History Ireland marks the passing of James ‘Shay’ Courtney: soldier (he served with the Irish Army on the United Nations peace-keeping force in Cyprus); husband and father of all the Courtney clan; political and community activist; plumber; trade unionist; mature student at Trinity College, Dublin; ebullient conversationalist; folk-singer; historian. A proud Irish republican, Shay had … Read more
Sir,—The caption—‘Women continued to play an active role in the War of Independence’—under the photograph on p. 41 of the last issue (Autumn 1996) [above] is misleading on two counts. In the first place, it does not depict a War of Independence flying column but a Civil War one—the Third Battalion flying column (‘Plunkett’s Own’), … Read more
Eighty years ago, on 21 May 1932, American aviator Amelia Earhart crash-landed in a field outside Derry after crossing the Atlantic. Footage of Earhart while she was in Derry has just been unearthed in the Northern Ireland Public Record Office. Belfast flying enthusiast Grenville Mackie heard about Earhart on the radio and flew up in … Read more
In 1897 the Greater New York Irish Athletic Association purchased approximately seven acres of land in the suburban farming community then known as Laurel Hill, Long Island, for $9,000. Soon an athletic complex—Celtic Park—was built. For the first two decades of the twentieth century, athletes were nurtured and trained by the Irish-American Athletic Club (as … Read more