Aubrey Gwynn, SJ

Aubrey Gwynn, SJ I Clongowes 1903-1908

Aubrey Gwynn, SJ (1892-1983), historian, was a native of Dublin, who attended Clongowes in 1903-08. The son of Stephen Gwynn, nationalist MP and writer, he was brought up a Catholic by his convert mother. He graduated from UCD in 1912 with first-class honours in classics and became a Jesuit novice the same year. After study at Louvain and in the Netherlands, and a period teaching at Clongowes, he was ordained in 1924. In 1927 he began his academic career as a history lecturer in UCD and was the college’s first professor of medieval history in 1949-63, also serving as dean of the arts faculty. In 1958-61 he was president of the Royal Irish Academy. He was an important scholar who wrote or edited contributions on ancient, medieval and modern history. He published over a hundred journal articles, many reviews and several books, of which the best known and most widely consulted is the classic survey (in collaboration with Neville Hadcock) Medieval religious houses: Ireland (1970). A frail and modest man, he was the recipient of many international awards, but said that the letters SJ were the only qualifications he required. He was a keen supporter of St Joseph’s Young Priests’ Society, editing for more than twenty years their quarterly magazine St Joseph’s Sheaf. His brother, Denis Gwynn (1893-1971), attended Clongowes in 1903-08. A journalist and historian, Denis Gwynn was a member of the Royal Irish Academy and held a research chair in modern Irish history at UCC, where he was also general editor for Cork University Press.