The Irish Literary Society was founded in London in 1892 by

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 ...

, T. W. Rolleston ,and Charles Gavan Duffy. Members of the Southwark Irish Literary Club met in Clapham Reform Club and changed the name early in the year. On 13 February they met again to form a committee. Evelyn Gleeson became secretary. Stopford Brooke gave the inaugural lecture to the society, on "The Need and Use of Getting Irish Literature into the English Tongue" (Bloomsbury House, 11 March 1893). The Society developed a proposal for a New Irish Library, a series of books to honor Irish culture, with Rolleston and

Douglas Hyde Douglas Ross Hyde ( ga, Dubhghlas de hÍde; 17 January 1860 – 12 July 1949), known as (), was an Irish academic, linguist, scholar of the Irish language, politician and diplomat who served as the first President of Ireland from June 1938 t ...

as editors. Limerick man Michael MacDonagh, author and Parliamentary correspondent for the ''Times'', was an active member and editor of the Society's quarterly Gazette. ''A Book of Irish Verse'', designed to publicise the new societies, was published in 1895, edited by Yeats and dedicated "To the Members of the National Literary Society of Dublin and the Irish Literary Society of London." It featured poetry by Rolleston, Hyde,

Katharine Tynan Katharine Tynan (23 January 1859 – 2 April 1931)Clarke, Frances (2013)"Hinkson (née Tynan), Katharine Tynan" in ''Dictionary of Irish Biography'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). was an Irish writer, known mainly for her novels and p ...

, Lionel Johnson, AE and several others, with notes and an introduction by himself. Arthur Conan Doyle, of Irish descent, and with a keen interest in Ireland, chaired the Irish Literary Society's dinner on 13 February 1897. He spoke on 'The Irish Brigade'.'The Irish Brigade' by Dr. A. Conan Doyle, Irish Literary Society General Report 1897-1898, National Library of Ireland, Ephemera Department.

Notable members

D. P. Moran David Patrick Moran ( ga, Dáithí Pádraig Ó Móráin; 22 March 1869 – 31 January 1936), better known as simply D. P. Moran, was an Irish journalist, activist and cultural-political theorist, known as the principal advocate of a specificall ...

Ethel Rolt Wheeler Ethel Rolt Wheeler ( pen name, Rolt Wheeler; 12 July 1869, Lewisham, London – October 1958, Glasgow) was an English poet, author and journalist. Biography Ethel Rolt Wheeler was born Mary Ethel Wheeler, the daughter of the stone merchant Joseph ...

(committee member) *

William Gibson, 2nd Baron Ashbourne William Gibson, 2nd Baron Ashbourne (16 December 1868 – 21 January 1942), was an Irish language activist and author. Life Born in Dublin, to Edward Gibson, 1st Baron Ashbourne, and Frances Maria Adelaide Colles (a granddaughter of Abraham Col ...

(vice-president) * David James O'Donoghue * C. R. Cooke-Taylor (honorary secretary) *

Stephen Gwynn Stephen Lucius Gwynn (13 February 1864 – 11 June 1950) was an Irish journalist, biographer, author, poet and Protestant Nationalist politician. As a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party he represented Galway city as its Member of Parliame ...

(secretary) * Edmund Downey * Michael MacDonagh (1862-1946) * Peter Berresford Ellis * Charles Russell, first Baron Russell of Killowen (vice-president) * Richard Barry O'Brien (founder-member, chairman for twelve years and president for another six) *

John O'Connor Power John O'Connor Power (13 February 1846 – 21 February 1919) was an Irish Fenian and a Home Rule League and Irish Parliamentary Party politician and as MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland represented Ma ...

* Joseph R. Fisher, newspaper editor and Unionist representative on the Irish Boundary Commission *

Alfred Perceval Graves Alfred Perceval Graves (22 July 184627 December 1931), was an Anglo-Irish poet, songwriter and folklorist. He was the father of British poet and critic Robert Graves. Early life Graves was born in Dublin and was the son of The Rt Rev. Cha ...

(president) *

Eleanor Hull Eleanor Henrietta Hull also known as Eibhlín Ní Choill (15 January 1860 – 13 January 1935) was a writer, journalist and scholar of Old Irish. Life and family Hull was born on 15 January 1860 in Manchester, England. Her father, Edward Hull, ...

(president) *

Laurence Ginnell Laurence Ginnell (baptised 9 April 1852 – 17 April 1923) was an Irish nationalist politician, lawyer and Member of Parliament (MP) of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as member of the Irish Parliamentary ...

Helen Waddell Helen Jane Waddell (31 May 1889 – 5 March 1965) was an Irish poet, translator and playwright. She was a recipient of the Benson Medal. Biography She was born in Tokyo, the tenth and youngest child of Hugh Waddell, a Presbyterian minister ...

(vice-president) *

Mark F. Ryan Mark Francis Ryan (10 November 1844 – 17 June 1940), was an Irish revolutionary, a leading Member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and author. Family Mark Ryan was born in Uracly in the parish of Kilconly, a few miles from Tuam, County Gal ...

*Richard Ashe King (president 1925-32)

References

{{Authority control Organizations established in 1892 Cultural organisations based in London Irish writers' organisations

Notable members

See also

References