The life and death of Major William (‘Willie’) Hoey Kearney Redmond (1861–1917) commemorated. At the outbreak of the First World War, John Redmond, the Wexford-born politician and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, called on the Irish Volunteers to enlist in the new British Army in the hope that this would strengthen the cause of … Read more
Our last History Ireland Hedge School (National Library, 23 May 2017) to mark the centenary of the entry of the United States into the First World War provided a timely opportunity to review the ‘unique relationship’ with Ireland based on common ancestral ties and supposedly shared values. But it was not always close or cordial. … Read more
Sir,—In Gareth Mulvenna’s interesting article (HI 25.1, Jan./Feb. 2017), the Tartan gangs of Belfast, which flourished in the 1960s and ’70s before being subsumed into the UDA/UVF, are presented as part of a loyalist backlash, a violent reaction to nationalist/republican violence. This ignores the actual origins of the ‘Troubles’. Unionist unrest dates back to the … Read more
Sir,—Joseph Mannion (HI 25.2, March/April ’17) suggests that Sir Francis Shane’s ‘unwavering allegiance to the crown transcends the social and ethnic divisions of the period, [and] challenges traditional perceptions of contemporary Irish society’, as Shane, who came from a Gaelic Irish background, was, in the words of Sir Geoffrey Fenton, ‘a faithful and assured instrument … Read more
Sir,—With reference to the above-named piece by Eddie Bohan, the Helga could not have fired on the wireless school in Sackville Street or adjoining buildings. A couple of completely undamaged blocks between the Helga’s position opposite the Custom House and Sackville Street testify to this. The proposal presumably goes with the often-repeated statement that she … Read more