Staff profile

I am currently an Honorary Fellow in the Department of Theology and Religion. Prior to this, I worked as the FMDM Fellow in the History of Catholicism at the Centre for Catholic Studies between 2020 and 2024. Between 20215 and 2020, I worked as a historical researcher with the Mother and Baby Home Commission of Investigation in Ireland and previously as an occasional lecturer and tutor at University College Dublin and Dublin City University.

To date, my own research interests have focused upon the dynamics of agrarian radicalism, class relations in the rural countryside, the land question, local, religious and rural history in Britain and Ireland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and I have published extensively on these themes.

While FMDM Fellow in the History of Catholicism, I was researching and writing the history of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood through the prism of the Franciscan tradition and global Catholicism. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, it explores the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood and its nineteenth century antecedents through the various prisms of Catholic internationalism, social movements, philanthropy, medical and sacred spaces and how their evolution and change impacted upon individual and community lives while remaining faithful to its Franciscan missionary approach. It also assesses its history within the wider context of local, national and transnational expressions of Catholicism; particularly during periods of significant changes and challenges for the Roman Catholic Church. This research includes material from nearly forty archives in ten different countries. This forthcoming book is due out towards the end of 2025, with an additional article 'The Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood and the provision of healthcare in provincial Ireland, 1942-1970' due to be published in the Historical Journal in 2024.

I remain fascinated with the rural countryside during the long nineteenth century, resulting in me currently writing a short book on a landed estate in the northwest of county Donegal, Ireland between the eighteenth and the twentieth centuries.  It is a case study of how national and international events had an impact on the social, political and economic life of a medium-sized estate in a very isolated part of Ireland. In addition, I am researching articles on the social services movement and the Catholic Church in twentieth century Ireland and a Catholic emigrant employment agency for Irish people in London during the long 1960s.

I recently returned to living in Ireland, enjoying all the wonderful island has to offer. 

Authored book

• Casey, B. (2018). Class and Community in Provincial Ireland, 1851–1914. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71120-1

Book review

• Casey, B. (2011). Michael Davitt: From the Gaelic American. Irish Economic and Social History, 38, 138-140
• Casey, B. (2011). Lacking the common touch. Irish Literary Supplement,
• Casey, B. (2010). Gypsum Mining and the Shirley Estate in South Monaghan, 1800–1936, Maynooth Studies in Local History 86. Irish Economic and Social History, 37, 181-184
• Casey, B. (2009). The Murder of Major Mahon, Strokestown, County Roscommon, 1847. Irish Economic and Social History, 159-161
• Casey, B. (2009). R.B. MacCarthy, The Diocese of Lismore, 1801-1869. Irish Economic and Social History, 143-144

Chapter in book

• Casey, B. (2022). ‘Catholicism, deference and devotion in early twentieth century Ireland: Some reflections’. In F. Devine, & F. M. Bhloscaidh (Eds.), Bread not profits: provincial working class politics during the Irish revolution (257-273). Umiskin Press
• Casey, B. (2020). The impact of agrarian radicalism on land reform in Scotland and Ireland, 1879–1903. In M. Coombe, J. Glass, & A. Tindey (Eds.), Land reform in Scotland: History, law and policy (56-73). Edinburgh University Press
• Casey, B. (2018). Aspects of life in Ireland, 1900–1918. In Ballinasloe and district remembers 1914-1918 (368-376). KPW
• Casey, B. (2018). The role of the Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland clergy in the distribution of relief during the 1822 Famine in County Roscommon. In R. Farrell, K. O’Conor, & M. Potter (Eds.), Roscommon: History and Society (349-365). Geography Publications
• Casey, B. (2016). John Sweetman and the Irish land question, 1876–82. In B. Casey (Ed.), Lords, land and labourers: the Big Houses and landed estates of Royal Meath (171-186). The History Press
• Casey, B. (2015). Ada English and Cumman na mBan. In Galway and Cumman na mBan: County Galway dimensions (17-18). Galway County Council
• Casey, B. (2015). The Great Famine, 1845-7. In F. Rynne, & A. Pole (Eds.), La grande famine en Irlande (69-80). Atlande
• Casey, B. (2015). Re-organised Ireland: After the Famine. In F. Rynne, & A. Pole (Eds.), La grande famine en Irlande (81-92). Atlande

Edited book

• Casey, B. (Ed.). (2016). Lords, land and labourers: The Big Houses and landed estates of Royal Meath. Dublin, The History Press
• Casey, B. (Ed.). (2013). Defying the law of the land: Agrarian radicals in Irish History. The History Press

Journal Article

• Casey, B. (online). Michael Davitt’s second tour of the Scottish Highlands, April 1887
• Casey, B. (online). The Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood and the Provision of Healthcare in Provincial Ireland, 1942–1970. Historical Journal, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0018246X24000554
• Casey, B. (2017). The political career of John Sweetman, 1885–1903
• Casey, B. (2016). Newspapers and Newsmakers: The Dublin Nationalist Press in the Mid-Nineteenth Century. By Ann Andrews. Liverpool University Press. 2014. ix + 286pp. £75.00. History, 101(347), 619-621. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-229X.12198
• Casey, B. (2016). Constructing Political Consciousness in the West of Ireland, 1876–79: The Case of the Ballinasloe Tenant Defence Association. New hibernia review, 20(1), 55-76. https://doi.org/10.1353/nhr.2016.0011
• Casey, B. (2016). The decline and fall of the Clancarty estate, east Galway, 1891–1923
• Casey, B. (2015). The Poor Law in Ireland: 1850–1914. Irish Studies Review, 236-238. https://doi.org/10.1080/09670882.2015.1015706
• Casey, B. (2014). Matt Harris and the Irish Land Question, 1876–1882. Rural History, 25(2), 183-201. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0956793314000053
• Casey, B. (2013). Longford History and Society: Interdisciplinary Essays in the History of an Irish County. Irish Economic and Social History, 40, 177-180
• Casey, B. (2013). Agrarian murder and injustice. Irish Literary Supplement, 33(1), 26-28
• Casey, B. (2013). Selected list of writings on Irish social and economic history published in 2012. Irish Economic and Social History, 40(1), 98-113. https://doi.org/10.7227/iesh.40.1.7
• Casey, B. (2012). Selected Writings on Irish Economic and Social History Published in 2011. Irish Economic and Social History, 39(1), https://doi.org/10.7227/IESH.39.1.8
• Casey, B. (2012). Riotous assemblies: Rebels, riots and revolts in Ireland by William Sheehan, Maura Cronin. Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society, 64, 189-190
• Casey, B. (2011). The Ivy Leaf: The Parnells Remembered. Commemorative Essays. Irish Economic and Social History, 38, 157-159
• Casey, B. (2011). Michael Davitt: From the Gaelic American by John Devoy, Carla King, W. J. McCormack; Parnell to Pearse: Some Recollections and Reflections by John Joseph Horgan, John Horgan; Words of the Dead Chief: Being Extracts from the Public Speeches and other Pronouncements of Charles Stewart Parnell from the Beginning to the Close of his Memorable Life by Donal McCartney, Pauric Travers, Jennie Wyse-Power. Irish Economic and Social History, 38, 152-154

Newspaper/Magazine Article

• Casey, B. (2024). The establishment of Portiuncula Hospital, 1942-1947. Ballinasloe

Other (Print)

• Casey, B. (2013). Matt Harris and the Ballinasloe Tenant Defence Association