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
Sir,—Last issue’s ‘Gems of Architecture’ (HI 23.1, Jan./Feb. 2015), on the Roche’s Stores building on Cork’s main thoroughfare, never refers to the street by its correct name—St Patrick’s Street. I acknowledge that the term ‘Patrick Street’ is commonly spoken, but I believe that the correct name should be used at the very least in the … Read more
Sir,—There are a couple of minor anomalies in last issue’s ‘On this day’ (HI 23.1, Jan./Feb. 2015). We are told that the sculptor John Hughes, responsible for the monument to Charles Kickham in Tipperary town, died on 28 January 1865. This would indeed be remarkable, because the Kickham monument was commissioned after that Fenian leader … Read more