Researcher Details |

William Murphy

I am an Associate Professor at the School of History and Geography, current Head of School, and Director of the Research Group on Biography and Life Writing at DCU.

My primary field of research is modern Irish history, with a particular expertise in the history of the Irish revolutionary period. To date this work has centred on three key areas, the history of political imprisonment, the history of sport and leisure, and the history of female suffragism.
That first interest is reflected in a series of articles and in the monograph Political Imprisonment and the Irish, 1912-1921 (Oxford University Press, 2014).

My second monograph is Michael Collins: the man and the revolution (The Collins Press, 2018), co-authored with Associate Professor Anne Dolan (Trinity College Dublin). Together with Anne, I have also written Days in the Life: Reading the Michael Collins Diaries, 1918-1922 (Royal Irish Academy, 2022).

I am co-founder with Professor Paul Rouse (University College Dublin) of Sports History Ireland and co-editor of two collections on the history of sport and leisure. The relationship of sport to the Irish revolution is a particular interest while I am also interested in the relationship of the history of sport to wider histories of leisure and popular culture.

My work is also engaged with suffragist strategies of resistance, including census boycott and prison protest.

Given my own interests, I particularly welcome students interested in prisons, crime, revolution, suffragism, biography or life writing, leisure or sport.

Book

	Year	Publication
	2022	Anne Dolan; William Murphy (2022) Days in the Life: Reading the Michael Collins Diaries, 1918-1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy.
	2018	Anne Dolan and William Murphy (2018) Michael Collins: the man and the revolution. Cork: Collins Press. [Link]
	2014	William Murphy (2014) Political Imprisonment and the Irish, 1912-1921. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Book Chapter

	Year	Publication
	2023	(2023) ''Alas, how I have been let down': prison, ill-health, entitlement and the army pensions legislation'' In: 'A Very Hard Struggle': Lives in the Military Service Pensions Collection. Dublin : Defence Forces Printing Press. [Link]
	2022	William Murphy (2022) 'Mollie Gill' In: Irish Sporting Lives. Dublin : Royal Irish Academy. [Link]
	2017	Murphy, W. (2017) 'Associational life, leisure and identity since 1740' In: The Cambridge Social History of Modern Ireland. [Link]
	2017	William Murphy (2017) 'Imprisonment, 1915-1918' In: Atlas of the Irish Revolution. Cork : Cork University Press.
	2017	William Murphy (2017) 'Imprisonment and the War of Independence' In: Atlas of the Irish Revolution. Cork : Cork University Press.
	2017	William Murphy (2017) 'Imprisonment During the Civil War' In: Atlas of the Irish Revolution. Cork : Cork University Press.
	2017	William Murphy (2017) 'The Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Revolution' In: Atlas of the Irish Revolution. Cork : Cork University Press.
	2016	William Murphy (2016) 'Sir John Ross' In: Ulster Political Lives 1886-1921. Dublin : Royal Irish Academy.
	2016	Leeann Lane and William Murphy (2016) 'Introduction' In: Leisure and the Irish in the Nineteenth Century. Liverpool : Liverpool University Press. [Link]
	2015	William Murphy (2015) 'William Pearse' In: 1916: Portraits and Lives. Dublin : Royal Irish Academy.
	2015	William Murphy (2015) '��Voteless Alas��: Suffragette Protest and the Census of Ireland in 1911' In: Diarmaid Ferriter and Susannah Riordan(Eds.). Years of Turbulence: The Irish Revolution and Its Aftermath. : UCD Press.
	2013	William Murphy (2013) 'Dying, death and hunger strike: Cork and Brixton, 1920' In: James Kelly; Mary Ann Lyons(Eds.). Death and Dying in Ireland, Britain, and Europe: Historical Perspectives. : Irish Academic Press.
	2012	William Murphy (2012) ''A Various and Contentious Country: Ireland in 1912'' In: Paul Daly, Ronan O'Brien and Paul Rouse(Eds.). Making the Difference?: The Irish Labour Party, 1912-2012. : Collins Press.
	2011	William Murphy (2011) ''Suffragists and the Census'' In: Catriona Crowe(Eds.). Dublin 1911. : Royal Irish Academy.
	2010	William Murphy (2010) ''Enniscorthy during the Irish Revolution'' In: Colm Toibin(Eds.). Enniscorthy: a history. : Wexford County Library.
	2010	William Murphy (2010) ''Introduction'' In: Darrell Figgis's A Chronicle of Jails. Dublin : University College Dublin.
	2009	William Murphy (2009) ''The GAA during the Irish Revolution, 1913-1923'' In: Cronin, Murphy, and Rouse(Eds.). The Gaelic Athletic Association 1884-2009. : Irish Academic Press.
	2009	William Murphy (2009) ''Narratives of confinement: Fenians, prisons and writing 1867-1916��' In: James McConnel and Fearghal McGarry(Eds.). The Black Hand of Republicanism. : Irish Academic Press.
	2008	William Murphy (2008) ''Conceiving Irish diasporas: Irish migration and migrant communities in the modern period'' In: Leeann Lane, Mary McAuliffe and Katherine O��Donnell(Eds.). Palgrave Guide to Modern Irish History. : Palgrave/MacMillan.
	2007	William Murphy (2007) ''Suffragettes and the Transformation of Political Imprisonment in Ireland, 1912-1914'' In: Margaret Ward and Louise Ryan(Eds.). Irish Women and the Vote: Becoming Citizens. : Irish Academic Press.

Edited Book

	Year	Publication
	2023	Ciaran Mac Murchaidh and William Murphy (Ed.). (2023) Studia Hibernica 49. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, [Link] https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/toc/studia/49/1
	2022	Ciaran Mac Murchaidh;William Murphy (Ed.). (2022) Studia Hibernica 48. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/journals/id/62/volume/48/issue/6714/
	2021	Ciaran Mac Murchaidh and William Murphy (Ed.). (2021) Studia Hibernica 47. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press,
	2020	Ciaran Mac Murchaidh and William Murphy (Ed.). (2020) Studia Hibernica 46. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, [Link]
	2019	Ciaran Mac Murchaidh and William Murphy (Ed.). (2019) Studia Hibernica 45. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, [Link]
	2018	Ciaran Mac Murchaidh and William Murphy (Ed.). (2018) Studia Hibernica 44. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, [Link]
	2016	Leeann Lane and William Murphy (Ed.). (2016) Leisure and the Irish in the Nineteenth Century. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press,
	2010	William Murphy (Ed.). (2010) Darrell Figgis, A Chronicle of Jails. Dublin: University College Dublin Press,
	2009	Mike Cronin, William Murphy and Paul Rouse (Ed.). (2009) The Gaelic Athletic Association, 1884-2009. Dublin: Irish Academic Press,

Peer Reviewed Journal

	Year	Publication
	2020	William Murphy (2020) 'Justice and Uncertainty'. IRISH ECONOMIC AND AND SOCIAL HISTORY, 47 :112-121. [Link]
	2013	William Murphy (2013) 'Sport in a Time of Revolution: Sinn Fein and the Hunt in Ireland, 1919'. Eire-Ireland; a journal of Irish studies, 48 :112-147.
	2008	William Murphy (2008) ''Between change and tradition: the politics and writings of Garret FitzGerald''. Eire-Ireland; a journal of Irish studies, 43 .
	2005	William Murphy (2005) ''Cogging Berkeley? The Querist and the Rhetoric of Fianna Fail's Economic Policy''. Irish Economic and Social History, xxxii :63-82.
	2013	Murphy, William (2013) 'Sport in a Time of Revolution: Sinn Fein and the Hunt in Ireland, 1919'. Eire-Ireland, 48 (1-2).
	2009	Murphy, William (2009) 'Conceiving Irish Diasporas: Irish Migration and Migrant Communities in the Modern Period'. Palgrave Advances In Irish History, .

Conference Contribution

	Year	Publication
	2019	William Murphy (2019) Irish Historical Society Political Prisoners and the representation of prisons as sites of disease Trinity College, Dublin, 09/04/2019-09/04/2019.
	2018	William Murphy (2018) British Crime Historians Symposium ��I met some terrible rascals and criminals��: Irish ��political prisoners�� and the representation of ��ordinary�� convicts Edge Hill University, 31/08/2018-01/09/2018.
	2017	William Murphy (2017) Propaganda and Mobilisation: Ireland from Rising to Conscription Crisis Prisons, Prisoners and Mobilising Protest, 1916-1918 University College Dublin, 18/11/2017-18/11/2017.
	2017	William Murphy (2017) European Association of the History of Medicine and Health Conference ��Whatever it was it must have begun in the English Jail��: ill-health, political prisoners and the emergence of Irish statehood Bucharest, 30/08/2017-02/09/2017.
	2017	William Murphy (2017) Social History Society Conference ��The fear of catching loathsome diseases��: political prisoners, prisons and venereal disease in Britain and Ireland in the early twentieth century Institute of Historical Research, London, 04/04/2017-06/04/2017.
	2016	William Murphy (2016) 1916 in Ireland and Wales Conflict Confined? The Role of Imprisonment during the Irish Revolution Aberystwyth University, 14/09/2016-14/09/2016.
	2016	William Murphy (2016) American Association for the History of Medicine ��If anything should occur here my existence as a Medical Man . . . would be ended��: Prison Doctors, Political Prisoners and the Irish Revolution, 1917-1921 Minneapolis, 28/04/2016-01/05/2016.
	2016	William Murphy (2016) Canmlwyddiant Gwrthryfel y Pasg, 1916: Iwerddon, Cymru a��r Ymateb LLenyddol The Easter Rising 1916: Why It Matters Bangor University, 01/04/2016-02/04/2016.
	2016	William Murphy (2016) 1916 in Ireland and Wales Conflict Confined? The Role of Imprisonment during the Irish Revolution Aberystwyth University, 14/09/2016-14/09/2016.

Web Page

	Year	Publication
	2018	William Murphy (2018) 1918 and the Making of a New Political Generation. Dublin: WEBP [Link]
	2016	William Murphy (2016) The Places of Detention. WEBP [Link]
	2016	William Murphy (2016) Political Prisoners and Prison Life, 1915 to 1918. WEBP [Link]
	2016	William Murphy (2016) Ireland, 1914-1918. WEBP [Link]
	2018	William Murphy (2018) How Ireland was lost in the 1918 Conscription Crisis. Dublin: WEBP [Link]
	2016	William Murphy (2016) Enemies of the Crown. Dublin: WEBP [Link]
	2016	William Murphy (2016) The State, the Law and Political Imprisonment, 1914-1918. Century Ireland: WEBP [Link]
	2013	William Murphy (2013) Ireland in May 1913. WEBP

Honors and Awards

	Date	Title	Awarding Body
	01/01/2009	Best Sports History Edited Collection Published in English	North American Society for Sport History

Committees

	Committee	Function	From / To
	Expert Advisory Group to Taoiseach on Centenary Commemorations		01/09/2020 -
	Studia Hibernica, Editorial Committee (since 2015) and Co-Editor (since 2018)		01/04/2015 -
	Advisory Board Dictionary of Irish Biography, Royal Irish Academy		01/09/2014 -
	Irish Committee of Historical Sciences		01/09/2018 -
	Sports History Ireland (co-founder)		01/05/2005 -
	National History and Commemoration Committee, Gaelic Athletic Association		01/04/2018 -
	Parnell Society (Academic Director, 2016/2017) and Parnell Trust (Trustee since 2018)		01/01/2016 -
	Society for the Study of Nineteenth Century Ireland (Committee, 2017-2014 and Treasurer, 2010-2014)		01/12/2007 - 30/06/2014

Research Interests

History of protest and revolution; history of imprisonment and crime; biography and life writing; history of sport and leisure; history of suffrage

Modules Coordinated

Term	Title	Subject
2020	Making of Modern Ireland 1850-1998	HY102
2022	Intro to Popular Cultures in Ireland1800-1950	HY322
2022	Revolution in Modern Ireland	HY324
2022	The Irish Revolution in a Revolutionary World	HY512
2020	Description of 2022_HY320	HY320