Hibernia as a national personification representing Ireland appeared in numerous cartoons and drawings, especially in the nineteenth century. As depicted in frequent cartoons in Punch, a magazine outspokenly hostile to Irish nationalism, Hibernia was shown as “Britannia’s younger sister”. She is an attractive, vulnerable girl. She is threatened by manifestations of Irish nationalism such as the Fenians or the Irish National Land League, often depicted as brutish, ape-like monsters. Unable to defend herself, Hibernia is depicted turning to the strong, armored Britannia for defense. John Tenniel, now mainly remembered as the illustrator of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, produced a number of such depictions of Hibernia.
Appearance List Lit: Camden’s Britannia (1607 ed.) — First allegorical appearance; Hibernia Freed (1722) by William Phillips — Patriotic tragedy; Hibernia’s Complaint against the Dean (1729) — Poem attributed to Jonathan Swift, continuing the allegorical voice of Hibernia. Art: Hibernia with a Harp (1729) — Frontispiece to Swift’s Drapier’s Letters; Hibernia attended by Fidelity and Commerce (1760s); Hibernia (1782) — Satirical cartoons; Hibernia (1801) — Allegorical engravings marking the Act of Union; Hibernia (1860s–1890s) — Newspaper mastheads; Statue of Hibernia, General Post Office, Dublin (completed 1818; prominent in 1916 Rising) — Iconic neoclassical sculpture crowning the GPO.
Description Hibernia as a national personification representing Ireland appeared in numerous cartoons and drawings, especially in the nineteenth century. As depicted in frequent cartoons in Punch, a magazine outspokenly hostile to Irish nationalism, Hibernia was shown as “Britannia’s younger sister”. She is an attractive, vulnerable girl. She is threatened by manifestations of Irish nationalism such as the Fenians or the Irish National Land League, often depicted as brutish, ape-like monsters. Unable to defend herself, Hibernia is depicted turning to the strong, armored Britannia for defense. John Tenniel, now mainly remembered as the illustrator of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, produced a number of such depictions of Hibernia.
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