Dictionary of Irish Biography add Derry's Glen Barr and Honoria Galwey to database

The Dictionary of Irish Biography has expanded its open-access database with the publication of 29 new entries.

The latest update includes an eclectic range of noteworthy individuals from across the spectrum of Irish society, featuring 28 brand new biographies and one extensive revision of an existing entry, including two figures with connections to Derry.

Derry man Glen Barr, who passed away in 2017, was a prominent loyalist politician and a co-founder of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and famously served as the chairman of the 1974 Ulster Workers’ Council (UWC) strike and became a leading advocate for peace and reconciliation in Derry.

In 2005 Barr was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his community work. In his later years he spoke to researchers, attended witness seminars and was regarded by loyalists as an elder statesman.

Another new entry features Honoria Galwey, who passed away in 1925. She came to prominence as a folk music collector in the 1890s, but had been collecting privately since childhood. Galwey’s greatest contribution was her own collection, ‘Old Irish croonauns and other tunes’ (1910).

The contents ranged from traditional Donegal airs to parlour tunes, from lullabies to stirring reels, accompanied by brief but careful notes acknowledging her sources and any previously published variations. The collection demonstrated the extent of Galwey’s knowledge and the breadth of her sources.

Speaking about the newly published entries, Dr Eoin Kinsella, Managing Editor, DIB, said: “These new and revised entries reflect the DIB’s ongoing commitment to telling Ireland’s life story and to uncovering and celebrating lives that might otherwise be overlooked, ensuring that the island’s complex and diverse history continues to be told in full.”

‘The DIB has always been a collaborative venture. The work of the team based at the Royal Irish Academy would not be possible without the many academics and researchers who so generously contribute their time and expertise to us on a voluntary basis, as contributors and advisers.

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“We were very saddened to learn of the untimely death of Dr Joseph Rodgers earlier this year. Dr Rodgers had recently completed a doctorate on the commercial and social history of O’Connell Street and contributed the entry on Thomas Gresham to this month’s release.’

The DIB was launched in 2009 after many years of research by hundreds of contributors and its online edition now features almost 11,000 lives and continues to grow. Find out more at www.dib.ie.