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INTRODUCTION
IDENTITY STATEMENT Reference: IE 627/U271
Title:
Liam de Róiste Papers
Level of
description: fonds
Date:
(1893) 1900-1959 (1969)
Extent:
fonds
CONTEXT Creator De Róiste, Liam (T.D) b1882 - d1959
Biographical/Administrative History De Róiste, Liam (William Roche) (b1882–d1959), politician, writer, and Irish-language activist, was born 15 June 1882 in Fountainstown, Tracton parish, South Co. Cork, son of Edward Roche and Eliza Ahern, both schoolteachers. He attended the local national school and, although little Irish was spoken in his area, he learned to speak the language with the help of the few remaining Irish-speakers, and to read it with the aid of books lent to him by Tomás Mac Eoin, a young schoolmaster in the parish. In 1899 he took a position in a drapery shop in Cork before moving briefly to a clerical role in a loan office. After being temporarily unemployed he took a clerical and teaching position at Skerry's College, a grind school. In 1910 he was given a job as a commerce teacher by Co. Cork Vocational Education Committee. By then he had become a leading figure in Irish cultural and economic movements in Cork. He joined the Gaelic League in 1899, and by 1902 was its secretary in Cork, before joining its general executive committee. In 1904 he helped found Coláiste na Mumhan, the Irish- language training college in Ballingeary, and served as its secretary until 1936. Having joined the Young Ireland Society in Cork (1899), he left with a number of others to found the Cork Celtic Literary Society (1901) and also helped found the Cork Dramatic Society (1904). From August 1906 to July 1907 he published a magazine, The Shield. His love of drama and literature saw him set up Shandon Publishing Company, which published his pamphlet A message to the man (1908). He also wrote such plays as ‘The road to hell’ (1908), a warning
Liam de Róiste Descriptive List. © Cork City and County Archives Service 2026
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