Sir,—The purpose of this letter is to add some more facts to the article on Bloody Sunday 1920 by Tim Carey and Marcus de Burca (HI 11.2, Summer 2003). The following is an account of events that happened to my father on that day. My father was Charlie Murphy (b. 29 July 1900, d. 13 … Read more
On the night of 16 August 1920 ‘wild scenes were witnessed’ in Temple-more as the North-amptonshire Regiment carried out reprisals following the killing of RIC District Inspector Wilson by the IRA. According to a local press report, ‘soldiers joined in the outbreak . . . volleys were fired, houses attacked, shops looted, the town hall … Read more
On the Saturday following the truce of 11 July 1921, my father, Richard Mulcahy, IRA chief-of-staff, went with my mother Min to the Gresham Hotel in O’Connell Street for afternoon tea. It was his first public appearance, having been on the run for the previous eighteen months. The well-known painter Leo Whelan was sitting close … Read more
The German sociologist Max Weber was noted for his interest in how the geopolitical position of states affected their domestic politics. Revolutions, civil wars and coups d’état often came ‘from the outside in’, as changes in the international arena weakened central authorities and exposed dominant élites to challenges from below. In contrast, much of … Read more
Sir,—Your otherwise excellent article on Bloody Sunday 1920 was spoiledfor this reader, and I would imagine many others, by the words ‘Was thegovernment claim that their forces were fired on first true?’ At thattime the legitimate government of Ireland was Dáil Éireann, to whichthe vast majority of the Irish people gave their allegiance. The forcesof … Read more