Sir,—In your editorial (HI 20.6, Nov./Dec. 2012) on the Cameron–Salmond agreement at Edinburgh to clarify in advance the legal aspects of a referendum on Scottish independence, you state that Ireland at the time of the 1912–14 Home Rule crisis was ‘not so lucky’, in that a ‘sizeable section of the British establishment’ refused to recognise … Read more
January 1 1973 Ireland joined the European Economic Community (EEC) along with Denmark and the United Kingdom. 5 1953 Twenty-seven people were killed when a BEA Viking aircraft crash-landed just short of the runway at Nutt’s Corner (Belfast) airport. 5 1973 Gerald Boland (87), revolutionary and founder member of Fianna Fáil who served in a … Read more
States have long had an interest in how key events in their past are commemorated, and historians have equally long been complicit in promoting dominant political mythologies. Since the development of professional, academic history, however, its practitioners have tended to view commemorations more as opportunities for attempting new interpretations and for critiquing the official version. … Read more
We may have been one of the first but were certainly not the last to be invaded by our restless neighbour. A new study by historian Stuart Laycock reveals that of the c. 200 UN-recognised countries in the world today 90% have had a visit from British forces in one form or another. Costa Rica, … Read more
In the early 1980s, James Hawthorne recognised that there was no collective way to celebrate the achievements of people who had made a significant contribution to Ulster’s heritage. His inspiration founded a scheme to commemorate such individuals by erecting a plaque linking them to a location in their lives. For a body concerned with dates … Read more