Caesar Otway (1780–1842) was born at

Castle Otway Castle Otway is a former 18th-century country house which stood on a hill on the outskirts of Templederry, near Nenagh in County Tipperary, Ireland. The house was built in stone up against the ruins of Cloghane Castle in two storeys with a 7-bay ...

near

Nenagh Nenagh (, ; or simply ''An tAonach'') meaning “The Fair of Ormond” or simply "The Fair", is the county town and second largest town in County Tipperary in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Nenagh used to be a market town, and the site of the ...

, Co. Tipperary,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in 1780. He was an Irish author and clergyman who wanted to study and improve the condition of the poor.

Life

His parents were Cooke and Elizabeth Otway and his elder brothers included Admiral

Robert Otway Admiral Sir Robert Waller Otway, 1st Baronet, GCB (26 April 1770 – 12 May 1846) was a senior Royal Navy officer of the early nineteenth century who served extensively as a sea captain during the Napoleonic War and later supported the Brazilia ...

and Loftus who became a general. Cooke had been an officer in the

Irish Volunteers The Irish Volunteers ( ga, Óglaigh na hÉireann), sometimes called the Irish Volunteer Force or Irish Volunteer Army, was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists and republicans. It was ostensibly formed in respons ...

militia. Otway matriculated at

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, on 6 December 1796, being then 16 years old, and graduated B.A. in 1801. He took holy orders in the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

in 1810. He worked as a parish priest for 17 years, before becoming assistant

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

at the

Magdalen Asylum Magdalene asylums, also known as Magdalene laundries, were initially Protestant but later mostly Roman Catholic institutions that operated from the 18th to the late 20th centuries, ostensibly to house " fallen women". The term referred to fema ...

in Dublin. Otway was involved in the establishment of a number of journals. With Joseph Henderson Singer, he started, in 1825, the ''Christian Examiner'', the first Irish religious magazine for Anglicans. He was a good friend of the writer

William Carleton William Carleton (4 March 1794, Prolusk (often spelt as Prillisk as on his gravestone), Clogher, County Tyrone – 30 January 1869, Sandford Road, Ranelagh, Dublin) was an Irish writer and novelist. He is best known for his ''Traits and Sto ...

, who first made his mark in the ''Examiner''. He co-operated with George Petrie in the first volume of the ''Dublin Penny Journal'', where he wrote under the pseudonym "Terence O'Toole." He was also a contributor to the ''Dublin University Magazine.'' Otway died on 16 March 1842 in Dublin, at the age of 63.

Works

Otway is best remembered as a writer of

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

tales. His writings, which display humour and sympathy with the poorer classes in Ireland, include ''Sketches in

'' (1827), ''Sketches in

Erris Erris is a barony in northwestern County Mayo in Ireland consisting of over , much of which is mountainous blanket bog. It has extensive sea coasts along its west and north boundaries. The main towns are Belmullet and Bangor Erris. The name Er ...

and Tyrawley'' and ''A Tour in

Connaught Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbh ...

'' (1839). Other works were: * ''A Letter the Roman Catholic Priests of Ireland'', 1814, as "C. O." * ''A Lecture on Miracles...with Appendices'', 1823. * ''The Intellectuality of Domestic Animals'', 1817.

Family

In 1803 Otway married Frances Hastings with whom he had five children: John Hastings Otway, Caesar George Otway, Loftus Otway, Jane Otway and Frances Otway. After Frances died in 1833, he remarried on 17 January 1837; his second wife was Elizabeth la Touche, daughter of James Digges la Touche of Dublin,

References

External links

The Otway Family Tree
(includes a picture of the author) *Caesar Otway (1839)
''A tour in Connaught: comprising sketches of Clonmacnoise, Joyce country, and Achill''
From

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Otway, Caesar 1780 births Irish writers 1842 deaths Irish antiquarians People from County Tipperary