Nick Maxwell Sir—I enjoyed Luke Gibbons’ article on Edmund Burke (HI Winter 1997),but may I add another point on the well-known Burke quotation in BrianFriel’s Philadelphia here I come. The quotation, from Reflections onthe Revolution in France (‘It is now sixteen or seventeen years since Isaw the Queen of France…’), was from a passage that generations ofIrish … Read more
Sir,—I have been researching the history of the Martin/Martyn family ofGalway, Ireland for over two years now, detailing as much as ispossible of our nine-hundred year history. The real surprise of my workwas that after some very detailed and painstaking research—neveragain!—I have been able to draw up/revise/up-date over a dozen familypedigrees, most of whom can … Read more
Sir,—I found it curious that Patrick O’Sullivan’s article ‘Ireland and the Olympic Games’ in HI Spring 1998 should fail to mention John Mary Pius Boland (1870-1958). Boland, a Dubliner, won two Olympic gold medals for tennis in the 1896 games in Athens, becoming the first Irishman to win an Olympic honour.—Yours etc., KEVIN O’SULLIVAN Letterkenny … Read more
The Wexford Insurgents of ‘98 and their March into Meath, Eamon Doyle (Duffrey Press, £5.99). Leitrim and the Croppies 1776-1804, Gerard Mac Atasney (Carrick-on-Shannon and District Historical Society). The Tellicherry Five, Kieran Sheedy (RTE and The Woodfield Press, £9.99). All that Delirium of the Brave: Kildare in 1798, Mario Corrigan (Kildare County Council, £6). The … Read more
The Year of Liberty: a history of the great Irish rebellion of 1798, Thomas Pakenham (Weidenfeld, 1969 & 1997, £14.99, ISBN: 0297823868). Partners in Revolution: the United Irishmen and France, Marianne Elliott (Yale University Press, 1982 & 1998, £14.50, ISBN: 0300043023). Rebellion in Kildare, 1798-1803, Liam Chambers (Four Courts Press, 1998, pb £9.95, ISBN: 1851823638, … Read more