Sir,—Re criticism of my Irish Voices from the Great War in the last issue (‘Letters’). I am sorry your correspondent was disappointed by the volume. I am quite prepared to acknowledge that it is possible I was misled. But I draw the reader’s attention to my caveat in the introduction where I gave fair warning … Read more
Sir,—I refer to the article by Steven G. Ellis in your Spring 1999 issue, ‘“More Irish Than the Irish Themselves”? the “Anglo-Irish” in Tudor Ireland’. For the Tudor period especially, Dr Ellis attempts to restore to the people he calls ‘the English of Ireland’ their English identity, and argues that our modern Irish identity is … Read more
Sir,—I am researching the subject of Ulster and the Great War. I am particularly interested in the part played by nationalists from all over the north who joined the 16th Irish Division and other Irish and non-Irish units. While there is a wealth of material relating to the wartime role of northern unionists and, more … Read more
Sir,—David Rutland (‘Letters’, HI Winter 1998) raises the question of whether there is a connection between Freemasonry and Orangeism. There is certainly a perception among Roman Catholics in Ireland that such a connection exists. Both institutions, in fact, deny a connection. In The Orange Order—An Evangelical Perspective (1993) the Grand Chaplain of the Grand Orange … Read more
Sir,—I found Bernard Share’s article, ‘In our own image: the branding of industrial Ireland’ (HI Winter 1998), particularly interesting, having only recently retired from nearly fifty years in Irish retailing. The first thing I did with my new freedom was to write and publish Retailing in Wexford 1930-1990, which covered similar ground.I believe he is … Read more