Letters: A historian – and a great speaker

Like so many across Ireland, I was saddened to hear of the death of Dr Eamon Phoenix.

Those of us in the historical community valued enormously his contributions to Irish history.

As a speaker, he was the man for the great state occasion. But he also gave his time gladly to humbler events.

I remember - it can only be a year or so ago - his riveting talk to the tiny Horsey Hill community group.

He stood on a mound, overlooking the river Lagan, and talked with characteristic fluency about barges, bargemen and of course their horses.

It was a tour de force and also a revealing detail from a life of scholarship and public engagement.

Liam Kennedy, Professor of History, Queen's University Belfast