the construction of their own social and family worlds and, in the process, shaping the family and community lives of adults. The chapter explores how, in different ways, class differences mediated Irish childhoods and public discourses about the consequences for children of ‘failing’ families across all historical periods.

Journalists and politicians used Beatrice Annie Pace's personal experiences to highlight institutional, legal and social critiques during a period already marked by discontent about the criminal justice system. In the midst of a murder investigation, Beatrice had admitted telling two lies to the police. One was potentially relevant to the case. The other was itself illegal. Joynson-Hicks denied there was 'anything in the nature of third degree' in Britain and noted Beatrice had thanked the police for their 'consideration'. In addition to critiques of the police and of coroners' inquests, Beatrice's case sparked debates about poverty, marriage and equality before the law. The case generated some praise of Britain's courts and Britons' fundamental good sense. The Daily Express noted that 'a man proved innocent of murder in a criminal court may always bear the stigma of having been to all intents found guilty of murder in a coroner's court'.

From the beginning, the Pace case was more than simply a legal (or local) matter. Up to the inquest verdict, most of its key events took place within a few miles of Rose Cottage yet were followed throughout Britain and beyond. Press coverage created a figure known to millions of newspaper readers: 'Mrs Pace'. The case's rise into a press sensation is the subject of this chapter: during this 'golden age' of the press 'human interest' stories were driving increasing newspaper sales, and crime was central to this world of press sensationalism. All things considered, Beatrice Annie Pace was in an ambiguous position on the eve of her trial. She not only faced a capital charge but, since Harry Pace's death, had endured grinding poverty, hostile gossip, a police investigation, an extended coroner's inquest and weeks in prison.

Clearly, Beatrice Annie Pace had press and politics on her side, and, in the wake of the acquittal, some newspapers asked a variety of prominent people for their views. There are 232 letters to Beatrice in the collection. It is impossible to systematically group them according to the writer's class or income level, but other distinctions are possible. As noted, the predominance of women in the crowds gathered at the inquest and trial was often commented upon. Fewer men than women wrote to Beatrice, but some took an equally strong interest in her case. Male correspondents related differently to Beatrice, as identification based on certain common experiences, obviously, was impossible. Despite the fact that Beatrice herself rarely expressed religious sentiments, nearly a quarter of the 220 letters classified as congratulatory had religious themes that went beyond colloquial expressions such as 'God bless' or passing references to having 'prayed for' her.

Beatrice Annie Pace herself 'is quite removed from this new and most interesting legal development' and had not 'the slightest knowledge of the new phase of the case'. Beatrice began building a new life. She gave notice that she would quit Rose Cottage, telling The People that she 'could not possibly live here after what has happened'. The claims made by George Mountjoy and Alice Sayes were indeed sensational, describing not only a sinister, cold-blooded crime but also portraying Beatrice as a sadistic murderess who gleefully deceived police, press and public. The vague and shifting chronology of the allegations is also suspicious: Sayes referred to poisoning attempts going back, alternatively, six or three years, Mountjoy to a plot 'extending over four years'. One vital matter had been handled before Beatrice's departure: the sale of her 'life story'. There are suggestions that the issue had caused tensions.

This chapter explores the gender renegotiations by the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) as they threw themselves into the manly tasks of driving and mechanics. Evadne Price's brilliant modernist representation of the war from women's experiences underscores the silences in the FANY texts. The Royal Army Medical Corps was to be employed or commissioned by the British Red Cross Society (BRCS) to provide transport for the British sick and wounded at Calais. The chapter focuses on 1916 and features the story of FANY Unit 3 driving for the British Army. It records their activities and experiences and in particular examines their work in transport and mechanics that subverted traditional mythologies about femininity. Of all the FANY writings, the few accounts penned by Unit 3's Second-in-Command Muriel Thompson provide the bluntest descriptions of the geography of hell.

This chapter explores Grace Ashley-Smith's work as a First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) in Belgium during September and October 1914, and highlights the key theme in the negotiation of gender relations in war. It suggests the ways the sentimental, romantic genre associated with the 'Great War Rhetoric' and women's literary heritage allowed Ashley-Smith the opportunity develop a female heroism. Ashley-Smith's accounts of her first months in Belgian as a FANY are recorded in Nursing Adventures: A FANY in France. Most women attempted to blend old romantic traditions with more modernist approaches and their writing often illustrates what Angela K. The experience saw Ashley-Smith begin as bedside heroine, putting her on a footing with men in terms of the involvement with suffering, and graduates to battlefront heroine where she more actively risked the dangers of war and developed her own notion of personal heroism.

This chapter highlights the experiences of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) in the year following the Armistice. It focuses on the development of solidarity and friendship that encouraged a shared feminine identity. The chapter looks back at the various FANY units in service during the war and discusses the ways the FANY constructed and enjoyed the esprit de corps. The FANY working for the British in Calais with Unit 3 celebrated the Armistice early as word ran through Calais on 10 November that peace had been signed. In Grace McDougall's absence, Mary Baxter-Ellis, adjutant and second-in-command with the Belgian convoy, wrote the final demobilization report for the Belgian FANY. McDougall's Corps de Transport attached to the Belgian Army, was the first to cross back into Belgium when the Germans left Bruges in October 1918.

This chapter examines Beatrice Annie Pace's trial in Gloucester: involving some of the most prominent lawyers and forensic experts of the age, its abrupt ending added a surprising, dramatic twist. Despite the new emphasis on motive, the most striking element of the trial was not the reiteration of the prosecution's case but rather the defence's response. Norman Birkett's strategy centred on a searching cross-examination, under the pressure of which the framework of the Crown's arguments would buckle. Beatrice was fortunate to have a man of Birkett's skill on her side. Birkett was forty-four when he agreed to defend the 'tragic widow'. The legal 'martyrdom' of the 'tragic widow of Coleford' had, it seemed, at long last come to an end. The widow's main accusers seemed vindictive, and some of their factual testimony was questioned. Beatrice's role as a caring nurse and a cooperative witness was highlighted.

This chapter sets the scene: it opens by tracing the puzzling illness that afflicted Harry Pace from the summer of 1927 to his agonising death in January 1928. It discusses an aspect of the story not only helps to introduce Beatrice Annie Pace and Harry but also gives initial insight into how the press presented their lives and marriage. Journalist Bernard O'Donnell's handling of the case clearly applied his principle that 'tactful sympathy and practical help will unlock the door to an inside story more surely than any amount of uncouth bluster'. He certainly seems to have been the journalist who was most successful in developing a rapport with Beatrice and her children. All the post-trial life stories used the couple's courtship to shape particular narrative arcs, with Beatrice's depiction as a rural ingénue adding to her life's drama, tragedy and pathos.

Chapter 2 gives an introduction to the rapidly changing patterns of family life that prompted the emergence of new ideas and perspectives in family studies at the turn of the millennium. It includes a detailed overview of the demographic evidence on contemporary families in Ireland, placing them in comparative perspective, and introduces the major new data sources and studies that have recently become available. The authors emphasize the importance of longitudinal perspectives for understanding family change in ageing societies. The chapter provides a state-of-the-art summary of recent developments in the theory and scholarship on family life, including the second demographic transition, postmodernism, individualisation and globalisation, and the new scholarship on family practices, meanings and displays that informs the main body of the book.