Life
1835-1881 [pseuds. incl. ‘A Cappoquin Girl’, ‘Lismore’, ‘J.W.’, ‘Boz’, ‘Kilmartin’, and ‘Shamrock’]; b. Belleville Park, Cappoquin, Co. Waterford, 1 April 1835; national school teacher in Waterford & Tipperary; contrib. to the Nation, et al.; brother-in-law of Michael Cavanagh, author of life of T. F Meagher; d. Cashel, Feb. 1881; poems publ. in Waterford Star. ODNB PI JMC DBIV OCIL
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References
D. J. O’Donoghue, Poets of Ireland: A Biographical and Bibliographical Dictionary of Irish Writers of English Verse (Dublin: Hodges Figgis & Co. 1912), calls him one of the leading poets of South of Ireland; poems in Waterford Citizen; Irishman; Nation; Irish People; Harp; Celt; Tipperary Examiner, et al.; var. pseuds [distinct for each paper] incl. ‘A Cappoquin Girl’; ‘Lismore’, signing ‘J.W.’ and ‘J.J.W.’ [Nation]; ‘Boz’; ‘Kilmartin’ [Irish People], and ‘Shamrock’ [excl. in Irishman]; uncollected, but republished by Rev Michael Patrick Hickey in Waterford Star in anticipation of unpublished collection; biog. notice by Hickey in that paper. See D J O”Donoghue, ‘The Literature of ’67’, in Shamrock, 30 (1893). ODNB, national schoolteacher for Waterford and Tipperary counties.
John Cooke , ed., Dublin Book of Irish Verse (1919), bio-dates “Drimin Donn Dílis” [‘The landlord has come ... Poor, houseless and homeless, tonight must we lie ..’]; “To my Promised Wife” [‘ ... but none ... as fair as you’]; “The Western Winds” [‘Sad was the hour that saw him sail - / ‘twas for life, dear life, he was forced to flee ... Astór ...’; here the poet promises that he will return with others to free his country; ‘for their ranks are full, and their hearts are true, / And their arms are young, and bold, and brave ..’). Justin McCarthy, Irish Literature ed. (1904)., gives “To My Promised Wife” and “Drimin Donn Dilis”.
Chris Morash, The Hungry Voice (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan 1989), notes that he contributed to Nation as ‘J.W.’ and ‘Boz’; in The Irishman as ‘Shamrock’ and ‘Lismore’; in the ‘Waterford Citizen’ as ‘The Cappoquin Girl’; “Drimin Donn Dilis” in Stopford Brooke and T. W. Rolleston, eds., A Treasury of Irish Poetry (London: Smith, Elder, 1900) p.185; also selects “Lament of the Ejected Irish Peasant”, Dublin University Magazine, Vol. 35, No. 205 (Jan 1850); republished as broadside, held in White Collection, TCD library.
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