Harold Kinsman (part 1)

Harold Kinsman was born in 1921 and grew up in Monkstown, Co. Dublin. He describes his family connection to the Knight of Glin, and he explains that from 1922 to 1938 his father was employed in the Dublin Stock Exchange. Harold was educated in England, and later joined the East India Merchant Company. He spent five years in the Indian Army and rose to the rank of Captain. Harold returned to London in 1946 and, a year later, went to Calcutta and worked in a number of capacities – with a paint company, on a forestry plantation and as a sales representative at a copper production plant. He recalls his years in India before Partition in 1947, and says he does not remember any ill-feeling towards the British at this time and, to illustrate this, tells of a party he attended on a British naval ship anchored in Delhi. He witnessed the handover and spoke of Lord Mountbatten whom he believed handled this matter less than well. He gives his views on British exploitation of India which he witnessed post-Independence and provides a number of examples of this. He also witnessed the tensions between India and Pakistan when visiting Lahore in the 1950s. He later returned to Dublin to his business headquarters in Merrion Square. Further discussion focused on Irish politics, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and also on his home in Portmarnock which was built in 1835 by the Plunkett family.