Sir,—A passing remark about Dublin’s Queen Victoria monument (On This Day, HI 34.2, July/Aug. 2026) needs passing back. The statue of the seated monarch was not exactly ‘gifted to Sydney, Australia’, though it was good of Aodhán Crealey to say so. The formal rubric is, diplomatically, ‘on loan, until recalled’. As grand as she looks … Read more
Sir,—Mark Holan’s engaging article on Leon Uris’s Trinity (HI 34.4, July/August 2026) perhaps underestimates how popular the author’s work was with contemporary Irish republicans. During October 1977 An Phoblacht gushed about Ireland: a terrible beauty (co-authored by Uris with his wife Jill), asserting that it showed ‘an extraordinary understanding’ of the IRA’s position. The prominent … Read more
Sir,—I read Rachel Scally’s ‘The Royal Dublin Society and the Legacies of Empire Project, 1731–1877’ with interest—but also with disappointment. While Bishop George Berkeley had his name removed from a Trinity College library for owning about 90 acres of land in Rhode Island and purchasing eight or nine slaves, the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, … Read more
Sir,—By chance I came across Brian Trench’s letter concerning the Lyng brothers (HI 33.6, Nov./Dec. 2025, in response to Conor McCabe’s notes on a 1901 photograph of members of the Irish Socialist Republican Party in the preceding issue) after writing about our family history. I am George Lyng’s granddaughter, born (and residing) in America. I … Read more
Sir,—For those of us unable to regularly visit bookshops in Ireland, History Ireland provides a valuable service. The opportunity to read informed reviews of the latest works in Irish historiography is a boon as well as a pleasure. But John Regan’s review of Gareth Prendergast’s Clear, hold, build: how the Free State won the Irish … Read more