Sir Samuel Ferguson (10 March 1810 – 9 August 1886) was an
Irish poet,
barrister,
antiquarian, artist and public servant. He was an acclaimed 19th-century Irish poet, and his interest in
Irish mythology
Irish mythology is the body of myths native to the island of Ireland. It was originally passed down orally in the prehistoric era, being part of ancient Celtic religion. Many myths were later written down in the early medieval era by ...
and early
Irish history
The first evidence of human presence in Ireland dates to around 33,000 years ago, with further findings dating the presence of homo sapiens to around 10,500 to 7,000 BC. The receding of the ice after the Younger Dryas cold phase of the Quatern ...
can be seen as a forerunner of
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...
and the other poets of the
Irish Literary Revival.
Early life
Ferguson was born in Belfast,
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 ...
the third son of John Ferguson and Agnes Knox.
His father was a spendthrift and his mother was a conversationalist and lover of literature, who read out the works of
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
,
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...
,
Keats,
Shelley and other
English-language authors to her six children.
Ferguson lived at a number of addresses, including
Glenwhirry, where he later said he acquired a love of nature that inspired his works. He studied at the
Belfast Academy
The Belfast Royal Academy (commonly shortened to ) is the oldest school in the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a co-educational, non-denominational voluntary grammar school in north Belfast. The Academy is one of 8 schools in Northern ...
and the
Belfast Academical Institution
The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers and democrats, it opened its doors in 1814. Until 1849, when it was superseded by what today is ...
. Later, he moved to
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 ...
, for law education at
Trinity College, obtaining his BA in 1826 and his
MA in 1832.
His father had exhausted the family property and Ferguson was forced to support himself through his student years. He turned to writing and was a regular contributor to ''
Blackwood's Magazine
''Blackwood's Magazine'' was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. It was founded by the publisher William Blackwood and was originally called the ''Edinburgh Monthly Magazine''. The first number appeared in April 18 ...
'' by the age of 22. He was called to the bar in 1838, but continued to write and publish, both in ''Blackwood's'' and in the newly established ''
Dublin University Magazine''.
Later life
Ferguson settled in Dublin, where he practiced law. In 1846, he toured European museums, libraries and
archaeological sites
An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and ...
with strong connections to Irish scholarship.
He married
Mary Guinness (1823–1905) in 1848, a great-great-niece of
Arthur Guinness
Arthur Guinness ( 172523 January 1803) was an Irish brewer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. The inventor of Guinness beer, he founded the Guinness Brewery at St. James's Gate in 1759.
Born in Celbridge, County Kildare around 1725, Guinness' ...
, and the eldest daughter of
Robert Rundell Guinness who founded the
Guinness Mahon bank. At that time he was defending the
Young Irelander
Young Ireland ( ga, Éire Óg, ) was a political and cultural movement in the 1840s committed to an all-Ireland struggle for independence and democratic reform. Grouped around the Dublin weekly ''The Nation'', it took issue with the compromise ...
poet
Richard Dalton Williams
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...
. He retired from the bar in 1867 when he was appointed First Deputy Keeper of Public Records of Ireland.
As well as his poetry, Ferguson contributed a number of articles on topics of Irish interest to antiquarian journals. In 1863, he traveled in
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period o ...
, Ireland,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
, England and
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...
to study
megaliths
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
and other archaeological sites. These studies were important to his major antiquarian work, ''Ogham Inscriptions in Ireland, Wales, and Scotland'', which was edited after his death by his widow and published in 1887.
[
His collected poems, ''Lays of the Western Gael'' was published in 1865, resulting in the award of a degree LL.D. ''honoris causa'' from Trinity. He wrote many of his poems with both Irish and English translations. He received a knighthood in 1878.][
Ferguson's major work, the long poem ''Congal'' was published in 1872 and a third volume, ''Poems'' in 1880. In 1882, he was elected president of the ]Royal Irish Academy
The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier learned society and one its leading cultural i ...
, an organisation dedicated to the advancement of science, literature and antiquarian studies. His house in North Great George's Street
North Great George's Street () is a street on the Northside, Dublin, Northside of Dublin city first laid out in 1766 which connects Parnell Street with Great Denmark Street. It consists of opposing terraces of 4-storey over basement red-brick ...
, Dublin, was open to everyone interested in art, literature or music.
Ferguson gave the Rhind Lectures in 1884, on 'Ogham inscriptions in Ireland and Scotland'.
He died in Howth
Howth ( ; ; non, Hǫfuð) is an affluent peninsular village and outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland. The district as a whole occupies the greater part of the peninsula of Howth Head, which forms the northern boundary of Dublin Bay, and include ...
, just outside Dublin city, and was buried in Donegore
Donegore (historically ''Dunogcurra'', ) is the name of a hill, a townland, a small cluster of residences, and a civil parish in the historic barony of Antrim Upper, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Donegore lies approximately 5 miles (8 km ...
near Templepatrick, County Antrim
County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...
.[
]
Works
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References
Biography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferguson, Samuel
1810 births
1886 deaths
Irish poets
Irish folklorists
19th-century Irish people
People educated at the Belfast Royal Academy
Irish archivists
Irish Presbyterians
British antiquarians
Irish antiquarians
Writers from Belfast
Ulster Scots people
Lawyers from Dublin (city)
19th-century poets