Madam, - Congratulations yet again on a superb supplement - this time on the Somme (The Irish Times June 27th). Correctly, it emphasises that the Somme involved "tens of thousands" (to use the President's phrase) of almost anonymous Southerners - and their families.
However, I am mildly puzzled that you make only the tiniest of passing references to W.B. Hickie (aka Maj-Gen Sir William Bernard Hickie, KCB).
Hickie took over command of the 16th (Irish) Division from Sir Lawrence Parsons in 1915, supervised its training before it went into the line and commanded it in battle right through 1916 and 1917 until its tattered remnants were effectively disbanded in 1918.
Given the fraught and complex politics of the time, the appointment was an extremely delicate one. In fact, not only was Hickie a (Roman) Catholic but, according to family tradition, he and his younger brother Carlos were among the few career officers in the "Irish" garrison at the time of the Curragh Mutiny in 1914 who had indicated that they would march against the Ulster Volunteers.
He fought a long campaign against the War Office to get the shamrock shoulder-flash for his division. After the heavy casualties in the fighting during 1916, he protested in person several times against what he saw as an "unbalanced" if not biased policy of sending his exhausted troops back into the front line.
After the war, he retired while still very young for a general and was president of the British Legion (Southern Ireland) from 1920 to 1950. In the elections for Seanad Éireann in 1925, when the entire country was one constituency, he came near the top of the poll and served in the Seanad till 1936.
According to one family tradition, his younger brother Carlos was offered command of British troops in Kerry in 1920 or 1921. When he tried to point out gently to the War Office that his sister lived outside Killarney (and all that that would imply), he was told to take the job or resign. He resigned - with 10 or 15 years still to go.
These stories illustrate how those who served in British uniforms in two world wars found themselves. Regarded by the British establishment as Papist Paddies and not to be trusted, they were regarded as traitors in the official narrative of our State.
Never for one moment doubting their Irish identity, almost all of W.B. Hickie's male, (and some female) relatives served in the British forces. One exception was his nephew, the late Rickard Deasy, who served in the Irish Defence Forces from 1939 to 1944 and was subsequently president of the National Farmers' Association. - Yours, etc,
MAURICE O'CONNELL, Oakpark, Tralee, Co Kerry.
PS: To declare my interest: Given that W.B. Hickie was my grandmother's elder brother, I, as a small boy, knew him as "Uncle Bill".
A chara, - Your Editorial and supplement (June 27th) aptly marked the 90th anniversary of the Somme and the Irish role in the first World War. In the supplement, Kieran Fagan explained concisely the background including that of the Irish regiments and divisions.
Stephen Collins related the story of Tom Kettle as a brilliant student, nationalist politician, popular teacher, inspiring poet and Dublin Fusiliers' officer. It is important to add that Kettle was also a barrister whose views were influenced by his legal training.
As explained in my book Wigs and Guns, Irish Barristers in the Great War, (reviewed in your edition of April 22th), Tom Kettle believed that the Irish people should support the Allied armies to protect European civilisation and uphold the rule of law.- Is mise,
ANTHONY P. QUINN, Law Library, Dublin 7.