David P. B. Fitzpatrick
historian
David Patrick Brian Fitzpatrick (25 May 1948 – 20 February 2019) was an Irish historian best known for his work on Irish independence and emigration. He was professor of Modern History at Trinity College Dublin and a member of the Royal Irish Academy.
Roy Foster referred to him as “the most original and influential Irish historian of his generation” and Diarmuid Ferriter considers him "one of the most brilliant historians of his generation." Cormac O Grada has stated he "will be remembered for his deep, sometimes contrarian, insights and for his takes on a bewilderingly wide range of themes."
Early life
Fitzpatrick was born in Melbourne, Australia to Brian Charles Fitzpatrick, an author and journalist, and mother Dorothy Mary (née Davies), a historian at the Monash University. His elder sister Sheila Fitzpatrick is a historian of modern Russia. At birth, Fitzpatrick was given three names as their parents could not decide on either David, Brian or Patrick. To the family he was initially known as Pat, but he later took to using his first name.
His parents instilled in their children a strong sense of academic achievement. Two months before his Matriculation examinations, his father died during a research trip to Sydney. His parents were not separated as claimed elsewhere. Fitzpatrick nevertheless topped the State of Victoria in Modern History, adding an Exhibition to his other awards and scholarships.
“David P. B. Fitzpatrick” enters the record as historian. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what David, Fitzpatrick and historian can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q62559802. VIAF identifies the subject as 194760516. The Library of Congress control number is n78009704. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1948 and 2019.
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This entry incorporates text from “David P. B. Fitzpatrick” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.