Anthony Holten

Anthony "Tony" Holten (3 May 1945 – 11 September 2020) was an Irish author, historian, stroke advocate, former mechanic and marine engineer.[1]

Anthony Holten
Anthony Holten in 2007 at A Stroke of Luck book launch.
NationalityIrish
Other namesTony Holten, Anthony Holton, Tony Holton[lower-alpha 1]
OccupationAuthor

Early days

He was born in Dowdstown, Navan in 1945. He started an apprenticeship in Navan Engineering Works as a mechanic over six years. He was a Navan Road Club member in the mid-1960s, competing in the Rás Tailteann cycling race four times. He was a member of the town's winning team in The 1968 Waller Cup Race.[1] In 1967, he was awarded the Henry Ford Award for Merit.[2]

Seafaring career and later career

In 1969, he began a career as an engineer on deep sea tankers for Shell Oil Company. Over the next ten years, he travelled extensively during his marine engineering days in the Merchant Navy prior to continuing his career working on offshore oil and gas fields worldwide.[3]

He worked for Marathon Petroleum in the 1980s, primarily on the Kinsale Head gas field. He and his family moved to Jakarta, Indonesia in the mid-1980s for his work as a marine engineer on the company's new Kakap oil and gas field on the South China Sea. When he returned to Ireland, he was based in Marathon's head office in Cork, until a stroke forced him to retire in 1999.[4]

Retirement and writing career

After suffering a stroke at the age of fifty-four, he initially lost the use of his right arm and leg and had to re-learn to use them. After a long period of rehabilitation, he began work on his first book, entitled A Stroke of Luck, about his experience and his dealings with the Irish Health System.[5][6] The book was published by Nonsuch Ireland (an imprint of The History Press) in 2007.[7] Books Ireland called it a "funny, inspiring and telling account" and a "disturbing insight into the Irish health system".[8][9]

He was also the author of several in-depth history books, primarily focusing on roads (including old toll roads and road networks) and rivers in County Meath including On Ancient Roads about the road network around Tara and Where Toll Roads Meet, the latter of which gained some controversy and extra attention as it was partially about the M3 Controversy.[10][11][12][13][14] This led to an incident at the book launch in Navan Library as then Irish Minister Noel Dempsey attended to give a speech about Holten and his book, and clashed with protestors who attempted to present a pig's head to the Minister.[4][15]

In addition to his books, he also frequently contributed pieces to other publications, usually on Irish history.[16][17]

Holten's other books include From High Kings To Seakings about his time with Shell, Of Other Days about his childhood, and The River Boyne about the river of the same name, the latter book becoming very popular in County Meath and among Irish historians nationwide, with journalist Paul Clements remarking in The Irish Times that it "invoked the work of Sir William Wilde" and that Holten was a "pontist extraordinaire".[18] Holten regularly gave talks about his books and local history.[19]

Stroke advocacy

In addition to being an author, he was an advocate for stroke survivors and chairman of the Cork Stroke Support Group, often giving talks at medical conferences, hospitals, and universities, and was the recipient of the Irish Heart Foundation's "Life after Stroke Awards" Boehringer Ingelheim Stroke Champion Award in 2013.[20][21][22]

Bibliography

Books
  • A Stroke of Luck: One Man's Struggle with Diabetes and the Irish Medical System (Nonsuch/The History Press, 2007) (ISBN 9781845885953)[23][24][8][25]
  • Where Toll Roads Meet: Exploring the Road Network Around Tara from Olden Times to the Current M3 Controversy (ISBN 9781905451760)[26][27][28][10]
  • On Ancient Roads: Recollections, History and Folklore of County Meath (ISBN 9780956991102)[29][30][31][32][33]
  • From High Kings to Seakings: A Tale of Three Ships and the Landlubber Who Went To Sea (ISBN 9781291704242)[34]
  • Of Other Days: Recollections of an Irish Country Childhood (1945–1955) (ISBN 9781291705348)[35][36]
  • The River Boyne: Hidden Legacies, History and Lore Explored on Foot and by Boat (ISBN 9780956991119)[37][38]

Essays and articles
  • "Echoes Along the Boyne – Rediscovering the Stackallen Lighters" (in Navan – its People and its Past, Vol. 2)[17]
  • "The Great Weir of Navan and the Boyne Mills" (in Navan – its People and its Past, Vol. 3)[17]
  • "A Milestone in Navan" (Navan Historical Society)[16]

Notes
  1. Sometimes credited with the nickname "Tony" or with the surname misspelled as "Holton" instead of Holten.

References
  1. "Cyclist and seafaring engineer with passion for River Boyne". Meath Chronicle.
  2. "Ford Award For Navan Mechanic". The Meath Chronicle. 29 April 1967.
  3. "Cyclist and seafaring engineer with passion for River Boyne". Connaught Telegraph.
  4. "Touching the River". Meath Chronicle.
  5. "Back Matter". Books Ireland (291). 2007. ISSN 0376-6039. JSTOR 20633005.
  6. "Early Autumn Shopping List: 180 New Books Due September and October from 26 Publishers". Books Ireland (296): 165–169. 2007. ISSN 0376-6039. JSTOR 20624248.
  7. Holten, Anthony (2007). A Stroke of Luck. ISBN 9781845885953.
  8. "First Flush". Books Ireland (298): 262–270. 2007. JSTOR 20633077 – via JSTOR.
  9. "First Flush – page 265 in original (page 4 on JSTOR link)". Books Ireland. Wordwell Ltd. (298): 265. November 2007. ISSN 0376-6039. JSTOR 20633077 – via JSTOR.
  10. Rountree, Kathryn (2012). "TARA, THE M3, AND THE CELTIC TIGER: Contesting Cultural Heritage, Identity, and a Sacred Landscape in Ireland". Journal of Anthropological Research. 68 (4): 519–544. doi:10.3998/jar.0521004.0068.404. ISSN 0091-7710. JSTOR 24394200. S2CID 155763811.
  11. "Controversy over the M3". The Irish Times.
  12. Eileen Battersby (26 May 2007). "Is nothing sacred?". The Irish Times.
  13. Glenn Frankel (22 January 2005). "In Ireland, Commuters vs. Kings". The Washington Post. p. A01. Retrieved 14 June 2007.
  14. Mullen, Joan; Ludlow, Francis. "Naming the Land: Mapping the Meath Field Names Project". Meath Field Names Project.
  15. "Noel Dempsey On the Pig's Back? – Indymedia Ireland". 25 April 2009. Archived from the original on 25 April 2009.
  16. "Navan Historical Society – A Milestone in Navan". www.navanhistory.ie. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  17. "Navan Historical Society – Publications". www.navanhistory.ie. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  18. Clements, Paul. "Local History round-up: How fields get their names, and other Co Meath nuggets". The Irish Times.
  19. "Anthony's talk on the Boyne and its history". independent. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  20. "Irish Heart Foundation "Life after Stroke Awards" Stroke Champion Award – Anthony Holten – YouTube". www.youtube.com.
  21. Ring, Evelyn (4 December 2013). "Awards prove that life can be fulfilling after a stroke". Irish Examiner.
  22. "Cork Stroke Support Group Newsletter" (PDF). Cork Stroke Support Group Newsletter.
  23. Holten, Anthony (12 January 2007). A stroke of luck. Nonsuch Publishing. ISBN 9781845885953. OCLC 316421011 – via Open WorldCat.
  24. Holten, Anthony (12 January 2007). A stroke of luck. Nonsuch Publishing. ISBN 9781845885953 – via library.catalogue.tcd.ie Library Catalog.
  25. "Harvard Library Hollis catalogue".
  26. Holten, Anthony (January 2008). Where toll roads meet: exploring the road network around Tara from olden times to the current M3 controversy. ISBN 9781905451760. OCLC 318670440 – via Open WorldCat.
  27. Holten, Anthony (12 January 2008). Where toll roads meet: exploring the road network aroundTara from olden times to the current M3 controversy. Choice Publishing. ISBN 9781905451760 – via librarym.ucd.ie Library Catalog.
  28. Holten, Anthony (12 January 2008). Where toll roads meet: exploring the road network aroundTara from olden times to the current M3 controversy. Choice Publishing. ISBN 9781905451760 – via library many links.catalogue.tcd.ie Library Catalog.
  29. Holten, Anthony (12 January 2011). On ancient roads: recollections, history, and folklore of County Meath. publisher not identified. ISBN 9780956991102. OCLC 775590693 – via Open WorldCat.
  30. "Ancient Roads: Recollections, History and Folklore of County Meath". www.newgrange.com.
  31. "Missing milestone mystery in Balrath". Meath Chronicle.
  32. "New York Public Library / All Locations". catalog.nypl.org.
  33. "Harvard Library Hollis catalogue". hollis.harvard.edu. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  34. Holten, Anthony (February 2014). High kings to seakings. ISBN 9781291704242. OCLC 922596316 – via Open WorldCat.
  35. Holten, Anthony (12 January 2018). "Of other days: recollections of an Irish country childhood (1948–1958)" – via Open WorldCat.
  36. "Trinity College Dublin / All Locations". library.catalogue.tcd.ie.
  37. Holten, Anthony (12 January 2016). The River Boyne: hidden legacies, history and lore explored on foot and by boat. OCLC 1084319069 – via Open WorldCat.
  38. "Trinity College Dublin / All Locations". library.catalogue.tcd.ie.
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