College Historical Society (Trinity College, Dublin)

style="font-size: larger;" | **College Historical Society**

Founded	1770
Home Page	TheHist.com
President	Prof. David McConnell
Officers of the College Historical Society, 242nd Session
Acting auditor	John Engle
Treasurer	John Engle
Correspondence Secretary	Ursula Ni Choill
Record Secretary	Hannah McCarthy
Censor	Sally Rooney
Librarian	Ian Curran
Debates Convenor	Adam Noonan

The College Historical Society (popularly referred to as The Hist) is one of two main debating

Debate

Debate or debating is a method of interactive and representational argument. Debate is a broader form of argument than logical argument, which only examines consistency from axiom, and factual argument, which only examines what is or isn't the case or rhetoric which is a technique of persuasion...

societies at Trinity College, Dublin

Trinity College, Dublin

Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...

in Dublin, Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

. It was established within the college in 1770, but traces its origins to the society founded by the philosopher Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....

in Dublin in 1747. It is often cited as the oldest undergraduate student society

Student society

A student society or student organization is an organization, operated by students at a university, whose membership normally consists only of students. They are often affiliated with a university's students' union...

in the world.

The society occupies rooms in the Graduates' Memorial Building

Graduates' Memorial Building

The Graduates Memorial Building is located in Trinity College Dublin. It is a neo-Gothic Victorian building designed by Sir Thomas Drew in 1892. Its construction was largely financed by subscriptions from graduates, and was finished in 1904....

at Trinity College, which it shares with the University Philosophical Society

University Philosophical Society (Trinity College, Dublin)

The University Philosophical Society, commonly known as The Phil, is a student paper-reading and debating society in Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. It is one of the two debating societies in the university...

, and the College Theological Society

College Theological Society (Trinity College, Dublin)

The College Theological Society of Trinity College, Dublin was founded in 1830. Its original purpose was to provide a forum for the discussion of Christian Theology for students of the School of Divinity in Trinity College, Dublin...

. Prominent members have included many Irish

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

men and women of note, from the republican

Irish Republicanism

Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...

revolutionary Theobald Wolfe Tone

Theobald Wolfe Tone

Theobald Wolfe Tone or Wolfe Tone , was a leading Irish revolutionary figure and one of the founding members of the United Irishmen and is regarded as the father of Irish Republicanism. He was captured by British forces at Lough Swilly in Donegal and taken prisoner...

and the author Bram Stoker

Bram Stoker

Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...

, to founding father of the Northern Irish state Edward Carson and first President of Ireland Douglas Hyde

Douglas Hyde

Douglas Hyde , known as An Craoibhín Aoibhinn , was an Irish scholar of the Irish language who served as the first President of Ireland from 1938 to 1945...

, and in more recent times Government Ministers

Minister (government)

A minister is a politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional government. Senior ministers are members of the cabinet....

Mary Harney

Mary Harney is a former Irish politician. She served as Tánaiste from 1997–2006, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment from 1997–2004, and as Minister for Health and Children from 2004 to 2011...

and Brian Lenihan

Brian Lenihan, Jnr

Brian Joseph Lenihan was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician and barrister who served in the government of Ireland as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform from 2007 to 2008 and as Minister for Finance from 2008 to 2011...

.

Its current acting auditor John Engle is infamous on College campus for his role in the publication of an article regarding Trinity College Dublin Students Union presidential candidate Sebastian LeCoq. As editor of Trinity's satirical publication The Pihrana Engle allowed an article mocking LeCoq's alopecia

Alopecia

Alopecia means loss of hair from the head or body. Alopecia can mean baldness, a term generally reserved for pattern alopecia or androgenic alopecia. Compulsive pulling of hair can also produce hair loss. Hairstyling routines such as tight ponytails or braids may induce Traction alopecia. Both...

to go to print during sabbatical officer elections and was heavily censured by Trinity's publications authority for the incident.

Foundation

The College Historical Society was founded by Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke

, first meeting on Wednesday, 21 March 1770, with James Reid as its first Auditor, when Burke's Club (founded 1747) merged with the Historical Club (founded 1753). It was a time of great change in Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

and the Western World, at the height of the Enlightenment and before the American War of Independence and the French Revolution. From its inception it showed itself to be at the forefront of intellectual thought in Ireland, and many of its members later went into politics.

Restrictions and expulsions

Theobald Wolfe Tone, later leader of the United Irishmen

Society of the United Irishmen

The Society of United Irishmen was founded as a liberal political organisation in eighteenth century Ireland that sought Parliamentary reform. However, it evolved into a revolutionary republican organisation, inspired by the American Revolution and allied with Revolutionary France...

, was elected Auditor in 1785, and Thomas Addis Emmet

Thomas Addis Emmet

Thomas Addis Emmet was an Irish and American lawyer and politician. He was a senior member of the revolutionary republican group United Irishmen in the 1790s and New York State Attorney General 1812–1813.-Background:...

was a member of the committee. The society was briefly expelled from the College in 1794, but readmitted on the condition that "No question of modern politics shall be debated". In 1797, the poet Thomas Moore

Thomas Moore

Thomas Moore was an Irish poet, singer, songwriter, and entertainer, now best remembered for the lyrics of The Minstrel Boy and The Last Rose of Summer. He was responsible, with John Murray, for burning Lord Byron's memoirs after his death...

and the nationalist Robert Emmet

Robert Emmet

Robert Emmet was an Irish nationalist and Republican, orator and rebel leader born in Dublin, Ireland...

were elected as members. Eight members of The Hist were expelled in 1798 in the run-up to the Rebellion

Irish Rebellion of 1798

The Irish Rebellion of 1798 , also known as the United Irishmen Rebellion , was an uprising in 1798, lasting several months, against British rule in Ireland...

, and a motion was later carried condemning the rebellion, against their former Auditor.

Tension between the society and the College flourished in the early nineteenth century with the Auditor being called before the Provost in 1810. In 1812 the Provost, Dr Thomas Elrington

Thomas Elrington

Thomas Elrington was Provost of Trinity College, Dublin from 1811 to 1820, Bishop of Limerick, Ardfert and Aghadoe from 1820 to 1822, and Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin from then until his death in Liverpool on 12 July 1835.-Notes:...

, objected vehemently to the motion 'Was Brutus justifiable in putting Julius Caesar to death?'. After a number of members were removed at the request of the College Board, the society left the college in 1815.

The Extern Society

The Society continued from 1815 as the Extern Historical Society. Among its members at this time were Isaac Butt

Isaac Butt

Isaac Butt Q.C. M.P. was an Irish barrister, politician, Member of Parliament , and the founder and first leader of a number of Irish nationalist parties and organisations, including the Irish Metropolitan Conservative Society in 1836, the Home Government Association in 1870 and in 1873 the Home...

, who tried unsuccessfully in 1832 to have the Society readmitted, Joseph Sheridan LeFanu

Sheridan Le Fanu

Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the leading ghost-story writer of the nineteenth century and was central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era....

, Thomas Davis

Thomas Osborne Davis (Irish politician)

Thomas Osborne Davis was a revolutionary Irish writer who was the chief organizer and poet of the Young Ireland movement.-Early life:...

and John Blake Dillon

John Blake Dillon

John Blake Dillon was an Irish writer and Politician who was one of the founding members of the Young Ireland movement....

and many other notables of the nationalist cause . In 1843 the Society was refounded within the College after a student petition, again on the condition that no subject of current politics was debated. This regulation remains to this day, however its spirit is often broken by the controversial topics discussed regularly in The Hist.

The 19th century

The Society continued successfully after that with many lively debates, including the motion on June 10, 1857 'That the Reform Bill of Lord Grey was not framed in accordance with the wants of the country', proposed by Isaac Butt and opposed by Edward Gibson

Edward Gibson

Edward George Gibson, PhD, is a former NASA astronaut, pilot, and engineer.Before becoming a NASA astronaut, Gibson graduated from the University of Rochester and the California Institute of Technology...

. This era was considered by many to be the high point of the Society, with many of its members moving to high political positions. It was common for the Members of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

for the University to have served on the Committee of the Hist, such as Edward Gibson

Edward Gibson, 1st Baron Ashbourne

Edward Gibson, 1st Baron Ashbourne PC, QC was an Irish lawyer and Lord Chancellor of Ireland.-Background and education:...

and David Plunkett

David Plunket, 1st Baron Rathmore

David Robert Plunket, 1st Baron Rathmore PC, QC was an Irish lawyer and Conservative politician.-Background and education:...

, who were both Auditors, and Edward Carson, who was the Librarian. Bram Stoker

Bram Stoker

Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...

, author of Dracula, became Auditor in 1872. In 1864 the Society collected money from its members to erect statues outside the College of Edmund Burke and Oliver Goldsmith

Oliver Goldsmith

Oliver Goldsmith was an Irish writer, poet and physician known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield , his pastoral poem The Deserted Village , and his plays The Good-Natur'd Man and She Stoops to Conquer...

.

The Society moved to the Graduates' Memorial Building (GMB) in 1904, which it shares with the University Philosophical Society

University Philosophical Society (Trinity College, Dublin)

and the College Theological Society

College Theological Society (Trinity College, Dublin)

. The College Board relaxed its rules, allowing such motions as 'That the Gaelic League is deserving of the support of every Irishman' in 1905 and 1906.

The 20th and 21st centuries

The society continued well through the twentieth century, although the First World War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

hit it badly, with 136 of its former members killed. Eoin O'Mahony was elected Auditor in 1930 and faced impeachment when he raised a toast to Ireland instead of the King. Interestingly, Eoin O'Mahony offered Lord Carson the Presidency of the Society in 1931, although Carson declined due to ill health, recommending that the position be offered to former Gold Medallist and future President of Ireland

President of Ireland

The President of Ireland is the head of state of Ireland. The President is usually directly elected by the people for seven years, and can be elected for a maximum of two terms. The presidency is largely a ceremonial office, but the President does exercise certain limited powers with absolute...

Douglas Hyde

Douglas Hyde , known as An Craoibhín Aoibhinn , was an Irish scholar of the Irish language who served as the first President of Ireland from 1938 to 1945...

, who was elected to the position. The current President is Prof. David McConnell, a former Librarian and Auditor of the Society and a winner of The Irish Times Debating Competition, and now Chairman of The Irish Times

The Irish Times

The Irish Times is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Kevin O'Sullivan who succeeded Geraldine Kennedy in 2011; the deputy editor is Paul O'Neill. The Irish Times is considered to be Ireland's newspaper of record, and is published every day except Sundays...

Trust and one of Europe's foremost geneticists.

Women had been refused membership of the society until 1969, when the motion "That this House reveres the memory of Mrs Pankhurst

Emmeline Pankhurst

Emmeline Pankhurst was a British political activist and leader of the British suffragette movement which helped women win the right to vote...

" was debated with Rosaleen Mills participating (the motion, however, was defeated). The first female Auditor, future Tánaiste

Tánaiste

The Tánaiste is the deputy prime minister of Ireland. The current Tánaiste is Eamon Gilmore, TD who was appointed on 9 March 2011.- Origins and etymology :...

Mary Harney

, was elected in 1976. Since then the Society has had four female Auditors. The Society's Bicentennial Meeting in 1970 was addressed by US Senator Edward Kennedy

Ted Kennedy

Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...

at which he called the Society "The greatest of the school of the orators".
Recent developments have seen the re-opening of the Resource Library, operated in conjunction with the Phil, which holds over 200 books and is made available as a general study area and library for the use of the members of the Society. The Society has also extensively re-developed the Conversation Room with the addition of better facilities such as wireless Internet access. The Society now also holds regular Debating Workshops which teach the various styles of debating and the basics of writing both a competitive debate and a speech for the Wednesday night debates. The Society remains a force in competitive debating at both a national and international level, having been represented in the Grand Final of The Irish Times Debating Competition in 2006, and winning it in three consecutive years, in 2007, 2008 and 2009. The Society has now won this competition on both the individual and team positions more times than any other debating society in Ireland. The Society also won the UCD IV in six consecutive years, 2006-2011. The Society hosted the Worlds' Debating Competition

World Universities Debating Championship

The World Universities Debating Championship is the world's largest debating tournament, and one of the largest annual international student events in the world. It is a parliamentary debating event, held using the British Parliamentary Debate format. Each year, the event is hosted by a university...

in the 1990s.

Committee structure

The Committee of the College Historical Society consists of 15 individuals: seven Officers (Auditor, Treasurer, Correspondence Secretary, Record Secretary, Censor, Librarian and the Debates Convenor) and eight other Members of Committee (with the positions of Deputy Correspondence Secretary and the Senior Member of Committee directly elected since 2008). All but one of these positions is directly elected: the Debates Convenor, whose role is to encourage and develop competitive debating within the society with specific responsibility for co-hosting the Trinity IV (comprising the Kingsmill-Moore Invitational and Dean Swift IV) with the University Philosophical Society. The Convenor is appointed by the new Committee of the society following each annual election. The position was added in the 234th Session. It existed previously for two years off committee.

Wednesday Night Debates

The main business of the society is the weekly debates held each Wednesday Night during term time.

The wide ranging and varied motions give students an opportunity to debate with experts on the specific motion chosen. The motion is usually based on an important issue taking place in current affairs.

The format of the debate continues to be that of British Parliamentary debating, with the proposition and opposition speaking alternatively. The proceedings are controlled by a guest chairperson. At the end of the debate, the audience have an opportunity to decide which side has made the most persuasive argument.

The Society has seen many figures in recent years with the Northern Ireland debate figuring prominently as one of the consistent highlights of each session. Prominent politicians such as David Ervine

David Ervine

David Ervine was a Northern Irish politician and the leader of the Progressive Unionist Party .-Biography:...

, Jeffrey Donaldson

Jeffrey Donaldson

Jeffrey Mark Donaldson, MP is a Northern Irish politician and Member of Parliament for Lagan Valley belonging to the Democratic Unionist Party...

and Nobel Peace Prize

Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...

winner John Hume

John Hume

John Hume is a former Irish politician from Derry, Northern Ireland. He was a founding member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, and was co-recipient of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize, with David Trimble....

have spoken at this debate. It is often typical for a Government Minister to address The Hist on a contentious topic. In 2005 the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell

Michael McDowell

Michael McDowell is a Senior Counsel in the Bar Council of Ireland and a former politician. A grandson of Irish revolutionary Eoin MacNeill, McDowell was a founding member of the Progressive Democrats political party in the mid-1980s...

T.D. unveiled proposals for reform of the legal profession at a Hist debate on the matter.
The Society addresses controversial issues. In the 236th Session of the Society, over 500 people attempted to gain access to the Abortion

Abortion

Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...

Debate which was targeted by Youth Defence protesters and the Euthanasia

Euthanasia

Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....

Debate was recorded for an upcoming documentary on the pro-Euthanasia group Dignitas for the Canadian Discovery Channel

Discovery Channel

Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...

. The Inaugural Meeting of the 236th Session was addressed by Dr. Mary Robinson

Mary Robinson

Mary Therese Winifred Robinson served as the seventh, and first female, President of Ireland from 1990 to 1997, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, from 1997 to 2002. She first rose to prominence as an academic, barrister, campaigner and member of the Irish Senate...

, a former President of Ireland, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Chancellor of the University of Dublin. The Society has also been addressed by every Taoiseach and President of the State.

In the past year, guests have included Northern Irish First Minister Rev. Ian Paisley

Ian Paisley

Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, PC is a politician and church minister in Northern Ireland. As the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party , he and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness were elected First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively on 8 May 2007.In addition to co-founding...

, democratically-elected Prime Minister in exile of Burma Sein Win

Sein Win

Dr. Sein Win is Chairman of National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, a "government in exile". And they made him Unofficial Prime Minister of the Union of Burma, elected by the 1990 People's Assembly known as the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma – a...

, famed author Sir John Mortimer

John Major

Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...

, Oscar nominee James Cromwell

James Cromwell

James Oliver Cromwell is an American film and television actor. Some of his more notable roles are in Babe , for which he earned Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Star Trek: First Contact , L.A...

, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and former British Prime Minister Sir John Major

John Major

Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...

, among others.

Recordings of events and speakers are available from the website.

Notable Guests

Political figures and public intellectuals

Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...

, former British Prime Minister
Sir Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

, former British Prime Minister
Edward Kennedy
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...

, United States Senator
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Valéry Marie René Georges Giscard d'Estaing is a French centre-right politician who was President of the French Republic from 1974 until 1981...

, former French President
Clement Attlee
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...

, former British Prime Minister
Sir John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...

, former British Prime Minister
F. W. De Klerk
Frederik Willem de Klerk
Frederik Willem de Klerk , often known as F. W. de Klerk, is the former seventh and last State President of apartheid-era South Africa, serving from September 1989 to May 1994...

, former President of South Africa, Nobel Laureate
Bob Geldof
Bob Geldof
Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his...

, organiser of Live Aid and Live 8
Bertie Ahern
Bertie Ahern
Patrick Bartholomew "Bertie" Ahern is a former Irish politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 26 June 1997 to 7 May 2008....

, former Taoiseach of Ireland
Mary Robinson
Mary Robinson
Mary Therese Winifred Robinson served as the seventh, and first female, President of Ireland from 1990 to 1997, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, from 1997 to 2002. She first rose to prominence as an academic, barrister, campaigner and member of the Irish Senate...

, former President of Ireland, former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Charles Haughey
Charles Haughey
Charles James "Charlie" Haughey was Taoiseach of Ireland, serving three terms in office . He was also the fourth leader of Fianna Fáil...

, former Taoiseach
Desmond Tutu
Desmond Tutu
Desmond Mpilo Tutu is a South African activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid...

, Archbishop, Nobel Laureate
Liam Cosgrave
Liam Cosgrave
Liam Cosgrave is an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach and as Leader of Fine Gael . He was a Teachta Dála from 1943 to 1981....

, former Taoiseach
John Hume
John Hume
John Hume is a former Irish politician from Derry, Northern Ireland. He was a founding member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, and was co-recipient of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize, with David Trimble....

, former Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, Nobel Laureate
Rev. Ian Paisley
Ian Paisley
Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, PC is a politician and church minister in Northern Ireland. As the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party , he and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness were elected First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively on 8 May 2007.In addition to co-founding...

, former First Minister of Northern Ireland
Dr Garret FitzGerald
Garret FitzGerald
Garret FitzGerald was an Irish politician who was twice Taoiseach of Ireland, serving in office from July 1981 to February 1982 and again from December 1982 to March 1987. FitzGerald was elected to Seanad Éireann in 1965 and was subsequently elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fine Gael TD in 1969. He...

, former Taoiseach
Albert Reynolds
Albert Reynolds
Albert Reynolds , served as Taoiseach of Ireland, serving one term in office from 1992 until 1994. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize...

, former Taoiseach
Shirin Ebadi
Shirin Ebadi
Shirin Ebadi is an Iranian lawyer, a former judge and human rights activist and founder of Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran. On 10 October 2003, Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her significant and pioneering efforts for democracy and human rights, especially women's,...

, Human Rights Lawyer, Nobel Laureate
Rev. Jesse Jackson
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...

, civil rights activist
Dr Sein Win
Sein Win
Dr. Sein Win is Chairman of National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, a "government in exile". And they made him Unofficial Prime Minister of the Union of Burma, elected by the 1990 People's Assembly known as the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma – a...

, Prime Minister in Exile of Burma
Lord Paddy Ashdown
Paddy Ashdown
Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, GCMG, KBE, PC , usually known as Paddy Ashdown, is a British politician and diplomat....

, former leader of the Liberal Democrats
Laurent Fabius
Laurent Fabius
Laurent Fabius is a French Socialist politician. He served as Prime Minister from 17 July 1984 to 20 March 1986. He was 37 years old when he was appointed and is, so far, the youngest Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic.-Early life:...

, former French Prime Minister
John Bruton
John Bruton
John Gerard Bruton is an Irish politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 1994 to 1997. A minister under two taoisigh, Liam Cosgrave and Garret FitzGerald, Bruton held a number of the top posts in Irish government, including Minister for Finance , and Minister for Industry, Trade,...

, former Taoiseach of Ireland, European Union Ambassador to the United States
Jeffrey Sachs
Jeffrey Sachs
Jeffrey David Sachs is an American economist and Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University. One of the youngest economics professors in the history of Harvard University, Sachs became known for his role as an adviser to Eastern European and developing country governments in the...

, Special Advisor to Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations
Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...

, Political theorist and public intellectual
Joseph Stiglitz, former Chief Economist of the World Bank and Nobel Laureate

Personalities from the arts

Sir Salman Rushdie, author of Midnight's Children
Midnight's Children
Midnight's Children is a 1981 book by Salman Rushdie about India's transition from British colonialism to independence and the partition of India. It is considered an example of postcolonial literature and magical realism...
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...

, Poet, Nobel Laureate
Sir John Mortimer
John Mortimer
Sir John Clifford Mortimer, CBE, QC was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author.-Early life:...

, author of Rumpole of the Bailey
Rumpole of the Bailey
Rumpole of the Bailey is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer which starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an ageing London barrister who defends any and all clients...
Jung Chang
Jung Chang
Jung Chang is a Chinese-born British writer now living in London, best known for her family autobiography Wild Swans, selling over 10 million copies worldwide but banned in the People's Republic of China....

, author of Wild Swans
Wild Swans
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China is a family history that spans a century, recounting the lives of three female generations in China, by Chinese writer Jung Chang. First published in 1991, Wild Swans contains the biographies of her grandmother and her mother, then finally her own autobiography...

and Mao: The Unknown Story
Mao: The Unknown Story
Mao: The Unknown Story is a 2005 biography of Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong written by the husband and wife team of writer Jung Chang and historian Jon Halliday, and depicts Mao as being responsible for more deaths in peacetime than Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin.In conducting their research...
Joseph Heller
Joseph Heller
Joseph Heller was a US satirical novelist, short story writer, and playwright. His best known work is Catch-22, a novel about US servicemen during World War II...

, author of Catch 22
John Banville
John Banville
John Banville is an Irish novelist and screenwriter.Banville's breakthrough novel The Book of Evidence was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and won the Guinness Peat Aviation award. His eighteenth novel, The Sea, won the Man Booker Prize in 2005. He was awarded the Franz Kafka Prize in 2011...

, Booker Prize
Man Booker Prize
The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. The winner of the Man Booker Prize is generally assured of international renown and...

winner and author of The Sea
The Sea (novel)
- Plot summary:The story is told by Max Morden, a self-aware, retired art historian attempting to reconcile himself to the deaths of those whom he loved as a child and as an adult....
Paul Howard, author of Ross O'Caroll-Kelly series
Jeremy Irons
Jeremy Irons
Jeremy John Irons is an English actor. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969, and has since appeared in many London theatre productions including The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the...

, Academy Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, Tony Award, Golden Globe Winner
Ben Kingsley
Ben Kingsley
Sir Ben Kingsley, CBE is a British actor. He has won an Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards in his career. He is known for starring as Mohandas Gandhi in the film Gandhi in 1982, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...

, Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award Winner
Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....

, Tony Award, NYFCC Award, BAFTA Award Winner
James Cromwell
James Cromwell
James Oliver Cromwell is an American film and television actor. Some of his more notable roles are in Babe , for which he earned Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Star Trek: First Contact , L.A...

, Academy Award Nominee
Patrick Stewart
Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Hewes Stewart, OBE is an English film, television and stage actor, who has had a distinguished career in theatre and television for around half a century...

, actor
Ardal O'Hanlon
Ardal O'Hanlon
Ardal O'Hanlon is an Irish comedian and actor, best known for his roles in television sitcoms as Father Dougal McGuire in Father Ted and George Sunday in My Hero.-Early life:...

, actor and comedian
Joshua Jackson
Joshua Jackson
Joshua Carter Jackson is a Canadian American actor. He has appeared in primetime television and in over 32 film roles. He is best known for playing Charlie Conway in The Mighty Ducks film series, Pacey Witter in the television series Dawson's Creek and Peter Bishop in the television series...

, actor
Tommy Tiernan
Tommy Tiernan
Tommy Tiernan is an Irish comedian, actor and writer. He and Hector Ó hEochagáin present The Tommy and Hector Show on i102-104FM. Tiernan also featured in Father Ted.-Early life:...

, comedian
Dermot Morgan
Dermot Morgan
Dermot John Morgan was an Irish comedian, actor and former schoolteacher, who achieved international renown for his roles as Father Ted Crilly in the Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted and a strip club MC in Taffin....

, actor and comedian
Neil Hannon
Neil Hannon
Neil Hannon is a Northern Irish singer and songwriter, best known as the creator and frontman of the chamber pop group The Divine Comedy. The band's official website even goes so far as to say, "The Divine Comedy is Neil Hannon," and Hannon is quoted in an interview as saying, "The Divine Comedy...

, singer songwriter
Damien Rice
Damien Rice
Damien Rice is an Irish singer-songwriter, musician and record producer who plays guitar, piano, clarinet and percussion....

, singer songwriter
Bill Bryson
Bill Bryson
William McGuire "Bill" Bryson, OBE, is a best-selling American author of humorous books on travel, as well as books on the English language and on science. Born an American, he was a resident of Britain for most of his adult life before moving back to the US in 1995...

, author

Presidents of the Society since 1843

1843–1851	The Rev. Franc Sadleir, D.D., Provost of Trinity College
1852–1854	The Rev. Richard MacDonnell, D.D., Provost of Trinity College
1854–1883	The Right Hon. Sir Joseph Napier Joseph Napier Sir Joseph Napier, 1st Baronet was an Irish Conservative Party Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom Parliament and subsequently Lord Chancellor of Ireland.... , LL.D., Lord Chancellor
1883–1913	The Right Hon. Lord Ashbourne Edward Gibson, 1st Baron Ashbourne Edward Gibson, 1st Baron Ashbourne PC, QC was an Irish lawyer and Lord Chancellor of Ireland.-Background and education:... , LL.D., Lord Chancellor
1913–1925	The Right Hon. Sir John Ross John Ross (judge) Sir John Ross, 1st Baronet PC, QC Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was born in Derry, Ireland, on 11 December 1853. He was the eldest son of the Reverend Robert Ross DD, Presbyterian Minister and, at one time, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland... , Lord Chancellor
1925–1931	The Right Hon. Lord Glenavy James Campbell, 1st Baron Glenavy James Henry Mussen Campbell, 1st Baron Glenavy PC was an Irish lawyer, politician in the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and later in the Oireachtas of the Irish Free State... , LL.D., Lord Chancellor, Chairman of the Senate of the Irish Free State, Vice-Chancellor of the University
1931–1949	His Excellency Douglas Hyde Douglas Hyde Douglas Hyde , known as An Craoibhín Aoibhinn , was an Irish scholar of the Irish language who served as the first President of Ireland from 1938 to 1945... , LL.D., Litt.D., President of Ireland
1950–1953	Sir Robert W. Tate, M.A., Litt.D., S.F.T.C.D.
1953–1983	Frederick Boland Frederick Boland Frederick Henry Boland was an Irish diplomat, who served as ambassador to Britain and the first Irish Ambassador to the United Nations.... , LL.D., Irish Representative at the UN United Nations The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace... , President of the UN General Assembly President of the United Nations General Assembly The President of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted for by representatives in the United Nations General Assembly on a yearly basis.- Election :... , Chancellor of the University University of Dublin The University of Dublin , corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin , located in Dublin, Ireland, was effectively founded when in 1592 Queen Elizabeth I issued a charter for Trinity College, Dublin, as "the mother of a university" – this date making it... , Medallist
1983–2003	Dr. Conor Cruise O’Brien Conor Cruise O'Brien Conor Cruise O'Brien often nicknamed "The Cruiser", was an Irish politician, writer, historian and academic. Although his opinion on the role of Britain in Northern Ireland changed over the course of the 1970s and 1980s, he always acknowledge values of, as he saw, the two irreconcilable traditions... , B.A., Ph.D., Litt.D., M.R.I.A., T.D., Medallist
2003-	Prof. David John McConnell, B.A., Ph.D., F.T.C.D., M.R.I.A., F.Z.S.I. ex-Auditor, Medallist

Current Vice-Presidents

John N. Ross, former solicitor and Senator for Dublin University
Stephen G. Harris
Mary Robinson
Mary Robinson
Mary Therese Winifred Robinson served as the seventh, and first female, President of Ireland from 1990 to 1997, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, from 1997 to 2002. She first rose to prominence as an academic, barrister, campaigner and member of the Irish Senate...

, former Senator and President of Ireland
Professor Gary H. Holbrook
Michael J. Cameron, Former Auditor
Shane Ross
Shane Ross
Shane Peter Nathaniel Ross is an independent Irish politician and Business Editor of the Sunday Independent. He was the longest-serving member of Seanad Éireann , until he was elected to Dáil Éireann for the constituency of Dublin South at the 2011 general election.-Early life and career:Born in...

, Long time Senator for Dublin University, now TD for Dublin South
David Norris, Senator for Dublin University
Senator Mary Henry
Eric Lowry, former Auditor
The Hon. Justice Declan N. O. Budd, Justice of the High Court
David O'Sullivan
David O'Sullivan (civil servant)
David O'Sullivan is the Chief Operating Officer of the European Union's diplomatic corps, the European External Action Service, since 2010. He was the Secretary-General of the European Commission between June 2000 and November 2005....

, Chief Operating Officer of the EU Diplomatic Corps
Sir Brian Williamson, former Auditor, and founder of the London International Financial Futures Exchange
Mary Harney
Mary Harney
Mary Harney is a former Irish politician. She served as Tánaiste from 1997–2006, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment from 1997–2004, and as Minister for Health and Children from 2004 to 2011...

, Leader of the Progressive Democrats
Progressive Democrats
The Progressive Democrats , commonly known as the PDs, was a pro-free market liberal political party in the Republic of Ireland.Launched on 21 December 1985 by Desmond O'Malley and other politicians who had split from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, the Progressive Democrats took liberal positions on...

1993-2006 and Cabinet Minister from 1997–2011

Notable Auditors

Theobald Wolfe Tone
Theobald Wolfe Tone
Theobald Wolfe Tone or Wolfe Tone , was a leading Irish revolutionary figure and one of the founding members of the United Irishmen and is regarded as the father of Irish Republicanism. He was captured by British forces at Lough Swilly in Donegal and taken prisoner...

, 1785–86, Leader of the Society of the United Irishmen
Society of the United Irishmen
The Society of United Irishmen was founded as a liberal political organisation in eighteenth century Ireland that sought Parliamentary reform. However, it evolved into a revolutionary republican organisation, inspired by the American Revolution and allied with Revolutionary France...
Richard Wilson Greene
Richard Wilson Greene
Richard Wilson Greene PC, KC was an Irish judge.Greene was born in Dublin, the son of Sir Jonas Greene, Recorder of Dublin, and graduated from the University of Dublin, where he was auditor of the College Historical Society. He was called to the Bar in 1814 and became King's Counsel in 1830. For...

1811-12, Attorney-General for Ireland
Attorney-General for Ireland
The Attorney-General for Ireland was an Irish and then United Kingdom government office. The holder was senior to the Solicitor-General for Ireland, and advised the Crown on Irish legal matters...

and Baron of the Exchequer.
Isaac Butt
Isaac Butt
Isaac Butt Q.C. M.P. was an Irish barrister, politician, Member of Parliament , and the founder and first leader of a number of Irish nationalist parties and organisations, including the Irish Metropolitan Conservative Society in 1836, the Home Government Association in 1870 and in 1873 the Home...

, 1832–33, Leader of the Nationalist Party
Nationalist Party (Ireland)
The Nationalist Party was a term commonly used to describe a number of parliamentary political parties and constituency organisations supportive of Home Rule for Ireland from 1874 to 1922...

1874-1880
Joseph Sheridan LeFanu
Sheridan Le Fanu
Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the leading ghost-story writer of the nineteenth century and was central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era....

, 1838–39
Edward Gibson
Edward Gibson, 1st Baron Ashbourne
Edward Gibson, 1st Baron Ashbourne PC, QC was an Irish lawyer and Lord Chancellor of Ireland.-Background and education:...

, 1858–59, later Lord Ashbourne, Lord Chancellor of Ireland
Bram Stoker
Bram Stoker
Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...

, 1872–73, author of Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
Thomas Kingsmill Moore, Former Justice of the Supreme Court of Ireland
James Kilfedder
James Kilfedder
Sir James Alexander Kilfedder was a Northern Ireland unionist politician.-Early life:...

, 1950–51, Leader of the Ulster Popular Unionist Party
Ulster Popular Unionist Party
The Ulster Popular Unionist Party was a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1980 by James Kilfedder, independent Unionist Member of Parliament for North Down, who led the party until his death in 1995....

1980-1995
Mary Harney
Mary Harney
Mary Harney is a former Irish politician. She served as Tánaiste from 1997–2006, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment from 1997–2004, and as Minister for Health and Children from 2004 to 2011...

, 1976–77, Leader of the Progressive Democrats
Progressive Democrats
The Progressive Democrats , commonly known as the PDs, was a pro-free market liberal political party in the Republic of Ireland.Launched on 21 December 1985 by Desmond O'Malley and other politicians who had split from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, the Progressive Democrats took liberal positions on...

1993-2006, Tánaiste
Tánaiste
The Tánaiste is the deputy prime minister of Ireland. The current Tánaiste is Eamon Gilmore, TD who was appointed on 9 March 2011.- Origins and etymology :...

1997-2006 and Cabinet Minister since 1997

Other notable members

Jaja Wachuku
Jaja Wachuku
Jaja Anucha Wachuku , a Royal Prince of Ngwaland, "descendant of 20 generations of African chiefs in the Ibo country of Eastern Nigeria" - was a Pan-Africanist; and a globally distinguished Nigerian statesman, lawyer, politician, diplomat and humanitarian...

, former officer; first Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives and first Foreign Affairs Minister of Nigeria
Foreign relations of Nigeria
Since independence, with Jaja Wachuku as the first Minister of Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth Relations, later called External Affairs, Nigerian foreign policy has been characterized by a focus on Africa as a Regional power and by attachment to several fundamental principles: African unity and...
Thomas Addis Emmet
Thomas Addis Emmet
Thomas Addis Emmet was an Irish and American lawyer and politician. He was a senior member of the revolutionary republican group United Irishmen in the 1790s and New York State Attorney General 1812–1813.-Background:...

, United Irishman
Thomas Moore
Thomas Moore
Thomas Moore was an Irish poet, singer, songwriter, and entertainer, now best remembered for the lyrics of The Minstrel Boy and The Last Rose of Summer. He was responsible, with John Murray, for burning Lord Byron's memoirs after his death...

, Poet
Robert Emmet
Robert Emmet
Robert Emmet was an Irish nationalist and Republican, orator and rebel leader born in Dublin, Ireland...

, Revolutionary
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...

, writer and poet
Thomas Davis
Thomas Osborne Davis (Irish politician)
Thomas Osborne Davis was a revolutionary Irish writer who was the chief organizer and poet of the Young Ireland movement.-Early life:...

, Politician and poet
John Blake Dillon
John Blake Dillon
John Blake Dillon was an Irish writer and Politician who was one of the founding members of the Young Ireland movement....

, Irish Patriot
John Pentland Mahaffy
John Pentland Mahaffy
The Rev. John Pentland Mahaffy GBE CVO was an Irish classicist and polymathic scholar.-Education and interests:...

, Classicist
William Edward Hartpole Lecky
William Edward Hartpole Lecky
William Edward Hartpole Lecky, OM was an Irish historian.-Early life:Born at Newtown Park, near Dublin, he was the eldest son of John Hartpole Lecky, a landowner....

, MP and historian
Edward Carson, Leader of the Unionist Party 1910-1921
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...

, Playwright Nobel laureate
Brian Lenihan
Brian Lenihan, Jnr
Brian Joseph Lenihan was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician and barrister who served in the government of Ireland as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform from 2007 to 2008 and as Minister for Finance from 2008 to 2011...

, Former Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and former Minister for Finance
Minister for Finance (Ireland)
The Minister for Finance is the title held by the Irish government minister responsible for all financial and monetary matters. The office-holder controls the Department of Finance and is considered one of the most important members of the Government of Ireland.The current Minister for Finance is...
Ernest Walton
Ernest Walton
Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton was an Irish physicist and Nobel laureate for his work with John Cockcroft with "atom-smashing" experiments done at Cambridge University in the early 1930s, and so became the first person in history to artificially split the atom, thus ushering the nuclear age...

, former Vice-President of Society, Physicist Nobel laureate

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