Life
1792-1867 [also Dalton]; b. Bessville, Co. Westmeath, ed. there and TCD;
Middle Temple, 1811; Irish Bar, 1813; deft translations in Hardiman’s Irish Minstrelsy (incl. ‘Doctor Keating to His Letter’,
p.219ff., &c.), and twelve canto romance called Dermid, or Erin
in the Days of Boroimhe (1814), praised by Scott; Cunningham Prize
(RIA) for The Social and Political State of Ireland from the First
to the Twelfth Century [as infra]; commissioner of Loan Fund Board,
1835; frequent contrib. to Transactions of RIA, best known for his History
of the County of Dublin (1838); also Treatise on the Law of Tithes; Memoirs [Lives] of the Archbishops of Dublin (1838),
and King James II’s Army List of 1689 (1855); d. 20 Jan. CAB
ODNB PI JMC DIB DIH DIL RAF OCIL
[ top ]
Works
Dermid, or Erin in the Days of Boroimhe (London: Longman; Dublin:
J. Cumming 1814); The History of Dublin (Dublin: Hodges & Smith
1828), 943pp.; Essay on the History, Religion, Learning, Arts and Government
of Ireland (Dublin: R. Graisbery 1830); Memoirs of the Archbishops
of Dublin (Dublin:: Hodges & Smith 1838), 492pp.; The History
of Drogheda with Its Environs, and an Introductory Memoir of the Dublin
and Drogheda Railway, 2 vols. (Dublin [the author] 1844); The
History of Ireland from the Earliest period to the Year 1245, when the
Annals of Boyle terminate; Full statistical and historical notices of
the Barony of Boyle [Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy; Vol.
16, 2 vols.] (Dublin: the Author 1845).
[ top ]
References
Dictionary of National Biography: Irish historian, genealogist, biographer; grad. TCD; law, Middle Temple,
1811; Irish bar, 1813; medallist, RIA 1827; prizeman, 1831; ODNB [Long],
b. 20 June, Bessville, co. Westmeath; TCD; bar. 1813; Munster Circuit;
m. Miss Phillips; employed as genealogist in cases of Malone v. O’Connor;
Leamy v. Smith; Jago v. Hungerford, &c.; granted civil list pension
under Russell; won RIA essay prize competition on political and social
state of Ireland at the commencement of the Christian era, read 24 Nov.
1828; PRIA, Vol. XVI, first part [half]; further prize for account of
Ireland in reign of Henry II; antiquarian collector; contrib. on Irish
topography in Irish Penny Journal, ill. by Samuel Lover; poem called Dermid, or the Days of Brian Boru, 12 cantos substantial quarto;
also Memoirs of the Archbishops of Dublin (1838), and History
of the County of Dublin (1838); Annals of Boyle; unpublished
autobiography; d. 20 Jan.
D. J. O’Donoghue, Poets of Ireland: A Biographical Dictionary (Dublin: Hodges Figgis & Co. 1912), lists Dermid, or Erin in the Days of Boroimhe (London 1814); histories of Dundalk [1861, with James R. O’Flanagan, DIB], Drogheda [1844] and Dublin [1838] and Memoirs of the Archbishops of Dublin; contrib to Irish Penny Magazine. See also Irish Book Lover, 29.
Henry Boylan, Dictionary of Irish Biography (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan 1988): b. Bessville, Co. Westmeath; ed. TCD and King’s Inns; Irish bar, 1813; Cunningham gold medal, 1824 for an essay on early Irish society; contrib. articles on antiquities to Irish Penny Journal with ill. by Samuel Lover; works inc. Memoirs of the Archbishops of Dublin (1838); History of the County of Dublin ([Dublin: Hodges & Figgis] 1838); History of Drogheda (1844); Annals of Boyle (1845); King James Irish Army List 1689 (1855), a source of family history; d. 20 June.
Robert Hogan, ed., A Dictionary of Irish Literature (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan 1979): article on this author cites now-forgotten poem in 12 cantos, Dermid (1814); translations for Hardiman (1831). RAF says the poem was extolled by Walter Scott; bibl., Visit of her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, and His R. H. Prince Albert to Ireland (printed not publ. 1849) [?privately printed].
University of Ulster Library holds Annals of Boyle [q.d.]. MORRIS holds The History of Ireland ... &c, 2 vols. (1945); Illustrations Historical and Genealogical, of King James’s Irish Army List 1689, vol. 1 (c.1861); Memoirs of the Archbishops of Dublin (1838).
Belfast Public Library holds History of Ireland from the Earliest Period to 1245 (1845)[CARD CAT]; Cf. D’Alton E. A. (supra); The History of Ireland, 2 vols, 1845; History of Dundalk (1864); History of the County of Dublin (1838).
Emerald Isle Books (Cat. 95) lists The History of Drogheda with Its Environs, and an Introductory Memoir of the Dublin and Drogheda Railway, 2 vols. (Dublin [the author] 1844) [£375].
[ top ]