A chara, - On a recent tour to Flanders and the Somme with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers' Association, I visited Guillemont and Ginchy. There we remembered Tom Kettle, who was killed on September 9th, 1916 while in action with the Dublin Fusiliers. He has no known grave but his name is recorded on the Thiepval memorial in France.
Thomas M. Kettle is one of the better-known names of 25 Irish Barristers who died in the first World War, as listed on the memorial at the Four Courts, Dublin. As indicated in my letters to The Irish Times on February 3rd and 23rd 1999, I am researching the stories of those 25 barristers.
A bust in St. Stephen's Green, Dublin, remembers Tom Kettle, "poet, essayist and patriot". That memorial quotes the last few lines of his renowned poem to his daughter,:
"Died not for flag, nor King, nor Emperor-
But for a dream, born in a herdsman's shed,
And the secret Scripture of the poor."
Also in St Stephen's Green, a display stand summarising the various memorials in the park, misquotes the last line of that poem as the "sacred Scripture".
I trust that the responsible authority, now presumably Duchas/ the Heritage Service, will correct that misleading mistake. - Is mise,
Anthony P. Quinn, Law Library, Four Courts, Dublin 7.