The Society recently announced the election of two new Fellows: Dr David Butler and Richard Everard.
Richard H.A.J. Everard has been elected a Fellow of the IGRS in recognition of his scholarly work on the Everard family of Ireland, published in The Irish Genealogist, and of his six decades of unwavering support for our Society. Richard joined the IGRS in 1961. Over many years he constructed a detailed and extensive history of the main branches of the Everards. This was the result of many research trips to Ireland from his native Netherlands. In 1988 the first segment of ‘The family of Everard’ appeared in The Irish Genealogist. A further four parts were published, the last being in 1994. The series of articles traces forward this Old English family in Cos. Tipperary and Meath, from the sixteenth and fifteenth centuries, respectively.
In a review of the series in the Tipperary Historical Journal in 1998, Paul Gorry wrote ‘His painstaking research has produced a work of value to genealogists, local historians and social historians alike.’
He added ‘… the article traces the main branches with impressive detail from the early sixteenth century forward. Those in Tudor times were wealthy landowners but, following the Reformation, Cromwell, the Jacobite-Williamite conflict and the Penal Laws, the fortunes dwindled and by the nineteenth century the Everards of south Tipperary were quite ordinary people.’
The review continued, ‘Richard Everard’s use of sources also shows that the destruction of the Public Record Office in 1922 did not entirely obliterate the records of our medieval and early modern history.’ It concluded, ‘Studying his footnotes alone is a revelation.’
Apart from this excellent contribution to our reputation as a learned society, Richard Everard has been part of the IGRS for 61 of its 86 years in existence. When he joined, he received a welcome letter dated 18 March 1961 from Father Wallace Clare, who founded the IGRS in 1936. The letter is a remarkable personal link with the origins of our Society. Richard is also the first person from Continental Europe to be elected to the Society’s Fellowship.
David J. Butler has been a member of the IGRS since 2003. He has served on Council since 2012 and he has been editor of our journal, The Irish Genealogist, since 2013. His other editing responsibility in the genealogical sphere is for the Journal of the Butler Society, of which he has been in charge since 2006. David has been on the board of the Butler Society since 2000. He is a life member of the Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland and he has served on the executive board of the Cork International Choral Festival.
David studied history and geography at University College Cork, gaining his primary degree in 1997. He was awarded his PhD from the National University of Ireland in 2003, his thesis being ‘Historical Geography of Religions’. This thesis was published by Four Courts Press as South Tipperary, 1570-1841: Religion, Land and Rivalry (2006, Dublin; paperback edition 2007). His other books include Christ Church Fermoy, 1809-2009: A commanding silhouette [with Hazel Baylor] (2009, Cork), Three Hundred Years of Freemasonry in Youghal, Co. Cork (2010, Cork) and Two Hundred and Seventy Five Years of Freemasonry in Bandon [with Alwyn C. Williams] (2013, Cork). In addition, David has written numerous book chapters and articles for various journals on diverse historical subjects, many connected to Tipperary or Munster in general. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2004 and of both the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Historical Society in 2006.
David was teaching assistant on the History of Family MA course at the University of Limerick from 2007 to 2009. Since 2011 he has been academic director of the Irish Ancestral Research Centre (IARC), based in Limerick. In this capacity he is responsible for the Certificate in History of Family and Genealogical Methods, presented on-campus and online for the University of Limerick, and the Diploma in Genealogy, presented on-campus through University College Cork’s Centre for Adult Continuing Education.
The standard of The Irish Genealogist over the past decade is a testament to David Butler’s precision. The IGRS is very fortunate to have an editor of his calibre.
