Sir,—While perhaps not as strident and personalised as Kelvin Angle (Letters, ‘If it quacks like a duck …’, HI 32.5, Sept./Oct. 2024), I would sympathise with his general summary. I believe the term ‘historical presentism’ describes it best. ‘Modern/liberal’ Ireland is held up as a paragon of societal perfection. However, we can only properly critique … Read more
Sir,—In an otherwise informative and apparently well-informed piece on public access to the Durrow high cross, Michael Byrne (HI 32.6, Nov./Dec. 2024) states that ‘Mrs [Alice Stopford] Green visited the monastic site at Durrow, the only one in Ireland founded by St Columcille …’. Surely no one doubts that the foundation at Derry was Columcille’s, … Read more
Sir,—Following Sylvie Kleinman’s review in the last issue (HI 33.1, Jan./Feb. 2025) of Nicholas K. Robinson’s Caricature and the Irish, I would like to offer up this crowded exposition of Catholic Emancipation (which I have hanging on a wall at home). In 1829 Thomas McLean (1788–1875), a publisher and dealer in London’s Haymarket, published ‘FUNERAL … Read more
Sir,—David Mould’s fascinating article on Corkman James Hastie’s involvement in Madagascar (HI 33.1, Jan./Feb. 2025) brought to mind a story of the capture of Mauritius by the British in 1810. The French recruited Irish POWs from captured British forces to bolster their defences: what happened to them after the French defeat is still debated. One … Read more
BY DONAL FALLON RORY GALLAGHER REMEMBERED A new statue to Rory Gallagher has been unveiled outside Belfast’s Ulster Hall, a fitting memorial to the Ballyshannon-born musician who continued to play there regularly during the Troubles, becoming a hero to the youth of the city. In an interview Gallagher insisted that, ‘In an Irish tour, I … Read more