John de Courcy Ireland

John Evan de Courcy Ireland (19 October 1911 – 4 April 2006) was an Irish maritime historian and political activist.

de Courcy Ireland was born at Lucknow, India, son of British Army major de Courcy Ireland and Gabrielle (née Byron).

His father, a County Kildare native from an Irish landed gentry family, was stationed at Lucknow at the time of his son's birth.

To the memory of Dr John DeCourcy Ireland 1911–2006

Maritime Historian, Radical Politician, Humanist,

Teacher and Linguist.

Founder Member of C.N.D. in Ireland.

Honours received from Argentina, Britain, China,

France, Portugal, Spain, Yugoslavia, R.N.L.I. A true friend of seafarers

John de Courcy Ireland had been a Council member of the Maritime Institute of Ireland, who operate the National Maritime Museum of Ireland, for 55 years and was its Honorary Research Officer.

He was awarded the following:

The Award he valued most was the plaque in the Peoples' Park, Dún Laoghaire, as it was the only award that coupled his name with that of his wife, Betty.

The Maritime Institute of Ireland, posthumously awarded him its gold medal; it was accepted by his daughter on his behalf.

In 1933 he married Beatrice Haigh; they had one son and two daughters.

After marrying the couple spent time in the Aran Islands and County Donegal to master the Irish language.

Betty was also a noted political campaigner.

In 1949, de Courcy Ireland taught at St Patrick's Cathedral School in Dublin.

de Courcy Ireland was educated at Marlborough College, Oxford University and Trinity College Dublin, where he was awarded a PhD in 1951.

The title of his thesis was "The Influence of the Sea on Civilisation".

He moved in 1951 to Drogheda Grammar School and subsequently taught at Bandon Grammar School, County Cork, and from 1968 at Kingstown Grammar School, Dún Laoghaire.

This latter was amalgamated with Avoca School, Blackrock, to become Avoca Kingstown School, which in turn later became Newpark Comprehensive School in Blackrock, south of Dublin.

In the 1980s, he twice stood for election as a Democratic Socialist Party candidate.

He unsuccessfully contested the Dún Laoghaire constituency at the November 1982 general election, and was unsuccessful again at the 1984 European Parliament election when he stood in the Dublin constituency.

He stayed with Newpark School until 1986, when he left teaching at the age of 75.

He and his wife, Betty, who had been a nurse in Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War, were affiliated with The Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement and was president of the Ireland-China Friendship Society.

A committed socialist, he was also affiliated or involved with the Northern Ireland Labour Party, the Irish Labour Party, the Communist Party of Ireland, the Democratic Socialist Party, the Workers' Party, Democratic Left and latterly the Socialist Workers Party.

He was James Larkin's election agent.

He was a founding member of the Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

John de Courcy Ireland died in 2006, aged 94.

A plaque in his memory was erected in Dalkey.

It reads: