George Ensor J.P. (17 December 1769 – 3 December 1843) was an eminent Irish author and lawyer. Ensor was born in Ardress, County Armagh and lived in Ardress House,

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 ...

and educated at the

Royal School, Armagh The Royal School, Armagh is a co-educational voluntary grammar school, founded in the 17th century, in the city of Armagh in Northern Ireland. It has a boarding department with an international intake. It is a member of the Headmasters' and H ...

followed by

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 ...

. He was called to the Irish Bar in 1792. He married Esther Weld (sister of famous Irish explorer, author and painter Isaac Weld) on 7 January 1804. His father, George Ensor, and uncle, John Ensor, were architects who designed much of

Merrion Square Merrion Square () is a Georgian garden square on the southside of Dublin city centre. History The square was laid out in 1752 by the estate of Viscount FitzWilliam and was largely complete by the beginning of the 19th century. The demand for ...

Parnell Square Parnell Square () is a Georgian square sited at the northern end of O'Connell Street in the city of Dublin, Ireland. It is in the city's D01 postal district. Formerly named ''Rutland Square'', it was renamed after Charles Stewart Parnell (1 ...

, the Rotunda of the

Rotunda Hospital The Rotunda Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal an Rotunda; legally the Hospital for the Relief of Poor Lying-in Women, Dublin) is a maternity hospital on Parnell Street in Dublin, Ireland, now managed by RCSI Hospitals. The eponymous Rotunda in Parnell Squ ...

, now the

Ambassador Theatre (Dublin) The Ambassador Cinema was Dublin's longest-running cinema and was operational on and off until 1999. It operated as a music venue between 2001 and 2008. The Ambassador's current use is as an exhibition hall and event centre. The building wa ...

, the Hotel Saint George and the Castle Hotel - all in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. They originated from

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

and

Wilnecote Wilnecote is a suburban area about south-east of Tamworth in Staffordshire, England. It lies between the River Tame to the west and Kettle Brook to the north and east. It is one of the largest communities in the town. Wilnecote borders Hockl ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. George (Senior) was the first of the 'Irish' Ensors and John the first of the Rollesby Hall/

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Ensors. He was a well-known political writer and patriot, author of at least twenty books of educational and Irish interest, and the father-in-law of J. P. Prendergast the historian. He was a friend of

Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (I) ( ga, Dónall Ó Conaill; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilizat ...

Jeremy Bentham Jeremy Bentham (; 15 February 1748 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._4_February_1747.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 4 February 1747">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.htm ...

and

James Mill James Mill (born James Milne; 6 April 1773 – 23 June 1836) was a Scottish historian, economist, political theorist, and philosopher. He is counted among the founders of the Ricardian school of economics. He also wrote ''The History of Brit ...

. He accompanied

John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, Member of Parliament (MP) and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of classical liberalism, he contributed widely to ...

(aged 14) to France in 1820. He was a grand juror and High Sheriff (1806) of

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and ha ...

. Ensor died on 3 December 1843 at the family home, Ardress House, which is now property of the National Trust.

Books

*''The Independent Man'' (1806) *''On National Government'' (2 vols., 1810) *''National Education'' (1811) *''Defects of the English Laws and Tribunals'' (1812). Marvin described this book as "a rambling, desultory, fault-finding, ill digested volume, in which the author finds little to praise and much to blame". Ensor was influenced by Romilly.Radzinowicz, Leon. A History of English Criminal Law and Its Administration from 1750. Macmillan. 1948
vol 1
p 366. *''Observations on the present state of Ireland'' (1814) * ''An Inquiry Concerning the Population of Nations containing a Refutation of Mr. Malthus's Essay on Population'' (1918) *''Address to the People of Ireland on the Degradation and Misery of their Country'' (1823) *''A Defence of the Irish and the Means of their Redemption'' (1825) DNB DIW DIH DUB *''Of property and of its equal distribution as promoting virtue, population, abundance'' *''Letters showing the inutility, and exhibiting the absurdity, of what is rather fantastically termed "the new Reformation"'' *''Irish Affairs at the Close of 1825'' (1827) *''Anti-Union, Ireland as She Ought to Be'' (1831) *''Before and After the Reform Bill'' (1842) *''Principles of Morality'' *''The Poor and their relief'' 1823

References

Oxford Biography Index entry George Ensor Ensor, George (1769-1843), political writer Oxford Biography Index Number 101008822

External links

Oxford DNB

On National Government, Volume 2 (Free Ebook from Internet Archive)"> On National Government, Volume 2 (Free Ebook from Internet Archive)Irish Affairs at the Close of 1825 (Free Ebook from Internet Archive)

The poor and their relief (Free Ebook from Google Books)

An Inquiry Concerning the Population of Nations: Containing a Refutation of Mr. Malthus's Essay on Population (1818) (Free Ebook from Google Books)

New York Public Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ensor, George 1769 births 1843 deaths Education writers Irish political writers 18th-century Irish lawyers 19th-century Irish lawyers People from County Armagh