Life and works of William Bulfin to be explored in local talk

A talk on the life of an Offaly man, was one of the most significant figures in Irish political life in the early 20th century, will take place in Tullamore this month.

The Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society will host the talk ‘William Bulfin: his Life and Works’ by Timothy Moloney on Monday, September 28, at 7.30pm at Offaly History Centre, Bury Quay, Tullamore.

Timothy Moloney describes the life of William Bulfin using his works as a frame in which to set the biographical details. Drawing on his as yet unpublished biography, Timothy surveys his main works, Tales of the Pampas and Rambles in Eirinn, but he also pays attention to his lesser-known creations ̶ ‘Sketches of Buenos Aires’ and a novel A Man of the Pampas, as well as a series of articles he wrote on a trip to the Andes in 1905. He accompanies the lecture with interesting slides showing samples from Bulfin’s oeuvre and pictures from his time and of his family members.

Bulfin is viewed as an important figure in Irish Ireland of the early 1900s. His premature death in 1910 robbed Offaly and Ireland of a leader in cultural nationalism who might well have been a senator and perhaps a candidate for the presidency. The family have lived in Offaly since at least the 1800s if not much earlier. Bulfin was buried in Eglish churchyard.