Various attempts have been made over the years to establish a regular “who's who” publication for Northern Ireland. Inglewood Books have made the most sustained effort and are to be congratulated on reaching the fourth edition. It “contains prominent people in the life of Northern Ireland including figures of influence in politics, public service, the law, the churches, education, business and finance, the arts and media, voluntary and professional associations”.
An attempt is made to list organisations themselves in the first 14 pages, which form an introductory section rather grandly described as “The Directory”. Various bodies are listed under different subject headings. The selection can best be described as eccentric. To take one example, there are four entries on education. One is for the statutory body regulating curricula and examinations. The next is for a pressure group devoted to integrated education. The third is for one of the teachers' unions (there are at least four) and the final one is for the theological college of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. None of the local universities or education authorities is included. The section on government is similarly sparse. It contains the addresses of one district council (there are 26!), the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Northern Ireland Ombudsman. None of the central government departments are listed. This part of the book seems rather pointless, especially as there are other good reference sources for this sort of information.
The actual “who's who”’ is a great improvement. A serious attempt has been made to cover everyone in all the fields listed above. It is strong in the law, academic life and, an area not singled out above, medicine. Coverage of medicine and health care is particularly good. A strong effort has clearly also been made to contact clergy of different denominations. Every primary and secondary school principal also seems to have been contacted. Officials in local government are also well represented. The editors have also been punctilious in updating older entries.
However, a word of caution is necessary. A publisher of a “who's who” is always at the mercy of the people from whom entries are requested. Forms asking for information can be sent out, but people cannot be compelled to return them or to supply uniform entries. Who's Who in Northern Ireland is no exception. The entries are reasonably consistent, as much as in most similar publications, but inevitably there are loquacious people with very long entries and taciturn people who say as little as possible. Clearly, a good many people have not responded. There are several possible reasons for this. Years of disturbance have left many people in Northern Ireland with an instinctive reluctance to divulge personal information unnecessarily. Some people may be afraid of looking pretentious if they submit entries. Perhaps people are uncomfortable about the possible uses of something like a “who's who”. Northern Ireland is a fairly small and intimate community and some people may feel uncomfortable saying too much about themselves in a publication for which the market will inevitably be largely local.
Whatever the reason may be, the result is a certain patchiness. Some Catholic bishops are there. Others are not. The Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh is included, as is one of the diocesan bishops. Three others, more recently appointed, are not there, although their predecessors, now retired, are. I can find one permanent secretary of a Northern Ireland Civil Service department. Others are missing, as is the head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service. In academic and educational fields there were people I expected to find, and did not. One possible explanation for some of these omissions is that is that the editors may simply have missed some appointments made since the last edition.
One area where recent events have definitely been accounted for is politics. The Northern Ireland Assembly members elected in November 2003 all receive entries. To their great credit, the editors have covered prominent local government politicians and certain other political figures not elected to the Assembly. Librarians will find this feature useful. However, there is one unfortunate part of the political coverage. Members of the previous Assembly who were not re‐elected in November 2003 still have their addresses listed as “Parliament Buildings, Stormont” as though they were still members with, in some cases, old office telephone numbers and e‐mail addresses. This is potentially very misleading.
Who's Who in Northern Ireland fills a gap in the market and, in spite of its patchiness, will be a useful addition to the stock of reference libraries in Northern Ireland itself. Large reference libraries elsewhere will also find it useful. It has an incidental value. It does provide an interesting, if inevitably partial, view of society in Northern Ireland. For someone who lives in that society it is a fascinating read! One comes away with questions like: “Why is one prominent grammar school headmaster out while his anesthetist brother is in?”. In my own case I have to reflect that it really is too late to congratulate a friend from university days to whom I still send a Christmas card on the senior post he gained in 2001! Perhaps reflections like these may strengthen the case of the people who did not return their entry forms!
