A Very Occasional Blog

I’m a genealogist by profession, and a Fellow of the Accredited Genealogists Ireland,(AGI) I also dabble in local history and the history of Irish golfers, and I’m always writing something!

Accredited Geneologists Ireland

A Slideshow of Recent Posts

200 Years Since my Great-Grandfather’s Birth

by | 09/10/2025 | Durrow, Family History, Glenmalure, Gorry Family, Gorry Research, Kilbeggan, Killeigh, King's County, Michael Dwyer, Offaly, Reusing forenames, Westmeath | 0 Comments

In mid-August 2025 I attended a conference in Glenmalure marking the 200th anniversary of the death of Michael Dwyer, one of the leaders of the 1798 Rebellion in Wicklow.  Two hundred years seems a very long time.  The world has changed so much during my lifetime.  In...
Read More

In the footsteps of Lord Walter …

by | 29/09/2025 | Carton House, Dukes of Leinster, Genealogy, Gorry Research, Kildare, Kildare Archaeological Society, Kilkea Castle, Local History, Lord Walter FitzGerald | 0 Comments

I haven’t mentioned anything here until now about my association with Kilkea Castle, though I did share the information on social media last month.  Indeed, I've been silent on this blog for quite a while.  Since 26 May this year I’m officially what might be termed...
Read More

Gorry Research introductory video now online

by | 22/01/2024 | Accredited Genealogists Ireland, AGI, Baltinglass, Carlow, Family History, Filmmaking, Genealogical Virus, Genealogy, Gorry Research, Graveyards, Keadeen, Kildare, Local History, Parkmore Studios, Professional Genealogists, Uncategorized, Wicklow, Wicklow Marketplace | 5 Comments

This blogpost is to let you know that there is a new introductory video about my research business, Gorry Research.  Maybe you’d like to take a look.  The one-minute ‘teaser’ is here and the full video (17 min.) will be found on the homepage of our website (just...
Read More

Hungry Hill: Daphne du Maurier’s Fantasy Ireland

by | 06/01/2022 | Allihies, Beara Peninsula, Books, Castletownbere, Cork, Daphne du Maurier, Family History, Genealogy, Hungry Hill, Hungry Hill, Local History, Puxley Family, West Cork | 11 Comments

A few months ago I spent a weekend with friends on the Beara Peninsula in West Cork.  On our way from Glengarriff to Castletownbere we drove along the base of the bleak looking Hungry Hill.  It’s the highest mountain on the peninsula.  During our few days we visited...
Read More

My Name is Aloysius

by | 22/11/2021 | Aloysius, Aloysius Gonzaga, Aloysius O'Kelly, Forenames, James Joyce, John A Costello, Roman Catholics | 8 Comments

My second forename is Aloysius.  Throughout my childhood, youth and middle age I kept it hidden from most people.  I was embarrassed by it and I wasn’t a bit happy that my parents thought to lumber me with such an oddity.  It took decades for me to come to terms with...
Read More

The Day My Grandfather Didn’t Become a Golf Champion

by | 08/09/2021 | Cecil Leitch, Ernest Carter, Family History, Golf History, Great War, Hezlet Family, Irish Golf History, Irish Golfers, Joseph Gorry, Kildare, Lionel Munn, Naas, Royal Co. Down, Vagliano Trophy, War of Independence | 0 Comments

A hundred years ago this very day my grandfather, Joseph Gorry, reached the zenith of his amateur golfing career.  Very probably for him it felt like failure.  The events of that day became the stuff of golfing legend in the family.  His daughter, Joan Gorry, was...
Read More

Gordon Bennett!

by | 21/05/2021 | Gordon Bennett, Joseph Gorry, Kildare, Local History, Motor Racing, Naas | 0 Comments

Gordon Bennett !!!  This photograph was taken on Wednesday 1 July 1903 in South Main Street, Naas, Co. Kildare. What was happening was the weighing of the cars for the 4th Gordon Bennett Cup Race, the first to be held outside of France. The race took place the...
Read More

Greer Garson’s Irish Credentials

by | 04/01/2024 | Butlers Bridge, Castlewellan, Cavan, Derry, Down, Drumalure, Family History, Genealogy, Greer Garson, Hollywood Stars, Kilrea, Kilrea, Londonderry, Timaconway, Timaconway | 0 Comments

Greer Garson was one of the great stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood.  She was an Oscar nominee seven times, winning for Mrs. Miniver (1942).  Years ago the official story was that she was born in County Down in September 1908.  The studios often invented back...
Read More

Resurrection! Baltinglass Chronicles – Back to Life

by | 27/09/2023 | Baltinglass, Baltinglass Chronicles 1851-2001, Local History, The History Press, Wicklow, Wicklow Marketplace | 2 Comments

Just look at what arrived today, in the middle of Storm Agnes! Back in December 2022, I posted about the demise of my book Baltinglass Chronicles, 1851-2001.  The last copies had been sold and it was now only available in the form of second-hand copies that might...
Read More

IT’S BEEN A WHILE – Like 32 years!

by | 13/07/2023 | Computer Problems, Floppy disks, Genealogy, Mona Germaine | 0 Comments

In genealogy, you never know when an old client will reappear.  Often you have someone come back several times in a short space of time, leading to a succession of searches over a period of a few years.  Occasionally a client who had a single search done may return...
Read More

Baltinglass Chronicles Consigned to History

by | 19/12/2022 | Baltinglass, Baltinglass Chronicles 1851-2001, Battle of Baltinglass, Books, Claude Chavasse, The Story of Baltinglass, West Wicklow Historical Society, Wicklow, Wicklow Marketplace | 1 Comment

On 16 December 2022 I sold my last copy of Baltinglass Chronicles 1851-2001.  What that means is that it’s now more or less out of print after a sixteen-year span.  On 14 December I received an order for a copy on the Wicklow Marketplace.  That went to someone in the...
Read More

Time Travel – it’s 1975 again!

by | 11/03/2022 | Baltinglass, Baltinglass Chronicles 1851-2001, Claude Chavasse, Halloween, Juggies, The Story of Baltinglass | 0 Comments

Today (11 March 2022) my friend Cora Crampton showed me a photograph of a sheet of paper – the one in the image here.  It was in the back of a copy of Claude Chavasse’s The Story of Baltinglass (1970) which I gave her (or so she says) several years ago.  She...
Read More
Genealogy in the Time of Coronavirus

Genealogy in the Time of Coronavirus

by | May 19, 2020 | , , , , , , , , , | 0 Comments

  ​I haven’t been in a record repository for over two months.  That hasn’t happened to me since the mid-1980s, when I took six months off to supervise a parish register indexing project.  Even then I managed the odd trip to Dublin to feed my habit.  Right now I’m...

read more
READ A BOOK, FOR GOD’S SAKE!

READ A BOOK, FOR GOD’S SAKE!

by | Apr 27, 2020 | , , , , , , , , , , , , | 0 Comments

Not too long ago most people beginning to trace their ancestors found their way to a society they could join, a guide book they could read and / or a conference they could attend.  Many people still do, but as genealogy grows in popularity it is becoming more of an...

read more
I SAW YOU ON THE TELLIE!

I SAW YOU ON THE TELLIE!

by | Feb 19, 2020 | , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Supposedly evenings are when television programmes have their greatest impact.  Really, with so many channels now, it’s just by chance that people see any programme, unless it’s the news or Nationwide or something spectacular like Line of Duty or something addictive...

read more
Credentials for Genealogists – fighting the good fight

Credentials for Genealogists – fighting the good fight

by | Sep 15, 2019 | , , , , , , , , | 0 Comments

Gorry has done a service to the genealogical community. That was one of a number of complimentary remarks in a review of my book in the latest (September 2019) edition of the Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly.  A copy of the review was sent to me the...

read more

Categories

Contact

Gorry Research,
Baltinglass,
Co. Wicklow,
Ireland
info@gorryresearch.ie

Links

Gorry Research’s curated selection relating to;

Genealogy

Golf History

Irelands Ancient East