Richard Boyle was one of the most significant and controversial characters in early modern Ireland. An archetypal English adventurer, by his own account he was variously an earnest royal official who rose through the ranks to reach the very top of government through sheer ability; a successful entrepreneur and industrialist; a great landowner, having acquired … Read more
At the beginning of the 1590s Ireland stood on the brink of a new era that would forever alter the economic, cultural and social characteristics of its people. The catalyst for these changes was the Nine Years War (1595–1603). In this period Gaelic military power reached its zenith, but it perversely ended with the completion … Read more
In the article ‘William Martin Murphy: patriotic entrepreneur or “a soulless, money-grubbing tyrant”?’ (HI 21.4, July/Aug. 2013), a sidebar (‘Early life’) states that he was an ‘only child’. In fact, an older sister, Margaret, was born on 16 April 1843. On 7 January 1872 she married John Cullinane, a successful merchant in Bantry, Co. Cork. … Read more
Sir,—Michael Carragher’s undoubted courtesy is greater than his concern for accuracy (Letters, HI 23.1, Jan./Feb. 2015). It can be agreed that Germany’s diplomatic incompetence post-Bismarck contributed to its encirclement. Yet France, Russia and Britain were only too happy to take advantage of the situation. To say that ‘the Reich’s ambition was European hegemony’ before 1914 … Read more
Sir,—Nothing could be more inappropriate than a joint remembrance of the GPO, 1916, and the Battle of the Somme (Tom Mahon, Letters, HI 23.1, Jan./Feb. 2015). The latter was part of an imperial war. The 1916 Rising was an anti-imperial struggle. Irishmen were persuaded in part by the propaganda of the time to go off … Read more