Caption: Desmond Guinness Scholarship adjudicator, Dr Anna Moran presenting the Desmond Guinness Scholarship 2024 to Ben Casey at the Irish Georgian Society’s Christmas party in St. Patrick's Deanery.

Ben Casey is a second year PhD candidate at Maynooth University’s Department of History, where he is writing his thesis, ‘Picturing the professions: representations of the Irish professional classes, 1760-1830’ which examines how members of the professions were portrayed in visual sources and text. By examining how members of the professional class were portrayed - be it in portraiture, graphic satire or text, Ben’s research endeavours to reconstructs contemporary perceptions and attitudes towards this significant strata of Irish society.

Ben will use his Desmond Guinness Scholarship to support a five-day research trip to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) in Belfast in early spring 2025 and a five-day research trip to The National Archives, Kew, London in spring 2025.

In PRONI, Ben wishes to consult a collection of early-nineteenth century Irish and English satirical prints. In particular the Normanton Papers which include Agar’s correspondence with family and colleagues, some of which related to portraits commissioned by artists including George Romney (1734-1802) and George Dance (1741-1825). Additionally, the papers of John Foster, Baron Oriel and later Chancellor of the Exchequer (1740-1828) are also kept at PRONI. Foster’s correspondence with artists like Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) and William Beechy (1753-1839) is vital documentary evidence which Ben considers will provide valuable insights into the consumption patterns of notable Irish professionals at the time.

In Kew Ben wishes to consult the Chief Secretaryship, Ireland papers of Charles Abbot (1757–1829). This collection contains correspondence relating to Abbot’s patronage of John Comerford (1770-1832). Ben also wishes to examine the wills of specific Irish physicians like John Rutty, James Macartney and William Gray. Accessing these wills would give Ben an understanding of the material possessions within their respective estates. Likewise, by gaining access to the papers of the Dublin curate Rev Dr John Robert Scott, he would access his catalogues of books, engravings and paintings.

DESMOND GUINNESS SCHOLARSHIP RUNNER UP

Claire Ó Nualláin, who is currently studying for a PhD in History of Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art, was the runner up of the Desmond Guinness Scholarship 2024. Claire’s PhD project considers the visual culture of antiquarianism, its influence on the fine arts, and its relationship with Protestant identity in late Eighteenth Century Ireland.

The DG Scholarship Assessors awarded Claire a contribution towards her research trip to Dublin where she intends to consult manuscript material at the National Library of Ireland and the Royal Irish Academy, namely the correspondence and notes of Gabriel Beranger, Edward Ledwich, Charles Vallancey and Charles O’Conor relating to Irish antiquities, 1779-92).

THANKS TO OUR DESMOND GUINNESS SCHOLARSHIP ASSESSORS

The Society welcomes the decision of the Desmond Guiness Scholarship adjudicators (Christine Casey, Kathleen James Chakraborty, Alison FitzGerald, David Fleming, Conor Lucey, Anna Moran and Primrose Wilson) and wishes to thank them for lending their expertise, which ensures that the scholarship continues to be held in high academic regard.

William McCleary, A view of the Four Courts, c.1809-1814. Reproduced courtesy of the British Museum.

Mary Anne Hunter, Portrait of George Cleghorn, c.1768. Reproduced courtesy of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland