George Ferdinand Shaw (1821 – 19 June 1899) was an Irish academic and journalist who is best remembered as the first editor of ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

''.

Life

Shaw was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

in 1821, to William and Elizabeth Shaw, and baptized in

St. Mary's Church, Dublin St. Mary's Church, Dublin is a former Church of Ireland building on the corner of Mary Street and Jervis Street, Dublin, and adjacent to Wolfe Tone Square. From the 17th century the church was a place of worship for parishioners on Dublin's nor ...

(

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 l ...

). He graduated from

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 ...

(TCD) as Senior Moderator in Mathematics in 1844. He was elected a Fellow in 1848, and in 1890 became a Senior Fellow. Early in his career, he obtained permission to accept the appointment as the first Professor of Natural Philosophy at

Queen's College, Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of ...

, in 1849, holding that post until 1854.Dr Geoge Ferdinand Shaw obituary

But the bulk of his life was spent at TCD, where he served as Senior Dean and Registrar.Dr. George Ferdinand SHAW
Flickr.com In 1859, he became the first editor of ''The Irish Times'', though he only served in the role for a few months. He remained active in journalism, writing for ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's ''The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

'' 1862–1866, ''Saunders' News Letter'' and the '' Dublin Evening Mail''.

References

External links

Literary Gossip: Death of G. F. Shaw
'' The Athenaeum'' No 3739, 24 June 1899, p. 787 {{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, George Ferdinand 19th-century Irish economists The Irish Times editors Academics of Trinity College Dublin 19th-century journalists 19th-century male writers 1821 births 1899 deaths 19th-century Irish businesspeople