Although born in Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin, William Godfrey Dunham Massy (1838–1906) belonged to a prominent County Tipperary family and entered Trinity College, Dublin, in 1854. He abandoned his studies, however, to volunteer for service in the Crimean War. Despite being aged just sixteen, Massy was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 19th Foot and … Read more
In an article about Galway City, published in 1912 by the Trieste newspaper Il Piccolo della Sera, James Joyce wrote of the map: ‘The strangest and most interesting historical document in the city archives is the map of the city made for the Duke of Lorraine in the seventeenth century . . . The margins … Read more
Sir,—Twice now Prof. Murphy has used a clipped quote from a poem of Tomás Rua Ó Suilleabháin to state that the poet wished to subject the Protestant community to ‘ethnic cleansing’ (Letters, HI 20.5, Sept./Oct. 2012, and HI 21.1, Jan./Feb. 2013). Prof. Murphy quotes the second-last line of the poem as evidence—‘go nglanfar cruinn as … Read more
Consolidating conquest: Ireland 1603–1727 Pádraig Lenihan (Pearson Longman, Ä25.20) ISBN 9780582772175 In the last twenty years, a whole coterie of Irish medievalists, early modernists and modernists have sought to emulate and supersede J. C. Beckett’s Making of modern Ireland—with varying degrees of success. Although all these scholars have both identified and explored interlocking themes of … Read more
The Tower Museum, Derry O’Doherty’s Tower, Union Hall Place www.derrycity.gov.uk/museums, +44 (0)28 71372411 October–May, Tues.–Sat. 10am–5pm The city of Derry could be described as a monument of the Plantation of Ulster. It owes its existence and its famous never-breached walls to the Honourable the Irish Society, that association of London guilds which undertook to … Read more