GIFT OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF IRISH ABILITY. BY D. J. O'DONOGHUE, " " AUTHOR OF LIFE OF J. C. MANGAN," LIFE OF WM. CARLETON," "POETS OF IRELAND," &C., &C. 2>ubUn : LTD. SEALY, BRYERS & WALKER I M. H. GILL & SON, Xonfcon : ,. SIMPKIN, MARSHALL & CO., LTD. 1908. (All Rights Reserved). To A. A. CAMPBELL, ESQ., BELFAST. DEAR CAMPBELL, As this book would never have been written but for your friendly pressure, I venture to dedicate it to you, thus placing upon you some of the responsibility for its existence. Yours very truly, V. J. O'DONOGHUE. Dublin, 1906. 239954 CONTENTS. Pages Preface v.-xviii. Introductory 1-9 Chapter I. (Dublin) 10-22 Chapter II. (Cork) 23-36 Chapter III. (Antrim) 37-44 Chapter IV. (Down) 45-52 Chapter V. (Sligo) 53-58 Chapter VI. (Wicklow) 59-62 Chapter VII. (Leitrim) 63-64 'Chapter VIII. (Donegal) ... 65-70 Chapter IX. (Derry) 71-77 Chapter X. (Tyrone) 78-84 Chapter XI. (Kilkenny) ... 85-90 Chapter XII. (Kerry) 91-96 Chapter XIII. (Tipperary) 97-103 Chapter XIV. (King's Co.) 104-106 Chapter XV. (Queen's Co.) 107-110 Chapter XVI. (Mayo) 111-116 Chapter XVII. (Carlow) ... 117-119 Chapter XVIII. (Longford) 120-123 Chapter XIX. (Cavan) 124-127 Chapter XX. (Monaghan) ... 128-130 Chapter XXI. (Kildare) ... 131-135 Chapter XXII. (Roscommon) 136-140 Chapter XXIII. (Fermanagh) 141-143 Chapter XXIV. (Louth) ... 144-149 Chapter XXV. (Wexford) 150-155 Chapter XXVI. (Waterford) 156-161 Chapter XXVII. (Armagh) 162-167 Chapter XXVIII. (Meath) 168-173 Chapter XXIX. (Westmeath) 174-179 Chapter XXX, (Galway) ... 180-185 Chapter XXXI. (Clare) . 186-192 Chapter XXXII. (Limerick) 193-199 Biographical Index. 200-332 PREFACE. HE motive which induced me to prepare this book was not to contrast one Irish county with another, still less to exalt any particular localities above others less favoured by nature* Indeed, if the purpose to be served were simply one of gratifying a semi-scientific curiosity, the task would not have been undertaken. My real object was to put on record, in as brief a space as possible, the surprising manifesta- tions of Irish intellect, and to give, in a narrative form, as much biographical information as could be collected. A biographical dictionary will not appeal to many Irish readers, who are, nevertheless, anxious to know what Ireland has contributed to the world's knowledge and improvement, More than one interest may be served by the method here adopted. And the list of names given in the index, which runs into thousands, is by far the fullest " that has ever been compiled. Even Webb's Compendium " of Irish Biography does not contain one-third of the men and women named in this book which is no disparage- ment to that admirable compilation so far as it goes. The need of a really comprehensive dictionary of Irish bio- graphy is very urgent, as all students of the subject are aware. The present attempt at a survey of the field does not profess to be complete many names have been inad- vertently omitted, others from the difficulty of obtaining the necessary particulars. In a later edition, if called for, improvements might be effected by the extension of the index, and by relieving the pages of some of the accumulated vi. PREFACE. detail. Those who have tried to manipulate a mass of material of this kind, and to reduce it to an ordered narra- tive, will appreciate the manifest difficulties the present writer has had to encounter. The preparation of the index has called for labour of another kind the mere consulting of fifty biographical dictionaries would not suffice. Many of the names have been found in other sources, and the definite data about them has been procured only after con- siderable research. Such as it is, the result of much labour is here presented to the reader, to the student of local and national history, and to the various, and now numerous, inquirers into the question of genius and its causes. I may say at once that the theory of heredity as a chief cause of genius does not strike me as worthy of much consideration. The vast number of clever people whose progeny are undistinguished, and the acknowledged fact that it accounts for only about forty per cent, of the talent of, say, Great Britain and Ireland, seem to be factors de- structive of that theory. Environment, I believe, has much more to say in the matter. Havelock Ellis, one of the best informed and most convincing writers on this sub- ject of national ability, regards the birth-place of a man of ability as immaterial, and so it is, in the sense that famous people are born nearly everywhere, but the remarkable a fac- fertility of certain localities in genius is nevertheless tor which has to be explained either by heredity or environ- ment, or, perhaps, by the microbe theory as suggested in the introductory chapter. I certainly think that locality has some influence on the quality or direction of genius, and therefore I have given birthplace or place of immediate origin a preponderating share in the production of ability. Obviously it assumes greater importance among country people than among those born in towns. PREFACE. Tii. " " Mr. Havelock Ellis, in his Study of British Genius (which includes an absurdly inadequate summary of Irish " of ability), acknowledges that the shock contact with a strange and novel environment, which we have proved to be so frequent, acts as a most powerful stimulant to the " nascent intellectual aptitudes." Also : Though it is highly probable that there is a real connection between genius and the conditions prevailing in its environment, we must not " here too hastily assume such a connection The occasional fact of genius running in a family is as good an argument for environment as for heredity. Statistics would seem, how- ever, to show that moral qualities (or the reverse) are more easily transmissible than intellectual ones, and that environ- ment is the most powerful of the influences which culminate in genius which is another name for abnormality. If the collected facts prove anything, they surely prove that a boy has a far better chance of becoming a genius in, say, Cork or Norfolk, than in Leitrim or Middlesex. To be born in Ireland, or some other favoured locality, is obviously a more fortunate thing from our present point of view than to be born in, say, Wales. Even a dullard runs the risk of becoming clever in a bright and keen intellectual en- vironment, such as Dublin, Cork, Edinburgh, or Paris. Heredity does not prevent eminent people from having on the other there is no excuse very stupid progeny ; hand, for the mentally slow whose apprehension is not quickened by constant contact with brighter wits. The Southern mind everywhere is more nimble than that of the North. I have said that Mr. Havelock Ellis gives a very inade- quate summary of Irish ability, but this is clearly due to " his lack of material. He takes the Dictionary of National " Biography as his source of information, being evidently unaware that the Irish biographies in that work are given viii. PREFACE. far less than their and this of course proportionate space ; materially modifies his results, for he only names those whose biographies in that work run to at least three pages. His proportionate results are therefore anything but repre- sentative. For example, Balfe and Macfarren are included, Wallace and Field are not and ; moreover, Foley Hogan are missing among the sculptors. The exclusions are, how- ever, too numerous to indicate. His list is as follows (the numbers representing notabilities of each county) : Dublin Cork 9 8 Waterford 6 -15; 10; Antrim ; Down ; ; 6 5 4 Londonderry ; Kilkenny ; Clare ; Westmeath 4 4 3 3 Kildare 2 ; Tyrone ; Wexford ; Limerick ; ; 2 2 2 2 Tipperary ; Kerry ; Galway ; Mayo ; Donegal 2 2 1 1 1 ; Armagh ; Cavan ; Carlow ; Wicklow ; Co. 1 1 Queen's ; Longford ; Meath, Louth, King's Co., Sligo, Roscommon, Leitrim, Fermanagh, Monaghan 0. That is to say, the last eight counties have contributed nothing to progress. This is, of course, quite beside the mark. It should be mentioned that Mr. Ellis does not in- clude living people or those very recently dead (at the time his returns were compiled). Quality in such a matter as genius is naturally more important than quantity, and con- sequently I have refrained here from giving my own con- clusions. I will leave the student who is competent to ap- praise the quality to form his own opinions from the index at the end of this book. A very well-informed friend of mine has, however, produced a table of his own for the Irish counties, based on the proportion of genius to population, and I venture to extract the details from a letter of his, premising that his material was anything but complete, and that the order of the counties in his list must be con- sequently altered. Any reader can easily compile his own tables from the -PREFACE. ix. index to this book. But to my friend's letter (written therefore more than more than a year ago, and his table three years old) : " I venture to think you will be interested in the result of a somewhat similar investigation which I undertook to about two years ago. The subject had occurred me now I and again for a long period, and at the time mentioned resolved to go into the matter as fully as I could with the for relative or means at my disposal, deciding to work pro- portional numerical results per county.