Turtle Bunbury

Bunbury is the third son of Thomas Benjamin McClintock-Bunbury, 5th Baron Rathdonnell and Jessica Harriet, daughter of George Gilbert Butler, of Scatorish, Bennettsbridge, County Kilkenny, Ireland (brother of the essayist Hubert Butler).[6] He was raised at Lisnavagh House, Rathvilly, County Carlow, in Ireland,[7] and received his early education locally and at Castle Park School in Dublin.[8] He later studied at Glenalmond College, Perthshire, Scotland, before going on to Trinity College, Dublin and the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.[9]

From 1996 to 1998 he lived in Hong Kong, working as a freelance correspondent with the South China Morning Post and Business News Indochina.[7][10][11]

Bunbury was a co-presenter of The Genealogy Roadshow on RTÉ television in 2011 and 2014.[7] He also presented Hidden Histories on Newstalk Radio in 2013.[12] He co-wrote the 2008 documentary John Henry Foley: Sculptor of the Empire.[13] He has also appeared on BBC1's Wogan's Ireland,[14] and episodes of the American version and Irish version of the Who Do You Think You Are? TV series.[15]

BBC History Magazine described him as "a skilled storyteller",[16] and novelist Marjorie Quarton described Bunbury as being "one of the most versatile authors of his generation … a serious author with a light touch in writing".[17]

His work has appeared in National Geographic Traveler,[18] Daily Beast,[19] The Australian,[20] The Guardian[21] and the Irish Times.[22]

In 2019, Bunbury began a collaboration with Iarnród Éireann / Irish Rail and Flahavan's for a project called ‘Past Tracks,’ an exhibition of historic panels that went on semi-permanent display in several railway stations around Ireland.[23]

Turtle Bunbury is married to the novelist Ally Bunbury with whom he lives in County Carlow.[24][25]

In 2001 Bunbury began work on the Vanishing Ireland project with photographer James Fennell. The project produced four books,[26] and a review in the Irish Independent of the first book noted how it was "written with sympathy, understanding and gentle humour".[27] Three of the books were short-listed for Best Irish-Published Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards.[28]

• The Landed Gentry & Aristocracy of Co. Kildare (Irish Family Names, 2004) ISBN 0953848531
• The Landed Gentry & Aristocracy of Co. Wicklow (Irish Family Names, 2005) ISBN 0953848574
• Living in Sri Lanka (Thames & Hudson, 2006), with James Fennell. ISBN 0500512876
• Vanishing Ireland (Hodder Headline, 2006), with James Fennell. ISBN 034092277X
• The Irish Pub (Thames & Hudson, 2008) with James Fennell. ISBN 0500514283
• Dublin Docklands – An Urban Voyage (Montague, 2009). ISBN 0955815517
• Vanishing Ireland 2 (Hodder Headline, 2009), with James Fennell. ISBN 0340920270
• Sporting Legends of Ireland (Mainstream, 2010) with James Fennell. ISBN 1845965027
• Vanishing Ireland 3 (Hachette, 2011), with James Fennell. ISBN 1444733052
• Dublin from the Etihad Skyline (GAA Museum, 2012), ISBN 978-0957280502.
• Vanishing Ireland 4 (Hachette, 2013), with James Fennell. ISBN 1444733060
• The Glorious Madness – Tales of the Irish & the Great War (Gill & Macmillan, 2014) ISBN 978-07171-6234-5
• Easter Dawn – The 1916 Rising (Mercier Press, 2015). ISBN 978-1781-172582
• 1847 – A Chronicle of Genius, Generosity & Savagery (Gill, 2016). ISBN 9780717168347
• Adare Manor : The Renaissance of an Irish Country House (Adare Manor Publishing, 2019) ISBN 9781527246706
• Ireland's Forgotten Past (Thames & Hudson, 2020) ISBN 9780500022535