Michelle McGoff-McCann, PhD. – IRISH ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL HISTORIANS

Michelle McGoff-McCann, PhD.

2019

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About me

Email	michelle.mcgoffmccann@gmail.com
Twitter link	https://twitter.com/mcgoffmccann
Facebook link	https://www.facebook.com/michelle.mcgoffmccann
Bio	I am a global marketing professional currently working as an independent marketing consultant with over two decades of experience. I have lectured and presented on various topics including nineteenth century Irish History, marketing, and business, editing and publishing, creative writing, public speaking, confidence building and career guidance. My Linkedin Profile I have been researching, writing, and speaking on County Monaghan coroner, William Charles Waddell and his casebooks for twenty-three years. Author of Melancholy madness: A coroner’s casebook (Mercier Press, 2003) and The Irish Coroner: Death, Murder and Politics in Co. Monaghan (1846-78) (Four Courts Press, 2023) I expanded my research to complete my PhD at Queen’s University Belfast in 2019. My interests include nineteenth-century Irish history with special focus on the Famine, using coroners’ reports to reveal unique aspects of social and political history. Currently, I have several works pending publication and look forward to their release.
Areas of expertise	The administrative, social and political history of the coroner in nineteenth century Ireland; investigation of death and murder; disease, criminology and local administrative politics; County Monaghan social and political history; the Bath Estate in County Monaghan; Artist, inventor, and writer, John Bedell Stanford MacIlwaine (1858-1945).
Keywords	{nineteenth century}; {coroner}; {administrative history}; {presbyterian history}; {death investigation}; {murder}; {juries}; {social history}; {Famine}; {County Monaghan}; {Bath Estate}; {Farney}; J.B.S. MacIlwaine; John Bedell Stanford MacIlwaine {artist} {inventor}

Member Details

Nickname	Michelle McGoff-McCann, PhD.
Membership Type	Professional Historian

Experience

Education	Queen’s University Belfast, PhD in History (2019) St. Mary’s University, Twickenham MA in Irish Studies (2014) Binghamton University, New York, BA in English and Rhetoric (1994) State University of New York Broome, A.B.A. in Business Administration and Marketing (1992)
Employment	My LinkedIn Profile and Experience
Consultancy work	‘Barbarous’ Murders: Gender, Violence & Mortality (1846-52) The Irish Famine Lecture Series Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council Watch here The Importance of the Coroner During the Great Irish Famine The Irish Famine Lecture Series Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council Watch here Death Investigation during the Great Irish Famine: The coroner and the inquest Institute for Irish Studies: Queen’s University Belfast Watch here The Irish Coroner: Death, Murder and Politics in Co. Monaghan, 1846-78 The History Show with Myles Dungan (NewsTalk) Listen here
Outreach activities	Honoring Irish Women During St. Patrick’s Day LIVENOW on FOX [FOX NEWS] Watch here
Committees & Associations	The Society for the Study of Nineteenth Century Irish History The Irish Legal History Society British Association for Irish Studies The Royal Society for Arts, Manufacture and Commerce Irish Association of Professional Historians The Economic and Social History Society of Ireland Irish History at Queen’s University Belfast EFACIS: European Federation of Associations and Centres of Irish Studies The Institute for Historical Research, London The Clogher Historical Society
Other activities	Pat Kenny: NewsTalk (September 2023) Listen here Talking History with Patrick Geoghegan: July Books Special (July 2023) Listen here SSNCI: New Perspectives on Conflict and Ireland in the Nineteenth Century (June 2022) Conference Paper: ‘The Utility of the Coroner during the Great Famine: Conflicts of Interest’ PRONI: Prisons, Asylums, Workhouses: Institutions in Ireland Conference (June 2019) Conference Paper: ‘Swarming with Vermin: Investigating and managing inmate death at the gaol (1846-52) Watch here St. Mary’s Irish History Conference (November 2014) Conference Paper: The Investigation into Death: The Coroner’s Office in Nineteenth Century Ireland

Publications

Books

The Irish Coroner (1846-78): Death, Murder and Politics in Co. Monaghan (1846-78) [Four Courts Press, July 2023]

A Coroner’s Casebooks (1846-77): The Inquests of William Charles Waddell (Vols. 1-3) [Irish Manuscripts Commission, est. 2025]

Melancholy Madness: A Coroner’s Casebook (Mercier Press, December 2003)

Book Chapters

Property, privilege and politics: A history of the coroner in pre-Famine Ireland (1801 to 1846), Figures of Authority in Nineteenth Century Ireland, Society for the Study of Nineteenth Century Irish History series (Liverpool University Press, 2020). This chapter examines the function, status and qualifications required for men serving in the role of coroner in Ireland in the first half of the nineteenth century. It considers the legislation imposed by the administration and this contested form of authority.

Conflicts of Interest: The utility of the coroner during the Great Famine (1845-52) New Perspectives on Conflict and Ireland in the Nineteenth Century, Society for the Study of Nineteenth Century Irish History series (Liverpool University Press, 2024 [pending]). This chapter examines the importance of the role of the coroner and the official investigation of death during the Great Famine. Inquest verdicts revealed institutional corruption, government mismanagement and neglect of marginalised groups, and put the coroner at odds with the establishment of which he was a member. The work of coroners placed them at the centre of social and political disputes and the inquest was a site of tension during the famine.

‘Swarming with vermin’: Managing and investigating pauper death at the gaol (1847-9) Prisons, Asylums, Workhouses: Institutions in Ireland (Publication pending). This chapter examines the work of the coroner and provides insight into the conditions in gaols during the Great Famine. Using the inquests of Monaghan coroner, William Charles Waddell, as a case study, a correlation between the verdicts of death and the quality of the management of the gaol can be drawn. A new history emerges through the examination of inquests that cover the destitute and notorious characters who were resident in the gaol and whose rare stories give a new voice to the inmates.

Electronic Publications

Article: “Death from Want”: What a coroner’s casebook tells us about Famine deaths
RTÉ: The Atlas of the Great Famine
Read here

Article: Coroners exposed corruption, social and moral failures in nineteenth century Ireland
The Journal.ie
Read here

IRISH ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL HISTORIANS

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Contact: info@irishhistorians.ie