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
Sir,—With reference to Karl Bottigheimer and Ute Lotz-Heumann’s article, ‘Ireland and the European Reformation’ (HI Winter 1998), I believe that Ireland is still unique in resisting the Protestant Reformation in Northern Europe. The people of the two states of Germany quoted, although they resisted conversion from Lutheranism to Calvinism, had not previously resisted conversion to … Read more
Sir,—Re Ian McCabe’s article ‘Leaving the Commonwealth’ in the last issue (HI Winter 1998). In the course of an interview, an esteemed retired practitioner of diplomacy insisted that the Republic of Ireland never, in so many words, procedurally left the Commonwealth. She was locked out by a peppery Britain still trailing clouds of empire grandeur. … Read more