College Historical Society (Trinity College, Dublin)

The College Historical Society (commonly known as The Hist.) was founded in Trinity College in 1770 and traces its creation to the philosopher Edmund Burke. It is situated in the Graduates' Memorial Building of Trinity College, Dublin, which it rents from University Philosophical Society. Its members included many Irish men and women of note, from the republican revolutionary Theobald Wolfe Tone, to the great Conservative and Unionist man of state Edward Carson and, in more recent times, Tánaiste Mary Harney.

Notable Auditors

• Theobald Wolfe Tone, 1785-86, Leader of the Society of the United Irishmen
• Echlin Molyneaux, 1821-27
• Isaac Butt, 1832-33, Leader of the Nationalist Party 1874-1880
• Joseph Sheridan LeFanu, 1838-39
• Edward Gibson, 1858-59, Later Lord Ashbourne, Lord Chancellor of Ireland
• Bram Stoker, 1872-73, author of Dracula
• James Kilfedder, 1950-51, Leader of the Ulster Popular Unionist Party 1980-1995
• Mary Harney, 1976-77, Leader of the Progressive Democrats 1993-