Gerald O'Carroll is an Irish writer and historian. Born in Tralee,

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

in 1952, he is the second of ten children of James, an insurance broker, and his wife Elizabeth (née Talbot). Gerald was educated at Catholic primary schools in Tralee and

Castlemaine Castlemaine may mean: * Castlemaine, Victoria, a town in Victoria, Australia ** Castlemaine Football Club, an Australian rules football club ** Castlemaine railway station * Castlemaine, County Kerry, a town in Ireland * Castlemaine Brewery, Western ...

, where the family moved about 1961. He attended the Catholic

St. Brendan's College, Killarney St Brendan's College, known locally as The Sem, is a secondary school in Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland History St Brendan's is a Catholic Diocesan College, founded in 1860 by Bishop David Moriarty as a boarding and day-school for boys unde ...

, before going to University College Cork, where he graduated with a BA in history, English, and geography in 1972. He taught at second level under the Limerick City Vocational Education Committee, and for short spells on secondment in

Bulawayo, Zimbabwe Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council cl ...

(1983–85) and Madrid, Spain (1991). O'Carroll retired from teaching in 1997 to concentrate on research and publication. All of O'Carroll's published works draw their inspiration from the history of southwest Ireland, particularly County Kerry, with particular emphasis on the 12th century

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

settlement and the later

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...

and seventeenth-century settlements. These interests informed his first book, the writings of Mr. Justice Robert Day, a Kerry native and Dublin-based member of the court of King's Bench. He next undertook the writing of a history of Tralee. Recognising the need for such a publication, he made contact with

Sir Anthony Denny Sir Anthony Denny (16 January 1501 – 10 September 1549) was Groom of the Stool to King Henry VIII of England, thus his closest courtier and confidant. He was the most prominent member of the Privy chamber in King Henry's last years, havin ...

, who was descended from the leading Elizabethan planter of the region, and who placed important archive material at his disposal. The resulting book revealed the restrictive town charter of pre-democratic days, but assessed the positive contributions of settler representatives- Blennerhassett, Rowan and Denny included. O'Carroll's book on the Geraldine earls of Desmond, published in 2013, was the culmination of over thirty years of interest in the subject. Like his previous books, it drew its inspiration from the fact of historical continuity: despite war, including the occasional massacre in Elizabethan and Cromwellian times, by the nineteenth century the blood of the Geraldine earls was running in the veins of some of the settler families who composed the regional elite. This awareness had been forgotten by historians working within the confines of recent nationalism. O'Carroll lives in Limerick.

Works

Mr. Justice Robert Day (1746–1841), the Diaries and the Addresses to

Grand Juries A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential crime, criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or ...

(2004);
The Pocket History of Kerry (2007);
The History of Tralee, Its Charter and Governance (2009);
The Earls of Desmond, The Rise and Fall of a Munster Lordship (2013)

References

External links

* blog: www.historytralee.wordpress.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Ocarroll, Gerald Irish writers 21st-century Irish historians People from County Kerry Alumni of University College Cork Year of birth missing (living people) Living people