| Jonathan Bardon | |
| Honorific Suffix: | OBE |
| Birth Date: | 1941 |
| Birth Place: | Dublin, Ireland |
| Death Date: | 21 April 2020 (aged 78) |
| Death Place: | Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Occupation: | Historian, educator |
| Alma Mater: | The Queen's University of Belfast |
| Genres: | --> |
| Subjects: | --> |
| Notable Works: | A History of Ulster |
| Spouses: | --> |
| Partners: | --> |
Jonathan Eric Bardon (born in Dublin, 1941 - died in Belfast, 21 April 2020), was an Irish historian and author.
Bardon was born in Dublin in 1941 and graduated from Trinity College, Dublin (TCD), in 1963.[1] Shortly thereafter, in 1964, he moved to Belfast to begin his teaching career at Orangefield Boys Secondary School.[2] While in Belfast, he enrolled at Queens University, Belfast, where he received a Diploma in Education, also in 1964. Living in Northern Ireland as a young man during the beginning of the Troubles, he credits two things that piqued his fascination with it, while remaining nonpolitical: his early teaching experiences educating young boys, both Catholic and Protestant, in Belfast; and a five feature commission he received from the now-defunct Sunday Times to write about and research the Battle of the Somme.[3]
Bardon is best known for his critically acclaimed text, A History of Ulster. The book examines, in detail, the cultural, social, economic, and political arenas of the province, beginning with the early settlements and progressing linearly to present-day Ulster.
He has also written numerous radio and television programmes on the subject of Northern Ireland. Most recently he was commissioned by BBC Radio to create a two hundred and forty-episode series entitled A Short History of Ireland. The final episode aired on 18 March 2007.[4]
In 2002, Bardon was appointed an OBE for "services to community life".[5]
Bardon died in Belfast on 21 April 2020, at the age of 78, having contracted COVID-19. He already had underlying health issues, including lung cancer.[6]