On 27 and 28 September 2013, the Ulster Historical Foundation delivered a conference in tribute to the life and work of the renowned historian, R.J. (Bob) Hunter. The event was sponsored by the R.J. Hunter Committee, and the Foundation worked in partnership with the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) and the Derry City Council Heritage and Museum Service/Archive and Genealogical Service in the planning and delivery of the conference.

Aimed at anyone with an interest in early seventeenth-century Ireland, Plantation Families: People, Records and Resources attracted in excess of 160 attendees over the two days. The Friday presentations were held in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) and focused on the story of the Plantation in east Ulster while the Saturday sessions in the Tower Museum in Derry concentrated on Londonderry and the northwest. The conferences were chaired by Dr Sam Burnside, a personal friend of the late R.J. (Bob) Hunter and trustee of the Ulster Historical Foundation.

Plantation families conference flyer

The speakers in Belfast and their subjects were:

  • William Roulston on Plantation people
  • Glynn Kelso on Plantation records
  • John Johnston on the Ulster Muster Roll c. 1630
  • Brendan Scott on the Ulster Port Books 1612–15
  • Patricia Stewart on the Great Parchment Book
  • Ian Montgomery on the Antrim estate records of the 1600s
  • Ruairí Ó Baoill on urban archaeology in the early 1600s
  • Bethany Sinclair on the Caulfeilds of Castle Caulfeild

The speakers in Derry and their subjects were:

  • William Roulston on Plantation people
  • Glynn Kelso on Plantation records
  • John Johnston on the Ulster Muster Roll c. 1630
  • Brendan Scott on the Ulster Port Books 1612–15
  • Patricia Stewart on the Great Parchment Book
  • Ruairí Ó Baoill on urban archaeology in the early 1600s
  • Bernadette Walsh and Brian Mitchell on the records of northwest Ulster