Dr Micheline Kerney-Walsh

Sir, - All who were fortunate enough to have known Micheline will have been touched by the affectionate appreciation by C

Sir, - All who were fortunate enough to have known Micheline will have been touched by the affectionate appreciation by C.O'M. which appeared in your issue of June 23rd. A perhaps understandable omission was a mention of the vast amount of work which she did for the Military History Society of Ireland.A long-time member, she was elected to our council in 1980 and became a vice-president in 1986. She was, as C.O'M. observed, Ireland's foremost authority on our exiles in Europe from 1590 to 1790. Her lectures, and they were all too few, were eagerly looked forward to. She bore her formidable scholarship with great grace and held us both spellbound and amused as she applied her agile wit to some tale of 18th-century international skulduggery.Our journal, The Irish Sword, also benefitted. A profusion of learned articles by her appeared in its pages, covering such diverse subjects as unpublished Admiral Brown documents which she uncovered in Madrid, the womenfolk of the Wild Geese, and an Irish Chaplain in Rochambeau's army during the American War of Independence. Perhaps her most important contribution was a tenpart study of the last days of her favourite character, the Great Earl, Hugh O'Neill.She was our constant help and adviser. Our tours to 18th-century European battlefields of Irish interest owed much to her deep knowledge and to her contacts abroad. She was always available to answer queries on characters and events with Irish connections in 17th- and 18th-century Europe. In this connection she was as patient and diligent with the ignorant as with the expert.The members of this society will miss Micheline's wisdom and gentle presence sadly, very sadly. Ni bheidh a leitheid ann aris. - Yours, etc.P. D. HOGAN,President Military History Society ofIreland,Dublin 2.