About the author & Acknowledgements

My name is Liam Maloney and I was employed at Belvedere College S.J. in early-2016 to assist in the creation of the Strong Hearts Stir: Belvedere College SJ 1916-2016 Exhibition. The profiles on this blog were part of my contribution to the exhibition.

I live in north county Dublin and my early modern history interests emerged during a BA (Hons.) at University College Dublin (2009-2012) and culminated in the dissertation entitled ‘Restoration Ireland: Secular Loyalties, Confessional Affiliations and Political Manoeuvrings’.

I completed an early modern history MA programme at University College Dublin (2013-2014) and submitted the dissertation ‘The ‘best interest his majesty has in this kingdom’: The Earl of Orrery and the Defence of the Protestant Interest in the Restoration Settlements of Ireland, 1660-65’.

I worked at the Shackleton Endurance Exhibition in Dún Laoghaire (2014-2015), where I gave tours of the exhibition as well as engaging in research & writing projects. I maintain the Facebook page of exhibition despite its move to Detroit Zoo in early-2016.

Shackleton Exhibition Facebook page

Shackleton Exhibition website

See also my work about Perce Blackborow, member of Shackleton's Endurance expedition:

Our Young Stowaway: Perce Blackborow and Life on Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1914-1916.

I volunteered for the best part of a year at St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, giving guided tours to visitors. I am interested in the religious history of Ireland and wider Europe.

St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, website

I currently am part of the teaching staff at UCD School of History as a tutor, delivering seminars for an undergraduate history module.

UCD School of History website

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My gratitude is due to John O’Reilly (President of Belvedere Past Pupils' Union, 2015-2016) for suggesting, initially, that I become involved in the Belvedere College S.J. 1916-2016 project. Headmaster Gerry Foley and Deputy-Principal Seamus Finegan were instrumental in getting me started at the school and I thank them for the opportunities and experiences of this work.

Furthermore, at Belvedere College S.J., I would like the express my thanks to Fr Derek Cassidy SJ, Aileen Ivory, Yvonne O’Brien, Sally-Anne Ireland, Marguerite Redmond, Ann Quinn, Martina Leddy, Shane Moran, all at the O’Reilly Theatre, Frances Stoker Phelan, Ruaidhrí O'Dálaigh and the Belvedere students and staff (administrative, maintenance and teaching) with whom I have closely worked.

For their assistance in my research I would like to thank Damien Burke (Irish Jesuit Archives), Sean Connolly (Royal Dublin Fusilier Association), Grainne Dowdall (Temple Street Children's University Hospital), Dr Barry Kennerk (Temple Street Children's University Hospital), James Grannell (UCD), Dr Brian Kirby (Capuchin Archives, Ireland), Patrick Hugh Lynch (Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht), Seán O’Connell (President of Past Pupils’ Union, St. Joseph’s, CBS), Fergus O’Farrell (UCD MA, 2014) and Nial Ring (Dublin City Councilor and grandson of Joseph Ring, GPO Garrison, 1916).

Many thanks are also due to Joanne Ryan for her assistance in sharing this blog with the Belvedere community.

Introduction piece from the exhibition booklet

The pages below are from the booklet produced to accompany the Strong Hearts Stir: Belvedere College SJ 1916-2016 Exhibition. It was compiled by Aileen Ivory, librarian at Belvedere. The purpose of the piece shown below, written by Liam Maloney, was to give a framework to our approach to the school and the events of one hundred years before. 

Click for larger images

Introduction

These biographies are a product of the Strong Hearts Stir: Belvedere College SJ 1916-2016 Exhibition. The intentions of the 1916-2016 exhibition project at Belvedere College SJ were

to create an exhibition that would respectfully display information concerning Belvedere College’s connection to the Easter rising, 1916;

to provide the current students with an opportunity to engage with the history and legacy of the rebellion in its centenary year;

to promote awareness of the school’s history throughout the current student and staff body, the past pupils’ Union and the wider Belvedere community.

The exhibition comprised the following:

profiles of people directly and indirectly connecting Belvedere College with the rebellion;

            student exhibition pieces inspired by the history and legacy of Easter, 1916;

the play ‘Children of the Rising’ by Fiachra Sheridan, starring students of Belvedere College and students from nearby schools;

a recording of the Junior Choir and of the Chamber Choir;

a public questions and answers session, chaired by Dr John Bowman (OB);

a schedule of short talks delivered by specialist speakers.

The Strong Heart Stir exhibition and events ran from the evening of Friday, 29 April to the evening of Saturday, 30 April. 

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This blog contains profiles of the twenty-six identified direct links between Belvedere College SJ and the Easter rising of 1916—twenty-six men who were students or staff at the school and who were actively engaged in the events of Easter week, 1916.  Shorter versions of these profiles were displayed throughout Belvedere House at the Strong Hearts Stir exhibition.

These twenty-six short profiles show the varied traditions and range of political views held by the Belvedere community, wider Dublin and Ireland in the early-twentieth century. There are committed career soldiers in the British Army, those fighting for Home Rule for Ireland, Irish-Ireland cultural nationalists and militant republicans. These men display a representative cross-section of the middling classes at Eastertide, 1916. 

The main source for this research was the school yearbook, The Belvederian. Publishing its first volume for the school year 1905-1906, it charts the activities of current and past pupils and staff, as well as providing news of the Society of Jesus and world events. The volumes for 1914-1919 were crucial for understanding the context of the Great War and Belvedere students’ contribution to it. The volumes from 1906 onwards were important to understand the generation of schoolboys who were to witness the war and the Easter rebellion as young adults. 

The profiles in this blog focus on the individual’s involvement in the events of the Easter rising, 1916. Where possible, information is given concerning their earlier lives, including time at Belvedere College, and brief sketches, again, where possible, of their lives and careers after the rebellion. The profile of Éamon deValera may be considered a little short considering the long and varied life and career of such a man—I direct readers’ attention to Prof R. Fanning and Prof D. Ferriter, amongst others, and their recent publications regarding the former Taoiseach and former President of Ireland. Longer profiles given below are compiled by bringing various sources together to create short biographies of individuals who do not receive the same attention as other figures such as ‘Dev’.

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References to newspapers and the Dictionary of Irish Biography (Cambridge, 2009) were accessed via the National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2, subscriptions to Irish Newspaper Archives, The Irish Times archive and to the Dictionary of Irish Biography online edition. 

Please note that the titles and ranks given to the men in the subtitles are those that they held during the rebellion in Dublin, Easter, 1916. 

Dublin, June, 2016.

LM.