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
Sir,—Pat Marshall’s interesting piece on Major Sirr in your last issue (HI 11.3, Autumn 2003) neglected one aspect of Sirr’s later career: his interest in the Irish language. (Viewers of Pat Murphy’s film Anne Devlin will recall that Sirr is the only major character who speaks Irish on-screen, when talking to an informer.) It extended … Read more
The Irish Tourist Association (ITA) survey for Limerick city and county was for several years stored away quietly in an old box in Limerick County Library. It was one of those library collections that promised to be a rainy-day project for cataloguing but it was never given any real priority until now. The ITA was … Read more
In my possession I have an Auxiliary Division Royal Irish Constabulary (ADRIC) Christmas card sent at Christmas 1921 by the splendidly named Ernest Rencella Wilson. Intrigued by this item I set out to find out more about the sender. Wilson was born in Swansea, Wales, on 8 August 1897 and rather unfortunately for him his … 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