Edward Walsh

Walsh, Edward, editor of the Jacobite Relics of Ireland, and author of poems, was born in Londonderry in 1805. The son of a Cork militiaman, he received a tolerable education, taught school at Mill-street, County of Cork, and removed in 1837 to Toureen, where he first began to write for the magazines. He was afterwards schoolmaster to the convict station at Spike Island, and ended his days as teacher in the Cork workhouse. He was proficient in the fairy and legendary lore of the country, and published two volumes of poetical translations from the Irish, with the original text. Hayes says in his Ballads of Ireland: "There is a singular beauty and fascinating melody in his verse, which cheers and charms the ear and heart. His translations preserve all the peculiarities of the old tongue, which he knew and spoke with graceful fluency. His ballads are the most literal and characteristic which we possess." Edward Walsh died in Cork, 6th August 1850, aged 44.

Sources

159a. Hayes, Edward: Ballads of Ireland. 2 vols. Dublin, N.D.