Nick Maxwell By Lar Joye After reforms in 1793, Roman Catholics were allowed to join the British Army as soldiers but not as officers, although there were exceptions. From 1800 to 1815, 90,000 Irishmen served in the British Army, and it is estimated that 35% of the Peninsular Army were Irish. Unlike most Continental armies, such as … Read more
By Conor Kostick In May 2025, the Irish cabinet approved a cross-government engagement with Europe’s 2027 The Year of the Normans—People of Europe. Should they have aligned Ireland with the celebration of Norman culture that is being planned in France, the UK, Italy, Norway and Denmark? The invasion of Ireland by Anglo-Normans is often seen … Read more
Sir,—Apropos Robert Delany’s ‘The Free State Army’s first peacetime artillery practice’ (HI 33.5, Sept./Oct. 2025), a colourful account of the misadventures of what was dubbed the ‘Big Gun’ in the Civil War in Limerick has been left to us by local character P.J. (Cushy) Ryan. The conflict had raged for eleven days (11–22 July 1922), … Read more
A chara,—Apropos Conor McCabe’s Platform piece, ‘Where, oh where is the evidence? Greaves, Connolly and the British Army’ (HI 33.3, May/June 2025). Quite apart from the controversial question of Connolly’s military service, I was interested to see McCabe draw attention to the fact that Connolly had an older sister, Mary. Readers may be interested to … Read more
Sir,—Further to Conor McCabe’s notes on some of those in the 1901 photograph of members of the Irish Socialist Republican Party (HI 33.5, Sept./Oct. 2025, Letters, p. 11), I would like to draw attention to the three Lyng brothers among the group. Murta and Tom Lyng were office-holders in the ISRP from its foundation, having … Read more