Billy’s boys, or an Orangeman’s dilemma

The month of July is named after Caius Julius Caesar—‘husband to every man’s wife, and wife to every woman’s husband’. But in Northern Ireland July is unquestionably the month of King Billy. The first half is taken up annually with the various events surrounding the commemoration of William’s victory in 1690 over his uncle and … Read more

The Orange Order in Canada

The Orange Order in Canada David A. Wilson (ed.) (Four Courts Press, €55) ISBN 9781846820779 This collection is derived from the first conference on the Orange Order in Canada, held at St Michael’s College, Toronto, in 2005. While the majority of the articles trace the activities and development of the order in Canada from the … Read more

Hilda Tweedy and the Irish Housewives Association: Links in the chain . . .

‘History is the new sex, it is everywhere’, I am reliably informed by a fecund economist. This new book, carefully edited by Alan Hayes of Arlen Press, who also published Margaret Mac Curtain’s Ariadne’s thread (reviewed in HI 16, Sept./Oct. 2008), concentrates on vital socio-economic matters. While the ‘sexy history’ is concerned with commemoration of … Read more