
Dr Conor Morrissey
Senior Lecturer in Irish/British History
Research interests
- History
Contact details
Biography
I hold BA, MA, and LLB degrees from National University of Ireland, Galway, and a PhD (2015) from Trinity College Dublin. Following a spell in the National Museum of Ireland, I returned to Trinity for an Irish Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2015-2016. From 2016 to 2018 I was Departmental Lecturer in Irish History in Hertford College, University of Oxford. I took up my current post in King’s in September 2018.
Research interests and PhD supervision
- The Irish revolution
- Irish nationalism
- Protestantism in Ireland
My research focusses on Irish nationalism and Irish Protestantism. My particular interest lies in Protestant nationalists: that minority of individuals who rejected the unionist politics typical of their co-religionists, and joined separatist organisations. I am also interested in the Home Rule Question and the Northern Ireland Troubles.
Teaching
I contribute to undergraduate and postgraduate modules on modern Irish and modern British history.
For more information, please see Conor Morrissey's full research profile
Select Publications
Monograph
- Protestant nationalists in Ireland, 1900-1923 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019).
Edited Volume
- (Ed. with Brian Hughes), Southern Irish Loyalism, 1912-1949 (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2020).
Peer-reviewed Articles
- ‘Protestant home rulers and constitutional nationalism in Ireland, c. 1900-1914’, in the English Historical Review, cxxxvi(2021), pp. 1224–56.
- ‘Áras an Taoisigh?: a prime minister’s residence in Dublin, 1922-2009’, in Irish Architectural and Decorative Studies, xxi (2019), pp. 120-35.
- “‘Rotten Protestants’: Protestant home rulers and the Ulster Liberal Association, 1906-1918”, in The Historical Journal, lxi (2018), pp. 743-65.
Book Chapters
- ‘Peace, Protestantism, and the unity of Ireland: the career of Bolton C. Waller’, in Ian d’Alton and Ida Milne (eds.), Protestant and Irish: the minority’s search for place in independent Ireland (Cork: Cork University Press, 2019), pp. 51-66.
- ‘Protestant nationalists and the Irish conscription crisis, 1918’, in Gearóid Barry, Enrico Dal Lago, and Róisín Healy (eds.), Small nations and colonial peripheries in World War I (Leiden: Brill, 2016), pp. 55-72.
Review of Southern Irish Protestants: histories, lives & literatures, by Ian d’Alton
Morrissey, C., 1 Feb 2025, In: Irish Literary Supplement. Spring, p. 3-4Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article
Just who wanted Dominion Home Rule?: ‘moderates’ and the Irish War of Independence
Morrissey, C., 1 Jun 2024, In: Irish Historical Studies. p. 98-121Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Review of ‘The age-old struggle’: Irish republicanism from the Battle of the Bogside to the Belfast Agreement, 1969-1998, by Jack Hepworth
Morrissey, C., 2024, In: Contemporary British History. p. 515-16Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
‘Protestants and the Irish Civil War’
Morrissey, C., 1 Oct 2024, Atlas of the Irish Civil War: New Perspectives . O'Keeffe, H., Crowley, J., Ó Drisceoil, D., Borgonovo , J. & Murphy, M. (eds.). Cork University Press, p. 103-6Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Bolton Charles Waller
Morrissey, C., 2023, Dictionary of Irish Biography. Quinn, J., McGuire, J. & Kinsella, E. (eds.). Cambridge University PressResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry in encyclopedia/dictionary › peer-review
George Irvine
Morrissey, C., 2023, Dictionary of Irish Biography . Quinn, J., McGuire, J. & Kinsella, E. (eds.). Cambridge University PressResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry in encyclopedia/dictionary › peer-review
James Francis Bernard, 4th earl of Bandon
Morrissey, C., 2023, Dictionary of Irish Biography . Quinn, J., McGuire, J. & Kinsella, E. (eds.). Cambridge University PressResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry in encyclopedia/dictionary › peer-review
‘Devolution and revolution: the Limerick gentry and political crisis, c. 1899-1920’
Morrissey, C., 2023, (Accepted/In press) Protestants in Limerick, 1912-1923. Gannon, S. W. & Hughes, B. (eds.). Limerick City and County CouncilResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Review of Joep Leerssen (ed.), Parnell and his times
Morrissey, C., 2022, In: The English Historical Review. p. 1279-80 cxxxvii .Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review
Protestant Home Rulers and Constitutional Nationalism in Ireland, c.1900–1914
Morrissey, C., 15 Dec 2021, In: The English Historical Review. 136, 582, p. 1224-1256Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Review of The Partition of Ireland: 1918-1925 by Robert Lynch
Morrissey, C., 2021, (Accepted/In press) In: AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW. p. 1042-3 cxxvii.Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review
Afterword
Hughes, B. & Morrissey, C., 2020, Southern Irish Loyalism, 1912-1949 . Hughes, B. & Morrissey, C. (eds.). Liverpool: Liverpool University PressResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Introduction
Hughes, B. & Morrissey, C., 2020, Southern Irish Loyalism, 1912-1949 . Hughes, B. & Morrissey, C. (eds.). Liverpool University PressResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Review of Jim Smyth (ed.), Remembering the Troubles: contesting the recent past in Northern Ireland
Morrissey, C., 2020, In: Journal of Contemporary History. lv, p. 706-707Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
Review of Smyllie’s Ireland: Protestants, Independence, and the man who ran the Irish Times, by Caleb Wood Richardson
Morrissey, C., 2020, In: Irish Historical Studies. xliv, p. 396-7Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
Southern Irish Loyalism, 1912-1949
Hughes, B. & Morrissey, C., 2020, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.Research output: Book/Report › Anthology › peer-review
Protestant nationalists in Ireland, 1900-1923
Morrissey, C., Oct 2019, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 300 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
‘Áras an Taoisigh?: a prime minister’s residence in Dublin, c. 1973-2009’
Morrissey, C. J., 2019, In: Irish Architectural and Decorative Studies. 21, p. 120-135Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
‘Peace, Protestantism, and the unity of Ireland: the career of Bolton C. Waller’
Morrissey, C. J., 2019, Protestant and Irish: the minority's search for place in independent Ireland . Cork: Cork University Press, p. 51-65Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
'Rotten Protestants’: Protestant home rulers and the Ulster Liberal Association, 1906-1918
Morrissey, C., 30 Sept 2018, In: HISTORICAL JOURNAL. 61, 3, p. 743-765Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Review of More than concrete blocks: Dublin’s twentieth-century buildings and their stories, I: 1900-40, ed. by Ellen Rowley
Morrissey, C., 2017, In: Irish Literary Supplement. Fall, p. 3-4Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
Review of The West must wait: County Galway and the Irish Free State, 1922-32, by Úna Newell
Morrissey, C., May 2016, In: Irish Studies Review. p. 235-236Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
‘James Francis Bernard, 4th earl of Bandon: progressive landowner to dispossessed loyalist’
Morrissey, C. J., 2016, In: Journal of the Cork Archaeological and Historical Society. 121, p. 125-140Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
‘Protestant nationalists and the Irish conscription crisis, 1918’
Morrissey, C. J., 2016, Small nations and colonial peripheries in World War I. Barry, G., Dal Lago, E. & Healy , R. (eds.). Leiden: Brill, p. 55 72 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
‘Scandal and anti-Semitism in 1916: Thomas Dickson and The Eye-Opener’
Morrissey, C., Jul 2016, In: History Ireland. p. 30-34Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
“‘Much the more political of the two’: Mabel FitzGerald and the Irish Revolution”
Morrissey, C. J., 2016, In: Irish Studies Review. 24, 3, p. 291-310Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Review of Walter Starkie: an odyssey, by Jacqueline Hurtley
Morrissey, C., 2014, In: Irish Literary Supplement. Fall, 2014, p. p. 24Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
‘Albinia Brodrick: Munster’s Anglo-Irish Republican’
Morrissey, C., 2012, In: Journal of the Cork Archaeological and Historical Society. 116, p. 94-107Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research

King's Contemporary British History
The study of Contemporary British History goes back to the 1960s, and was consolidated with the establishment of the Institute of Contemporary British History in 1985 by (Sir) Anthony Seldon and (Lord) Peter Hennessy. The Institute moved to King’s College London in 2010, and the new King’s Contemporary British History builds on this by creating a larger and more diverse enterprise, building on that distinguished tradition.
Events

Professional Development for Executives: How to Create a Powerful Personal Brand
Discover how to create a powerful personal brand at our virtual taster event.
Please note: this event has passed.
Review of Southern Irish Protestants: histories, lives & literatures, by Ian d’Alton
Morrissey, C., 1 Feb 2025, In: Irish Literary Supplement. Spring, p. 3-4Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article
Just who wanted Dominion Home Rule?: ‘moderates’ and the Irish War of Independence
Morrissey, C., 1 Jun 2024, In: Irish Historical Studies. p. 98-121Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Review of ‘The age-old struggle’: Irish republicanism from the Battle of the Bogside to the Belfast Agreement, 1969-1998, by Jack Hepworth
Morrissey, C., 2024, In: Contemporary British History. p. 515-16Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
‘Protestants and the Irish Civil War’
Morrissey, C., 1 Oct 2024, Atlas of the Irish Civil War: New Perspectives . O'Keeffe, H., Crowley, J., Ó Drisceoil, D., Borgonovo , J. & Murphy, M. (eds.). Cork University Press, p. 103-6Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Bolton Charles Waller
Morrissey, C., 2023, Dictionary of Irish Biography. Quinn, J., McGuire, J. & Kinsella, E. (eds.). Cambridge University PressResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry in encyclopedia/dictionary › peer-review
George Irvine
Morrissey, C., 2023, Dictionary of Irish Biography . Quinn, J., McGuire, J. & Kinsella, E. (eds.). Cambridge University PressResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry in encyclopedia/dictionary › peer-review
James Francis Bernard, 4th earl of Bandon
Morrissey, C., 2023, Dictionary of Irish Biography . Quinn, J., McGuire, J. & Kinsella, E. (eds.). Cambridge University PressResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry in encyclopedia/dictionary › peer-review
‘Devolution and revolution: the Limerick gentry and political crisis, c. 1899-1920’
Morrissey, C., 2023, (Accepted/In press) Protestants in Limerick, 1912-1923. Gannon, S. W. & Hughes, B. (eds.). Limerick City and County CouncilResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Review of Joep Leerssen (ed.), Parnell and his times
Morrissey, C., 2022, In: The English Historical Review. p. 1279-80 cxxxvii .Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review
Protestant Home Rulers and Constitutional Nationalism in Ireland, c.1900–1914
Morrissey, C., 15 Dec 2021, In: The English Historical Review. 136, 582, p. 1224-1256Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Review of The Partition of Ireland: 1918-1925 by Robert Lynch
Morrissey, C., 2021, (Accepted/In press) In: AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW. p. 1042-3 cxxvii.Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review
Afterword
Hughes, B. & Morrissey, C., 2020, Southern Irish Loyalism, 1912-1949 . Hughes, B. & Morrissey, C. (eds.). Liverpool: Liverpool University PressResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Introduction
Hughes, B. & Morrissey, C., 2020, Southern Irish Loyalism, 1912-1949 . Hughes, B. & Morrissey, C. (eds.). Liverpool University PressResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Review of Jim Smyth (ed.), Remembering the Troubles: contesting the recent past in Northern Ireland
Morrissey, C., 2020, In: Journal of Contemporary History. lv, p. 706-707Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
Review of Smyllie’s Ireland: Protestants, Independence, and the man who ran the Irish Times, by Caleb Wood Richardson
Morrissey, C., 2020, In: Irish Historical Studies. xliv, p. 396-7Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
Southern Irish Loyalism, 1912-1949
Hughes, B. & Morrissey, C., 2020, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.Research output: Book/Report › Anthology › peer-review
Protestant nationalists in Ireland, 1900-1923
Morrissey, C., Oct 2019, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 300 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
‘Áras an Taoisigh?: a prime minister’s residence in Dublin, c. 1973-2009’
Morrissey, C. J., 2019, In: Irish Architectural and Decorative Studies. 21, p. 120-135Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
‘Peace, Protestantism, and the unity of Ireland: the career of Bolton C. Waller’
Morrissey, C. J., 2019, Protestant and Irish: the minority's search for place in independent Ireland . Cork: Cork University Press, p. 51-65Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
'Rotten Protestants’: Protestant home rulers and the Ulster Liberal Association, 1906-1918
Morrissey, C., 30 Sept 2018, In: HISTORICAL JOURNAL. 61, 3, p. 743-765Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Review of More than concrete blocks: Dublin’s twentieth-century buildings and their stories, I: 1900-40, ed. by Ellen Rowley
Morrissey, C., 2017, In: Irish Literary Supplement. Fall, p. 3-4Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
Review of The West must wait: County Galway and the Irish Free State, 1922-32, by Úna Newell
Morrissey, C., May 2016, In: Irish Studies Review. p. 235-236Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
‘James Francis Bernard, 4th earl of Bandon: progressive landowner to dispossessed loyalist’
Morrissey, C. J., 2016, In: Journal of the Cork Archaeological and Historical Society. 121, p. 125-140Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
‘Protestant nationalists and the Irish conscription crisis, 1918’
Morrissey, C. J., 2016, Small nations and colonial peripheries in World War I. Barry, G., Dal Lago, E. & Healy , R. (eds.). Leiden: Brill, p. 55 72 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
‘Scandal and anti-Semitism in 1916: Thomas Dickson and The Eye-Opener’
Morrissey, C., Jul 2016, In: History Ireland. p. 30-34Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
“‘Much the more political of the two’: Mabel FitzGerald and the Irish Revolution”
Morrissey, C. J., 2016, In: Irish Studies Review. 24, 3, p. 291-310Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Review of Walter Starkie: an odyssey, by Jacqueline Hurtley
Morrissey, C., 2014, In: Irish Literary Supplement. Fall, 2014, p. p. 24Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
‘Albinia Brodrick: Munster’s Anglo-Irish Republican’
Morrissey, C., 2012, In: Journal of the Cork Archaeological and Historical Society. 116, p. 94-107Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research

King's Contemporary British History
The study of Contemporary British History goes back to the 1960s, and was consolidated with the establishment of the Institute of Contemporary British History in 1985 by (Sir) Anthony Seldon and (Lord) Peter Hennessy. The Institute moved to King’s College London in 2010, and the new King’s Contemporary British History builds on this by creating a larger and more diverse enterprise, building on that distinguished tradition.
Events

Professional Development for Executives: How to Create a Powerful Personal Brand
Discover how to create a powerful personal brand at our virtual taster event.
Please note: this event has passed.