The Weekly Freeman was the weekend edition of the Freeman’s Journal, a nationalist daily broadsheet published in Dublin from 1763 to 1924, when it merged with the Irish Independent. The Weekly Freeman itself began publication in 1871.

In 1879, the Weekly Freeman began featuring a large black and white political cartoon on its front cover. Beginning in December 1880, it switched to publishing a large format color lithograph as a supplement to each issue. Irish artist John Fergus O’Hea was responsible for these plates from 1881 to March 1892, when the job was handed to his assistant, Thomas Fitzpatrick. The supplements usually consisted of political cartoons, as well as occassional portraits of political figures. The cartoons regularly featured Erin, the female personification of Ireland, and Pat, the male personification of the Irish people. Some time after 1915 the chromolithographic supplements were discontinued. From 1920 to 1924, Ernest Forbes ("Shemus") drew cartoons for both the Freeman’s Journal and the Weekly Freeman, mostly in pen and ink but occasionally in watercolor.

Sources:

Mellby, Julie L., "Weekly Freeman Cartoons," Graphic Arts: Exhibitions, acquisitions, and other highlights from the Graphic Arts Collection, Princeton University Library, December 6, 2010. https://www.princeton.edu/~graphicarts/2010/12/freemans_weekly.html

Nicknack009 (Patrick Brown), "Weekly Freeman," Irish Comics Wiki, May 2019. https://irishcomics.fandom.com/wiki/Weekly_Freeman