Madam - Fintan Gibney (December 7th) notes that, in the recently released 1911 census online returns, James Connolly gives his place of birth as Co Monaghan, though he was actually born in Scotland in 1868.
In fact, Connolly also listed himself as Monaghan-born in the 1901 census. By contrast, the 1881 British census return for 2A King's Stables, Edinburgh, filled in by Connolly's parents, correctly shows the then 13-year-old as born in Edinburgh.
So, why did Connolly later alter his place of birth? I suspect that his disingenuousness in this matter was of a piece with his concealment of his years spent in the British army.
With militant nationalism on the rise and Connolly, a convinced separatist, anxious to tap into its revolutionary potential, he wished to be seen as "authentically" Irish. It appears that even Connolly was influenced in his understanding of "Irishness" by the narrow views of the then flourishing "Irish Ireland" movement.
In retrospect, it seems odd that a socialist internationalist, such as Connolly, should have worried about his place of birth, but it is now clear that the myth of a Monaghan birth, reinforced by Desmond Ryan's biography in 1924 and disproved only in the late 20th century, was actually begun by Connolly himself. - Yours, etc,
FINTAN LANE, Laurence Brook, Chapelizod, Dublin 20.