James Seery:JAMES SEERY (Séamas Ó Saothraí), who has died aged 81, was an archivist, historian and journalist.
His books include a study of the women associated with the 1798 Rebellion, Mná Calma '98 (1966) and a biography of the Irish-speaking Presbyterian minister and scholar William Neilson, An ministir Gaelach Uilliam Mac Neill (1774-1821) agus an oidhreacht a d'fhág sé againn (1992).
He was particularly interested in the history of late 18th-century Ulster and co-authored a pamphlet on Presbyterians and 1798 with ATQ Stewart and a former Presbyterian moderator Prof Finlay Holmes.
A noted collector and singer, in the late 1960s and early 1970s with Davy Hammond, he adjudicated at an annual ballad competition in Northern Ireland, in the process finding many songs to add to his repertoire.
Born in Cloonagh, Ballinagore, Co Westmeath in 1927, he was the son of John Seery and his wife Esther (née Kenny).
He attended the local national school and completed his education at St Mary's CBS in Mullingar. His mother and grandmother introduced him to the Irish language.
He worked in a hardware store in Dublin before serving in the Defence Forces during The Emergency. After the war Seery was employed by the Glún na Buaidhe weekly Inniu.
Joining the Civil Service, he worked as a librarian at the Department of Education. He transferred to the department's publishing division An Gúm as a proof-reader, and assisted in the completion of Tomás de Bhaldraithe's English-Irish Dictionary. He then moved to the National Gallery of Ireland where he was registrar under Thomas McGreevy.
In the early 1960s he took up journalism, working for Radio Telefís Éireann. He was based in Connemara while Raidió na Gaeltachta was being set up in 1972.
Seery joined the Royal Irish Academy to work as archivist on the compilation of Foclóir na Nua-Ghaeilge (Historical Dictionary of Modern Irish), a major undertaking with the aim of providing a historical Irish dictionary covering the period from 1600 to the present day.
He took early retirement in 1982, but continued to work on various projects for the academy, including his translation into Irish of Dr Michael Ryan's Treasures of Ireland under the title Seoda na hÉireann (1985).
A Fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, he was archivist to the Irish Academy of Letters.
Raised a Catholic, in later life he decided to make his spiritual home among the Presbyterians he had studied for many years.
At his funeral service Rev David Montgomery described him as "a real man of letters and a scholar whose erudition didn't belong to an ivory tower but among the ordinary people among whom he lived and about whom he wrote".
Rev Montgomery said he was equally comfortable with the Catholic residents of the Gaeltacht as he was with those who had their roots in the Ulster-Scots plantation.
A vice-president of the Presby-terian Historical Society, he also launched and edited Link-up, a magazine for the congregations of the Dublin-Munster Presbytery. In addition he wrote Greystones Presbyterian Church 1887-1987 and the Kilpedder Witness from 1851, which at his request was published without attribution.
Seery lived with his family in Greystones, Co Wicklow, and took a deep interest in the history of the locality. He was a life president of the Friends of Historic Rathdown and was associated with the annual La Touche Legacy seminars.
Courteous and well-liked, he is remembered as a charming companion, magnificent mimic and master of all Irish dialects.
Published extensively in various Irish periodicals, he had a lifelong interest in the idiom of his native Westmeath and his book on the subject awaits publication.
He is survived by his wife Minella, daughters Ita, Dympna and Gráinne and sons Hugh, Conall and Garret.
...
James Seery (Séamas Ó Saothraí): born January 13th, 1927; died November 12th, 2008