Biographical dictionary was labour of love for authors

TIM Cadogan and Jeremiah Falvey launched their Biographical Dictionary of Cork last week at the Fenton Gallery in the city’s Wandsworth Quay.

The dictionary, published by Four Courts Press, contains 1,500 brief biographies of Cork personalities.

“We felt there was a need for this kind of book, particularly for local historians,” said Mr Cadogan.

“We felt it would be useful for them to have something that would identify characters they’d come across in doing research. There were Irish dictionaries of biography and dictionaries of biography for people active in the Irish language, for instance, but there was no specific dictionary of Cork biography, there was a gap there.”

Mr Cadogan and Mr Falvey are very familiar with the local history scene in Cork. Mr Cadogan, from Aughadown in west Cork, wrote Tracing Your Cork Ancestors, an invaluable guide to local genealogy, while Mr Falvey, who is engaged in doctoral research at UCC, has written The Chronicles of Midleton, a tribute to his birthplace.

Taking the 15th century as their starting point, the pair drew up the criteria for inclusion.

“There were a couple of occupations we included anyway,” says Mr Cadogan.

“All the MPs who represented Cork from 1800 on, all the TDs from the foundation of the State, bishops of modern times — the 18th century on — and we had a rule of thumb that anyone who won four All-Ireland medals went in: I suppose only in Cork would the cut come at four!

“People who had published three or four books went in, people who were very active in local history and people who were active in the Irish language movement — maybe some of those people wouldn’t have been well known outside their own parishes, but they were still people of national distinction.”

The authors also included Cork-born people who represented other constituencies, while others who were born outside Cork but became intimately associated with the city or county are included — musician Rory Gallagher, born in Donegal, is a good example.

Corkonians will also be glad of the index which offers a guide to the entrants by birthplace. Diarmuid Ó Murchadha, who launched the book last Wednesday, congratulated the two authors on their achievement.

Taking account of the personalities thrown up by the largest county in Ireland over five centuries wasn’t an easy task. The pair spent five years working on the book, but it was a labour of love.

“It was a very enjoyable experience — the enjoyment was in the research, the labour is in the writing up afterwards.

“We’ve been at it about five years, the fact that both of us have a background in local history meant that in one sense we’ve probably been gathering material for it for many years.

“In terms of dividing up the work, that was pretty ad hoc — both of us had areas of strength and we focused on those and allocated little jobs to each other.

“I’m sure we have gaps and omissions and the odd mistake here and there, but we’re pretty happy with it overall.

“There were a good few debates in writing the book, and now that it’s finally published I’m sure there’ll be another few debates and arguments again.”

A Biographical Dictionary of Cork by Tim Cadogan and Jeremiah Falvey is published by Four Courts Press and is available now.