John de Courcy Ireland

John de Courcy Ireland (19 October 1911 – 4 April 2006) was an Irish maritime historian and political activist.

Born in Lucknow, India where his father served in the British Army, he was educated at Marlborough College, Oxford University and Trinity College Dublin, where he was awarded a PhD in 1951. The title of his thesis was "The Influence of the Sea on Civilisation".

He was a committed socialist and was involved in many Irish left-wing parties, including the Northern Ireland Labour Party, the Irish Labour Party, the Communist Party of Ireland, the Democratic Socialist Party, the Workers' Party, Democratic Left and latterly the Socialist Workers' Party. He was Big Jim Larkin's election agent.

He was also involved in the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement and was president of the Ireland-China Friendship Society. He was an election candidate on a number of occasions. He was a founding member of the Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

In 1996, de Courcy Ireland published the second edition of his booklet, "The Sea and The Easter Rising" in which he claimed that Karl Spindler, the German sea captain who ran the Royal Navy blockade of Germany in 1916 to bring a shipment of arms to the County Kerry coast, failed to land the weapons because he became lost along the coast of Ireland. In a recent book, Aud, author George Clayton claims to refute these claims.

De Courcy Ireland died in 2006, aged 94.

Awards

De Courcy Ireland had been a Council member of the Maritime Institute of Ireland, who operate the National Maritime Museum of Ireland, for 55 years and was its Honorary Research Officer. He was awarded:

• Portuguese Order of the Infante
• Order of the Yugoslav Flag
• Order of Spanish Naval Merit
• Order des Palmes Acadamiques of France
• Member of Marine Academies of France
• Member of Marine Academies of Portugal
• Caird Medal of the British National Maritime Museum
• Member of Instituto Browniano (Argentina)
• Centenary Medal of Almirante Brown (Argentina)
• Hon. Life Governor of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution

The Award he valued most was the plaque in the Peoples' Park, Dún Laoghaire, as it was the only award that coupled his name with that of his wife, Betty. The Maritime Institute of Ireland posthumously awarded him its gold medal. It was accepted by his daughter on 18 November 2006.

Publications

• History of Dun Laoghaire Harbour, John De Courcy Ireland - 2001, ISBN 978-0-946130-27-6
• Ireland's maritime heritage, John De Courcy Ireland - 1992, ISBN 978-1-872228-09-9
• Ireland and the Irish in Maritime History, John De Courcy Ireland - 1985, ISBN 978-0-907606-28-4
• Wreck and Rescue on the East Coast of Ireland, John De Courcy Ireland - 1983, ISBN 978-0-907606-09-3
• Ireland's Sea Fisheries: A History, John De Courcy Ireland - 1981, ISBN 978-0-907606-01-7
• The Sea and the Easter Rising, second revised edition, John De Courcy Ireland - 1996, ISBN 978-0-00002-58-7

External links

• Irish Times obituary - unfortunately this is a subscription site.
• John de Courcy Ireland collection in UCD

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