Bartlett was born in Belfast and attended St. Mary's Christian Brothers' Grammar School.
He read history at Queen's University Belfast, taking a BA in 1970 and his doctorate in 1976 on Townshend's viceroyalty in 1767-72.
[1] He was appointed Lecturer in Irish History at National University of Ireland, Galway.
He was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy in 1995 and has held several visiting professorships in the US and Britain.
[2] In 1999 he was appointed the first Naughton Fellow in Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame.