before 1916. His research, long-standing personal interest in the military, and his curatorial experience, helped form an expert knowledge of historical Irish warfare. This led to his role in co-founding The Military History Society of Ireland in 1949 whose journal The Irish Sword he edited (1949–1959). Hayes-McCoy described the vagaries of setting up such a body, its reception, and the historiographical considerations attendant on it, in a paper published posthumously in The Irish Sword. On 19 August 1941 Hayes-McCoy had married Mary Margaret "May" O'Connor (daughter of C.J. and M.B. O'Connor, New Ross/Enniscorthy). They had three daughters and two sons (Mary, Ann, Ian, Robert, Felicity). The family home was in Dublin. Earning high reputation by continued research and by publishing led to Hayes-McCoy's receipt of the D.Litt. degree from the National University, and to his membership in the Royal Irish Academy (1950). In his professional career, he published prolifically (this is apart from the broad spectrum of press publications) – a comprehensive list was made by Harman Murtagh. The works that were judged most influential, were his Scots mercenary forces in Ireland 1565–1603 (1937) ("a pioneer study in Scots-Irish relations"), the papers "The early history of guns in Ireland" (1938–1939), "Strategy and tactics in Irish warfare, 1593–1601" (1941), "The army of Ulster, 1593–1601" (1951), the controversial "Gaelic society in Ireland in the late sixteenth century" (1963), and the monographs Irish battles (London 1969), and A history of Irish flags from earliest times (Dublin 1979). A member of the Irish Manuscripts Commission, his most notable contribution was the publication Ulster and other Irish maps, c.1600 (Dublin 1964). In 1946, he was appointed to a committee of eight historians to advise on setting up the Bureau of Military History – a body established for the creation and compilation of material on the history of the Irish movements for independence, 1913–1921, specifically from witness statements. The committee was also to further offer guidance and oversee progress of the Bureau in co ordination with the Ministry of Defence: it subsequently expressed concerns about the state's role and methods in the collection of statements. Having begun writing for the press at an early stage, G.A.Hayes-McCoy's public position at the Museum encouraged him to go further. He had broad involvement with local history groups to whom he presented papers, and also worked for newspapers and for radio and television. To the national and Galway press he