Thomas Desmond Williams (26 May 1921 – 18 January 1987) was an Irish academic and Professor of

Modern History The term modern period or modern era (sometimes also called modern history or modern times) is the period of history that succeeds the Middle Ages (which ended approximately 1500 AD). This terminology is a historical periodization that is applie ...

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

(UCD) from 1949 to 1983 and joint editor of ''Irish Historical Studies'' from 1938 till 1973. Although Williams published little he has had "considerable" influence on Irish historiography. He worked as a British intelligence operative during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Biography

His parents were UCD Professor of Education W.J. Williams and Angela Williams (née Murnaghan). His maternal grandfather was

George Murnaghan George Murnaghan (4 July 1847 – 13 January 1929) was an Irish Nationalist Member of Parliament in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. He represented the Mid Tyrone constituency from the 1895 United Kingdom general election, until the Januar ...

. He attended a primary school run by

Dominican nun The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Ca ...

s and was taught by his father for his

secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final pha ...

.T. Desmond Williams (1921-1987)
Irish Historical Studies, xxvi, no 101, (May 1988) At UCD he won

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

s, and in 1942 was awarded the John Brooke memorial scholarship, after which he joined the legal profession. He worked for the British Foreign Office and was a member of British Intelligence during the Second World War.Dermot Keogh: Ireland and Europe (1988), quoted by Manus O'Riordan in History Ireland, Vol. 15, Issue 3, March/April 2007
/ref> His MA was titled "The Genesis of National Socialism" and was supervised by

John M. O'Sullivan John Marcus O'Sullivan (18 February 1881 – 9 February 1948) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as Minister for Education from 1926 to 1932 and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance from 1924 to 1926. He served as a Te ...

. In 1944 he became a research student at

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite ...

, and following his failure to be awarded a fellowship there returned to Ireland, where he was appointed Professor of Modern History at UCD in 1949. In 1953, in a series of articles in the ''Leader'' and ''Irish Press'', he accused the war-time Irish Minister to Spain, Leopold Kerney, of having been a Nazi collaborator. Kerney sued him and the two publications for

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

. Despite Williams having been supplied with captured German documents by the British Foreign Office to boost his case and Kerney being refused the right to present Irish Ministry documents in support of his action, Kerney won the case, which was settled out of court.

Works

Books

*Secret Societies in Ireland (1973)

Articles

* *

References

External links

Leopold H. Kerney Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Thomas Desmond 1921 births 1987 deaths 20th-century Irish historians Academics of University College Dublin Alumni of University College Dublin Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge Irish expatriates in the United Kingdom British intelligence operatives Revisionism (Ireland)