History and Travel
Miscellaneous unpublished historical pieces and travel writing and the Dobrzynski Archive (in progress).
Alert: New box of 2017 articles on Railways in the War of Independence, 1920-1, and Irish Free State's international diplomacy, 1922-32
The past is dead until the historian transforms it by giving it the kiss of life.
William L. Warren, The Historian as 'Private Eye',
Historical Studies
, IX, 1984
Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all; the conscientous historian will correct these defects
Herodotus,
The History of Herodotus
(I believe) no proposal for seeing any part of the world I had never seen before could possibly come amiss
William Dampier (1640-1705),
And I don't doubt, before the journey's done
You mean to while the time in tales and fun Indeed, there's little pleasure for your bones Riding along and all as dumb as stones
Geoffirey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, c. 1386 (trans. Nevill Coghill, 1951)
Some favourite links
John Hawks, Anthropologist
Turtle Bunbury & Wistorical
Roundwood and District Historical & Folklore Society
Twisted Twigs On Gnarled Branches Genealogy
Chitral Today
Brian Bwesigye, Kampala
Bwindi Researchers
Medievalists
World Community Grid
Galiwango
Dobrzynski Archive: Waclaw Tadeusz Dobrzynski (1883-1962) was Polish Consul General to Ireland from 1929 to 1954. Born in Kiev, Ukraine, he qualified as a Barrister and was music and drama critic for the Kievan newspaper
Dziennik Kijowski
until 1915 when he was called up into the Russian army. In Kharkov he witnessed the Bolshevik Revolution and later became involved in the transfer of Polish soldiers serving in the Russian army to Poland culminating with the evacuation of Odessa and march to Warsaw, 1918.
He joined Ministerwo Spraw Zagranicznych (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and served as Chief of Personnel, Envoy to Estonia, later Envoy Extraordinary, and chief of Secret Communications before 1929 when he came to Ireland. From 1931 he was Honorary until 1940 and thereafter represented the exiled Polish Government in London until retirement. Subsequently he was a political commentator on the Cold War for Irish newspapers.
The first three articles (in Polish) are a 1909 critical essay on Richard Wagner, a pre-1914 history of Dziennik Kijowski, and an entry on Ireland published by the Encyklopedja Nauk Politycznych, 1937. The next four unpublished articles cover Irish constitutional and political history (1921-49). His 1943 book, Poland - Lights and Shadows of an Ancient Nation, Talbot Press, is based on lectures before and during WW2.
Finally there are selected pre-war newspaper interviews and lectures, and post-war articles that include analyses of the the perils of 'limited warfare' and the importance of European union for its fundamental political and cultural security and welfare.
His daughter, Krystyna (1924-2012), published his biography,
An Unusual Diplomat
in 1998 with the Polish Cultural Foundation. She was posthumously awarded the Order Zaslugi Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej in May 2016
Irish History
- Society & Settlement in Glendalough and the Vartry before 1650 (TCD dissertation, 1999)
- Climate in Medieval Ireland, AD 500-1600 (QUB dissertation, 2000)
- 19th century National Schools of Derrylossary, Co. Wicklow
- Hurricanes, Storms and Floods in Derrylossary and Coastal Wicklow, 1886,1887 & 1931
- Spirit of Irish Wit, 1811 (Intro)
- The Wreck of the Isabella (1812) by David Millar - Book review
- Irish Slaveowners, 1830s
- Life in Ireland, 1821, (Article)
- The Four Courts, 1832 (Author of 1821 Life in Ireland)
- Irish Memorials, Penang, Malaysia
- Governor General James McNeill's Resignation, 1932
- World Poultry Congress's visit to Robert C Barton, Glendalough House, 1930
- Private v Parliamentary Morality - Peter McDonald MP (1836-1891)
- Spirit Rectification Recipes, Dublin, c. 1890
- Stratten's Guide of Leinster and Munster, 1892
- Estonia War of Independence, 1918-20: Roll of Honour of UK military
- Estonia's Cross of Liberty, Polish Recipients, 1919-25
Dobrzynski Archive
- Ryszard Wagner - szic krytyczni, 1909 (in Polish)
- Ryszard Wagner (English introduction)
-
Uroczystosci Chopin Lwow i Przybyszewski o Szopenie, 1910 & 1911 (in Polish)
- Papiez Leon X, Martin Luter i Leonardo da Vinci, 1912 (in Polish)
- Egipt Wspolczesny - Przedmowa, 1928 (in Polish)
- Dziennik Kijowski and life in Kiev (c. 1906-20), 1956/7 (in Polish)
- Dziennik Kijowski, introduction & article review database
- Irlandja - Encyklopedja Nauk Politycznych, 1937
- Co sie dzieje w Irlandji? 1932
- 1932 Dublin Eucharistic Congress/Kongress eucharystyczny w Dublinie, 1932 & 1956/7,(Polish & English)
- Anglo Irish Treaty, 1932/3
- Experts and Imperial conferences (1929 & 1930), 1933
- Battling with Logic, 1932/33 & 1956/7
- Twenty Years of Irish Politics, 1956/7
- Introduction to Constitutional Literature
- Poland - Lights and Shadows of an Ancient Nation, 1943
- Interviews, 1930-43
- Lectures, 1930-39
- Articles on Ireland, Poland, Russia & Europe, 1954-60