While recent attention has naturally focused on the significance of the Act for the extension of the franchise to women, this was only one of its provisions. By Brian Walker The Representation of the People Act brought in a number of changes to electoral laws that had an important effect on the 1918 general election. … Read more
Harry Grattan Guinness’s journey from preaching to politics. By Catherine Guinness Henry Grattan Guinness is a charismatic figure well known to many, a leader of the evangelical revival of the mid-nineteenth century, an eschatologist and founder of a faith mission group, the Regions Beyond Missionary Union. A grandson of Arthur Guinness, he took a very … Read more
A chara,—Tony Canavan (HI 26.2, March/April 2018, Bite-sized History) poses a question which will become even more relevant over the next year or so—where and when did the War of Independence start? The claim that the armed action by Donegal Volunteers in freeing two republicans on 4 January 1918 signalled the start of the war … Read more
Sir,—Lar Joye and Donal McCracken (HI 26.1, Jan./Feb. 2018, ‘Artefacts’ and ‘Letters’) mention the flag that Inghinidhe na hÉireann sent to the Irish Transvaal Brigade during the Anglo-Boer War and which was recently conserved at Letterfrack for the National Museum. My understanding is that Major John MacBride undertook its transfer to Paris, where it was … Read more
Sir,—A ‘bemused’ Barry Keane (HI 26.2, March/April 2018, Letters) rejects a sectarian interpretation to the contested Bandon Valley killings of late April 1922. We would like to point readers to our 2014 article, ‘“Something in the nature of a massacre”: the Bandon Valley killings revisited’ (Éire-Ireland, Fall/Winter 2014, pp 7–59, assisted by James Donnelly Jr), … Read more