Denis Rolleston Gwynn

Denis Rolleston Gwynn
Born	(1893-03-06)6 March 1893 Dublin, Ireland
Died	10 January 1973(1973-01-10)(aged 79) Malahide, Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Occupation	Non-fiction writer
Academic background
Alma mater	University Cork College
Academic work
Discipline	Modern Irish history
Institutions	University College Dublin

Denis Rolleston Gwynn(1893–1973) was anIrishjournalist, writer andprofessorof modern Irish history. He served in theBritish ArmyinWorld War I.

Life

Denis Gwynn was born on 6 March 1893, the third son ofStephen Gwynn,the Irish patriot, writer andIrish Parliamentary PartyMember of Parliament. His mother was Mary ('May') Louisa Osborn Gwynn; his parents were first cousins.The middle name Rolleston was derived from Denis Gwynn's great-grandmother Catherine Rolleston, who married his great grandfather John Gwynne.

Along with his mother and siblings, but not his father, Denis Gwynn was received into theRoman CatholicChurch in 1902. He was educated atSt. Enda's SchoolRathfarnham,Clongowes Wood Collegeand atUniversity College Dublinwhere he graduatedBA(1914),MA(1915) and D.Litt. (1932).

DuringWorld War I,in 1916, Gwynn enlisted in theRoyal Munster Fusiliers.He served on theWestern FrontinFrancefrom 1916 to 1917, but was then invalided home and worked for the remainder of the war at the BritishMinistry of Information.

After the war, Gwynn worked as a journalist. He became assistant editor of the periodicalEverymanin London, joined the National Press Agency, and worked for a while as a reporter in Brittany and Paris, then in 1922 returned to London where he was active for many years as a journalist specialising in Irish Catholic issues. He was on the editorial staff of theWestminster Gazetteand edited theDublin Reviewfrom 1933 to 1939.

DuringWorld War IIGwynn retired to theHampshirecountryside and became a farmer.

In 1948 Gwynn returned to Ireland and took up the post of research professor of Modern Irish History atUniversity College Cork.He remained in this post until his retirement in 1962. Professor Gwynn also acted as editor of theCork University Press(1954–1962) and wrote a regular column calledNow and Thenin theCork Examiner.He wrote several works of history and biography and was a contributor toEncyclopedia Britannica.

In 1963, Denis Gwynn married Alice McEnery (née Trudeau) (1904-1991), born in Chicago, the only daughter of Dr Edward Livingston Trudeau Jnr and painterHazel Martyn,an American beauty who later became the wife and muse of Irish artistJohn Lavery.For many years Hazel Lavery's face, as drawn by Lavery, featured on Irish banknotes.Alice's paternal grandfather wasEdward Livingston Trudeau (1848–1915) an American physician andpublic healthpioneer who helped to establish principles for disease prevention and control, particularly for tuberculosis.

Denis Gwynn died at his home inMalahideDublin, on 10 January 1973 and was buried atStamullenCemeteryCo Meath.

Literary Connection

The novelistJessie Victor Rickardlived the final years of her life, until her death in 1963, at Denis Gwynn's house inMontenotte, Cork.Jessie Rickard was a close friend of Alice Gwynn.

Works

• The Catholic Reaction in France(1924)
• TheIrish Free State,1922-1927(1928)
• A Hundred Years of Catholic Emancipation(1929)
• Daniel O’Connell,the Irish Liberator(1929)
• The Life and death ofRoger Casement(1930)
• Edward Martynand the Irish revival(1930)
• John Keogh:the pioneer of Catholic Emancipation(1930) (1934)
• Daniel O’Connell and Ellen Courtney(1930)
• The Life ofJohn Redmond(1932)
• De Valera(1933)
• TheO'Gorman Mahon(1934)
• The Vatican and the War in Europe(1940)
• William Smith O'Brien(1946)
• Young Ireland and 1848(1949)
• Cardinal Wiseman(1950)
• The history ofPartition(1950)

Biographical sources

• A Dictionary of Irish History since 1800, D. J. Hickey & J. E. Doherty, Gill & MacMillan (1980)
• A Biographical Dictionary of Cork, Tim Cadogan & Jeremiah Falvey (2006), p. 117