Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Dr Eamonn O'Keeffe awarded two prizes for work on military music and society.
News
Congratulations to Eamonn O'Keeffe for the two awards he has just gained. Dr O'Keeffe is a National Army Museum Junior Research Fellow at Queens' College. He was recently awarded the 2023 André Corvisier Prize by the International Commission of Military History (ICMH). The Corvisier Prize, which comes with 3000 euros of prize money, is awarded for the best PhD thesis in military history completed at any university in the past calendar year. He was presented with the award by the ICMH during the 48th ICMH Congress in Istanbul in September.
The prize-winning PhD dissertation is entitled 'Musical Warriors: British Military Music and Musicians during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars'. It was described by the ICMH judging panel as 'a fine example of dissertation on an original topic little explored by previous scholars. Dr O’Keeffe rightly interprets martial music-making as a core military activity and an integral part of wider musical culture, and maintains that attention to music reveals the depth and reciprocity of interactions between the military and society. For example, effective provision of instrumental education not only encouraged interest in musical soldiering but enabled veterans to find work as professional musicians after discharge.'
He also won the Pollard Prize, which is awarded for the best presentation by a postgraduate student or recent PhD graduate at an Institute for Historical Research (IHR) seminar. The paper was delivered to the British History in the Long 18th Century seminar in January. Entitled ‘Military Music and Society during the French Wars, 1793–1815’, it will appear shortly in the IHR’s journal, Historical Research.