MICHAEL CONNOLLY describes how he explored the life and times of Bother Walfrid and his work with impoverished communities in Glasgow and London in the latter half of the nineteenth century.

My research project on Brother Walfrid began in September 2017 with the aim of producing, for the first time, a complete, birth-to-grave historical biography of the life of the man most commonly recognised as the founder of Celtic Football Club. Walfrid was one of the most significant Irish refugees who fled to Scotland in the wake of An Gorta Mor, the Great Hunger, and he has been widely heralded as the leading figure in the distinctive charitable origins of the world-renowned sporting organisation in 1887. As a Marist Brother, he made a major contribution to the city of Glasgow through education and charitable work within the emerging Irish Catholic community.

I wanted to better understand Walfrid’s wider life and enduring legacy, as well as his significance in terms of the religious, social and cultural identities of the multi- generational Irish Catholic diaspora in Scotland and further afield.

Dr Michael Connolly recently completed a PhD at the University of Stirling, producing the first academic historical biography of Brother Walfrid. A book based on this research will be published by Argyll Publishing in early November, 2022.