The Junior Dean R.B. McDowell: Encounters with a Legend by Anne Leonard

Dr RB McDowell is a legend. To graduates of Trinity College, Dublin, he is a symbol of their years at university, the enduring source of endless amusing anecdotes and memories.

Now, for the first time, reminiscences by graduates and friends, recording entertaining encounters with ‘RB’ over a period of some seventy years, appear in book form, enlivened by comments from Dr McDowell himself and illustrated with evocative sketches of College circa 1950 by Bryan de Grineau, archival photographs, many hitherto unseen, and a Derek Hill painting in full colour.

The result is an intriguing portrait of the traditions and the way of life at Ireland’s oldest university during the greater part of the twentieth century and the part played by the charismatic and unique RB McDowell.

RB MCDOWELL is an Emeritus Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. His works include Irish Public Opinion 1750-1800, The Church of Ireland 1869-1969, Ireland in the Age of Imperialism and Revolution 1760-1801, Land and Learning: Two Irish Clubs, Crisis and Decline: The Fate of the Southern Unionists, and Grattan: A Life.

‘This is an thoroughly well written and researched account of an extremely well known character and raconteur… A legend indeed.’ – Customer review

ABOUT THE EDITOR

ANNE LEONARD read French and Spanish at TCD. She was the first woman Chairman of the Modern Languages Society; she was a member of Players, appearing in the Irish premiere of The Maids by Jean Genet, and was also Editor of Review. She is currently Chairman of Operation One World, a charity that provides outdoor education and environmental training for young people. Read more here.