The Irish Social Season was a period of aristocratic entertainment and social functions that stretched from January to St. Patrick's Day of a given year. During this period, the major and minor nobility left their country residences and lived in Georgian mansions in places like Rutland Square (now Parnell Square),

Mountjoy Square Mountjoy Square () is a Georgian garden square in Dublin, Ireland, on the Northside of the city just under a kilometre from the River Liffey. One of five Georgian squares in Dublin, it was planned and developed in the late 18th century by Lu ...

Merrion Square Merrion Square () is a Georgian garden square on the southside of Dublin city centre. History The square was laid out in 1752 by the estate of Viscount FitzWilliam and was largely complete by the beginning of the 19th century. The demand f ...

and

Fitzwilliam Square Fitzwilliam Square ( ga, Cearnóg Mhic Liam) is a Georgian garden square in the south of central Dublin, Ireland. It was the last of the five Georgian squares in Dublin to be built, and is the smallest. The middle of the square is composed of a ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. Those with less financial means lived in (or in some cases rented) smaller properties in streets nearby. The focal point of the Social Season was the move of the

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the King ...

(the King's representative) from his 'out of season' residence, the Viceregal Lodge (now Áras an Uachtaráin, the residence of the

President of Ireland The president of Ireland ( ga, Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of Ireland and the supreme commander of the Irish Defence Forces. The president holds office for seven years, and can be elected for a maximum of two terms.Constitu ...

) to live in state in the Viceregal Apartments in

Dublin Castle Dublin Castle ( ga, Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a former Motte-and-bailey castle and current Irish government complex and conference centre. It was chosen for its position at the highest point of central Dublin. Until 1922 it was the s ...

, where he and his wife hosted a series of levées, drawing rooms, banquets and balls in the Castle. The period of the social season also coincided with the parliamentary sessions of the Irish House of Lords, which many of the peers in Dublin would be attending. However the Irish Parliament was abolished with the Act of Union which merged the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. With the abolition of the lord lieutenancy in 1922, the emergence of a new nationalist state (the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between ...

) the same year, and the economic and social downturn that resulted from

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, the Social Season dwindled and then died. Most of the aristocratic homes in Merrion Square and Fitzwilliam Square were sold and are now used as corporate offices. Among the Irish peers who would reside in Dublin during the 'Social Season' were *Duke of Leinster ''(Ireland's senior peer)'' *Marquess of Slane *Duke of Ormonde *Lord Powerscourt *Earl of Fingall *Earl of Headfort

References

{{Reflist Social history of Ireland Irish culture High society (social class) Seasons