WHEN we think of a kilted soldier, we almost definitely think of someone very different from Ian MacKenzie Kennedy. He may have had—at times—a feather in his bunnet and a kilt upon his knee, but MacKenzie Kennedy was no representation of the clichéd Scottish martial spirit. He was, from early 1918, a soldier in the Irish Republican Army.

HISTORIAN and regular contributor to The Irish Voice , Stephen Coyle, is looking forward to the publication of his latest book next month. The Last Gallowglass: The Story of Ian MacKenzie Kennedy who died for the Irish Republic , is about a Scottish Gael who was born into a distinguished Scottish family in 1899. MacKenzie Kennedy (above) came from a long family tradition of service in the British Army, and his father was a major in the Norfolk Regiment. He wore the kilt, play