Cornelius O'Leary, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetCornelius O'Leary
Irish historian and political scientist
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Limerick, Munster, Ireland
About Cornelius O'Leary
- Cornelius O'Leary (30 September 1927 – 7 September 2006) was an Irish historian and political scientist. O'Leary was born in Limerick but was raised in Cork, where he attended University College Cork, gaining a first-class honours degree in history and Latin in 1949.
- He subsequently studied for a DPhil at Nuffield College, Oxford as the first student to be supervised by the psephologist David Butler.
- While researching his PhD, he worked at a number of secondary schools in London. His thesis was published as The Elimination of Corrupt Practices in British Elections, 1868-1911 (Clarendon Press, 1962) and in the same year he was appointed lecturer at Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland.
- He was made professor of political science in 1979, having been controversially denied such a post previously.
- He was the first Catholic to hold such a chair at the university and explained that, when he was appointed in 1960, he saw Queen's as part of the Unionist establishment.
- According to an obituary written by Bernard Crick, O'Leary suffered from alcoholism, which resulting in him often being absent from the university and colleagues having to cover for him.
- At one point he lived in hotels and lodging houses rather than at a fixed address.Aside from his PhD thesis, O'Leary's main publications were Belfast: Approach to Crisis.
- A Study of Belfast Politics, 1613-1970 (with Ian Budge, Macmillan, 1973), The Northern Ireland Assembly, 1982-1986: A Constitutional Experiment (with Sydney Elliott and R.A.
- Wilford, Hurst, 1988) and Controversial Issues in Anglo-Irish Relations, 1910-1921 (with Patrick Maume, Four Courts, 2004).
- He had planned a work on 20th century Irish politics but this never materialised.Although from the Republic of Ireland, O'Leary developed an interest in Unionism, and was an advisor to the Ulster Defence Association.
- He subsequently wrote a paper on Northern Irish independence at the request of John McMichael.
- During the 1960s and 1970s he was a regular commentator on Northern Ireland in the media.
- In his later life, he served as the vice-chairman of the anti-abortion campaign surrounding the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, which introduced a constitutional ban on abortion.
- This brought him into opposition with many feminists.O'Leary died on 7 September 2006 after a short illness.
- He is buried at Timoleague Abbey Cemetery in County Cork.
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