Derry Falvey:DERRY FALVEY, who has died aged 66, was a teacher and historian whose eclectic interests marked him out from his contemporaries. To those who knew him, he personified the best, if contradictory, elements in the Ireland of the last 60 years.
Brought up in relatively humble circumstances in Midleton in East Cork, he absorbed several influences. Midleton, a landlord town established by the Brodricks early in the 18th century, achieved wider renown through its massive distillery. If the Ascendancy had dwindled to a faint memory by the time Derry was born, an assertive Catholic church became the new hub.
Midleton, not yet a dormitory for Cork, had its independent traditions. The hinterland shaded quickly into rough uplands and the fertile Inchiquin peninsula, marching with the sea.
Derry absorbed and then probed this complex inheritance. An early curiosity and ambition enabled him to couple sporting prowess with the grind of examinations, qualifying as a school teacher in 1963.
So a pattern for his life was set. In his heyday a considerable athlete, latterly he became a passionate spectator, passing his enthusiasm and expertise on to his children, and ultimately writing the history of the Cloyne Hurling and Football Club.
He returned to teach in Cork city, in the demanding North Monastery, communicating to pupils the excitements and beauties of the Irish language.
Alongside the studies necessary for his teaching degree, he became fascinated by theology and philosophy. This in time led him into investigations of the celebrated philosopher George Berkeley, who had once been bishop of Cloyne, and it was in Cloyne that Derry made his home with his wife, Anne.
Cloyne even into the mid-1980s remained recognisably the same small town where, in a relatively modest palace, Berkeley had lived. Derry came to know the terrain and the inhabitants, present and past, making him a memorable guide on any trip around the back-roads and ruins of the district.
Focus and discipline were given to his interests by undertaking an MA in history at UCC. His subject was the unlikely one of the Church of Ireland episcopate in the 18th century: a topic to which he brought both a healthy anti-clericalism (he had been a maladroit altar-boy) and sensitivity to human foibles and follies.
More congenial, and pioneering in its methods and findings, was the doctorate that he completed in early retirement. For this he turned to Sir John Arnott, a Presbyterian originally from Scotland. Arnott, starting with a draper’s shop in Cork’s Patrick Street, established the department stores which still survive and thrive. It is hoped that this important investigation will be published posthumously.
A man of formidable energy, in tandem with raising his family he taught in Cork, sang with local choirs, built and rebuilt houses, and after school and before returning home worked methodically through the columns of local newspapers in the Cork county library. This resulted in a wonderful compendium of local happenings in The Chronicles of Midleton(1998).
With characteristic determination, he persuaded the present Lord Midleton, successor of the Brodrick landlords of the town, to launch the volume. Never before had the viscount visited the town which bears his name.
Having himself seized the opportunities offered by education, he watched with quiet pride as his children prospered in medicine, the law, veterinary science, restaurants and sports.
Jeremiah (Derry) Falvey: born May 17th, 1944; died August 16th, 2010