       |
Life
1792-1867 [also Dalton]; b. Bessville, Co. Westmeath, ed. there and TCD; Middle Temple, 1811; Irish Bar, 1813; author of 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
|
[ 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quarto; also Memoirs of the Archbishops of Dublin (1838), and History of the County of Dublin (1838); Annals of Boyle; unpublished autobiography; d. 20 Jan.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.]. The Morris Collection (UUL) holds The History of Ireland ... &, 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 ]
Notes
Kith & Kin? John Francis D’Alton (b.1882) who wrote on works such as Horace and His Age (1917) and Roman Literary Theory and Criticism([1932).
Namesake? John Dalton, author of Epistle to a Young Nobleman (The Lord Visc. Beauchamp) from his Praeceptor, by John Dalton in verse; also adapted Milton as Comus: now adapted for the stage in three acts (London: R. Dodsley 1738; 3rd edn. 1738) [COPAC].
[ top ]