2015 Press Releases
UCC hosts conference on sinking of Lusitania
The UCC School of History will host a major academic conference on the subject of ‘The Lusitania and the war at sea, 1914-8’ on Wednesday 6th May 2015, in UCC’s Boole I lecture theatre.
The conference is being held to mark the centenary of the famous sinking of the ship by a German U-Boat off the Old Head of Kinsale in May 1915, an event that had profound repercussions, locally, nationally and internationally, and was one of the principal factors that led to the eventual intervention of the United States of America in the First World War in 1917.
Topics to be covered by the invited expert speakers during the event include the Royal Navy’s reaction to submarine warfare; the local relief effort; the response in Liverpool (the ship’s home port); the wartime experiences of the Cunard Line, which owned the ship; the personal stories of those who died and those who survived the tragedy; the propaganda dimension to the sinking; the much overlooked French dimension to the sinking; the origins of the ship’s design; and the reaction to the loss in the United States.
The conference is free to all who wish to attend, and there is no need to register in advance.
This event is being organised by Gabriel Doherty of UCC’s School of History in association with the Irish Examiner. Further details can be obtained from Gabriel Doherty at 021 902783, email g.doherty@ucc.ie
The conference:
The Lusitania and the war at sea, 1914-8
Boole I Lecture Theatre, University College Cork
Wednesday 6th May 2015
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LOCATION |
| 9.00am |
Opening remarks Gabriel Doherty, School of History, University College Cork
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| 9.10am |
The Royal Navy’s reaction to submarine warfare Dr Duncan Redford, National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth
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| 9.55am |
The sinking of the Lusitania: the local relief effort Michael Martin, author of RMS Lusitania: it wasn’t and it didn’t
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| 10.40am |
Coffee break
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| 11.00am |
The response in Liverpool Dr Bryce Evans, Department of History, Liverpool Hope University
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| 11.45pm |
Contingency, service, loss and reparation: Cunard's war Dr Steve Cobb, independent scholar
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| 12.30pm |
Lunch break
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| 1.50pm |
The Lusitania: the personal stories Peter Kelly, http://www.lusitania.net/
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| 2.35pm |
The sinking of the Lusitania: art and the propaganda war Ann Murray, Department of Art History, University College Cork
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| 3.20pm |
Coffee break
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| 3.35pm |
Warship or passenger ship? The origins of the Lusitania revisited Matthew Seligmann, Department of Politics, History and Law, Brunel University
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| 4.20pm |
The sinking of the Lusitania: the French dimension Professor Grace Neville, School of Languages, University College Cork
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| 5.05pm |
Break
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| 5.15pm |
The American response to the sinking of the Lusitania Dr Michael Cosgrave, School of History, University College Cork
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| 6.00pm |
Closing remarks Professor David Ryan, School of History, University College Cork |
Conference organised by the School of History University College Cork, with assistance from the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, and the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences, University College Cork
For further information please telephone 021-4902783, email g.doherty@ucc.ie. Please address any correspondence to: ‘Lusitania conference’, School of History, University College Cork. Conference web site http://www.ucc.ie/en/history/conferences/
Organiser: Gabriel Doherty, School of History, University College Cork.