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Little change?

Published in 20th-century / Contemporary History, Issue 4 (Winter 1995), Letters, Letters, Volume 3

Sir,—Reading Patrick Holland’s account of the Unionist meeting in the picture gallery in Kilkenny Castle on 12 October 1912 and Brian Cleary’s account of the Byrne-Perry Summer School, one could not but feel that little has changed over the intervening eighty-three years. Mr. Holland candidly acknowledges the partisan approach of the press coverage of the Kilkenny meeting, noting that the Kilkenny People dismissed the speeches as ‘empty’ and the proceedings as a ‘farce’. In the light of Mr. Cleary’s observations on Dr. C.D. McGimpsey’s contribution to the Summer School, it would appear that Unionists are no more likely to receive a fair hearing today than they were in 1912.—Yours etc.,

GORDAN LUCY
Banbridge Enterprise Centre,
Scarva Road Industrial Estate,
Banbridge,
Co. Down.
BT32 3QD.

On this Day

April 20

1968 In what became known as the ‘rivers of blood’ speech, Enoch Powell MP strongly criticised mass immigration, especially Commonwealth immigration to the UK, and the then proposed Race Relations Act.
1954 Michael Manning (25), a carter from Groody, Limerick city, was hanged in Mountjoy Jail for the murder of an elderly nurse. He was the last person to be judicially executed in the Republic of Ireland. The last judicial execution in Northern Ireland took place seven years later, in December 1961, when Robert McGladdery (26) from Newry was hanged for the murder of a local woman.
1912 Abraham ‘Bram’ Stoker (65), author, notably of Dracula (1897), died.
1954 Michael Manning (25), a carter from Limerick, was hanged in Mountjoy prison for the murder of an elderly nurse. He was the last man to be judicially executed in the Republic of Ireland.

Little change?

Personal Histories

On this Day

April 20