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
Sir,—Congratulations to Ann Wilson on her excellent article, ‘A young woman’s life in Edwardian Dublin’ (HI 22.6, Nov./Dec. 2014). As she points out, collections of such postcards offer us an opportunity to tune in to the voices of ordinary people in that period, and afford glimpses of mundane and everyday matters not usually covered in … Read more
It is fairly certain that when those charged with developing a programme of commemoration for the ‘Decade of Centenaries’ first met it was the question of how to remember Easter 1916 that caused the most worry. It is unlikely that anyone thought that commemorating the Dublin Lockout would lead to a surge in trade union … Read more