Sir,—I was intrigued to read Richard Roche’s letter concerning AlexisStafford in the summer 1996 issue of History Ireland. During theturbulent struggle between James II and William III, Dublin city wasunder Jacobite control under the so-called ‘patriot parliament’ in1689. A Roman Catholic priest, Alexius Stafford, was ‘intruded into theDeanery by James II and seems to have … Read more
Sir,—I take exception to the gratuitously insulting cartoon by ‘doll’on page nine of the autumn 1996 issue of History Ireland. The cartoondepicts a figure pushing over a pedestal on which is inscribed ‘NaBráithre Críostaí Irish Christian Brothers, 1820-’. The figure issaying ‘Corporal punishment was bad enough, but Gaelic corporalpunishment…’ Now, as a person with a … Read more
Sir,—The caption—’Women continued to play an active role in the War of Independence’—under the photograph on page 41 of the last issue (Autumn 1996) is misleading on two counts. In the first place, it does not depict a War of Independence flying column but a Civil War one—the Third Battalion flying column (‘Plunkett’s Own’), No.2 … Read more
It was commonplace in the late 1970s and early 1980s for political historians to venture that the imbalance in Lecky’s coverage of the eighteenth century, which prompted him to devote three of his seminal five-volume History of Ireland in the Eighteenth Century to the 1790s, would soon be remedied. This expectation was informed primarily by … Read more
Gone are the days when English historians ignored the question of British involvement in Ireland in the early modern period. When considered at all, the traditional narrative tended to trivialise the Irish experience and minimalise its impact on the grand sweep of English history. An example of this tendency is found in the influential England … Read more