The Economic and Social Research Council in the UK is funding a projectentitled ‘England and Ireland, 1170-1485: a guide to documents in thePublic Record Office’. The researcher is Paul Dryburgh, and the projectis supervised by Brendan Smith (University of Bristol) and PhilomenaConnolly (National Archives, Dublin). Work began in January 2002 andfunding has been secured for … Read more
Sir,—It has been brought to my attention that you published thefollowing in your Autumn 1999 issue [‘Scotland and Ireland through theages’]: ‘Nevertheless the Gaels believed their time had come when aking of Irish descent, James VI of Scotland, ascended the throne ofEngland (1603)…’ [‘From the editors’, p.5]. What is the Irishconnection in the line of … Read more
Sir,—Congratulations on a truly excellent magazine for Autumn 2001dealing with Ireland’s relationship with Spain. I was, however,disappointed with the treatment of the Milesians. Your editorial statesthat there is ‘categorically…no genetic link between the Irish andSpain’. However, research by Professor David Goldstein (UniversityCollege London) has found that there is indeed a link between theCeltic peoples (or … Read more
Sir,—I must take issue with some of Adrian Smith’s points about RobertGregory (HI, Winter 2001, ‘Major Robert Gregory and the Irish Air Acesof 1917-18’). Firstly I have to differ, as do others, with his opinionof Gregory, that he ‘was never more than a moderately talented artist’.What evidence does the writer have to support this contention? … Read more
Sir,—I read with interest Tomás O’Riordan’s article on the theft of theIrish Crown Jewels (HI, Winter 2001). I have written an entry onFrancis Richard (‘Frank’) Shackleton for the Royal Irish Academy’sDictionary of Irish Biography and thought that your readers might beinterested in some further information regarding his later life. Afterthe theft of the jewels and … Read more