David Beers Quinn
Encyclopedia
David Beers Quinn was an 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...

 historian who wrote extensively on the voyages of discovery and colonisation of America. Many of his publications appeared as volumes of the Hakluyt Society
Hakluyt Society
Founded in 1846, the Hakluyt Society is a registered charity based in London, England, which seeks to advance knowledge and education by the publication of scholarly editions of primary records of voyages, travels and other geographical material...

. He played a major role in assisting the presentation of the historical aspects during the quadricentennial celebrations (1984–1987) of the first establishment a colony at Roanoke Island
Roanoke Island
Roanoke Island is an island in Dare County near the coast of North Carolina, United States. It was named after the historical Roanoke Carolina Algonquian people who inhabited the area in the 16th century at the time of English exploration....

.

Quinn was born in Dublin, 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 was the single pupil at his first school. He graduated from Queen's University, Belfast in 1931. He then completed a PhD on the early Tudor administration in Ireland at King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...

. He subsequently spent five years as lecturer at University College, Southampton
University of Southampton
The University of Southampton is a British public university located in the city of Southampton, England, a member of the Russell Group. The origins of the university can be dated back to the founding of the Hartley Institution in 1862 by Henry Robertson Hartley. In 1902, the Institution developed...

 (now Southampton University). Returning Belfast in 1939 he taught Irish history.

He became interested in the voyages of discovery made by Humphrey Gilbert
Humphrey Gilbert
Sir Humphrey Gilbert of Devon in England was a half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh. Adventurer, explorer, member of parliament, and soldier, he served during the reign of Queen Elizabeth and was a pioneer of English colonization in North America and the Plantations of Ireland.-Early life:Gilbert...

. At that time historians relied uncritically on the works of Richard Hakluyt
Richard Hakluyt
Richard Hakluyt was an English writer. He is principally remembered for his efforts in promoting and supporting the settlement of North America by the English through his works, notably Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America and The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and...

 published around 1600. Quinn's work and the new sources he discovered resulted in his first volume for the Hakluyt Society, and marked the beginning of his seminal work on voyages of exploration, which he developed from 1944 at University College, Swansea. In 1957 he moved to Liverpool University.

At the instigation of America's Four Hundredth Anniversary Committee his Set Fair for Roanoke: Voyages and Colonies, 1584–1590 was published by University of North Carolina Press
University of North Carolina Press
The University of North Carolina Press , founded in 1922, is a university press that is part of the University of North Carolina....

in 1985.

He died in Liverpool, England on 19 Mar 2002.
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