Top Ulster historian Jonathan Bardon dies with Covid-19 — but he also had other serious illness

Dr Bardon was known above all for his seminal 1992 work, ‘A History of Ulster’.

The lecturer, who was born in Dublin, had been infected with Covid-19 but also had serious underlying health conditions including lung cancer.

Leading the tributes to him this evening was the Rev Chris Hudson, of All Souls Non Subscribing Presbyterian Church in south Belfast, where Dr Bardon worshipped.

He said: “He was a real find, he was the sort of person you want in your church because he brought so much into it, he was regarded as one of Northern Ireland’s most noted historians, he was a story teller, and if we had an event he could entertain at it.”

Rev Hudson said that Dr Bardon was from Booterstown, south of Dublin, near where Dr Hudson also grew up, although they only met much later.

After graduating from Trinity College Dublin, Dr Bardon moved to Belfast in the 1960s to teach at Orangefield secondary school, in the east of the city. He later taught at the College of Business Studies and lectured at Queen’s University.

“He was like a bright light shining in the church. That light has gone out,” said Dr Hudson.

Dr Bardon wrote 18 books, including ‘The Plantation of Ulster’ in 2011 about the settlements of the early 1600s.

He hoped “ordinary teachers will use the book to help explain [the Plantation]”.

Dr Bardon said he thought the topic had not been researched widely because many people deem the history of that population movement “complicated and difficult to understand”.

Rev Hudson said: “He will be remembered by many of us for his wonderful repartee, his entertaining stories and readings and his wonderfully educational and entertaining bus tours, which many of us have thoroughly enjoyed.”

Dr Bardon is survived by his second wife Carol, two children and four step children.