Sir,—Tony Canavan (Museum Eye, HI 23.4, July/Aug. 2015) refers to George Bernard Shaw’s play O’Flaherty VC as ‘possibly inspired by the real-life Michael O’Leary VC’. Shaw’s play, originally scheduled to premier at the Abbey Theatre in November 1915, was withdrawn during rehearsals owing to pressure from the British military and Dublin Castle, citing concerns that … Read more
Sir,—Laurence Fenton’s article (Artefacts, HI 23.4, July/Aug. 2015) featured the engraving of the Immaculate Conception sent by William Smith O’Brien from Brussels in 1855 to Daniel Doyle. The print was not identified but it is a simplified version of a work now known as The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables, or of Soult, painted in … Read more
Sir,—John Gibney (Seen on TV, HI 23.4, July/Aug. 2015) commented on the ability of relatives of those who died in Gallipoli to ‘[have] respect for both those who fought in the war and those who fought in the Easter Rising’. Like others, Dr Gibney has taken the simplistic approach that the only way to remember … Read more
Sir,—The articles relating to O’Donovan Rossa (HI 23.4, July/Aug. 2015) barely mentioned his second marriage to Ellen Buckley. She was the eighteen-year-old daughter of Cornelius Buckley, a Skibbereen businessman. Ellen met O’Donovan Rossa and they became friendly. However, her father disapproved of a man he saw as a ‘Fenian, revolutionary, and widower with four dependent … Read more
Sir,—Having read ‘The Irish at Gallipoli’ by Jeff Kildea in your fine magazine (HI 23.4, July/Aug. 2015), I was intrigued by his omissions and, if you will pardon the description, his sleight of pen. In tone it was reminiscent of G.A. Henty, who long ago eulogised the ‘derring do of young Englanders’ as they helped … Read more