User:MaltaGC

MaltaGC is the user name of Nigel Tout.

The first Wikipedia page that I edited was about railways and I needed a user name. 'Malta GC' was the name of a 'Jubilee' class steam locomotive which I regularly saw in the late 1950's & early 1960's. It was named after the island of Malta which was awarded the George Cross medal for its heroic resistance to Axis attacks during WWII.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Charles_Algernon_Parsons :

Untitled[edit]

He "was an Irish engineer" "born in London" - Sounds a bit Irish to me ! —Preceding unsigned comment added by MaltaGC (talk • contribs) 20:12, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

The great British philosopher Anscombe was born in Limerick, but the Irish do not say she was Irish, nor Anglo-Irish, she was a British person who happened to have been born in Ireland (her father was stationed there). There are countless examples of the same. Also, using the term "Anglo-Irish" does explain a bit more about the person's heritage, but in fact the "Anglo-Irish" were surprised to hear of themselves being described as a 'hyphenated Irish' person! This is because they themselves considered themselves "Irish". At different stages of varying political debate and intensity some of the (Anglo-)Irish may have called themselves British ASWELL. Finally, your use of the word "Irish" in your last comment is a bit needlessly offensive. And it's also a bit ironic as you are the one who got it wrong (though no one is actually suggesting you are thick) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Donn300 (talk • contribs) 12:10, 28 August 2012 (UTC)

Please see Charles Parsons' grand-nephew, Michael Parsons' Trinity Monday Discourse, 1968. http://www.tcd.ie/Secretary/FellowsScholars/discourses/discourses/1968_Lord%20Rosse%20on%20W.%20Parsons.pdf which in turn you can find here, http://www.tcd.ie/Secretary/FellowsScholars/discourses/

This is for people who are concerned (possessive, maybe?) about members of the Parsons family, especially Charles, being not Irish for some reason. They object to Charles Parsons being described as Irish using the excuse/detail that he was London-born (above I earlier pointed to the example of "the great British philosopher Anscombe who was born in Limerick, but the Irish do not say she was Irish, nor Anglo-Irish, she was a British person who happened to have been born in Ireland (her father was stationed there). There are countless examples of the same..."). I think it's simply they want to claim Charles Parsons as British only, and exclude the more (or solely) Irish part of his make-up, just because he was brilliant. Funny how they only claim the great ones.

Well now, in the same reference I just gave, one can see on page 5 that Charles Parson's father:

"William Parsons, subsequently to become third Earl of Rosse, came of a family which first crossed to Ireland from Leicestershire towards the end of the Elizabethan era, at almost exactly the time of the foundation of this College [TCD, 1592]. His paternal ancestors had subsequently lived at Birr for eight consecutive generations and had become firmly rooted in the soil of Central Ireland".

And so, Charles Parsons' paternal ancestors lived at Birr for 9 consecutive generations and the 9th generation was also firmly rooted in the soil of Central Ireland. In fact they were so well rooted that "excursions from Birr were to be very rare" (p.6).

On page 7 this is how the 6th Earl Michael Parsons describes the education of William, the 3rd Earl, his great grandfather (Charles Parsons' father):

"Unfortunately no information about the two years spent there [TCD] has come to light, except that they both acquitted themselves so creditably that they were sent on to Magdalen College, Oxford. For an IRISH BOY this was an unusual step at that time and there must have been weighty reasons indeed to induce their father, in particular, to take it, both because of his political traditions and because of his own long-standing associations with Trinity. It can only be that his parental feelings came first and that their records so far were outstanding enough for them to deserve the very best education available to suit their special talents at the time. Presumably he was advised that this could be got even better at Oxford".

Then when Charles Parsons' father, the great astronomer William, brought up his family at Birr:

"a steady stream of visitors came, from all over the world. For more than half a century, to the end of my grandfather's life [1908], Birr became an international scientific centre...Scientific discoveries continued to be made at Birr for a further forty years, to which brief reference should be made. The FOUR SONS [incl Charles] of the house were educated AT HOME [in Birr, in IRELAND] by private tutors, all of whom were well versed in the sciences and acted also as practical assistants to their father in his astronomical work. One of them later became, as Sir Robert Ball, Astronomer Royal for Ireland." (p.11)

We can learn about further growing up & education in Ireland when on page 9 in a comment that Charles Parsons' mother:

"was an equally devoted wife and mother and subsequently showed her conscientiousness with regard to her sons' education by taking a house in Dublin, when the two youngest entered this College [TCD] shortly after their father's death."

So Charles Parsons and brothers grew up in Ireland, were educated at home, and then went to the nearest university (a pretty good one too) in the capital along with their mother who took a house there. All very straight-forward. Why then do some people object to him being described as Irish? It is more likely true if there was a British element in HIS idea of his make-up then, it would've been as "Irish and British".

He may well have considered that he had added the "British" bit to his identity after moving to Britain (as an adult) and spending many years there - straight forward Naturalisation.

Also as I said above, "using the term "Anglo-Irish" does explain a bit more about the person's heritage, but in fact the "Anglo-Irish" were surprised to hear of themselves being described as a 'hyphenated Irish' person! This is because they themselves considered themselves "Irish". At different stages of varying political debate and intensity some of the (Anglo-) Irish may have called themselves British ASWELL". I might've added that 'the "Anglo-Irish" were surprised AND OFTEN ANNOYED to hear of themselves being described as a 'hyphenated Irish' person! This is because they themselves considered themselves "Irish"....'. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Donn300 (talk • contribs) 21:24, 20 May 2014 (UTC)