Sir,—Your article ‘The Irish in the Anglo-Caribbean: servants or slaves?’ (HI 24.2, March/April 2016)insiststhat there is an urgent need to refute a pervasive belief that Cromwellian-era Irish prisonersofwar and indentured servants experienced the same brutality as African slaves in the plantation societies of the British West Indies. In reality, those who advance this argument with … Read more
Sir,—This article in your March/April issue (HI 24.2, 2016) asked more questions than it answered and contradicted itself on many occasions. I understand that the term ‘indentured servitude’ relates to individuals who signed a contract and agreed to a certain number of years of servitude. This was in exchange for passage across the Atlantic, and … Read more
Sir,—Colum Kenny’s interesting article on Arthur Griffith (HI 24.3, May/June 2016) is marred by an implicit assumption that because its subject supported Zionism he could not have been an anti-Semite. In fact, the ranks of gentile Zionists include a number of anti-Semites, notably Arthur Balfour (of the Declaration), Hilaire Belloc and Anthony Eden (endorser of … Read more
Sir,—In his article in your March/April issue (HI 24.2, pp 34–5)Mark Phelanstated that ‘the Connaught Rangers regiment had a colourful history, fighting with distinction at Waterloo and thereafter policing the outer limits of the British Empire’. In fact, the regiment wasenroute from Canada at the time of Waterloo and only arrived at Spithead on 15 … Read more
Sir,—In his timely article on the ‘Castle Document’ (HI 24.2, Mar./Apr. 2016, p.66), Joseph E.A. Connell Jr did not mention more direct evidence about its source.I have extensively researched the saga of the mysterious ‘Castle Document’ with helpful inputs from a grandson of one central figure involved. Eugene ‘Smith’—properly Smyth—was indeed the telegraphyclerk who memorised … Read more