There were also a lot of Irishmen who followed James II into exile in France. The parish register of St Germain-en-Laye has a number of records of the time with some interesting interpretations of Irish surnames by the parish priest! In case it is of interest to anyone "Jacobite extracts from the parochial registers of St Germain-en-Laye" can be found on the Internet Archive.
Excellent advice jayaygee - I'll certainly follow up on your suggestion.
Incidentally - one of Nicholas Halpin's descendants was a young man by the name of Lieutenant William Halpin-Sweeny, who fought in the Battle of Trafalgar and stood guard over Napoleon as the defeated Emperor was being transported into exile for the last time. The two men became friendly during the voyage, and in the course of one of many conversations Napoleon became convinced that he had met the Lieutenant before, during the battle of Waterloo. But it turned out that Napoleon had actually interrogated the Lieutenant's brother, who had been captured during the fighting. Upon realizing his mistake, Napoleon is reputed to have said: ''Ahh. Your brother was once my prisoner. Now I am yours.''
