Gerard A. Hayes-McCoy was an Irish

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...

 historian born in Galway

Galway

Galway or City of Galway is a city in County Galway, Republic of Ireland. It is the sixth largest and the fastest-growing city in Ireland. It is also the third largest city within the Republic and the only city in the Province of Connacht. Located on the west coast of Ireland, it sits on the...

. He attended University College Galway (U.C.G.) and served as auditor of the College's Literary and Debating Society in the 1931/1932 academic year. He edited The Irish Sword

The Irish Sword

The Irish Sword is the official journal of the Military History Society of Ireland containing articles on the military history of Ireland, book reviews, notes, notices, queries, illustrations and proceedings....

, the journal of the Military History Society of Ireland

Military History Society of Ireland

The Military History Society of Ireland promotes the study of military history, and in particular the history of warfare in Ireland and of Irishmen in war....

 (1949-1972) and he became Professor of History at the National University of Ireland

National University of Ireland

The National University of Ireland , , is a federal university system of constituent universities, previously called constituent colleges, and recognised colleges set up under the Irish Universities Act, 1908, and significantly amended by the Universities Act, 1997.The constituent universities are...

 (UCG) in 1958. He wrote primarily on military history

Military history

Military history is a humanities discipline within the scope of general historical recording of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, their cultures, economies and changing intra and international relationships....

, but also about Galway City, ships, historical figures in fiction, Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....

 and he even created a cartoon strip for the Cork Examiner. His work on the Scots mercenary forces in Ireland (1565-1603) established him as "one of the leading Irish scholars of his generation." It was based on his PhD thesis which he completed at the University of Edinburgh

University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...

in 1934 http://ies.berkeley.edu/cbs/media/Canny_Ireland%20Britain%20&%20Wider%20World.pdf.
Hayes-McCoy produced several more works on Irish military history, including a detailed examination of the tactics used during Elizabeth's Irish wars of 1593-1601.

Publications (selected)

• 1937: Scots Mercenary Forces in Ireland, 1565-1603, reprinted 1996
• 1942: Index to "The Compossicion Booke of Conought 1585"
• 1959: Sixteenth Century Irish Swords in the National Museum of Ireland '
• 1963: Historical Studies IV: papers read before the Fifth Irish Conference of Historians (editor)
• 1964: The Irish at War
• 1964: Ulster and Other Irish Maps, c. 1600.
• 1965: Captain Myles Walter Keogh, United States Army 1840-1876 (O'Donnell lecture)
• 1969: Irish Battles: a military history of Ireland, reprinted 1990
• 1979: A History of Irish Flags from Earliest Times (posthumous)
• unknown
  • The Red Coat and the Green
  • Essays in Commemoration - 1798 (contributor)