Nick Maxwell

ir,—As a close student of the Near East, I would endorse Pat Walsh’s corrective (letters, HI 23.3, May/June 2015) on the use of the word ‘genocide’ with regard to the Christian Armenians. It raises issues with regard to their nationalism, some of which I learned from exiles in Cyprus. It makes for interesting comparisons with … Read more

Sir,—I am delighted that Fionnula Smyth (Letters, HI 23.4, July/Aug. 2015) was pleased with my article on wartime Irish shipping in the preceding issue. She takes exception to my ‘imaginative and enthusiastic’ comments on the government’s actions in setting up Irish Shipping Ltd. She is also critical of the government for not having set up … Read more

Sir,—As a former president of the Maritime Institute of Ireland and organiser of the memorial services in Dublin for more than three decades, I must take issue with Daire Brunicardi re ‘sparsely attended ecumenical services’ in Dublin and Cork (‘Ireland and the Second World War’, HI 23.3, May/June 2015). For the record, the Institute’s memorial … Read more

Sir,—Tony Canavan (Museum Eye, HI 23.4, July/Aug. 2015) refers to George Bernard Shaw’s play O’Flaherty VC as ‘possibly inspired by the real-life Michael O’Leary VC’. Shaw’s play, originally scheduled to premier at the Abbey Theatre in November 1915, was withdrawn during rehearsals owing to pressure from the British military and Dublin Castle, citing concerns that … Read more

Sir,—Laurence Fenton’s article (Artefacts, HI 23.4, July/Aug. 2015) featured the engraving of the Immaculate Conception sent by William Smith O’Brien from Brussels in 1855 to Daniel Doyle. The print was not identified but it is a simplified version of a work now known as The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables, or of Soult, painted in … Read more