Sir,—Apropos Robert Delany’s ‘The Free State Army’s first peacetime artillery practice’ (HI 33.5, Sept./Oct. 2025), a colourful account of the misadventures of what was dubbed the ‘Big Gun’ in the Civil War in Limerick has been left to us by local character P.J. (Cushy) Ryan. The conflict had raged for eleven days (11–22 July 1922), … Read more
A chara,—Apropos Conor McCabe’s Platform piece, ‘Where, oh where is the evidence? Greaves, Connolly and the British Army’ (HI 33.3, May/June 2025). Quite apart from the controversial question of Connolly’s military service, I was interested to see McCabe draw attention to the fact that Connolly had an older sister, Mary. Readers may be interested to … Read more
Sir,—Further to Conor McCabe’s notes on some of those in the 1901 photograph of members of the Irish Socialist Republican Party (HI 33.5, Sept./Oct. 2025, Letters, p. 11), I would like to draw attention to the three Lyng brothers among the group. Murta and Tom Lyng were office-holders in the ISRP from its foundation, having … Read more
Sir,—In an interesting account of Sir Phelim O’Neill and the siege of Charlemont fort in 1650 (HI 33.5, Sept./Oct. 2025, pp 20–3), Conor Robison [and apologies for an unwanted ‘n’ in the middle of his name in the article’s byline—Ed.] claims that it was ‘Ulster’s last defiant bastion’ to hold out against the Cromwellians. In … Read more
Sir,—The illustrations in the article on ‘Robert Dudley Edwards and the Quaker undercurrent to the Irish scientific history revolution’ (HI 33.4, July/August 2025) demonstrate the utility of costume studies in underpinning historical research. The photograph of Edwards (p. 48) shows the sitter in the doctoral robes of a DLitt. of the NUI (not University of … Read more