Contributors & Institutions

I was born in Dublin in 1942, am married with three adult children, Stephen, Timothy and Eileen, and two grandchildren, James and Matthew. I was educated in St Patrick's Primary School, Drumcondra. My Secondary Schools were Plas Mhuire and Colaiste Mhuire. I graduated in Arts from UCD in 1963. I was married in 1964. My wife's name is Anne (nee Bowler). I taught (Geography) in Nigeria from 1964 to 1966 and (English) in Australia from 1971 to 1983. At present I teach in St Conleths College, Ballsbridge. I have never taught history. I would not know how.

I was fed on the same Irish diet of history as everybody else. Books and notes were the main course, but primary sources were not on the menu. I have always read history, everyday. I have always seen time as a continuum. I see the present as merely the latest stage of the past and as the beginning of the future. My favourite historian is Lord Acton, probably because he never wrote a history book. I read Toynbee a great deal. I like the notion of "civilisation". It is a pity that so many people do not. Probably the best history book I have ever read is Jacques Barzun's "From Dawn to Decadence." (2001).

I was always interested in my family history. This was probably because I was told I had a Spanish ancestor. I finally decided to do some work on my origins, thus I enrolled in an evening class in Genealogy given by Sean Murphy in UCD. Thus armed I went to the National Archives and saw primary sources, in the flesh as it were. I was captivated.

During my research I discovered that an ancestor of mine had been given "a garden by Thomas Power for his trouble as herd and caretaker at No 21." This was in 1847, in Shangarry Townland, Ballingarry Parish, Co Tipperary. I had read enough history to know of "reliable tenants" and what they got up to. Needless to say, I was beginning to have doubts about my ancestor (these were not diminished when I later discovered he was not a Tithe Defaulter). I went to the "outrage books" for County Tipperary, which led me to a call number, which led me to the "Official Papers Miscellaneous Assorted" (OPMA) records. The call number was for a tithe defaulter schedule. Thus started my work on the tithe defaulters. Along the way, I was sidetracked, many times, by primary source material. For example, on the Famine in Co Tipperary. I did some work on this material. I also did some work on the OPMA record as an entity in itself. All the while I was recording my family's historic tracings. These I put in book form and gave a copy to all of my siblings and some American cousins. Researching and recording my family's genealogy was a very interesting lesson in how to find and "read" original sources. I was learning, all the time.

In January 1998 I was asked to organise the Archives of the Royal Hospital Donnybrook. I was given an Archive Room and the use of the Boardroom. I am the Hospital's Voluntary Archivist. The archives are a constant source of discovery both of the wider social history of Ireland and of the more personal individual lives of the Hospital's patients. And it is all Primary Source material! I have recorded a great deal of material from the Archives. I have been given permission to publish the names of all of those associated with the Hospital from its foundation (1743) up to the end of 1900. All of these names are now recorded. I read and record in these archives almost every day, especially in the quiet time of night when the Boardroom is alive with memories.

My greatest love in spite of the above is classical music.