Irish History Revisited

was educated by the military wing of the Catholic Church otherwise known as the Christian Brothers, and not surprisingly their version of irish history was fairly one-sided in its delivery. To paraphrase “It is all the fault of the godless English”.

I currently commute by driving up to London so am doing 500+ miles a week, in a effort to make that time slightly less dead I am listening to audio books which I think I might find interesting. One such is “A Short History of Ireland” produced by BBC Radio Ulster. I would certainly recommend it.

Fascinating is not the word, it’s riveting and has given me a whole new perspective on what I was taught (indoctrinated) in school.
Some interesting facts:

• Captain Blyth (of Mutiny on the Bounty fame) was responsible for dredging the River Liffey to allow large ships to reach the quays.
• William of Orange was a small Dutchman who spoke little English and despite the antics of the Orange Order was not rabidly anti-Catholic and favoured liberalisation of the Penal Laws.
• The Orange Lodge was formed out of a gang of vicious thugs called the Peep o’ Day Boys.
• The United Irishmen, widely acknowledged as the antecedent of Sinn Fein and the Fenians in later years was established for the most part by Protestants, Theobald Woolf Tone for example was a protestant and the United Irishmen started and were strongest in Ulster. Republicanism is always presented as being entirely sectarian but when you look at the history this is not the case.
• The Penal Laws were not only targeted at Catholics they were also aimed at Presbyterians and other non “Established” religions.
• The French invaded Ireland to assist the locals in rebellion 3 times.
• Over half the troops who fought at Waterloo with Wellington were Irish and the Duke of Wellington himself was born in Ireland, He is famously quoted as saying “Just because you are born in a stable does not mean that you are a horse”