Robert Shipboy McAdam (Irish: Roibeárd Mac Ádhaimh; 1808–1895) was an Irish antiquary, folklorist and linguist and was the most active figure among the Belfast Presbyterians prominent in the early Irish-language revival. He was a secretary of Cuideacht Gaoidhilge Uladh (the Ulster Gaelic Society), president of the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society, and the founding editor of the Ulster Journal of Archaeology. Together with the 20th century Gaelic scholar Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich, since 1991 his memory has been honoured in the name of Belfast's Irish-language cultural centre Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich (An Chultúrlann).
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Robert Shipboy MacAdam in the context of Gaelic Revival
The Gaelic revival (Irish: Athbheochan na Gaeilge) was the late-nineteenth-century national revival of interest in the Irish language (also known as Gaelic) and Irish Gaelic culture (including folklore, mythology, sports, music, arts, etc.). Irish had diminished as a spoken tongue, remaining the main daily language only in isolated rural areas, with English having become the dominant language in the majority of Ireland.
Interest in Gaelic culture was evident early in the nineteenth century with the formation of the Belfast Harp Society in 1808 and the Ulster Gaelic Society in 1830, and later in the scholarly works of Robert Shipboy MacAdam, John O'Donovan and Eugene O'Curry, and the foundation of the Ossianic Society. Concern for spoken Irish led to the formation of the Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language in 1876, and the Gaelic Union in 1880. The latter produced the Gaelic Journal. Irish traditional sports were fostered by the Gaelic Athletic Association, founded in 1884.