Sir,—Stephanie Rains’ excellent article on ‘The politics of “native” village exhibitions’ (HI 19.2, March/April 2011) prompted me to look again at some old Edwardian postcards that I inherited many years ago. Some, which I have reproduced elsewhere (‘Irish International Exhibition’, in Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Vol. 137, pp 149–52), are … Read more
Sir,—I greatly enjoyed Éamonn Ó Ciardha’s article on Jacobite jailbreakers and jailbirds (HI 19.2, March/April 2011). However, one small point of Polish history needs correction. James (Jakub) Sobieski, the father of Princess Klementyna (Clementina), was never a king of Poland, so he could never have been an ‘exiled king’, like James Stuart. He was King … Read more
Sir,—As chairman of the Knockraha History and Heritage Society, I read with horror Gerard Murphy’s The year of disappearances: political killings in Cork 1920–1922 (reviewed in HI 19.1, Jan./Feb. 2011), which seeks to demonise the late Martin Corry TD for his role in the fight for Irish freedom. The author quotes my writings as a … Read more
Sir,—Your valuable article by David O’Donoghue on the IRA and the Nazis in the last issue (HI 19.2, March/April 2011, pp 36–9) prompts me to submit a photograph taken at one particular burial ceremony in Wexford on 11 June 1941. While official photos were taken for Irish Army intelligence by a Kodak representative, an audacious … Read more
Sir,—While reading your excellent Jan./Feb. 2011 (HI 19.2) issue, I was surprised that your caption for the photograph of Thomas J. Kiernan, Delia Murphy and their two children on p. 48 lacked the name of the tall bishop in the centre of the smiling family, and indeed suggested that the image illustrated the wartime work … Read more