Sir, – Further to Enda Cullen’s letter of July 8th about Portadown-born Robert Hart – who ran the Qing empire’s Imperial Maritime Customs Service – I would highlight Josephine Bracken; practically unknown here but famous in the Philippines as the wife of José Rizal, that country’s pre-eminent activist seeking self-rule from Spain in the late 19th century.
Born in Hong Kong to a mother from close to Ballycarry in Co Antrim, and a father from near Ferbane, Co Offaly, the sesquicentennial of her birth is on August 9th this year. – Yours, etc,
MICK BOURKE,
Clane,
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Co Kildare.
