Robert Daly, Church of Ireland bishop of Cashel, Waterford and Lismore (1843–72), is now a largely forgotten figure. Yet for many years in the nineteenth century his was a household name among Protestants and many Catholics. Daly was a person who engendered controversy. To some he was a narrow-minded, bigoted and intolerant man, while to … Read more
Serious tension had developed within the leadership of the IRA as a result of the failure of its 1939 bombing campaign in Britain. When this was abandoned, its operations in Northern Ireland were scaled down for the duration of World War II. Both the Belfast and the Dublin governments introduced internment, and several hundred … Read more
Sir, —Thank you for the review of my book W.B. Yeats: Vain, Glorious, Lout. A Maker of Modern Ireland, by Derek Hand (HI 12.2, Summer 2004). If I might make a few points. I use the name ‘Willie’ for W.B. Yeats because that was how he was known by his family and friends. All … Read more
Sir, —Nowhere in the (fresh) outpouring of Bloomsdayana—not even Daniel Mulhall’s excellent article (HI 12.2, Summer 2004) on the Irish history that is embedded in Ulysses—is there any sign of Professor Davis’s important discovery, so perhaps a reminder is called for. Richard Davis’s masterful biography of William Smith O’Brien, Revolutionary Imperialist (1998), repeated what we … Read more
Sir, —Further to Liam Ó Ruairc’s review of my Tom Barry, IRA Freedom Fighter (HI 12.1, Spring 2004), Brian Hanley has raised points (HI 12.2, Summer 2004) that need clarification. I have found no evidence that Tom Barry left the IRA in 1923. On 11 July 1923, Barry wrote to the chairman of … Read more