William Murphy

Dr.

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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 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 Dr 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, nationalism, suffragism, politics, 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
2022 William Murphy (2022) 'Mollie Gill' In: Irish Sporting Lives. Dublin : Royal Irish Academy. [Link]
2017 William Murphy (2017) 'Associational Life, Leisure and Identity since 1740' In: The Cambridge Social History of Modern Ireland. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.
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
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):112-147.
2009 Murphy, William (2009) 'Conceiving Irish Diasporas: Irish Migration and Migrant Communities in the Modern Period'. Palgrave Advances In Irish History, :127-146.

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.

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
Certain data included herein are derived from the © Web of Science (2022) of Clarivate. All rights reserved.

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; 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