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Dr John de Courcy Ireland

As a child passionately interested in ships and the sea Dr John de Courcy Ireland, who died on 4 April 2006, was a man I always admired. Born in Lucknow, India where his father was serving with the British army, he was educated at Marlborough School, the University of Oxford and Trinity College Dublin where he was awarded a PhD in 1951 for his research on Irish maritime history.

He had a distinguished and lifelong commitment to Irish and international maritime history and affairs, to radical politics and to humanism. He taught at Newpark School, Blackrock, Co Dublin between 1968–86 and ran as a Democratic Socialist for the European Parliament. He was also a founding member of CND in Ireland.

He was decorated by many foreign governments, but never by the Irish. He was also decorated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution for his 25-year association with the Dun Laoghaire lifeboat, not least of all for his role as the station's long serving Honorary Secretary.

An honorary research officer for the Maritime Institute of Ireland, which he joined in 1943, he was one of the founders of the Maritime Museum in 1959.

John de Courcy Ireland penned many historical books, including The History of Dun Laoghaire Harbour, The Admiral from Mayo, Ireland's Sea Fisheries, and Ireland and the Irish in Maritime History.

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